| Overview : Philippines has rich endowment of biodiversity and associated ecosystem services. The large variety of ecosystems and species, along with the services they provide, underpin many of the country’s economic sectors and contribute substantially to job creation. Although the financial benefits may not immediately appear as substantial as those from mining, the country’s biodiversity provides significant and often unaccounted for benefits, without which economic growth and development would not be possible. Since 2014, the United Nations Development Program through its Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) Project, has been supporting the Philippine Government in articulating the financial resources it needs to maintain a healthy biodiversity portfolio in-country. In particular, BIOFIN in collaboration with Department of Natural Resources-Biodiversity Management Bureau has conducted the following assessments: 1) Policy and Institutional Review (PIR); 2) Public and Private Biodiversity Expenditure Review (PPBER); and 3) Finance needs assessment (cost and gap analysis of implementing Philippine Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (PBSAP)); and has prepared a finance plan. Based on insights gained from the results of the three BIOFIN assessments, the finance plan acknowledges the importance of tapping additional financing to support the biodiversity agenda of the Philippines, mainly through its Philippine Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (PBSAP). The finance plan is cognizant of the parallel challenges that could not be addressed by generating financing alone: thus, the Plan transcends the focus on generating additional resources and also identifies a range of “finance solutions” that leverage finance, fiscal and economic tools and strategies to improve the outcome of biodiversity objectives in the country. Financing solutions include a range of transformative actions: generating more financing to fund the PBSAP or associated planning documents; appropriate attribution of biodiversity expenditures in the budget; attaining cost effective budget execution by eradicating overlaps in biodiversity functions; eradicating expenditures that continue to or aggravate dissipation of biodiversity resources; and paving the groundwork for a responsive policy environment through greater awareness on biodiversity and biodiversity financing and enhancing institutional support towards monitoring of PBSAP. In the Philippines, LGUs receive internal revenue allotments (IRA) from the national government based upon the governance level (province, municipality, city) and a formula based upon their land area, population, and equal sharing. Typically, IRA accounts for 90% of total revenues of LGUs. Usually, allocations for biodiversity conservation are nil or at times, absent. The finance solution is the development of an ecological index that will be the core of a policy on ecological fiscal transfers. The latter shall incentivize management of protected areas located in local government jurisidictions as recognition for the ecological and economic benefits arising therefrom which are not fully internalized by the local government. Such ecological and economic benefits are distributed far beyond the local government jurisdiction, even at regional and national levels, whilst being financially supported solely by the concerned local government. A policy brief with a technical supplement shall be prepared and subjected to consultations over a two-year period (2019-2020). The technical supplement shall feature an “ecological index” which shall encapsulate the biodiversity attributes (type of protected area, size of protected area, global/regional significance) of a particular area. Scope of Work The main responsibilities of the consultant are as follows: - Review the concept of ecological fiscal transfer as applied in other countries including but not limited to Brazil, Indonesia, Portugal
- Characterize protected areas, both terrestrial and marine, across various local governments levels and assess the utilization and distribution of ecological and economic benefits
- Analyze expenditures for protected area management for a selection of LGUS (to be decided by the project team) and assess impacts on IRA utlization
- Propose an ecological index formulation and recommend how the same can be incorporated into the current IRA estimation process
- Validate ecological index and concept of EFT with public agencies and other relevant stakeholders
- Prepare a full policy brief for decision makers
- Organize consultations on the policy and potential adoption; and
- Attend project-related meetings.
Duration of the Work The expected duration of work is 88 days spread over six (6) months. The target date for the start of work is March - September 2019. Duty Station The Project Manager shall directly supervise the Consultant and approve his/her output with the endorsement of the Biodiversity Management Bureau. The Consultant is expected to liaise/interact/collaborate/meet with the national BIOFIN project team, DENR BMB and UNDP. As needed, the project staff shall provide administrative assistance to her/him in order for her/him to accomplish all requirements. Based on the table above, outputs will be submitted to UNDP and BMB through the Project Manager in the dates indicated. The project staff including other project consultants, as well as, relevant technical staff shall provide comment on the outputs of the consultant. NO Travel outside Manila is required. Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments The all-inclusive and fixed lump sum amount for this service: - First Tranche 15% - Upon submission and acceptance of Inception report ;
- Second Tranche 30% - Upon submission and acceptance of Draft ecological index ;
- Third Tranche 20% - Upon submission and acceptance of Revised version of the ecological index based on validation workshop results;
- Fourth Tranche 20% - Upon submission and acceptance of Policy brief ;
- Fifth Tranche 15% - Upon submission and acceptance of Revised version of the policy brief based on validation workshop results
CORPORATE COMPETENCIES - Commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision, values and ethical standards
- Sensitivity to cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age differences
- Treat all stakeholders fairly and without prejudice
- Maintains objectivity and impartiality in handling evaluation processes
FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES - Experience in project development, implementation and evaluation--particularly in directly managing results-based monitoring and evaluation methodologies
- Demonstrated experience in conducting evaluation of multi-year and multi-component programmes and projects
- Familiarity with the norms and issues in early recovery and rehabilitation work in disaster-affected areas
Ability to process large amounts and diverse set of data and documents related to infrastructure development, livelihood, resettlement, disaster risk reduction and management, and governance Demonstrated strong coordination and facilitation skills Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to initiate discussions with national/local governmental officials, peoples organizations and communities Demonstrated ability to function in a team environment and to deal with complex multi-stakeholder environment Demonstrated ability to prepare and present comprehensive reports
QUALIFICATIONS Education - 40% Experience Criteria for selection process: The offer will evaluated based on the Combined Scoring method: - 70% Qualifications
- 30% Financial Proposal
Application requirements to be submitted at the same time: - Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability (Financial Proposal Template) using the template provided by UNDP;
Personal Curriculum Vitae or P11 Form, indicating all past experiences from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
Application requirements should be emailed to procurement.ph@undp.org or registry.ph@undp.org on or before 18 March 2019. Attachments that can be downloaded in this link are the following: - Financial Proposal Template; - P11 Form; - General Terms and Conditions for Consultants In view of the volume of applications UNDP receives, only shortlisted offerors will be notified. |
