Home-based, with travel to Panama and pilot city within the country Type of Contract:

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1 Terms of Reference Special Climate Change Fund - Project Preparation: Building climate resilience of urban systems through Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) in Latin America and the Caribbean. National Consultant: El Salvador Consultancy Vacancy Notice ROLAC Location: Home-based, with travel to Panama and pilot city within the country Type of Contract: Consultancy Languages Required: Fluent written English and Spanish Starting Date: October 2014 End of contract: August 2015 Expected Duration of Assignment: 50 person/days spread over 10 months maximum Closing date September 16, 2014 Background In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), 77% of the population currently lives in cities, and this proportion is projected to reach 85% within the next two decades. Such statistics place the LAC region s cities among the fastest growing in the developing world. This rapid urban expansion is particularly noticeable in small and mid-sized cities, which grow faster than most mega-cities. Rapid urbanisation is placing growing pressure on urban authorities to increase their provision of basic services and infrastructure, which frequently occurs within a context of limited urban planning capacity. As a result, approximately 50 million people within the LAC region do not have access to potable drinking water. The limited delivery of services by local governments has resulted in urban communities relying strongly on urban ecosystems for a range of important services, such as urban catchments for water provision. SCCF funding of 6,000,000 USD has been granted to the region for a Full-Sized Project to increase the climate change resilience of vulnerable urban communities living in three mediumsized Latin American and Caribbean cities through the application of Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) and its integration into medium- and long-term urban planning. Importantly, new and innovative techniques for ecosystem based approaches to adaptation in urban and peri urban areas will be piloted in three cities in the region from three countries Jamaica, Mexico 1

2 and El Salvador. The findings of this piloting will be used to develop local, national and regional approaches to up-scaling adaptation through ecosystem restoration. A Project Identification Form (PIF) has been designed and cleared by the GEF CEO for a Full Sized Project (FSP) of a total SCCF amount of 6M USD, to increase the climate resilience of vulnerable urban communities in LAC countries. Activities to be undertaken under this project are designed to benefit communities and ecosystems by addressing root causes of vulnerability to climate change variability. A PPG grant has been approved by the GEF CEO for the Latin American region to assist in designing a full sized project proposal which will comprise the following components: Component 1: Mainstreaming EbA into medium- and long-term urban development planning. Component 2: Implementation of urban EbA interventions to establish climate-resilient communities. Component 3: Knowledge and awareness sharing of urban EbA throughout the region. The project document will comprise the following information: 1. Baseline and baseline projects: The baseline analysis, in conjunction with the various technical studies (below), will provide information on the local and national contexts, current natural resource management practices, the state of targeted ecosystems, and an overview of gaps, and adaptation needs. The analysis will include a review of ongoing investment projects in the relevant sectors, policies, laws, executive regulations and decrees governing natural resource and land management, and clarify baseline development issues of relevance to the project. The review will focus on the strengths, weaknesses, and needs of the existing system. The baseline projects would include existing or planned projects, that do not currently have a climate adaptation component, which could be considered as co-financing for the proposal. This could include development assistance, government budget lines, and NGO and community groups contributions, in cash/grant, loan, soft-loan, or in-kind form. 2. Specification of adaptation activities: a synthesis of results from the adaptation scenario analysis. Stakeholders will develop a rapid appraisal of the adaptation options selected. The adaptation value of the proposed project will be set out in relation to the proposed project outcomes (outlined in the PIF). The project document will need to take account of EbA guidelines and follow the guidelines where full project implementation is concerned. 3. Site selection: The PPG phase activities and demonstration sites will be selected through extensive further stakeholder consultations at local, national and regional levels. The project will be piloting new innovative techniques for adapting local communities in urban areas to climate change by restoring degraded ecosystems. The lessons learned from these demonstrations will be used to guide local communities as well as to 2

3 showcase successes at a national scale and thereby catalyze large-scale ecosystem restoration interventions in urban areas across the region as means for adaptation. Technical experts in all these sectors will be sought to develop appropriate adaptation through ecosystem restoration interventions. In addition they will develop a clear rationale on selection of the pilot cities and sites within these cities, based on criteria agreed with stakeholders. Preliminary criteria for selecting pilot cities includes, inter alia: i) political influence of the city in the LAC region; ii) availability of relevant city-specific or regional baseline projects; iii) possible synergies with other regional and national projects; iv) vulnerability of the city to current and future climate change threats; and v) the willingness of local authorities to implement urban EbA. At the outset of the PPG, these criteria will be reviewed, validated and pilot cities chosen. The inception meeting will also be used to gather information on the baseline context and situation, documentation on ongoing initiatives and partnerships, and to begin discussions with potential implementing and co-financing partners. 4. Develop Logframe: Information from points 1, 2 and 3 above will be the basis of the logframe. The logframe will be validated at a stakeholder consultation workshop. Indicators for assessing the costs and benefits of the various adaptation options piloted will be developed and a systematic assessment of these will take place during the project implementation with a view to generating knowledge on the most effective adaptation solutions to influence long-term adaptation practices in the countries. 5. Develop Monitoring and Evaluation Plan: Stakeholder will decide on qualitative and quantitative indicators that will measure the state of adaptive capacity at various stages of project implementation. Reporting procedures will be established. UNEP guidance will be followed in formulating and describing these details. The M&E plan will include provisions for independent evaluation and provision to ensure learning of lessons from implementation. 6. Develop detailed implementation plan: This plan should specify clearly identified roles and responsibilities for the overall management of the project, based on an assessment of capacity and political will of relevant Ministries and other appropriate institutions to implement the project. A stakeholder involvement plan will be developed to enable effective implementation and sustainability of interventions. The first year costed annual work plan will be developed. 7. Business plan: This plan will comprise of two parts: a) developing the co-financing strategy with public and, where relevant/ appropriate, private sources of funding, and b) a detailed sustainability strategy to provide for continuation and replication of the project interventions beyond the period of SCCF support. 8. Stakeholder consultation plan: National and local government stakeholders, donors, and project beneficiaries will be consulted throughout the PPG phase to develop the proposal in relation to a) demand, willingness to pay and minimum requirements from the 3

4 beneficiary community, b) ability and experience in supplying adaptation solutions. Formal stakeholder consultations will be organized at two points in the PPG phase: a) at the PPG inception to set out basic project parameters and get initial guidance for moving forwards and b) at the end of the PPG phase, to make final inputs into the prodoc and validate overall direction of the project. 9. Environmental and social impact assessment: The PPG phase will also conduct an overarching analysis of environmental and social safeguards based on the stakeholder consultations carried out in point 8 above to identify potential risks and activities that need to be included in project design. The UNEP internal policy including the Checklist for Environmental and Social Issues initially submitted with the PIF is to be reviewed and updated based on stakeholder consultations and included as an annex in the project document clearly showing what activities are being undertaken to address issues identified. The development of this document will be the responsibility of an International Consultant who will serve as Lead Consultant and Project Development Specialist and will require support from one regional consultant and three national consultants (one in each pilot country). Current Vacancy National Consultant El Salvador A National Consultant for El Salvador will be hired to develop technical recommendations, coordinate logistics and provide in-country support. In particular the National Consultant will provide inputs using his/her national expertise towards the project formulation process and submission to the GEF. Inputs from the National Consultant will be used by the Regional and International consultants to develop the full project proposal. The project preparatory phase will be guided by the Goal, Objective, and Outcomes of the approved PIF. The PIF will be shared with the selected candidate as a reference to provide commonly agreed-upon inputs. The National Consultant will work closely with government counterparts in various ministries, and with key stakeholders. He/She will be responsible for the following tasks and outputs: 1. Coordinate stakeholder consultations in country to select pilot city and pilot sites. 2. Research and analyze baseline information on natural resource management practices, state of targeted ecosystems, adaptation policies and needs, investment projects, and other baseline development issues both at the national and local scale for the selected pilot city, according to the guidelines provided by the International and Regional Consultants. 3. Research and select the most suitable baseline projects for co-financing according to the guidelines provided by the International and Regional Consultants. 4. Participate in the project inception workshop to be carried out in Panama City. 4

5 5. Undertake a review of ongoing investment projects in the sectoral, policies, laws, executive regulations and decrees governing environmental, land and natural resources management. 6. Undertake an analysis of the current and observed climate change impacts, and undertake an analysis of the anticipated impacts of climate change as well as any existing gaps in current information. 7. Provide logistic and technical support to the International and Regional Consultants in designing the national stakeholder workshop. 8. Assist the Regional Consultant in liaising with national focal points on a regular basis to obtain required government inputs and approvals for project preparation. 9. Visit the selected pilot city to gather and corroborate information, establish contact with local authorities, and evaluate potential areas for project execution, among other activities that will be clearly outlined by the International and Regional consultants. 10. Support the International and Regional Consultants in the preparation and finalization of the UNEP project proposal to the standard required by UNEP and GEF. 11. Produce reports and materials in English for project content development, according to the guidelines provided by the International and Regional Consultants. 12. Share information and coordinate with the other two National Consultants to ensure similar quality and depth of products. 13. Any other relevant activities assigned by the Task Manager or the International and Regional Consultants. Conduct of Work Encompassing 50 days of work, the National Consultant will support the preparation of project outputs to the standard required by UNEP for submission to the GEF, working closely with the International and Regional Consultants. The National Consultant will report to the Regional Consultant. The assignment will be home-based for the most part; however the Consultant will be required to make at least one visit to Panama, where the Regional office for Latin America and the Caribbean is based, and to the selected pilot city. The Consultant is required to maintain a dialogue with the Regional Consultant when working remotely. Travel: The assignment will involve travel to Panama and the selected pilot city in El Salvador. The national stakeholder workshop will be held in San Salvador. 5

6 Terms of payment: The duration of the assignment will take 50 man/days spread over a maximum period of 10 months. Individual payments will be made upon submission of products, which will be commonly agreed upon in the contract and detailed work plan. Requirements for the assignment Master s degree in resource management, sustainable urban development, environment, engineering, economics, development, or a closely related field. A minimum of 4 years relevant work experience. Knowledge of climate change adaptation or urban development, an asset Demonstrated experience in adaptation project development and implementation. Previous experience in working and collaborating with governments is required. Experience on ecosystem-based adaptation, an asset. Experience in the policy development process associated with environment and sustainable development. Excellent Spanish written and spoken communication skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesize project outputs and relevant findings. Fluency in written English. Knowledge of participatory methodologies, an asset. Ability to pick up new terminology and concepts easily and to turn information from various sources into a coherent project document. Knowledge of GEF systems, processes and terminology, an asset. How to apply Interested candidates should submit, via with reference to ROLAC El Salvador National Consultant: Urban EbA in Latin America and the Caribbean in the Subject line to vacancy.unep@unep.org on or before 16 September, 2014, with the following: Application cover letter with a brief description of how the candidate s experience is relevant to this consultancy (max 250 words). Personal resume and completed P-11 form (downloadable from 6