North Korea: International Consultant

Jun 28, 2015 | UNDP
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DPRK is prone to frequent natural disasters especially the extreme weather conditions e.g. floods and droughts that are impacting negatively on people’s lives. Meanwhile due to lack of alternative energy and livelihood opportunities human activities are exacerbating the situation, for instance the severe deforestation resulted from the tree cut on forest land (at upper part of mountains) for cooking, heating, and shipment (charcoal fueled trucks), and sloping land conversion to farming land (at lower part of mountains), are causing more land slides, soil erosion, etc. leading to a vicious cycle between human and nature.

Strengthening Ecosystem Resilience and Community Adaptive Capacity in Climate Affected River Basins in DPRK (SERCARB) is a new comprehensive disaster reduction project signed in June 2013, aiming to minimize the negative impacts of climate change and environmental degradation on the livelihoods of local community on one hand, and to improve community awareness and community for environment protection, sustainable management and utilization of natural resources, as well as disaster risk management and climate change adaptation on the other, to build a virtuous cycle.

As an important entry point for a win-win solution between poverty reduction and environment protection, and disaster risk reduction, improving forest management and promoting sustainable sloping land utilization / rehabilitation in pilot watersheds are important components of the SERCARB project, which will help reduce flood risks, landslides and erosion, and improve community people’s access to alternate energy and livelihood opportunities.

The SERCARB project will introduce pilots in the first site i.e. the lower Chongchon River Basin covering Pakchon County (population approximately 100,000) of North Pyongan Province, and Kaechon City (population approximately 300,000), South Pyongyan Province. County and Ri level technical staff will be the key counterparts for the pilots.

Location : Pyongyang, KOREA (DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF)
Application Deadline : 30-Jun-15
Type of Contract : Individual Contract
Post Level : International Consultant
Languages Required : English 
Duration of Initial Contract : 30 days in total
Expected Duration of Assignment : expect to start asap.

 
Duties and Responsibilities

Main objective of the assignment

The main objectives of the consultancy are to:

  • Provide up-to-date information about the existing watersheds situation and management practice in the pilot project areas;
  • Identify disaster risk areas of environment degradation and soil erosion as well as management gaps in the pilot project areas;
  • Develop watershed maps as well as watershed management plans and action plans, to improve forest management and sloping land utilization and rehabilitation in the pilot project areas.

Scope of work

The consultant will undertake the following tasks:

  • Prepare work plan for the assignment including methodologies of field study of natural conditions (weather, rivers, forest, disasters, etc.) and human activities (livelihood practice, energy pattern, etc.);
  • Lead, guide (and train if needed) the national consultants (team members) for the field study and maps development;
  • Review current practices of forest land and sloping farming land utilization and management for issues analysis;
  • Conduct field study with national team members to collect data and identify risk areas of environment degradation and soil erosion;
  • Conduct needs assessment for the users of sloping land and forest land, to find workable solutions for poverty reduction and environment protection / disaster reduction, especially through improving their access to alternative livelihood opportunities and energy resources;
  • Debrief major findings and recommendations to UNDP country office and national counterpart(s);
  • Draft, revise, finalize and submit the assignment report, with the watershed maps as well as watershed management plans and action plans developed.

Deliverables

The final product of the assignment will be a report with watershed maps and watershed management plans and action plans (including recommendations for improved access to alternative livelihood and energy)

  • By the 1st week after signing of the contract: a work plan with assessment methodologies submitted and approved by UNDP;
  • By the 2nd week after signing of the contract: training materials for the training of local survey workers submitted and approved by UNDP (if needed);
  • By the end of 12-day field work in DPRK: debriefing of findings and recommendations, including draft watershed maps;
  • By the 2nd week after field work in DPRK: draft report of the assignment i.e. the watershed maps and management plan including situational analysis, risks areas identification, issues analysis, and solutions recommendation, etc;
  • By the 4th week after field work in DPRK: submission of final report and certification by UNDP on the satisfactory provision of services.

Monitoring/Reporting requirements

The consultant will be under day-to-day supervision of UNDP country office, and works closely with SERCARB Project Manager.

Duration of assignment

30 days in total, of which 6 days for desk study and work plan/methodologies design, 12 days for field work in DPRK, and 12 days for drafting and finalizing the watershed maps and management/action plans. Given the need for the soonest SERCARB project activities on ground, the consultant is expected to assume the assignment at the earliest possibility.

Payment arrangements

Lump Sum (payments linked to deliverables)

Administrative arrangements

The consultant will be provided with visa issuance, airport pick up and drop off, local transport and office space in DPRK.

 
Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

  • Excellent communications skills.

Functional Competencies:

  • Computer literacy and skills in presentation, report writing and maps development.

 
Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • At least master’s degree in ecology, economics, forestry, agriculture, development or related fields;
  • Phd preferred.

Experience:

  • At least 8 years of demonstrable experience in developing tools for data collection and analysis as well as survey design and implementation;
  • Experience in developing watershed maps and management/action plan for similar projects;
  • Experience in dealing with government agencies at different levels, international organizations, and community people;
  • Experience in leading a consultancy team will be preferred;
  • Prior work experience with international organizations in DPRK or other countries in Asia Pacific region is desirable.

Language:

  • Excellent writing skills in English.

Important thing you need to know before your submission:

Please be guided by the template Offeror’s Letter (download link: http://pan.baidu.com/s/1eQfGmky, click ??(35KB)), in which you’ll be asked:

  • To confirm your interest and availability for the assignment;
  • To provide your CV;
  • To provide financial proposal/quotation including detailed cost breakdown that you can foresee;
  • To provide brief methodology on how you will conduct or approach the work.

So, you only need to submit the Offeror’s Letter downloaded from the link, and attach to your application.

Financial Proposal

Lump sum contract

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 professional consultancy fee, international travel, etc.)

Travel costs

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket for the most direct and economical route. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using his/her own resources.

In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UNDP DPRK and Individual Consultant, prior to travel.

Living costs

Per Diem will be paid during his / her mission period in DPRK at the prevailing rate for the duty station approved by the International Civil Service Commission/UN.

Selection method

Desk review

Evaluation criteria:

  • Educational background - 10 points (10 pts – PhD degree; 5 pts –Master’s degree);
  • Relevant professional experience - 30 points max (30 pts – above 12 years; 20 pts – 8-12 years);
  • Language skills - 5 points max (5pts - native English speaker);
  • Knowledge and experience about DPRK - 10 points max. (10 pts - work or consultancy experience in DPRK; 5 pts- experience in other Asia Pacific countries);
  • Methodology - 15 points max (15 pts – fully understand the task, logical and reachable; 10 pts-get sense of the task, basically meeting the requirement - 5 pts- rough and unclear).

Maximum available technical score - 70 points.

Evaluation method

Cumulative analysis

Contract award shall be made to the incumbent whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

  • Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
  • Having received the cumulative highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.Technical Criteria weight: 70%, Financial Criteria weight: 30%.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum 70% from the maximum available technical score (49 points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal and will equal to 30. All other price proposals will be evaluated and assigned points, as per below formula:

30 points [max points available for financial part] x [lowest of all evaluated offered prices among responsive offers] / [evaluated price].

The proposal obtaining the overall cumulatively highest score after adding the score of the technical proposal and the financial proposal will be considered as the most compliant offer and will be awarded a contract.