Senior Consultant/Local team leader for supporting the development of “National Strategy on Environmental Education” in Armenia

The UNDP-GEF “Generate global environmental benefits through environmental education and raising awareness of stakeholders” project  aims to address priority capacity needs related to the environmental literacy of key stakeholders, such as the need to increase skills and knowledge of staff in organizations involved in implementing environmental management practices; the need to increase consideration of environmental obligations in various social-economic development programmes; and the need to increase awareness of decision-makers on global environmental issues and country’s obligations under the Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEA) that Armenia is Party to.

The objective of the project is to strengthen the capacity to use Environmental Education (EE) and awareness raising as tools to address natural resource management issues. It will, on one hand, increase the public knowledge on the environment and the need to protect nature, and, on the other hand, transfer the required knowledge to the targeted beneficiaries to allow them to be development actors without harming the environment.

One of the expected outputs of the Project is to mainstream environmental education into national strategies, programmes and projects, providing Armenia with an effective development apparatus that includes environmental education as a tool to raise public awareness on global and national environmental issues and solutions to be implemented at the national and local levels. The development of strategy for EE is an opportunity to strengthen the overall strategic vision of the environmental education sector, as well as to develop environmental education programmes and sustainable delivery mechanisms targeting not only traditional Educational sectors, but also public sector employees and educators in Armenia.

Development of EE strategy is among the priorities for the RoA Government Plan of Action for 2017, approved by the RoA Decree 122-N of 12 January 2017. In order to complement this Plan of Action the Project will support the development of strategy on EE by the RoA Ministry of Nature Protection.

Under the overall guidance of the UNDP SGR Portfolio Programme Analyst and direct supervision of the Project Technical Task Leader, as well as in collaboration with the RoA Ministry of Nature Protection the incumbent will support the development of the National Strategy on Environmental Education in Armenia (hereinafter “Strategy”).

The incumbent will perform the following tasks:

Lead and coordinate the work of national consultants tasked to support the process of EE Strategy development for i) pre-school, general school and vocational education; ii) tertiary (higher) and post-graduate education; iii) Supplementary education; and iv) Public awareness.

Elaborate the concept design for development of the overall Strategy, including vision, structure and the main elements of the document, as specified below, but not limited to:

• Goal and objectives;
• Review of existing policy and legislation frameworks for EE, including national legislation as well as MEAs;
• Major gaps, weaknesses, barriers and needs in existing policy, legislation and institutional frameworks hindering introduction and implementation of EE;
• Emerging issues, priorities and development opportunities, relevant to the implementation of EE in Armenia to achieve long-term targets for EE;
• Institutional arrangements for implementation of EE and mechanisms for promotion and coordination in the implementation of the Strategy with other Ministries and government bodies;
• Assessment of implementation of current EE programs in aforementioned areas;
• Possibilities to incorporate EE in formal, non-formal and informal education;
• The role of Community Based Organizations (CBOs) and mass media in EE and public awareness;
• Guidance and recommendations on new innovative methods of teaching and mechanism of training the trainers/teachers.
• Feasibility and opportunities for replication of best national and international experience.
• Monitoring and evaluation of the Strategy implementation, including measurable indicators of the progress made, objectives achieved etc.
• Action plan for 2018-2019 with respective timeline and expected outcomes.

Contribute to the development of the overall Strategy document

• Supervise the process of development of Strategy through regular team meetings and discussions with the team of consultants and main stakeholders;
• Liaise and cooperate closely with relevant state entities and CBOs active in educational, environmental protection and sustainable development fields;
• Participate in the presentation and discussion of the concept with main stakeholders, revise the document based on collected feedbacks and recommendations;
• Review the draft chapters prepared by national consultants; consolidate and prepare pre-final document for presentation to the governmental entities;
• Provide substantial assistance during public hearings of the draft strategy document, revise the document based on collected feedbacks and recommendations;
• Finalize the document based on feedback of government entities and other stakeholders.

Institutional arrangements

• The consultant will work collaboratively with the project team, relevant consultants and officials. In addition to e-mail and phone, the consultant should be available for meetings and regular contacting. 
• The consultant will serve as focal point for consultations with relevant stakeholders including the RoA Ministry of Nature Protection and the RoA Ministry of Education and Science, as well as with other organizations responsible for implementation of EE.
• The works progress will be discussed during regular meetings with a group of national experts and the Project team members, officials from the Ministries and other stakeholders.
• The consultant shall participate in relevant events and make contributions through presentations, if needed.

The consultant is expected to deliver the following:

The primary responsibility of the Consultant is to efficiently deliver the following deliverables at a high level of quality and competence within the agreed schedule by ensuring the required resources.

• Strong coordination and team leading skills, ability to work independently and to participate effectively in a team based information sharing;
• Good knowledge of educational and environmental sectors at national level. Understanding of and practical exposure to the institutional framework governing EE in Armenia;
• Knowledge of MEAs and local legislation, related to the task implementation;
• Strong interpersonal skills with ability to establish and maintain effective work relationships with people of different social and cultural backgrounds;
• Maturity and confidence in dealing with senior members of national institutions;
• High sense of responsibility; proven ability to work under time pressure and handle multiple activities and tasks concurrently;
• Excellent writing, communication and coordination skills;
• Good technical skills (good computer literacy).

Education:

• Advanced university degree inpedagogy, environmental management, natural sciences or other related areas; a relevant university degree in combination with qualifying experience in the subject area may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Professional experience:

• At least 10 years of proven experience in educational  or environmental sector. Experience in EE is an assset.
• Experience in development of policy and strategic documents in the field of education or environment.
• Strong track record in desk review, data collection and analysis in the field of education, environment;
• Experience of work with international organizations is an asset.

Language:

• Fluency in Armenian with excellent writing skills. Working knowledge of English is required.   

 INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANTS WILL BE EVALUATED BASED ON THE FOLLOWING METHODOLOGY:
Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants' technical qualifications,  experience and financial proposal. The contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Technically responsive/compliant/acceptable to the requirements of the ToR;
• Having received the highest cumulative (technical and financial) score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.
• Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation - max. 70 points

• Criteria A – Advanced university degree in pedagogy, environmental management, natural sciences or other related field - max. 10 points;
• Criteria B – At least 3 years of relevant experience in 10 years of proven experience in educational or environmental management or relevant field - max. 10 points;
• Criteria C - Experience in development of policy and strategic documents in the field of education or environment – max. 15 points;
• Criteria D-  Good knowledge of educational and environmental sectors at national level. Knowledge of MEAs and local legislation, related to the task implementation - max. 10 points;
• Criteria E - Strong coordination and team leading skills - max. 10 points;
• Criteria F – Excellent writing and communications skills - max. 10 points;
• Criteria G - Experience in EE – max. 5 points;

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation - max. 30 points.
The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion.

Payment terms

The following lump sum payable modality is envisaged for implementation of the task:

Output 1 – 40 %
Output 2 – 60 %

Evaluation of outcomes is the responsibility of UNDP. Payment will be issued according to the claims and submitted deliverables.  In case the conditions of the ToR are not met the contract may be terminated or the consultancy fee may be reduced.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE APPLICATION.

• UNDP Personal History form (P11): http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/Careers/P11_Personal_history_form.doc.
• Letter of interest;
• Financial Proposal and Availably: OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP
• General Conditions of Contract is available here: http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf.
• Note: Please note you can upload only one document to this application (scan all documents in one single PDF file to attach).