National Consultant- Expanding the Protected Area System to Incorporate Important Aquatic Ecosystems project, UNDP

Background

World’s largest tract of mangrove, the Sundarbanssupports Asia’s last two remaining species of freshwater dolphins - the Endangered Ganges River Dolphin (Platanista gangetica), and the Vulnerable Irrawaddy Dolphin (Orcaella brevirostris). While these species are generally threatened with extinction across their range, both occur in the Sundarbans in populations large enough for early conservation interventions to be effective in ensuring their long-term survival. In 2012, the Government of Bangladesh declared three Dolphin Protected Areas comprising of six ‘five km channel segments that support especially high densities of these two dolphin species. A few projects have also been implemented in the Sundarbans in the past for the sustainable management of natural resources. In spite of the efforts and the existing legal, policy and institutional arrangements, the Sundarbans’ ecosystems in general and the three protected areas in particular are facing increasing threats due over exploitation and unsustainable method of resource harvest, poaching, unsustainable livelihood, industrial development, maritime traffic, unplanned tourism etc.

In this backdrop UNDP Bangladesh in partnership with Bangladesh Government and with support from GEF is taking up the ‘Expanding the Protected Areas System to Incorporate Important Aquatic Ecosystems’ project to implement some long term solution and removing barriers to strengthen conservation management of the globally significant aquatic biodiversity of the Sundarbans taking into account development imperatives, need for sustaining livelihoods and retrogressive factors including climate change. The immediate objective of the project is to build capacity to effectively manage the existing protected areas established for dolphin conservation and also expand their operational coverage while still meeting the livelihood aspirations of local communities especially the fishers.

Objective:

Develop the Biodiversity Friendly guidelines on Fisheries & Aquaculture for the wildlife Sanctuaries for Dolphin Sanctuaries in Bangladesh Sundarbans

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work:

The necessary Resource Planner is required to trigger the much needed alterations in the management approach to secure the long-term survival of the cetaceans. Broadly, the GEF investment aims at triggering a change in resource governance in the target project area and generate the  global, national and local benefits.

In this line, the contracted expert will work under the guidance of the Project Manager, Expanding the Protected Area System to Incorporate Important Aquatic Ecosystems Project(EPASIIAEP). S/he will submit sectoral guidelines to the Project Manager, EPASIIAEP.

The consultant is expected to developing project site specific Fisheries and Aquaculture Sectoral Guideline aiming at reduction of current unsustainable and destructive use of natural resources especially fisheries resources.

S/He will also lead all discussions with stakeholders and experts, including the conceptualization of the views.

To achieve the stated objectives above, the following indicative activities are anticipated under close coordination and collaboration with the PMU,the Resource Planner/Specialists for developing Fisheries and Aquaculture Sectoral Guideline. S/he will work under overall administrative leadership of UNDP Bangladesh Country Office, and direct supervision of the Project Manager. The National Project Director will act as the advisor. Duties and responsibilities of the Protected Area Management Specialist will include but not limited to:

• Analyze relevant plans, policies, rules, acts and guidelines, and identify gaps and contradictions.
• Recommend specific and realistic biodiversity friendly sectoral guidelines on fisheries and aquaculture.
• Liaise and collaborate with relevant Universities, research institutions, networks, government departments, NGOs, community members and other stakeholders.
• Organize and attend meetings, consultations, workshops, brainstorming sessions as required, and prepare related documents and reports.
• Produce reports and documents as per necessity of the project management.
• Present his/her work and findings in the meeting of project board and/or any other levels, and addressing the relevant feedbacks.
• Contribute to the dissemination of the guidelines and actualization of relevant output.

Deliverables:

1. Inception Report with detailed Work Plan: Work procedure specifying the adopted methodologies, outline key issues to be covered, Work Plan (including meeting, field visit etc.) Annotated table of contents for the final report, Output delivery timeline- 07 working days after signing the contract.
2. Draft Report/Guideline:   Draft Guidelines which covers the main findings of the study-20 working days after submission the Inception Report with detail workplan.
3. Final Report/Guideline: 2 separate Guidelines on Fisheries and Aquaculture Sector for the important ecosystem of  Sundarbans supporting globally threatened cetacean species- 33 working days after submission of draft report.

TIME FRAME AND DEADLINES:

SL no	Tasks	Time Required
01	Collect, collate and synthesize necessary information and data from suitable and authentic sources. Study & Analyze relevant plans, policies, rules, acts and guidelines, and identify gaps and contradictions. Provide specific and detail procedure for the preparation of the guidelines.	20
02	Liaise, collaborate with relevant Universities, research institutions, networks, government departments, NGOs and community members. and organize meetings, consultations, workshops, brainstorming sessions as required.	15
04	Produce separate draft Sectoral Guideline one  on Fisheries & another one on Aquaculture incorporating all facts & findinds with recommnedations and include other suggestions from UNDP & National Project Director(NPD) after submission	15
05	Submit final guidelines on fisheries and aquaculture for the sustainable resource use of fisheries and aquaculture for the wildlife sanctuaries of Sundarban to support aquatic biodiversity conservation.	10

INPUTS:  

• Consultant  needs to organize 5  consultation and validation meetings at stakeholder levels (including one in Dhaka and other one at Khulna/Bagerhat/Mongla Project Site with 20 -30 participants/researcher/stakeholder per meeting ).
• The Consultants will also attend a numbers of sharing/coordination meeting in the Project Office and UNDP Country Office..

Supervision and Performance Evaluation: 

The consultant will report directly to the Project Manager (PM), Expanding the Protected Area System to Incorporate Impotant Aquatic Ecosystems Project (EPASIIAEP). The Individual Consultant will work closely with the PMU, in particular the PM, with technical guidance from the Programme Specialist, UNDP Bangladesh.

Timeframe and Deadline:

The duration of contract will be expected to last for 6 months with a maximum of 60 working days.

Tentative payment schedule:

• 1st Payment (20% of the total contract value) will be paid after the submission and acceptance of the Inception report with detail workplan.
• 2nd Payment (50% of the total contract value) will be paid after the submission and acceptance of Draft report
• Final Payment (30% of the total contract value) will be paid after the submission and acceptance of Final report

 Duty Station

The duty station will be Khulna and Dhaka.

Competencies

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills;
• Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities skills;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Ability to plan, organize, implement and report on work;
• Ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines;
• Comprehensiveness knowledge of Cetacean biology, social attributes, global development
• concerns and climate change;
• Proficiency in the use of office IT applications and internet in conducting research;
• Excellent presentation and facilitation skills.
• Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
• Positive, constructive attitude to work;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic qualifications:

• Minimum Masters  in the field public policy, development studies, social science, fishery, biology, ecology  or any closely related field.

Experience:

• At least 7 years of research experience in the relevant field of sundarbans and other mangrove forests.
• Excellent understanding of freshwater wetland ecosystem with  publications on wetland ecology/fisheries biology/fisheries ecosystems,
• Working experience with the government, NGOs, CSOs, local communities and in participatory approaches;
• Experience of work in the relevant field of Biodiversity, fisheries, forest, Sundarbans
• Research in wetland ecosystems preferably Sundarbans and adjacent area in forest or environment sector

Language:

• Fluency of English language is required.

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 travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days).

In-country travel (if required) will be met by UNDP and DSA will be paid as per UNDP policy. If unforeseen travel outside the Duty Station not required by the Terms of Reference, is requested by UNDP, and upon prior written agreement, such travel be at the UNDP’s expense and the Individual Contractor shall receive a per diem not to exceed United Nations daily subsistence allowance rate in such other location(s).

Evaluation of the Candidates:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology.

Cumulative analysis-

The award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant up on Cumulative Analysis/evaluation and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation;

Only candidates obtaining a minimum 70% mark in technical evaluation will be considered eligible for financial evaluation.

Technical Evaluation Criteria (Total 70 marks):

1. Relevant Educational Qualification – 10 marks
2. Experience of work in the relevant field of Biodiversity, Fisheries, Forest and Environment - 25 marks
3. Research in wetland ecosystems preferably Sundarbans & adjacent area in forest or environment sector- 25 marks
4. Working Experience with UN/Donors/GoB- 10 marks

Financial Evaluation (Total 30 marks)

All technical qualified proposals will be scored out 30 based on the formula provided below.

The maximum points (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal. All other proposals received points according to the following formula:

p = y (µ/z)

Where:

• p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated;
• y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal;
• µ = price of the lowest priced proposal;
• z = price of the proposal being evaluated.

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Proposers who shall not submit below mentioned documents will not be considered for further evaluation.

• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references; P11 can be downloaded from the link below: http://www.bd.undp.org/content/bangladesh/en/home/operations/jobs/
• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment . A brief description of the assignment, detail break-down of the Work Plan and Methodology to carry out and complete the assignment.
• Financial Proposal: Financial Proposal has to be submitted through a standard interest and availability template which can be downloaded from the link below:

http://www.bd.undp.org/content/dam/bangladesh/docs/Jobs/Interest%20and%20Submission%20of%20Financial%20Proposal-Template%20for%20Confirmation.docx

Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.