UNDP Jobs - 76533- National Mid-Term Review consultant of the LEPAP p

National Mid-Term Review consultant of the LEPAP project.

Location :

Beirut, LEBANON

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

17-Jan-18 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

9 weeks – 30 working days

Languages Required :

Arabic English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

9 weeks – 30 working days

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

As a follow up to the Country Environment Analysis, and in order to ensure a smooth transition for Lebanon to environmental sustainability, the Government of Lebanon, through the Ministry of Environment (MoE) has requested the support of the World Bank and the Italian Government to establish the Lebanon Environmental Pollution Abatement Project (LEPAP). LEPAP is a joint initiative between the MOE, the Ministry of Finance, Banque Du Liban (BDL), the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation to set up a mechanism for financing industrial pollution abatement interventions.
As a national initiative, LEPAP aims at responding to the challenges for promoting financial and environmental sustainability of the industrial sector in Lebanon by reducing industrial pollution in
targeted industrial enterprises. Therefore, LEPAP provides technical assistance and financial facilities, through selected commercial banks, to private industrial enterprises to bring their effluent discharges or their air emissions towards compliance with the Decree No. 8471/2012 “Environmental Compliance for Establishments”. LEPAP also contributes to strengthening the monitoring and enforcement capabilities of the MOE.
LEPAP consists of two main components: (A) Technical Assistance Component equivalent to EUR 2.3 million funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, and (B) Investment Sub-projects Component equivalent to US$ 15 million funded by the World Bank.
The project became effective on January 28, 2016 following its ratification by the Lebanese Parliament on November 24, 2015 and will be implemented over a period of 5 years.

Duties and Responsibilities

The overall purpose of the MTR is to provide the Government of Lebanon, the World Bank, the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and interested stakeholders objective recommendations for the project’s efficient performance towards achieving its Development Objectives. The specific tasks to be performed are:
• Assess project’s overall results and impacts in terms of development outcomes. Review and determine whether the underlying assumptions are still relevant and project development objectives are achievable within the current project time frames.
• Discuss with borrower and project beneficiaries the continued relevance of the project development objectives and likelihood of achievement during the remaining implementation period (taking into account current sector/government priorities).
• Examine the project’s Results Framework and determine the appropriateness of objectives, indicators, and targets. Examine M&E arrangements and performance, including availability and timeliness of data, and use of information for managing the project. Propose changes to the results framework according to the review.
• Examine the project’s risks and assumptions and determine their appropriateness and continued relevance. Identify new risks and risk management measures as appropriate.
• Review and determine the extent to which the stated objectives of each component are being achieved. Liaise with component consultants and stakeholders to identify priority activities which will help achieve the PDO in the project time period.
• Assess the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of methods and mechanisms adopted for the implementation of each component. Analyze financial progress under each project component and assess whether the use of funds matches the progress, efficacy, quality, and timeliness of procurement and disbursement activities. Provide recommendations for changes or improvements accordingly.
• Review and determine the extent of compliance with the project’s legal covenants, including fiduciary requirements, environmental and social safeguards policies, etc. In particular, evaluate a) the fiduciary requirements and funds flow mechanism, vis-à-vis the role of BdL and the
commercial banks; and b) the environmental and social safeguards mechanisms and requirements, vis-à-vis the role of MoE and the commercial banks in the project
• Assess the performance and delivery capacity of MoE being the Agency implementing the Project
• Review the adequacy of project implementation and management arrangements in terms of staff, effectiveness in use of existing systems (fiduciary, safeguards, M&E), contract management capacity, institutional arrangements, reporting etc.
• Review the effectiveness and adequacy of the ‘carrots’ (e.g low interest loan) and ‘sticks’ (e.g. compliance decrees) in the project, as they apply to the different stakeholders, as well as their implementing mechanisms, in order to meet the project development objectives
• Assess what makes (or would make) LEPAP an attractive proposition for commercial banks to develop it as a line of business, as well as for the enterprises to access loans from.
• Review the adequacy of the project operations manual (POM) in terms of providing clear guidance on operational aspect of the project and advise if the POM would need any revisions.
• Assess quality of cooperation with other relevant donors, partners, and institutions within the sector as well as the clarity of roles and responsibilities, effectiveness of decision-making, etc.
• Assess adequacy of implementation support arrangements (approach, resources), usefulness to anticipate problems, and effectiveness of follow-up recommendations
• Identify and examine the key project implementation issues and submit background notes for the stakeholder discussion.
• Identify and document lessons learnt during project implementation.
• Assess the degree of compliance with the project’s fiduciary and safeguards aspects and with project legal covenants in financing agreement and disbursement letter.
• Collect and organize relevant information and data on key issues and developments for conducting a successful and well substantiated independent Mid-Term Review.
• Based on the above, reassess project risks, identifying any new risks that need to be taken into consideration.
• Make recommendations based on the review findings to improve the overall performance, achievement of the project development objectives and sustainability of the project.
• Review the role and responsibility of the Project Advisory Committee and recommend any possible changes.
• An MTR Workshop is envisaged. This is expected to provide the stakeholders the opportunity to discuss the Consultant’s analyses and recommendations and examine critically all aspects of the project’s implementation with a view to improving its performance and where necessary effecting needed changes.
For additional information, please refer to ANNEX I – Terms of Reference

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Strong interpersonal skills, communication and diplomatic skills, ability to work in a team;
Good writing and reporting skills;
Good presentation skills;
Excellent communication skills;
Demonstrable analytical skills;
Ability to work under pressure and stressful situations, and to meet tight deadlines.
Excellent communication skills in English. Arabic is an asset.

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Kindly refer to the Individual Consultant Procurement Notice and all related Annexes by visiting the below link:

http://www.lb.undp.org/content/lebanon/en/home/operations/procurement/

Please make sure to submit all the requested documents/information; otherwise, your application will be considered incomplete

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

A Master’s degree in environmental sciences, environmental policies, , environmental economics, or other closely related field.

II. Years of Experience:

Work experience in pollution management for at least 10 years;

III. Technical Experience:

Experience in financial products/intermediary operations;
Experience with result-based management evaluation methodologies;
Experience applying SMART indicators and reconstructing or validating baseline scenarios;
Experience working with the World Bank or World Bank-evaluations;
Project evaluation/review experiences within the World Bank system will be considered an asset.

How to Apply:

1. Read the additional information and annexes on teh UNDP lebanon website at http://www.lb.undp.org/content/lebanon/en/home/operations/procurement/

2. The consultancy is open for all international consultants who meet the selection criteria and propose a competitive fee. Interested consultants are requested to apply only through this UNDP jobs portal.

Submissions through any other media will not be considered.

The application must include the P11, technical proposal, Annex 3 (Offerors Letter) and the financial proposal in one single document and uploaded as word or PDF file to the UNDP job site.

Incomplete applications will not be considered.