UNDP Jobs - 86864- Consultant on Health Impact Assessment (HIA) withi

Consultant on Health Impact Assessment (HIA) within Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA)

Location :

Home-based, with two missions to Tbilisi, GEORGIA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

09-Sep-19 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Up to 60 working days during four month period, with two missions (up to 20 days) to Tbilisi

Languages Required :

English

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

One of the fundamental components of the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is an operational Health Impact Assessment (HIA); an internationally recognised assessment system that provides a systematic approach to addressing the potential positive and negative health consequences of projects, plans, and policies. Since the Environmental Assessment Code (https://matsne.gov.ge/en/document/download/3691981/1/en/pdf ) was adopted by the Parliament of Georgia in 2017, the Ministry of IDPs from the Occupied Territories, Labour, Health and Social Affairs of Georgia has become the responsible governmental entity for conducting the HIAs as an important part of SEA and setting the national standards based on the European one, but within the ministry the function to evaluate all potential positive and negative health impacts has been deliberated to L.Sakvarelidze National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC).

NCDC is the central public health institution, responsible for the elaboration of all relevant domestic standards and guidelines in addition to the overall capacity development of public health systems throughout the country. One of the fundamental functions of the Center is assessing environmental and health-related threats. This particular function serves as a necessary environment and health policy instrument that ensures the safeguarding of citizens from avoidable harm. An HIA is primarily concerned with determinants of health at the population level, rather than that of the individual. Therefore, it focuses on the environmental, social, cultural and economic determinants of health rather than personal characteristics or behaviors.

Consequently, NCDC is obliged to evaluate all potential positive and negative health impacts that arise from proposed developing projects/programmes as a part of the SEA. It is then required that recommendations are prepared on how to improve or mitigate any negative environmental impacts on citizens’ well-being. The SEA and HIA are the new tools to be utilised by the Government of Georgia and the relevant articles of the Environmental Assessment Code have already come into force.

In accordance with our legislation, the preparation of the SEA and HIA are mandatory for all relevant strategic documents, apart from in a few exceptional cases. They are also necessary when a major change is made to a strategic document in which a framework is established for the future development of activities related to any of these eleven sectors: agriculture, silviculture, fishing, energy, industry, transport, waste management, water resources management, electronic communications, tourism, planning and spatial planning.

A current absence of models or methods for the effective implementation of different stages of the HIA of SEA, as well as a lack of relevant guidelines and practical experience for their application, are the main challenges facing the implementation of an operational SEA in the country. Accordingly, it is essential to strengthen the capacity of the National Center for Disease Control and Public Health and support staff of the Center by elaborating clear regulatory policy documents to improve their competencies and make criteria-based decisions.

In order to maintain its progress, NCDC has requested UNDP to provide an international expert to establish the procedures for the preparation of the HIA within the SEA, draft the relevant guidelines, methodology, select the criteria, elaborate recommendations on the institutional arrangement, and conduct trainings for the local staff and stakeholders. In addition, EU standards are to be transposed and legislative amendments might be necessary.

Duties and Responsibilities

The overall objective of the consultancy is to provide support to provide support to the NCDC to strengthen the Center’s capacity to effectively implement the Environmental Assessment Code by elaborating the regulatory policy documents - guidelines, methodology, procedures and criteria - for conducting the Health Impact Assessment (HIA) within the Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). To achieve this, decisions must be based on international good practices and the capacity of the local staff must be developed.

The scope of work for the International Consultant will include, but may not be limited to:

Desk review of the legislation, general situation and experience for preparing the HIA within the SEA;
Conduct consultations with key stakeholders (the relevant governmental institutions, independent experts and non-governmental organizations, if applicable) in order to identify the most pressing challenges regarding the HIA/SEA;
Analyse findings and recommendations gathered during the desk review and consultations;
Study the international good practices (from countries more or less similar to Georgia) of the regulatory policy documents, identify major steps to be covered during the preparation of the HIA/SEA and provide recommendations on relevant models tailored to the Georgian context;
Prepare the gap analysis for further effective implementation of the articles related to the HIA from the Environmental Assessment Code;
Develop guidelines, methodology, procedures, quality criteria and other essential documents (as applicable) based on good international practice tailored to the Georgian context in close cooperation with NCDC and relevant stakeholders (ensure appropriate parties are involved in the process). During the elaboration of the documents, consider all the necessary stages and sectors to be covered during the application of the HIA/SEA defined by the Code;
Provide recommendations on the transposition and implementation of mandatory EU standards during the application of HIA/SEA;
Provide recommendations on the legislative amendments (if applicable);
Provide recommendations on possible institutional arrangements within the institute and outside the institute to ensure the effective implementation of HEA/SEA;
Provide recommendations on roles and functions and detailed protocol how to ensure the effective implementation of HEA/SEA;
Present the elaborated draft regulatory policy documents (guidelines, methodology, procedures and quality criteria) to the Center and solicit feedback from key stakeholders;
Finalize the elaborated documents based on solicited feedback;
Prepare an HIA for two or three practical cases (that will be submitted to the Center during the consultancy period) with active involvement of NCDC staff to instruct on the practical application of the elaborated documents;
Facilitate two workshops at the national level (one workshop on main findings of the desk review and consultations, and the second workshop on elaborated regulatory policy documents and recommendation with participation of relevant governmental institutions, non-governmental organizations and independent experts);
Prepare the training module and conduct two trainings for the representatives of center’s local staff and relevant stakeholders on practical application of HIA within the SEA based on the elaborated policy documents and the concrete cases;
Prepare the final consultancy report covering all the activities undertaken, the completed accomplishment and recommendations for future implementation.

Deliverables and payment modality:

The payment schedule is given below and will be made upon satisfactory completion/submission and approval of the deliverables by the supervisor:

Situation analysis report; Review of the international good practices of preparing the HIA within SEA; Gap analysis for effective implementation of the HIA; Workshop with key stakeholders to present the main findings of the first mission: due by end of September 2019; 20% of the consultancy fee;
Draft and adopted guidelines, methodology, procedures, quality criteria; Prepares set of recommendations: mandatory EU standards to be transposed and implemented, institutional arrangements within the Ministry and coordination mechanism with partner organizations, including roles and functions and detailed protocol effectively to implement HEA/SEA; Possible legislative amendments; Internal workshop with NCDC to discuss the elaborated documents; Finalized the regulatory policy documents for preparing the HIA/SEA: due by mid-November 2019; 40% of the consultancy fee;
Prepared assessment and reports for two or three practical cases with active involvement of NCDC; Prepare high level budget estimates/ future expenditures, so called development of a costing module, what amount of finance may require from health sector in order to conduct strategic environmental assessment in 2020 based on preliminary list of projects; Prepared trainings module and conducted trainings on HIA within SEA; Training report containing information on the accomplishment and scope of work as well as respective recommendations based on observations; Workshop with key stakeholders to present the final documents; Final consultancy report covering the activities undertaken, the completed accomplishment and recommendations for future implementation: due by end of December 2019; 40% of the consultancy fee.

Management Arrangements:

The International Consultant will work under the overall supervision of the Governance Reform Fund (GRF) Project Manager and the direct supervision of the GRF Environmental Coordinator. The expert will have close working relations with representatives of the NCDC and other governmental institutions during the process of developing the regulatory policy documents with the aim of ensuring the overall vision and priorities of the GoG are taken into consideration.

The service provider will be directly responsible to, reporting to, seeking approval from, and obtaining certificate of acceptance of outputs from the above-mentioned institutions. In addition, the respective GRF team will be responsible for sharing relevant documents, contact details and other necessary information with the service provider.

Competencies

Corporate competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Understanding of the mandate and the role of UNDP would be an asset;
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.

Functional competencies:

Strong communication and analytical skills;
Demonstrated skills in drafting reports;
Ability to work under pressure with several tasks and various deadlines;
Actively generates creative, practical approaches and solutions to overcome challenging situations;
Excellent writing, presentation/public speaking skills;
A pro-active approach to problem-solving;
Computer literacy.

Leadership and Self-Management skills:

Builds strong relationships with the working group and with the project partners; focuses on impact and results for the project partners and responds positively to feedback;
Cooperates with working group effectively and demonstrates strong conflict resolution skills;
Consistently approaches work with energy, positivity and a constructive attitude;
Demonstrates strong influencing and facilitation skills;
Remains calm, in control and good humored under pressure;
Demonstrates openness to change, new ideas and ability to manage ambiguity;
Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
Demonstrates ability to transfer knowledge and competencies;
Is able to work independently and hurdle competing priorities.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Bachelor’s degree in public policy/social science/Healthcare management/environmental health management/health, safety and environment management or other relevant fields (minimum requirement: Bachelor’s degree - 9 points; Master’s degree – additional 1 point).

Experience:

At least five years of hands-on experience in preparing HIAs within SEAs (minimum qualification requirement: 5 years - 13 points; more than 5 years – additional 2 points);
At least four years of hands-on experience in the elaboration of specific guidelines/methodologies/procedures/ criteria related to HIA/SEA (minimum qualification requirement: 4 years - 13 points; more than 4 years – additional 2 points);
Experience in elaborating the institutional arrangement within governmental institutions responsible on HIA/SEA will be an asset (5 points);
Proven knowledge of EU standards related to HIA/SEA;
Proven experience and knowledge of HIA/SEA implementation procedures;
Experience of working with the public-sector organization will be an asset;
Experience of working in Georgia and/or knowledge of the region’s context is an asset (5 points).

Language requirements:

Excellent English language skills (both written and oral).

Evaluation:
Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis method: Offerors will be evaluated against combination of technical and financial criteria. Maximum obtainable score is 100, out of which the total score for technical criteria equals to 70 (desk review - 50 points, interview - 20 points) and for financial criteria – to 30. Offerors that do not meet Minimum Qualification Criteria will be automatically rejected, while the rest will form up the long list. The offerors who obtain minimum 35 points as a result of the desk review will be invited for the interview. Offerors who pass 70% threshold, i.e. obtain minimum 14 points, as a result of the interview will be requested the financial proposal.

Financial Proposal:
The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the ToR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount. Maximum 30 points will be assigned to the lowest price offer. All other price offers will be scored using the formula (inverse proportion): Financial score X = 30* the lowest price offer/suggested price offer. All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal as well.