IC - Technical team leader for conducting the impacts of subsidies on biodiversity (Thai National Only)

Contract

This is a National Consultant contract. More about National Consultant contracts.

Background

PLEASE APPLY ONLY USING QUANTUM SYSTEM PLATFORM.

Negotiation Reference no. : UNDP-THA-00039

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Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work & Specific objective of the Assignments

The specific objectives of this assignment are to:

1. Identify, assess, and quantify the value and the cost of each type of subsidies and incentives likely to have impact on biodiversity and ecosystems for each key sector identified in the Policy and Institutional Review.
2. Understand the potential of redesigned options and prioritize efforts that take into consideration a full range of social, environmental, economic, and political economy concerns and trade-offs throughout the re-design and transition process, including within the COVID-19 context.
3. Develop an action plan for redesigning the prioritized subsidies.

a. Scope of work

A technical team leader for conducting the impacts of subsidies on biodiversity and ecosystems in Thailand will be required to undertake and complete the 5 stages as follows:

1. Scoping stage

• Leading the presentation of a scope of the study to the Country project manager of BIOFIN Thailand and/or the Senior Technical Advisor of Global BIOFIN and define the priority sectors.
• Developing a stakeholders’ consultation and engagement plan tailored to the national context to support this process.
• Harmful subsidies/incentives must include gender dimensions and with dedicated attention for vulnerable groups, indigenous people, poverty, and livelihood impacts.
• Conducting a stock taking of all available international best practices relevant to national context.
• Finalizing an outline of the study with detailed methodology.

2. Researching stage

• Leading the research team to conduct a rapid mapping of all relevant subsidies and their impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems in the country. This includes subsidies, tax breaks, tax credits, grants, underpricing, and subsidized tariffs, COVID-19 recovery programmes, and relevant ODA interventions. Green or positive subsidies will be included, as they also could have unintended adverse impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems. Both production and consumption subsidies will be considered.
• Preparation of an initial inventory of subsidies that may be harmful to nature.
• Summarizing key finding from a desk review of these subsidy policies, legal and institutional framework, the objective and results, the total annual government financial costs, financial impacts of these subsidies at the level of the different category of household and category of producers, anticipated unintended effects of subsidy and if possible related economic costs preferably over a period of past 5 years.
• Prioritization of at least 3 subsidies for in-depth assessment considering financial/economic and biodiversity impacts following desk review and consultative processes
• Presenting a draft initial inventory report to the country project manager of BIOFIN Thailand and/or the Senior Technical Advisor of the Global BIOFIN for strategic and action plan on redesigning prioritized subsidies.

3. Validation stage

• Conducting a series of validation meetings in Thailand with key stakeholders including representatives of relevant civil society groups, business associations, local communities, and governments, etc.
• Developing a final national inventory of subsidies of key sectors that are likely to harm biodiversity and ecosystems.
• Submission of a final report with suggestions of the 3 major subsidies to redesign in Thailand.

4. Re-design stage

• Developing criteria and indicators for assessment of prioritized subsidies focusing on financial/economic and biodiversity impacts including political economic consequences.
• In-depth reviewing of the 3 prioritized harmful subsidies, with detailed information on the objectives, size, structure, and impact of the subsidies.
• Submission of a policy recommendation for redesigning the 3 major subsidies.

5. Action stage

• Development of redesign options aligned with national priority within the sector with different scenarios that will be compared to the business-as-usual scenario for selected subsidies, including potential for avoided costs, perceived effectiveness, other climate/biodiversity impact. Redesign options can consist of either eliminating, reducing, or greening the selected subsidy or redirecting savings to support nature-based solutions.
• Conducting Initial Impact Assessment analysis that identifies which part of the environment, economy, and society that will be affected directly and indirectly by different redesign options over time.
• Designing support programs that ease the path of transition away from harmful practices and possible targeted compensation or exemption to low-income groups, certain groups of vulnerable people, and other households affected by the proposed change.
• Developing feasible redesign Action Plan including objective, indicators, intended effects, inevitable effects, strategy to overcome side effects, and advocacy strategy.

The national consultant is required to work with a research team member. He/she will propose existing approach, reliable resources, network, and tools with elements that are in line with the BIOFIN methodology. The consultant is also required to develop detailed workplan with duty travel plan for this assignment. The duty travel plan shall be proposed as per below information:

• The duty travel detail shall be linked with the proposed methodology/approach.
• The duty travel shall be undertaken maximum 2 times and within Thailand only.
• It is required to undertake a duty travel with maximum of 2 persons who are listed as team member under the range of maximum 5 days per mission.
• The estimated expenditures for each duty travel plan will be quoted in Thai Baht currency only.
• The expenditures related to the duty travel plans are to be included in the cost estimation upon the submission of the financial proposal.
• It is required for the Country Project Manager of BIOFIN in Thailand to receive the list of travelers prior to approval. The BIOFIN programme is keen to provide letter as an introductory protocol to the consultant team prior to undertaking any duty travel, if need be.

Competencies

Additional functional competencies of the consultant will also be advantageous:

• Ability to work as part of a multidisciplinary team composed of both international and national technical specialists with varying experience and backgrounds.
• Ability and willingness to take initiative and willingly accept new work assignments.
• Takes responsibility for achieving agreed outputs within set deadlines and strives until successful outputs are achieved.
• Very good communication, report writing, and presentation skills.
• Excellent communication skills both orally and in writing.
• Excellent interpersonal skills.
• Ability to prioritize and plan effectively.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

• Minimum Master’s degree in economics, political sciences, finance, social sciences, environment, or related fields.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of overall experience on similar research and consultancy with proven track record.
• Proven (minimum 5 years experienced) specialized knowledge and experience on environmental, economic, biodiversity finance issues, and/or other development areas.
• Specific experience on conducting study and research work which links with the policy on nature in Thailand.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills; preferably with experience in working effectively in a multi-cultural environment.
• Proficiency in English and Thai, writing and speaking is required.
• Demonstrated managerial competence and experience in organizing, leading and coordination.
• Proven experience in research or projects with a focus on nature and biodiversity in Thailand.
• Fluency in verbal and written English and Thai.