Climate Smart Policy Analyst

About Asian Disaster Preparedness Center

ADPC is an autonomous international organization with a vision to reduce disaster and climate risk impacts on communities and countries in Asia and the Pacific by working with governments, development partners, international organizations, NGOs, civil society, private sector, media, and other key stakeholders. Established in 1986 as a technical capacity building center, ADPC has grown and diversified its expertise across social and physical sciences to support sustainable solutions for risk reduction across a broad range of specialist areas. With over 100 staff from 19 different nationalities and a wide range of professional expertise from atmospheric scientists to social scientists with experiences from all levels of engagement typically required for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Resilience (CR) in an effective manner. ADPC is a competent regional resource center and has seven thematic departments: ADPC Academy, Risk Governance, Climate Resilience, Urban Resilience, Health Risk Management, Preparedness for Response and Recovery, Geospatial Information. These are supported by Finance, Human Resources and Administration, and Strategic Planning departments. In addition to the departments, ADPC works on three cross-cutting themes: Gender and Diversity, Poverty and Livelihoods, and Regional and Transboundary Cooperation through permanent working committees. ADPC Strategy 2020 guides the organization in providing comprehensive risk reduction support to countries and communities in Asia and the Pacific. ADPC recognizes the importance of examining the linkages between disaster risk management, poverty reduction, gender equality, sustainability, rights-based approaches, climate change and regional cooperation. For details please refer to ADPC website at http://www.adpc.net/

Background

Disasters take a huge toll on the development agenda of SAR countries. Between 2000 and 2017, disasters in South Asia incurred estimated damages of US$ 149.27 billion. Public expenditure is under stress by the repeated need to reallocate capital budgets away from long term development planning and towards reconstruction activities in post-disaster environments. For example, since 2005, Pakistan has suffered losses on the order of US$ 16 billion due to natural disasters. In Bangladesh, 2007 Cyclone Sidr resulted in damages and losses of US$1.7 billion, or 2.6 per cent of GDP. To increase resilience and achieve climate commitments, there is a need for a transformational shift towards policies and institutions that enable climate resilient investments. Investing in more resilient infrastructure is both profitable and urgent as disruptions are extremely costly for governments, households and private sector and large ongoing investments in infrastructure assets will have long-lasting repercussions as poor maintenance and natural disasters result in a vulnerable stock. With the financial support from the World Bank Group, ADPC will be implementing a five years’ project, titled “Climate Adaptation and Resilience Project for South Asia” (CARE).

The project aims to create an enabling environment for climate resilience policies and investments across South Asia. This objective will be achieved through enhanced regional cooperation and knowledge exchange for climate resilience and adaptation and mainstreaming of resilience and adaptation in national policies, plans and investments. Scaling up the national policies on climate change is vital to satisfactorily implement all the required components of the project. It would involve review of national and sectoral policies to support in development of climate-resilient tools and guides for the agriculture sector. Accordingly, a highly qualified and experienced Climate Smart Policy Analyst will be required to support in reviewing national and sectoral guidelines for the agriculture sector. S/he will be selected on a competitive basis following World Bank Procurement Regulations.

The objectives of this consultancy service are to:

• Support in reviewing national and sectoral guidelines, policies, programs, frameworks etc. for the agriculture sector;
• Develop tools and guides to promote climate-resilient design and standards;
• Support in scaling up regional guidelines for climate-resilient design and standards;
• Conduct needs assessment and validation workshops for agriculture sector;
• Build capacity through the design of training modules on climate-resilient agriculture.

Statement of Intent

The Climate Smart Policy Analyst will support in reviewing various regional and national policies, plans and guidelines related to the agriculture sector and climate change. The consultant will provide further support in collecting and reviewing data to support in scaling up climate-smart agriculture and livestock in Nepal. The Climate Smart Policy Analyst will be based in Kathmandu, Nepal. Note: It is not the intent of this Terms of Reference to cover every aspect of the position requirements, rather highlight the most important areas of personal and joint responsibilities.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Climate Smart Policy Analyst shall be responsible for:

Technical Review and Support

• Review national guidelines, national policies, programs, acts/law, international treaties, frameworks and strategies relevant to climate change and agriculture sector; and national and local action plans on adaptation alongside sectoral roadmaps to consolidate information relevant to agriculture sector;
• Support conducting historical analysis of climate data and local climate forecast data to make a scientific-base for agro-climatic zoning policy;
• Support review and assessment of National Adaptation Plan and Nationally Determined Contributions of Nepal and providing inputs for future policy recommendations;
• Support to review the progress of Local Adaption Plan for Action in the Pilot Province;
• Support the review of agriculture policy and other national plan document related to the agriculture sector in Nepal and provide inputs towards a report on the review;
• Provide inputs towards validating report on policy actions to reform the agriculture sector in Nepal.

Tool and Guides Development

• Support preparing the draft and finalize regional guidelines for priority areas identified in the agriculture sector to promote climate resilience design and standards by contributing from the context of Nepal;
• Preparing for the dissemination of Information, Education and Communication materials.

Needs Assessment and Validation

• Support in conducting the agriculture sector needs assessment for Nepal by analyzing capacity gaps of both national and provincial level agriculture departments;
• Support in organizing and conducting meetings/workshops/trainings/consultations related to the needs assessment and validation of reviews in the agriculture sector in Nepal Capacity Building;
• Provide inputs towards developing training modules/ToT modules on climate-resilient agriculture sector Performing other relevant tasks as assigned by the Project Director, Country Project Lead and the Agriculture Sector Lead (Regional).

Qualifications

The candidate should at least have:

• A master’s degree in environmental sciences, environment management, climate change, agriculture or equivalent;
• Minimum 5 years of experience in climate-smart agriculture or relevant field;
• Knowledge and experience of latest national guidelines, policies, frameworks etc. on agriculture sector on environmental safeguards in development projects;
• Possess strong technical expertise on climate resilience and climate-informed policy, strategy and interventions in development sectors;
• Strong analytical skills and a solid understanding of climate science, global frameworks, climate adaptation/resilience strategies, climate-informed policies and planning frameworks and sectoral interventions, the global and national framework of climate services;
• Understanding and knowledge of climate change impacts in South Asia and Nepal;
• Teamwork with strong communication skills and capacity to work under pressure and short deadlines;
• Cross-cultural awareness and ability to work amongst a diverse group of staff, and partners;
• Required computer proficiencies: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet;
• Experience in training and capacity building;
• Excellent English proficiency in oral and written communication, including a demonstrated track record in technical report writing and ability to communicate technical matters effectively to a general audience;
• Fluency in the Nepali language is required.

Reporting Relationships

The Climate Smart Policy Analyst will report to Country Project Lead for the day to day activities and maintain close coordination with the ADPC’s Country Representative in Nepal. The technical oversight will be provided by the Climate Policy and Planning Specialist and Climate Public Expenditure Specialist based at the Bangkok office through the PIU. The analyst would also coordinate with the other CARE project specialists at the regional and national level to carry out different activities under the project.