National Consultant for development of the Terms of Reference for the climate change information and knowledge management portal (NAP-2).

Vacancy Number: Pr21/02307

Location:Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline: 22 Sep 2021, 18:00 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:
28 Sep 2021, 18:00 (GMT+2:00)
Starting date: 27 Sep 2021
Reference to the project: Advancing Moldova's National Climate Change Adaptation Planning Project
Expected Duration of Assignment:September 2021 – November 2021, 30 days
Submission Instructions:

Proposals should be submitted online by pressing the "Apply Online" button, no later than 22 September 2021.

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

Contacts:

Mr. Pavel Gavrilita.

pavel.gavrilita@undp.org


Background

Climate change is already profoundly impacting the conditions for resource availability and agricultural activities. Over the last decade, the country has experienced a large number of extreme events, such as droughts and major floods, along with the cumulative effects caused by increased mean temperature and the uneven distribution of precipitation throughout 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 have also resulted in increased frequencies of high-risk situations. By 2050, an increase of 2–3ºC in the average temperature, an additional 32 days that exceed the current maximum temperature by 10%, and another 12 days with zero precipitation are projected.

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 Republic of Moldova's Government 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 project will contribute to UNDAF, 2018-2022 outcome #3 (The people of Moldova, especially the most vulnerable, benefit from enhanced environmental governance, energy security, sustainable management of natural resources, and climate and disaster-resilient development). Additionally, the project will contribute to the UNDP Country Programme Output 3.3 (National and sub-national governments have improved capacities to integrate resilience to climate change and disasters into development plans and practices to reduce population's vulnerability). Other than that, the project will contribute to the National Development Strategy "Moldova 2030" by ensuring resilience to climate change by reducing risks related to climate change and by facilitating adaptation in six sectors priority - agriculture, water resources, health, forestry, energy, and transport.

The preliminary work under the first cycle of the NAP (known as NAP-1) supported developing a NAP as a process, conceptualizing and developing its elements, including the national steering mechanism, and laid down the groundwork towards long-term adaptation planning. Despite the progress, significant gaps remain in integrating climate change considerations into many of the national priority sectors' development policies and their associated budget priorities. National appropriations for CCA remain limited.

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 efficient use, and ensure a coherent and comprehensive approach to the integration of CCA responses into development planning. In contrast, the second track will focus on adaptation in the agriculture sector and will be concurrently implemented under FAO's auspices.

The National Designated Authority has coordinated with the UNDP and the FAO country offices to ensure the complementarity and congruency of the activities and exchange, as appropriate. By its very nature, the NAP-2 will facilitate the integration of CCA into existing strategies, policies, and programs and establish a strong foundation for the integration of methods, tools, and information systems in day-to-day planning activities to inform decision-makers on the climate risks effectively, and to enable the informed formulation of resilient projects and financing strategies.

As Moldova progresses in its adoption of a holistic approach to adaptation and towards increased integration of CCA considerations into medium- and long-term planning, it must rely on a strong evidence base to strengthen its ability to appraise available adaptation options. There is a need to strengthen the knowledge base for CCA and focus on improving the accessibility and availability of climate-related information through a climate change information and knowledge management portal (CCIKMP). Web-based CCIKMP is planned as the main source of information for all target groups that have interest in CCA domain. It is expected that this resource will be a key resource that will provide data for the Republic of Moldova on historical, future climate; existing and projected vulnerabilities and possible impacts on the level of various sectors (e.g. water, health) and regions (North, South and Center). CCIKMP is seen as a “one stop shop” for climate adaptation related information, tools, data that do exist on the national level, integrate the existing open data from available regionally and globally on climate, trends, vulnerabilities. 

In this context, an international consultant will be contracted to develop a knowledge management framework for sourcing, sharing, and practical application which is consistent with the national CCA authorities' mandates and National Adaptation Planning requirements.

Scope of work

The main objective of the current assignment is to develop the Terms of Reference for the development of the CCIKMP that will be a robust and reliable information platform on climate change. NAP-2 project is currently working on the development of the comprehensive Knowledge Management Strategy and stocktaking of existing data on the national and international level, that will guide the creation of the Terms of Reference for the development of CCIKMP. It is expected that CCIKMP will be the main entry point for all-climate adaptation related information, including data, modelling, publications, useful documents and retrieving the relevant data and information from national and international resources. The specific tasks are listed below:

  • Analyse target audience on CC information, their needs and required information;
  • Incorporate the best practices from the similar web-resources available in the EU and globally;
  • Draft Terms of Reference for the development of the CCIKMP, that will include but not limited to: scope, technical requirements, conceptual architecture of the portal, timeline for the implementation and other aspects according to the national requirements.
  • Identify the possible resources (on the national and international levels) with the support of the project team that can be visualised by the portal;
  • Develop a prototype of the web-portal that will include, but not be limited to: graphics and visual elements; knowledge management systems; registration system and access level;
  • Identify the requirements for the server hosting requirements, daily bandwidth, backup and security requirements;
  • Ensure that the proposed requirements that are stipulated in the Terms of Reference are in line with the national legislation and security standards.

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

Requirements for experience

Academic Qualification:

  • University degree in IT, engineering, or other relevant area.

Experience:

  • At least 7 years of proven experience in IT, or technical advisory services.
  • Proven experience in developing documentation for the soft ware and web-services.
  • Previous experience in designing software products for the governmental bodies in the Republic of Moldova.
  • Demonstrated experience and knowledge in handling web-based management systems and IT tools, web re-design projects, Web information architecture, and tasks management.
  • Previous experience and knowledge in the information systems and data management in the context of climate change, environmental, natural resource management, or other development programmes, will be an advantage.
  • Knowledge on the national legislation in the software development and security standards.

Competencies:

  • Good communication and organizational skills, with demonstrated evidence of capacity to produce and present useful reports.

Language requirements:

  • Fluency in English, Romanian and Russian is 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. Please mention in your CV if you belong to the group(s) under-represented in the UN Moldova and/or assignment area.

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

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

Offeror's Letter confirming Interest and Availability, including financial offer, according to Annex 2;

CV, including information about experience in similar assignments;

Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment.

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) (see Annex 2 of the Offeror’s Letter Confirming Interest and availability attached to this Procurement Notice).  

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.