Antecedentes

N.B.

Applications through UNDP jobs will not be accepted, only to the procurement.cv@cv.jo.un.org email address.

Interested candidates are required to read the Procurement Notice for Individual Consultants and its related documents, which are available in the following websites:

Background:

The consultancy will be developed in the framework of the project “Mainstreaming biodiversity conservation into the tourism sector in synergy with a further strengthened protected areas system in Cabo Verde”, executed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (MAA), through the National Directorate of the Environment (DNA), in close collaboration with the Ministry of Tourism and Transport, and co-funded by the UNDP and the GEF.?

The project’s main objective is to safeguard globally significant biodiversity in Cabo Verde from current and emerging threats, by enhancing the enabling and regulatory frameworks in the tourism sector and activating a critical further subset of the national protected areas (PAs) system.

The proposed alternative scenario, supported by the project, will create enabling conditions to mitigate the adverse impacts on biodiversity by the tourism sector in Cabo Verde. The frameworks will be developed at national level and tentatively rolled out in four priority islands – Santiago, Sal, Boa Vista and Maio – where immediate pressure is greatest and urgent action is required that can be replicated more widely in the future. This urgent action includes at the local level the pending operationalization of a number of critical terrestrial and marine/coastal PAs and the piloting of marine biodiversity and artisanal fisheries management together with communities in two selected sites. At the same time the project will harness the opportunities to establish more sustainable tools for PA financing, protected area management and local community development, contributing to the consolidation and diversification of Cabo Verde tourism product, and the sustainability of the destination and the sector. This will be achieved through the following two project components:?

  • Under Component 1, the project will develop and put in place coherent and effective enabling frameworks (i.e. legal, policy, regulatory and institutional) for enhanced multi-sectoral strategic land-use planning at the landscape level, to focus on the tourism and associated real estate/construction sectors. This will involve: (1) strengthening the capacity at the institutional/governmental level for integrating biodiversity into the tourism sector, including through Strategic Environmental Assessments (SEAs), Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs) and related regulations in tourism planning and permitting, and for compliance monitoring and enforcement; (2) the setup of policy mainstreaming committees overseeing policy and planning coherence between tourism development and environmental/biodiversity management, at the national level and on the targeted islands with significant local tourism developments (i.e. Santiago, Sal, Boa Vista and Maio); (3) the development and revision of land-use planning regulations (i.e. SEA, EIA, Special Touristic Zones (ZTEs), Zones of Integral Tourism Development (ZDTIs), Zones of Touristic Reserve and Protection (ZRPT), etc.) so they fully integrate biodiversity concerns, and to ensure their recommendations are implemented and monitored; (4) implementation of SEAs to inform tourism development plans, where there are gaps in destinations where significant tourism development pressure is predicted; (5) the revision of financial tax incentives and licensing processes to integrate biodiversity criteria; (6) the establishment and piloting of best-practice standards for sustainable tourism and voluntary certification for enterprises and destinations; and (7) the design and piloting of innovative PAs financing mechanism, through biodiversity offsets.

  • Under Component 2, the project will support: (1) the operationalization of PAs through the development of management plans, ecotourism plans and supporting regulations for 7 in-operational PAs (i.e. one on Santiago, four on Boa Vista and two on Sal) to address existing and emerging threats to biodiversity; (2) identification of new potential Marine PAs (MPAs) sites for inclusion in the national PAs system, through a systematic assessment of biodiversity resources on the marine shelf, and contributing to the development of key missing marine species/habitat management plans; (3) the definition of and implementation of PAs governance, including co-management and conflict resolution mechanisms; (4) agreements on the regulation, management and enforcement of the use of land and natural resources by local communities/resource users; (5) the introduction of biodiversity-friendly and sustainable artisanal fishing in two pilot sites through the promotion and adoption of suitable gear and best practices, the designation of community-enforced no-take zones and seasonal fishing bans, etc.; (6) develop and pilot island-specific, cost-effective PAs revenue generation mechanisms in conjunction with tourism sector stakeholders – these will potentially include, inter alia, gate fees, tourism operator concession fees, ecotourism taxes, and biodiversity offset and reinvestment schemes; (7) installation of a tracking and environmental monitoring program and plan to track the impacts of tourism and fishing in PAs, using participatory approaches; and (8) the preparation and implementation of Informational Education and Communication (ICE) campaigns to promote the role of PAs and sustainable tourism.

Deberes y responsabilidades

The international consultant will support the MAA, through the DNA and the Project Management Unit (PMU) to:

  • Review and develop proposals for the national framework on sustainable tourism development;
  • Prepare a set of guidelines and tools to support institutions and private stakeholders to successfully adopt at national level standards and international best practices in the field of sustainable tourism;
  • Support the development of national standards for the tourism sector and tourism services provided by PAs;
  • Support the development of a certification system at national level for individual accommodation facilities, or tours;
  • Integrate participatory approaches in the review and elaboration of proposed tools.

Key Responsibilities and Tasks

The International Consultant will have the following functions and responsibilities:

Phase 1

Develop and agree with the UNDP-CO (Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction Unit) and the DNA/PMU, the work plan for the whole consultancy;

Review and discuss with the UNDP-CO, DNA/PMU and relevant stakeholders the current national context for tourism development and management, with special focus on sustainability issues. The review will not be limited to consultation with national stakeholders, but will include local actors through field visits of the consultant to the four project intervention sites (Sal, Boavista, Maio and the Nature Park of Serra de Pico de Antonia - PNSPA - in Santiago) and additional islands selected according to identified needs during the first consultancy mission. This inception review and discussion will include:

  • An analysis of the Country background in terms of sustainable tourism, particularly in the protected areas (current and potential initiatives);
  • An assessment of the current national legal and regulatory framework on sustainable tourism;
  • The current availability of supporting tools and incentives for sustainable tourism;
  • An analysis of existing or proposed tools to monitor and enforce regulatory frameworks, in order to define strategies to support supervisory institutions in their work at national and local level.

Propose and discuss with the UNDP-CO, DNA/PMU and DGTT a methodology to carry out a baseline assessment of sustainable and biodiversity-friendly practices in the tourism sector in Cape Verde. The proposed methodology will also comprise methods to establish the level of interest, willingness-to-pay, and preference for particular programs for certification among hotels and tour operators. The consultant will finalise the methodological proposal based on the feedbacks provided by project partners. The fieldwork for data collection will be carried out by the Protected Areas Management Units (PAMUs), in close collaboration with the DGTT, Cabo Verde Trade Investments (CVTI), the Sociedade de Desenvolvimento Turístico das Ilhas de Boavista e Maio (SDTIBM), the Chamber of Tourism, the Travel Foundation, and other relevant stakeholders, including those from the private sector.

\In the framework of the above-mentioned inception review and discussion, the consultant will carry out a national workshop on sustainable tourism, providing high-level technical guidance to relevant project partners and stakeholders to develop analyses to feed the elaboration of selected supporting tools and regulations. During the workshop it will be launched the initiative to develop national standards for the tourism sector and for sustainable tourism in PAs, and inception feedbacks from relevant national stakeholders will be collected.

Provide technical support to the DNA/PMU, PAMUs, DGTT, CVTI, and SDTIBM to carry out field data collection for baseline assessment of sustainable and biodiversity-friendly practices.

Prepare a baseline assessment, delivering it to UNDP-CO and DNA/PMU in the form of a specific report, of sustainable and biodiversity-friendly practices in the tourism accommodation and tour sector in Cape Verde. The assessment report will incorporate: (1) a review of existing practices; (2) the use of voluntary sustainable tourism certification programs; (3) willingness to pay for certification; and (4) current challenges faced in implementing biodiversity-friendly practices.

Propose a workplan and provide high-level technical guidance for the development of the national standards for the tourism sector in Cabo Verde, informed by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) Criteria for Hotels and Tour Operators.

Propose a workplan and provide high-level technical guidance for the development of the national standards for sustainable tourism in PAs by adapting ISO18065:2015 on tourism services provided by PAs (see http://www.iso.org/iso/catalogue_detail.htm?csnumber=61250) to local conditions.

Prepare a proposal, discuss, review and agree with DNA/PMU, DGTT and IGQPI the ToRs and composition of voluntary technical committees to coordinate the development of the two standards.

Provide technical support to voluntary technical committees to coordinate the development of the standards, through participatory and consultative processes, and in line with the guidance from the IGQPI.

Prepare a review and analysis, and deliver it to UNDP-CO and DNA/PMU in the form of a specific report, on the options available to support national stakeholders in selecting the most suitable type of certification for the Cape Verdean context among those used at international level to establish whether an individual accommodation facility, or a tour, meets set of sustainability criteria. The review will include (1) systems in which the country develops its own certification program that closely fit national priorities; and (2) systems in which the country select a certification program established by private companies or NGOs used in more than one country. The consultant will incorporate into the report a SWOT analysis of each GSTC approved certification systems operating in other SIDS, based on the possibility to be adopted in Cape Verde.

Submit to the UNDP-CO and DNA/PMU the first Progress report. The short report (max. 8 pages, not considering the annexes) shall include at least:

A brief description of the activities carried out during the field mission;

A list of persons met and brief results from these meetings;

  • The key findings and results from the workshops and other public presentations of the consultant work;
  • Overall findings from the in-country mission, including i) constrains and limitations occurred during the implementation of the consultancy, ii) lesson learned, and iii) recommendations.

Phase 2

Carry out a workshop where proposals for national standards are presented and discussed with project partners and stakeholders. The consultant will prepare draft proposals for the two national standards based on the feedbacks provided during the workshop and the whole preparation process based on the approved workplan.

Through the UNDP-CO, DNA and DGTT, submit the draft of the national standards for the tourism sector in Cabo Verde.

Through the UNDP-CO, DNA and DGTT, submit the draft of the ISO18065:2015 on tourism services provided by PAs adapted to the national context.

Provide technical assistance on the integration of biodiversity elements into a service quality certification process for small hotels, to strengthen an ongoing DGTT project supported by the World Bank’s Competitiveness for Tourism Development.

Carry out a national workshop aimed to discuss and find solutions for the implementation of a certification system at national level to establish whether an individual accommodation facility, or a tour, meets set of sustainability criteria. The consultant will provide high-level technical guidance to relevant project partners and stakeholders to develop analyses to feed the review and analysis for the selection of a specific certification system.

Deliver a consultancy draft report on the certification system at national level. The report will incorporate:

  • Final indication on the selected certification system(s);
  • A step-by-step program to support the DNA and DGTT to establish the selected certification system.
  • The set of criteria to guide the PMU and PAMUs in co-finance assessment costs for certification.

Prepare tools to strengthen and advise the PAMUs and Advisory Councils of Protected Areas (CAAPs), and other agencies (e.g. DGTT, CVTI, SDTIBM, IGQPI, etc.) to improve the coherence between tourism and biodiversity management. These tools will include:

Best practice guidelines for hotel and resort siting, architectural design, biodiversity conservation and socio-economic benefits from sustainable tourism.

Guidelines for tourism concession and licensing award that encourages sustainable tourism practices. These guidelines will have to comprise at least the following contents, beside other issues to be defined during the inception review and analysis:

  • The structure of a competitive tourism concession and license award process for PAs in line with international best practices and findings of the feasibility study carried out by the consultant. The proposal will ensure preferential weighting to operators proposing to co-manage destinations, and those with strong biodiversity plans and sustainability credentials.
  • Preferential awards to companies for operating into PAs if they integrate sustainable tourism approaches, and particularly biodiversity-friendly measures, into their activities.
  • Licensing and control nature-based tours, with rules for their conduct that are aligned with environmental best practice, as informed by local and international research.
  • Suggestions to improve the proposed system of license award and renewal processes for tourism promoters and investors, linked to the compliance with relevant EIA mitigation measures and local environmental management procedures.
  • Guidelines for the preparation of environmental codes of conduct for tourism activities;
  • Best practice guidelines that specify the social responsibility principles and approaches for commercial operators in the tourism sector.
  • A concessions manual to guide the procurement process and management of the concessions once awarded.
  • Propose to the UNDP-CO, DNA/PMU and DGTT the selection of two international best practice tools (e.g. IUCN Best Practice Guidelines, UNWTO tools), providing a list of specific suggestions to adapt these tools to the Cape Verdean context.

Submit to the UNDP-CO, DNA/PMU the second Progress report. The short report (max. 8 pages, not considering the annexes) shall include at least:

  • A brief description of the activities carried out during the field mission;
  • A list of persons met and brief results from these meetings;
  • The key findings and results from the workshops and other public presentations of the consultant work;
  • Overall findings from the in-country mission, including i) constrains and limitations occurred during the implementation of the consultancy, ii) lesson learned, and iii) recommendations.

Phase 3

Carry out a validation workshop where the above-mentioned guidelines and tools are presented and discussed with project partners and stakeholders. The consultant will finalise the proposals based on the feedbacks provided during the workshops.

Carry out a validation workshop on proposed national standards. The consultant will finalise the proposals based on the feedbacks provided during the workshops.

Through the UNDP-CO, DNA and DGTT, submit the final draft of the national standards for the tourism sector in Cabo Verde to the IGQPI for approval.

Through the UNDP-CO, DNA and DGTT, submit the final draft of the ISO18065:2015 on tourism services provided by PAs adapted to the national context to the IGQPI for approval.

Provide technical assistance, upon request of the IGQPI, to support the recognition of standards against the GSTC criteria.

Carry out a validation workshop where the selected certification system and criteria for the co-financing of certification costs are presented and discussed with project partners and stakeholders. The consultant will finalise the proposals based on the feedbacks provided during the workshops.

Submit to the UNDP-CO, DNA/PMU the third Progress report. The short report (max. 8 pages, not considering the annexes) shall include at least:

A brief description of the activities carried out during the field mission;

  • A list of persons met and brief results from these meetings;
  • The key findings and results from the workshops and other public presentations of the consultant work;
  • Overall findings from the in-country mission, including i) constrains and limitations occurred during the implementation of the consultancy, ii) lessons learned, and iii) recommendations.

Competencias

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.

Functional Competencies

Knowledge Management and Learning

  • Ability to provide top quality policy advice services on environmental issues;
  • In-depth practical knowledge of inter-disciplinary development issues.

Development and Operational Effectiveness

  • Ability to communicate effectively orally and in writing in order to communicate complex, ?technical information to technical and general audiences;
  • Skill in negotiating effectively in sensitive situations;
  • Skill in achieving results through persuading, influencing and working with others;
  • Skill in facilitating meetings effectively and efficiently and to resolve conflicts as they arise.

Management and Leadership

  • Focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to critical feedback;
  • Encourages risk-taking in the pursuit of creativity and innovation;
  • Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
  • Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

  • Hold an advanced degree (Master or PhD) with expertise in the area of tourism; alternatively, a combination of degrees in tourism and environmental management, or related fields.
  • Additional relevant professional trainings and courses are an asset.

Experience and Skills?

  • At least 10 years experience in sustainable tourism planning and management, preferentially in protected areas context, with hands-on experiences in developing and strengthening human capacities in a multi stakeholder context.
  • Relevant professional experience in the development of standards for sustainable tourism.
  • Relevant professional experience in the development of certification systems for sustainable tourism.
  • Relevant professional experience in tourism planning and management into protected areas.
  • Good understanding of biodiversity and protected area management issues.
  • Good understanding of protected areas alternative revenue generation.
  • Previous working experience on sustainable tourism development in sub-Saharan African countries, or SIDS is also an asset.
  • Work experience with projects funded by international donors, ideally also the GEF.
  • Demonstrated track record of production of relevant publications and technical documents on sustainable tourism planning and management, and/or tourism planning and management into protected areas, and/or standards for sustainable tourism (papers, project proposals, guidelines, manuals, etc.)

Language:

  • It is required the working knowledge of at least one of the following languages: English, French, Spanish, or Portuguese;
  • Working knowledge of spoken and written Portuguese is considered as a strong asset.