UNDP Jobs - 80315- International Consultant for NDC-SDG Synchronizati

International Consultant for NDC-SDG Synchronization.

Location :

Beirut, LEBANON

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

21-Aug-18 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

60 working days spread over 1 year.

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

60 working days spread over 1 year.

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 2015, the member states of the United Nations adopted “The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” based on a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Seventeen SDGs are at the core of the 2030 Agenda, setting high expectations for all countries in addressing challenges such as poverty, health, education, women’s empowerment, growth, inequality, environment protection and governance. Lebanon has adhered to the agenda and launched an assessment project in 2017 titled “SDGs in Lebanon: Analyzing Gaps and Reporting Progress” and is focused on the following priority areas: “Tailoring the SDGs – Mapping Policy to Support Target Setting” as well as “Supporting GOL’s capacity for monitoring, evaluation, and reporting on SDG’s implementation”. Moreover, Lebanon has already established its SDG committee by Council of Ministers’ decision 69 (22/6/2017) which will be responsible for facilitating the implementation of the SDG-related policies and track their progress.
Moreover, the Paris Agreement on climate change has entered into force in 2016, aiming at holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2ºC above pre-industrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5ºC. All Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) have submitted Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) which indicate the mitigation and adaptation targets they are willing to reach to achieve the Paris Agreement goals as soon as possible. Lebanon has submitted its NDC in 2015 and has received further support to improve the assessment, genderizing, financing and reporting of its NDC through the Nationally Determined Contribution Support Programme (NDCSP). Currently, the NDC Follow-Up Working Group on Mitigation is being formed as per the mandate of the Ministry of Environment as NDC coordinator (Council of Ministers’ decision 33 dated 20/12/2017). The mandate of the working group is to follow-up on the NDC implementation.
The adoption of these two major international policy frameworks in 2015 provides a key opportunity for tackling the interlinked twin challenges of sustainable development, poverty eradication, and climate change. Connecting the thematic implementation of both agendas holds the potential to identify and support leverage points, to identify critical gaps and shortcomings in implementation, and to foster a truly integrative implementation of the social, economic and ecological dimension of these two agendas.
Links between the two multilateral agreements have already been established at a global level; the Paris Agreement mentions that it aims to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change in the context of sustainable development, and the 2030 Agenda includes of a stand-alone climate change goal (SDG 13), and many targets linked to climate change adaptation, resilience and mitigation under other SDGs. Lebanon intends to submit its progress on implementing its SDGs in a Voluntary National Review in 2018, and will be legally bound to submit information on its NDC progress under the Paris Agreement starting 2022.
It is therefore timely and important for Lebanon to synchronize its efforts for the implementation and reporting of its SDGs and NDC in order to avoid duplication of efforts, request targeted support and enhance delivery. This activity entails the identification and formalization of the common entry points for joint NDC and SDG implementation responses through policies, strategies and activities, and the generation of recommendations for the way forward.

Duties and Responsibilities

For Lebanon to achieve its NDC and SDG targets by 2030, there needs to be strong coordination between institutions in terms of policy coherence, finance, capacity-building, partnerships, and progress monitoring and reporting. This entails the assessment of three main points:
1. To what extent do the mitigation and adaptation policies that make up Lebanon’s NDC match the policies that contribute to Lebanon’s sustainable development? More specifically, which SDGs and sub-goals do the policies in the NDC correspond to? Moreover, which SDGs are completely left out of the NDC, and how relevant is it to include them in the 2020 update of the NDC?
2. How can institutions make use of the progress indicators of NDC policies (when available) to inform the SDG committee of Lebanon’s sustainable development progress? And how can
institutions make use of the already agreed global SDG indicators to inform progress on the NDC policies? What are the data needs and steps forward to fill the gaps to enable complete reporting?
3. Considering the above, what are the institutional arrangements that exist, that can be built upon, and can be established for a smooth generation and communication of data between institutions responsible for the implementation and reporting of the NDC and SDGs? How can the different committees work together in order to avoid duplication of efforts?
In order to answer the above questions, the consultant will conduct the necessary assessments and background research. Moreover, the climate change project team will identify the needed stakeholders to conduct the required consultations to validate the results, including the NDC working group on mitigation, and the SDG committee.
The results of this consultancy will be mentioned in the NDC update in 2020, as well as SDG-related Voluntary National Review (VNR) updates. This will show that the Lebanese government is tracking its progress towards the NDC and SDGs in a holistic and comprehensive manner.
The final report should include the following elements:
1. A stocktaking analysis of the mitigation and adaptation policies that constitute Lebanon’s NDC with comparison of the NDC policies with the SDG goals and targets and determination of relevance).
2. Through a weighted multi-criteria analysis, a prioritization of the NDC policies to inform which policies in the NDC are contributing the most to Lebanon’s sustainable development.
3. Assessment of the SDG relevant policies in Lebanon (including the VNR) and identification of climate change mainstreaming opportunities in order to ensure the low-emission profile of Lebanon’s SDG strategies.
4. Recommendations on the expansion of the NDC scope in its future iterations in terms of sectors or gases, based on the results from point 3.
5. Assessment and recommendations of entry-points to make the SDG reporting climate-smart and climate-ambitious.
6. Identify existing indicators for the policies that make up Lebanon’s NDC, and the existing indicators that track the implementation of SDGs which are relevant to the sectors mentioned in the NDC. Through this identification, list important missing indicators for the tracking of both the NDC and SDG.
7. Assess the existing institutional arrangements used to exchange information on the implementation of relevant policies to the NDC and SDGs, and identify missing links between institutions that are crucial for the needed flow of information for reporting on NDC and SDG progress.
8. Based on the above, provide recommendations for new or improved institutional arrangements including, but not limited to, Memorandums of Understandings (MoUs).
For additional information, please refer to ANNEX I – Terms of Reference

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Fluency in English.

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Advocates and promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
Knowledge of the UN preferable.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

A Masters or PhD in Economics, Social Sciences, International Relations, Political Sciences, Development Studies, Environmental Studies or related field.

Years of Experience:

Years of experience: A minimum of 10 years of relevant work experience in research related to economic development, preferably MDG or SDG related, and/or climate change or sustainable development.

Technical Experience:

A well-established track record in research related to economic development, sustainable development and/or climate change;
Experience with MDGs/SDGs in Lebanon or the Arab region;
Experience or strong familiarity with the work of UNDP and/or other multilateral, bilateral and civil society development partners;
Experience in working with the UN is a plus.

How to apply:

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 all of the following documents:

1. P11,
2. Annex 3 (Offerors Letter) and
3. Technical Offer
4. Financial proposal

All files shall be submitted in one single document and uploaded as word or PDF file to the UNDP job site.
It has been observed that bidders don’t submit all requested documents and thus reducing their chance to be selected for a contract with UNDP. before you submit your offer please revise that the application is complete and comprises all documents.
Incomplete applications will not be considered.