Procurement Notices

Consultancy Title: Natural Resource Monitoring Expert

Project Name: Enhancing national food security in the context of global climate change Kiribati LDCF project

Duty Station: Tarawa, Kiribati

Duration of the Contract:

• 30 working days 
• Starting Date: 15th November, 2016
• End Date: 15th February, 2017

Consultancy Proposal should be mailed to C/- UNDP Fiji MCO, Private Mail Bag, Suva, Fiji or sent via email to procurement.fj@undp.org no later than 4 November, 2016 (Fiji Time) clearly stating the title of consultancy applied for. Any proposals received after this date/time will not be accepted. Any request for clarification must be sent in writing, or by standard electronic communication to the address or e-mail indicated above. UNDP will respond in writing or by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all consultants. Incomplete, late and joint proposals will not be considered and only offers for which there is further interest will be contacted. Failure to submit your application as stated as per the application submission guide (Procurement Notice) on the above link will be considered incomplete and therefore application will not be considered.

Objectives:

The International Natural Resource Monitoring Expert is expected to lead the establishment, trialing and implementation of a national adaptation monitoring and assessment tools (AMAT).

The AMAT will be set up as a national adaptation and monitoring program that will generate and analyze date required to inform decision making. Tools identified will be trialed in the project site and based on its success be implemented as a national monitoring tool. The AMAT will serve as a tool to collate and disseminate climate risk information nationally. It will focus to generate information related to 1) conservation of coastal zone fisheries; 2) sustainable land management and 3) human health/nutrition.

The AMAT will be a critical program to the accurate assessment of the climate change vulnerabilities and design of effective responses. There are currently a number of monitoring tools used in-country which add value to this work but new opportunities will also be identified. Coral monitoring and island profiling of marine resource and social economic survey will form part of the AMAT to understand how these patterns change over time.

The AMAT will be used as a national monitoring tool system supported by compatible data sets that will streamline the process of identifying vulnerabilities, particularly related issues of food security. The AMAT will be expected to generate easily comparable data sets and indicators for monitoring of climate change advances and success/failure of various adaptation models.  The AMAT will also be used to help inform decision makers in formalizing process of generating and reporting on climate change vulnerability and response mechanisms.   

The consultant will be required to work cooperatively with other international and national experts, along with relevant government agencies and local stakeholders to coordinate and implement activities to achieve the expected outcome and outputs of the project.

Background

Kiribati is a nation comprised of 33 atolls (21 inhabited) spread across a vast Pacific Ocean territory. The people of rural Kiribati are largely reliant upon a limited land base and coastal zone fisheries for both nutrition and livelihood.

As the population grows and climate change advances, the security of island resources will be challenged. Already, the ecosystem integrity upon which islanders depend for climate change resilience is being eroded. This is evinced by many factors including deteriorating quality of near-shore fisheries, degraded lagoon health, and reduced freshwater quality. The primary reason for this is that current management regimes for both atoll and lagoon resources are defined by open resource access. There is very little active management, research, and/or regulation to make certain use of lagoon resources is maintained within sustainable limits. The nation has very little experience with the design and implementation of community-based management regimes to incentivize improved and more innovative management techniques. There are few tools in place to support better management of lagoon resources in light of expanding economic use and demand for these resources. This situation challenges resource management both within the lagoon and on the atoll. Climate change will certainly exacerbate an already very high level of vulnerability.

The project objective is to build the adaptive capacity of vulnerable Kiribati communities to ensure food security under conditions of climate change.

To address these challenges and reach the project’s objective, the LDCF investment will support the realization of two components and related activities. Both components will be closely aligned so that national and site-based activities are designed to build synergies, increase awareness, and generate much more informed and strategic use of natural resources, so that ecosystem integrity is able to continue to function as the foundation of food security needs.

Under Component One, the project will assist Kiribati to address urgent institutional capacity building needs primarily on the national level. This will include helping to set in place an improved regulatory environment, strengthened institutional planning and policy frameworks, and generation of data required to support informed decision-making.

Under Component Two, the project will assist Kiribati to address climate change vulnerabilities by implementing and demonstrating community-based adaptation measures.

The project will work on a select number of atolls to set in place models for land and lagoon resources management that is predicated upon informed planning and management processes. The general awareness of rural communities regarding fisheries management and climate change impacts will be increased. Community-based monitoring systems will be established. This will be used to inform decision-making, serve as early warning system for climate change impacts, and be linked to island-wide vulnerability assessments.

Specific to this project, the target audience for this assignment are government agencies responsible for resource management and socio-economic aspects of food security issues at the pilot islands (Nonouti, Abemama, Maiana, South Tarawa).

The consultancy work will have to take into consideration gradually evolving policies, management plans and guides by the Government of Kiribati (GoK) and other parties and projects operating in a similar context as the Food Security Project-LDCF-Kiribati.

The work might be constrained by limited logistical facilities and support infrastructure available.   

Scope of work/Expected Output

The International Natural Resource Monitoring Expert will be required to work with the Kiribati LDCF Project Management Unit and key stakeholders identified to support this work. He/She will be expected to travel to Kiribati at least twice within the contract period.

In his or her capacity, the consultant will be expected to conduct the identified tasks under the following Outcome and Output:

Outcome 1.1 Institutional capacity developed to reduce vulnerability to climate change induced food shortages

Output 1.1: National Program for informed decision making

1. Engage with relevant government agencies and local stakeholders through planning workshops and meeting etc to identify information need for national adaptation decision makings at national level. Through this work, 1) describe the precise AMAT elements and functionality including institutional responsibilities and 2) describe how AMAT can be applied to inform national policy and planning
2. Identify and prioritize monitoring and information requirements, including indicators related to maintaining and enhancing ecosystem integrity
3. Assess systems required to extend meteorological and hydrological observations by the National Meteorological Services. This is because the AMAT is expected to inform and be informed by enhanced MET early warning systems   
4. Assess existing monitoring activities and capacities on national and islands levels and identity mechanisms to standardize them to feed into the AMAT. Recommendations should be discussed with involved stakeholders to be able to standard each monitoring tool.
5. Recommend best approaches to generating required data and information including MET system, improved fisheries monitoring, vulnerability, food security, health and information reporting mechanism by Island Councils, community members, extension officers and other local stakeholders
6. Describe and prioritize monitoring and capacity building programs to be developed and trialed during project implementation

Reporting and Coordination

The consultant will be expected to report and coordinate work with the following key parties:

1.            GoK implementing agency (Environment and Conservation Division)

2.            Departments of Fisheries, Agriculture, Culture Tourism and Commerce who will to work with the local communities at the pilot islands to collect data;

3.            PMU/Project Coordinator on behalf of the National Project Director

All on the ground logistics will be coordinated by the Project Management Unit (PMU).

All reports on deliverables will be submitted to UNDP through the endorsement of the PMU (using the project management structure).

Timelines & Due dates

Resources Provided

• Office facility in Tarawa with access to internet, printer and scanner. Consultants must travel with their own laptops
• All costs associated with the delivery of this work based on work plan submitted detailing all activities to achieve delivery and timeline.
• Travel cost to country will be facilitated upon request unless specific in financial proposal. Meals and accommodation in Kiribati must be included in consultant’s budget.
• Nomination of a national counterpart

Supervision/Reporting

Reports to:

• UNDP for deliverables based on endorsement from responsible government partner
• PMU for all activities in-country and logistic support. He/she will be expected to also provide work plan and report to PMU on all activities conducted.  
• Presentation to key working groups and committees as when required

Requirement for Qualifications & Experience

Minimum educational qualifications:

• Master’s Degree (or equivalent) in the area of marine science/affairs, natural resource management or planning, environmental science/ or affairs, climate change.

Minimum experiences

• 10 years’ experience in research, data collection designing and mainstreaming for informed decision making
• Experience in designing monitoring programs for natural resource management, socio-economic, food security, climate change vulnerability, ecosystem-base management etc
• Experience in natural resource management planning with multiple stakeholders in the South Pacific region
• Has worked with government, ngos and communities in developing monitoring plans that would be useful in the context a national level AMAT
• Experience in support and development of monitoring assessment tools

Competencies

• Ability to lead formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects, mobilize resources
• Strong IT skills
• Demonstrates capacity to assess environmental technical reports
• Documented understanding of global climate change matters with impact on island ecosystems particularly small island coastal fisheries.
• English language skill is a must.

Payment Schedule (if required):

Evaluation

Cumulative analysis

The proposals will be evaluated using the cumulative analysis method with a split 70% technical and 30% financial scoring. The proposal with the highest cumulative scoring will be awarded the contract. Applications will be evaluated technically and points are attributed based on how well the proposal meets the requirements of the Terms of Reference using the guidelines detailed in the table below:

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract may be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

* Technical Criteria weighting; 70%

* Financial Criteria weighting; 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the Technical Evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation. Interviews may be conducted as part of technical assessment for shortlisted proposals.

Proposal Submission

Offerors must send the following documents.

1. Signed  P11 form including names of at least 2 referees
2. Cover letter setting out:

• How the proposer meets the qualifications and experience required.

iii) Completed template for confirmation of Interest and Submission of Financial Proposal

Consultant must send a financial proposal based on a Lump Sum Amount. The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, travel costs, living allowance (if any work is to be done outside the IC´s duty station) and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment. The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables/outputs.

In general, UNDP shall not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources

In the event of unforeseeable travel not anticipated in this TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and the Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

The P11 form and Template for confirmation of interest and Submission of Financial Proposal is available under the procurement section of UNDP Fiji website (www.pacific.undp.org)