Background
Project Title
Strengthening Biodiversity and Ecosystems Management and Climate-Smart Landscapes in the Mid to Lower Zambezi Region of Zimbabwe
Background
The Government of Zimbabwe, through the Ministry of Environment, Climate, Tourism and Hospitality Industry (MECTHI), in partnership with the UNDP, is implementing a 6-year GEF funded project entitled “Strengthening Biodiversity and Ecosystems Management and Climate-Smart Landscapes in the Mid to Lower Zambezi Region of Zimbabwe”, known locally as the Zambezi Valley Biodiversity Project (ZVBP). The project is implemented under a National Implementation Modality (NIM) in which MECTHI is the Implementing Partner. This is a child project under a global parent programme entitled “Global Partnership on Wildlife Conservation and Crime Prevention for Sustainable Development” - known for short as the Global Wildlife Programme (GWP). The project seeks to address multiple threats to biodiversity and sustainable community development in the Lower Zambezi, which include poaching and associated wildlife trade, retaliatory killing of wildlife, deforestation and associated land degradation due to unsustainable agriculture and firewood consumption, and uncontrolled veld fires.
The Zambezi Valley Biodiversity Project is a multifocal intervention, the objective of which is to promote an integrated landscape approach to managing wildlife resources, carbon and ecosystem services in the face of climate change in the protected areas and communal lands of the Mid to Lower Zambezi Regions of Zimbabwe. The project has 4 components namely: Component 1. Strengthening capacity and governance frameworks for integrated wildlife and woodland management and wildlife/forest crime enforcement in Zimbabwe; Component 2. Strengthening Zimbabwe's PA estate and CAMPFIRE Wildlife Conservancies in areas of global BD significance; Component 3. Mainstreaming BD and ES management, and climate change mitigation, into the wider landscape; and Component 4. Knowledge Management, M&E and Gender Mainstreaming.
The project is being implemented in Muzarabani, Mbire and Hurungwe Districts as well as Mana Pools National Park, and Chewore, Sapi, Hurungwe, Dande, Charara and Doma Safari Areas. The indigenous Doma Community resides in some wards of Mbire North. The project will carry out activities that will improve the livelihoods of communities that live within the project area.
Social and Environmental Safeguards
UNDP’s Social and Environmental Standards (SES) underpin our commitment to mainstream social and environmental sustainability in our Programmes and Projects to support sustainable development. The objectives of the standards are to:
- Strengthen the social and environmental outcomes of Programmes and Projects;
- Avoid adverse impacts to people and the environment;
- Minimize, mitigate, and manage adverse impacts where avoidance is not possible;
- Strengthen UNDP and partner capacities for managing social and environmental risks;
- Ensure full and effective stakeholder engagement, including through a mechanism to respond to complaints from project-affected people.
A key mechanism to ensure these standards are applied is through UNDP’s project-level Social and Environmental Screening Procedure (SESP) which is a requirement for all proposed projects. The objectives of the SESP are to: (a) Integrate the SES Overarching Principles (human rights, gender equality and environmental sustainability); (b) Identify potential social and environmental risks and their significance; (c) Determine the Project's risk category (Low, Moderate, High); and (d) Determine the level of social and environmental assessment and management required to address potential risks and impacts.
UNDP’s SES and SESP came into effect January 1, 2015. All guidance on UNDPs Social and Environmental Safeguards can be found in the SES Toolkit.
Duties and Responsibilities
UNDP is seeking the service of an international safeguards expert to undertake an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) and prepare an Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP) for this project.
Expected Outputs and Deliverables:
The consultant will be responsible for the following outputs and related activities:
- Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA): In accordance with UNDP’s SES, an ESIA will be developed and carried out by an independent expert in a participatory manner with stakeholders, following the principles of FPIC. The ESIA will further identify and assess social and environmental impacts of the project and its area of influence; evaluate alternatives; and consider appropriate avoidance, mitigation, management, and monitoring measures. It will address all relevant issues related to the SES Principles and Standards, with particular focus on Standard 6 on Indigenous Peoples. A key output of the ESIA is an ESMP, as described next;
- ESIA report and Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP): An ESIA report and ESMP will provide a set of avoidance, mitigation, monitoring and institutional measures – as well as actions needed to implement these measures – to achieve the desired social and environmental sustainability outcomes. The measures will be adopted and integrated into the project activities, monitoring and reporting framework and budget. At a minimum, the ESMP will include an Indigenous Peoples Plan, a project-level grievance redress mechanism and a comprehensive Stakeholder Engagement Plan. Other management plans should be included as determined necessary in the course of the ESIA;
- Training on FPIC and other safeguards topics: The consultant will train relevant stakeholders and members of the project team on FPIC and other safeguards topics as determined necessary in the course of the ESIA, and as described in the “Capacity Development and Training” section of the ESMP.
Institutional Arrangement:
The consultant will work under the guidance of Head, PRECC Unit, in consultation with the Project Manager.
Duration of the Work:
The assignment is expected to take about 40 working days, and the work must be completed by June 2020.
Payment of Milestones and Authority
The consultant must send a financial offer based on Daily Fee. The consultant shall quote an all-inclusive Daily Fee for the contract period. The term “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, consumables, etc.) that could be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment are already factored into the daily fee submitted in the proposal. Travel costs and daily allowance cost should be identified separately.
Payments will be made based on the agreed financial proposal (contract is based on daily fee) and released upon submission of a certification of payment, indicating deliverables achieved and days worked to be verified and cleared for payment by the supervisor.
The qualified consultant shall receive his/her lump sum service fees upon certification of the completed tasks satisfactorily, as per the following payment schedule:
- 10% Upon Presentation and approval of an Inception Report with detailed Methodology and Stakeholder engagement plan;
- 30% Upon submission of Output I: Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Report with annexes;
- 20% Upon submission of Output I: Environmental and Social Impact Assessment Report with annexes;
- 40% Upon submission of Output II and III: Environmental and Social Management Plan; and Revised Social and Environmental Screening Procedure.
Competencies
- Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
- Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of the UN;
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
- Treats all people fairly without favoritism.
Required Skills and Experience
Education
- Master’s degree or above in environment, sociology, economics, development, or a closely related field;
Experience
- At least seven years of experience related to social and environmental standards and impact assessment in an international development context; previous experience in supporting UNDP will be an added advantage;
- Knowledge of Human rights (including human rights-based approach and human rights impact assessment); gender equality and women’s empowerment (including gender mainstreaming and gender analysis);
- Demonstrated knowledge of cultural heritage (including chance find procedures, physical and intangible cultural resources); displacement and resettlement (including Resettlement Action Plan, livelihoods);
- Experience working with indigenous peoples (including Free, Prior and Informed Consent, Indigenous Peoples Plans)
- Demonstrated knowledge of sustainable development environmental management issues, and other related sustainable human development issues.
Language
- Fluency in English is required.
How to Apply
Submission must be online following the instruction given on the website.
Please submit the following to demonstrate your interest and qualifications. Please note that all the documents below must be submitted as one PDF file:
- CV, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
- Technical Proposal demonstrating full understanding of the TORs, approach and methodology to the task and workplan;
- Financial proposal based ao an all-inclusive daily fee;
- Travel: All envisaged international travel costs to and from the duty station must be included in the financial proposal in a separate line. The cost of in-land travel, which will be handled directly by the UNDP Country Office.
Application Evaluation Process:
Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the Cumulative Analysis methodology [weighted scoring method], where the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:
- Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
- Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.
Technical Criteria weight; [70%].
Financial Criteria weight; [30%].
Only Individual Consultants obtaining a minimum of 70% of the obtainable 100 points in technical evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.
General Conditions of Contract for the ICs:
Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability