Individual National Consultant to finalise GEF6 Project Safeguards Formulation

Contract

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

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.

UNDP’s SES require the preparation of project-specific plans, including at minimum an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) and an Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP), to 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 within the project’s activities.

An international safeguards consultant has been contracted to develop the ESIA and ESMP. In order to prepare the ESMP, and additional plans as required, consultations with stakeholders, local communities and indigenous peoples are essential. As limitations on cross-border travel due to the global COVID-19 pandemic are likely to continue due the safeguards preparation phase, it is necessarily to contract the services of a suitably qualified and experienced national consultant.

Duties and Responsibilities

UNDP is seeking the service of a local consultant with experience in community engagement and consultations to assist the International Consultant to finalise the ESIA and ESMP.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

The consultant will be responsible for the following outputs and related activities:

• Assist the international consultant with analysis of field data collected in 2021 for input into the ESIA and ESMP;
• Assist in the development of safeguards documentation as requested;
• Any other duties as necessary for the satisfactory completion of the ESIA and ESMP, together with the International Safeguards consultant.

Institutional Arrangement:

The consultant will work under the guidance of the safeguards consultant and the Team Leader, PRECC Unit.

Duration of the Work:

The assignment is expected to take about 15 working days, and the work must be completed by en of November 2022.

Payment of Milestones and Authority

The consultant must send a financial offer based on a 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.

Payments will be made based on the agreed financial proposal (contract is based on daily fee) and released upon submission of a certificate of payment request, 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:

• 1st Installment of 30% will be paid on approval by UNDP Resident Representative or Designate after delivery of Draft ESMP and SESP report;
• 2nd Installment of 50% will be paid on approval by UNDP Resident Representative or Designate after delivery of Final 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 favouritism;

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Master’s degree or above in social sciences, development, community engagement or a closely related field.

Experience

• At least five years of experience related to community engagement, social and environmental issues in the development context; previous experience in supporting UNDP will be an added advantage;
• Knowledge of human rights, gender equality and women’s empowerment;
• Demonstrated knowledge of rural populations, rural livelihoods, natural resource management and conservation in Zimbabwe;
• Demonstrated writing abilities;
• Demonstrated community consultation and research experience;
• Excellent communication and organisational abilities;
• A strong awareness of and adherence to national policy and international best practices to reduce transmission risk of COVID-19;
• Experience working with indigenous peoples preferred;
• Knowledge of Free, Prior and Informed Consent preferred.

Language

• Fluency in English is required, fluency in Shona preferred.

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.

• P11 (required), 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;
• Personal CV (optional);
• Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided [see link further down];
• Technical Proposal demonstrating full understanding of the TORs, approach and methodology to the task and workplan;
• Financial proposal (All-inclusive daily fee): Interested individuals are kindly requested to submit an all-inclusive daily consultancy fee;
• Travel: All envisaged international travel costs must be included in the financial proposal in a separate line, though not 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.

Technical Evaluation Criteria:

• Adequacy of Profile and Technical Proposal (Max 100 points)

General Conditions of Contract for the ICs:

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf

UNDP Personal History form (P11) required of all applicants:

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/Careers/P11_Personal_history_form.doc

Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability

https://www.dropbox.com/s/789q1hvdrdgwqqc/PPG_Cons_Letter%20of%20Interest%20and%20Availability.docx?dl=0

“UNDP is committed to gender equality in its mandate and its staff, and equal opportunities for people with disabilities. Well qualified candidates, particularly women and people with disabilities are especially encouraged to apply”.