UNDP Jobs - 96937- Senior Technical Advisor- 1 position, Level: SB 5/

Senior Technical Advisor- 1 position, Level: SB 5/ Peg 1 (Only for Nepalese Nationals)

Location :

Kathmandu, NEPAL

Type of Contract :

Other

Starting Date :

15-Apr-2021

Application Deadline :

06-Mar-21 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

Other

Duration of Initial Contract :

One year with possibility of extension

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

The High Mountain catchments of Nepal are particularly prone to drought, landslides and floods, due to coincidence of seasonal snow melt with the summer monsoon season. In these highly vulnerable mountain regions warming trends are increasing and the impacts are magnified by the extreme changes in altitude. Around 85% of rainfall occurs during the four monsoon months of June to September and results in extensive flooding annually. Climate change is intensifying the monsoon rainfall and increasing snow and glacial melt rates, which is contributing to increased frequency and severity of flood and landslide disasters which result in extensive economic, life and livelihood losses annually. At the other extreme, water scarcity and droughts also pose a threat to the agriculture-reliant livelihoods of these regions. Climate change is increasing the temporal and spatial variability of rainfall and runoff, thus intensifying the problem of excess water during the monsoon and water scarcity during the dry season, increasing economic damages to agriculture, property, and the environment, disrupting lives and livelihoods and threatening food security.

A long-term solution to this climate change problem is to rehabilitate and maintain functional integrity of watersheds that have critical functions of water storage and release, infiltration, drainage control, and soil moisture retention. Using watersheds as organizing units for planning and implementation of natural resource management and resilient livelihood development is an approach to effectively tackle an immediate and long-term climate risk reduction issues, in relation to floods and droughts. Taking watershed management concerns into consideration the proposed LDCF project on “Developing climate resilient livelihoods in the vulnerable watershed in Nepal” will embed Integrated Watershed Management approaches in Nepal through policy and practice at the national and sub-national levels. It will do so through establishing the legislative and institutional framework for integrated watershed management to address climate change induced hazards and introducing and scaling up integrated adaptive watershed management practices covering 844km2 of watershed areas and benefiting 121,606 vulnerable people. While the project interventions in the legislative and institutional frameworks will be at national and sub-national level, project investment in adaptive management practices will be done within sub-watersheds of the Dudh Koshi river basin which is the most vulnerable to floods and droughts.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision and guidance of the National Project Manager and direction of NPD the Senior Technical Advisor will have overall responsibility for technical leadership in activity planning, effective implementation with quality assurance of the Developing Climate Resilient Livelihoods in Vulnerable Watershed in Nepal.

Overall Roles and responsibilities:

In consultation with NPM, design and develop project interventions and a detailed annual work plan for the project including activities operation calendar;
Develop a detailed scope and methodology for all aspects of the project activities to be implemented over the project full duration;
Develop concrete picture on existing institutional arrangement, legislation and policies for Integrated Watershed Management (IWM) and propose concrete input to the development of new policies, standards, guidelines for development of climate change responsive national IWM framework;
Coordination and sequencing of tasks from a technical perspective; and manage the appropriate coordination with Technical working group members to seek the knowledge towards project benefit;
Prepare Terms of Reference, Requests for Proposals (RFP) for consultants and consulting firms, grantees, and assistance with the selection and recruitment process;
Establish the technical standards, and ensuring that established technical standards are applied;
Under the guidance of NPM, oversee the production of technical and non-technical guidance documents; support production of project documents/knowledge products with technical quality assurance;
Define the broad scope, data standards and data protocols of the project; including quality assurance of any project dissemination products;
Under the guidance of NPM, provide technical inputs to every aspects of the project as necessary;
In consultation with NPM, provide necessary guidance/advice to project staff, experts, governmental/non governmental staffs, national partners, assist in resolution of technical issues/problems;
Play an active role to import the improved/innovative technologies in the project; provide advise on the most appropriate techniques and technologies to apply;
Take the lead role/active role/responsibilities for the design and conduct of all necessary surveys (including community surveys), activity execution, data collection data management and data use to underpin technical robust solutions;
Under the guidance of NPM, oversees the development of community engagement, mobilization and sensitization plans and activities;
Provide inputs to identify training needs for practitioners, and training approaches including identification, assessment and evaluation of training providers;
Provide strong support to NPM in the preparation of project reports, annual reviews, quarterly reports etc;
Technical oversight of the knowledge management and learning activities of the project;
Archives and documents all activities and lessons learned;
Support the development and implementation of GESI Audits;
As required, contribute to provision of technical support for the design and development of programmes in line with core programming principles including Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI).

Competencies

Corporate Competencies

Demonstrates integrity by modelling the Government of Nepal and UN’s values, norms and ethical standards;
Serves and promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Good inter-personal skills and prompt reporting;
Clear and upfront communication skills;
Treats all people fairly without favouritism;
Organized and good with following-up on pending issues; meets deadlines;
Promote learning and knowledge management/sharing;
Focuses on delivering results by taking calculated-risks and problem-solving approach;
Fair and transparent decision making; regularly shares information with team members;
Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development.

Functional Competencies

Familiarity of multi-hazards risk assessment, integrated watershed management planning, local level disaster / climate risk management planning, community based early warning system and drought risk management;
Demonstrate knowledge and experience in working on policy development and local governments including technical approaches on integrated watershed management;
In depth knowledge and experience of international best practice in all aspects of integrated watershed management
Demonstrates strong problem solving, numerical and analytical skills;
Excellent oral communication skills and excellent written communication skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesize project outputs and relevant findings for the preparation of quality papers and reports;
Maturity and confidence in dealing with senior and high ranking members of national and international institutions, government and nongovernment; ability to deal with politically sensitive issues;
Results driven, ability to work under pressure and to meet strict deadlines; remains calm and in control under pressure;
Shares knowledge and experience actively, mentors project staffs;
Ability to convey difficult issues and positions to senior officials proactively seek guidance and make clear recommendations to NPM and NPD;
Actively generates creative, practical approaches and solutions to overcome challenging situations;
Experienced in delivering training and other needed capacity/ institutional building support to a wide range of stakeholders including financial institutions;
Demonstrates excellent organizational and administrative skills;
Identifies and communicates relevant information for a variety of audiences for advocating UNDP’s mandate;
Analyzes and selects materials for strengthening strategic alliances with partners and stakeholders;
Understands and applies fundamental concepts and principles of a professional discipline or technical specialty relating to the position;
Possesses basic knowledge of organizational policies and procedures relating to the position and applies them consistently in work tasks;
Demonstrates good knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments;
Effectively networks with partners seizing opportunities to build strategic alliances relevant to UNDP’s mandate and strategic agenda;
Assesses project performance to identify success factors and incorporates best practices into project work;
Monitors specific stages of projects/programme implementation;
Researches linkages across programme activities to identify critical points of integration.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

At least Master’s in Environmental Science, Environmental engineering, Watershed Management, Forestry, Natural Resource Management, or any other relevant areas.

Experience

7 years of professional experience in the context of watershed management, climate change and disaster risk reduction, natural resources management, watershed management, including work experience in Nepal;
Demonstrate knowledge and experience in working on policy development and local governments including technical approaches on integrated watershed management, drought risk management and community based early warning system;
Experience of the development of flood and drought risk management intervention strategies and measures;
Strong networking skills and demonstrated ability to liaise and involve partners including government officials, scientific institutions, NGOs and private sector;
In depth knowledge and experience of international best practice in all aspects of integrated watershed management;
Experience with international organizations/projects/programs;
Excellent analytical and problem solving skills;
Excellent writing, presentation/public speaking skills;
A proactive approach to problem-solving;
Familiarity with UNDP, GEF and UN systems desirable.

Language Requirements

Good knowledge of English, fluency in the language of the duty station.

Other

Proficiency in computer application and information technology and spatial analysis tools.