Consultant for Research Paper: China’s Climate Change South-South Cooperation: Track Record and Future Direction

South-South cooperation is emerging as a new dimension of international cooperation on climate change, an increasingly important complement to traditional North-South cooperation. China has been setting up a number of mechanisms to support climate change south-south cooperation (CCSSC) including the South-South Cooperation Fund on Climate Change.

Further to discussions between UNDP and the Climate Change Department of the National Development and Reform Commission, this research paper is to provide an analysis of climate change south-south cooperation provided by NDRC to date, compare it with demands, expectations and experience from other countries, and explore options for the future.

The paper will prove a number of practical recommendations for NDRC’s consideration in order to strengthen the delivery and impact of its CCSSC and make a positive contribution to the COP21 Paris negotiations.

The study will review the history, current state and challenges for China’s SSC on climate change. It will then explore the potential for China’s CCSSC in terms of results desired, options for improving effectiveness, and delivery mechanisms.

Outputs

• An inception report providing an overview of the field and a methodology for analysing the research questions;
• A study report of maximum 40 pages. The final version of the report will be published by UNDP China. The study report should follow UNDP China’s lay-out guidelines;
• A presentation at a stakeholder meeting in Beijing in October (tentative).

Research outline

• History of China’s climate change related south-south cooperation (CCSSC), overall trends, administration and major flagship outcomes;
• Current status of China's CCSSC commitments, including through forums such as FOCAC, and actual disbursements including NDRC and other ministries’ portfolios, size and types of projects, recipient countries, inputs, results etc.;
• Challenges of CCSSC: achievements and challenges, comparison to other types of Chinese foreign assistance, comparison to CCSSC provided by other donors (including emerging economies, OECD donors etc.) and analysis of differences;
• Future delivery of China’s CCSSC: develop scenarios based on the parametres of China’s South-south Cooperation Fund;
• Effectiveness of China’s CCSSC: the applicability of China’s principles of foreign assistance and international principles of effective development cooperation to CCSSC, and potential changes to inputs to deliver more effective CCSSC based on Chinese and international best practise;
• Options for delivering China's CCSSC: recommended changes (if any) to NDRC’s delivery of CCSSC, proposals for design mechanisms for the South-South Cooperation Fund and exploration of other mechanisms, partnerships etc. to achieve effective CCSSC;
• Recommendations: 5-10 recommendations for implementation of CCSSC by NDRC developed after a NDRC/UNDP China/other stakeholder consultation workshop.

Approach and Methodology

Working closely with UNDP China, the consultant will be expected to adopt the following approaches for the study:

• Conduct desk review of existing policies, data, and literature;
• Engage in interviews (telephone and face to face where feasible) with relevant Chinese government officials and researchers and participants in UNDP and other SSC projects;
• Consolidate and analyse the information obtained and integrate the findings into concrete policy recommendations targeted at NDRC and other stakeholders;
• Seek and respond to comments from UNDP China and external experts on the drafts.

Preliminary Timeline

• Recruit Consultant - July 2015;
• Inception report - July - August 2015;
• Research, writing process - July – September 2015;
• Review of first draft- September 2015;
• Stakeholder workshop - October 2015;
• Finalize report - November 2015;
• Printing and distribution - December 2015.

Management Arrangement

The study should be undertaken by a consultant that has sufficient capacity to carry out the research project.

UNDP China will provide support to the consultant in terms of logistics and technical inputs to facilitate the study.

The consultant will consolidate and integrate the findings into a written report format for submission to UNDP China. If the consultant so wishes, its contributions may be acknowledged in the report, however, UNDP China will be responsible for the final version of the report, including its distribution and translation.

Evaluation Criteria and Selection of Best Offer

• Only those applications which are responsive and compliant will be evaluated;
• Offers will be evaluated according to the Combined Scoring method – where the technical criteria will be weighted at 70% and the financial offer will be weighted at 30%;
• The technical proposal should explain why the consultant is the most suitable for the work with examples/former experience demonstrating competencies; provide a brief methodology on how the consultant will approach and conduct the work;
• The financial proposal should specify an all-inclusive daily fee, including breakdown per deliverables as outlined above.  In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal must additionally include a breakdown of this daily fee (including all foreseeable expenses to carry out the assignment);
• Applicant receiving the Highest Combined Score and accepting UNDP’s General Terms and Conditions will be awarded the contract.

• Excellent technical and critical thinking skills;
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills and the ability to interact with a wide range of key stakeholders including government officials;
• Advanced knowledge of climate change in developing countries as well as aid effectiveness and south-south cooperation particularly in relation to China;
• Demonstrated understanding of China’s relevant ministries, the international regime of climate finance;
• Analytical and technical capacities related to project evaluation.

Education:

• Advanced university degrees in relevant fields required.

Experience:

• Consultant should have at least ten years’ experience;
• Relevant research and analytical experience;
• Previous working experience with UN and/or other international organizations and/or in China will be an asset;
• Relevant working experience from China and or Asia.

Language:

• Excellent English communication, and writing skills.

Documents to be included when submitting application:

• Please provide Offeror’s Letter and proposal (download the format in link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/zhov5ekfaty7ncz/Offeror's%20letter%20and%20Proposal.doc?dl=0, or http://pan.baidu.com/s/1pJ6xCBT) together with your CV while submitting application;
• Please note that the system will not accept the uploading of more than one document so please merge or scan all your documents into one file prior to uploading;
• In the Offeror’s Letter and proposal, you will be asked to confirm your interest and availability for the assignment, and provide technical and financial proposal.