National Sustainable Forest Management and Landscape Restoration Specialist (Lead National Consultant)

Added Date: Wednesday, 17 June 2020

Deadline Date: Tuesday, 30 June 2020

Organization: UNDP – United Nations Development Programme

Country: China

City: Home Based, with travel to project sites

Contract Type: Individual Contract

Post Level: National Consultant

Background

Please provide Offeror’s Letter and proposal together with your CV and cover letter (if applicable) in one single file while submitting application. And please note that the system will not accept the uploading of more than one document so please merge or scan all your documents into one prior to uploading. Below is the download link of Offeror’s Letter.

Links:

UNDP Personal History form (P11) required of all applicants:

www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/Careers/P11_Personal_history_form.doc

General Conditions of Contract for the ICs:

https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=201192

The Global Environment Facility in its 7th replenishment (GEF-7), with a view to maintain or improve ecosystem services, land productivity, food security, and to increase the resilience of the land and the populations dependent on it, provides supports to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)’s Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) concept. Focal Area programming seeks to achieve the following objectives: 1) Enhance on-the-ground Implementation of SLM using the LDN tool, and 2) Create an Enabling Environment to Support Voluntary LDN Target Implementation.

In line with the GEF-7 strategic programming for Land Degradation, the project “Restoration of Degraded Natural Forests and Soil Erosion Management Improvement in Erosion-Prone Regions of China” is expected restore 424,000 hectares of land. Specifically, 114,000 hectares corridors between natural forest areas; 140,000 hectares “no disturbance” enclosure management; 140,000 hectares of upgrade from monoculture to mixed forest; and 30,000 hectares mixed forest planting on bare land. Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) practices will also be introduced to restored forest, where feasible.

In addition, the provincial forestry bureaus are further anticipating to engage in an upscaling of the project interventions during the latter half of the project and it is hoped that the replication efforts will reach two or three times that of the project’ demos. The project will have an estimated total of 30,000 direct beneficiaries at local and national level. Of these, 6,000 local beneficiaries will profit directly from livelihood opportunities generated by newly developed National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA) alternative livelihood programs. At least 2,500 persons at national level and 21,500 forest workers and ecological forest rangers at local level will benefit from trainings. For the project’s trainings at least 50% of the trainees will be women. Stakeholders will also be making active use of the documentation developed by the project on the new methodologies and approaches and at least 1000 people will use the project’s information platform annually. Furthermore, it is expected that at least 150,000 people will be reached through project-developed information and interactions. Indirectly, about 5,000,000 persons is expected to benefit from exposure to project information and discussions on China’s new approach to natural forest use land (NFUL) restoration.

Lastly, an early estimate based on the Extension Method of Forest Volume (EMFV) method, the project is expected to yield an estimated 10,439,861 tCO2e of carbon benefit over a 20-year period. The project will also contribute to at least seven Aichi Targets including targets 2; 4; 5; 7; 14; 15 and 19.

Table 1. brief description of the Project’s objectives, grant amounts, components, project location and the PPG team composition

Project Title: Restoration of Degraded Natural Forests and Soil Erosion Management Improvement in Erosion-Prone Regions of China

Objectives: To mainstream Sustainable Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) and Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) for improving flows of ecosystems services of Degraded Natural Forest Use Land (NFUL) in soil erosion-prone regions of China, based on a multi-level governance and landscape approach

Grant amount: USD 2,986,758

Co-financing amount: USD 27,330,000

Target Locations:

Pre-SESP rating: Moderate

Components:

International consultant (1)

International Project Development Specialist (PPG Team Leader)

National consultant team (3)

National Sustainable Forest Management and Landscape Restoration Specialist (Lead National Consultant)
National Gender and Safeguard Specialist
National Financial Mechanism Specialist

UNDP, in collaboration with the Governments of China, seeks to engage a qualified National Sustainable Forest Management and Landscape Restoration Specialist to support the development of the project.

The Project Preparation Grant (PPG) phase will be underpinned by a participatory approach, with regular consultation and working meetings with all key PPG stakeholders throughout the phase. Specific attention should be given to gender issues, the rights of Indigenous Peoples and the ethnic minorities in the project areas by undertaking a gender analysis, stakeholder analysis, and livelihood analysis to ensure optimal involvement of women and minorities, and inclusive beneficiation from project interventions.

Scope of the assignment:

Role:

The National Sustainable Forest Management and Landscape Restoration Specialist will be the lead national consultant and will be responsible for providing inputs on improving the SFM and forest landscape restoration in China through the restructuring of policy, planning, standards, and financial mechanisms governing the management of Natural Forest Use Lands (NFUL) in China to support the development of the UNDP Project Document (ProDoc). The consultant will be a specialist in SFM and land restoration policy, planning and implementation, with knowledge in the field of forest landscape restoration.

The National Sustainable Forest Management and Landscape Restoration Specialist also will coordinate the development of project interventions and baseline assessments at project targeted landscapes in Xiaolongshan, Gansu Province; Wuxi county, Chongqing Municipality; Xishuangbanna area, Yunnan province; Libo county, Guizhou province; and Changting county, Fujian Province. The consultant will be responsible for the preparation of a detailed landscape profile report, for assessing site needs and capacities, and for defining appropriate project targets, interventions. The consultant will also work with the National Gender and Safeguard Specialist on formulation’s stakeholder consultation processes within the five demonstration landscapes to support the development of the UNDP Project Document (ProDoc), with regard to the landscape and sustainable forest management.

Duties and Responsibilities

The list below outlines key responsibilities and deliverables of this contract. The PPG Initiation Plan for these projects provides further and more detailed guidance regarding the responsibilities of the prospective PPG team and must be consulted accordingly.

1. Management of the PPG team:

Support the GEF PPG Team Leader with management of the PPG Team, ensuring coordination between individual national consultants,
Preparatory Technical Studies and Reviews (Component A): Prepare inputs and support the required analyses/studies, as agreed with the GEF PPG Team Leader, including:
Prepare inputs for the baseline/situational analysis on China’s SFM policy, planning, operations, institutional coordination and stakeholder engagement processes. This will include analyses of national and provincial policies, plans, and local implementation of the Natural Forest Protection Program; institutional roles and capacity development needs for appropriate forest landscape restoration; suitable forest restoration techniques and modalities, including local species selection; financial mechanisms supporting government and community forest restoration activities.
Identify gaps and assess opportunities for improving the SFM and forest landscape restoration in China through the restructuring, planning, standards, restoration methodologies and financial mechanisms governing the management of Natural Forest Use Lands (NFUL) in China.
Identify key training needs for relevant national and provincial institutions and conduct baseline capacity development scorecards assessments to gauge stakeholder capacity needs for implementation of forest landscape restoration in NFUL areas (coordinating closely with the National Stakeholder Engagement, Gender and Safeguards Specialist).
Identify appropriate Results Framework indicators and targets related to forest landscape restoration and NFUL policy/planning; collect baseline data for the relevant indicators (including the GEF Core Indicators); choose the means of measurement; and define targets, key risks, and assumptions linked to these indicators.
Support the stakeholder analysis, consultations and co-financing contributions, particularly with national-level stakeholders and private sector, and ensure that they are inclusive and comprehensive.
Lead development of the project landscape profile report for project targeted landscapes in Chongqing municipality and Gansu, Yunnan, Guizhou and Fujian Provinces including status of Natural Forest Use Land (NFUL) areas; ecological significance of NFUL and gaps in the current forest landscape restoration processes and engagements; local activities obstructing or counteracting current/future forest restoration; baseline initiatives including local government and community related to forest restoration as well as livelihood/business development in the NFUL areas; opportunities and priorities for community involvement with a specific reference to forest restoration and establishment of close-to-nature business initiatives;
For the selected project areas determine, through analysis, the appropriate Forest Landscape Restoration model including outlines on Chemical and Invasive Alien Species handling and management.
Determine the projects carbon sequestration benefits using the FAO EX-ACT tool.
Undertake the project’s Climate Screening using the STAP Climate Screening Tool[1]
Develop a baseline framework for measuring Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) on forest landscape restoration and SFM among target audiences including local communities, with inputs from other national consultants.
Facilitate the completion of appropriate maps for project landscape and sites, liaising with the provincial and local forestry bureaus and local academia for provision of the required maps.
Complete baseline and target values for GEF core indicators related to the project sites; and
Support the completion of any additional studies that are determined to be needed for the preparation of the ProDoc and all other final outputs as guided by the PPG Team Leader.

2. Formulation of the ProDoc, CEO Endorsement Request and Mandatory and Project Specific Annexes (Component B):

Provide relevant quality text sections for the ProDoc package (including annexes) on the aspects mentioned above.
Prepare in consultation with the PPG Team Leader, national consultants and relevant government counterparts, the draft of the supporting activity sets which will enable the achievement of the project outputs.
Prepare in consultation with the PPG Team Leader, national consultants and relevant government counterparts, the draft of the project budget.
Prepare in consultation with the PPG Team Leader, the national consultants and relevant government counterparts, the draft list of consultants and subcontractors needed for the full project and the related TORs.

3. Validation Workshop (Component C):

Contribute to the validation workshop; and
Support all necessary revisions that arise during the workshop, as appropriate.

4. Final Deliverables:

A report on the detailed baseline/situational analysis on China’s SFM policy, planning, operations, institutional coordination and stakeholder engagement processes along with recommended project interventions under Component 1 (National, Provincial and Local Policies Update.) component 2 (Degraded NFUL Restoration, Ecosystems Services Protection, and Local Livelihood Improvement.) and Component 3 (Innovative Financing Mechanisms Development and Emplacement.) and Component 4 (Raise Awareness, Knowledge Management, and M&E.) responding to the baseline analysis.
Draft of the underlying activities needed for achieving project outputs under the project components, as well as draft budget and suggested list of needed project consultants and sub-contractors.
Capacity development plan and baseline capacity development scorecards of relevant national and provincial institutions engaged in the implementation of the NFPP.
A detailed landscape profile report for the project targeted areas in Chongqing municipality and Gansu, Yunnan, Guizhou and Fujian Provinces, including ecological significance of NFUL and the threats/impacts towards these, baseline activities, project site-based interventions for Forest Landscape Restoration, and project site maps (to be obtained from government or academia);
EX-ACT tool calculations for carbon sequestration benefits.
Climate screening report.
Knowledge, Attitudes, Practices (KAP) survey framework.
Additional appropriate inputs provided to the Project Document and Annexes, as agreed with PPG Team Leader.

Table 2. PPG Milestones, dates, fee disbursement percentage and required approvals

No.

PPG Milestones

Duration

Tentative Dates

Fee Disbursement (%)

Review and Approvals Required

First Mission[2]: detailed mission plan including PPG initiation workshop, field visits and meeting with key stakeholders in coordination with the PPG Team Leader

8 days

August 2020

10%

UNDP CO

Stakeholder Consultation Report with participants list

Baseline/situational analysis report; first draft of capacity development plan and baseline capacity development scorecards; first draft of landscape profile report, including maps; first draft of EX-ACT tool calculations; first draft of climate screening report; first draft of KAP survey framework; First draft of the Project Document, including all mandatory and project specific annexes and the CEO Endorsement Request by providing needed support to the PPG Team Leader;

27 days

December 2020

30%

UNDP CO & RTA

Second Mission: Final consultation and validation workshop

5 days

February 2021

10%

UNDP CO

Final capacity development plan and baseline capacity development scorecards; final landscape profile report, including maps; final EX-ACT tool calculations; final climate screening report; final KAP survey framework; Support to finalization of ProDoc, second draft of the Project Document, including all mandatory and project specific annexes to UNDP-GEF for the technical clearance and final submission to GEF SEC for CEO endorsement;

15 days

April 2021

20%

UNDP CO, RTA & PTA

Finalized the Project Document with the mandatory and project specific annexes and the CEO Endorsement Request revised with comments from the UNDP teams, and the GEF SEC

5 days

November 2021

15%

UNDP CO, & RTA

Total

60 days

100%

Information on Working Arrangements:

The consultant will be home-based with mission(s) to the project landscapes in China.
The consultant will work under the direct guidance of the PPG Team Leader and will report to the environmental focal point at UNDP China
The Consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment;
Given the global consultations to be undertaken during this assignment, the consultant is expected to be reasonably flexible with his/her availability for such consultations taking into consideration different time zones;
Payments will be made upon submission of certification of payment form, and acceptance and confirmation by CO, and outputs delivered. If the quality does not meet standards or requirements, the consultant will be asked to rewrite or revise (as necessary) the document before proceeding to payment.

Travel:

Estimated duration of 13 days (8 days for the first mission and 5 days for the second mission, including travel time to the project demonstration sites), the COVID19 travel restrictions permitting. Due to the COVID19 travel restrictions the missions could be organized virtually;
Any necessary mission travel must be approved in advance and in writing by the CO focal point;
The BSAFE course must be completed before the commencement of travel;
Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when traveling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director;
Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under https://dss.un.org/dssweb/;
The consultant will be responsible for making his/her mission travel arrangements in line with UNDP travel policies;
The envisaged travel costs includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general, UNDP should 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 case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed based on provision of supporting documentation.

[1] https://climatescreeningtools.worldbank.org/

[2] Note that Travel bans, restrictions and requirements will likely affect the dates and structure of the missions. The above table provides tentative information for mission budgeting/ICs financial proposal purposes only. Flexibility is expected from the selected candidate in terms of the possibility of having alternative mission and consultation arrangements (i.e. online consultations and online inception/validation workshops. Having one single consultation/truth-grounding mission when travel restrictions are lifted, etc.).

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism.
Demonstrable experience in the technical area of biodiversity conservation, ecosystem management, sustainable development, or closely related area. Specific experience in Integrated Landscape Management, Sustainable Agriculture, Sustainable Commodity Production, or similar is an asset;
Demonstrable experience with GEF project development, implementation and/or evaluation, including formulation of biodiversity conservation projects with capacity development elements.

Functional Competencies

Able to communicate effectively in writing to a varied and broad audience in a simple and concise manner.
Capable of working in a high- pressure environment with sharp and frequent deadlines, managing many tasks simultaneously;
Excellent analytical and organizational skills;
Exercises the highest level of responsibility and be able to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner.
Works well in a team;
Projects a positive image and is ready to take on a wide range of tasks;
Focuses on results for the client;
Welcomes constructive feedback; and
Fluent English language (both oral and written) and excellent communication and presentation skills, particularly in the preparation of written documents.

Required Skills and Experience

Education and Qualifications (Maximum Evaluation Weight: 70%):

Master’s degree or higher in a relevant field, such as land degradation, nature conservation, natural resource management, sustainable forest management, forest restoration, environmental policy and management, or other related fields (10 Points)
Minimum 10 years of demonstrable experience in the technical area of sustainable land management, sustainable forest management and integrated natural resources management with relevant experience in restoration of community forests in China (15 Points)
Knowledge of and experience in land restoration, sustainable forest management practices, with forest management policies and practices in China (15 Points)
Demonstrated understanding of political, legal and institutional context and priorities for SFM and forest restoration in China (20 Points)
Demonstrated understanding of political, legal and institutional context for forest restoration in China and their implication for effective community involvement (15 Points)
Experience working with UNDP and/or on GEF projects an advantage; and experience working in the China or in Asia-Pacific on related projects highly desired (15 points)
Excellent written and oral communication skills in English, including analytical, writing, advocacy, presentation, and communications skills are required (10 points)

Payment Method:

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, international travel costs, living allowance 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. Payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in instalments or upon completion of the entire contract).

Evaluation Method:

Only those applications which are responsive and compliant will be evaluated. Incomplete applications will not be considered;
Offers will be evaluated according to the Combined Scoring method – where the technical criteria will be weighted at 80% and the financial offer will be weighted at 20%;
The technical criteria (education, experience, language) will be based on a maximum 70 points. Only the top 3 candidates that have achieved a minimum of 50% (40 out of 80 points) points from the review of education, experience and language will be deemed technically compliant and considered for financial evaluation;
Financial score (max 20 points) shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal of those technically qualified;
The financial proposal shall specify an all-inclusive lump sum fee. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal must additionally include a breakdown of this daily fee (including all foreseeable expenses to carry out the assignment); and
Applicant receiving the Highest Combined Score and has accepted UNDP’s General Terms and Conditions will be awarded the contract.

Criteria

Weight

Max. Point

Technical Qualification and Experience

70%

Education

10%

Experience of co-leading a team and preparing UNDP-GEF Project Document

15%

Knowledge of the GEF and UNDP-GEF Policies, Requirements and Procedure

15%

Knowledge and Experience in Sustainable Forest Management, Land Restoration, Landuse Planning, UNCCD, and LDN concept, specifically in Asia and the Pacific.

20 %

Language Requirements

10%

Financial Proposal

30%

Documentation to be submitted:

Applicants must submit a duly completed and signed UNDP Personal History form (P11) and/or CV including Education/Qualification, Professional Certification, Employment Records /Experience;
Applicants must submit a duly completed and signed Annex II Offeror´s letter to UNDP confirming interest and availability for the Individual Contractor (IC) assignment
Applicants must submit a Financial Proposal that indicates the daily rate of consultancy fee and the number of anticipated working days, as per template provided. If an Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.

Links:

UNDP Personal History form (P11) required of all applicants:

www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/Careers/P11_Personal_history_form.doc

General Conditions of Contract for the ICs:

https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=201192

More Information