Historique

Under a collaborative work plan between the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Thailand is one of eleven developing countries participating in a global programme on “Integrating Agriculture into National Adaptation Plans (NAPs-Ag)” with funding support by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature, Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB). As part of a 3-year (2016-2018) work plan endorsed by a national Project Steering Committee, capacity building and technical assistance is being provided through UNDP and FAO to the Government of Thailand to better integrate climate risk within existing agricultural sector planning and budgeting processes. The program outcomes aim to safeguard agricultural GDP and related livelihoods as well as strengthen and reinforce a broader parallel national adaptation planning (NAP) process.

In Thailand, the work is steered by a Technical Task Force chaired by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC) and a project implementation unit reporting to the Office of Agricultural Economics (OAE) within MoAC. The NAP process, which has been underway since 2015, falls under the overall mandate and coordination responsibility of the Office of Natural Resources & Environmental Policy and Planning (ONEP).

The main NAPs-Ag programme components and objectives identified (both global and corresponding country-based priorities) are as follows:

• Technical capacity and institutions on NAPs strengthened (Global) /Strengthening Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MoAC) Capacity & Knowledge on Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) (Thailand);
• Integrated Road Maps for NAP (Global) /Mainstreaming CCA into Planning & Budgeting Cycle (Thailand);
• Evidence-Base for CCA Improved through Enhanced M&E Frameworks (Global and Thailand);
• Advocacy and knowledge-sharing on NAPs promoted (Global) Lessons learned feed into Thailand NAP development process and global efforts to support NAPs (Thailand).

During the inception phase (2016), the NAPs-Ag project provided support to MoAC to develop a revised five-year Strategic Plan for Climate Change for the Agricultural Sector (2017-2021). In addition, it undertook a stock-take existing economic valuation and investment appraisal methods as well as a review of functions, practices, and capacities within MOAC to integrate climate change adaptation (CCA) effectively into sector planning and budgeting. These have paved a direction for how programmes/projects could be formulated to better respond to climate risks. However, in order to move towards an effective implementation of the Strategic Plan, a more detailed action plan with prioritized programmes/projects is required, given the limited government budget that is allocated to MoAC on an annual basis. In this regard, a decision-making support tool for screening and ranking potential CCA actions is essential for MoAC to identify and prioritize CCA programmes/projects for the agricultural sector.

The project is now seeking the services of an international consultant to work jointly with a national consultant to develop a suitable tool for screening and prioritizing CCA actions. The consultants will also help facilitate MoAC discussions on action plan formulation in line with the new sector strategy and provide hands-on capacity building and training to MoAC officials in order to strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the key principles and applications underlining the identified CCA screening and prioritizing tool. 

Devoirs et responsabilités

Objective of the assignment: 

The main objective of this assignment is to develop a tool for screening and prioritizing CCA programmes/projects appropriate for MoAC’s needs, based on the abovementioned situation and stakeholder consultation. A secondary objective is to provide hands-on capacity building and training to MoAC government officials to strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the key principles and applications of multi-criteria analysis as a tool for supporting decision-making on screening and prioritizing CCA measures. For this assignment, UNDP Thailand is seeking an international expert with expertise in the appraisal, ranking and prioritization of potential climate actions to develop a tool and conduct hands-on capacity building activities.

 Scope of Work: 

Development of a Suitable Tool for Screening and Prioritizing CCA programme/projects

• Review the revised Strategic Plan for Climate Change for the Agricultural Sector (2017-2021), Agricultural Development Plan (2017-2021), stock-take report on institutional processes, systems, and capacities for CCA planning and budgeting in MOAC, and existing vulnerability assessment studies related to climate change impacts on agricultural sector in Thailand.
• Identify, assess, and compare internationally recognized decision-making tools and methods based on a Multi-Criteria Analysis (MCA) approach for CCA upon which to recommend the most suitable tool for the context of MoAC screening and prioritizing
• Present recommendations and secure endorsement for the recommended tool to MoAC, UNDP, and FAO teams, outlining key advantages, limitations, principles, applications, data and resource/capacity requirements.
• Tailor parameters of mutually agreed decision-support tool for the purpose of applying in the CCA screening and prioritizing process, under a step-by-step process, and provide hands-on capacity building activities in tandem to this process.
• Develop an information database (e.g., a simple, user-friendly spreadsheet or software programme) to support sustainable use and application of the tool by relevant MoAC government officials, in particular the prioritization of CCA programmes and projects under the revised Strategic Plan for Climate Change for the Agricultural Sector for which further investment appraisal work is envisioned to be undertaken (expected Q3 of 2017—Q1 2018).
• Provide guidance to a national consultant on a development of a user manual for future training and application purposes.
• Produce a summary report that could feed into a knowledge product for other countries in the global programme that describes the overall conceptual development process, steps undertaken, outputs achieved, capacity gaps and institutional constraints observed, and recommendations for institutionalizing the process within MoAC.

Training of MoAC government officials

• Build on-the-job knowledge of relevant MOAC officials as part of the process of identifying and evaluating optimal CCA screening/prioritization methods and tools for Thailand.
• Subsequent to the successful development and application of the tool mentioned above, prepare training materials based on the identified tool for both MoAC and non MoAC government officials from various departments responsible for planning, project formulation, and budgeting, including relevant academia and researchers;
• Conduct one training workshop as required of approximately 2 days’ duration and agreed in consultation with MOAC and UNDP/Thailand.
• Produce a summary report describing an overall outcome of the training activities, approach used, capacity gaps, and areas for further capacity development. Sensitize senior decision makers on the identified tool and how it can assist them to structure, define, and prioritize CCA actions under MoAC Strategic Plan for Climate Change.

Work with the National Consultant and Quality Assurance of Reports

• Work jointly with the national consultant to prepare materials, reports, and training activities specified above.
• Guide a national consultant on a development of a user manual for future training and application purposes.
• Provide capacity building to the national consultant to enable them to support government agencies in Thailand after this assignment ends (on the job training). Supervise and contribute to hands-on capacity building and coaching to illustrate the screening and prioritizing tools, concepts and their application to day-to-day tasks.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

The expected outputs from this assignment are;

• Deliverable 1 : Proposed Work plan and methodology by 15 March 2017;
• Deliverable 2 : Summary report on the development and application of the identified tool by 30 May 2017;
• Deliverable 3 : Summary report on all coaching/training of MoAC government officials and recommendations to strengthen functional capacities in sector by 15 July 2017.

Institutional Arrangement:

The consultant will work under the overall supervision of the project management team of the NAPs-Ag project in UNDP/Thailand, as well as in consultation with technical advisors from UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub.

Contract Duration: 1 March 2017 to 31 July 2017 (maximum 30 working days)

Duty Station: Home based with travels to Thailand.

Travel: Travel to Thailand is required whereby the consultant will make at least two visits to Thailand (5 working days in Thailand per trip). Payment of travel costs including tickets, living allowance, terminal expenses and other travel related cost should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel. The proposed air ticket will be reimbursed at actual but not exceeding the quotation from UNDP approved travel agent. The provided living allowance will not be exceeding UNDP DSA rates. Repatriation travel cost from home to duty station in Bangkok and return shall not be covered by UNDP.

Compétences

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills;
• Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities skills;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Ability to plan, organize, implement and report on work;
• Ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines;
• Proficiency in the use of office IT applications and internet in conducting research;
• Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
• Positive, constructive attitude to work;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education:

• Master’s degree in economics or closely related subjects;

Experience:

• Minimum 10 years of experience in environment economics, policy or planning, with deep technical expertise in project screening and prioritizing and economic analysis;
• Familiarity with decision making/prioritizing tools i.e. multi-criteria analysis and with concepts behind climate change adaptation;
• Experience in developing countries, particularly Asia-Pacific region, will be advantage;
• Proven ability to support the development of high quality knowledge and training materials, and to train technical teams
• Familiarity with government planning systems and institutional roles;
• Ability to interact with senior government officials;

Language:

• Fluency in English required.

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

The contract will be based on Lump Sum Amount.

 The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, travel costs, living allowance (if any work is to be done outside the IC´s duty station) and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment. The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables/outputs and as per below percentages:

• Deliverable 1 : Proposed Work plan and methodology - 20% of total contract amount;
• Deliverable 2 : Summary report on the development and application of the identified tool -  40% of total contract amount;
• Deliverable 3 : Summary report on all coaching/training of MoAC government officials and recommendations to strengthen functional capacities in sector - 40% of total contract amount.

In general, UNDP shall not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

In the event of unforeseeable travel not anticipated in this TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and the Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Evaluation Method and Criteria:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the Cumulative analysis.

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

• responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• having received the highest score out of set of weighted technical criteria (70%). and financial criteria (30%).

Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment. Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment.

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points)

• Criteria 1: Edication - max 10 points;
• Criteria 2: Experience in environment economics, policy or planning, with deep technical expertise in project screening and prioritizing and economic analysis - max 20 points;
• Criteria 3: Experience in developing countries, particularly Asia-Pacific region - max 20 points;
• Criteria 4: Proven ability to support the development of high quality knowledge and training materials, and to train technical teams - max 20 points.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Documentation required:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document:

• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided in Annex 2;
• Personal CV or P11, 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;
• Technical proposal, including the brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
• Financial proposal, as per template provided in Annex 2.

Incomplete proposals may not be considered.

Please click on the below link to download required documents:

http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=35540