National Expert, Climate Resilience – Pakistan At Asian Disaster Preparedness Center

B. Climate Adaptation and Resilience for South Asia Project

South Asia has experienced a long period of robust economic growth, which has translated into declining poverty and impressive improvements in human development. However, these long-term development gains are increasingly threatened by the staggering social and economic impacts of climate-related hazards. A recent World Bank study[1] concluded that 800 million (or 44 percent) people in South Asia today live in locations that would become moderate or severe climate hotspots by 2050 without climate action. Therefore, countries in the region need to preserve and enhance their social and economic growth by investing in climate-resilient development.

With the financial support from the World Bank Group, ADPC and the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System (RIMES) are jointly implementing a five-year (2020-2025) project, titled “Climate Adaptation and Resilience (CARE) for South Asia”. The project aims to create an enabling environment for climate resilience policies and investments in Climate Resilient Agriculture, Integrated Water Resources Management, Resilient Transport Infrastructure, and Policy, Planning and Finance sectors. Through its regional portfolio, ADPC will also facilitate high-level dialogues for institutional cooperation and knowledge exchange, develop climate-resilient guidelines, and promote innovation and adoption of disruptive technology at national and regional levels. The national-level activities will initially be implemented in Bangladesh, Nepal and Pakistan.

Pakistan’s dependency on climate sensitive sectors such as agriculture, water, natural resources and the environment makes it one of the most vulnerable countries in the region and the CARE for South Asia project’s proposed activities are aligned with these priority sectors identified by the Government of Pakistan. This shall include interventions (i) develop and/or strengthen strategic and policy frameworks for climate smart agriculture and integrated water resources management; (ii) formulate climate indicators to incorporate in the planning policy and documents; (iii) develop a climate-change financing framework implementation plan; and (iv) support development of a ground water strategy for Sindh in drought affected areas. Furthermore, the project will support in developing sector-specific climate-resilience strategies and guidelines to enhance gender-informed resilience in priority sectors when the gender-disaggregated data analytics becomes available.

In the above context, ADPC will procure the services of a National Expert on Climate Resilience in Pakistan who provides technical advisory services and oversight to achieve project objectives. S/he will be selected on a competitive selection criteria (please refer to the section E below).

The National Expert’s primary role covers:

· Providing expert advice and technical support to the ADPC team in Pakistan, especially to the Country Project Lead, on country and region-specific issues and policy strategies for climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and climate resilient development;

· Supporting the capacity and relationship-building to meet the wider needs of the stakeholders to be reached out and to benefit from the existing climate adaptation and development planning institutions and initiatives in the country;

· Participating in national, regional and global events to share knowledge and best practices from the CARE for South Asia at diverse platforms.

C. Statement of Intent

It is expected that, by strengthening in-house technical capacities of ADPC Pakistan team, the National Expert will support the project’s sustainability and reach a wider audience for the project outputs and outcomes beyond the geographical confines of the project.

Note:

It is not the intent of this Terms of Reference to cover every aspect of the position requirements, rather to highlight the most important areas of personal and joint responsibilities.

D. Duties and Responsibilities

The detailed functions of the National Expert for Climate Resilience­ in Pakistan include:

1. Advisory and consultative support

⁃ Provide strategic advice to the Country Project Lead and sector specialists on the implementation of the activities to achieve project’s goals and objectives.

⁃ Review and ensure that project outputs and reports are delivered complying project’s workplan and requisite quality standards.

⁃ Undertake periodic review of ADPC’s strategies for project implementation, identifying gaps and providing solutions to ensure implementation of project activities in effective manner.

⁃ Provide advice and support in technical updates on disaster risk reduction and climate resilience, including new technology and innovations, tools and approaches that can be applied in the project.

⁃ Aid the Country Project Lead to coordinate with Sector Focal Points (SFPs) and other stakeholders to promote effective engagement and partnership and maximize impacts of the Project in Pakistan.

2. National level capacity and relationship-building

⁃ Provide technical inputs to the project’s national activities and initiatives such as policy dialogues, thematic fora, and other outreach events and missions.

⁃ Participate in relevant regional/global meetings, where required, disseminate lessons learned, expand exposure and involve in the promotion or follow-up of the project.

⁃ Establish effective communication channels and develop close ties with existing instrumental national and regional partners and initiatives by leveraging on the established networks like the Sector Focal Point mechanism with the relevant ministries and departments.

⁃ Provide technical support for the project-related demand-driven scientific research and advisory services targeting subnational public institutions and agencies in collaboration with regional and national centers of excellence.

E. Qualifications

The candidate should hold a Master’s degree (Ph.D. is desired) and have a minimum of 15 years of professional experience in climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, and climate resilient sustainable development.

Professional record should include experiences in:

· Strategic analysis, policy making, planning and programming for disaster and climate resilience

· Leading and maintaining policy dialogue with high-level government counterparts

· Excellent English writing and communications skills

Experience in working with Government of Pakistan at senior-level positions is highly desired. Only Pakistani nationals are eligible for this position.

F. Reporting Relationships

The National Expert for Climate Resilience­ will report to the Project Director and work in close coordination with the Pakistan’s Country Project Lead.

The expert will submit a time-charging sheet every month explaining the type of inputs and a summary of deliverables every quarter to ascertain the level of efforts.**

G. Contract Duration

The contract duration will be 120 days stretched over a period of 1 year. It will be a time-based contract.

H. Selection Method

The consultant will be selected in accordance with ADPC’s recruitment process and in compliance with the World Bank Procurement Regulations.