National Consultant - Senior Specialist (Agriculture and Forestry Sector)

Consultant

Contract

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Background

In 2011, well before countries undertook obligations to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and enhance climate resilience under the Paris Agreement, Ethiopia launched the Climate Resilient Green Economy Strategy (CRGE) which is an ambitious national blueprint towards reducing its emissions by 64% from a business-as-usual trajectory by 2030. The CRGE strategy anchors on five development sectors (Agriculture, Forest, Industry, Transport, and Energy). The Ethiopian NDCs are fully anchored on the CRGE and GTP2 targets and reaffirms Ethiopia’s continued commitment to strengthening the resilience of other economic sectors by strengthening forest development for the wider environment and community benefits. And hence, the Ethiopian NDCs are considered as an implementing mechanism of the CRGE strategy. The 2015 NDC has specific aims to limit its net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in 2030 to 145 Mt CO2e or lower and also to undertake adaptation initiatives to reduce the vulnerability of its population, environment, and economy to the adverse effects of climate change.

The agriculture and forest sectors are key to meet the targets of NDCs and CRGE, and their roles and relevant projects are highlighted as follows.

Component 1: The agriculture sector with its key sub-sectors (livestock, crop, soil, etc.) are considered as one of the four pillars in the CRGE strategy and is key for meeting the targets of NDCs. The agriculture sector alone accounts for about 51% of the national emission with 42% (65 Mt CO2e) from the livestock and 9% (12 Mt CO2e) from crop cultivation. In order to mitigate climate change and increase resilience to adverse impacts of predicted climate change, over 93 projects initiated principally focused on the agriculture sector (i.e. 22 projects for livestock and 71 projects for crop and soil) for the period 2011-2019.

With regards to the implementation of Ethiopian NDCs, the agriculture sector NDC roadmap was developed for the implementation period between 2020 and 2030 by identifying actions prioritized in the CRGE Strategy. For the 2020-2030 agriculture NDC road map, more than 16 project actions were planned for implementation and these include among others: small and largescale irrigation, Enhance lower-emitting techniques for agriculture, Improved manure management, Rangeland and pastureland management, Value chain efficiency improvement, Agricultural mechanization.

The agriculture sector has several FLAGSHIP projects/programs such as Sustainable Land Management (SLM), Agriculture Development Program (ADP), Livestock Master Plan (LMP), Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP), Livestock and Fisheries Sector Development Project (LSFDP), etc., which enable the sector to discharge its responsibilities in meeting the targets of Ethiopia’s NDC ROAD MAP 2020-2030.

Component 2: The forest sector is also considered as one of the four pillars in the CRGE strategy and is key for meeting the targets of NDCs. The forest sector alone accounts for about 37% of national emissions in 2010 and is recognized as the second-largest contributor of GHG emissions. Nearly half of all forestry emissions were tied to deforestation to expand agricultural land, and the other half to deforestation due to mainly fuelwood collection and agricultural expansion. In order to mitigate climate change and increase resilience to adverse impacts of predicted climate change, over 22 projects initiated principally focused on halting, reducing, and reversing the degradation of forests, rangeland or cultivated land, and may lead to an increase in terrestrial carbon stocks, while improving the resilience of water services and crop and fodder production to predicted climate change.

However, currently existing MRV capacity at organization level, individual-level and enabling environment level and largely existing dryland forests and shrub vegetation types make difficulties for the quantifying and tracking of emission reduction of the forest sector over time difficult.

With regards to the implementation of Ethiopian NDCs, the forest sector NDC roadmap was also developed for the implementation period between 2020 and 2030 by identifying actions prioritized in the CRGE Strategy. For the 2020-2030 forest NDC road map 7 project actions were planned for implementation and these include among others: reduce deforestation through substituting fuelwood with other renewable energy sources (biogas, fuel-efficient stoves, etc.), large and small scale commercial afforestation/reforestation, forest and woodland management.

Furthermore, Ethiopia prepared its 10 Years National Forest Sector Development Program ( 2018-2028). The Pillars of the program are: 1) Enabling Environment and Institutional Development 2) Sustainable Forest Productions and value chains 3) Forest Environmental Functions 4) Forest and Rural Livelihoods 5) Urban Greenery and Urban Forests and cross-cutting components.

Recently the government of Ethiopia has launched a 10-Years Perspective Development Plan (PDP-10, i.e. 2020/21 – 2030/31), which is aligned with SDGs and aims at building a prosperous community by 2030 and beyond. Institutional Capacity Building specific for NDCs needs to be anchored on meeting the targets of PDP-10. Towards meeting the targeted objectives of Ethiopia’s NDCs as well as PDP-10, development sectors need to integrate current and future climate change adaptation and mitigation measures in their respective development plan as part of NDC implementation to ensure that development is “climate proofed". In this regard, the agriculture and forest sectors, which are currently key to CRGE implementation, need to be strengthened to overcome the capacity constraints at systemic, institutional, and individual levels for achieving the targets of NDCs set by the Ethiopian government to make sure the current and future economic development is sustainably climate proofed and resilient.

In order to support the implementation of the updated NDC of Ethiopia, UNDP developed Deepening the efforts to implement NDC in Ethiopia ( DEEP DIVE). The objective of the project is to assess progress and to identify technical and capacity challenges in implementing the updated NDC and to effectively contribute to the enhancement of the 2020 NDC ambition.

Duties and Responsibilities

The assignment shall be undertaken within the agriculture and forest sectors and their agencies and stakeholders. In order to effectively conduct institutional capacity need assessment and to plan institutional capacity building that will enable the agriculture and forest sectors and their agencies to integrate current and future climate change adaptation and mitigation measures in their PDP-10 action plans as part of the updated NDC implementation and ensure that outcomes of updated NDCs interventions and PDP-10 actions are sustainably climate proofed and resilient.

Component 1: Agriculture:

The consultant needs to:

• Conduct in-depth review and analyses of project documents, policies, strategies dedicated to CRGE/NDC and these may include but not limited to: Ethiopia’s NDC Roadmap: 2020 – 2030; CRGE, NDC, CRGE Strategy (2011-2019) implementation progress report, and FLAGSHIP projects/programs such as Sustainable Land Management (SLM), Agriculture Development Program (ADP), Livestock Master Plan (LMP), Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP), Livestock and Fisheries Sector Development Project (LSFDP).
• Provide situational analyses of agriculture sectors in view of achieving the targets of NDC agriculture roadmap;
• Undertake analyses on the progress of capacity building through 2011-2019 CRGE project initiatives as compared to the capacity status during pre-CRGE in terms of organizational level, enabling level and individual level capacity in the agriculture subsectors, indicate the existing and the required capacity for NDC agriculture roadmap.
• Produce alignment of NDC-agriculture roadmap project actions with PDP-10 and determine the level of the contribution of NDC road map to PDP-10;
• The consultant also expected to conduct field visits to selected case study areas, for the Crop sector in the Oromia region around the Bishoftu area and for the livestock sector, the Afar region.
• Identify capacity gaps continued existing through 2011-2019 CRGE implementation project and draw actionable recommendations to bridge the gaps for meeting targets set for NDC roadmap and PDP-10;
• Prepare Institutional Capacity Development Plan for NDCs project implementation and for supporting PDP-10 implementation in each of the agriculture subsectors and their agencies;

Component 2: Forest Sector:

The consultant needs to:

• Conduct in-depth review and analyses of project documents, policies, strategies dedicated to CRGE/NDC, and these may include but not limited to: Ethiopia’s NDC Roadmap: 2020 – 2030, CRGE, NDC, CRGE Strategy (2011-2019) implementation progress report, and FLAGSHIP projects/programs such as Sustainable Land Management (SLM), Agriculture Development Program (ADP), Livestock Master Plan (LMP), Productive Safety Net Program (PSNP), REDD+ Programme, the REDD+ Investment Program, National Forest Sector Development Program, etc.
• The consultant also expected to conduct field visits to selected UN REDD+ plantation cases study areas, in the Amhara region around the Wollo area
• Provide situational analyses of the forest sector in view of achieving the targets of NDC forest roadmap and PDP-10 actions;
• Undertake analyses on the progress of capacity building particularly on MRV, policy, institutions, finance, and knowledge management through 2011-2019 CRGE project initiatives as compared to the capacity status during pre-CRGE in terms of organizational level, enabling level, and individual level capacity in the forest and its subsectors.
• Produce alignment of NDC-forest roadmap project actions with PDP-10 actions of the forest and other sectors and determine the level of the contribution of NDC forest road map to PDP-10 targets and SDGs;
• Identify capacity gaps continued existing through 2011-2019 CRGE implementation project and draw actionable recommendations to bridge the gaps for meeting targets set for NDC roadmap and PDP-10 actions;
• Prepare Institutional Capacity Development Plan for NDCs roadmap project implementation and for supporting PDP-10 implementation in each of the forest sector programs.

EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

1. Inception report – to be completed in 10 working days.
2. Capacity Gaps Analyses and Data compilation – to be completed in 20 working days.
3. Institutional Capacity Building Action Plan – to be completed in 15 working days
4. Draft report on Institutional Capacity Gaps and Institutional Capacity building action plans for agriculture and forestry sectors to implement updated NDC – to be completed in 30 working days
5. Final report on Institutional Capacity Gaps and Institutional Capacity building action plans for agriculture and forestry sectors to implement updated NDC – to be completed in 15 working days

INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT / REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS

The consultant will work under the close supervision of the Director for Climate Change and Biodiversity Directorate of EFCCC and UNDP. The following inputs and services will be provided by UNDP to the consultant to perform the tasks of this work.

a. Arrangement of skype or zoom conference for validation to minimize the risk of COVID 19;

b. UNDP will facilitate arranging vehicles to the field only. Other related costs such as workshop/meetings will be covered by the NC and need to make sure that these costs are considered in the financial proposal.

Competencies

The Consultant should possess the following competencies:

Corporate Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN's values and ethical standards; Sensitivity to cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality, and age differences. Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment; ability to exercise sound political judgment;
• Demonstrates integrity by Modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the project.
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly and without favoritism.

Functional Competencies:

• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, ability to foster networks and partnerships, and good working knowledge of information and computer technology with extensive knowledge of web application content development.
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities. Demonstrated ability to multitask under pressure and to meet strict deadlines often under hardship conditions.

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications of the successful Individual Contractor (IC)

Required qualifications and Requirements: Educational and years of experience requirements of the different expertise that would perform the institutional capacity gaps assessment and capacity building plan for NDCs in Agriculture and Forest sectors are shown below:

Academic qualifications:

• Ph.D. in Agriculture (livestock, crop, soil, natural resources) with specialized training in climate change and MRV; OR
• Ph.D. in forestry (forest management, forest inventory, silviculture, forest ecology, forest soils, natural resources and land use). Specialized training and or background in agriculture, natural resources, agroforestry, climate change, GHG-MRV, ecosystem service, and climate change co-benefits.

Experiences:

• 10 years and above in this field and relevant consultancy engagement in similar works
• Practical experience in forest and natural resource management, crop and livestock husbandry;
• Knowledge on different projects/ programs such as the SLMP; REDD+, NFSDP, CRGE; GTP-2; 10 Years Perspective Development Plan, NAP, NAMA, AGP; PSNP, LMP, etc.;
• Experience in the capacity gap and needs assessment and capacity building plans;
• Computer skills: full command of Microsoft applications (word, excel, PowerPoint) and common internet applications will be required..

Language:

• A high level of written and spoken English and Amharic is essential; report writing skills desirable.
• Excellent communication skill including the ability to set out a coherent argument in presentations and group interactions;
• Capacity to communicate fluently with different stakeholders (civil society, government authorities, local communities, project staff).

Payment milestones and authority

First Installment- Upon submission of Inception Report, 20% of total payment

Second Installment- Upon submission of Draft Technical Report, 40% of total payment

Third Installment- Upon submission of Final Technical Report, 40% of total payment

Note- All payments require certification of acceptance by UNDP.

Price proposal:

The Consultant shall submit a price proposal in accordance with the below instructions:

The contractor shall submit a price proposal as below:

• Daily Fee – The Consultant shall propose a daily fee which should be inclusive of his/her professional fee, local communication cost, insurance (inclusive of medical health, and medical evacuation). The number of working days for which the daily fee shall be payable under the contract is 90 working days.

Criteria for selecting the best offer

Upon the advertisement of the Procurement Notice, a qualified Individual Consultant is expected to submit both the Technical and Financial Proposals. Accordingly; Individual Consultants will be evaluated based on Cumulative Analysis as per the following scenario:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation. In this regard, the respective weight of the proposals is:

  a) Technical Criteria weight is 70%

  b) Financial Criteria weight is 30%

Criteria Weight Max. Point (70% - Max Point 100)

• Understanding the Scope of Work (Sow); comprehensiveness of the methodology/approach; and organization & completeness of the proposal, Max point - 30
• Minimum educational background as per the requirement in the ToR, Max point 10
• Minimum 10 years of experience in similar consultancy projects Max point 10
• Financial (Lower Offer/Offer*100), 30%
• Total Score - Technical Score * 70% + Financial Score * 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in Technical Evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

The Financial proposal of the technically qualified candidates will be evaluated based on the formula provided below. The maximum number of points (30) assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest-priced proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse

proportion.

A suggested formula is as follows:

P= y(µ/z) where,

P= points for the financial proposal being evaluated

Y= maximum number of points for the financial proposal

µ= price of the lowest price proposal

z= price of the proposal being evaluated

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Proposers who shall not submit the below-mentioned documents will not be considered for further evaluation.

• Personal CV or P11 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;
• Confirmation of Interest and Availability & Financial Proposal: Interest and Availability to perform the task and Financial Proposal must be submitted through a standard template (See below link)
• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment and a methodology on how they will approach and complete the assignment.
• Technical Proposal -A brief description of the approach to work/work plan on how he/she will approach and complete the assignment.
• Financial Proposal: As per the template provided (see below the link)

Annexes (click on the hyperlink to access the documents):

• Annex 1 - IC Contract Template (for information)

• Annex 2 - Financial Proposal Template using the template provided by UNDP

• Annex 3 – IC General Terms and Conditions (for information)

• Annex 4 – RLA Template (if a consultant wishes to be recruited through an employer) - (for information)

Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows you to upload a maximum of one document.

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Added 3 years ago - Updated 3 years ago - Source: jobs.undp.org