Historique

The exposure of low income countries to natural disasters is increasing, largely because of factors ranging from growing concentration of population and assets in risky areas, to increasing climate variability, economic costs of slow-onset disasters like drought, rapid on-set of disasters like earth quakes.

Thus, Small Holder rain-fed Farmers and Pastoralists have very limited means of reducing their sensitivity to climate changes, extreme weather, market adjustments and other risks associated with these issues, threatening their very livelihood systems and reducing their options. Without sufficient earnings and stable capital bases, the SHFPs need to be supported to apply alternative proactive approaches to increase their productivity and to build their resilience to risks and deterioration to extreme poverty.

In Uganda, resilience building for SHFPs is also challenged by other factors apart from climate variability. Among these is limited access to micro-finance because this population segment often lives in remote locations that are not services regularly by financial outlets, which makes cost of lending and cost of borrowing un-necessarily high. Moreover, the available micro finance service providers have strict collateral requirements, which pushes farmers to engage with informal lending sources, at very high interest rates and operating within a largely unregulated legal framework.

In addition, the insurance industry is currently not adequately capable of covering the risks faced by Small Holder rain-fed Farmers and Pastoralists, despite the high potential for agricultural insurance in the country. Therefore, as climate related risks become more prevalent in scale and intensity, premium costs are likely to increase with a net effect of leaving this very vulnerable segment of the population trapped in climate poverty. Whereas Uganda can provide weather forecasts and climate scenarios to help with drought and flood early warning, freely available satellite images do not yet have fine enough resolution to be used to validate insurance claims, which is likely to make pay-outs contestable and insurance schemes unattractive.

Finally, Small Holder rain-fed Farmers and Pastoralists have limited access to farming technologies that can help them adapt to climate change and build resilience to climate change. Linkages with research and financial services to acquire the technologies, and the would-be supportive policies and legislation to facilitate the adoption of adaptation technologies with financial services is inadequate.

Devoirs et responsabilités

The overall objective of the assignment is to develop a concept note, also known as a project identification form (PIF) to address the gaps in climate risk finance for small holder rain-fed farmers and pastoralists in Uganda.

Scope of work:

With support from an inter-ministerial Technical Steering Committee the Consultant will in this assignment deliver on the following:

• Discuss and compile critical information obtained from Government counterparts including National Planning Authority and Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development on key vertical funds, line Ministries, UNDP and other multilaterals on the key priorities for the government in the context of the proposed project idea;
• Prepare the project’s problem and barrier analysis and ensure it is vetted by local and external experts;
• Identify key elements of a potential project on managing climate risks for Small Holder rain-fed Farmers and Pastoralists in Uganda underlying the proposed theory of change (i.e. the incremental benefits to be provided by the project and the alternative scenarios);
• Assist the GoU to determine the project’s system boundaries and scope;
• Draft concept based on guidance by UNDP Team Leader Environment, Climate and Disaster Resilience;
• Draft feasibility assessment (including baseline information to support the proposed project scope) and incorporate findings from evaluation reports of initiatives that are relevant for the proposed project;
• Support the identification of key partners, Baseline programs, relationships between the proposed project and other government programs and potential co-financing;
• Identify key risks including environmental, social, political, gender or otherwise;
• Identify opportunities to advance gender considerations in climate risk financing;
• Identify key costs and benefits (including market and non-market benefits) of the proposal project;
• Identify locations for proposed interventions in consultation with national counterparts;
• Identify and cost project outcomes, outputs, activities and inputs in broad terms;
• Propose coordination mechanisms with other climate finance projects. 

The Technical Steering Committee:

An inter-ministerial Technical Steering Committee (TSP) will be established by Government and UNDP Country Office to guide and assist the PIF preparatory process. The Team will be responsible for coordinating, organizing, and managing the concept development process, including liaison with partners, backstopping and providing relevant documentation and feedback to the consultants.

The Technical Steering Committee (TSC) will be set up comprising of high level representatives of the key Ministries related to Climate change adaptation and Mitigation, Finance servicing institution and the Private Sector actors. It will provide high-level policy guidance and orientation to the project. The representative of the Ministry of Water and Environment and Ministry of finance will co-chair the TSC. Representatives from the following organizations/entities will form the Steering Committee:

• Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development;
• National Agricultural Research Organization;
• Ministry of Water and Environment;
• Ministry of Agriculture Animal Industries and Fisheries;
• Representative of Civil Society Organizations;
• Representative of Private sector (particularly Uganda Insurers Association and Uganda Bankers Association).

The Principal tasks of the Steering Committee are the following:

• Provide high level orientation and guidance for the project;
• Ensure that the project is developed in accordance with national development objectives, goals and polices;
• Pay special attention to the assumptions and risks identified in the log frame, and seek measures to minimize these threats to project success;
• Ensure collaboration between institutions and free access on the part of project actors to key documents, land information systems, etc;
• Pay special attention to-project descriptions and results of activities proposed in the project;
• Ensure the integration and coordination of project activities with other related government and donor-funded initiatives.

Deliverables:

The consultant is expected to deliver the following:

• Inception Report: consultant provides clarifications on timing and method, and submits to UNDP CO at least 5days after signing the contract;
• Presentation of Draft Report: Draft report (per template provided in the Guidance) with annexes, presented to the task team within 3 weeks of the assignment;
• Final Concept Note: Revised report, submitted to CO within 1 week of receiving comments on draft.

Compétences

Corporate competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UN/UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting;
• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills;
• Demonstrates ability to manage complexities and work under pressure, as well as conflict resolution skills;
• Capability to work effectively under deadline pressure and to take on a range of responsibilities;
• Ability to work in a team, good decision-making skills, communication and writing skills;
• The consultant will be held to the highest ethical standards and are required to sign a Code of Conduct upon acceptance of the assignment.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education:

• MSc degree (preferably PhD) in natural resources management, socio-economic development, climate change science, agriculture economics, Development Economics or related fields.

Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of relevant professional experience in the relevant areas;
• Knowledge of UNDP projects and programs;
• Previous experience with climate risk financing;
• Technical knowledge in the targeted focal area(s) particularly Climate change mitigation and Adaptation;
• Experience with developing GEF-UNDP projects is an added advantage;
• Familiarity and knowledge of the UN Framework Convention on climate change (UNFCCC), integrated approaches to climate change mitigation, obligations of the Paris Agreement and capacity development projects would be an asset.

Language:

• Good knowledge of English is an asset.

Implementing Arrangements:

• The principal responsibility for managing this evaluation resides with the UNDP CO in Uganda. The UNDP CO will contract the consultant and ensure the timely provision of payments to the consultant.

Payment modalities and specifications:

• 20%- at submission and approval of inception report;
• 50%- Following submission and presentation of an acceptable draft concept;
• 30%- Following submission of the final concept note to GEF.

Evaluation of Applicants:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal.

The award of the contract should 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 a pre-determined set of weighted technical (desk reviews based on cv) and financial criteria specific to the solicitation. 

Only the highest ranked candidates who would be found qualified for the job will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

• Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation;
• Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation.

Submission of Application:

The candidate is required to submit an electronic application directly uploaded on the UNDP jobs website with all the requirements as listed here below. Annexes and further information may be downloaded on http://procurement-notices.undp.org/. (Reference #39925).

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document to this website - http://jobs.undp.org (Ref no.73958).

• Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP (Annex II);
• Personal CV, 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:

• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
• A methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment;
• Financial proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided (Annex II);
• Annexes 1 and II - may be downloaded from the UNDP Procurement Notices Website -http://procurement-notices.undp.org/ - under reference #39925. For further clarifications, please contact; janet.anyango@undp.org; moses.lutwama@undp.org;

Interested applicants should submit applications through uploading of all their required documentation in one single pdf document on this website only.