UNDP Jobs - 88714- Consultant on Stakeholder Engagement for Uranium L

Consultant on Stakeholder Engagement for Uranium Legacy Remediation in Central Asia Climate Change Adaptation & Disaster Risk Reduction

Location :

Istanbul, TURKEY

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

10-Dec-19 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

estimated 10 January – 31 December 2020

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

approximately 240 working days

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

UNDP works in more than 170 countries to simultaneously reduce poverty and achieve sustainable development that leads to transformational change and brings about real improvements in people’s lives. We promote an integrated approach to achieve sustainable development that tackles the connected issues of multidimensional poverty, inequality and exclusion, and sustainability, while enhancing knowledge, skills and production technologies to reduce risks and sustain development gains for both people and the planet. We help countries build their capacity to integrate environmental considerations into development plans and strategies, including through managing and sustainably using natural resources; ensuring that natural wealth is used to improve people’s lives; promoting economic recovery and livelihoods; and building resilience in order to sustain development results, thus supporting the achievement of 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. As part of its mandate UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub, under the Climate and Disasters portfolio, is implementing a number of regional initiatives within in the framework of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including Stakeholder Engagement for Uranium Legacy Remediation in Central Asia Phase II in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan.

The uranium legacy causes serious threat to livelihoods, human health, and the environment in Central Asia. According to rough estimations around 1 billion tons of waste from mining and processing radioactive ores is stored on tailings sites across the region. The objective of the Phase II is to reduce risk of the negative impact of the uranium waste on people, livelihoods, and environment through raising awareness and supporting people-centered, gender sensitive, risk-informed solutions in legacy sites at the level of local communities in Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. This objective will be achieved through implementing targeted public advocacy and outreach campaign, building upon the successful awareness raising work of the Phase I. The realization of the project objective will be achieved through ensuring public consultations and participation as well as active engagement of the local authorities, academia, and the local NGOs. The project’s objective will focus on: (i) Increased understanding of local and national decision-makers and community members about uranium waste risk and its impact on people, livelihoods, and environment; (ii) Reinforced implementation of the legal and regulatory framework through community engagement in the safe governance of legacy sites; (iii) Uranium legacy risk reduction in target communities through gender sensitive social economic development projects and (iv) cross-country coordination and knowledge exchange.

Over the period of the contract, IRH Climate Change Adaptation & Disaster Risk Reduction Cluster will have significant needs to implement the above-mentioned project, to make connections with other ongoing initiatives and to address country follow up needs in a number of research areas including climate change, natural capital approaches, development financing, disaster risk reduction in relation to uranium waste risk and its impact on people, livelihoods, and environment within the framework of SDGs.

Duties and Responsibilities

The scope of the work is provision of technical support and inputs in the rolling out of the implementation of project activities and functional support for a successful operation of the Uranium Phase II project under Climate Change Adaptation & Disaster Risk Reduction portfolio.

The consultancy is also for providing technical assistance and research support for the Uranium Phase II project implementation and make connections with on-going Climate Change Adaptation & Disaster Risk Reduction projects and beyond linked to energy, environment and poverty. Thus, the consultant needs to be in regular contact with the supervisor and programme specialists of the team to support delivery of tasks in timely manner.

Task 1: Coordination of Uranium Phase II project implementation, collecting and consolidating input from COs and other partners involved.

Preparation of project progress and lessons learned reports with indicator and target level achievements for donor reporting in line with UNDP and EC templates;
?Development of a datasheet for monitoring and evaluation of project implementation;
Organization of regular coordination meetings between UNDP COs, OSCE and other partners involved;
Coordination and monitoring of project communication activities in line with EU and UNDP visibility guidelines. Development of project inventory with hard & soft copies.

Task 2 Conducting following research and guidance note in relation to uranium waste risk and its impact on people, livelihoods, and environment, as part of project implementation:

Research paper on effective and inclusive governance approaches and socio-economic interventions to reduce the risks from the uranium legacy waste impacting on people’s health, livelihoods, and environment in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan (linked to the project output 3);
A guidance notes on risk communication at the community level to inform decisions on land and water use for the territories around uranium tailings (linked to the project output 1).

Task 3: Development and delivery of Uranium Phase II knowledge products as well as supporting in design, editing and review of the project materials:

Regular fast digest briefs on Uranium Phase II progress, achievements and lessons learned;
Preparation of two blogposts;
Updating and structuring the IRH Knowledge Management Gateway and Yammer with information and materials from Uranium Phase II and disseminating materials through the site.

Task 4: Provide technical support to the team leader in UNDP IRH by consolidating data from Uranium Phase II project for coordination with other initiatives in the area of climate, energy and disaster risk reduction portfolio in Europe and Central Asia within the framework of SDGs.

Tasks 5: Operational and technical support to Uranium Phase II event project meetings, events and trainings including outcome documents, post event reports, list of participants and agenda.

Task 6: Finalization of CDT bi-monthly newsletters by collecting input from IRH and COs reflecting updates from Uranium Phase II.

Deliverables:

Deliverable 1 (deadline by 28 February 2020):

Climate Change Adaptation & Disaster Risk Reduction bimonthly bulletin outlines prepared reflecting updates from Uranium Phase II - the first bulletin finalized;
Monitoring datasheet outlines prepared for monitoring and evaluation of the project implementation in line with EU and UNDP visibility guidelines;
Consolidating data from country offices to support Programme specialist for Uranium Phase II reporting and monitoring in line with UNDP and EC templates;
Preparation of technical materials for the upcoming Uranium Phase II workshops, events and trainings and dissemination of technical materials amongst UNDP COs, OSCE and other partners involved;
Preparation of technical materials for Project board meeting.

Deliverable 2 (deadline by 30 April 2020):

Climate Change Adaptation & Disaster Risk Reduction bimonthly newsletters prepared reflecting updates from Uranium Phase II – second bulletin finalized;
Draft a research paper on effective and inclusive governance approaches and socio-economic interventions to reduce the risks from uranium legacy waste sites impacting on people’s health, livelihoods, and environment in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan (linked to the project output 3);
First blogpost finalized;
Monitoring datasheet updated regularly based on the project progress in line with EU and UNDP visibility guidelines.

Deliverable 3 (deadline by 30 June 2020):

Collection of evidence and data from Uranium Phase II project for coordination with other initiatives in the area of climate, energy and disaster risk reduction portfolio in Europe and Central Asia within the framework of SDGs.;
Draft a guidance note on risk communication at the community level to inform decisions on land and water use for the territories around uranium tailings (linked to the project output 1);
UNDP corporate knowledge platforms (Intranet and Yammer) updated with latest tools and knowledge products with Uranium Phase II workshops, training and event materials and disseminated amongst UNDP COs, OSCE and other partners involved;
Climate Change Adaptation & Disaster Risk Reduction bimonthly newsletters prepared reflecting updates from Uranium Phase II – third bulletin finalized;
Monitoring datasheet updated regularly based on the project progress in line with EU and UNDP visibility guidelines.

Deliverable 4 (deadline by 31 August 2020):

Collecting inputs from COs to support programme specialists for dissemination of achievements and key lessons learned from Uranium Phase II project in line with UNDP and EC templates;
Climate Change Adaptation & Disaster Risk Reduction bimonthly newsletters prepared with regular updates from Uranium Phase II – fourth bulletin finalized;
Second blogpost finalized;
Draft of regular fast digest briefs on Uranium Phase II progress, achievements and lessons learned;
Draft progress report for the first year (July 2019- July 2020) of project implementation;
Monitoring datasheet updated regularly based on the project progress in line with EU and UNDP visibility guidelines.

Deliverable 5 (deadline by 31 October 2020):

A guidance notes on risk communication at the community level to inform decisions on land and water use for the territories around uranium tailings finalized (linked to the project output 1);
Regular fast digest briefs on Uranium Phase II progress, achievements and lessons learned finalized;
Climate Change Adaptation & Disaster Risk Reduction bimonthly newsletters with regular updates from Uranium Phase II – fifth bulletin finalized;
Monitoring datasheet updated regularly based on the project progress in line with EU and UNDP visibility guidelines.

Deliverable 6 (deadline by 31 December 2020):

Climate Change Adaptation & Disaster Risk Reduction bimonthly newsletters with regular updates from Uranium Phase II – sixth bulletin finalized;
Uranium Phase II project lessons learned, and annual progress reports finalized in line with UNDP template;
Research paper on effective and inclusive governance approaches and socio-economic interventions to reduce the risks from uranium legacy waste sites impacting on people’s health, livelihoods, and environment in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan finalized (linked to the project output 3);
Monitoring datasheet finalized with annual implementation progress in line with EU and UNDP visibility guidelines;
Uranium Phase II project hard and soft copy inventories finalized.

Payment Schedule

Installment 1 - 20% of the contract amount upon confirmation by the Certifying Officer of satisfactory delivery Deliverable 1, by 15 February 2020;
Installment 2 – 15% of the contract amount upon confirmation by the Certifying Officer of satisfactory delivery of Deliverable 2, by 15 April 2020;
Installment 3 – 15% of the contract amount upon confirmation by the Certifying Officer of satisfactory delivery of Deliverable 3, by 15 June 2020;
Installment 4 - 15% of the contract amount upon confirmation by the Certifying Officer of satisfactory delivery of Deliverable 4, by 15 August 2020;
Installment 5 – 20% of the contract amount upon confirmation by the Certifying Officer of satisfactory delivery of Deliverable 5, by 15 October 2020;
Installment 6 - 15% of the contract amount upon confirmation by the Certifying Officer of satisfactory delivery of Deliverable 6, by 31 December 2020.

Travel
In the case of travel is requested by the supervisor, the travel costs will be paid separately as per UNDP rules and regulations.

Competencies

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;

Functional competencies:

Ability to work under pressure and stressful situations;
Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities;
Strong organizational skills

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications/Education:

Minimum Master’s degree in one of the following areas: Development, Economics, Environment, Energy or related studies.

Experience:

Minimum 5 years of work experience in sustainable development and environment issues in Europe and Central Asia region is required.
Minimum 4 years of experience with SDGs and Agenda 2030 is required.
Experience in research and reporting on development, environment or energy issues would be an asset.
Prior experience in UNDP or international development organizations is an asset.

Language skills:

Fluency in English both written and spoken.

Evaluation of Applicants

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal.
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 (P11/CV desk review with written samples evaluation) and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max. 35 points:

Criteria A (Relevance of education) – max points: 3
Criteria B (Experience in sustainable development and environment issues in ECA region) – max points: 7
Criteria C (Experience with SDGs and Agenda 2030) – max points: 5
Criteria D (Experience research and reporting on development or environment issues) – max points: 5
Criteria E (Prior experience in UNDP or international development organizations)– max points: 5
Criteria F (Writing samples on sustainable development or environment, or energy issues)– max points: 10

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max. 15 points

Only candidates who will receive min. 70% of points in desk review (criteria A-E) will be considered for written samples evaluation. Only candidates who will get min. 70% of points in technical evaluation (criteria A-F) will be considered for financial evaluation.

Application procedures

The application submission is a two-step process. Failing to comply with the submission process may result in disqualifying the applications.

Step 1: Interested candidates must include the following documents when submitting the applications (Please group all your documents into one (1) single PDF attachment as the system only allows upload of one document):
Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.
Filled P11 form or CV including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees
(blank form can be downloaded from http://www.eurasia.undp.org/content/dam/rbec/docs/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc);
3 (three) writing samples on sustainable development, environment, or energy issues.
Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials

Step 2: Submission of Financial Proposal - Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and requested to provide a financial offer.
Payments will be made only upon confirmation of UNDP on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner.
Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org
General Terms and conditions as well as other related documents can be found under: http://on.undp.org/t7fJs.
Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply.
Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.