Background

A.   BACKGROUND

UNDP is the UN’s global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience, and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP is on the ground in about 170 countries and territories, working with national counterparts on solutions to global and national development challenges. In the programme countries, UNDP supports stabilization, state-building, governance and development priorities in in partnership with the host governments, the United Nations system, the development partners and other partners to help the country to achieve sustainable development by eradicating poverty in all its forms and dimensions, accelerating structural transformations for sustainable development and building resilience to crises and shock.

UNDP has been a trusted development partner of the Maldives for more than 40 years, helping to achieve the eradication of poverty, reduction of inequalities and exclusion in areas such governance, environment protection, climate change mitigation and adaptation. In each of its thematic areas of work, UNDP at the request of its national partners provides relevant policy advisory support, technical assistance, advocacy, and knowledge to help Maldives achieve its global commitment on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). With Maldives’s transition to Middle Income Country Status, Official Development Assistance from traditional donor sources have been on the continuous decline. UNDP is therefore working with its national partners to identify and tap into alternative and innovative financing mechanisms for development. This process involves broadening outreach and forging wide-ranging partnerships with stakeholders - including other UN agencies, the government, the private sector, philanthropic Foundations, multi-lateral and bi-lateral donors and International Finance Institutions to advance the country’s development strategies and objectives.

UNDP’s work in the area of Resilience and Climate Change (RCC) unit focuses on promoting sustainable management of the environment and increasing climate resilience through focused programming on climate change adaption and mitigation.

The Republic of Maldives is a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) which faces sustainable development challenges such as small but growing populations, land scarcity, vulnerability to climate change impacts (and other natural disasters) as well as economic development problems due to high transportation costs, lack of adequate infrastructure and lack of industrial development incentives. The Maldives is an archipelago comprised of 1,190 coral islands in 26 atolls over an area of about 750 km on a north-south axis and 120 km on an east-west axis. The land area of the Maldives accounts for about 1% of the country’s territory. The islands are low lying land areas with an average height above sea level of 1.8 metres (m).

The country’s population of approximately 400,000 people dispersed across 187 inhabited islands. An additional more than 166 islands have tourist resorts. Waste generation is estimated to be 324,000 tonnes annually with consisting of approximately 0.5-11% of hazardous chemicals and of approximately 3-9% of plastics depending on location and size of the island. The fact that (chemical) waste is being generated on 278 island presents the country with an incredible challenge, as land is very scarce, low lying and transportation of chemicals and waste from island to island is costly and complicated. The inadequate storage options and current disposal practices of hazardous chemicals and waste, especially open burning of waste at dumpsites or disposal near the coastline, make it very likely that these toxic chemicals and waste will end up in the waters and oceans. In the Republic of Maldives, the tourism sector accounts for more than 28% percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the economy. Tourists to the Maldives are seeking a pristine environment, not one with polluted waters, degraded coral reefs, waste dumps which are openly burning or waste floating in the ocean. Therefore, the Sound Management of Chemicals and waste, especially the environmentally sound management of Persistent Organic Pollutants (hereinafter referred to as POPs) and hazardous waste, is an important element to achieving environmental sustainability. Further, given the economic importance of tourism to the Maldives, implementing environmentally sound chemical and waste management systems would help decouple growth in the tourism sector from environmental degradation.

To tackle these environmental and human health risks, the Government of the Republic of Maldives (GoM) through the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Technology (MECCT) has already taken some steps to try to manage its growing chemicals and waste management problems. Maldives has ratified the Stockholm Convention (SC) on 17 October 2006 and in accordance with Article 7 of the Convention has submitted its National Implementation Plan (NIP) to the Stockholm Convention Secretariat (SCS) on 18 July 2017, which covers the initial POPs as well as the new POPs added at the 4th and the 5th Conference of the Parties.

According to this NIP the highest-ranking national Priorities are the following:

a) First Priority: The Implementation of measures to strengthen the institutional and regulatory framework; which includes the (i) developing legislation for chemicals management; (ii) strengthening institutional capacity; (iii) improving data collection and management systems and (iv) conducting research on the effects of POPs;

b) Second Priority: Developing an action plan to eliminate PCB-containing equipment and its waste by 2025, which includes the (i) identification, labelling and mapping where PCBs and equipment potentially-containing PCBs are located in the country); (ii) putting in place labelling mechanism for all PCB-containing equipment; (iii) establishing adequate storage facilities for replaced equipment containing PCBs; (iv) formulating guidelines for disposal of equipment-containing PCBs; and (v) disposing safely of equipment containing PCBs;

c) Reducing the incineration and open burning of wastes (including medical and hazardous waste), which is the source of 98.6% of U-POPs releases in the country- totalling 153.4 g-TEQ year-1;

d) Raising awareness through the development of education curricula and targeted awareness campaigns; and

e) Establishing a standard Chemical Management System, including chemical labelling in multiple languages.

In order to address the above-mentioned barriers the project will focus on addressing regulatory/policy barriers, technical and capacity and knowledge barriers so that the Maldives has (a) a better foundation to establish a nationwide environmentally sound management system to address POPs and highly hazardous chemicals, with (b) the adequate coordination of key public, private and community stakeholders, regulatory departments, and centres of expertise, and (c) the enhanced capacity of all involved, for the Environmentally Sound Management of Chemicals.

This project is implemented by MECCT with UNDP acting as GEF’s accredited agency. It is expected to support implementation of the developmental targets and priorities of the Government set out in the Strategic Action Plan (SAP) for five-year period 2019-2023.

Duties and Responsibilities

B.   DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The main objective of this consultancy is to develop a National Response Plan (NRP) for chemicals associated incidents, specifically chemical spills, fires and poisoning in line with national and international environment and health safety guidelines. The Consultant shall also ensure that the national response plan and response mechanisms are streamlined across all key stakeholders and propose a holistic implementation and monitoring mechanism to ensure the effective implementation of the NRP.

Scope of Work

The consultancy involves development of a National Response Plan for the effective, and environmentally sound management, response and handling of chemicals related incidents/hazards.

The Consultant will be supported by Project Management Unit (PMU) based in MECCT and UNDP CO team. The tasks to be undertaken by the Consultant is outlined in this Terms of Reference (TOR) and are to be undertaken in close collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change and Technology and relevant stakeholders as necessary, and include but are not necessarily limited to, the following:

1. Inception meeting to ensure that the work is aligned with the scope of this TOR.
2. Conduct desktop review with any relevant stakeholder consultations, identifying the existing response plans if any, for chemicals and waste management and related accidents, relevant policies and strategies across stakeholders (protocols and response plans currently in place to address chemical relates accidents/ hazards). The review report must include international best practices in responding to chemical spills, fires and poisoning. The desk review report will be finalized via presentation of the review to the client at a policy-level meeting.
3. Conduct stakeholder workshops to understand their needs and challenges with regard to chemicals management and emergency response aspects and to identify their roles and responsibilities.
4. Draft National Response Plan prepared and submitted for review and comments from stakeholders.
5. Submission of the final National Response Plan.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

The consultancy fees will be paid in tranches upon provision of the following deliverables:

Duration of the Assignment

Duration of the contract will be eight weeks or two months.

Institutional Arrangement

The Consultant is to coordinate with the Project Management Unit (PMU) at MECCT and UNDP Country Office, relevant government and non-government institutions during the consultation and formulation process of the National Response Plan so that risks are identified, avoided, mitigated and managed throughout the assignment. The Consultant will report directly to the Project Manager at MECCT

The PMU will facilitate the Consultant in setting up and obtaining relevant documents, arranging meeting rooms at MECCT, logistical and venue arrangements for stakeholder workshops.

All deliverables under this consultancy need to be accepted by:

• Project Manager – PMU, MECCT
• Assistant Resident Representative – RCC, UNDP

Duty Station and Expected Places of Travel

The consultant will work from home. However, for Deliverable 3: Stakeholder Workshops under "Expected Outputs and Deliverables" the consultant is required to carry out stakeholder workshops in the Maldives. International consultants are required to undertake a one-week long mission trip to Maldives to carry out this deliverable.

C.    PAYMENT TERMS

The method of payment is output-based lump-sum scheme. The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive lump sum 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.

The payments shall be released upon submitting the required deliverables/outputs with satisfactory by the Assistant Resident Representative of RCC Unit as per agreement for each report in accordance with a set time schedule to be agreed in the contract.

Note: Payments will be based on invoices on achievement of agreed milestones i.e., upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR and certification of acceptance by the UNDP. The applicant must factor in all possible costs in his/her “All Inclusive Lump Sum Fee” including his/her consultancy and professional fee, travel, honorarium, board and lodging, and any other foreseeable costs in this exercise. No costs other than what has been indicated in the financial proposal will be paid or reimbursed to the consultant. UNDP will only pay for any unplanned travel outside of this TOR and Duty Station on actual basis and on submission of original bills/invoices and on prior agreement with UNDP officials. Daily per diems and costs for accommodation/meals/incidental expenses for such travel shall not exceed established local UNDP DSA rates.

For an Individual Contractor who is 62 years of age or older, and on an assignment requiring travel, be it for the purpose of arriving at the duty station or as an integral duty required travel under the TOR, a full medical examination and statement of fitness to work must be provided.  Such medical examination costs must be factored into the financial proposal above. Medical examination is not a requirement for individuals on RLA contracts.

Competencies

D.   COMPETENCIES

The roles and responsibilities of the Consultant are as follows:

• Monitoring the project schedule and being responsible for the quality of the outputs.
• Coordinating the planning, implementation of the necessary studies and ensuring that the work is conducted following the highest professional standards.
• Ensuring that the quality control and supervision mechanism in place for the assignment is effective, manage the data collection team and ensure that each member performs his or her specific scope of work.

Required Skills and Experience

E.   REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

• Minimum Master’s Degree in the field of chemicals management, disaster management, environment management, social sciences, development studies or any other relevant field.
• Minimum five years of work experience in the field of chemicals management, disaster management, environment management, social sciences, development studies or any other relevant field.
• Experience working in SIDS on a similar assignment is desirable
• Demonstrated experience in minimum one similar assignment relating to developing a management plan in the field of chemicals management, disaster management, environment management, social sciences, development studies or any other relevant field.
• Proven ability to work with a wide range of partners, including government offices and independent institutions.
• Previous experience with government or international agencies will be an added advantage

Evaluation Method and Criteria

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis

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)

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) during the desk review/interview are acceptable would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Documentation required

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:

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP in Annex II;
2. Production portfolio – if required
3. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three professional references; and
4. Financial proposal that indicates the lump sum rate/fee of the candidate in United States Dollars (USD).  In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal must include a breakdown of this daily fee (including number of anticipated working days and all foreseeable expenses to carry out the assignment). 

Incomplete proposals may not be considered. The short-listed candidates may be contacted for interview and the successful candidate will be notified.