UNDP Jobs - 70676- International expert

International expert

Location :

Baku, AZERBAIJAN

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

31-May-2017

Application Deadline :

01-Mar-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

2 months

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

2 months

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Azerbaijan belongs to the world’s water stress countries. With current deficit of water resources being about 5 km3, the additional pressures on water resources due to climate change will seriously affect the rural water supply. The region of Greater Caucasus has been identified as particularly vulnerable in this regard. Water is unevenly distributed across the seasons and geographic areas in Azerbaijan. Despite an overall trend of rainfall reductions in the country, the mountainous regions of Greater Caucasus experience increasingly prolonged inundations and flash floods during the wet season and extended dry spells during the dry seasons. Variation of water flow may reach 30% between the dry and wet seasons. Paradoxically, most of the quality ground waters are formed in foothills of the Greater and Lesser Caucasus and constitute 24 million m3 (8.8.km3) per year. However, currently, only 20% of a total resource has been used. And as Azerbaijan's Second National Communication (SNC) suggests, with the view of increasing water deficit, the country will have to increase ground water extraction both for irrigation and fresh water supply needs. The project aims to reduce vulnerability of the mountain communities of the Greater Caucasus region of Azerbaijan to climate change induced water stress and flood hazards by improved water and flood management through addressing the management framework at the legislative and policy level, strengthening institutional capacity by introducing new non- structural methods and providing training and empowering communities to actively participate in water and flood management.

Azerbaijan already has considerable experience of structural measures and therefore the proposed project focuses on non-structural measures. These measures mainly address institutional and management challenges, as well as improving public understanding of the problems and potential solutions, developing both organizational and community involvement in the process and pilot actions to improve micro-watershed management practices with a direct engagement of affected communities. The project proposes to sensitize water management policies and practices to the long term risks of, and adaptation to, climate change. Other aspects of flood mitigation and reduction of water stress, such as improved land use management and flood zoning, also require the sensitization of both government and civil society and these tend to have become very much secondary considerations in water management.

Project has following Components:

Water and Flood management policy and regulatory frameworks to respond to climate change risks
Technical capacities to improve climate risk management in the Greater Caucasus
Water and Flood management practices demonstrated to lead to community resilience
Expected Outcomes:
Water and Flood management framework is modified to respond to adaptation needs and improve climate risk management on over 10,838.5 sq. km 3of land in highly vulnerable region of Greater Caucasus. Key institutions have capacities, technical skills, tools and methods to apply advanced climate risk management practices for water stress and flood mitigation. Community resilience to floods and water stress improved by introducing locally tailored climate risk management practices benefiting over 650,000 people on total land area of 10,838.5 km2 of the Southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus.

Duties and Responsibilities

Terminal Evaluation will cover all activities undertaken in the framework of the project. The evaluators will compare planned outputs of the project to actual outputs and assess the actual results to determine their contribution to the attainment of the project objectives.
The evaluator is expected to frame the evaluation effort using the criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and impact, as defined and explained in the UNDP Guidance for Conducting Terminal Evaluations of UNDP-supported, GEF-financed Projects.
The evaluation must provide evidence-based information that is credible, reliable and useful.
The evaluator is expected to follow a participatory and consultative approach ensuring close engagement with government counterparts, in particular the GEF operational focal point, UNDP Country Office, project team, UNDP GEF Technical Adviser based in the region and key stakeholders.
The evaluator is expected to conduct a field mission to Baku, including the following project sites (pilot River Basin of Turyanchay). Interviews will be held with the following organizations and individuals at a minimum: Ministry of Emergency Situations of Republic of Azerbaijan, State Water Resources Agency of the Ministry of Emergency Situations, North-West Regional Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations and vulnerable mountain communities.
The evaluator will review all relevant sources of information, such as the project document, project reports – including Annual APR/PIR, project budget revisions, midterm review, progress reports, GEF focal area tracking tools, project files, national strategic and legal documents, and any other materials that the evaluator considers useful for this evidence-based assessment.

Competencies

Technical knowledge in the targeted focal area(s)
Ability deliver quality reports within the given time;
Excellent English writing and communication skills. The consultant must bring his/her own computing equipment;
Excellent feedback-giving skills and culture sensitiveness.

Required Skills and Experience

The evaluator must present the following qualifications:

International consultant with advanced academic degree (MSC or PhD) and professional background in fields related to Climate Change Adaptation, Agriculture and Integrated Water Resource Management.
A minimum of 5 years of relevant experience is required;
Substantive experience in reviewing and evaluating similar projects, preferably those involving UNDP/GEF or other United Nations development agencies or major donors.