Background

The Lesotho UNDP Country Office and the Government of Lesotho will for the next five years (2015-2020) implement a GEF-financed project “Reducing vulnerability from climate change in Foothills, lower Lowlands and Senqu River”. The objective of the project is to mainstream climate risk considerations into the Land Rehabilitation Programme of Lesotho for improved ecosystem resilience and reduced vulnerability of livelihoods to climate shocks. The project will support the integration of climate change adaptation into national and sub-national land use planning and decision-making.

Climate change – including rising temperatures, and a greater frequency of droughts and extreme rain events – is negatively affecting local communities living in rural parts of Lesotho. The fragile mountain ecosystems of Lesotho provide a range of benefits that increase the resilience of such communities to climate change. These include regulating services such as storing and retaining water as well as mitigating floods. However, these ecosystems are characterised by widespread degradation as a result of unsustainable land management and exploitation of natural resources. The effects of this ecosystem degradation in Lesotho include loss of vegetative cover and extreme soil erosion. Such effects reduce the capacity of these ecosystems to protect vulnerable communities from the increasingly negative impacts of climate change that are threatening their livelihoods.

The preferred solution to the climate change problem facing Lesotho is to strengthen the resilience of climate-vulnerable communities by: i) enhancing the capacity of government institutions and local communities to mainstream climate change risks into policies, plans and programmes; ii) implementing climate-smart ecosystem rehabilitation and management measures using a community/household based approach; and iii) establishing a system for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of various approaches to climate change adaptation to inform a process of adaptive management.

Project goal and objective

The project objective is to mainstream climate risk considerations into the Land Rehabilitation Programme of Lesotho for improved ecosystem resilience and reduced vulnerability of livelihoods to climate shocks.

Project Outcomes

There are five project outcomes which are intended to achieve the project objective, as follows:  

• Increased technical capacity of the Ministry of Forestry, Range and Soil Conservation and relevant Departments to apply up-to-date climate science for the management of evolving risks and uncertainty linked to climate change.
• Communities empowered with skills, knowledge, partnerships and institutions for managing natural resources to reduce vulnerability to climate change and increase resilience of natural and social capital (over 7000 households with potential for upscaling to cover 20,000).
• Over 50,000 hectares of land across the Foothills, Lowlands and the Lower Senqu River Basin rehabilitated through operationalization of the climate-smart Land rehabilitation programme.
• National strategies for rangelands and wetlands management strengthened by the integration of climate change/variability and ecosystem management.
• NSDP mainstreamed into local development strategies to support the constituency-wide adoption of the climate smart land rehabilitation programme.

Context of the Required Service

The outcomes 1, 2,3, 4 and 5 would be addressed by the proposed consultancy services. Increased technical capacity required by the Project Staff as well as the Staff of the Implementing Partner would be provided in addressing issues related to management of Natural Resources and at the same time application of best practices through operationalization of the climate smart land rehabilitation methods. The Consultant would need to review reports prepared by consultants engaged by the Project.

Duties and Responsibilities

Project Implementation:

• Assist the Project Manager with drawing up of Terms of Reference (ToRs) for technical consultancies (including policy revisions as and when necessary);
• In Collaboration with the Project Manager, the CTA will contribute to the development of the technical contract of internationally acceptable standard and assist with selection process, approach and recommend best candidates;
• Provide technical peer function to sub-contractors; provide training and backstopping where necessary;
• Provide quality assurance and technical review of project outputs;
• Support the Project Manager during project implementation in the provision of technical supervisory function to the work carried out by national and international consultants hired by the project.

Project Management and Monitoring:

• Undertake technical review of project outputs (e.g. studies and assessments);
• Provide quality checks of the work of consultants;
• Assist in monitoring the technical quality of project M&E systems (including Annual Work Plans (AWPs), project indicators and targets);
• Assist the Project Manager in the preparation of the Project Implementation Reporting/Mid-term Review processes and reporting, technical reports, quarterly financial reports for submission to UNDP, the GEF and Government Departments, as required;
• Provide advice on best suitable approaches and methodologies for achieving project targets and objectives, suggest mitigation measures where appropriate.

Communication:

• CTA will assist in knowledge management, improved communications and awareness raising and advice on the documentation of lessons derived from project implementation and make recommendations as necessary for more effective implementation and coordination of project activities;
• Facilitate the development of strategic regional and international partnerships for the exchange of skills and information related to climate change adaptation;
• Facilitate the development of communication for results project documents including factsheets and programme reports.

Competencies

• Planning and timely delivery of work; 
• Excellent people’s management;
• Persuasive and sound reasoning ability;
• Strong decision-making skills;
• Excellent leadership skills;
• Sound Communication skills both written and spoken;
• Strong technical, managerial and programmatic skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education: 

• At least an advanced MSc post-graduate degree in climate change adaptation or a related discipline such as disaster risk reduction, environmental management, natural resources management, agriculture and water resources management.

Experience:

• A minimum of 10 years’ international experience in a senior technical lead position with planning and management of environmental and/or natural resources management programmes in developing countries;
• A minimum of 10 years in a senior technical position involved in institutional strengthening and capacity building;
• Demonstrated experience of working with climate information systems and adaptation planning processes would be an asset;
• Previous similar experience in provision of technical support to complex projects and Global Environment Fund (GEF) financed project will be an added asset;
• Experience in Southern Africa is a requirement;
• Must possess good communication and computer skills;
• Experience of working and collaborating with governments would be beneficial.

Language:

• Fluent in English.

Application Procedures:

• submit P11 (Template in the below link);
• submit Confirmation of Interest and Availability ( Template in the below link);
• submit Methodology - Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable candidate for the assigment and detailed methodology on how they will approach and complete the assignment;
• TORs with more details of the assignment can be viewed in the below link.

http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=168162

Submission E-mail : ls.procurement@undp.org