International Consultant Technical Specialist Enhancing Integrated Water Management and Climate Resilience in Vulnerable Urban Areas of the Mekong River Basin

Contract

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

Background

This project for Enhancing Integrated Water Management and Climate Resilience in Vulnerable Urban Areas of the Mekong River Basin seeks to address the critical need for risk data to inform integrated water resources management and, in so doing, enable increased investment in risk reduction measures in Lao PDR and Cambodia. There is a strong connection between the upstream and downstream impacts associated with floods and water availability in the transboundary region. As such, the project seeks to address these problems faced while acknowledging the transboundary nature of the challenge and making adjustments as necessary to tailor for the variances of each country. Taking a barrier-removal approach, the project will address gaps in data collection, management, and analysis, enhance institutional and technical capacity at the subnational level for integrated climate and flood risk management, enhance the availability of resources for investment in water-related risk reduction, and aid the flow of risk knowledge and coordination across borders.

The project will also contribute towards improved hydrological and climate risk modelling and information systems, which will in turn inform flood management as well as adaptation planning and enhance the capacity of national and provincial decision-makers, as well as local stakeholders using the improved information system.

The project applies a human rights-based approach to address development challenges associated with disasters and enhance resilience to increasing climate risks through improved policy, strengthened capacity, and risk information. This approach fosters resilient and sustainable socio-economic development and contributes to the achievement of the SDGs. The number of direct beneficiaries of the project is approximately 106,481 (38,388 residents of Thakek and 68,093 residents of Pakse) and overall beneficiaries (direct + indirect) over 1.6 million people of Khammouane and Champasack Provinces.

This project is implemented by UNDP, in close cooperation with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE), Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare (MLSW). Asian Water Council (AWC) and K-Water will conduct some of the activities.

OBJECTIVE

The main objective of the project is to strengthen the climate and disaster resilience of people and communities in vulnerable regions of Lao PDR and Cambodia through improved risk and vulnerability assessment and advancing an integrated approach to water resources management. There are two outcomes intended at the country-level activity implementation: 1) Inclusive assessment of water-related climate risks completed in the priority river basins, 2) Enabling environment for gender-responsive climate risk-informed integrated water resources management developed. UNDP is seeking an expert with deep knowledge and field experience in water resource management, climate change adaptation, and disaster risk reduction, as well as institutional capacity development and project design and implementation to ensure technical soundness of project design and quality and efficiency of the project implementation at the country level in Lao PDR

Duties and Responsibilities

The successful applicant will be expected to be responsible for the following:

Task 1: Project Implementation

• Effectively implement project activities with UNDP and the government partners by complementing existing capacities and providing oversight and support where needed.
• Facilitate decision-making on activity execution, particularly related to planning, budget and implementation issues.
• Lead the preparation of the project workplan, overall activity schedule, scope and methodologies of analyses, studies, and surveys, field visits, trainings, meetings, workshops, events, study visits, development of written and visual training materials, etc.
• Report outlines and formats in collaboration with the other key experts, short-term experts, and UNDP Project team and ensure smooth implementation of all activities defined within the scope of the Project Document.
• Provide inputs to strategic planning, achievement of targets, and required modification of activities, including the response to potential disasters in the project area.
• Facilitate technical trainings and deliver technical presentations during events.
• Conduct field visits to project sites for the provision of hands-on support and quality assurance.
• Provide professional, administrative, and logistics support to the project.
• Coordinate and provide inputs to administrative reports such as inception report, progress reports and final report.
• Coordinate the preparation and organization of Project management meetings including Steering Committee Meetings, present Project’s progress to participants in collaboration with Key and other experts.
• Represent UNDP at meetings, technical sessions, project events, ceremonies, and functions.

Task 2: Technical Support

• Provide technical inputs that support achieving the project objectives.
• Facilitate baseline survey, Social and Environmental Safeguard (SES) including gender and indigenous peoples’ engagement planning, community-based problem analysis, and market-based assessment conducted by the project team, government partners, and national consultants.
• Provide technical support to MONRE and a national consultant for the development of the guideline of the Water and Water Resources Protection Zones and piloting one zone.
• Facilitate capacity assessment and capacity development planning, provincial-level training on GIS and hydrological models, implementation of community-based CCA & DRR actions, improvement and utilization of disaster and water databases, and mobilization of community-based relief funds.
• Interpret the results of the technical studies on flood propagation models, hydro-meteorological disasters forecasting models, capacity assessment, and improvement of the risk monitoring systems and early warning system (EWS) conducted by AWC and K-Water and propose how to incorporate the findings into the UNDP activities.
• Oversee the tasks to be conducted by national consultants through technical inputs on the development of their TOR, work plans, and methodologies. Review the reports from the national consultants and government partners and provide technical advice to ensure the quality and technical soundness.

Task 3: Staff Support and Capacity Building

• Coach and support the project staff and promote a learning environment.
• Orientate the government partners on project strategies, expectations, and own roles and responsibilities;
• Assess staff competencies and guide individuals and teams to effectively complete objectives and tasks.
• Support capacity enhancement efforts and provide of training for the government officials at the central and provincial levels.
• Be mindful of staff wellness and induce a culture of transparency, problem solving, and teamwork.
• Identify development opportunities that would enhance staff capacity.
• Support access to reference materials, online and other training opportunities for staff and partners.

Task 4: Coordination and Networking

• Network and foster functional relationships with UNDP, Government partners, other UN agencies, donors, NGOs, and other key stakeholders.
• Represent UNDP as required and promote a strong collaborative, transparent, and sharing environment amongst stakeholders in the DRR field.
• In coordination with the government partners, ensure that the project activities are well-coordinated with the other projects and programmes of the relevant government agencies.
• Facilitate or participate in workshops, webinars, and meetings as necessary.

Task 5: PMER and Learning

• Work with the project team for the timely submission of periodic, accurate, and professional (narrative and financial) progress reports to the project management and other stakeholders as required.
• Ensure adequate tools are in place to track all progress, achievements, challenges, and lesson learned.
• Promote learning and knowledge sharing amongst all stakeholders.
• Contribute to knowledge sharing and produce documentation for case studies and lessons learned.
• Facilitate monitoring and evaluation as required in the project document.

Competencies

• Proven record in writing research papers, policy analysis and recommendations, reports and publication

Required Skills and Experience

• A Master’s degree in water resource management, hydrology, meteorology, climate change, disaster risk management, or a related field. PhD is preferred
• At least 8 years of experience working as a technical expert in water resource management, climate change adaptation, or disaster risk management [15 points].
• At least 5 years of exepreince in programme and project management in developing countries [10 points].
• Previous work experience in Southeast Asia or monsoon climate region [10 points].
• Previous work experience in digital solutions, such as disaster database and climate modeling [10 points].
• Previous work experience in participatory community-based planning activities [5 points].
• Previous experience in similar role in UNDP programme/project and knowledge is UNDP procedures is advantage [5 points].
• LANGUAGE : Excellent verbal and written skills in English is required. Lao language is an asset [5 points].

Requirements for submission of proposals

All interested and qualified International or National Independent Consultant should apply on-line using the following links:

UNDP Lao PDR Country Office website at https://www.undp.org/laopdr/jobs or

In order to make your submission, please read the relevant documents available on the link below

1. TOR
2. IC General Terms and Conditions _ Annex II;
3. OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP CONFIRMING INTEREST AND AVAILABILITY _ Annex III
4. P11 Form

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. Technical Proposal

   (i) Explaining why you are the most suitable for the work;

   (ii) Providing a brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the work including the work

   schedule for the delivery of outputs/deliverable;

2. P11 Form Education and work experience, including past experience in similar projects and contact references of at least 3 references for whom you have rendered preferably the similar services;

3. Financial proposal: Detailed financial proposal: Lump sum offer with clear cost breakdown against each deliverable. Please use this template OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP CONFIRMING INTEREST AND AVAILABILITY _ Annex III

Instructions for on-line submissions:

Step 1: Please prepare all required documents electronically;

Step 2: Combine all documents in ONE SINGLE FILE (preferably in PDF however Word format can be also accepted) and upload to the UNDP Jobs using the links above;

Step 3: After that you will receive an auto reply from the UNDP jobs if your offer is received successfully.

Incomplete proposals or proposals received after the deadline will be rejected.

Note: Any request for clarification must be sent in writing before the submission deadline to the following emails:

surith.sengsavang@undp.org