International Consultant (Safeguards Expert)

Contract

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Background

Myanmar is undergoing an unprecedented and complex transition process from conflict to peace, from military rule to a democratic civilian Government and from a largely closed economy to an open market economy. Currently, it is categorized as a Least developed Country (LDC) with imperatives of creating an enabling environment for foreign investments and economic reforms to foster inclusive and employment rich economic growth.

The UNDP Country Office in Myanmar is a key interlocutor and advisor to the government at the national and sub-national on sustainable and inclusive growth, (including economic, environment, climate change and disaster risk reduction issues). The Country Office, through its Sustainable and Inclusive Growth Programme Unit, provides high quality advice to government counterparts on issues related to natural resource management, strengthening institutional preparedness and response to a range of climate change adaptation and mitigation related shocks. Integrated programming has guided the design of the UNDP Myanmar Country Programme (2018-2022) in order to better address the interlinkages between peace building, governance, climate change adaptation and mitigation, natural resource management and disaster resilience, inclusive growth, and the vertical linkages between subnational and national governance levels.

The Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar is committed to a national development framework that incorporates the notion of environmental sustainability for future generations by systematically embedding environmental and climate considerations into all future policies and projects. The Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan, MSDP (2018-2030) has reinforced the commitment to steer the country on a climate-sensitive development pathway and is complemented by the new National Environmental Policy and Myanmar Climate Change Policy, which mandates the implementation of Myanmar Climate Change Strategy (2018-2030) towards achievement of climate resilience and low carbon development pathway.

Climate Change has been identified as one of the most important threats to the development of Myanmar. Between 1998 and 2017, Myanmar was amongst the top three countries most affected by extreme weather events on both counts of fatalities and economic losses, as per the Global Climate Risk Index, 2019. Climate change parameters impacting Myanmar include a rising trend in temperature, rainfall variability, decreasing South West Monsoon rains, and increased intensity and frequency of extreme events including cyclones, floods, droughts, rainfall and temperatures.

Myanmar’s economy has a high dependence on climate sensitive sectors including the agriculture sector on which more than 70 percent of the people depend. Anticipating the severity of climate change impacts across sectors and taking a range of effective and appropriate strategic and programmatic measures at the Union, States/Regions to prevent, prepare and mitigate the risks of climate change impacts will be vital in sustaining the development gains and prevent any reversals on Sustainable Development Goals.

In relation to climate change mitigation, as for many developing countries, land-use change, especially deforestation represents by far the greatest contribution to the country’s greenhouse gas emissions. There are various major drivers of deforestation, including over-harvesting of fuelwood from forests, reflecting the very high reliance on fuelwood both for domestic use and for several key industries in Myanmar. While excessive domestic demand will effectively be addressed through the National Electrification Plan, industrial demand for fuelwood will be largely unaffected by electrification. Therefore, UNDP is developing (jointly with FAO) a proposal for GCF funding through the REDD+ SAP window to replace industrial consumption of fuelwood form natural forests with sustainably produced sources of biomass energy.

The Paris Agreement has set up a new global goal on adaptation to ‘enhance adaptive capacity and resilience and to reduce vulnerability with a view to contributing to sustainable development’. The Agreement requires all Parties, to engage in ‘adaptation planning and implementation through national adaptation plans, vulnerability assessments, monitoring and evaluation and economic diversification’. Myanmar’s National Adaptation Programme of Action to climate change has listed agriculture, early warning systems and forests as first priority level sectors. Goal 5 of the MSDP on Natural Resources and Environment for National Posterity has a targeted strategy on increasing climate resilience and shifting to a low carbon growth pathway.

UNDP, following the request from the Government of Myanmar to support its adaptation efforts in line with National Environment Policy, Myanmar Climate Change Policy, Myanmar Climate Change Strategy and Myanmar Climate Change Master Plan, NDC commitments, MSDP and the SDGs, has developed an idea note for a project, on Enhancing the climate resilience of small-holder agro-ecosystems in the Dry Zone of Myanmar. The overall objective of the idea note is to reduce the vulnerability of smallholder farmers in Myanmar’s Dry Zone to increasing drought and rainfall variability by increasing the climate-resilience of their production systems through improved ecosystem services, crop diversification and water-efficient irrigation, sustained by access to timely agro-climate advisories, markets and credit.

The proposed design and development of the two projects will be country driven and informed through a rigorous process of desk-based review and in country/virtual consultations (depending on COVID-19 containment measures) with key stakeholders on adaptation related challenges in the priority sectors and States/Regions listed for adaptation in Myanmar on agriculture, early warning systems and forest.

To validate and help finalize the project designs, based on idea notes, detailed feasibility studies are to be undertaken by a team of specialists that includes a Technical Expert (Team Leader), Environment and Social Safeguards Specialist, Economist, Gender Specialist, Project Development expert and Financial Appraisal Expert. The team of specialists will provide the pre-feasibility and feasibility analysis required to formulate concept notes as per GCF template leading on to development of full funding proposals.

As such, UNDP seeks the services of a Safeguards Expert for developing environmental and social management plan(s) for all risks identified in the Social and Environmental Screening Procedure (SESP) for preparation of concept notes, and subject to internal UNDP and GCF guidance, move towards the preparation of the funding proposal packages to be submitted to GCF.

Further, the Safeguards Expert is also required to review and finalize the SES related documents, including the ESMPs and an Indigenous People’s Plan (for GEF LDCF project), for the following three projects:

• Reducing climate vulnerability of coastal communities through an Ecosystem-based approach (GEF-LDCF)

Mainstreaming biodiversity conservation and restoring forest landscape connectivity in the Bago Region, Myanmar (GEF-7)

Duties and Responsibilities

Please check the following link to obtained more information https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=73550

Competencies

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Required Skills and Experience

Please check the following link to obtained more information https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=73550