Procurement Notices

Consultancy Title: National Marine (Coastal Zone Management, Marine Managed Areas, Protected Areas) Support Consultant

Project Name: VCAP 2 PPG

Duty Station: Vanuatu

Type of Consultancy :National Consultancy

Duration of the Contract:

This consultancy will be for 60 working days commencing in February - December 2020. The consultant will be expected to travel out to the outer islands of Port Villa.

Consultancy Proposal (CV & Financial proposal Template ) should be uploaded on UNDP Jobshop website (https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_jobs.cfm) no later than, 17th Feb 2020 (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 procurement.fj@undp.org. 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.

NOTE:

Proposals must be sent through UNDP job shop web page. Candidates need to upload their CV and financial proposal -using UNDP template

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted

If the selected/successful Candidate is over 65 years of age and required to travel outside his home country; He/She will be required provide a full medical report at their expense prior to issuance to contract. Contract will only be issued when Proposed candidate is deemed medically fit to undertake the assignment.

Objectives:

The National Marine Support Consultant will be part of the GEF PPG team and will work to support the International Marine Specialist and guided by the PPG Team Leader. He/She will be work with the Marine Specialist in the development of all the marine content of the project document specifically focusing on Coastal Zone Management, Coastal and Marine Ecosystem conservation and Management, Marine Protected Area Management, Community based Marine Management and Planning ect. He/she as the expert present in the country will provide sound technical advise and ideas to the Marine Specialist on what would work best or not. He/She will also be working very closely with the In-country Coordinator in organising in-country consultation and site visits during the PPG mission period. 

The consultant will also be required to provide timely input (as part of a review process) into the finalizing of the ProDoc to the Marine Specialist and work with the Specialist to ensure that all mandatory and project Annexes and supporting documentation are made available. 

Background

The Commonwealth Vulnerability Index ranks Vanuatu as one of the world’s most vulnerable countries due to its high exposure to natural disasters, scattered island geography, narrow and economic base, inadequate communication and transportation networks and limited capacity to cope with disasters including climate change. With mostly volcanic islands, human settlements are found mostly along the coastlines and this region is a primary focus in efforts to build climate resilience. Vanuatu’s National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) include specific measures focused on the coastal zone such as the promotion of community-based marine resource management and integrated coastal zone management.

To better adapt to the impacts of climate change, the government launched the project “Adaptation to Climate Change in Coastal Vanuatu” (VCAP) in November 2014. The was project funded $8.030 million grant from the Least Developed Countries Fund of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and was implemented by UNDP. The project was implemented in 6 provinces of Vanuatu covering at least 5-6 communities in each province to improve their resilience to climate change, to sustain their livelihoods, improve food production and preserve/improve the quality of life. 

The interventions of the V-CAP project had ranged from the following:

1.             The climate proofing of public conveyance infrastructure such as river crossing bridges, roads and pedestrian walkways and tracks to facilitate access needs to population centers, health facilities, markets and schools for children regardless of weather conditions.

2.             The climate proofing of existing Provincial/Area Council offices as shelters during natural disasters for 8 island communities. These also included training and equipping of existing resource personnel to respond to climate disaster needs.    

3.             The extension of agricultural services in order to facilitate the demand for food supply as a result of growing population in the outer islands and the increasing disease and pests in subsistence crops. These included the setup of nurseries and model farms in 7 island communities to supply climate resilient crops. In addition, these communities were also trained and provided farming materials to allow them to be self-sufficient. Similarly, livestock management trainings were conducted, and start-up of livestock initiatives were provided to more than 1,000 local farmers to generate further household incomes opportunities and create employment.

4.             The development of Upland Management Action Plans to address sustainable farming practices, land erosion and water security in 9 island communities. This also included the planting of vertiver grass and plants in coastal eroding hotspots and replanting of native trees and water catchments areas. In addition, water tanks and gravity feeders were installed on Torres and Epi island communities which often are affected the most during the drought seasons.               

5.             The development of Disaster Plans in 1 District, 3 Area Councils and 9 communities to be able to address disaster risk events accordingly.

6.             The successful setup of Integrated Weather Forecasting and Automated Weather Stations in the 6 provincial sites to allow a systematic analysis and predictions of climate-related events such as cyclone, storms, drought etc in order for communities to prepare beforehand.

With V-CAP completed in 2019, the government had expressed its intention to implement a phase II of V-CAP. Its decision is based on the positive outcome and contribution of V-CAP project in the local communities and the level of assistance to Vanuatu Government sectors which have benefited greatly from its interventions in the project sites in Vanuatu. A funding of $US 12 million was approved by GEF in November 2019 and will therefore be focusing on upscaling the successful interventions of the earlier V-CAP work.

Scope of work/Expected Output

A team of consultants are being gathered to work with the Vanuatu government in developing the V-CAP II Project Document for the upcoming GEF submission in November 2020.

Specific to the work of the consultant he/she will be expected to conduct the following:

1. Work in consultation with the Marine Specialist in the submission of a detailed methodology and workplan which will be provided to the Team Leader. 
2. Work with the Terrestrial Specialist to ensure that the terrestrial component is well articulated in the project document, and it is participatory, gender-responsive and is based on extensive stakeholder engagements; and
3. Verify and ensure that all project activities focused on marine management/conservation are technically sound and cost effective.
4. Provide specialised support to undertake a comprehensive stakeholders and capacity assessment work in order to contribute and provide technical advice on component 1, 3 and 4 of the PIF in project formulation focusing specifically on terrestrial issues and ensuring ecological link to other ecosystem services.  
5. Work with the Marine Specialist to ensure that components addressing marine issues, gaps, priorities, opportunities are well presented in the PIF that will be presented during the validation stage to the stakeholders.
6. Work with the project formulation team to finalise project sites selection following agreed criteria and lead in the collection of marine information (Coastal Zone Management, Marine Managed Areas, Protected Areas) situation based on available data in the target sites.   
7. Contribute to the preparation of the inception report with specific focus on marine.
8. Work with In-country Coordinator to finalise a schedule of field visits and the overall PPG timelines.
9. Work with the Marine Specialist to analyse and compile a report of the project baseline in terms of current sustainable marine management, marine management planning, nearshore marine resource use policies, projects and stakeholders.
10. Provide technical advice to the gender specialist to ensure that findings from the gender analysis work is meaningfully integrated into the design of activities focused on marine management/conservation interventions and is culturally sensitised.
11. Ensure the design of appropriate project knowledge management processes and platforms, ensuring appropriate linkages to existing mechanisms and knowledge sharing in project landscapes;
12. Contribute to the work and write up tasked by the Marine Specialist to fully prepare component 1, 3 and 4 of the VCAP 2 project document. 
13. Identify government and non-government agencies, local project stakeholders and potential project partners for consultation and coordinate meetings during the PPG mission.
14. Facilitate in the organising of consultative meetings with local government, provincial and community stakeholders to assist project definition in collaboration with other partners.
15. Contribute to the work and write up tasked by the Marine Specialist to fully prepare for and assist in the work of marine management and integrated ecosystem-based management from ridge to reef of the project sites.
16. Support and contribute to the work of other team members that are part of the project especially in the areas of marine management, institutional capacity and knowledge management.
17. Support the In-Country Coordinator in organising and provide support in facilitating inception, consultation and validation workshops. Active participation in workshops. 
18. Conduct follow up as per the guidance of the International Specialist or Team Leader in order to finalise the ProDoc for GEF Sec submission.

Key Deliverables

Supervision/Reporting

Overall the consultant will be monitored, overseen and supervised by VCAP II PPG In-country Coordinator. He/She is expected to work very closely with the identified International Specialist (IS). All deliverable reports are to be discussed with IS before being submitted to UNDP.

The consultant is also expected to provide for his/her own laptop. He/she is expected to inform UNDP immediately in writing if he/she is unable to meet deliverables of this consultancy. 

Requirement for Qualifications & Experience

Qualifications:

• Minimum Bachelor’s degree or higher in a relevant field, such as Natural Resources Management, Marine Science, Conservation Biology or Sustainable Development and Planning;

Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of demonstrable experience in the technical area of sustainable natural resource use planning, marine conservation and planning, protected areas network and management or equivalent
• Experience in implementing and managing marine projects particularly for UNDP and GEF projects;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English;
• Experience in developing community-based livelihoods diversification through nature-based conservation and resource management initiatives;
• Experience working in the Pacific/Government in Vanuatu on related initiatives highly desired
• Knowledge of and experience in ridge to reef conservation approaches and planning, with experience in sustainable financing mechanisms for nature-based protection and management etc
• Experience in developing community-based livelihoods diversification through nature-based conservation and resource management initiatives;
• Experience working in the Vanuatu on related initiatives highly desired

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in written English is essential and must also be able to speak Bislama

Payment Schedule:

The following payment schedule is proposed:

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:

1. responsive/compliant/acceptable
2. 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.