SPECIALIST ON ENVIRONMENTAL AND WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT/ PPG COORDINATOR

SPECIALIST ON ENVIRONMENTAL AND WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT/ PPG COORDINATOR

Location : Home based with missions to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan

Application Deadline : 26-Jul-13

Type of Contract :Individual Contract

Post Level : International Consultant

Languages Required : English Russian

Starting Date : (date when the selected candidate is expected to start) 01-Aug-2013

Duration of Initial Contract : 10 months after IC signing

Expected Duration of Assignment : 10 months after IC signing

Background

The GEF is currently funding the Project Preparation Grant (PPG) phase for the full project 'Enabling Countries of the Transboundary Syr Darya Basin to make sustainable use of their groundwater potential and subsurface space with consideration to climate variability and change'.

The overall goal of the full sized project is to demonstrate the role of groundwater and subsurface space in coping with increased climate variability and change, balancing water uses, and improving overall sustainability and cooperation in complex Transboundary contexts, such as the Syr Darya Basin. The project will help to demonstrate the opportunities for enhanced sustainability that may be derived from the integration of consideration of aquifers, climatic variability and change, and gender mainstreaming into foundational, capacity building processes.

The project in fact will build the foundations for integrated joint surface and groundwater management in the Syr Darya basin, a Transboundary region characterized by patterns of intensive and different or unbalenced uses of water resources resulting in shallow groundwater over-extraction, saline intrusion, and pollution of groundwater supplies and significant ecological and economic damage, reduced livelihoods for the poor, and increased tensions among downstream States. These impacts become exacerbated with increasing climatic variability. Use of water resources management plans/policies at the basin level integrating both surface and groundwater consistent with WSSD targets has been identified as an answer to balancing uses of water resources and inform tradeoffs. An enabling environment for action will be created through the development of a full fledged Transboundary Diagnostic Analyses for groundwater with special consideration of climate variability and change, stakeholder participation, building of future water scenarios and shared visions, testing of innovative practices and technologies. These enabling activities also focus on capacity building and technical assistance for legal and institutional aspects of multi-level governance reforms needed not only at the Transboundary level but also at the sub-basin, national, and local levels.

This objective will be achieved through the following outcomes:

• Enhancing knowledge and resources assessment capacity;
• Providing Tools for Managing Groundwater Resources;
• Managing Subsurface Space;
• Fostering Policy Dialogue on Groundwater Management;
• Dissemination and Communication.

The PPG will start in July 2013 and last until the end of June 2014.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the Head of Unit, Programme Associate of Energy & Environment, UNDP CO in Kazakhstan and the technical guidance of IOC/UNESCO, the PPG Coordinator will: design the GEF Full-sized Project (FSP); draft the FSP document and CEO Endorsement template (and associated Annexes and documentation) based on GEF endorsed Project Identification Form (PIF), and inputs provided by all partners. S/he will make sure that the FSP meet the GEF strategic priorities under the IW focal area. S/he coordinates the work of all other national and International Consultant is responsible for quality control and preparation of all reports and documentation in time. The PPG Coordinator is expected to undertake at least one mission to the each country in the region KZ, KR, TJ for the inception and final workshops.

The PPG Coordinator will undertake the following activities with closely cooperation with International Consultant during the PPG phase:

Provide expert advice in the design and scheduling of PPG activities, and the equitable engagement of partners in project activities.

Conduct baseline study and stakeholder analysis:

• Review current situation on all relevant baseline information and current policy and practices with regard to groundwater management;Identify national and regional key project stakeholders and partners, including analyzing and (documented) consultations in view of their future/potential role during the implementation phase;
• Work closely with Local Experts in each regions and through them appropriate water management professionals and institutions at the national and local level in order to achieve basic consensus on scale, content and format of the main project phase.
• Mobilize and organize a team of Local Experts to carry out data collection and /or implement relevant parts of the workplan.
• To this end, the leader will be expected to prepare all TOR for endorsement by UNDP, identify/suggest relevant experts, and consolidate all collected data into a single report.
• Coordinate the development of all components for the main project implementation phase in full detail and drafting the project documentation following the specific GEF/UNDP requirements, which will include (but not be limited to): project time frame, outcomes, outputs and activities (including a logical framework and monitoring and evaluation framework);detailed budget with endorsed financial inputs (cash and in-kind);implementation and management arrangement; roles and responsibilities of project implementation partners;
• Strategy for key national and regional stakeholder participation and involvement;
• TORs, capacity building/training plans, communication and outreach strategy, and all other relevant annexes as needed; other elements and components, as needed, to ensure completeness, feasibility and potential effectiveness and efficiency of the planned project implementation phase; Develops a description of the social, economic and financial sustainability of proposed project activities.
• Finalizes the project logical framework, with particular emphasis on specific indicators.
• Coordinates the development of an action plan (with activities, roles and responsibilities) for groundwater and subsurface space in coping with increased climate variability and change, balancing water uses, and improving overall sustainability and cooperation in complex transboundary contexts, such as the Syr Darya Basin; Coordinates the development of the stakeholder involvement plan,
• Feasibility analysis of different options for the implementation of the project activities and project governance. This will include the selections and detailed description of the preferred implementation and governance arrangements for the project.
• Describes roles, functions and responsibilities of different players (governmental, water users, research, financial institutions, NGOs/CSOs) with respect to regulating, planning, implementing activities affecting sound management of groundwater;
• Defines the capacity needs and technical requirements (soft-ware, hard-ware, on-the-ground presence) for the implementation of the monitoring system.
• Defines the capacity of the key national stakeholders to implement and sustain the proposed project activities, including recommendations for building capacity integration into the project design;
• Analyzes the levels of interest and support/resistance from the main stakeholders for introduction of the landscape approach to water management. This will contribute to the risks management strategy of the project, among other things.
• Prepare the draft of the quantified description of the global environmental benefits of the project, to be finalized by the International Consultant;
• Develops a risk analysis table, and development of risk mitigation strategy for the project to be reviewed by the International Consultant.
• Designs project monitoring and evaluation plan, and budget, building on information from all national experts.
• Develops a costing table for all expected project outcomes and outputs, Review and comment on the final products of substantive reports commissioned under the preparation stage;
• Prepare the relevant description for the Project Document - threats analysis matrix and narrative and logframe with clear indicators for the objective and outcome level, including the baseline and target values for the indicators;
• Based on inputs from the national team, undertake an incremental cost analysis;
• Prepare a cost-effectiveness analysis for the full project;
• Assist the project in the development of co-funding matrix for the full project;
• Assist in the preparation of the monitoring and evaluation framework and plan;
• Develop in collaboration with the Local experts the Executive Summary and the Project Document to be submitted to the GEF; Address all the comments from UNDP/GEF RTA, peer review, PTA; STAP, other IAs, Secretariat, GEF Sec, and Council members
• Develop the Project Document based on the following outline (Main Outputs)

Project Executive Summary

• Project Document: Run a consistency review and quality check on the UNDP/GEF Project Document converted to the finalized Request for CEO Endorsement; Develop a stakeholder participation strategy.
• CEO endorsement template:
• Perform an initial quality review of Draft CEO Request: logframe, threats analysis, institutional arrangements for project implementation, context (globally significant water issues, socio-economic; institutional, legal and policy), baseline (what will happen without GEF - programs and environmental consequences), project structure - goal, objective, outcomes and outputs;
• Look for any information & data gaps in the analysis ensuring consistency and the logic of threats & barriers analysis and the proposed course of actions;
• Prepare a detailed feedback that specifies information/data gaps, analysis and description to be refined and/or added by the team of national consultants; Identify additional partners and assist with the further development of partnerships at global and regional scales.
• Review and comment a draft project budget; Run a final check on semi-final CEO Request with final inputs from national and international stakeholders & partners
• Organize (a) workshop(s) to verify and confirm the draft Project Document with all elements among key stakeholders.
• Organize PPG Inception workshop with main stakeholders in each country in the region (i.e. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan) and use this workshop as platform to Analyze Stakeholders priority and their role in the management. In addition discuss the project objective and develop project frame and national implementing agencies also other details from the meeting.
• Organize PPG Final workshop with main stakeholders in the region to discuss findings and developed project frame including budget also agree on the project management arrangements and implementation strategy.
• Management Arrangements
• Coordinates project preparation with all partners engaged (co-financiers, local authorities, Government).
• Prepare ToRs for the major consultancies to be undertaken during the preparation stage;
• Guides the work of consultants and subcontractors and oversee compliance with the agreed work plan;
• Prepare very clear guidelines on the type of information required from the national counterparts to assist in the project development;
• Brief national partners on the project development process and help planning the preparatory phase (information gathering and project planning);
• Facilitate a one day stakeholder workshop in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan on threat/root cause/barrier analysis and logframe, based on which the project interventions will be designed. The logframe exercise will also identify the indicators for which baseline values should be collected during the preparation stage;
• Monitors PPG expenditures, commitments and balance of funds under the project budget lines, and draft project budget revisions; Liaise with project partners to ensure their co-financing contributions are provided within the agreed terms;

The main overall deliverable under this TOR will be the finalized project documentation package, with all its elements and components, agreed upon by all stakeholders and project partners, fully co-financed and ready for incepting the Implementation Phase (2014 -2018).

Scope of work:

• Inception workshop report including Stakeholder Analysis and any other details from the meetings organised within PPG;
• Results of Survey implemented in GEF IW project;
• Results of the Strategic Results Framework (SRF) Analysis and Strategic Results Framework according to GEF standards;
• List of prioritized project objectives, interventions, component activities for GEF Full Size Project.
• Project planning matrix (Project framework design);
• Detailed design of project components;
• Finalized UNDP Project Document based on the GEF format with all the necessary annexes and CEO endorsement template in two languages English and Russian for national partners and CEO approval;
• Reports will be verified by the UNDP RTA with the assistance of UNDP COs for integrity, comprehensiveness and quality.

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
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
• Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment;
• Strong interpersonal skills, communication and diplomatic skills, ability to work in a team;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;

Functional competencies:

• Coordinates His/Her activities and reports any action to UNDP Country office;
• Provides compliance with the requirements of technical assignment stated in Terms of Reference in time and at a high quality level;
• Provides unconditional fulfillment of the requirements specified in the Individual Contract;
• Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities;
• Excellent public speaking and presentation skills;
• Demonstrable analytical skills;
• Ability to work under pressure and stressful situations.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Graduate degree in water resources management, life science, environmental sciences, biological sciences, geological sciences or equivalent.

Experience:

• A minimum of 7 years experience in water management ;
• Expertise in the framework of UNDP projects development and management ;
• Familiarity with the water management approach .

Language:

• Excellent English and Russian communication skills and writing.

Important Note

Please refer to UNDP Kazakhstan web site to download the Terms of References, Procurement Notice & Confirmation of interest and availability form with financial proposal template

Cover page, CV, references, Financial proposal and other documents should be emailed to aliya.akhmetova@undp.org

For more details please contact aliya.akhmetova@undp.org

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.