Antecedentes

The Land Degradation Neutrality of mountain landscapes in Lebanon (LDN) project is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and is implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Environment (MoE) in Lebanon. The project seeks land degradation neutrality in mountain lands by rehabilitating degraded land and preventing further degradation. The project will do this initially at the pilot scale to gain the necessary skills and know-how as well as confidence before it can be up scaled and replicated post-project comprehensively. The pilot areas will be the mountain ranges in the Cazas of Jbeil and Akkar. The project duration is five years.

Rehabilitation practices will be tested for technical effectiveness, cost-effectiveness and benefits in agriculture sector, mountain pastures and forestry sectors, quarrying sector, and eco-tourism and outdoor recreation sectors. Prevention will be achieved through comprehensive land use planning and the monitoring for compliance with set conditions and their enforcement.

There will be clarification of roles and enhancement of capacities particularly at the local government level. The institutional and regulatory context will be reviewed, updated, and strengthened to prevent new degradation of forests, rangelands, and agricultural lands. The project will aim for a robust, comprehensive, and appropriate legal framework which will assess biodiversity and key ecosystem goods and services to inform permitting decisions.

Ultimately, the key to achieving LDN is in making the most effective land use planning decisions and in implementing and upscaling these together with appropriate restoration measures – which is reflected in the three Outcomes of the project which are:

• Outcome 1: Degraded mountain land in selected mountain districts of northern Lebanon identified, rehabilitated, and restored.
• Outcome 2: Mountain lands managed sustainably to prevent degradation.
• Outcome 3: Project monitoring and evaluation, communication, knowledge management and financial mechanisms for the dissemination and replication of the results of the project with the aim of achieving land degradation neutrality.

To pilot the approach, the project will focus on the districts of Akkar and Jbeil and apply comparative remedial methodologies to restore mountain lands to their valuable ecological functions such as sustainable agricultural productivity, biodiversity habitat and ecosystem services.

In line with the above, the project identified an Agrofood facility in Mechmech- Akkar, which is built and partly equipped. This facility aims to produce dairy products, processed vegetables and fruit products and distilled syrups.

The project is seeking to procure a national business/agrofoood expert to develop a business and management plan for the identified facility.

Deberes y responsabilidades

The purpose of the consultancy is to develop a business plan for the facility through: i) Appropriate collection methods to ensure a viable long-term supply of agri-food raw materials, (ii) Value-added processing and product improvement result in increased value of globally significant agri-food end products harvested in biodiversity-friendly manner, (iii) Supply chain framework strengthened for sustainable harvest of globally significant agri-food products and awareness promoted for conservation-friendly products and (iv) Learning, evaluation and adaptive management achieved.

The requested business plan should be developed within the context that either they will be implemented by a local agriculture cooperative or a local community-based enterprise or NGO.  As such, they should be realistic, pragmatic and easily adopted by the concerned party taking into consideration their limited human and financial resource.

The consultant will carry out the following tasks:

• Assessment of the existing food processing plan
• Data gathering and assessment of market potential
• Identification and shortlisting of potential product lines
• Elaboration of Business Plans

For additional information, please refer to ANNEX I – Terms of Reference

Competencias

Functional Competencies:

• Advanced writing and editing skills in English.
• Computer literacy for Microsoft Office Package or equivalent.
• Excellent communication and consultation skills.

Corporate Competencies:

• Proven analytical skills and capacity in producing quality reports and documents.
• Proven knowledge in GHP, iso 22000 management system and HACP requirements 

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

I. Academic Qualifications:

- Master degree in business management, food technology/agrofood or related field 

II. Years of experience:

- Minimum of 10 year of relevant experience including experience in assessment of markets and preparation of feasibility studies for agro-food and related products

- Relevant trainings/ Certificates is an asset.

III. Technical experience:

• Proven experience in the agri-food production in Lebanon
• Experience in working with local/rural communities at the local level
• Proven experience in the development of business plans and marketing plans
• Proven knowledge in GHP, ISO 22000 management system and HACP requirements

How to apply:

The consultancy is open for all national consultants who meet the selection criteria and propose a competitive fee. Interested consultants are requested to apply only through this UNDP jobs portal.

Submissions through any other media will not be considered.

The application must include all of the following documents:

1. P11,

2. Technical Proposal,

3. Annex 3 (Offerors Letter) and

4. Financial proposal

Kindly note that you may find all the required documents on the below link: https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=83614  ; whereas the application must be submitted through this Jobs portal 
All files shall be submitted in one single document and uploaded as word or PDF file to the UNDP job site.

It has been observed that bidders don’t submit all requested documents and thus reducing their chance to be selected for a contract with UNDP. before you submit your offer please revise that the application is complete and comprises all four (4) documents.

Incomplete applications will not be considered.