Job Description

Job Code Title: National Team Leader
Department: Energy and Environment Cluster
Reports to: National Project Coordinator
Type of Contract: Service Contract (SC-5)
Duration: 15 months

Organizational Context:

In May/June 2006, The Cambodian Ministry of Environment (MoE), the project executing agency, UNDP Cambodia, and the Council for the Development of Cambodia (CDC) signed the project document "Enabling Activities for the Preparation of the Kingdom of Cambodia's Second National Communication to the UNFCCC" (SNC project). The project officially started in January 2007.

This project enables Cambodia to prepare and submit its Second National Communication (SNC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and meet its Convention obligations. The project also aims to strengthen the technical and institutional capacity of the Kingdom of Cambodia in mainstreaming climate change concerns into its sectoral and national development planning priorities. It is implemented through UNDP Cambodia as GEF Agency based on the National Execution (NEX) modality to promote national ownership, leadership and accountability. The MoE is the National Executing Agency.The proposed activities of the project are a continuation of the work undertaken under the Initial National Communication and other climate change related projects such as the Formulation of the National Adaptation Programme of Action to Climate Change (NAPA) and the National Capacity Self-Assessment (NCSA). The results and experiences of these projects, together with the recommendations developed by the stock-taking exercise, are used to address the gaps and constraints identified over the course of project implementation.

The SNC concentrates on the sectors with the highest greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions including energy, agriculture, industrial processes, waste, and land use change and forestry. Furthermore, it concentrates on sectors vulnerable to changing climate conditions, as identified in the NAPA: agriculture, water resources, human health and the coastal zone. The project is seeking a Cambodian national professional to fill a full-time position of National Team Leader, Vulnerability and Adaptation Thematic Working Group (TWG-2) for the period of fifteen months between April 2008 and June 2009.

Functions/Key Results Expected:

The National Team Leader for TWG-2 will oversee all technical activities of TWG-2 for the preparation of programmes containing measures to facilitate adequate adaptation work under direct supervision of the National Project Coordinator (NPC) and with technical and advisory support from the V&A Advisor. The TWG-2 composes of local and/or regional/international consultants and Government counterparts from other concerned ministries/agencies. The results of the V&A assessment will be a part of the Cambodia's SNC. The National Team Leader will also focus on capacity strengthening of the Government counterparts, mainly through on-the-job training. The position includes both organizational and technical functions.

Organizational Functions:
- Prepare a detailed workplan and budget for TWG-2;
- Coordinate activities of the Government counterparts and the national and/or regional/international consultants working in TWG-2;
- Organise a training workshop on the use of available methods and tools for conducting V&A assessment.

Technical functions:
1. Oversee all technical activities of TWG-2 related to:
- Developing/adapting appropriate training materials for V&A assessment, and training the TWG-2 members on the use of available methods and tools for conducting V&A assessment;
- Adapting methodologies for conducting the Cambodian V&A assessment in a manner consistent with the internationally available methodologies and tools for a V&A assessment on the selected sectors;
- Developing/reviewing the climate change scenarios for Cambodia, applying the most appropriate climate downscaling techniques and regional models (preferably PRECIS or equivalent, with the recent version of MAGICC-SCENGEN as a minimum);
- Collecting and analysing the available meteorological data records during the last several decades to identify trends in temperature, precipitation, wind and insolation, as well as the available data on climate extreme events.
2. Coordinate a field survey on vulnerability and adaptation in selected poor communities (literature review, site selection, questionnaire design, data entry and clean-up, data analysis, survey report preparation);
3. Coordinate an assessment of future climate change impacts in key vulnerable sectors (agriculture, water resource, coastal zone, human health, etc.);
4. Provide inputs for establishing links between climate, environment and socio-economic baseline conditions of the country in the most vulnerable sectors;
5. Assist in identifying other long-term high priority adaptation strategies and measures;
6. Assist in preparing a draft national adaptation plan of action building on NAPA and other earlier studies;
7. Assist in organising a national workshop to discuss the results of V&A and the draft national adaptation plan and prepare workshop minutes;
8. Assist in finalising the V&A assessment and oversee the preparation of the national adaptation plan based on the outputs of the workshop and following the UNFCCC guidelines.

KEY RESULTS EXPECTED:

The National Team Leader will have the overall responsibility to ensure the successful production by TWG-2 of the following expected outputs:
- Training materials on V&A assessment;
- A technical report summarizing results of the analysis of the available historical meteorological data and of the available data on climate extreme events;
- Recommendations on long-term high priority adaptation strategies and measures;
- A national adaptation plan of action building on NAPA;
- Recommendations on future research activities on climate change in the country;
- Identified gaps, constraints and specific financial, technical and institutional needs for conducting research activities concerning climate change vulnerability and adaptation;
- End-of-contract report.

Impact of Results:
- Improved country's technical and institutional capacity for V&A assessment;
- Increased awareness of all relevant stakeholders for the need to adapt to climate change, including government agencies, donor organisations and local communities;
- Increased stakeholder participation in vulnerability and adaptation assessment;
- Better understanding of vulnerability of key sectors to climate changes and of appropriate adaptation measures to climate change for these sectors.

Competencies and Qualifications:

Competencies:
- Familiar with the UNFCCC Guidelines for the preparation of national communications from Parties not Included in Annex I to the Convention (Decision 17/CP.8);
- Good understanding of the local institutions and stakeholders;
- Strong leadership capacity and ability to build national/regional networks and to work independently with minimum supervision;
- Good management, communication, interpersonal and report writing skills.

Recruitment Qualifications:
- Advanced university degree in the fields of environment, energy, natural resource management, or other fields relevant to the objective of the consultancy.
- At least 3 years of strong professional working experience in climate change related fields, in particular, in V&A assessment;
- Experience in working with the local institutions and stakeholders in areas related to climate change, in particular, in dealing with Government officials.
- Fluency in both English and Khmer;
- Must be computer literate.
Vacancies Contact
To submit your application and for more details on duties, responsibilities and selection criteria, please go to:
http://www.un.org.kh/undp/content/ > About UNDP Cambodia > Job Opportunity.
You must state in your application letter how you meet the selection criteria specified in the terms of reference. The vacancy is open to national applicants. UNDP will contact references directly. Only short-listed candidates will be contacted for written competency test and/or interview. Women are encouraged to apply.