Adaptation Expert

Result of ServiceTo complete outputs related to sustainability, knowledge management and learning and produce updated 2025-2026 GEF Project implementation Progress report. Work LocationHome Based Expected duration6 months Duties and ResponsibilitiesBackground United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. UNEP promotes increased action and investment in climate change adaptation, with a focus on incorporating nature-based solutions as part of an overall adaptation strategy. UNEP supports developing countries in accessing funding to address their climate change adaptation needs, including funding from several multilateral funds established under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Adaptation Fund was established in 2001; it supports developing country Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, in increasing their resilience through concrete adaptation projects and programmes that reduce the adverse effects of climate change facing communities and sectors. The Adaptation Fund provides funding to LDCs and SIDS to address their immediate and urgent climate change impacts identified through the country Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Policies on Climate Change, National Communications on Climate Change and National Adaptation Plans. Unplanned rapid urbanization negatively impacts the provision of ecosystem services crucial for the livelihoods of poor urban communities. The vulnerability of the urban poor is exacerbated by the repercussions of climate change. Predicted increases in rainfall intensity are expected to elevate the frequency and intensity of flooding and landslides in urban areas, resulting in substantial infrastructure damages and human casualties. Greater rainfall variability will disrupt the timing of dry months making planning difficult and jeopardizing water availability. In addition, coastal cities such as Kep, face the imminent threat of saltwater inundation from sea-level rise, adversely affecting agricultural land, natural forests and infrastructures. Government agencies in the region typically lack the technical capacities essential for effectively mainstreaming nature-based solutions into planning processes resulting in limited on-the-ground demonstrations of its benefits. Municipal budgets allocated for the implementation of EbA are generally constrained. The project “Building climate resilience of urban systems through Ecosystem-based Adaptation in the Asia Pacific region” (referred to as Urban EbA Asia) seeks to build climate resilience in urban and peri-urban communities in Asian Pacific cities through the implementation of EbA approaches. Funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) / Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF) through a USD 6,000,000 grant. The project works at the regional, national, municipal, and intra-municipal levels. At the municipal level the project focuses on Thimphu (Bhutan), Kep (Cambodia), Phongsaly and Udomxay (Lao PDR). It was approved by the GEF in January 2017 and commenced implementation in November 2017, with an expected lifetime of 4 years (48 months), but has been extended. The project is implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Climate Change Adaptation Unit (CCAU) and executed by UNEP Asia and Pacific Regional Office (ROAP) in collaboration with UN Habitat and national counterparts, including the National Environment Commission and Thimphu Thromde in Bhutan, the Department of Climate Change of the General Secretariat of the National Council of Sustainable Development (NCSD) in Cambodia, and the Department of Climate Change (DCC) in Lao PDR. The project was implemented in 4 municipalities/Provinces: Bhutan – Thimpu Thromde Cambodia – Kep province (Kep city) Lao PDR – Phongsaly Province & Oudomxay province The project has three components. Component 1: Strengthening the technical and institutional capacity of city management authorities to plan and implement EbA. Component 2: Urban EbA interventions on-the-ground are demonstrated in the selected municipalities Thimphu (Bhutan), Kep (Cambodia), Phongsaly and Oudomxay (Lao PDR) and Mandalay (Myanmar). These on-the-ground interventions will increase the capacity of urban communities living in vulnerable areas within the pilot cities to adapt to the effects of climate change. Component 3: Promote the generation, dissemination and management of knowledge – including the information and tools developed within Component 1 – on urban EbA in each pilot city and across the broader Asia-Pacific region, thereby supporting upscaling of the urban EbA approach. Three (3) interventions in Bhutan, four (4) in Cambodia and four (4) in Laos were reported to have been completed or close to completion in the MTR report. Specifically, in Bhutan this comprised Riverbank restoration and slope stabilisation around river Thimphu (1.5km), slope stabilisation and planting in a region known as Zilukha, and riverbank protection (2.3 km) in the south of Thimphu. In Cambodia this involved mangrove planting (5 hectares), construction of three canals for flood protection (in Damnak Chambak, Sangkat OuKrasar, and Kep City of 2,742m, 1,058m 4,100m, respectively) and water gate rehabilitation. In Laos this included the improvement of a drainage system, Landscape and Tree Plantation (3 km) in Jeng and Dongmengda village, Xay district, and the improvement of Water Supply Capacity with Tree Plantation in Preservation Area in Sansaly village, slope Protection Area in Phongsaath village, and the improvement of Nongkhiew pond, all of them Phongsaly province. As of June 2024, all works were completed, except for the drainage system (90% completed) and the pond improvement (80% completed) in Laos. What remains to be done are activities under Component 3: knowledge management and learning as well as developing exit strategies for the investment and planning activities of the project, to increase the sustainability and impact of the project. A mid-term review was completed in December 2024 with a series of recommendations. This assignment is central to implementing most of the recommendations. This assignment will be carried out in collaboration with two other parallel assignments on outcome target attainment measurement and cost benefit analysis. The consultant will report to the Chief of Climate Change Adaptation Unit. Duties and Responsibilities A: Cost-benefit analysis: 1a: Assess relevance and opportunity to gather key research findings delivered under Output 2.4: Long-term research programmes established in local scientific institutions to assess the long-term societal, economic and ecological benefits of urban EbA in pilot cities and consider whether key findings can be woven into the policy briefs or made as a standalone policy brief. Consider whether the data gathered can be pulled into the cost benefit analysis (to be commissioned as a separate assignment. Develop short report on key findings/policy messages together with data sets that can be used for the CBA. 1b: Tailor the standard CBA UNEP ToR (to be provided by UNEP) to interventions in Bhutan and Cambodia. Validate with the PMU teams the urban eba structures that should be included and include the clear demarcations of those structures and investments as annexes to the ToR. Include in the TOR recommendations for data sets available on costs of those measures. Identify partners that the international consultant could work with in Cambodia and Bhutan. Act as the liaison point for data gathering between the economist and the country team. The TOR for Economist completed by 28 February 2026 to give enough time to mobilize the contractor for an April start. B: Co-financing report 2. Reconstruct co-financing history for the three countries in in-person meetings with Ministry to analyse contributions from government in terms of time, office space, utilities and other in-kind contributions as well as outputs from other projects that were used for the purposes of implementing the project. C: Develop exit strategies 1a: Taking as a start point section 3.13 on sustainability in the MTR, and based on an exploration of the opportunities with the Ministry in person meetings, develop exit strategies for the project which should include i) operation and maintenance action plans for all intervention types considering all risks to sustainability (responsible party, frequency of action, budget) ii) mainstreaming strategy for government decision making that considers climate risk assessments iii) scaling up strategy through a policy mainstreaming approach and scoping opportunities to integrate into projects being design presently. In Laos, this should be done in conjunction with the National Adaptation Planning project, and the GCF urban EBA project which are both implemented by UNEP. 1b: Regarding point ii) above, the exit strategies should identify national institutions that can provide regular training to government officials at different levels based on the revised training materials, and ii) explore the feasibility of integrating urban EbA in the curricula of several relevant bachelor’s degrees 1c: hold two stakeholder consultations at the country level, the first to ascertain feedback and inputs to the exit strategy and the second to present it and finalise it. National and provincial level stakeholders should be invited to both. D. Develop policy briefs 1a: At least three policy briefs will be produced on i) city level adaptation planning approach executed by UN Habitat ii) findings from the cost-benefit analysis and iii) lessons learned and recommendation for future programming. For this assignment and regarding i) and iii), the consultant will develop key messages for policy briefs and write the case study material that identifies learning from this project and other similar initiatives (e.g Udomxay in Laos and the World Bank. On iii) the consultant should consider whether it would be useful to produce city-level analyses including the Theory of Change of the intervention strategy, if relevant. 1b: The consultant will assess the potential for other policy briefs, based on the Outcome measurement exercise developed as a parallel assignment or information gathered as part of any of the other tasks in this assignment and propose topics accordingly. 1c: For lessons learned brief, review information from the 2024 Project Implementation Reports, Mid-Term Review report, as well as organize country meetings and a virtual meeting with UN Habitat to gather information and develop the brief. The brief should focus on lessons learned and recommendations for future programming. It should be no more than 4 pages with an accompanying slide deck. E. Dissemination of learning 1a: With the Ministry , identify the participants at the sub-national and national level that should be invited to the webinar including a plan for translation. Participants at the national level (environment, urban, finance, the provincial planning and investment, environment and urban development departments and the district level should be included. 1b: Organise a virtual learning webinar in each of the 3 countries and partners to disseminated findings from the lessons learned brief. Compile feedback from the webinar and integrate into the final report. 1c: Identify opportunities at the country level to share the findings from the policy briefs in three countries. In Laos, this should be done in conjunction with the National Adaptation Planning project, which is implemented by UNEP. F. Integrated final reporting Review information produced under this ToR, and the CBA analysis and the Outcome measurement ToR and develop an integrated multi-country final report; Produce updated 2025-2026 GEF Project implementation Progress report The consultant will report to the Chief of Climate Change Adaptation Unit. Qualifications/special skillsAdvanced degree in economic or social sciences is required 7 years of professional experience in international development is required Track record in climate change adaptation is desirable Track record of working on national or sub-national policy and planning processes is desirable Track record of working on development issues at the city level is desirable Work experience in developing policy briefs is desirable Experience of working the SE Asia region is desirable LanguagesFluency in English is required Additional InformationConduct of work The consultant is expected to have a two-week mission in each of the three countries to establish dialogues and gather information for the development of all tasks in this assignment. A provision of 9 days has been included in the contract duration to account for travel and organisation of mission travel. The consultant may wish to consider carrying out the sequentially by country, gathering experience from one country to feed into the organisation of the next country set of assignments. Against this is the consideration about the start of the cost-benefit analysis which is planned to start in April for two months, and for which Task A for the three countries will be foundational. It is not expected that the CBA consultant will travel to the field. The consultant engaged under this assignment should expect to the liaison point for data gathering. The consultant may wish to consider carrying a joint mission with the monitoring expert that will assessment Outcome target attainment. The Ministry should assign someone to work with the adaptation expert. No FeeTHE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.