Chief Technical Advisor
Description
Closing date: Thursday, 16 March 2023
Practice Area : Nature, Climate and Energy
Bureau : Regional Bureau for Africa
Contract Duration : 1 Year
Education & Work Experience : Master's Degree - 7 year(s) experience
Required Languages : English
Vacancy Timeline
2 Weeks
Job Description
Background
UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.
UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
The Ministry of Water and Environment (MWE) in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries (MAAIF), and; Uganda National Meteorology Authority (UNMA) is implementing a wetland restoration project in Eastern and South Western Uganda titled “Building Resilient Communities, Wetland Ecosystems and Associated Catchments” Project. The 8-year (2017-2025), USD 44.262 million project is funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), Government of Uganda and UNDP. Building on the implementation of the GCF project, UNDP has secured funding from the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) for the expansion of wetland restoration through the project titled: “Restoration of wetlands and associated catchments in Eastern Uganda” over a period of 3 years (2021-2023) for the sum of Euro 1,019,000. Each of the projects is comprised of three similar components:-
Restoration and management of wetland hydrology and associated catchments.
Improved agricultural practices and alternative livelihood options in wetland catchments.
Strengthening access to climate and early warning information to farmers and other target communities.
Scope of Work
The Chief Technical Advisor (CTA) will provide technical support to several natural resources management programmes/projects including the following projects;
Building Resilient of Communities and Ecosystems through Restoration of Wetlands and associated Catchments project, with funding from GCF, UNDP and the Government of Uganda. This is a NIM project executed by MWE, MAAIF and UNMA;
Restoration of wetlands and associated catchments in Eastern Uganda project, funded by ADA. This is a DIM project executed by UNDP and ADA;
Karamoja Greenbelts’ Women-Led Large-Scale Farming of Cereals, Legumes and Oilseed;
Integrated Wetlands Management for Livelihoods and resilience building in Northern Uganda (GEF 8) Project.
This position involves project management, the development and implementation of management systems for the restoration of wetlands and associated catchments. The CTA will be responsible for technical advisory, partnership engagement, communication, and knowledge and programmes/project development on natural resources within the Nature, Climate, Energy and Resilience portfolio at UNDP. The CTA will provide guidance during implementation of the project activities and budget across these projects, in ensuring synergies, complementarities, and continuity. The position has a strong focus on project delivery, capacity building, and mentoring of staff at MAAIF, MWE and UNMA, and also other implementing partners like CSOs, communities etc. Monitoring and evaluation of outputs against actual outcomes also forms a key component of this position.
Duties and Responsibilities
Technical Advisory (35%)
Guide and/or lead the implementation of project activities especially wetland restoration and livelihoods;
Build capacity of the various institutions and/or other partners involved;
Promote a coherent work stream amongst watershed local authorities, central government and local government agencies, to foster project ownership and to identify habitat restoration opportunities and develop restoration concepts;
Guide the PMU to align project outputs with national development plan, strategies of ministries, community priorities and promote opportunities for collaboration towards planning and implementation of project activities;
Provide technical guidance to align project level interventions with national priorities and global environment commitments;
Support the PMUs in the management of project budgets; records, to enable timely communication with the Partners.
Project Management (30%)
Planning: Facilitate engagement and joint planning with the responsible parties for project implementation; the government ministries involved in with project implementation (MWE, MAAIF, Ministry of Meteorology), and UNDP:
Support the project management specialist and the whole PMU to develop detailed annual work plans, budget and implementation modalities;
Support the PMU in organizing and conducting training and capacity development workshops and experience sharing.
Communication: Plan for projects and share project updates with project steering committee, government ministries, UNDP, staff, partners, funders, and watershed communities:
Guide development pf project visibility actions and items;
Guide development of the technical content of project knowledge products and communication materials;
Provide quality assurance for information notes to Senior Management on specific events.
Contractor oversight: Development of TOR for recruitment of experts, schedule, oversee, write work orders and contracts for, and track contractors carrying out specific tasks of habitat restoration activities as part of the wetland and riparian habitat restoration projects.
Project coordination: Provide strategic guidance on collaboration mechanisms among the partners for timely implementation of the project, as well as participatory capture of project beneficiaries’ views and interests:
Develop and oversee implementation of a framework for habitat restoration opportunities and develop restoration concepts;
Alignment of project with national development plan, strategies of ministries and community priorities;
Provide advisory services to the National Project Coordinator in the management of staff and their assignment of responsibilities in project implementation;
Using GIS and other Spatial tools, provide advisory services on restoration strategies, impact monitoring and reporting;
Guide preparation of quarterly and annual activity-based reports(i.e. M&E outputs and indicators);
Take lead on preparation of Annual Performance reports;
Draft and submit post-implementation grant reports required by GCF and funding partners;
Participate in regular staff and board meetings, and partner meetings;
Provide support to project performance reporting including APRs, mid-term Evaluation and Terminal Evaluation;
Support the timely submission of results-oriented progress reports from all component leads.
C. Partnership Engagement (15%)
Support the team leader NCER and designated team members to effectively monitor and assess the impact (intended or non-intended/positive or negative) of nature-based solution projects in the NCER unit to ensure timely strategy readjustments. This should feed into resource mobilization efforts of the unit;
Provide quality inputs to the research and analysis of information on development partners preparation of substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, identification of opportunities for technical and financial partnerships;
Collaborate with other partners to identify and develop additional restoration projects, scale out to other wetlands and riparian habitats, and capitalize on emerging opportunities, particularly for GEF8 programming cycle;
