International Project Development Specialist under National Capacity Development for Implementing Rio Conventions through Environmental Governance

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), acting as an implementing agency of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), is providing assistance to the Ministry of Environment and Forests of the Government of Bangladesh in the preparation of the GEF Medium Size Project (MSP) “National Capacity Development for Implementing Rio Conventions through Environmental Governance.” In accordance with UNDP/GEF procedures, UNDP is hiring an International Consultant to develop the MSP proposal for ‘National Capacity Development for Implementing Rio Conventions through Environmental Governance’ for submission to the GEF Secretariat fully compliant with the enforced GEF rules and standards as part of the GEF Project Preparation Grant (PPG). The consultants will report to the Environment Portfolio Manager of Climate Change, Environment and Disaster Cluster at UNDP Bangladesh and work closely with UNDP Asia Pacific Regional Centre Regional Technical Advisor. The purpose of the PPG is to fully design the activities, outputs, and outcomes of the ‘National Capacity Development for Implementing Rio Conventions through Environmental Governance’ medium size project and to fully develop a full set of project documentation for submission to the GEF Secretariat and approval. Normal rules for development of medium-sized GEF projects apply. Copies of the GEF templates and guidelines can be found at: http://www.thegef.org/gef/guidelines_templates.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives:  The objective of the assignment is to develop UNDP-GEF compliant, medium-sized project (MSP) document on “National Capacity Development for Implementing Rio Conventions through Environmental Governance” for submission to the GEF Secretariat and then validating the project document at a workshop involving the key stakeholders. Project Description:  The project is consistent with Bangladesh's commitments on global environment management and plans on responding to multilateral agreements, in particular the Rio Conventions to which Bangladesh is a party. While Bangladesh has made some progress in implementing the Conventions, there is no integrated approach for sustainable planning and development as required by Rio. Bangladesh completed its National Capacity Self-Assessment (NCSA) in 2006. This proposed project specifically responds to the following findings/recommendations from the NCSA process: Global environmental action plans are not mainstreamed into national and regional policy planning; Environmental conventions and integrated resource management are not addressed at regional and local levels; Support to integrating the Rio Convention into the national natural resource management legal frameworks is needed; There is a need for a national sustainable development strategy. In order to respond to the priority capacity constraints for national and global environmental management, this project will strengthen Bangladesh’s capacities to integrate Rio Conventions issues into national, regional and local decision-making. The project strategy is therefore threefold: Developing the policy/institutional framework for implementing the Rio Conventions; Building capacity in government agencies to implement the Rio Conventions through their work programmes; Initiating the process to develop public awareness in support of implementing the Rio Conventions. The project will be implemented in line with the established Government of Bangladesh and UNDP procedures in Bangladesh. The Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources will take overall responsibility for implementation of the project, and for the project success. It will establish the necessary planning and management mechanisms to oversee project inputs, activities and outputs. The UNDP CO will support the Ministry as requested and as necessary. The PPG process will be used to further define the management, coordination and consultation mechanisms. Scope of work and expected outputs / deliverables:  The principal responsibility of the international consultant is to contribute to the development of the MSP project document fully compliant with the enforced GEF rules and standards as lead expert on capacity development and project design, closely collaborating with the national project coordinator and (who will be the team leader) and national consultants on institutional, organizational and public awareness capacities and UNDP on setting PPG implementation strategy. Within the framework of this ToR, Capacity Development and Project Design Specialist is expected to perform the following tasks and duties: Work together with the UNDP CO and national counterparts on setting PPG implementation strategy; Finalize PPG work plan, TOR for LCs, and design consultation and validation workshops; Screen the project on Environmental and social impacts and prepare an ESSP for submission as an annex to the project document; Facilitate and guide consultations to determine project strategy, priorities, key partners, and key barriers to success; Provide technical and professional support to the national stakeholders; Develop the project strategy; detailed budget, work plan and logical framework, develop a replication strategy; Assume main responsibility for finalizing the project document, with significant input from all local consultants. Another key role of the project development expert should be to look for other key partners that the project might partner with and seek co-financing from, working closely with the UNDP Country Office and UNDP Asia Pacific Regional Centre. Besides a desk review of the relevant documents the consultant will undertake two missions to the country, in full collaboration with the UNDP Country Office and team of consultants. The missions will include: Consultations with key partners in National Government, responsible for environmental management as well as relevant sectoral ministries; Facilitation of project validation workshop; The responsibility of the international Capacity Development and Project Design Specialist is to work on development and preparation of a Medium Size Project document for submission to GEF Secretariat. Expected Deliverables:  The key products to be delivered are as follows: Detailed Assignment Workplan (within 3days of start of the assignment) ; Detailed PPG work plan and design of consultation and validation workshops (within 1 weeks of start of the assignment); Draft UNDP Project Document, Project Results Framework, GEF Tracking Tool and Request for CEO Endorsement and GEF Tracking Tool (15 days of the assignment); Final UNDP Project Document, Project Results Framework, GEF Tracking Tool and Request for CEO Endorsement and GEF Tracking Tool fully compliant with the enforced GEF rules and standards (15th of July 2013); In addition, the incumbent will: Review and study of relevant papers, ensuring they are appropriate in scope and overall quality; Provide required analyses; Facilitate and guide consultations to determine project strategy, priorities, key partners, and key barriers to success; Supervision and Performance Evaluation: The above task will be monitored and evaluated by Mr. Alamgir Hossain, Programme Analyst (Environment), UNDP Bangladesh under overall guidance of Assistant Country Director, CCED Cluster, UNDP Bangladesh CO and in consultation with Mr. Tom Twining-Ward, GEF Regional Technical Advisor, Bratislava. Timeframe and deadlines: Duration of the assignment from 15 June 2013 to 15 August 2013. Total working days will be 22 consisting with Mission at Dhaka and own home based duty station of the Consultant. Activities: Preparation of the Assignment Work plan for 1 day in 1st week of assignment. Preparation of the PPG work plan, design of consultation and validation workshops for 1 days in 1st week of assignment. Mission 1 – Dhaka for 2 days 2nd week of assignment. Development of Project Results Framework for 2 days by 30th June 2013. Preparation of Draft Request for CEO Endorsement for 4 days by 15th July 2013. Preparation of Draft UNDP Project Document for 1 6 days by 25th July 2013. Preparation of GEF Tracking Tool for 1 day by 30th July 2013. Validation Workshop for 2 days by 5th August 2013. Finalization of Project Document & RCE for 1 day by 12th August 2013 Revisions of Documents following GEF comments for 2 days until 15th August 2013. Prior to approval of the Request for CEO Endorsement, UNDP Project Document, and GEF Tracking Tool fully compliant with the enforced GEF rules and standards, a draft version shall be submitted for comments to UNDP by 4th of July 2013. UNDP and the stakeholders will submit comments and suggestions within 7 working days after receiving the draft. The finalized documents shall be submitted by July 2013 with the aim of getting the project documents all approved by the GEF Secretariat by the end of August, 2013 hence by the end of the assignment. If any discrepancies have emerged between impressions and findings of the consultant and the aforementioned parties, these should be explained in an annex attached to the final report. Payment Schedule:  The international Capacity Development and Project Design Specialist shall receive payment in four installments from UNDP as follows: 25% upon preparation and acceptance of the assignment work plan, PPG work plan, design of consultation and validation workshops; 25% upon completion of consultation and validation workshops in Dhaka; 35% upon preparation and acceptance of the draft UNDP Project Document, Project Results Framework, GEF Tracking Tool and Request for CEO Endorsement; 15% upon clearance by Regional Technical Advisor of the project documentation fully compliant with the enforced GEF rules and standards and its submission to GEF Secretariat which includes assistance to UNDP with response to any GEF Sec comments;

Competencies

Functional Competencies: Technical Work: Strong expertise in Environmental Governance /Management; Experience in developing institutional capacity building projects; Familiarity with the International Conventions addressing Climate Change, Desertification and Biodiversity Conservation; Experience in drafting GEF project proposals; Ability to pick up new terminology and concepts easily; Familiarity with GEF policies, templates and requirements for MSP; Partnerships: Maturity and confidence in dealing with senior members of national institutions; Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability; Excellent written communication skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesize relevant collected data and findings for the preparation of quality analysis for the project proposal; Excellent coordination skills and result oriented collaboration with colleagues – especially for this case the national level consultants; Core competencies: Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP; Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback; Good team player who has ability to maintain good relationships;

Required Skills and Experience

Education: Advanced University degree in the fields of environmental management, geography, environmental economics, public administration or relevant related fields. Experience: At least 7 years of relevant professional experience Proven expert knowledge in the GEF CCCD/CB2 Project Cycle Proven experience in developing/implementing similar projects – preferably in the region Previous successful experience in development and approval of the GEF project documents Previous experience with UNDP is a great advantage Experience of work in the region is an asset. Language: Fluency in written and spoken English. Evaluation of the candidates: The candidates will be evaluated through Cumulative Analysis method. When using the weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should 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 weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.  Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in technical evaluation will be considered for further financial evaluation. Technical Evaluation Criteria (Total 70 marks):  Overall experience in the Rio+Conventions (20 marks) Relevant experience in Programme design and project development esp. related to GEF projects (25 marks) Specific knowledge of developing country context in the programme area (10 marks) Publication/knowledge product in field of specialization (5 marks) Exposure in participatory approaches (10 marks) Financial Evaluation (Total 30 marks): All technically qualified proposals will be scored out 30 based on the formula provided below. The maximum points (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal. All other proposals receive points according to the following formula:  p = y (μ/z) Where:  p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal μ = price of the lowest priced proposal z = price of the proposal being evaluated FC 62000

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.

http://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=37919