Thailand is one of the most biodiverse countries in Southeast Asia and derives large benefits from the ecosystems, landscapes and habitats that support its unique biodiversity. There is the important environmental role performed by watersheds, river basins and coastal areas, as well as their significance in supporting livelihoods linked to fisheries, recreation and tourism.  Similarly, Thailand’s historically vast forest coverage has had substantial effects on the sustenance of agriculture and in fulfilling water and power needs.  However, Thailand’s development progress over the past several decades has been undertaken at the expense of its natural resources and biodiversity. Forest, coastlines and wetlands have become degraded and various types of infrastructure development have replaced natural environment

For decades, the export of agricultural products (especially rice and rubber), forest products (timber and spices) and seafood products had been the main sources of revenue for Thailand. However, this trend has increasingly shifted over the past decade towards industrial and service sectors, in particular, tourism sector, thanks to the beauty of the country’s natural resources and systematic promotion by the government.

In 2017, over 35 million tourists visited Thailand, an increase by 14 million from 2015. Tourist revenue had risen to more than 1.8 trillion baht (US$56 billion) in 2017 or approximately 20% of the country’s GDP. This growth has added pressure on the country’s rich biodiversity resources. The influx of visitors in popular tourist destinations and the development of tourist infrastructure have increased waste and pollution to the tourist spots and nearby locations, destroyed the habitats of plant and animal species which could lead to their extinctions, if not managed effectively. The problem is even more pronounced in ecologically sensitive areas where unintended promotion of tourism brings in far too many visitors to the areas than the nature can handle and recuperate.  A more sustainable and inclusive tourism model is crucial for sustainable growth in Thailand.  In addition, the benefit from tourism does not necessarily trigger down to community.  Approximately 80 percent of tourism-generated profits flow to foreign or large companies rather than being distributed to locals.

UNDP Thailand, in partnership with the Biodiversity Based Economy Development Organization (BEDO), a public organization under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and the Tourism Authority of Thailand under the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, are developing a Project Document for the “Mainstreaming Biodiversity-based Tourism in Thailand to Support Sustainable Tourism Development Project” for submission to the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Cycle 7 under the Biodiversity Focal Area. UNDP/Thailand recently secured the Project Preparation Grant (PPG) from the GEF to develop a full-sized project document (ProDoc).

The objective of the project is to develop biodiversity-based tourism in Thailand at the community level to enhance the protection of biodiversity wilderness, generate sustainable financing and local livelihoods, and reduce threats from unsustainable tourism development.  This project proposes to support the development of biodiversity-based tourism model at the community level focusing on the enabling conditions, capacity building, financial incentives, replicating early successes of sustainable tourism models in Thailand and sharing of knowledge across the country and the region.

Financed through a Project Preparation Grant, the project preparation team[1]  is expected to undertake a series of tasks, including but not limited to, stakeholder consultations, baseline assessments, and development of a project log frame with defined baseline and indicators, a detailed work plan, and the definition of the management arrangements, in order to come up with the final project document (ProDoc) with required supporting documents. Consultations and these other activities will be supported by desk review of support documentation, as appropriate.  The final output of the initiation plan will be a UNDP-GEF project document and GEF CEO Endorsement Request ready for submission to UNDP and GEF.  The documents will be compliant with specific requirements of the GEF and conform to UNDP Operational Policies and Guidelines.

UNDP is seeking a national consultant with extensive experience in gender and safeguards issues, in particular in the context of sustainable tourism, and familiarity with the gender and safeguards requirements of the Global Environment Funded projects. She/he will work as a team with the PPG Team to prepare relevant information in support of the completion of the project document package.

[1] Comprising the (1) GEF Project Development Consultant (Team Leader), (2) Tourism Planning & Policy Consultant, (3) Biodiversity and Community-Based Tourism Consultant, (4) Biodiversity Financing Consultant, (5) Gender and Safeguards Consultant, and (6) Information and Technology Consultant.

Objectives of The Assignment

The National Gender and Safeguard Consultant will develop mandatory project Annexes related to application of social and environmental safeguards and support adherence of project development to UNDP’s SESP and specific requirements, as appropriate. The consultant will be a gender and social inclusion expert with experience in-depth gender analysis and local community engagement.

Scope of the work:

The National Gender and Safeguards Consultant will work under the supervision of the International GEF Project Development Consultant/PPG Team Leader and closely working with other consultants of the PPG Team.

Under the overall guidance from UNDP Thailand, UNDP-GEF Regional technical Advisor at the Bangkok Regional Hub, and BEDO, and in coordination with the PPG Team, the consultant will undertake the following tasks:

Preparatory Technical Studies and Reviews (Component A): Prepare inputs and support the required analyses/studies, as agreed with the GEF PPG Team Leader, including:

• Review the SESP pre-screening of the PIF; complete the UNDP Social and Environmental Screening Procedure (SESP), and support the detailed assessment of all project risks including consultations with local stakeholders;
• Assess presence of Indigenous Peoples/ethnic minorities within project landscapes and their interests. If present, assess potential impacts of the project on rights and interests, lands, territories, resources, and traditional livelihoods and determine when FPIC applies in accordance with national contexts and preferences. Carry out consultations with communities at demonstration landscape to assess level of understanding and capacity to give consent, and identify community preferences for FPIC process. Based on these assessments, and if relevant, integrate relevant matters as needed including FPIC into project design and into the comprehensive Stakeholder Engagement Plan;
• Prepare the gender analysis and action plan and work closely with the GEF PPG Team Leader to ensure its findings are meaningfully integrated into the project’s strategy, theory of change and results framework;
• Advise on gender responsive stakeholder analysis and consultations and ensure that they are complete and comprehensive; and
• Support the completion of any additional studies that are determined to be needed for the preparation of the ProDoc and all other final outputs as guided by the PPG Team Leader.

Formulation of the ProDoc, CEO Endorsement Request and Mandatory Annexes as well as project specific annexes (Component B):

• Complete the SESP, based on assessments undertaken during Component A and detailed development of project interventions, and identify management measures to mitigate risks to be incorporated into the ProDoc;
• Prepare the Gender Mainstreaming Plan, with appropriate budget and identification of appropriate project interventions to ensure gender mainstreaming including at project demonstration sites;
• Using the findings from the gender analysis, provide inputs to the project’s results framework and theory of change; ensure gender considerations are integrated into the project’s theory of change;
• Provide inputs for the development of the Stakeholder Engagement Plan to ensure it is Socially Inclusive and Gender Responsive;
• Prepare the Gender Action Plan and Budget;
• Support the agreements on project management arrangements and ensure that gender and safeguards are adequately incorporated into these arrangements.

Validation Workshop (Component C):

• Contribute to the validation workshop; and
• Support all necessary revisions that arise during the workshop, as appropriate.

Final Deliverables:

• Finalized Social and Environmental Screening (SESP)
• Gender Analysis and Gender Mainstreaming Plan
• Appropriate inputs to the comprehensive Stakeholder Engagement Plan including on gender-responsive consultation and consultations with local communities and any Indigenous Peoples or Ethnic Minorities present within the demonstration landscape;
• Appropriate inputs to the final UNDP-GEF project document based on guidance from the PPG Team Leader.

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates commitment to UNDP´s mission, vision and values; 
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability; 
• Highest standards of integrity, discretion and loyalty;  
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
• Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment

Functional competencies:

• Proven ability in conducting planning processes in developing countries;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in Thai and English;
• Solid knowledge of proven post-2015 agenda and the sustainable Development Goals;
• Proven ability in conducting work related to Millennium Declaration ;
• Ability to work with multidisciplinary and multicultural teams;
• Creativity, innovation and initiative;
• Result oriented;
• Analytical ability;
• Logical ability;
• Able to work under pressure in an adverse environment;
• critical ability;
• Capacity to dialogue with different sectors;
• Determination and focus on goals and results;
• Ability of facilitation;
• Good management skills.

Academic Qualification:

• Master’s degree or higher in a relevant field, such as gender studies, gender and development, women and environment, or women and sustainable development;

Professional Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of demonstrable experience in the technical area of gender mainstreaming, community development, and social and environmental safeguards risk assessment and mitigation;
• Experience carrying out participatory gender analysis; experience collecting and formulating gender responsive indicators and sex-disaggregated data and preparing gender responsive project analysis; developing gender action plans;
• Prior experience in the safeguards assessments and processes of international organizations and donors, such as World Bank, UNDP, etc;
• Demonstrated understanding of the links between sustainable development, social and gender issues;
• Demonstrated experience working on policy and programmatic issues with national and local governments and civil society organizations including community organizations;
• Demonstrated experience in carrying out consultations with Indigenous Peoples, FPIC, protection of cultural heritage, and/or community engagement is highly desired;
• Experience with project development and results-based management methodologies is highly desired;
• Excellent analytical, writing, advocacy, presentation, and communications skills are required.

Language Requirement:

•  Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and fluency in Thai.

Provision Of Monitoring And Progress Controls

• The Individual Consultant will report to the International GEF Project Development Consultant/PPG Team Leader and closely working with other consultants of the PPG Team, under the overall guidance of the UNDP Thailand, UNDP-GEF Regional Technical Advisor, and BEDO.

Documents To Be Included When Submitting The Proposals

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:

• Personal CV, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) and at least three (3) professional references;
• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability and financial proposal using the template provided by UNDP.  Note: National consultants must quote prices in Thai Baht. There may be two in-country travel for which reimbursement would be done as per actuals separately. 

Payment Terms:

Consultant must send a financial proposal 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:

The payment shall be paid by upon submission of the deliverables:

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 travels outside of his/her home station, 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.

Travel costs shall be reimbursed at actual but not exceeding the quotation from UNDP approved travel agent.  The provided living allowance will not be exceeding UNDP Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) rates. Repatriation travel cost from home to duty station in Bangkok and return shall not be covered by UNDP.

Criteria For Selection Of The Best Offer  

The Individual Consultant will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis methodology.

The award of the contract shall 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 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.

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points)

Technical Criteria for Evaluation:

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

INCOMPLETE PROPOSALS MAY NOT BE CONSIDERED.

ANNEXES

Annex 1- ToR;

Annex II- General conditions of the Contract

Annex III- Offerors Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability and Financial Proposal

Annex IV- IC procurement Notice

Kindly click on below link for annexures:

https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=62732

For any clarification, please write to sandeep.sharma@undp.org