Historique

Since 1993 UNDP has been assisting the government of Ukraine in developing solutions for the transition from a planned to a market economy and for establishing democratic systems.  UNDP’s engagement and partnership with national and sub-national institutions has been a catalyst for laws and policies as well as strengthening institutions in preparing the country for deeper global integration.  One of the key areas that UNDP Ukraine has been assisting the Government of Ukraine has been in the area of environment and sustainable energy. Sustainable Energy means the provision of energy such that it meets the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. Different renewable energy technologies such as wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, and biomass can all be considered as technologies that promote sustainable energy.

UNDP has developed a new strategy on sustainable energy for 2017-2021 entitled “Delivering Sustainable Energy in a Changing Climate”. This strategy articulates – for the first time - UNDP’s role, guiding principles, added value and priorities in supporting countries advance their SDG #7. UNDP’s new strategy on sustainable energy focuses on three main action areas:

• Increasing access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy;
• Increasing the global rate of improvements in energy efficiency; and
• Increasing the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix.

Areas of UNDP key work in this region related to sustainable energy in the Europe and CIS region include promoting energy efficiency in public and residential buildings, promoting energy efficient lighting, supporting the development of climate smart and resilient sustainable cities, reducing barriers and providing de-risking support for new investments in renewable energy (in particular wind , solar, and biomass energy), and supporting technical assistance activities that promote new investments in sustainable transport. In Ukraine, UNDP has previously supported initiatives on energy-efficiency using ESCOs (in Rivne), related to energy-efficient lighting (throughout all Ukraine), and at the local level (through the community based approach). Key donors and partners for these projects have included the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the European Union (EU). Currently, the UNDP sustainable energy portfolio in Ukraine consists of one ongoing project on removing barriers to biomass energy and a second project related to energy efficiency in public buildings, focusing on the ESCO modality and on the implementation and replication of energy management information systems (EMIS). A third project focusing on strengthening energy efficiency through support to home owners’ associations is expected to start shortly. Either concepts and ideas are in the pipeline.

The Energy and Environment portfolio at UNDP Ukraine now seeks strategic leadership to help better define the direction of the portfolio and to strengthen the ability of the projects to meet their overall objectives and outcomes. For this reason, UNDP Ukraine now seeks to hire a senior, seasoned and experienced international consultant to work as an international Chief Technical Advisor to lead and guide the portfolio, reporting to the management of the UNDP Ukraine office, managing the projects currently under implementation by guiding and leading the project managers of these projects, and through the support for the development of new initiatives.  It is required that the international CTA should have prior experience in managing or advising international technical assistance projects related to sustainable energy.

Devoirs et responsabilités

Key Role

The key role of the international CTA will include support for developing an enhanced strategic vision, strengthened project oversight, and successful resource mobilization:

• Strategic Vision – developing and implementing the strategic vision for the UNDP Ukraine sustainable energy portfolio
• Project Oversight – providing oversight support to ongoing UNDP GEF sustainable energy projects in Ukraine, which includes support for adaptive management meaning altering activities and outputs of projects in order that they may better meet the overall project objectives and outcomes;
• Resource Mobilization – playing a leading role in developing new proposals or initiatives related to sustainable energy for UNDP Ukraine, working closely with UNDP Ukraine Country Office and project staff and with other international and national consultants;

Location

The position will be home based with an estimated time requirement of 12 days per month but will require frequent travel to Ukraine. It is envisaged that the international consultant should be available to travel to Ukraine approximately once per month for a period of at least 10 working days (2 weeks) for at least 10 months of the year. This means that of the total contract of up to 144 working days, at least 100 working days should be spent in Ukraine.

The travel cost to Ukraine for each mission to Ukraine will be covered by UNDP Ukraine in accordance with all UNDP rules and procedures concerning travel. Consultants who are not able to spend the minimum number of 100 working days in Ukraine over a 12 months period, should not apply.

Reporting Requirements

As a senior international consultant, this position will report directly to the Deputy Country Director (Programme) of the UNDP Ukraine Office, who will be provided with written monthly reports on the key issues being faced by the portfolio.

Description of Responsibilities

The international consultant will be responsible for the supervision and provision of guidance to the project managers of all (current and future) UNDP Ukraine projects under the energy and environment portfolio in Ukraine. The international consultant will work closely with the programme analysts in the energy and environment portfolio of UNDP Ukraine.

The international CTA on Sustainable Energy for UNDP Ukraine will have key responsibilities in three main areas as follows:

• Strategic Vision:
  • Development of a strategic vision (4 pages) for the sustainable energy portfolio for UNDP Ukraine, which clearly defines where the portfolio is now and where it wants to be in 5-year time, and which is endorsed by the UNDP senior management. This document should be prepared once at the start of the assignment and once again at the end of the assignment.
• Project Oversight:
  • Oversee the development and adjustment of annual work plans and budgets for all new and ongoing sustainable energy projects in Ukraine, including the final approval of work plans and budgets before they are submitted by the international CTA to UNDP Ukraine for final approval;
  • Review the terms of reference for all planned new consultancies for all sustainable energy projects in Ukraine, prepared by the project managers and project teams and provide feedback and comments in order to strengthen the TORs and provide final sign off on the TORs before they are submitted to procurement unit;
  • Review the outputs provided under all consultancies under the ongoing contracts of all sustainable energy projects in Ukraine and provide final sign off on behalf of the project team before they are submitted for payment by UNDP Ukraine;
  • Take the leading role in supporting adaptive management for all ongoing sustainable energy projects managed by UNDP Ukraine, guiding individual project managers and project teams and reporting to the senior management of the UNDP Ukraine office
  • Make adjustments to planned and ongoing work plans, including adjustments to the budgets together with detailed explanations to justify the adjustments
  • Provide guidance to project managers on how to improve the efficiency and effectiveness on their projects
  • Provide advice to UNDP Ukraine management on how to strengthen the effectiveness of project teams of all ongoing sustainable energy projects in Ukraine
  • Provide a leading role, working with the project managers of the respective projects, in preparing for the annual project board meetings of all projects and participate in the meetings taking a leadership role in presenting the work of the project to all stakeholders;
  • Play a leading role in the further development and strengthening of the financial support mechanism (FSM) with IFC, Oschadbank and other banks, to make sure that the mechanism will be sustainable and able to continue beyond the lifetime of individual projects, including through, inter alia, the development of a ‘project development facility’ to support the financial support mechanism;
  • Support the mid-term and final independent evaluation of all ongoing sustainable energy projects in Ukraine, including through playing a lead role in preparing the UNDP management response to the evaluations and making sure the UNDP management response is being implemented;
  • Support all sustainable energy projects in Ukraine throughout project inception and implementation phases, Project Board and Steering Committee meeting, preparation of project inception reports and annual Project Implementation Reviews (PIRs), developing and implementing project monitoring plan, including to account for and track greenhouse gases emission reduction impact;  
  • Support communications staff with the design and implementation of knowledge management plans, including preparation of project-related publications, capturing and analysis of best practices and lessons learnt, substantive contribution to project public events and other PR and KM products and activities; and implementation of knowledge management plans, including preparation of project-related publications, capturing and analysis of best practices and lessons learnt, substantive contribution to project public events and other PR and KM products and activities
  • Participate in workshops, seminars, and training events, and make presentations, as required.
• Resource Mobilization
  • Provide a lead role in defining the strategy of UNDP Ukraine for resource mobilization in the area of sustainable energy over the period of 2018 - 2022;
  • Contribute to preparation of new concepts for new sustainable energy projects for UNDP Ukraine as well as supporting the sharing of these project concepts with key donors and partners for possible future funding;
  • For new GEF projects related to sustainable energy in Ukraine, contribute to the project preparatory phase and work with the relevant governmental and non-governmental partners and UNDP in the development of the UNDP Project Document and other GEF required documentation, including Request for CEO Endorsement, letters of co-financing, project results framework, and others, based on the latest GEF requirements;
  • Review all comments received on the draft Project Document from key stakeholders, GEF Sec and other agencies and work with other international and national consultants to finalize the Prodoc and Request for CEO Endorsement for final approval.

Compétences

• Strategic vision, strong technical and analytical capabilities;
• Strong reporting and writing abilities;
• Ability to work in a team, develop synergies and establish effective working relations with government counterparts, donors, NGOs and other development partners;
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, resourcefulness, initiative, maturity of judgment, tact, and negotiating skills, and the ability to cope with situations which may pose conflict;
• Integrity, modelled by the UN's values and ethical standards;
• Sensitivity and adaptability to culture, gender, religion, nationality and age;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Ability to accommodate additional demands on short notice;
• Ability to work under pressure and stressful situations;
• Ability to manage heavy workload and solve complex problems with minimum supervision.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education:

• Advanced university degree (Master, PhD will be an asset) relevant to the thematic area (e.g. Environment, Energy, Science, Physics, Climate Change, Business, Economics, Law, Engineering, or other relevant degree).

Experience:

• At least 10 years of proven working experience relevant to the selected thematic area of climate change mitigation;
• Extensive technical knowledge relevant to climate change mitigation including both energy efficiency and renewable energy;
• Knowledge of Europe and CIS region; proven working experience in Ukraine is an asset;
• Excellent drafting and formulation skills; proven record of at least three official reports or papers/studies in the selected area;
• At least 3 years of experience managing or advising sustainable energy projects for UNDP or another international organization;
• Previous experience with financial support mechanisms is a plus;
• Previous experience of working with GEF projects in the area of climate change mitigation is a plus;
• Experience with training and facilitation related to sustainable energy is an asset.

Languages:

• Fluency in spoken and written English is a must, speaking Russian and/or Ukrainian is a particular asset.

Computer skills:

• Full IT literacy;
• Ability to operate with on-line web-based applications.

Application Process 

Applicants shall submit the following documents:

• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and availability for 12 days/month from the start date of the assignment using the template provided by UNDP;
• Financial Proposal that indicates the best and final fee as a fixed total contract price, but which does not include any other travel related costs (such as flight ticket, per diem, etc). The maximum fee is equal to daily fee x 144-man days which is not to exceed professional fees, excluding all travel costs
• CV or a Personal History Form (P11 form), including information about past experience in similar assignments and contact details for referees;
• Brief description of approach to work/technical proposal of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a proposed methodology on how they will approach and complete the assignment.

If an applicant is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the applicant must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.

Evaluation

Criteria for Evaluation of Proposal:  Only those applications which are responsive and compliant will be evaluated.  Offers will be evaluated according to the Combined Scoring method – where the educational background and experience on similar assignments will be weighted at 70% and the price proposal will weigh as 30% of the total scoring. The applicant receiving the Highest Combined Score that has also accepted UNDP’s General Terms and Conditions will be awarded the contract.

The evaluation of the offered will be carried out in the combined scoring method. The contract award shall be made to the incumbent whose offer has been evaluated and determined as: (a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and (b) having received the cumulative highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.  The weighted scores are distributed as follows:

• Technical criteria weight: 70%
• Financial criteria weight: 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum 70% from the maximum available technical score (49 points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal and will equal to 30. All other price proposals will be evaluated and assigned points, as per below formula:

Score for financial proposal= (max points available for financial part) X (lowest offered price among responsive offers) / (evaluated price).

The proposal obtaining the overall cumulatively highest score after adding the score of the technical proposal and the financial proposal will be considered as the most compliant offer and will be awarded a contract.

Selection Method: Desk review followed by a validation interview.

Evaluation Method - Cumulative Analysis:

• Educational background – 10 points max:
  • 7 pts – Master’s Degree;
  • 10 pts – PhD Degree.
• Proven working experience relevant to the selected thematic area of climate change mitigation – 20 points max:
  • 20 pts – more than 15 years;
  • 15 pts – from 12 to 15 years;
  • 10 pts – from 10 to 12 years.
• Knowledge of Europe and CIS region; proven working experience in Ukraine – 5 points max:
  • 5 pts – available knowledge of the region with proven experience; 
  • 0 pts – no experience. 
• Proven record of at least three official reports or papers/studies in the selected area – 8 points max:
  • 5 pts – at least three official reports or papers/studies in the selected area; 
  • 8 pts – more than three official reports or papers/studies in the selected area. 
• Previous experience managing or advising sustainable energy projects for UNDP or another international organization – 7 points max:
  • 7 pts – more than 3 years of managerial/advisory experience;
  • 5 pts – 3 years of managerial/advisory experience.
• Previous experience with financial support mechanisms – 5 points max:
  • 5 pts – available practical experience;
  • 0 pts – no experience.
• Previous experience of working with GEF projects in the area of climate change mitigation – 5 points max:
  • 5 pts – available experience;
  • 0 pts – no experience.
• Experience with training and facilitation related to sustainable energy – 5 points max:
  • 5 pts – available experience;
  • 0 pts – no experience.
• Language Skills – 5 points max:
  • 5 pts – working level of Ukrainian/Russian, fluency in spoken and written English;
  • 3 pts – fluency in spoken and written English.

Maximum available technical score - 70 points.

Contracting Arrangements

The successful candidate will be offered a 12 months contract from the date of starting the assignment with the proviso that the contract may be extended by a further 12 months for the same maximum fee amount, with the written agreement of both Parties. This will be written clearly in the contract.

Payments

Payments will be made as specified in the actual contract upon confirmation of UNDP on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner, on a monthly basis, filling out timesheets once at the end of each month, and attaching to each timesheet copies of all report(s) written or contributed to by the international consultant.

Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org