UNDP Jobs - 74095- International Consultant

International Consultant – GCF Feasibility Study Specialist

Location :

Home-based with travel to Haiti, HAITI

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

28-Aug-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

50 working days

Languages Required :

English French

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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

In June 2016, the government of Haiti has requested UNDP to assist in the formulation of a proposal for financing under the Green Climate Fund (GCF). Two preparation missions were conducted by a UNDP team of consultants to Haiti to work on a draft Concept Note, a draft PPF request and a draft prefeasibility study that would allow the Government of Haiti to access preparation funding (if needed) for a full proposal to the amount of 40 million USD. The proposed project will enable the Government of Haiti and climate affected populations to reduce the impact of recurrent extreme weather events on selected main river catchments adjacent to acknowledged mountain range ‘water towers that provide important ecosystem services to productive plains of Haiti.

The last decade saw many extreme events, the last of which - Hurricane Matthew in October 2016, affected about 2.1 million persons and caused approximately US$ 2,78 billion worth of damages per the National Post Disaster Assessment (2016). Climate projections for Haiti suggest that the risk of climate induced events is only likely to increase, potentially undermining development progress in urban centres such as Port-au-Prince as well as productive plains such as the Artibonite, Cul-de-Sac and Moustique river basins, where most the population and economic activity of the interested departments is located.

In conjunction with Government co-financing leveraged for this project, GCF resources will be used to address several key technical, capacity and information-based barriers that hinder effective integrated water resources management in the context of risks that are likely in ever increasing return period intervals.

In view of Haiti’s increasing vulnerability to future water stress, the objective of project is the Integrated Management of Haiti’s Water Resources (IWRM) of mountainous ‘Water Tower’ macro-catchments/hydrological units to better cope with climate change threats. Three outputs are foreseen: 1. Rehabilitation of the devastated mountainous ‘water towers’ by extreme weather events; 2. Improve resilience of water retention and distribution systems to expected water stress (hurricanes and droughts); and 3. a decentralized governance system that offers user rights and strengthens the water management capacities of local actors in the face of climate change. The idea is that with adequate protection of the recharge areas for Haiti’s water resources, a robust water retention, conduit and distribution system, incentives for the population to cherish these, as well as an appropriate set of governance tools to produce behavioural change, future generations of Haitians will also be able to satisfy their versatile water needs, even in the face of the expected harsh climatic changes. GCF support is sought to provide a coordinating framework above the already existing strong baseline of projects and programmes (such as PPCR, PITAG, LDCF initiatives) on resilience in Haiti, as well as the immediate protection of water resources recharge areas of devastated but crucial mountainous ecosystems in the country and the most vulnerable hotspots in the water distribution and retention network in a selected number of macro-catchments. Without GCF support, these ecosystems and networks risk to be increasingly eroded with every passing extreme weather event to the point of becoming obsolete. Co-financing will be used to create alternative income generating activities for the local population and build capacities for local sustainable development planning of communities. The foreseen intervention areas are 2 important water tower macro catchments: a) the greater Three Rivers catchment that is fed by the Nord-Ouest mountain range and the transect Marmelade-Massif du Nord/cordillère centrale; b) l’Estere Macro-Basin, which includes Chaine Cahos/ Petite Rivière de l’Artibonite and Estère rivers. Together, these areas will serve 600,000 expected beneficiaries from the main target group: local rural communities of small holder farmers, with specific focus on women and youth employability.

The project is a strategic instrument to implement the Haitian NAPA and INDC. Preparation support is requested to formulate a full proposal and carry out a comprehensive feasibility study of the project supported by the necessary analysis and assessments. The core instrument of the project’s strategy is a tailored mechanism for Integrated Water Resources Management in the face of climate change to be applied on selected priority zones during the project period; to be scaled up to a full programme. The activities to be conducted include (i) carrying out a feasibility study and forest inventory, including analytical studies on environmental, social and economic aspects/impacts of the Project, (ii) implementing the stakeholder engagement plan and the associated consultation and communication activities, and (iii) formulation of the funding proposal. The project is fully in line with GCF objectives and investment framework, particularly by creating an innovative systemic solution to address a key environmental problem leading to GHG emissions and significant investment needs for adaptation. This formulation stage will also lay the ground for the expected development of a larger programme that would extend this project to the entire country.

UNDP will mobilize a team of 4 international consultants (Feasibility study expert, ESMP expert, Economist, project proposal formulation specialist) and a national consultancy bureau to support UNDP to prepare the full proposal in time for submission.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main objective of the consultancy is to assist and coordinate the feasibility study preparation. The consultant is required to work closely with the other relevant experts to prepare all the documents that fully meets GCF investment criteria. S/he will work with UNDP Country Office, under an overall technical guidance of the Regional Technical Advisor-LAC. Particular collaboration will be with the Project Proposal Formulation Specialist in order to ensure that the feasibility study incorporates the right information for GCF full proposal formulation.

Consultant’s Responsibilities:

The consultant is hired to assist and support the CO in Haiti to deliver a fully eligible funding proposal to the GCF. As such, the consultant will work under the supervision of and report to the Senior Deputy Country Director and the GCF country coordinator of the UNDP Country Office in Haiti. The work of the consultant will also be supervised and evaluated by the Senior Technical Adviser based in the UNDP Bureau for LAC in Panama. The consultant is expected to:

Coordinate the preparation of the feasibility study

Under guidance of the Proposal Formulation Specialist, coordinate with other team members, secure and present technical, economic and financial feasibility/viability of the project proposal, including details of environmental and social safeguards, and gender consideration;

In coordination with the technical consultants and under guidance of the Proposal Formulation Specialist, undertake necessary consultations with relevant government agencies, stakeholders and experts to obtain comments/suggestions and incorporate these comments into the feasibility study.

Reporting and coordination line:

The consultant will facilitate necessary contributions to the Feasibility Study by all national and international consultants assigned to respective tasks for GCF project formulation for Haiti;
The consultant (hired under UNDP’s Individual Contract modality) will report directly to the UNDP Haiti office;
The consultant will coordinate with other team members of project formulation team, government counterparts and UNDP during the consultation and formulation process and ensure that a proper feasibility analysis is produced in line with GCF requirements and cleared by the PTA;
Under guidance of the Proposal Formulation Specialist, the consultant will need to work closely with all the Technical Specialists hired to support this initiative. The consultant will also need to coordinate closely with the UNDP programme Officer in Haiti and the UNDP-GEF Senior Technical Advisor based in the Bureau in Panama.

UNDP Responsibilities:

Data collection, meetings, research and other supporting functions;
Quality assurance of the final annexes of the document;
Supervision of the other consultants with regards to their share in the feasibility formulation;
All logistics in case of a determined need for a country visit.

Expected deliverables:

Based on the scope of work outlined above, the consultant will be expected to deliver the following outputs and will be responsible for the delivery of the outputs within the suggested times:

Revised draft feasibility study consolidated with all due annexes, detailed budget, M&E (20 days including field mission / By end of October 2017);
Revisions with all required annexes that incorporates UNDP comments (20 days / By end of December 2017);
Inputs to all reviews provided by UNDP and the GCF cleared by PTA (10 days / By February 2018).

Duration of the contract:

50 working days between 18 September - 30 March 2018 including field mission during 10 days.

Payment:

Payment to the consultant will be made in three instalments upon certification of the completed tasks satisfactorily and per approved Time Investment Sheets, as per the following payment schedule:

1st Installment (50 %) : Revised draft feasibility study consolidated with all due annexes, detailed budget, M&E;
2nd Installment (20 %) : Revisions with all required annexes that incorporates UNDP comments;
3rd Installment (30%) : Inputs to all reviews provided by UNDP and the GCF cleared by PTA.

The consultant shall notify the UNDP CO via monthly Time Investment Sheets of the time spent on the tasks assigned, particularly when due to unforeseen circumstances, particularly when time invested risks to exceed contract time. Continuation then happens upon approval of an amended workplan.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies

Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise

Demonstrated knowledge of relevant environmental and sustainable development issues;
Strong analytical skills, particularly applied to environment profiling.

Functional Competencies

Ability to identify needs and interventions for capacity enhancement of counterparts, clients and potential partners;
Ability to take responsibility for achieving agreed outputs within set deadlines;
Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
Strong analytical skills; Exceptional ability in communication and networking, negotiations and writing;
Flexibility and ability to operate in different cultural settings and with a variety of stakeholders; culturally and gender sensitive;
Familiarity with technical issues related to adaptation, methods of cost-benefit analysis for adaptation options, identification of multiple benefits of adaptation, including, economic, social and gender related;
Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

The successful candidate will have a background in climate change adaptation and/or extensive functional experience in climate change adaptation in Haiti or other countries in the Caribbean with strong technical skills in project design and management.

Education

Postgraduate degree (M.S) in climate change adaptation or related fields.

Experience

At least 10 years of technical experience in project development in Haiti or other countries in the Caribbean;
Substantial relevant experience in the design and implementation of integrated development projects;
Experience in the of similar projects with global funds including:
- Project design, management, and monitoring & evaluation;
- Design of log frame with SMART indicators, work plan and budget formulation;
- Working with multi-disciplinary teams, including local and expatriate technical experts;

Desirable criteria include:

Work experience related to climate change adaptation in Haiti or other countries in the Caribbean;
Experience in economic and financial analysis for project viability and budget formulations.

Languages

Fluency in oral and written French required;
Ability to write and understand English is required.

Qualified candidates are hereby requested to apply. The application must contain the following:

Brief letter of application;
Personal CV indicating relevant professional experienceand Copy of diplomas;
Brief description (max. 2 pages) of the proposed methodology on how to complete the assignment;
Planning logical, realistic for the efficient implementation of the activity;
Financial proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price supported by a breakdown of costs (The term ‘all-inclusive’ implies all costs including professional fees, communications, utilities, consumables, insurance, etc. that could possibly be incurred by the consultant and specified other costs if applicable).

An Individual who is of 62 years of age or older, a full medical examination and statement of fitness to work must be provided.

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted a max. of 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a max of 30%.

Please note that applications will only be considered if they include ALL the items listed above. Also note that the UNDP job portal website only allows for one document to be uploaded, so please combine all of the abovementioned items into one single Word or PDF document before uploading. Only shortlisted the applicants will be contacted.