International Finance Management Specialist.

Background

Current land management practices in Lebanon are not sustainable as they continue to erode the country’s natural resource base (soil, water, green cover, and landscape). While traditional practices such as terracing, controlled grazing and forest management have helped protect the land, modern practices have significantly altered the natural and social make-up of the land including perceptions of natural resources. Population growth, the continued loss of arable land and biodiversity, concerns about food security and the expanding infrastructure due to population growth and urban sprawl are major factors impacting land resources and the natural environment. Land degradation has been flagged as a serious environmental problem in Lebanon, resulting in losses estimated at US$132 million yearly. This is bound to be an underestimate due to the incomplete data, and damages and associated costs of environmental degradation are certainly higher. Unsustainable growth is having a heavy toll on Lebanon’s naturalresources with losses in forest cover, biodiversity and natural ecosystems, degradation of rangeland and desertification.UNDP Lebanon in partnership with the Ministry of Environment is preparing a project proposal to be submitted to the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) which aims to work towards land degradation neutrality – restoring degraded land and preventing new degradation. The project plan is to survey and identify degraded land in mountain lands and high country environments of the North Lebanon and Mount Lebanon governorates and analyze the losses associated with this degradation in terms of lost agricultural productivity, deforestation and other loss of vegetation, loss of biodiversity habitats, reduction in environmental quality for ecotourism and outdoor recreation, reduced ecosystem services and ultimately unsustainable land use and impacts on society and communities. The project will assess why the baseline scenario is not working as it should and seek technical and institutional remedies which will be applied at a pilot scale to real-life impacts and problems.

Duties and Responsibilities

This consultancy is one of a number being set up by UNDP to elaborate the project document. The Objective of this consultancy is to support in assessing financial mechanisms that can be used to improve land management practices and that can be further elaborated during project implementation.

For additional information, please refer to ANNEX I – Terms of Reference

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to function successfully as a member of a multi-disciplinary team, contributing from area of expertise and cooperating on common activities.
• Ability to accept responsibility for area of specialization and take initiatives without supervision, but with the judgment of knowing when to ask for advice.
• Excellent English writing and speaking skills.
• Access to efficient electronic communication.

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;
• Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Kindly refer to the Individual Consultant Procurement Notice and all related Annexes by visiting the below link:

http://www.lb.undp.org/content/lebanon/en/home/operations/procurement/

Please make sure to submit all the requested documents/information; otherwise, your application will be considered incomplete

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

• Graduate degree in finance, economics, environmental economics or related field.

Years of experience:

• At least 7 years of relevant work experience in sustainable financial mechanisms, environmental financing, economics of natural resource management, setting up innovative mechanisms for national financing or proven experience in similar areas of work.

Technical experience:

• Demonstrated adequate technical experience and know-how to undertake the necessary analytical work needed to identify financing mechanisms.
• Adequate knowledge and/or experience of land management issues and the protected areas system, and related financial issues.
• Familiarity with UNDP, its rules and regulations and its operational procedures is an asset.
• Experience with GEF project design, implementation or evaluation is an asset.

How to Apply:

1. Read the additional information and annexes on teh UNDP lebanon website at http://www.lb.undp.org/content/lebanon/en/home/operations/procurement/

2. The consultancy is open for all international consultants who meet the selection criteria and propose a competitive fee. Interested consultants are requested to apply only through this UNDP jobs portal.

Submissions through any other media will not be considered.

The application must include the P11, technical proposal, Annex 3 (Offerors Letter) and the financial proposal in one single document and uploaded as word or PDF file to the UNDP job site.

Incomplete applications will not be considered.