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National Consultant for the implementation of Component 2 “Communitylevel climate and disaster management capacities improved for disaster risk reduction, prevention and timely response” .

Vacancy Number: Pr19/01933

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	05 Dec 2019, 15:00 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	12 Dec 2019, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	10 Dec 2019
Reference to the project:	Promotion of climate change and disaster risk reduction solution in the water and civil protection sectors for enhanced rural resilience
Expected Duration of Assignment:	December 2019 - November 2021
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted by email, no later than 5 December 2019. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: cristina.cotofana@undp.org. UNDP will respond 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 applicants.
Supporting Documents: Individual Consultant Procurement Notice Terms of Reference OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP CONFIRMING INTEREST AND AVAILABILITY FOR THE INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTOR (IC) ASSIGNMENT UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Background

Considering its economic structure and geographic features, Moldova is highly vulnerable to climate change and is exposed to disasters due to hydrometeorological phenomena and natural hazards.  While drought and floods are among top hydro-meteorological hazards caused by extreme weather and climate events, due to the current and projected abnormal high temperatures leading to water scarcity, the incidence of forest fires is increasingly posing a threat to natural ecosystems, the agricultural system and human settlements.

Such high exposure is due to the country’s dependence on rain-fed agricultural production which is tied to climate, making it the most vulnerable of all economic sectors. This is primarily due to the shortage of water for agricultural needs and limited resources and capacities to plan and put in place water storage facilities for irrigation needs in rural communities of Moldova, especially, since climate projections show larger rainfall events in the future, which could supply such facilities.

Climate scenarios also indicate the country is strongly trending towards becoming more arid. Unfortunately, rural communities experience a capacity deficit in terms of fire prevention, preparedness and timely response, mainly due to the liquidation of over 400 equipped and capacitated firefighting units. It resulted in increased response time and lower awareness of fire risks by the rural population, subsequently leading to considerable increase in loss of life, property and affected ecosystems. It is widely accepted that rural women are disproportionately affected by fires due to them being mostly engaged in cooking in unsafe cook stoves and collection of firewood in ecosystems that might be at high risk of fires.

Against this background, the project aims to increase resilience and adaptive capacities of rural communities to climate change and disasters through improved water storage infrastructures and disasters risk reduction measures. The project is supporting implementation of climate-smart water management solutions for agriculture, flood management, fire prevention and expansion of community-based rescue/firefighting teams in rural communities of Moldova with the purpose of reducing the exposure and vulnerability of the rural communities to climate change and disaster risks. The project will be implemented over a period of 36 months and the activities are clustered around 2 major outputs intended to produce impact in 5 districts of Moldova, in the Central (Hincesti, Criuleni and Ungheni districts) and Southern (Leova and Cantemir) regions.

Scope of work

The Consultant will provide an overall technical backstopping and advisory support to the project team in implementation of the second component of the CCDRR Project. More specifically the consultant will: (1) liaise with the Local Public Authorities from 5 pilot communities where new rescue and firefighting stations will be established to select the most suitable premises from the economic and social point of view; (2) together with the civil engineer identify the refurbishing needs of the allocated premises and mobilize financial resources from the LPAs and other donors, if required; (3) together with the project team supervise and monitor the refurbishing works for the effective and efficient use of funds; (4) together with the international team of consultants deployed by the project, review the rescue&firefighting-related legislation to advise and provide recommendations for  its improvement and to create a proper enabling environment for the community-based firefighting system in Moldova; (5) support in smooth operationalization of the newly established community-based rescue and firefighting teams.

Requirements for experience

Academic Qualifications:

• University degree in disciplines connected to disaster risk management, firefighting and civil protection.
• Additional trainings in disaster risk management will be considered an advantage.

Experience and knowledge:

• At least 10 years of experience in disaster risk management, firefighting and civil protection.
• At least 5 years of experience working with, or within, national institutions mandated with preventing disasters and implementing disaster risk reduction measures.
• Previous experience with analytical assignments.
• Good knowledge of local legislation on disaster prevention and management as well as firefighting and rescue interventions.

Competencies:

• Excellent written communication skills, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesize project outputs and relevant findings for the preparation of analytical documents.
• Capacity to build strong relationships with beneficiaries, to focus on impact and result and to respond positively to feedback.

Personal qualities:

• Proven commitment to the core values of the United Nations, in particular, for differences of culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, language, age, HIV status, disability, and sexual orientation, or other status.

Documents to be included

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

      1. Proposal:

• Providing a brief information on each of the above qualifications, item by item and a brief methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work (if applicable).

2. Financial proposal (in USD), specifying a fee per day and total requested amount including all related costs, e.g. fees, per diems, phone calls etc.
3. Up-to-date CV with at least 3 names for a reference check.
4. Offeror’s letter to UNDP confirming interest and availability for the individual contractor (IC) assignment.

Financial proposal

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR.  In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including fees, taxes, travel costs, accommodation costs, communication, and number of anticipated working days).