Service Center Page, Jobs

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

Vacancy Number: Pr20/02113

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	13 Nov 2020, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	19 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 13th 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: 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

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.

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

Scope of work

The main objective of this assignment is to execute a comprehensive 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: 

International Meteorology Consultant will be working in close cooperation with the National Meteorology Consultant to make comprehensive assessment of the meteorological network and provide a recommendation for its improvement. More specifically to:

• Undertake a review and assessment of the existing meteorological observation network according to the existing international requirements and relevant WMO guidelines;
• 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.
• Assess the current budget rationale allocated for the meteorological monitoring based on the data and calculations provided by the State Hydrometeorological Service;
• Guide the national expert on meteorology on the data collection and processing which is require for this assignment;
• Detailed assessment of data availability including transmission, processing and storage on local, national and international levels and provide recommendations on data flows improvement as well as Quality Control and Quality Assurance;
• Assess the modality and quality of meteorological forecasts and warnings and provide the recommendations for their improvement addressing national and international (including WMO) requirements;
• Recommend where appropriate to switch to up-to-date technologies (e.g. remote sensing), artificial intelligence for efficient operational processes;
• Design the requirements for an effective and optimized meteorological monitoring network for improved climate risk management, forecasting, and early warning systems;
• Assess together with the national expert the institutional arrangements for operation and maintenance of the meteorological observation network, and identify limitations such as management, capacity, planning, budget allocations, etc;
• Provide recommendations for improvement of the meteorological network including institutional, administrative and technical components. The recommendations should include situation analysis, assessment, recommendations and a roadmap of required actions;
• Conduct two online workshops to involve a wider range of stakeholders in the assessment of hydrological observation network and validate their visions and recommendations;
• Provide the recommendations for the development of the climate-related services that can be delivered as the result of modernization of the meteorological monitoring.

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

Requirements for experience

Academic Qualification:

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

Experience:

• At least 7 years of progressively working experience in the area of meteorology including EWS;
• Knowledge of the design, installation and maintenance of meteorological operational monitoring equipment including remote sensing and data transmission technologies;
• Proven knowledge on international standards in the field of meteorological monitoring and data quality assurance;
• Knowledge of the country context and/or the region will be asset.

Competencies:

• Ability to work and coordinate teams remotely;
• Excellent facilitation and public presentation skills;
• Excellent and proven analytical and writing skills;
• Experience in the usage of specific data monitoring software and tools.

Language requirements:

• Fluency in English is required for this assignment;
• Knowledge of Romanian or Russian will be considered as an advantage for the candidate.

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 (in applicable) 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.