Background

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Administration

To apply, interested persons should upload the combined Technical Proposal (if applicable), CV and Offeror’s Letter to “UNDP Jobs” by navigating to the link below and clicking “APPLY NOW”, no later than the date indicated on the “UNDP Jobs” website. Application submitted via email will not be accepted: -

Submissions accepted via UNDP Job Site ONLY

NOTE: The Financial Proposal should not be uploaded to “UNDP Jobs”.

If requested by the Procurement Unit, the Financial Proposal should be submitted to procurement.bb@undp.org within 24 hours of a request. Failure to submit the Financial Proposal will result in disqualification.

Any request for clarification must be sent in writing to procurement.bb@undp.org within three (3) days of the publication of this notice, ensuring that the reference number above is included in the subject line. The UNDP Barbados & the OECS Procurement Unit will post the responses  two (2) days later, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to: -

http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=41325 (cut and paste into browser address bar if the link does not work)

A detailed Procurement Notice, TOR, and all annexes can be found by clicking the above link.

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The system allows the upload of one (1) document ONLY – should you be required to submit a Technical Proposal and CV, these documents along with the Offeror’s Letter should be combined and uploaded as one

UNDP shall endeavour to provide such responses to clarifications in an expeditious manner, but any delay in such response shall not cause an obligation on the part of UNDP to extend the submission date of the Proposals, unless UNDP deems that such an extension is justified and necessary

The tri-island State of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique, is located at the southern end of the Lesser Antillean islands and has a total area 34,000 ha. The largest island, Grenada has an area of 31,200 ha with a population of approx. 104,000. Most of the island’s population is concentrated on the lower slopes along the coastline. The land is volcanic in origin with a mountainous topography, with 71 watersheds originating from the single north-south ridge in the island’s centre. Within a distance of 5km, it ranges in elevation from sea level to 840m with a 120km coastline.

Grenada’s forest ecosystems consist of elfin woodland, montane forest, and seasonal evergreen forest (rainforest) that descend to montane rain forests, then to lowland tropical dry forests and finally to mangroves. Grenada’s terrestrial biodiversity includes over 450 species of plants, 150 species of birds, 4 native mammals, 4 amphibians, 8 reptiles, 5 snakes, 11 bats, and 17 freshwater fish.

Most of Grenada’s remaining large tracts of forest ecosystems are primarily found in the high elevations, where the greatest threat is expanding agriculture with human settlement and development. Other significant threats are slash and burn agriculture and invasive species (bamboo) encroaching into native forests. Burning of agricultural waste and setting of fires to clear land also pose a threat to forest ecosystems, including within protected areas. Moreover, mangrove ecosystems have been severely reduced due to tourism development and the building of jetties, although other factors such as harvesting, pollution from solid wastes, pesticides, sewage and oil spills, and sand mining have also contributed to mangrove decline.

To address those threats to Grenada’s forest ecosystems, it is paramount to mainstream sustainable land use management and biodiversity conservation into national land use planning, sector policies, and legal frameworks. Further, climate smart agricultural practices should be an integral part of sustainable land use management to help ensure long term sustainability of agricultural production at the community and producer level, supported through a set of nationally managed financial, technical and information services. To this end, the project proposes the following approach:

• Develop systemic and institutional capacity to support integrated landscape management
• Develop national capacity to provide financial, technical, and information services for climate smart agricultural production
• Operationalize resilient agricultural practices integrated with biodiversity conservation
• Manage knowledge for sustainable land management, climate smart agriculture and biodiversity conservation

A Project Preparation Grant (PPG) has been approved by the GEF Secretariat to support development of a full-sized project (FSP) document within a timeframe of 12 months. Project preparation activities will consist of multi-stakeholder consultations and PPG workshops to ensure involvement of key stakeholders in project design processes and generate project ownership, and systematization of knowledge about needs, potential and commitments of actors and agents at national and local level. The activities will contribute to awareness raising on the project and ensure active participation by local actors, technical sectors and political support to maximise design synergies and buy-in during the project development phase.

Duties and Responsibilities

The CSA/SLM specialist will liaise with and feed relevant and succinct information to the Project Development Expert as it relates to the policy, legal and institutional framework to support the drafting of the project document. The consultant will also provide support in the identification of appropriate indicators, baselines, targets and sources of verification related to strengthening the policy, legal and regulatory framework to include in the project Strategic Results Framework. The consultant will further ensure identification of baseline initiatives and related co-financing opportunities for the project and in raising awareness among key conservation stakeholders on the project and its objectives and strategy.

The consultant will have specific input to the following outputs:

2.2 Soil and water quality monitoring and advisory programme enhanced

2.3 National supply of climate resilient crop varieties enhanced through 5 upgraded and climate-proofed government propagation centers

3.1 Climate smart agricultural and SLM practices implemented in St David, St Andrew and St Patrick parishes

3.3 Climate smart agriculture and rangeland management system in Carriacou and Petit Martinique

The CSA/SLM expert will work on outputs 1.1, 1.2 and 3.2 in close coordination with the Biodiversity Expert.

Key products will include:

• Baseline assessment of policy, legal/regulatory and institutional frameworks for BD and PA management, SLM and CSA approaches, integrated landscape level natural resource management (including watershed-level management), and recommendations for related project activities. Determining gaps in the policy, legal/regulatory and institutional framework, and identifying barriers and weaknesses and providing recommendations for project activities to address these.
• Report including review, analysis of existing CSA and SLM technologies and practices, and recommendations to promote through project interventions in order to reduce negative environmental impacts.
• Capacity needs assessment (technical, financial, equipment, knowledge) associated with incorporation of new CSA/SLM practices and technologies,
• Capacity development strategy that addresses knowledge gaps, training and technical needs to support adoption of SLM and CSA technologies and practices,
• Description of proposed project activities to address findings, specified for the project intervention sites defined.
• Report on baseline land area under climate-smart agriculture practice and number of beneficiaries (gender disaggregated) accessing climate resilient crop varieties will be defined with targets identified.
• Prepare draft strategic plan for germplasm collection, to include priority species, cost and location.
• Prepare draft strategy for soil and water monitoring advisory, including identification of equipment and capacity needs.

Define, in coordination with national authorities, other relevant stakeholders and in consultation with Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Protected Areas Expert, the areas and preliminary boundaries for project watershed SLM and CSA interventions. This includes sites for CSA demonstration sites to showcase climate resilient agricultural practices and technologies, SLM and land rehabilitation practices. This should include the information on the level of land degradation (including

underlying causes/drivers) and incorporate information on (1) the socio-economic situation and on (2) globally significant biodiversity incorporated from the relevant consultants

• Define operational strategies and provide support to the Project Development Expert in the drafting of the project documentation and following UNDP and GEF guidelines.
• Description of proposed project activities in the project watersheds, including identification of potential partners; a list of specific activities and their estimated costs; and potential co-financing resources.
• Description of all SLM/CSA related project stakeholders and of stakeholder roles and responsibilities in the full project (in coordination with the Gender and Socio-economic expert).
• Define LD-related indicators to be included in the Project Results Framework, including baseline and targets considering the PIF and GEF LD guidelines.
• Provide inputs GEF LD Tracking Tools (together with the Biodiversity Expert)
• Define further technical assessments, assistance and expertise needed to support project implementation on particular deliverables (with preliminary TOR or task lists for support experts)
• Input to the Social and Environmental Standards Procedure (SESP), and Environmental and Social Management Plan (if needed) on relevant standards, as per UNDP guidance, feeding to the Lead Expert

Institutional Arrangements

The Specialist will report directly to the UNDP Programme Manager for Energy and the Environment in the Sub-Regional Office for Barbados and the OECS and will work in close coordination with the PPG team, particularly with the Project Development Expert and the GEF Operational Focal Point. The s will communicate on the progress of the work, any challenges being encountered or risks foreseen, mitigation measures proposed or taken, and where UNDP/national support may be required. Outputs produced will undergo review for certification of acceptance.

Deliverables

The Specialist is expected to have the appropriate software, equipment, facilities or access to such as relevant to complete the required services. The Specialist will operate from their usual base in Grenada.

The contract price is a fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the duration specified herein. The Financial Proposal will include all fees and costs associated with the execution of the contract, including professional fees, travel, equipment and all other expenses that will be incurred during the execution of the work.

Payment will be remitted subject to the approval of final deliverables by UNDP, and based on the contractor’s price proposal. Expected deadlines and proposed payment allocations are as follows:

Competencies

• Good analytical skills of sustainable land use problems and threats, and experience in management solutions, including multi-stakeholder processes and integrated watershed management solutions
• Understanding of results-based management
• Ability to work in multi-disciplinary teams and coordinate and feed inputs to others
• Fully proficient in the following software applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint

Required Skills and Experience

REQUIREMENTS FOR EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS

I. Academic Qualifications:

An under- or post-graduate degree in agronomy or related natural sciences, sustainable land use management, climate-resilient agriculture practices or related field

II. Experience:

• At least 4 years of experience working in the preparation and implementation of sustainable agriculture, sustainable land use management, climate-resilient agriculture related initiatives
• Experience in designing and conducting stakeholder consultations and ability of defining project strategies and interventions at different levels
• Experience in agriculture and SLM related regulatory, policy and planning frames
• Advantage if has experience in plant propagation and germplasm collection management aspects
• Advantage in experience in small island setting, especially in the Caribbean and Grenada

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. Motivation letter explaining why they are the most suitable for the work

2. Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references

3. Financial proposal (prepared, but not submitted unless requested to do so)

FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

• Lump sum contracts

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR.  In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days).

• Travel

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel.  In general, UNDP should 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 case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

EVALUATION

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis

When using this weighted scoring method, 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 and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

* Technical Criteria weight; [70%]

* Financial Criteria weight; [30%]

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation