Chief Technical Advisor (CTA) (Reducing the Risk of Climate-Driven Disasters in Georgia)

In early 2019, UNDP has launched a 7-year program on Reducing the Risk of Climate-Driven Disasters in Georgia. The program is implemented by UNDP and MEPA with funding from the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the Government of Georgia and the Swiss and Swedish development agencies.

The program encompasses three interrelated projects: GCF funded “Scaling-up Multi-Hazard Early Warning System and the Use of Climate Information in Georgia”, SDC funded “Strengthening the Climate Adaptation Capacities in Georgia” and SIDA funded “Improved Resilience of Communities to Climate Risks”.

An overall objective of the program is to reduce exposure of Georgia’s communities, livelihoods and infrastructure to climate-induced natural hazards through a well-functioning nation-wide multi-hazard early warning system and risk-informed local action. The programme aims to reduce the risk of seven hazards: floods, landslides, mudflows, avalanches, hailstorms, windstorms and droughts in 11 major river basins of Georgia, providing direct protection to more than 1.7 million people and assist the country in building a climate-proof future.

Specifically, GCF project will provide critical climate risk information that would enable the Government of Georgia to implement a number of nation-wide transformative policies and actions for reducing exposure and vulnerability of the population to climate-induced hazards. The project will thus catalyze a paradigm shift in the national climate risk management, climate-proofed disaster risk reduction and early warning approaches. The project innovation and transformative change will also include (a) participatory “Last Mile” communication solutions tailored to the needs of local communities, including CBEWSs; (b) increasing implementation capacities for carrying out cost-effective risk reduction and community resilience measures through such innovative approaches as watershed/floodplain restoration, agroforestry, etc., and combination of structural and non-structural protection measures aimed at reducing exposure and increasing effectiveness of the early warning; (c) combining best available science and local knowledge for vulnerability assessment, hazard and risk mapping, disaster modelling and forecasting; (d) (e) carrying out a comprehensive community, municipal and national-wide awareness raising, education and capacity development activities on multi-hazard risk reduction, including preparedness, response and EWSs. Furthermore, the project will benefit from SDC funded project to be implemented by UNDP in parallel with the project with major objective of developing the nation-wide hazard and risk mapping. More specifically, the project will assist national government in developing capacities and regulatory/legal frameworks for multi-hazard mapping and risk assessment and contribute to establishment of effective multi-hazard early warning, through: 1. Development of unified multi-hazard mapping and risk assessment methodology; 2. Setting up institutional and regulatory frameworks for hazard and risk assessments, 3. Nation-wide multi-hazard mapping and risk assessment with relevant capacity building and 4. Enhancing municipal capacities for multi-hazard risk informed preparedness and response planning. In addition, as a complementary measure to the GCF/SDC interventions, SIDA will improve resilience of communities through implementing community-based EWS and priority risk reduction actions.

The Chief Technical Advisor (CTA) will be responsible for providing overall technical backstopping to the Projects funded by GCF, SDC and SIDA. He/She will render technical support to the National Project managers, project staff, Program Steering Committee and government counterparts. The Chief Technical Advisor will work under the overall guidance of and direct supervision from Environment and Energy Team Leader of the UNDP CO. However, on a daily basis the CTA will work closely with the national Project Managers of respective three inter-related projects and Regional Technical Adviser (RTA), as needed.

With support of the National Project managers, the CTA will ensure all necessary advisory support in order to smoothly implement the Program and also provide guidance on the implementation of the Projects’ activities as well as for the parallel co-financing initiatives.

The Chief Technical Advisor (CTA) will provide the following services:

• Provide technical overview, guidance and leadership for all technical aspects of the program and ensure technical activities align with project strategic objectives;
• Provide advice/inputs to the project team for preparing of annual work plans, procurement plans, major project revisions, resource planning, identifying project risks/lessons learned and elaborating relevant mitigation measures;
• Provide necessary guidance/advice to project staff, experts and national partners, assist in resolution of technical issues/problems and ensure technical tasks among experts are coordinated;
• Act as interface between project management, technical team and key stakeholders;
• Develop Technical Notes and other guidance documents for specific activities;
• Assume quality control of interventions, ensure the correct sequencing of tasks from a technical perspective, and establish/ensure technical standards are applied; assist in the resolution of technical problems, as needed;
• Support the PMU staff in the coordination of the implementation of planned activities under the program as stipulated in the project documents/work plans;
• In collaboration with the project managers develop semi-annual, annual progress and terminal reports, including specific donors reports, as required;
• Ensure that technical contracts meet the highest standards – provide input into development of Terms of Reference for sub-contracts, assist with the selection process, recommend best approaches, provide technical peer function to sub-contractors; provide training and backstopping where necessary;
• Coordinate technical tasks among international and national experts and provide quality assurance and clearance of the deliverables submitted by the technical contractors (individual contract holders, companies, national institutions);
• Assist the Project Managers/team leaders, M&E Officer in monitoring of project indicators and targets against Results and Resources Framework (RRF) and adjusting it, as required and in line with corporate requirements;
• Participate/provide input for relevant meetings / workshops related to the program implementation, including provide necessary advice to the UNDP Country Office / Environment and Energy Team Leader, National Program Director and relevant government counterparts on project related issues and in strategic areas of CCA/CRM, MHEWS, etc.;
• Contribute to mid-term and terminal evaluation of the projects;
• Assist the program in learning and knowledge management;
• Participate in semi-annual Program Steering Committee meetings (online or in person);
• Document lessons from projects implementation and make recommendations to the Program Steering Committee, as relevant, for more effective implementation and coordination of project activities.

Deliverables: 

CTA should provide the following reports according to the UNDP format:

• Develop Technical Note for the overall assignment with Methodological Guidelines and Resource Plan- to be submitted by March 31, 2020.  
• Prepare a plan for implementation of the assignment  on annual basis as per Projects’ Annual work plan (AWP) describing the scope of work and timeframes of the CTA (for GCF, SDC and SIDA projects)– to be submitted in the beginning of each calendar year. The plan, for 2020 is expected to be prepared by April 16, 2020.
• Quarterly progress reports on the accomplished tasks in-line with the approved project work plans- to be submitted quarterly.  
• Mission report developed after each mission with description of mission achievements/tasks and next steps/follow-up actions – to be submitted within 14 days after mission completed;
• Annual report on tasks accomplished in line with the respective years’ CTA’s implementation Plan, including lessons learned, challenges and recommendations, to be submitted at the end of each year.

Payments will be authorized and processed based on timesheets and/or successfully submitted deliverables as applicable.

Duration of the assignment:

The consultancy is expected to allocate up to 620 working days (with estimated average of input: up to 73% input in GCF, 13% in SDC and 14% in SIDA), that will be distributed throughout the project duration with the following schedule:

• 130 days allocated for the March-Dec 2020 (out of which 90 days from GCF, 20 days for SDC, 20 days from SIDA)
• 164 days for the year 2021, (120 days -GCF, 20 – SDC, 24-SIDA)
• 124 days for the year 2022, (80 days -GCF, 20 – SDC, 24-SIDA)
• 102 days for the year 2023, (60 days -GCF, 20 – SDC, 22-SIDA)
• 60 days for the year 2024, (60 days -GCF)
• 40 days for the year 2025, (40 days -GCF)

CTA will allocate up to 25 missions with max. 150 days to Georgia from 1 March 2020 – to 30 November 2025. 

Payment modality:

The CTA will be paid the consultancy fee based on the actual days worked, upon submission of completed and signed timesheets and/or successfully submitted deliverables as applicable, cleared by the UNDP Georgia.

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling 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

Functional Competencies:

• Good knowledge of the technical area;
• Excellent report writing skills;
• Actively generates creative, practical approaches and solutions to overcome challenging situations;
• Ability to work effectively within strict timeframe;
• Proven networking, teambuilding, organizational and communication skills.

Education:

• MSc in Environmental Science, Hydrology or Hydrometeorology (minimum qualification requirement: relevant Master’s degree – 8 points, PhD – additional 3 points).

Experience:

• At least 10 years of professional experience at international level in the fields of Climate Risk Management (CRM) and Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) (minimum qualification requirement: 10 years of relevant expereince – 8 points; more than 10 years – additional 3 points)
• At least 8 years of professional experience in Climatology, Hydrology, Meteorology, EWS (minimum qualification requirement: 8 years of relevent experience – 10 points)
• At least 12 years of experience in technical leadership of team of national and international experts in carrying out technical studies (minimum qualification requirement: 12 years of relevenat expereince – 9 points)
• At least 5 years of experience in GCF, AF or GEF funded project development and implementation is an asset (3 points)
• Proven record of writing (lead author) of technical guidance notes, feasibility studies and/or technical methodologies in the CCA/CRM is an asset (3 points)
• Experience of similar technical advisory work for Georgia or in former USSR countries is an asset (3 points).

Language Requirements:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English. 

Evaluation:

Offerors will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis method, against combination of technical and financial criteria. Maximum total obtainable score is 100, out of which the total score for technical criteria (desk review – 50 points and interview – 20 points) equals to 70 and for financial criteria – to 30.  Offerors that do not meet any of the minimum qualification requirements will be automatically rejected, while the rest will form up the long list. Technical evaluation will comprise of desk review and interview stages. Offerors who pass 70% threshold (i.e. obtain minimum 35 points) as a result of the desk review, will form up short list and be invited to the interview. Offerors passing 70% threshold as a result of the interview (i.e. obtain minimum of 14 points) will be recommended for financial evaluation. 

Financial Proposal:

Financial proposal should include all assignment-related costs, such as consultancy fees, travel, etc. that will formulate the total amount of the Contract. Financial proposal should include clear breakdown of the mentioned costs, with indication of the total amount at the end.