Development of Provincial Climate Change Resilience Building Project Consultant

The Terms of Reference outlines proposed support to the Solomon Islands Ministry for Environment, Climate Change and Disaster Management (MECDM) and Ministry for Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening (MPGIS) to develop a concept for the “Provincial Climate Change Resilience Building Programme”. The MECDM and MPGIS are in the nascent stages of a collaboration to develop the Programme. An initial Idea Note has been drafted by the Government outlining the needs and justification, and proposed approaches and objectives. The government intend to develop this initial proposition into a detailed concept, with preliminary parameters, assessment of and recommendations for potential funding sources and a work plan for development.

It is well understood that climate and disaster risks are projected to continue to increase in the Solomon Islands in the coming years. This is due to the continuous increase in intensity and frequency of particular hazards (e.g. extreme rainfall and temperature), in combination with social factors such as (but not limited to) an increasing population, thin economic base and high levels of political uncertainty.

The population of the Solomon Islands is highly dispersed, with more than 80 percent living in rural areas. This places formidable challenges on development activities, and reinforces the importance of localised service delivery, such as through Provincial Governments and Ward Development Committees. Solomon Islands has nine provinces with elected provincial assembly members, and within each a number of Wards.

The current level of recurrent funding allocated to the nine Provincial Government’s is SBD7.5 million per annum, and the provinces then collect an additional SBD45 million (USD5.5 million) through fees and licenses each year. This collective revenue is grossly inadequate to allow each of the Government’s to recruit qualified staff or provide services stipulated as their responsibility under the Provincial Government Act (PGA), 1997.

As a result, projects such as the UNDP and UNCDF implemented Provincial Governance Strengthening Programme (PGSP) have been supplementing the National Government contribution to sub-national governance and development, capacity strengthening and service delivery. Amongst other activities, the PGSP has worked to strengthen the linkages from national government through provincial governments and down to communities. The PGSP is currently in its second phase (2016-2020), and it is intended that the Provincial Climate Change Resilience Building Project would build on and complement the success to date of these activities. It would do this by building resilience into, or risk informing PGSP projects, in addition to providing additional funds for service delivery.

The objective of the Provincial Climate Change Resilience Building Programme is to: “increase resilience of provincial governments and communities to combat climate change and related hydro-meteorological disaster risks”. The expected outputs are:

• A new stock of resilient social and economic infrastructure designed and constructed in provinces
• Increased opportunities for highly vulnerable communities to meet their needs
• Environmental services that are improved to and more resilient
• Provincial governments’ capacity to promote and practise climate change adaptation and mitigation and risk reduction through governance for resilience is strengthened.

Through this programme, climate change and disaster risks and resilience outcomes will be realised through the integration of risk and resilience elements into the existing flag-ship performance based mechanism, the Provincial Capacity Development Fund (PCDF) (which is managed by the Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening). The programme has the potential to create learning and provide a platform for future climate change, disaster and social risk integration into provincial development policies and budgeting processes.

The consultant will have two key deliverables:

1. Analysis Report of the development context of provincial government in the Solomon Islands

2. Concept Note for operationalisation of the Provincial Climate Change Resilience Building Programme, including funding proposal.

Analysis Report

The Analysis Report will provide a big picture overview of the development context of provincial government, particularly assessing provincial Public Financial Management systems, financial flows, procedures and practices, incentives (or lack of) to improve performance, and Provincial Government’s capacity to promote and practice climate and disaster risk informed development. In light of these conditions, the report will outline opportunities for enhancing and strengthening provincial governments, with a range of potential intervention scenarios.

In order to develop the analysis report, the consultant will be required to undertake research, consultations, interviews and discussions with identified stakeholders to position the Provincial Climate Change Resilience Building Programme in relation to existing systems and process of communities, sub-national government bodies, the Ministry for Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening, the Ministry for Environment, Climate Change and Disaster Management, at least three Provincial Governments, and other Solomon Islands Government institutions.

Concept Note

The Concept Note will provide details on how to operationalise the Provincial Climate Change Resilience Building Programme, based on the aforementioned scenario analysis. It will outline preliminary parameters, assessment of and recommendations for funding sources and a work plan for development. In partnership with the UNDP Country Office, the consultant will be required to conduct consultative workshops to explore and identify opportunities and gaps in existing provincial government delivery and linkages to communities, understand the opportunities in relation to resilience building, and support government to start garnering support for the programme. In addition, the workshops would serve as a platform to identify relevant stakeholders, implementing partners, resources required, performance and M&E indicators, budget, and other information necessary to develop the country level interventions under the project.

A detailed Terms of Reference can be obtained from UNDP Pacific Website https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=63880

The consultant should possess the following competencies:

• Minimum ten years of experience on issues of governance, development, sub-national governance, sustainable development, and/or resilience, climate change and disaster risk reduction, including in the Pacific region
• Demonstrable success in developing projects, with conceptually and coherent narratives and frameworks, and successfully mobilizing resources
• Ability to articulate the nexus between community development and resilience in the country context
• Extensive knowledge on addressing risks from a community development perspective
• Knowledge of global and regional climate and development finance sources and vertical funds
• Knowledge and background in issues concerning gender, persons with disabilities and other marginalized groups
• Understanding of cultural and socio-economic context and development challenges in Solomon Islands
• Ability to travel to the Pacific region
• Excellent written English and presentation skills.

Minimum master’s degree in science, governance, development, community development or discipline relevant to environmental management, disaster risk management and/or climate change.

Consultancy Proposal (CV & Financial proposal Template) should be uploaded on UNDP Jobshop website(https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_jobs.cfm?cur_rgn_id_c=RAS) no later than, 16th March 2020 (Fiji Time) clearly stating the title of consultancy applied for. Any proposals received after this date/time will not be accepted. Any request for clarification must be sent in writing, or by standard electronic communication to procurement.fj@undp.org. UNDP will respond in writing or 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 consultants. Incomplete, late and joint proposals will not be considered and only offers for which there is further interest will be contacted. Failure to submit your application as stated as per the application submission guide (Procurement Notice) on the above link will be considered incomplete and therefore application will not be considered.