Historique

The Global Environment Facility (GEF)
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) (www.thegef.org) unites 183 member governments—in partnership with international institutions, non-governmental organizations and the private sector—to address global environment issues. An independently operating financial organization, the GEF provides grants for projects related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer and persistent organic pollutants. Since 1991, the GEF has provided US$12.5 billion in grants and leveraged US$58 billion in co-financing for 3,690 projects in 165 developing countries. Through its Small Grants Programme (SGP) the GEF has made more than 20,000 grants totaling about US$1 billion to civil society and community-based organizations.

The GEF International Waters (IW) focal area targets transboundary water systems, such as shared river basins, lakes, groundwater and large marine ecosystems. The IW portfolio comprises 242 projects to date and some US$1.4 billion of GEF grants invested in 149 different countries. This investment has leveraged about US$8.4 billion in co-financing. 

UNDP GEF Kura Project “Advancing Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM)  across the Kura river basin through implementation of the transboundary agreed actions and national plans” will be implementing the Strategic Action Program for the Kura River Basin in partnership with the Governments of Georgia and Azerbaijan. The SAP is framed around four agreed Ecosystem Quality Objectives (EQO) which are:

• To achieve sustainable utilization of water resources to ensure access to water and preserve ecosystem services;
• To achieve water quality such that it would ensure access to clean water for present and future generations and sustain ecosystem functions in the Kura river basin;
• To achieve and maintain ecosystem status whereby they provide essential environmental and socio-economic services in a sustainable manner in the Kura River Basin; and,
• To achieve mitigation of adverse impacts of flooding and climate change on infrastructures, riparian ecosystems and communities.

The GEF will support priority activities towards these objectives. The GEF funded SAP implementation Project has the objective “to integrate water resources management in the Kura river basin to address water-energy-food-ecosystem security nexus through the implementation of agreed actions in the SAP”.
There will be five components to support the countries to achieve this objective. These are:

• Project Component 1: Establishment of effective cross sectoral IWRM governance protocols at the local, national and transboundary levels in the Kura Basin;
• Project Component 2: Strengthening national capacities to implement multi-sectoral IWRM in the Kura basin;
• Project Component 3: Stress reduction in critical areas and pre-feasibility studies to identify investment opportunities for improving river system health;
• Project Component 4: Targeted education and involvement projects to empower stakeholders in implementing local / national / regional actions in support of SAP implementation;
• Project Component 5: Enhancing science for governance by strengthening monitoring, information management and data analysis systems for IWRM.

Location: Home-based with missions to Baku, Azerbaijan and Tbilisi Georgia

Devoirs et responsabilités

The International Kura II Stakeholder Engagement Expert will have the responsibility of providing guidance and necessary support to the project on the Project Component 4: Targeted education and involvement projects to empower stakeholders in implementing local / national / regional actions in support of SAP implementation. This component has 5 Substantive Outputs: 4.1 Train IWRM trainers for specific stakeholder groups; 4.2 Annual academic conferences; 4.3 Social marketing campaigns for targeted groups; 4.4 Competitions for stakeholder innovations; 4.5 Share experience with IW:LEARN. In addition, the International Kura II Stakeholder Engagement Expert will provide direct input into the outputs of Component 1, through environmental flow methodology application to enhance community involvement, and will be responsible for the implementation of the public private partnership “Blue Business Awards”. The International Kura II Stakeholder Engagement Expert will take responsibility to ensure the stakeholder involvement efforts for Component 3 for stress reduction in critical areas, specifically rational water use for agricultural and municipal water in both Azerbaijan and Georgia. Of critical importance will be the community engagement of the river restoration demonstration project for the constructed wetlands in the summer home community bordering Baby Hajigabol Lake in Azerbaijan and engagement of community members in the Suramula basin in Georgia to minimize recurring plastics pollution in the river, feeding into the Kura.

The key results for this assignment will be development and implementation of the substantial work plans for these activities to the end of the project, linked with the other ongoing activities, that can be followed by the national project team, with additional support and guidance by the International Kura II Stakeholder Engagement Expert as needed. A second key result will be to ensure that stakeholder engagement and empowerment is incorporated throughout the project implementation, including optimization of results through public outreach, and sustainability of post-project stakeholder empowerment, in line with SDG 6, specifically target 5. 

Scope of Work

The International Kura II Stakeholder Engagement Expert will work closely with Kura II Project Coordination Unit, the Project Team, both Ministry of Ecology and Natural Protection in Azerbaijan and the Ministry of Environment and Agriculture in Georgia, National Project Advisory Group Members, and with the Regional Project Analyst to involve key stakeholder groups and implement specific key interventions in line with the project document, ongoing activities, and linked components.  This scope of work is to oversee the detailed inputs for implementation of the Component 4 work plan of the project, within the Project Document, and to implement activities to meet the outputs with specific time bound indicators and identified stakeholder groups. In addition, the International Kura II Stakeholder Engagement Expert will oversee key inputs into active inclusion of stakeholder and gender sensitive engagement into the work of Component 3 and Component 1 to be undertaken by nationally recruited firms.  

The International Kura II Stakeholder Engagement Expert, shall carry out the following activities:

• Monitor and guide stakeholder engagement in-line with the expert judgement, and holistic based approaches for environmental flows.
• Oversee the implementation of the Public Private Partnership, in collaboration with the Regional Project Analyst and will establish the “Blue Business Awards” Program to be awarded to local and national businesses committed to reducing water consumption and polluting water resources. 
• For Demonstration Projects: Provide guidance and innovative approaches including and empowering stakeholder engagement for water management through the implementation of the demonstration projects on improving rational water use in the municipal sector, and river restoration projects. 
• For the  Kura River Basic Academic Committee,(KRBAC): Facilitate the implementation of the Kura River Basic Academic Committee,(KRBAC) and direct the implementation of the Kura River Basin Academic conference with associated resulting e-publications.
• For Training of Trainers for IWRM: Develop a training curriculum for a Training of the Trainers for their role in IWRM for stakeholder groups and to work Kura II Project Junior Experts to develop and implement trainings for specific stakeholder groups. 
• Working in conjunction with other ongoing project work the International Kura II Stakeholder Engagement Expert will guide the implementation of a social media campaign to expand the wider public awareness of the project through a concerted social marketing campaign. 
• Develop strategy for capturing, publicizing, and awarding innovations by local stakeholders on water conservation and protection of water resources due to climate change through innovation competitions. 
• Link with GEF IW:LEARN to capture and document best practices for stakeholder engagement working with the Project Team and oversee the production of at least 3 Experience Notes.

Deliverables, with indicative payment schedule:

Initial deliverables: 

• Closely review Project Document, reports from International Experts and the PCU regarding efforts of the project relevant to regional stakeholder engagement, and develop a detailed quarterly workplan and more detailed description of deliverables to be agreed, with associated payments for the following deliverables
• Provide inputs to the design and content of the Kura River Box, and stakeholder engagement approaches, for Municipal Water Rational Use Demonstration Project
• Develop a strategy for staged targeted social marketing campaigns for stakeholders
• Due Date: November 15, 2018 
• Payment : 10% total lump sum

Quarter 4 2018 deliverables:

• Draft brief report on key socio-economic data collected to be conducted according to best practices for the expert judgement and holistic environmental flow approach, develop evaluation criteria, and make recommendations for changes as needed. 
• Conduct desk review of similar Public Private Partnerships projects based on experiences to include IW:LEARN, UNDP, and other similar efforts and draft report to articulate scope, vision, and potential stakeholder participants of PPP Kura II project including methodology and evaluation criteria for award recipients to be agreed with Regional Project Advisory Group. Provide inputs into the design of the WaterSaver mobile phone app for reporting municipal water leakages, training of community members and government building maintenance staff how and why to reduce water losses
• Based on site visits draft detailed stakeholder engagement strategies for river restoration with staged monitoring and evaluation criteria for approval by national working groups to be included into the Request for Proposals
• Conduct Trainings for juniors about how to prepare and present targeted IWRM Trainings to specific stakeholder groups
• Establish the KRBAC committee and organize the first committee meeting to plan for the first Regional Conference for Kura river basin in March 2019
• Develop strategy for capturing, publicizing, and awarding adaptation innovations by local stakeholders; develop a competition for 2019 and 2020
• Identify and nominate select stakeholder adaptation innovations for awards in a ceremony to be organized by the Kura II project
• Develop a report on the preparation for the first social marketing campaign linked to demonstration projects that includes action plan for conducting this campaign
• Develop a report on the preparation for the first regional academic conference for the Kura River including all technical, administrative, and logistic requirements. This report should include responsibility matrix for all the activities that need to be done to ensure successful implementation of that conference.
• Due Date: December 31, 2018
• Payment: 15% total lump sum

Quarter 1 2019 deliverables:

• Review Environmental Flow reports for Georgia and Azerbaijan on socio-economic data and analysis, based on agreed criteria, and provide feedback based on applied approaches to strengthen data collection
• Review materials provided by Env. Economist and develop criteria for Blue Business Awards and develop Blue Business Award Strategy and selection criteria. Develop short 3 trainings for businesses to reduce water leakages. By Feb 2019
• Organize and facilitate two half day meetings with key stakeholders from private sector regarding how to reduce losses and pollution and clarify what steps need to be taken within each sector, draft report on findings
• Conduct on-site monitoring of river restoration sites to ensure stakeholder engagement strategy is being followed, and monitoring and evaluation criteria applied. Draft report based on field visit findings and on review of national firms quarterly report.
• Develop a work plan for conducting trainings for Stakeholder Groups and supervise the implementation of this trainings by the Kura II project junior experts.
• Develop an evaluation report on the stakeholder groups training with recommendations and lessons learned from the first round of trainings.
• Follow up with the KRBAC committee the preparation for the first Regional conference for the Kura River basin
• Collect and organize peer review academic articles from Conference participants on Kura River for publication
• Responsible for the overall management and supervision of the organization of the regional academic conference and host biweekly meetings with all concerned stakeholders to follow up the preparation for the conference
• Report on a biweekly basis to the project CTA on the progress of the organization of the regional conference
• Due Date: March 31, 2019 
• Payment: 10% total lump sum

Quarter 2 2019 deliverables:

• Review Environmental Flow reports for Georgia and Azerbaijan on socio-economic data and analysis, based on agreed criteria, and provide feedback based on applied approaches to strengthen data collection
• Award Blue Business Awards quarterly to those whose staff have gone through trainings, and shown reduction in water use
• Review national firms reporting on application of Kura Box and update and test WaterSavers App application
• Conduct on-site monitoring of river restoration sites to ensure stakeholder engagement strategy is being followed, and monitoring and evaluation criteria applied. Draft report based on field visit findings and on review of national firms quarterly report.
• Conduct additional trainings for Stakeholder Groups with Juniors Presenting
• Identify the Specific IWRM related training topic for IWRM MSc Students Regional training 2019
• Develop work plan to conduct the regional training and the potential trainees from each country including the venue and the estimated budget for hosting that training
• Develop an evaluation report for the first regional academic conference on Kura river including the main lessons learned and the main issues that should be taken into consideration in the organization of the second regional conference
• Attend midpoint meetings for demonstration projects and provide feedback from the socio-economic and social marketing perspective on these, as part of the evaluation process of the project implementation.
• Mid-term review of impacts to determine the effectiveness of the social marketing campaigns and adjust the strategy accordingly
• Identify and nominate select stakeholder adaptation innovations for the second round awards
• Due Date: June 30, 2019 
• Payment: 15% total lump sum

Quarter 3 2019 deliverables:

• Review Environmental Flow reports for Georgia and Azerbaijan on socio-economic data and analysis, based on agreed criteria, and provide feedback based on applied approaches to strengthen data collection
• Award Blue Business Awards quarterly to those who have gone through trainings, and shown reduction in water use
• Conduct on-site monitoring of river restoration sites to ensure stakeholder engagement strategy is being followed, and monitoring and evaluation criteria applied. Draft report based on field visit findings and on review of national firms quarterly report.
• Design and implement the second social marketing campaign in both countries
• Due Date: September 30, 2019 
• Payment: 10% total lump sum

Quarter 4 2019 deliverables:

• Review Environmental Flow reports for Georgia and Azerbaijan on socio-economic data and analysis, based on agreed criteria, and provide feedback based on applied approaches to strengthen data collection
• Award Blue Business Awards quarterly to those who have gone through trainings, and shown reduction in water use
• Conduct on-site monitoring of river restoration sites to ensure stakeholder engagement strategy is being followed, and monitoring and evaluation criteria applied. Draft report based on field visit findings and on review of national firms quarterly report.
• Finalize the development of the IWRM Stakeholder training materials for on-line use with various stakeholder groups
• Start the preparation for the second Regional Academic Conference for the Kura River and host preparation meetings with the KRBAC committee members to develop conference theme and schedule 
• Public-Private Partnerships within KRBAC and conferences
• Due Date: December 31, 2019 
• Payment: 15% total lump sum

Quarter 1 2020 deliverables:

• Review Environmental Flow reports for Georgia and Azerbaijan on socio-economic data and analysis, based on agreed criteria, and provide feedback based on applied approaches to strengthen data collection
• Award Blue Business Awards quarterly to those who have gone through trainings, and shown reduction in water use
• Conduct on-site monitoring of river restoration sites to ensure stakeholder engagement strategy is being followed, and monitoring and evaluation criteria applied. Draft report based on field visit findings and on review of national firms quarterly report.
• Design and implement the third social marketing campaign for the Kura river basin in both countries
• Follow up with the KRBAC committee the preparation for the second Regional conference for the Kura River basin
• Collect and peer review academic articles from Conference participants on Kura River for publication
• Responsible for the overall management and supervision of the organization of the regional academic conference and host biweekly meetings with all concerned stakeholders to follow up the preparation for the conference
• Report in a biweekly basis to the project CTA on the progress of the organization of the regional conference
• Due Date: March 31, 2020 
• Payment: 10% total lump sum

Quarter 2 2020 and final deliverables:

• Draft final review report on lessons learned from Environmental Flow reports for Georgia and Azerbaijan on socio-economic data and analysis, to include evaluation criteria and effectiveness of each approach applied.
• Conduct on-site monitoring of river restoration sites to gauge impact of stakeholder engagement strategy with monitoring and evaluation criteria. Draft final report based on field visit findings to create lessons learned for each project. 
• Draft final report on Awarding Blue Business Awards to those who have gone through trainings, and shown reduction in water use for use by other GEF IW Projects, and UNDP
• Develop a final report on the evaluation and impact of the  social marketing campaign results and lessons learned. The report should provide recommendations for future awareness activities in the Kura basin based on the outcomes of the 2 phased social marketing campaigns conducted by the project linked to the demonstration projects 
• Develop final report on the evaluation of the second regional academic conference including the main issues to ensure sustainability of this regional conference in the future
• Due Date: July 30, 2020 
• Payment: 15% total lump sum

Information on Working Arrangements: 

The International Kura II Stakeholder Engagement Expert will report to the Project Chief Technical Advisor / Regional Project Coordinator (CTA/RPC). Deliverables will be reviewed and approved by the CTA/RPC.

Time Frame:

The expected time frame for the Consultant to complete these activities is 23 months starting from   September 30,  2018 – August 20, 2020. The expected level of effort during this period is approximately 220 days (60 days home based plus 8 field missions to the region (each mission will be approximately 20 days to the region (Azerbaijan and Georgia) with approximately 10 days per country)). Travel within and between countries will be arranged and funded separately by the Project, due to scheduling variabilities.

Financial Arrangements:

• Payments as percentage of lump sum will be made quarterly on the following based on approval and timely completion of above all deliverables described above.
• Any delay of deliverable must be approved by the CTA in writing.

Compétences

Functional competencies

• Strong communication and management skills and demonstrable capacity to work with a multi-national team and to work with government institutions;
• Demonstrated ability in developing and implementing environmental and water resource economics trainings for professionals;
• Ability to use the economic tools for cost recovery of water services;
• Ability to prepare training materials and conduct training courses;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Ability to work under pressure and stressful situations;
• Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities.

Corporate competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards; 
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP; 
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability; 
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
• Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education:

• Masters degree in international relations, environmental management, or related fields required; Masters degree focusing on transboundary water resources management or environmental management and/or Ph.D. in social sciences and development is an asset (Criteria A)

Experience:

• At least 5 years of demonstrated experience in applied transboundary water management is required. (Criteria B)
• Demonstrated expertise and working experience in the social and political actors in the Eastern Europe and Central Asia is required, experience in the Caucasus region an advantage (Criteria C)
• Proven knowledge, and required experience, of academic and broad stakeholder concerns in the Kura Basin required, familiarity of concerns related to water resources an asset. (Criteria D)
• Proven experience in legal and cultural norms in the Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia experience in Azerbaijan and Georgia is a strong advantage. Additionally experience with the role of resource allocation in managing the competing sectoral demands for water resources a strong asset in these geographic areas; (Criteria E)
• Experience in working with UNDP and GEF through multiple sectors/ministries or work experience in GEF International Waters and/or experience in the Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia is an asset (Criteria F);

Language: 

• English is the working language for this assignment, therefore excellent oral and written communication skills in English are required. Ability to communicate in Azerbaijani, Georgian, or Russian is an advantage (Criteria G)

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: a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and b) having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical P-11 desk reviews and interviews and financial criteria specific to the solicitation. 

Only candidates who receive min. 70% of points in desk review  (Criteria A-D) will be invited for an interview (Criteria E-G). Only candidates who receive min. 70% of points in technical evaluation (Criteria A-G)  will be considered for the financial evaluation.

Evaluation Criteria

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max. 70 points:

• Criteria A – Desk review - Academic qualification / education – max points 10;
• Criteria B – Desk review - Experience – max points 10;
• Criteria C – Desk review - Experience– max points 10;
• Criteria D – Desk review -  Experience– max points 10;
• Criteria E – Interviews - Experience – max points 10;
• Criteria F – Interviews - Experience – max points 10;
• Criteria G – Interviews - Language skills – max points 10

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max. 30 points.

Application Procedure:

Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via this website. The application should contain:

• Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application. 
• Filled P11 form or CV including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees (blank form can be downloaded from http://www.eurasia.undp.org/content/dam/rbec/docs/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc); 
• Financial Proposal in USD* - specifying a) total amount for professional fee for the tasks specified in this announcement and b) % of total amount for each deliverable. Mission related costs MUST NOT be included in the price offer request. These costs will be covered separately as per UNDP rules and regulations.
• Offeror’s Letter (blank template can be downloaded from https://bit.ly/2KO1okS).
• Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials

*Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant/contractor during the contract period (e.g. fee, health insurance, vaccination, personal security needs and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services...). 

Payments will be made only upon confirmation of UNDP on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner. 

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

General Terms and conditions as well as other related documents can be found under: http://on.undp.org/t7fJs.