| Description |
INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANT: SUSTAINABLE LIVELIHOOD | | Location : | Home base with an agreed number of field trips to Iran to travel to the projects sites, IRAN | | Application Deadline : | 05-Jan-09 | | Additional Category | Environment and Energy | | Type of Contract : | SSA | Languages Required :
| English | Starting Date :
(date when the selected canditate is expected to start) | 10-Jan-2009 | | | Background | The ‘Central Zagros Landscape Conservation Zone Project’ is one of the most challenging, innovative and ambitious conservation projects the government of Islamic Republic of Iran has been currently undertaking with the support of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) www.thegef.org and UNDP www.undp.org.ir Since 2006, the Department of the Environment (DoE) of the Islamic Republic of Iran www.irandoe.org and www.cbcz.ir (the Project website).has been implementing the project in four provinces of the country covering over 2.5 million hectares of the central Zagros Mountains region. The Central Zagros Mountains contain a vast range of species including over 2,000 species of higher plants and several endangered and endemic mammal species. In addition to their biodiversity value, the Zagros Mountains are recognized for having been the birthplace of important civilizations and are also greatly valued as the source for approximately 40% of the nation’s water supply. The Central Zagros Mountains provide a home and livelihoods to about 1.2 million people. Despite immense environmental endowments, the Central Zagros Mountains Zone is one of the poorest regions of . The interdependency between the inhabitants including nomads, the economy and biodiversity is very high. Some estimates suggest that harvesting of wild plant and animal species accounts for up to 50% of the cash income of poor households. People harvest 35-70% of the fodder requirements for their livestock from near by protected areas. The natural resource management sectors – agriculture, forestry and rangeland are the mainstay of the economy across the proposed Conservation Zone. Biological resources have been and continue to be a lynchpin of both economic and social development. The main purpose of this work is to explore options and opportunities to promote mutually beneficial interactions between local people and the surrounding nature through the adoption of eco friendly economic and livelihood practices. The strategy would cover both the modification of existing economic activities, and the introduction of alternative environmental friendly activities. The study not only suggests methods to divert labor and capital away from activities that damage biodiversity but more importantly would emphasizes in creating conducive environment to people to manage and use biological resources in a sustainable ways. Overall, this work will I) identify alternative and sustainable livelihood opportunities; ii) suggests instrument and incentives options enable to implement alternatives; and iii) design tools and techniques to educate, empower and encourage local people to adopt eco friendly economic and livelihood activities. The study should help increase family and community income from the area where biodiversity is to be conserved – thereby increasing the economic incentive for conservation. The Project helps to achieve overall goal of the Government of Iran, which is to ensure that the socio-economy in the Zagros Mountains develops and is mutually supportive of biodiversity conservation and restoration. Through this project, the Government also intends to demonstrate that biodiversity can be conserved over a sizeable region, in a cost-effective and financially sustainable manner. The project, at the landscape and village levels, aims to maintain biodiversity by effectively mainstreaming biodiversity conservation and sustainable utilization into the natural resources and tourism sectors. The project integrates biodiversity conservation and sustainable use into land use and natural resources use management plans and supports integrated pilot projects providing improved livelihoods to indigenous communities in biodiversity rich areas. The project adopts a business-oriented approach to biodiversity conservation, and is designed to support ongoing efforts to improve livelihoods and stimulate economic development across the Zone. Integrated and incentive based approach to biodiversity conservation has been widely adopted to achieve sustainable biodiversity conservation. It is obvious that community support for the creation, maintenance and management of protected areas is generally more effective if there is a positive and mutually beneficial relationship between protected area and the local communities. Local community members will be more amenable and committed to biodiversity conservation if they have a stake in the conservation outcomes and can see a tangible benefit from participation. | Duties and Responsibilities | The consultant will work under the supervision of National Project Manager and technical supervision of the International Project Advisor. S/he will work in close cooperation and coordination with a “paired” national consultant - National Enterprise Development coordinator, and a team of national and provincial experts. The incumbent will also seek advice from relevant Technical Advisor Team (TAT) members, Senior National Advisor and other thematic coordinators. The consultant will also liaise with the UNDP, relevant government agencies and other key stakeholders including private sector to ensure timely completion of the study and ownerships of the outputs. The consultant will also receive the support of the Project Central Office, and be integrated with a team of other core international consultants. S/he will report to DoE with a copy to UNDP. - Review the existing central and provincial level policies and provisions to promote small and medium enterprises (SMEs) at the local levels.
- Review ongoing socio economic development activities of the project and Strategy for Alternative Livelihood
- Document prepared during the preparation phase.
- Conduct Participatory Rural Appraisal in all pilot villages with the help of local staff and community representatives to identify potential agro based, bio based, and cultural based (handicraft, music, art, folklore, costumes etc) enterprises and entrepreneurs, market possibilities etc.
- Start with a demand-side focus, not a supply-side focus.
- Design special livelihood programmes and support provisions and mechanisms that will effectively involve and benefit women, poor, underserved and park affected communities.
- Develop training programs to assist nomad families in new skills as well as their traditional skills to establish alternative livelihood options successfully.
- Prepare operational guidelines of Biodiversity Enterprise Centre (BEC) and Biodiversity Enterprise Grant Programme (BEGP. The operational guidelines should include self sustainability plan also. Take into account of international best practices while developing guidelines for BEC and BEGP.
- Guide and train national relevant staff to prepare participatory sustainable development and natural resource management plan in all pilot villages.
- Develop draft rules and guidelines regarding biodiversity use for all non-urban land in the Conservation Zone. The new approaches to improved and sustainable livelihood initiative should be market-based and largely private-sector driven that are biodiversity-friendly and promote individual initiative and incentives for conservation.
- Train staff to prepare village enterprise plan/business plan. Provide guidance and support to develop educational and promotional materials.
- Help explore international market networks for products from Zagros region.
| Competencies | Deliverables: - Identification of alternative livelihood options to help mainstreaming conservation friendly production practices in order to achieve biodiversity conservation at the landscape level.
- Operational Guidelines for BEC and BEGP
- Training and extension and promotional materials for environmental friendly income generation activities
- Human resource to design, develop and promote eco friendly green enterprises at the national level
- Enterprise Plan for all pilot sites
- Sustainable Development and Natural Resource Plan for all pilot sites
- Establishment of locally driven eco friendly businesses
- A good model for new approaches to the conservation of biodiversity replicable to other part of the country.
| Required Skills and Experience | Education: - Advanced university degree in social sciences, business administration management ,economic or in other relevant disciplines.
Experience: - Minimum 5 years work experience in an international context in the field of capacity building, alternative livelihoods programme planning. Prior working experience on Integrated Conservation and Development Projects or similar participatory/community based conservation programmes would be a big asset.
- Adequate working experience in multicultural environments and sensitive to local culture and traditions;
- Proven communication skills and ability to work in a team, under pressure and ability to meet deadlines;
- Prior experience with UN/UNDP/GEF projects.
- Familiarity with the economic soft ware, including e-views, etc, proficiency with spread sheet and data base applications as well as facility with word processing, presentation, programs and the internet.
- Work Experience with government and international organization responsibility for environmental and sustainable development issues.
- Experience in planning, organizing and facilitating coordination and partnership between various government sectors agencies.
Language requirements: - Fluency in written and spoken English.
- Capacity to read and write in Farsi would be considered assets.
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