Senior Water Expert - GCF Readiness and Preparatory Support project
The senior water sector consultant is required to provide technical support for the development of funding project proposals and preparation of priority Project Concept Notes in the water sector which are fully consistent with the Country Programme. The assignment includes various technical supports to be provided to upgrade the accreditation level of MoF/NIE.
Introduction:
Based in Seoul, The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) is an intergovernmental organization founded to support and promote a model of economic growth known as "green growth", which targets key aspects of economic performance such a poverty reduction, job creation, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability. GGGI works with countries around the world, building their capacity and working collaboratively on green growth policies that can impact the lives of millions. The organization partners with countries, multilateral institutions, government bodies, and private sector to help build economies that grow strongly and are more efficient and sustainable in the use of natural resources, less carbon intensive, and more resilient to climate change.
GGGI supports stakeholders through complementary and integrated workstreams – Green Growth Planning & Implementation and Knowledge Solutions – that deliver comprehensive products designed to assist in developing, financing, and mainstreaming green growth in national economic development plans.
Green Growth Planning and Implementation (GGP&I) is the in-country delivery mechanism for GGGI. It supports partner countries to achieve development priorities through evidence based green growth planning and implementation.
Objectives/Purpose of the Assignment:
Objective
The overall objective of the task is to provide technical support for the development of funding project proposals and preparation of priority Project Concept Notes in the water sector which are fully consistent with the Country Programme. The assignment includes various technical supports to be provided to upgrade the accreditation level of MoF/NIE.
Background
The Government of Ethiopia has fully recognized the need to urgently manage climate change challenges and made a policy decision to pursue climate resilient and green growth pathways. This is articulated in the Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy of the country. As reflected in the Climate Resilient Green Economy (CRGE) strategy, and further committed in the Ethiopia’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), the country aims to reduce 64% of the annual emissions by 2030 compared to the emission of business as usual (BAU) pathways. This means Ethiopia’s emission will be 150Mt CO2e rather than 400 Mt of CO2e estimated under the BAU development pathways. The strategy estimates that Ethiopia should invest $150 billion between 2011 and 2030 to achieve green growth objectives and an additional billion to achieve sectoral climate resilience objectives, notwithstanding the co-benefits of the two goals.
Ethiopia has been implementing the CRGE strategy since 2011 and integrated it into the second Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP-II) (2015/16-2019/20). This ensures that the CRGE is part of a comprehensive national plan and not a standalone initiative. In this regard, substantial public investments are being made to support CRGE interventions. Additionally, legal and institutional reforms necessary to create an enabling environment for private sector and community engagement in CRGE action are underway. It is also recognized that a considerable amount of investment in CRGE is being delivered through community mobilization and non-state actors.
Water resources are considered among the natural resources most vulnerable to the impacts of Climate change. Ethiopia has vast water resource base that could be utilized to support food security and poverty reduction efforts. The Ministry of Water, Irrigation and Energy (MoWIE) has introduced policies, legislation and strategies such as National Water Resource Management Policy, Water Sector Strategy, Water Sector Development Programme, Water and Sanitation Access Plan (UAP). In an effort of addressing the challenges in the Water Sanitation and Hygiene sector the Government of Ethiopia initiated and supported the establishment of the ONE WASH National Programme, functional since 2013. The One WASH National Programme (OWNP) is a sector wide approach established with the broad objectives of achieving universal access to water, sanitation and hygiene services to all people in Ethiopia following the promulgation of official policies, strategies and development plans. It has four components: Rural and Pastoral WASH; Urban WASH; Institutional WASH; and Program Management and Capacity Building. The OWNP was designed to be implemented in two phases; Phase I from July 2013 to June 2015 and Phase II from July 2016 to June 2020. Phase II of the program is designed to address some of the issues that were not captured in the first phase such as climate resilient WASH. Moreover, the second phase of the WASH program is aligned with the GTP II targets of the water sector.
The GTP II targets for water supply are 85 per cent and 75 per cent for rural and urban areas, respectively. GTP II consist of four strategic objectives including: increasing safe water supply, upgrading the service level, and improving urban waste-water management systems; ensuring good governance in rural water supply by enhancing sustainability, effectiveness, efficiency; increasing climate change resilience of the services; and building the sub-sectors’ capacity. The second phase of the OWNP is more climate focused as it has realized the need to mainstream climate resilience across all OWNP interventions, in particular the water supply infrastructures, which are the most vulnerable to climatic extremes. The three components of the climate resilient WASH program are Water resources mapping, planning and monitoring; climate resilient solutions and emergency preparedness, early response and recovery. These components are expected to benefit from increased levels of financing, as well as strategies for identifying innovative financial instruments such as climate finance.
The Green Climate Fund was established by Parties to the UNFCCC at its meeting in Cancun in December 2010, and formally launched in 2011 when the Governing Instrument of the GCF was adopted and approved. The GCF is set to become a main international financial institution for the delivery of climate finance in support of mitigation and adaptation activities in developing countries. The GCF is governed and supervised by a Board that has full responsibility for funding decisions. The GCF supports projects, programmes, policies and other activities in all developing countries that are parties to the UNFCCC.
Funding through the GCF includes readiness program supports, which provides resources for strengthening the institutional capacities of NDAs or focal points and Direct Access Entities to efficiently engage with the Fund. The GGGI as delivery partner has accessed a GCF readiness support to build the institutional capacity of MoF. The institutional capacity building support through the readiness program includes development and submission of funding project proposal through the Enhanced Direct Access (EDA) window of the GCF and developing and submitting project concept notes for Project Preparation Facility (PPF). This consultancy assignment is aimed at recruiting a senior water sector consultant who provides technical support for the preparation of EDA funding proposal and the full preparation and submission of project concept notes for PPF.
Scope of work:
The consultant is expected to provide high quality international standard service and observe all international and national norms and principles in the discharge of this assignment. It is also expected to demonstrate highest professional competencies, use best industry practice methods; keep update of CRGE Facility and GGGI and conduct the assignment as per the terms and conditions agreed in the work plan.
Thematically this assignment is exclusively within the water sector and it specifically falls within the One Wash National Program. The consultant may consider concept notes that strengthen Climate Resilient WASH Systems through the development of reliable sources of water; use of modern, cost-effective techniques; modern technologies for reuse and capture of water; Water provision for human and livestock consumption; Rural water utilities; Capacity building; Supporting implementation and identified key actions for successful realization of water supply systems including, but not limited to:
- creating enabling environment;
- maximizing availability and
- efficient use of human and financial resources to create demand for enhanced WASH services; capacity development for improved delivery of WASH services at all levels; increasing resilience and ultimately reducing emergency spending and more sustainable progress.
- This task requires thorough understanding of the national policies, strategies and programs in order to develop relevant funding proposal and concept note. In that regard, the consultant should establish very close contact with the relevant sector ministries (MOWIE) and other stakeholders engaged in the water sector. Tailored discussions and consultations with CSOs and the private sector are also very important to prepare relevant project concept notes for a submission to the GCF PPF.
The consultant is also expected to closely work with NIE/MoF and the Executing Entity (i.e. MOWIE) to ensure adequate technical support is provided, which should be guided by a designed capacity gap assessment.
Output/Reporting Requirements/Deliverables:
Under the overall supervision of the DAE, NDA, DP (GGGI) and the Project Lead, water sector consultant will be responsible for the following key areas:
- Develop funding proposal in the water sector to the EDA window of GCF;
- Prepare project concept notes in the water sector for PPF;
- Provide all-round technical capacity building support for the NIE and the Executing Entity.
Specifically, the consultant will have the following duties and responsibilities:
- Review institutional capacity of Executing Entity and the NIE pertaining to handling of EDA modalities and provide need-based capacity support and recommend future action areas;
- Based on consultations with the CRGE facility and MOWIE identify areas where a program of EDA could be used in the water sector;
- Facilitate selection of the best suitable area within the water sector for program development in light of GCF requirements;
- Support the development of water sector-based EDA program;
- Facilitate and support the submission of water sector-based EDA funding proposal to the GCF;
- Organize series of consultations with key stakeholders to identify strategic investment priorities, taking stock of existing strategies, policies, and needs assessments, including NDC’s, low emission development strategies, nationally appropriate mitigation actions, national adaptation plans and national adaptation programs of action.
- Prepare project concept notes (PCN’s) based on identified strategic priority areas within the context of country programs and other strategic climate related national programs and in accordance with the requirements of GCF (including project description; financing; expected sustainability performance; GCF involvement rationale; risks analysis; stakeholders; ESS and; gender considerations);
- Establish platform and support stakeholders to promote the request for project concept notes (to ensure best-quality submissions in line with the country program) and submit quality concept notes;
- Support and facilitate submission of the project concept notes to GCF PPF for support;
- Document lessons learned over the process of concept note development to develop tools, methods and templates to scale up successful PCN models through programmatic approaches;
- Support the preparation and execution of capacity building training workshops;
- Provide continuous support to NIE and the Executing Entity in providing responses to appraisal feedback from the GCF Secretariat, ITAP and the GCF Board for relevant submissions and processes;
- Support the review and strengthening of the NIE monitoring and oversight tools for GCF funding; and
- Support the planning and execution of workshops and customized trainings focused on strengthening NIE monitoring and evaluation frameworks, for NIE staff, staff of executing ministries and additional stakeholders on building and strengthening Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting frameworks;
The water sector consultant is expected to deliver the following:
- Need based capacity building support;
- Mapping report of EDA opportunities within the water sector;
- PCNs developed in the water sector in line with the requirements of GCF;
- Prepared EDA program documents in the water sector;
- Water sector EDA funding proposal submitted to GCF;
- Strategic priority areas in the water sector confirmed and agreed upon amongst relevant CRGE stakeholders;
- Documents summarizing key outcomes of workshops and trainings shared with relevant stakeholders;
- Shared PCN’s with the relevant private sector actors and additional stakeholders;
- PCN’s developed to a high-quality stage and submitted to the GCF PPF support;
- Continuous support provided to the NIE and the Executing Entity in identified areas; and
- A monitoring and oversight tools that are updated and endorsed by NIE;
Qualifications/Experience/Expertise
QUALIFICATIONS
The consultants should have the following qualifications and educational background.
Minimum:
Academic qualification:
- Master’s degree or above in water resources and hydrology, Water resource management, water resources engineering, watershed management, water and health,Water Resources Planning and Management, Climate and water resources or related fields;
Experience:
- A minimum of 10 years of professional experience in water resource management, hydrology, water resources planning and management and management of water resource projects;
- Extensive experience in climate related project development in the water sector and in particular in the WASH program;
- Professional competence and proven mastery in the implementation of climate resilient WASH;
- Knowledge on climate change and its impacts on sustainable water supply development as well as demonstrated understanding of the adaptation and mitigation options;
- Familiarity with the NDC, CRGE Strategy, the Growth and Transformation Plan and the Sustainable Development Goals;
- Knowledge of GCF and other climate financing opportunities;
- Strong analytical skills and ability to efficiently manage a large number of activities simultaneously;
- Excellent communication skills, both verbal and written in English and Amharic language; and
- Demonstrated experience of working with government officials and technical experts, donor representatives and private sector actors;
- Proven capability to meet deadlines and work under pressure;