The European Union (EU) has championed rural development for many years and has developed an architecture and framework within which Member States formulate strategies and seven-year programmes to implement rural development activities. The EU’s three long-term strategic objectives for rural development covering the 2014-2020 period are:
- fostering the competitiveness of agriculture;
- ensuring the sustainable management of natural resources, and climate action; and
- achieving a balanced territorial development of rural economies and communities including the creation and maintenance of employment.
N.B. Regulation (EU) No 1305/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32013R1305&from=en)
The need for rural communities to approach development from an integrated perspective has created more focus on a broad range of development goals using territorial approaches rather than merely creating incentives for sectoral or resource-based activities. Education, entrepreneurship, physical infrastructure, biodiversity protection and enhancement, climate change adaptation and resilience and social infrastructure all play an important role in developing rural areas, and can be integrated into a single strategic framework for social, environmental and economic development, as successfully applied throughout the EU. Rural development is also characterized by its emphasis on locally owned identification and implementation of territorial strategies using the LEADER approach. In contrast to urban regions, which have many similarities, rural areas are highly distinctive from one another (Info about LEADER is available on: http://enrd.ec.europa.eu/en/leader).
The EU signed an Association Agreement with Georgia in June 2014. This aims to deepen political and economic relations between the EU and Georgia and to gradually integrate Georgia into the EU’s internal market. This entails, as one element, creating a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area between the EU and Georgia. Under Article 333 of the Association Agreement (Cooperation between the Parties in the field of agriculture and rural development), there is provision for ‘facilitating the mutual understanding of agricultural and rural development policies. This is the basis for the formulation of a Rural Development Strategy for Georgia which will in turn yield specification of measures which will benefit from the support under the European Neighborhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD).
Under ENPARD I (2013-2017), the primary focus of the programme was on support to agriculture through institutional capacity building and support for the development of small farmers’ cooperatives and the piloting of the LEADER approach to rural development in Borjomi, Stepantsminda and Lagodekhi municipalities. Building on this support, ENPARD II integrated support to agriculture, food safety, sanitary/phyto-sanitary and rural development with the aim to improve employment and living conditions in poor rural areas of Georgia, with subsequent impacts on poverty alleviation and growth. Under ENPARD II, 5 new municipalities were added for piloting of the LEADER approach: Keda, Khulo, Tetritskaro, Akhalkalaki and Dedoplistskaro.
On the policy front, ENPARD supported the preparation and approval in 2016 of the first Rural Development Strategy of Georgia and Ajara for 2017 – 2020, evidencing the commitment by the national and Ajara regional authorities to support rural development.
The goal of the Rural Development Strategy of Georgia for 2017-2020 is to support sustainable economic development through enhanced social-economic activities in rural areas and improved living condition of rural population. It provides the country’s vision for 2017-2020 in key areas of rural development – growth and diversification of local economies, improvement of social and public services, sustainable use of national resources and local engagement in the development process.
The adoption of these two strategies was followed by the establishment at central and Ajara regional level of Inter-Agency Coordination Councils on rural development led by the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture of Georgia and the Ministry of Agriculture of Ajara AR, respectively. Both Councils coordinate the implementation of the strategies with technical support by ENPARD in terms of policy and capacity development. To this end, Rural Development Action Plans for 2017 and for 2018-2020 have been adopted by the Government of Georgia and serves as the major instrument for consolidation of state budget funds and implementation of public programmes for rural development.
The project "Improving Rural Development in Georgia (ENPARD III)”, implemented by UNDP, is supporting the implementation of ENPARD III, the new phase of the programme which started in January 2018 with the purpose of promoting inclusive and sustainable growth and development, and creating employment and livelihoods for the poor and excluded.
As part of ENPARD III, the project supports the Government of Georgia in its efforts to improve employment and living conditions as a result of better quality and quantity of available services for the rural population in Georgia. The expected outcome is that more diverse rural services are delivered to population in a more efficient, effective and sustainable manner in the eight pilot rural development municipalities referred to above. The project will be complementary to the "FAO support to Georgian agricultural sector under ENPARD III", which will deliver agricultural services to the rural population in the same target areas.
In this respect, the project is on track to deliver the following outputs:
- Improved governance for effective implementation of the RDS, RDAP and related programmes
- Improved rural economic diversification, employment and services
- Improved environment, sustainable management of natural resources and climate action
- Improved rural development governance and economic diversification, environment, natural resources and climate action in Ajara autonomous region.
UNDP looks for a qualified candidate for the position of Coordinator for Environment for the project “Improving Rural Development in Georgia (ENPARD III)” funded by the European Union and Government of Ajara Autonomous Republic and implemented by UNDP.
The Coordinator for Environment will have the following duties and responsibilities:
- Provision of content inputs to the Project Team, UNDP, the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture and Inter-Agency Coordination Council on Rural Development in planning, assessing and implementing environment, sustainable management of natural resources and climate action, as well as in relevant capacity development measures related to rural development.
- Coordination of the project’s interventions to sustainably advance energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies in rural areas.
- Coordination of the project’s interventions for sustainable management of forest resources.
The specific tasks include:
Provision of content inputs to the Project Team, UNDP and the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture in planning, assessing and implementing environment, sustainable management of natural resources and climate action, as well as in related capacity development measures (all other outputs/results):
- Observe, initiate, evaluate, coordinate and support environment project interventions, sustainable management of natural resources, access to energy efficient and alternative energy technologies, if deemed suitable and useful for the achievement of the project’s targets, namely:
- Assessment of the priorities for environment and sustainable management of natural resources and respective programmes in target municipalities;
- Leading development of specific priorities and delivery mechanisms (including flow charts and description of procedures, baselines, targets and workplans);
- Perform at least annual review of environmental protection, access to energy efficient and alternative energy climate action related parts of Municipality Assessment Reports and Municipality Proposals.
- Perform analysis of challenges related to environment, sustainable management of natural resource in rural areas and facilitate policy dialogue and planning of interventions in target municipalities to overcome them;
- Analysis of state of play and effectiveness of relevant state programmes and potential for their use in addressing the rural development needs;
- Analysis of effectiveness of NGOs/CSOs implemented, donor supported projects in target areas and identification of actions to ensure potential synergy of the project’s activities with the donor supported projects in target areas;
- Organisation and facilitation of the national and municipality level consultations for designing measures related to the environmental protection, access to energy efficient and alternative energy climate action.
- Identification of target groups and types of the specific interventions of the project.
- Assessment of current data and evidence related to environment, sustainable management of natural resource and climate action in rural areas, identify gaps and contribute to evidence/data collection for better targeting the rural development policy and service delivery.
- Provision of inputs and recommendations for ensuring high synergy between the project’s components on economic diversification and environment, sustainable management of natural resources and climate action.
- Provision of inputs for various knowledge products and reports for IACC and RDC.
- Cooperation and coordination with national counterparts and other stakeholders, including national regional local stakeholders, EUs other partners of ENPARD, LAGs and CSOs.
- Evaluate and/or coordinate the evaluation of business proposals provided within the sphere of the project’s grants programmes in terms of their environmental adequacy:
- Ensure that sustainable environmental management and climate action are integrated components of the project’s support to the rural development policy of Government of Georgia, regarding policies, strategies, action plans, laws and regulations.
- Ensure an environmentally sustainable conceptualisation and implementation of all other project activities.
- Conduct and/or support the implementation of trainings with environmental focus and environmental aspects in other trainings.
- Assess current data and evidence related to environment, sustainable management of natural resource and climate action in rural areas, identify gaps and contribute to evidence/data collection for better targeting the rural development policy and service delivery (including the ENPARD 3 project target municipalities).
- Provide inputs to related knowledge products and reports for the project and its governmental partners.
- Organise and participate in conferences, meetings, roundtables around environmental and climate change topics.
- Network with other players in the field (Government, donors, NGOs, businesses) to coordinate approaches.
- Regularly monitor and evaluate the performance and impact, re-assess and adjust approaches, adjust approaches and improve.
- Report and provide timely and high-quality inputs for reporting in coordination with other staff members.
- Assessment of the priorities for environment and sustainable management of natural resources and respective programmes in target municipalities;
- Leading development of specific priorities and delivery mechanisms (including flow charts and description of procedures, baselines, targets and workplans);
- Perform at least annual review of environmental protection, access to energy efficient and alternative energy climate action related parts of Municipality Assessment Reports and Municipality Proposals.
- Perform analysis of challenges related to environment, sustainable management of natural resource in rural areas and facilitate policy dialogue and planning of interventions in target municipalities to overcome them;
- Analysis of state of play and effectiveness of relevant state programmes and potential for their use in addressing the rural development needs;
- Analysis of effectiveness of NGOs/CSOs implemented, donor supported projects in target areas and identification of actions to ensure potential synergy of the project’s activities with the donor supported projects in target areas;
- Organisation and facilitation of the national and municipality level consultations for designing measures related to the environmental protection, access to energy efficient and alternative energy climate action.
- Identification of target groups and types of the specific interventions of the project.
- Assessment of current data and evidence related to environment, sustainable management of natural resource and climate action in rural areas, identify gaps and contribute to evidence/data collection for better targeting the rural development policy and service delivery.
- Provision of inputs and recommendations for ensuring high synergy between the project’s components on economic diversification and environment, sustainable management of natural resources and climate action.
- Provision of inputs for various knowledge products and reports for IACC and RDC.
- Cooperation and coordination with national counterparts and other stakeholders, including national regional local stakeholders, EUs other partners of ENPARD, LAGs and CSOs.
- Ensure that sustainable environmental management and climate action are integrated components of the project’s support to the rural development policy of Government of Georgia, regarding policies, strategies, action plans, laws and regulations.
- Ensure an environmentally sustainable conceptualisation and implementation of all other project activities.
- Conduct and/or support the implementation of trainings with environmental focus and environmental aspects in other trainings.
- Assess current data and evidence related to environment, sustainable management of natural resource and climate action in rural areas, identify gaps and contribute to evidence/data collection for better targeting the rural development policy and service delivery (including the ENPARD 3 project target municipalities).
- Provide inputs to related knowledge products and reports for the project and its governmental partners.
- Organise and participate in conferences, meetings, roundtables around environmental and climate change topics.
- Network with other players in the field (Government, donors, NGOs, businesses) to coordinate approaches.
- Regularly monitor and evaluate the performance and impact, re-assess and adjust approaches, adjust approaches and improve.
- Report and provide timely and high-quality inputs for reporting in coordination with other staff members.
Coordination of the project’s interventions to sustainably advance energy efficiency (EE) and renewable energy (RE) technologies in rural areas:
- Coordinate the identification and assessment of suitable EE/RE technologies for rural households.
- Lead and/or coordinate evaluation of the commercial feasibility of suggested options, especially in the field of thermal EE/RE technologies for households and businesses (e.g. insulation).
- Support the identification and development of suitable business models that facilitate the widespread, commercially viable use of EE/RE technologies in rural areas.
- Support the establishment and advancement of financially and institutionally sustainable EE/RE demonstrations (e.g., EE/RE villages).
- Identify promotional messages and support the promotion of EE/RE technologies and coordinate promotional campaigns.
- Evaluate the impact of the promotions and coordinate their adjustment.
- Coordinate and evaluate proposals from businesses, NGOs and other players to establish rural markets for EE/RE technologies.
- Assess current data and evidence related to EE/RE in rural areas, identify gaps and contribute to evidence/data collection for better targeting the rural development policy and service delivery.
- Organize and participate in conferences, meetings, roundtables around the EE/RE topic.
- Provide inputs to related knowledge products and reports for the project and its governmental partners.
- Network with other players in the field (Government, donors, NGOs, businesses) to coordinate approaches and activities.
- Regularly monitor and evaluate the performance and impact, re-assess and adjust approaches, and improve.
- Report and provide timely and high-quality inputs for reporting in coordination with other staff members.
Coordination of the project’s interventions for sustainable management of forests and protected areas:
- Coordinate the cooperation with the National Forestry Agency (NFA) on forest inventory and the development and implementation of sustainable forest management plans and National Agency for Protected Areas.
- Coordinate and support the initiatives of NFA and NAPA and the UNDP project on forest waste to energy.
- Cooperate with the Department of Biodiversity to develop or review technical guidelines and, if applicable, regulations for Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFP), and coordinate and support the implementation of commercial interventions on NTFP.
- Initiate, evaluate and support any other forest related interventions of the project, deemed to be suitable and useful for the achievement of the project’s targets.
- Organize and participate in conferences, meetings, roundtables around forestry topics.
The Coordinator for Environment will work together with the Economic Diversification Coordinator under the direct supervision of the Project Manager and with support from the Project Technical Leader in consultation with the UNDP Economic Development Team Leader. The annual workplans will be elaborated performance against which will be used for evaluation of performance.
Core competencies:
- Adopts with complex concepts and challenges convention purposefully
- Meets goals and quality criteria for delivery of products or services
- Generates commitment, excitement and excellence in others
- Monitors and evaluates results and strives for continuous improvement
Functional competencies:
Complex Adaptive Systems:
- Knowledge of complex adaptive systems and the ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situations.
Knowledge Management:
- Ability to capture, develop, share and effectively use information and knowledge.
Partnerships:
- Ability to engage with other agencies, donors, and other development stakeholders and forge productive working relationships.
Research (General):
- Knowledge of analytical tools, market research and methods for undertaking substantive research on various policy related issues.
Strategic Planning
- Ability to make decisions that align with strategy, vision, and mission.
Development Planning and monitoring:
- Ability to develop business and planning processes at the national and local level and the ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situations.
Education:
- Master’s degree in Natural Resource Management, Environmental Protection, Public Policy, Economics, Engineering, or other related discipline.
Experience:
- At least 5 years of relevant professional experience with a focus on environmental protection and/or sustainable management of natural resources
- At least 3 years of proven experience in programme and/or project management, planning, implementation, monitoring and/or evaluation preferably in the environmental protection and/or sustainable management of natural resources
- Proven experience in renewable energy or energy efficiency or heating systems will be a strong asset
- Experience in energy or environmental economics will be an asset
- Academic or research background in environmental protection and/or sustainable management of natural resources will be an asset
- Experience in forestry, forest management or Non-Timber Forest Products will be an asset
- Experience in national or regional level policy development will be an asset.
- Experience of working with Government will be an asset
- Working experience with international organization and/or NGOs will be an asset
- Proven experience of designing and conducting trainings either in environmental protection and/or sustainable management of natural resources will be an asset.
Languages:
- Fluency in English and Georgian (both written and oral).
Important applicant information
All posts in the SC categories are subject to local recruitment.
Applicant information about UNDP rosters
Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.
Workforce diversity
UNDP is committed to achieving diversity within its workforce, and encourages all qualified applicants, irrespective of gender, nationality, disabilities, sexual orientation, culture, religious and ethnic backgrounds to apply. All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.
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Contract Duration: 6 months with a possibility of extension