Background

UNDP Myanmar has commenced implementation of its Country Programme for 2018-2022. Integrated programming has guided the design of the new programme in order to better address the inter-linkages between peace-building, governance, natural resource management and disaster resilience, inclusive growth, and the vertical linkages between subnational and national governance levels.

The Governance for Resilience and Sustainability Project (GRSP) leverages existing AF/GEF/REDD/GCF vertical funding and links up to horizontally and vertically with UNDP Country Programme key priority areas working at national and sub-national levels. GRSP is designed to help the Government of Myanmar (GoM) implement recent policy reforms related to environmental governance, climate change and disaster risk reduction (DRR), to ensure that economic growth in Myanmar is more inclusive, resilient and sustainable.  The project recognises that environmental degradation, when combined with natural disasters and effects of climate change, undermines the attainment of inclusive and sustainable growth. It also recognises that Myanmar’s environmental assets present unique opportunities for green economic development, which can directly support women’s economic empowerment and community resilience.

The increased emphasis on public infrastructure investments and foreign direct investments in recent years require matching increases in environmental management and resilience. At the same time, the potential of green investments as wealth and employment generators needs to be supported and promoted by the GoM. The Union Government is promulgating a series of policies to address these challenges including the National Environmental Policy, Green Economy Policy Framework, Myanmar Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan, and Myanmar Action Plan on DRR (MAPDRR). These policies now require enabling mechanisms for effective implementation and enforcement so that they deliver benefits for all people.

Over the 5-year period of the new CPD, GRSP aims to enable the GoM mainstream environment, climate change and DRR considerations into planning and project appraisal systems of at least three key sectors (out of renewable energy, mining, tourism, agriculture and fisheries) and three States and Regions (beginning with Rakhine, Bago and Sagaing). It will also support key counterparts implement the new policies, including by promoting an integrated environmental financing framework by helping develop comprehensive organisational and human resources development plans. GRSP also aims to help promote green investments in environmental goods and services to protect natural resources, minimize and manage waste more effectively, while simultaneously creating sustainable wealth and employment.

UNDP’s support for the implementation of the NEP is initially through the development of a national level Master Plan and similar master plans at the sub-national levels, to guide priority environmental governance interventions and the mainstreaming of environmental considerations throughout all government planning and decision-making. UNDP is supporting the Environmental Conservation Department (ECD) of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation (MONREC) to prepare the first national environmental master plan.

ECD is a relatively new organization, having been established in 2012. It has primary responsibility for environmental policy setting and as the country’s environmental regulator, including administration of the environmental impact assessment system. Since the launch of the EIA Procedure in late 2015, a large number of IEE and EIA reports, scoping reports and EMPs have been submitted to ECD for review. The volume of work required to review and comment on these reports significantly exceeds ECD’s capacity (in terms of staff numbers and technical expertise) to process them in a timely manner. This situation is exacerbated by the low quality of the majority of reports submitted, due to the lack of capacity and professional experience in EIA processes amongst Myanmar’s consulting community.

While a number of development partners are supporting capacity building both within ECD and amongst non-government stakeholders to engage effectively with the EIA Procedure, the burden of the submitted reports requiring attention impedes the effectiveness of these capacity building efforts by requiring ECD staff to react to outstanding deadlines. To help address this burden and allow ECD to focus on implementing longer term systems and capacity improvements, a number of development partners have agreed to coordinate the provision of immediate assistance for ECD in three areas:

1. Identification of those EIA Reports into categories for prioritization for approval, or for further review, or for rejection in accordance with the EIA Procedure 2015
2. Rapid review of existing EIA Reports (and IEE Reports) to provide comments for the EIA Report Review Committee in accordance with the EIA Procedure 2015, based on the aforementioned prioritization and to relieve the backlog of submitted reports
3. Assistance in preparing Environmental Compliance Certificates for approval of EIA/IEE reports in accordance with Chapter VIII of the EIA Procedure 2015.

In addition, ECD will be assisted to prepare a decision-making tree and work flow-chart to help progress the review and approval of EIA Reports in accordance with the EIA Procedure 2015.

A team of international consultants is to be deployed within ECD to address these tasks, comprising:

• EIA Management Advise
• EIA Review
• Legal advice to support the issuance of ECCs

The team of international consultants will also be supported by a national consultant to assist with data gathering, report organisation, translation and liaison with ECD staff. This national consultant will be based in ECD full-time for the duration of the assistance project.

This TOR is for one EIA Legal Specialist who is capable of preparing summary reviews of EIA reports for ECD management and of translating these reports into approvals documentation, including ECCs.

Duties and Responsibilities

With the technical guidance of the Project Manager/Chief Technical Advisor (GRSP) from UNDP Country Office, and in coordination with the other consultants supporting ECD’s review of EIAs, the international consultant will work closely with ECD staff to assist ECD and the EIA Report Review Body to review and assess the Scoping, IEE and EIA Reports, as well as EMPs. The consultant shall prepare draft reports, which may include recommendations on the issues that need to be addressed by the EIA Consultants or areas that have been inadequately addressed in accordance with the provisions of the EIA Procedure. The consultant shall also draft approvals documentation, including ECCs where relevant, for those EIAs recommended for approval by the consultant and other members of the international consultant team. The drafting of ECCs must take into account the legal nature of the document and ensure obligations of the particular project proponent are clearly articulated and in compliance with all regulatory requirements.

The consultant will address those EIA reports identified as being of priority to ECD, in consultation with the staff of ECD. The consultant will prepare reports and recommendations and will work with ECD staff to develop simple templates to assist the review process to provide capacity support to ECD.

Inputs and deliverables:

The consultant will be based at ECD for the 30 days of inputs. The consultant will work in a coordinated way as part of a team with other consultants supporting EIA reviews and management of the EIA system.

Key deliverables are:

1. For each report reviewed: a short and simple summary of the key issues; identification of information and/or analysis gaps; any requirements for further technical inputs; and clear recommendations on the report for the EIA Review Committee and ECD Director General (e.g. reject, request resubmission following additional work, approve with conditions)
2. A target of 2-4 reports reviewed per week (at least 15 in total but ideally many more depending on complexity)
3. A target of 10 ECCs prepared and discussed with ECD
4. Completion report on number and type of EIA reports reviewed, highlighting key findings and challenges
5. Recommendations for future templates, internal processes, capacity building requirements and other tools to expedite ECD review of EIA reports

A national consultant will provide translation support throughout the assignment for both documents written in Myanmar language and for meetings with ECD staff. UNDP Myanmar will provide any additional such support, as required.

Competencies

Corporate competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UNDP.

Functional competencies:

• Development and Operational Effectiveness:
• Ability to contribute to strategic planning, change processes, results-based management and reporting;
• Ability to lead formulation, oversight of implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects;
• Ability to apply development theory to the specific country context to identify creative, practical approaches to overcome challenging situations.

Knowledge Management and Learning:

• Demonstrates practical knowledge of inter-disciplinary development issues;
• Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside of UNDP. 

Client Orientation:

• Maintains relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude; 
• Proven networking, team-building, organizational and communication skills.

Professionalism:

• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure.
• Excellent reporting skills;

Required Skills and Experience

Education & Qualification:

• Masters degree in environmental related field, including natural resources management, environmental assessment, environmental policy or law.

Relevant Experience:

• At least 10 years of experience with EIA process and EIA systems.
• At least 4 years of experience with EIA processes in Myanmar or other Asian countries.
• Demonstrated understanding of the legal considerations regarding EIA approvals.
• Experience in working with ECD is desirable.
• Demonstrated capacity to work in a consultative manner, good networking and capacity to deal well with people.

Language skill:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills.
• Must be an international