Background

UNDP and the Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning (MoEPP) are implementing the project “Strengthening institutional and technical Macedonian capacities to enhance transparency in the framework of the Paris Agreement” (CBIT PROJECT). As the project title indicates, the immediate objective of the project is to meet enhanced transparency requirements as defined in Article 13 of the Paris Agreement by strengthening institutional and technical capacity for measuring and reporting on emissions, mitigation and adaptation activities, and support received. The UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol and the Paris Agreement call for financial assistance from parties with more financial resources to those that are less endowed and more vulnerable. Climate finance is needed for mitigation, because large-scale investments are required to significantly reduce or sequester emissions. Climate finance is equally important for adaptation, as significant financial resources are needed to adapt to the adverse effects and reduce the impacts of a changing climate.

As a non-Annex I Party to the UNFCCC and a developing country Party to the Paris Agreement, North Macedonia receives financial assistance to support reporting. Tracking and monitoring climate finance in the country refers to local, national or transnational financing, drawn from public, private and alternative sources of financing, that seeks to support mitigation and adaptation actions addressing climate change, gives information on how much climate finance has the country received and how much has the it invested in climate actions.

The Third Biennial Update Report on Climate Change provides an overview of the support received in 2018 and 2019. The “Finance, technology and capacity building needs and support received” (2019) report gives an overview of the support received in many respects, the channels through which it has been received (bilateral, multilateral or other), the type of funding (grant, credit, capital, etc.), the sectoral structure in which the assistance is targeted, the purpose of funding (mitigation, adaptation or mixing), and how much is climate-specific (CS) or climate-relevant (CR).

Climate Budget Tagging (CBT) is a tool for monitoring and tracking of climate-related expenditures in the national budget system, accepted and recognized by the constituent bodies of the OECD (OECD Research Collaborative on Tracking Private Climate Finance; and OECD Development Assistance Committee). It provides comprehensive data on climate-relevant spending, enabling government to make informed decisions and prioritize climate investments. CBT enables public scrutiny on government and donors’ spending on tackling climate change issues strengthening accountability and transparency.

With the entry of North Macedonia into the EU, the country will automatically assume obligations to provide climate action support to under-developed countries and to apply stricter reporting criteria. An international consultant shall be contracted to set-up and operationalize national climate budget tagging system based on the recommendations provided in the Macedonian 3rd BUR, thus assisting the country to collect and report data on domestic resources allocated for climate change. In addition, the consultant will be expected to establish criteria for determination of climate change related programmes / projects / activities and the most adequate methodology for regular collection of data and information on national / local resources allocated for climate change, utilizing a CBT tool for monitoring and tracking of climate-related expenditures in the national budget system.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective of the Assignment

The objective of the assignment is to set-up and operationalize national Climate Budget Tagging system based on the recommendations provided in the Macedonian 3rd BUR, that will assist the country to collect and report data on domestic resources allocated for climate change.

Scope of Work

The consultant will undertake the following tasks:

• Familiarize with the existing national documents relevant to this assignment (Criteria for determination of climate finance, International and domestic climate change finances - Summary report (2018 – 2019), Finance, technology and capacity building needs and support received ) or good practice from EU member states;
• Prepare an assessment of the current capacities of institutions for undertaking and implementing climate change budgeting, and provide recommendations for strengthening the capacities of the key national institutions;
• Adjust to the Macedonian context the Climate Budget Tagging methodology for collection of data and information on national / local resources allocated for climate change;
• Make specific recommendations for improving data collection and analysis related to the budget allocations for climate change-related programmes / projects / activities;
• Prepare a Roadmap for adopting Climate Budget Tagging in state and local governments budgets;
• Prepare a Policy Brief on the main findings and recommendations for the policymakers;
• Develop a Model for Climate Budget Tagging;
• Make country specific Methodological Guidelines on Climate Tagging of the National and Local Public Budget for monitoring and tracking climate-related expenditures;
• Present the Roadmap to relevant stakeholders (on-line, using zoom or other relevant tools);
• Deliver 2 trainings on Climate Budgeting.

EXPECTED OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES:

The consultancy is expected to deliver the following outputs:

• Rapid Institutional Capacity Assessment for Climate Budget Tagging (10 Dec 2020)
• Draft Roadmap for adopting Climate Budget Tagging (15 Dec 2020)
• Final Roadmap for adopting Climate Budget Tagging (Jan 2021)
• Climate Budget Tagging Model (Feb 2021)
• Methodological Guidelines on Climate Tagging of the National and Local Public Budget (April 2021)
• Trainings for Stakeholders (May-June 2021)

Institutional arrangments

The consultant will work under direct supervision by the Project Manager, and will closely collaborate with the UNFCCC Focal Point and national consultant on climate budget tagging and the Ministry of Finance. 

The Consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment.

All reports shall be submitted in English.

Duration of the Work

The duration of this work is an estimated up to 50 working days in the period Oct 2020 – June 2021.

Duty station and travel

The assignment will be home based. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, all consultation and coordination shall be held on-line.

Competencies

• Ability to work independently with little or no supervision;
• Ability to work with a team;
• Ability to work and deliver under short deadlines;
• Excellent communications and facilitation skills;
• Excellent analytical and negotiation skills;
• Excellent public speaking and presentation skills;
• Fluency in English.

Required Skills and Experience

The selected candidates shall possess:

• University degree in finance, environmental economics, environmental sciences, environmental engineering, social sciences or other related fields; Higher education shall be an asset.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in Public Administration, Business Administration, Organizational Development, Economics, Public Finance Management or related fields;

• At least 2 (two) similar assignments in nature and scope (budget tagging, sectoral budget reviews, climate finance, climate public budgeting).

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF BEST OFFEr

The award of the contract shall be made to the offeror whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) Being responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) Having received the highest score based on the following weight of technical and financial criteria for solicitation as per the schedule below:

* Technical criteria weight: 70%

* Financial criteria weight: 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70%) in the technical evaluation shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

For the considered offers in the financial evaluation only, the lowest price offer will receive 30 points. The other offers will receive points in relation to the lowest offer, based on the following formula:

                  Lowest Bid

30     ×     -------------------

                Proposed Bid

The candidate will be awarded with the highest aggregate score based on technical and financial proposal.

Technical Criteria:

DOCUMENTS TO BE SUBMITTED

Interested offerors are invited submit the following documents/information to be considered:

1. Offeror’s letter, as per the following form LINK
2. Most updated CV with focus on required qualification as well as the contact details of at least three (3) professional references;
3. Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment,
4. Financial Proposal The financial proposal must be expressed in the form of a lumpsum all-inclusive cost, supported by breakdown of costs as per template provided in US Dollars for this consultancy.

The financial proposal must take into account various expenses that will be incurred during the contract, including: the daily professional fee; communications, utilities and consumables; life, health and any other insurance; risks and inconveniences related to work under hardship and hazardous conditions (e.g., personal security needs, etc.), when applicable; and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services under the contract such as the cost of mission travels, as applicable.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Step 1

1. Click on the "Apply now" button

2. Input your information in the appropriate sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume, and motivation (cover letter). You can type in, or paste your short Resume into the last box.

3. Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page. On the next page, you will be asked to upload other required documents listed in the step 2.

Step 2

Interested individual consultants must submit the documents/information listed in the “Documents to submit section” above.

The system will allow only one attachment. Therefore, please upload all required documents as one file.

Failing to submit any of these documents may result in disqualification of the application.

Please note that shortlisted candidates might be interviewed.

If the deliverables are not produced and delivered by the consultant to the satisfaction of UNDP as approved by the responsible Portfolio Manager, no payment will be made even if the consultant has invested man/days to produce and deliver such deliverables.