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National Consultant in Meteorology to support strengthening and expansion of service delivery based on the WMO Strategy for Service Delivery.

Vacancy Number: Pr20/02112

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	06 Nov 2020, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	12 Nov 2020, 12:00 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	12 Nov 2020, 12:00 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	16 Nov 2020
Reference to the project:	Advancing Moldova's National Climate Change Adaptation Planning Project
Expected Duration of Assignment:	November 2020 – May 2021, 25 working days
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted online by pressing the "Apply Online" button, no later than 6th of November 2020. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: pavel.gavrilita@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: Terms of Reference Procurement Notice OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP CONFIRMING INTEREST AND AVAILABILITY FOR THE INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTOR (IC) ASSIGNMENT UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Mr. Pavel Gavrilita.

Background

Climate change is already profoundly impacting the conditions for resource availability and agricultural activities. Over the last decade, the country has experienced a number of extreme events, such as droughts and major floods, along with the incremental effects caused by increased mean temperature, and the uneven distribution of precipitation through the year, which have had negative consequences on the country’s economy, and its population wellbeing and health. Severe droughts are recurring more frequently causing significant economic losses. The increasing scope and intensity of extreme events has also resulted in increased frequencies of high-risk situations.

The Government sees the National Adaptation Planning (NAP) process as key to achieving the adaptation objectives outlined in its 2014 Climate Change Adaptation Strategy of the Republic of Moldova, and its 2020 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), as well as the continued mainstreaming of climate change considerations into its policies and budgeting processes. The proposed project supports the Government of the Republic of Moldova in advancing the second cycle of its National Adaptation Planning process (known as NAP-2). The outcomes of the NAP- 2 national adaptation planning processes, are:

• Outcome 1: To strengthen and operationalize the national steering mechanism for climate change adaptation (CCA);
• Outcome 2: To improve the long-term capacity on planning and implementation of adaptation actions through CCA technologies;
• Outcome 3: To improve the mainstreaming of climate change adaptation through the increased alignment of national development priorities, in the priority sectors (forestry, health, energy and transport).

The NAP-2 goals will be achieved within two parallel implementation tracks. The first track implemented by UNDP expands and deepens the national approach developed under the NAP-1 and strengthens synergies both vertically, at different levels of the governance, and horizontally, between the sectors affected by climate change to reduce duplication of efforts, pool scarce resources for effective use, and ensure a coherent and comprehensive approach to the integration of CCA responses into development planning, while the second track will focus on adaptation in the agriculture sector and will be concurrently implemented under the auspices of FAO.

Scope of work

The main objective of this assignment is to support the international expert to review of existing meteorological observation network in the Republic of Moldova, assess its main functions and operational modality, the gaps and barriers and provide recommendations for improved climate-related services.

Summary of key functions: 

National Meteorology Consultant will be guided by the International Meteorology Consultant to make comprehensive assessment of the Meteorological network and provide recommendations for its improvement. More specifically to:

• Support the International Meteorology Consultant (IMC) in undertaking a review and assessment of the existing meteorological observation network according to the existing international requirements and relevant WMO guidelines;
• Together with IMC review the coverage, physical conditions and rationale of the meteorological observation locations. Spatial locations, existing equipment, data flows should be addressed at the highest level of detail;
• Together with IMC assess the rationale of the current budget allocation for the meteorological monitoring based on the data and calculations provided by the State Hydrometeorological Service;
• Collect information on data transmission, processing and storage on local, national and international levels as well as modality and quality of meteorological forecasts and warnings;
• Provide suggestions on optimization of meteorological monitoring network for improved climate risk management, forecasting, and early warning;
• Visits existing meteorological observation points if required by IMC;
• Assess together with the IMC the institutional arrangements for operation and maintenance of the meteorological observation network, and identify limitations such as management, capacity, planning, budget allocations, etc;
• Support organization of two online workshops that should involve a wider range of stakeholders in the assessment of meteorological observation network and validate their visions and recommendations.

For detailed information, please refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference.

Requirements for experience

Academic Qualification:

• University degree in Meteorology, Environmental Engineering or other relevant area.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of progressively working experience in the area of meteorology;
• Proven knowledge of operating principles of meteorological stations, meteorological forecast;
• Proven knowledge of meteorological monitoring and data quality assurance;
• Proven experience in conducting comprehensive assessments and writing reports;

Competencies:

• Ability to work remotely;
• Excellent facilitation and public presentation skills;
• Excellent and proven analytical and writing skills;

Language requirements:

• Proficiency in written and spoken English, Romanian and Russian are required for this assignment.

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

UNDP Moldova is committed to workforce diversity. Women, persons with disabilities, Roma and other ethnic or religious minorities, persons living with HIV, as well as refugees and other non-citizens legally entitled to work in the Republic of Moldova, are particularly encouraged to apply.

Documents to be included

Applicants shall submit the following required documents:

• CV, including information about past experience in similar assignments and contact details for at least 3 referees;
• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
• Offeror's Letter confirming Interest and Availability with financial proposal (in USD, specifying the total lump sum amount). Financial proposal template prepared in compliance with the template in Annex 2.

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

If an applicant 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 applicant must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.

Financial proposal

Lump sum contracts

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).  

Travel

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This 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.