National Consultant – Governance and Climate Finance

Project Title: NDC Support Project: Delivering Sustainability through Climate Finance Actions in Thailand (NDC Support)

Project Description:

Thailand has submitted ambitious Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) targets for reducing its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 20 percent compared to business-as-usual (BAU) levels by 2030, and up to 25 percent emission reductions by 2030 subject to adequate and enhanced access to technology development and transfer, and financial resources and capacity-building support through the global agreement under the UNFCCC.

Along with the opportunity and momentum created by the Paris Agreement comes the important challenge of transforming Thailand’s NDC into tangible actions that lead to long term, zero-carbon and climate-resilient development. As evident in its NDC submission, Thailand will need  financial, capacity building, and technical support to regularly prepare, implement, and report on national actions under the Paris Agreement, and more specifically against NDC targets, for reducing greenhouse gases.

Building on UNDP’s extensive foundational work supporting low-emission development and climate change finance, the NDC Support Project will assist the Thai Government to achieve transformational change by using NDC implementation as a mechanism to scale up investments in inclusive, gender-responsive climate actions that help achieve NDC targets and, through this, deliver on the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Objective of the Assignment:

In the governance structure of Thailand, the National Parliament plays a critical role in the overall accountability framework. By making public spending more transparent and enhancing the flow and interpretation of information on climate spending, Parliamentarians’ role is crucial inmaking budget decisions and holding the government accountable for its spending. This includes addressing the quality of climate spending together with its effectiveness and delivery.

Parliamentarians have a mandate to oversee the actions of the spending agencies and are well-positioned to advocate for accelerated action and policy change, particularly through the budget process. They can also raise questions on whether funds allocated in the budget are adequate to adapt to climate change impacts for achieving the goal of a sustainable development path for the country. They can, directly and indirectly, influence the content of the budget to encourage more resources and incentives for addressing climate change. As elected members who represent the needs of their constituencies, they can advocate for more effective and targeted budget allocations, for climate-vulnerable areas and populations.

To improve the effectiveness of the Parliament to scrutinize the budget more effectively from a climate change lens, a Climate Finance Handbook for Parliament will be developed. It will serve as a practical guide for Members of Parliament (MPs) and parliamentary staff to engage more meaningfully on climate change finance oversight functions. A Climate Finance Handbook for Parliamentarians will also address gender-specific vulnerabilities and contribute towards achieving gender equality and human rights.

Scope of Work:

With overall supervision from the Project Manager – NDC Support and in consultation with the team of advisors to UNDP Thailand and representatives of the Governance of Climate Change Finance team of UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub (GCCF-BRH), the consultant will provide the technical support to develop a Climate Finance Handbook to enhance the capacity of the legislators to more effectively scrutinize the budget from climate change lens.  The objective will contribute towards achieving the programmatic output of enhanced accountability of gender-responsive climate change-related investments that have impacts on poverty and human rights.

The consultant will undertake the following tasks:

1. Consultative engagement with the relevant Parliamentary Standing Committees (such as Committee on Land, Natural Resources, and Environment, Ad-Hoc Committee on the Annual Appropriations Bill Budget, and Ad-Hoc Committee on the Budget Administration Consideration, Monitoring, and Follow up) and relevant parliamentary staffs to introduce the objectives of the support and identify the potential areas the handbook will cover within the remit of climate change finance, its relation to the budget process, and the role of Parliamentarians therein. UNDP will coordinate the meetings with MP and staffs.

The consultative engagement should include:

• Knowledge and sensitization on climate change, and climate change finance specifically, and its impact on national development priorities.
• Identification of Mechanisms within the parliament that allow for the issue of climate change and/or climate change finance to be raised across party lines. This should include an understanding of the role of the Secretariat, including any research unit that exists.
• Discuss and validate where adjustments can be made in the existing Rules of Business to integrate climate change considerations as part of the budget review process (this will be supported by a national PFM expert from UNDP).

1. Based on the consultative process, and in consultation with parliament members, identify a group of champions who will be the primary focal point (Focal Group) for the technical assistance to be provided. The champions shall identify the type of information that would be useful for ongoing learning.
2. Based on what has been identified in consultation with the Focal Group, develop a handbook to facilitate legislative action to respond to climate change. This may include:
   • General sensitization on climate change and climate change finance.
   • Increasing the understanding of the impact of climate change on Thailand’s sustainable development priorities.
   • Climate Finance in Thailand and the role of Parliament (both Parliamentary Committees and individual MPs).
   • Role of parliamentarians in different stages of the Budget Cycle [this may include a Budget Review Toolkit with a checklist and set of questions that be used by parliament members during the Parliamentary budget review process].
   • Engaging Partners (both the state and non-state partners)
   • Recommendations for longer-term interventions that need to be put in place to sustain the knowledge and engagement of parliament members on the issue of climate change/climate change finance, and its link to their budget oversight mandate.
3. Present the draft Handbook to the Focal Group for feedback before finalization.

Once the Handbook is finalized, lead the training in a capacity-building workshop arranged for the Focal Group in using the Handbook developed, where applicable alter to a virtual workshop in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

Institutional Arrangement:

Governance and Climate Finance Consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Project Manager – NDC Support and in close consultation and collaboration with other representatives of UNDP Thailand and Global Climate Change Finance Team/UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub.

Duration: The assignment is for a maximum of  40 days over 5 months between 1 June 2021  – 31 October 2021

Duty Station:  Home-based with no travels.

Consultant presence on UNDP premises is not required.

Functional competencies:

• Strong interpersonal skills, communication, coordination and diplomatic skills;
• Openness to change and the ability to receive and integrate feedback;
• Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities; and
• Excellent speaking and presentation skills.

Required Skills and Experience:

Education

• Minimum Master’s Degree in Public Administration, Public Finance, Public Policy, Economics, or other closely related fields.

Working Experience:

• At least 7 years in the development sector. Experience in climate change-related development work will be an advantage.
• Track record of mainstreaming capacity development for policymakers is required.
• Previous experience in developing a handbook is preferred.
• Proven experience in accessing and engaging with senior policymakers and elected representatives is preferred.
• Experience working with UNDP or other UN agencies, or an international organization is an asset

Functional competencies:

• Strong interpersonal skills, communication, coordination and diplomatic skills;
• Openness to change and the ability to receive and integrate feedback;
• Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities; and
• Excellent speaking and presentation skills.

Language requirements:

• Excellent written Thai and English language skills are required (proven by prior work conduct in both English and Thai)

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

A consultant must send a financial proposal based on Lump Sum Amount in Thai Baht. The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, travel costs, living allowance (if any work is to be done outside the IC´s duty station) and any other applicable cost (including the cost of organizing the consultation and training meetings) to be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment. The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration.

The method of payment is an output-based lump-sum scheme. The payments shall be released upon UNDP’s satisfaction of the consultant’s submission of each deliverable by or before the due dates as agreed with the UNDP Thailand team.

Payment Schedule:

Payment will be made after satisfactory acceptance and certification of the deliverables/outputs  in accordance with UNDP procedures and as per below percentages:

In general, UNDP shall not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

In the event of unforeseeable travel not anticipated in this TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon between the respective business unit and the Individual Consultant before travel and will be reimbursed.

Travel costs shall be reimbursed at actual but not exceeding the quotation from UNDP approved travel agent.

Evaluation Method and Criteria

The criteria which shall serve as the basis for evaluating offers is as follows:

Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted 70% and combined with the price offer which will be weighted 30%.

Technical criteria for evaluation (Maximum 100%)

• Criteria 1: Educational background – Max 15%
• Criteria 2: Experience in development sector including climate change-related development work – Max 20%
• Criteria 3: Experience in mainstreaming capacity development for policymakers  – Max 20%
• Criteria 4: Experience in developing handbook – Max 10%
• Criteria 5: Experience in accessing and engaging with senior policymakers and elected representatives – Max 10%
• Criteria 6: Language requirement – Max 15%
• Criteria 7: Experience working with UN agencies or international development organizations – Max 10%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% of the total technical points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Documentation required:

Interested candidates must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document:

• 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;
• Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP
• Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price in Thai Baht, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided. If an Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate this at this point and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.
• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment and a methodology on how they will approach and complete the assignment.
• Examples of prior relevant work at least one sample in Thai and one sample in English.

Incomplete proposals may not be considered. The shortlisted candidates may be contacted, and the successful candidate will be notified.

Annexes:

Annex I ToR – Governance and Climate Finance Consultant
Annex II – General_Terms_and_Conditions_for_Contracts_Individual_Consultants
Annex_III_Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability and financial proposal
Annex_IV_P11 Form_for_ICs_optional
Annex V – Procurement Notice

***All documents can be downloaded at: https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=78043

For any clarification regarding this assignment please write to [email protected] under Subject: JobAds 98764 National Consultant – Governance and Climate Finance