Background
- The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is a financial operating entity of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which is established to contribute to the collective efforts of the international community to combat climate change. The GCF plans to fund programmatic approaches that provide an opportunity for a transformational shift in countries’ climate resilience and green economies, prioritizing a balanced approach between adaptation and mitigation.
With the intention to seek funding from the GCF, UNDP is in the process of engaging countries and designing a climate change mitigation programme titled “Solar for Health Programme: Enabling the provision of sustainable low-carbon energy services to public health facilities in Sub-Saharan Africa”. The proposed programme will have three interrelated outputs: (1) Design and implementation of Performance-Based Payment (PBP) models for solar PV solutions to provide clean, affordable and reliable energy services to health facilities; (2) Strengthening policy and regulatory environment to enable off-grid energy solutions for health facilities; and (3) Establishment of a Regional Knowledge Platform on Climate Change and Health.
In this context, UNDP is seeking a Technical Expert for the Solar for Health Programme. A national consultant is required to (i) provide technical inputs and coordinate data collection to contribute to tailoring the regional programme design to the specific country needs, (ii) coordinate stakeholder consultations/working group to ensure the relevant stakeholders and decision-makers are kept up-to-date about the programme development and seek their inputs; and (iii) support the UNDP global and country team in the formulation of the GCF programme concept note in line with UNDP guidance. UNDP will mobilize a team to support the preparation of the concept note package, including Global Technical Advisor on Energy and Finance, Technical Specialist for Climate Change, (international) Technical Expert for Solar for Health Energy Programme Formulation, Gender Specialist, Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialist, Financial and Economic Modeling Specialist, and other consultants and UNDP staff members, with which the consultant is expected to collaborate to ensure different elements of the programme design are reflected in the concept note. S/he will report to UNDP Country Office Ms Irish Goroh project coordinator on the Solar for Health project in Namibia, with second reporting to the Head of Programmes Ms Martha Naanda.
Duties and Responsibilities
Stakeholder engagement
1. Identify relevant stakeholders for the Solar for Health Programme and coordinate their engagement needed for the successful design and implementation of the programme in the country in a close collaboration with UNDP country office;
2. Organise, coordinate and convene working group sessions (online or in-person, as the the COVID-19nsituation allows) to enable exchange on the programme development, buy-in and validation by the stakeholders at the national level;
3. Take minutes from each working group meeting, ensuring circulation to the relevant stakeholders after each meetings;
4. Draft detailed stakeholder engagement report, summarizing all working group sessions and key decisions and outcomes;
5. Prepare stakeholder engagement plan for the preparation of the full funding proposal as well as the implementation of the programme in the country, building on the lessons learned from the initial working group sessions, including actors from the private sector, energy service providers, utility company/ies different types of public health facilities that might be targeted by this programme, civil societies (including those representing women, youth), government (ministry of health, energy, finance, rural energy agency and other as applicable) and others;
6. Initiate and manage communication with the country stakeholders on the programme matters, including with the GCF national designated authority, as per the guidance from UNDP country office or other UNDP staff;
7. Map out the roles and responsibilities of the different government and other stakeholders to manage the budget for and the provision of energy services to health facilities in the country;
8. Identification of potential donors/partners, outreach and sensitization of stakeholders/presentation of the programme to potential donors/partners under the guidance from UNDP country office and mapping out/capturing potential co-financing opportunities and other types of collaborations from the donor consultations.
Provide and coordinate technical inputs for the development of the programme
1. Conduct and coordinate technical analysis, review of existing documentation in dialogue with UNDP and experts on the topics related to the deployment of solar energy solutions for health facilities, including undertaking an options analysis, collecting and compiling country specific data and information on the existing health and solar energy activities, availability, supply and demand of the targeted populations and year-round solar energy solutions for the targeted sites as per the UNDP staff guidance;
2. Draft the implementation arrangements (in a form of a diagram) for the programme implementation specifically in the targeted country, outlining the (legal) relations between all involved relations and the fund flow;
3. Compile and refine relevant project documentation, as per the guidance from UNDP staff;
4. Ensure that the design of project concept takes into account GCF investment criteria at the country level such as impact potential; paradigm shift potential; sustainable development potential; country needs; country ownership and cost-effectiveness;
5. Ensure that all documentation prepared at the country level is evidence-based and has all the necessary references to establish proof of concept and feasibility;
6. Ensure environmental and social safeguard principles and gender mainstreaming elements are considered
7. Support organisation of missions/site visits for experts, if applicable.
Competencies
Corporate:
- 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;
- Ability to work with a multi-cultural and diverse team.
Functional:
- Excellent report writing skills;
- Good inter-personal communication skills, flexibility;
- Demonstrated strong coordination and facilitation skills;
- Strong interpersonal skills;
- Demonstrated ability to work independently and deliver high quality outputs in a timely manner.
Professionalism:
- Capable of working in a high- pressure environment with sharp and frequent deadlines, managing many tasks simultaneously;
- Excellent analytical and organizational skills;
- Exercises the highest level of responsibility and be able to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner.
Teamwork:
- Works well in a team;
- Projects a positive image and is ready to take on a wide range of tasks;
- Focuses on results for the client;
- Welcomes constructive feedback.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- At least a Master Degree in renewable energy, environment, climate change, health, or related disciplines.
Experiences:
- Minimum 10 years of experience in renewable energy, health sector and research activities.
- Minimum 5 years of experiences in project development and technical analysis in the field of renewable energy (especially solar energy).
- Proven experience working with international organizations, and/or development financial institutions in the development of renewable energy and/or health programmes.
- Proven experience in stakeholder engagement processes.
- Excellent written communication skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesize relevant collected data and findings.
- Excellent understanding of the renewable energy market and developments in the country
Languages:
- Fluency in English with excellent written and oral communication skills
Recommended Presentation of Offer;
- Completed Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
- Personal CV or a P11 Personal History form, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
- Brief description of approach to work/technical proposal of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a proposed methodology on how they will approach and complete the assignment (max 1 page).
Financial proposal:
Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided (based on the number of working days mentioned ToR.
Note:
- Please group all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows uploading maximum one document.
- Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply;
- Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials.
Incomplete applications will be excluded from further consideration.
To view the full Terms of Reference (TOR) and download letter of confirmation of interest and P11 form, please access the UNDP Procurement Notice site on the below link:
https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=71052
Application process:
Applicants are requested to submit price offers indicating the total cost of the assignment (including daily fees, per diem and travel costs). All application should be done via the online portal and must not be emailed to the Procurement email address.
UNDP applies a fair and transparent selection process that will take into account the competencies/skills of the applicants as well as their financial proposals.
Applications will be screened against qualifications and competencies specified above through a desk review.