Back Resilient Agriculture Specialist

A. About Asian Disaster Preparedness Center

ADPC is an autonomous international organization with a vision to reduce disaster and climate risk impacts on communities and countries in Asia and the Pacific by working with governments, development partners, international organizations, NGOs, civil society, private sector, media, and other key stakeholders.

Established in 1986 as a technical capacity building center, ADPC has grown and diversified its expertise across social and physical sciences to support sustainable solutions for risk reduction across a broad range of specialist areas. With over 100 staff from 19 different nationalities and a wide range of professional expertise from atmospheric scientists to social scientists with experiences from all levels of engagement typically required for Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Climate Resilience (CR) in an effective manner. ADPC has six strategic themes supported by seven departments: ADPC Academy, Risk Governance, Climate Resilience, Urban Resilience, Health Risk Management, Preparedness for Response and Recovery, Geospatial Information. These are supported by Finance, Human Resources and Administration, and Strategic Planning departments. In addition to the departments, ADPC also works on three cross-cutting themes: Gender and Diversity, Poverty and Livelihoods, and Regional and Transboundary Cooperation through permanent working committees.

ADPC Strategy 2020 guides the organization in providing comprehensive risk reduction support to countries and communities in Asia and the Pacific. ADPC recognizes the importance of examining the linkages between disaster risk management, poverty reduction, gender equality, sustainability, rights-based approaches, climate change and regional cooperation.

For details please refer to ADPC website at http://www.adpc.net/

B. Background

Disasters take a huge toll on the development agenda of SAR countries. Between 2000 and 2017, disasters in South Asia incurred estimated damages of US$ 149.27 billion. Public expenditure is under stress by the repeated need to reallocate capital budgets away from long term development planning and towards reconstruction activities in post-disaster environments. For example, since 2005, Pakistan has suffered losses on the order of US$ 16 billion due to natural disasters. In Bangladesh, 2007 Cyclone Sidr resulted in damages and losses of US$1.7 billion, or 2.6 per cent of GDP.

The agriculture sector is highly exposed to climate extremes in Nepal. Several factors make Nepalese agriculture particularly vulnerable to increasing climate variability and climate change. Floods and landslides are particularly regular phenomena in Nepal because of the country’s undulating topography. About 90 percent of crop loss in Nepal is caused by weather or meteorological events (FAO, 2014).

To increase resilience and achieve climate commitments, there is a need for a transformational shift towards policies and institutions that enable climate resilient investments. Investing in more resilient infrastructure is both profitable and urgent as disruptions are extremely costly for governments, households and private sector and large ongoing investments in infrastructure assets will have long-lasting repercussions as poor maintenance and natural disasters result in a vulnerable stock.

With the financial support from the World Bank Group, ADPC will be implementing a five years’ project, titled “Climate Adaptation and Resilience Project for South Asia” (CARE). The project aims to create an enabling environment for climate resilience policies and investments across South Asia. This objective will be achieved through enhanced regional cooperation and knowledge exchange for climate resilience and adaptation and mainstreaming of resilience and adaptation in national policies, plans and investments.

Realising the need for planned efforts to address the challenges of climate change and variability in agriculture and allied sectors, the Government of Nepal has developed a National Adaptation Programme of Action (NAPA), enacted a national Climate Change Policy in 2011 (CCP), and implemented Local Adaptation Plans of Action (LAPAs), among others. Promoting climate-friendly practices in agriculture is one of the strategies set out in Nepal’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC). Policies related to climate change adaptation, agriculture development and food security in Nepal primarily focus on the implementation of better agricultural practices and technologies, livelihood diversification and capacity-building activities. Therefore, it is very important to identify and priorities CSA technologies, actions and practices for different agro-ecological regions and integrate them into the climate change adaptation plans and policies to develop climate-resilient agricultural systems in Nepal.

Scaling up the national policies on agro-climatic zoning is vital to satisfactorily implement all the required components of the project. It would involve reviewing relevant documents and conducting needs assessment.

Accordingly, a highly qualified and experienced Resilient Agriculture Specialist will be required to implement various agriculture sector activities (as mentioned in Section-D) in Nepal. S/he will be selected on competitive basis following World Bank Consultants Guidelines.

The objectives of this consultancy service are to:

• Technical review of the climate smart agriculture sector related policies, strategies, plans and previous studies in Nepal
• Conducting consultations and workshops for needs assessment in the agriculture sector climate informed in Nepal
• Conducting data collection and collation to support development of a scientific base for agro-climatic zoning policy
• Support design of training modules on climate resilient agriculture
• Conduct trainings on climate smart agriculture

C. Statement of Intent

The Resilient Agriculture Specialist will provide technical support to implement agriculture sector activities in Nepal. The Resilient Agriculture Specialist will provide support in reviewing national policies, guidelines and plans for agriculture sector in Nepal and assist in developing policy action and handbook for climate smart agriculture.

The Resilient Agriculture Specialist will be based in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Note:

It is not the intent of this Terms of Reference to cover every aspect of the position requirements, rather to highlight the most important areas of personal and joint responsibilities.

D. Duties and Responsibilities

The Resilient Agriculture Specialist shall be responsible for:

Technical Lead and Support

• Reviewing the national agriculture policy and other national guidelines, plans document related to agriculture sector in Nepal and writing reports on the findings
• Reviewing agro-climatic zonation documents including reports/maps, existing climate-related hazard and risk assessment studies/approaches and writing reports on the findings
• Leading data collection and collation in Nepal for conducting historical analysis of climate data to support in making a scientific-base for an agro-climatic zoning policy
• Supporting and providing inputs in the climate inclusive hazard and risk assessment report for agriculture sector
• Writing chapters of handbook on climate resilience and adaptation for the Ministry of Agriculture in Nepal
• Writing national chapters of Nepal of regional guidelines for South Asia Region.

Needs Assessment

• Supporting in organizing and conducting meetings/workshops/trainings/consultations related to the needs assessment in the agriculture sector in Nepal. Due to COVID-19, meetings/workshops/trainings/consultations will be in virtual mode.
• Writing the need assessment report for agriculture sector in Nepal

Capacity Building

• Providing inputs to the design and content of the training modules/ToT modules on climate resilient agriculture sector in Nepal.
• Conducting various trainings on climate smart agriculture and writing post training reports
• Performing other relevant tasks as assigned by the Director, Climate Resilience, Project Director, Country Project Lead and Senior Resilient Agriculture Specialist (Regional).

E. Qualifications

The candidate should at least have:

• A master’s degree in one or more subjects such as Agriculture, Agronomy or other related fields
• At least 7 years’ experience in the field of agriculture and food security including agriculture policy review, agriculture guideline development
• Minimum 3 years of experience in climate change adaptation and climate smart solutions for the agriculture sector
• Strong understanding and knowledge of climate change impacts on agriculture sector in South Asia and especially in Nepal
• Knowledge of or related to agro-climatic zoning strategies and policies at national level in South Asia and Nepal
• Team work with strong communication skills and capacity to work under pressure and short deadlines
• Cross cultural awareness and ability to work amongst a diverse group of staff, and partners
• Required computer proficiencies: Word, Excel, Power Point, Microsoft Teams, working knowledge of SPSS or similar statistical software and GIS application would be preferred Experience in training and capacity building related to climate smart agriculture,
• Excellent English proficiency in oral and written communication, including a demonstrated track record in technical report writing and ability to communicate technical matters effectively to general audience. Fluency in the Nepali language is required

F. Reporting Relationships

The Resilient Agriculture Specialist (Nepal) will report to the Director of Climate Resilience Department at ADPC and perform day-to-day activities (as mentioned Section D) in close coordination with the CARE Country Project Lead and the ADPC’s Country Representative in Nepal. The technical oversight will be provided by Senior Resilient Agriculture Specialist (Regional) based at the Bangkok office. The specialist would also coordinate with the other CARE project specialists at the regional and national level to carry out different activities under the project.

G. Contract Duration

The contract duration will be for 1 year. The consultant’s performance will be reviewed on a quarterly basis.

H. Selection Method

The consultant will be selected in accordance with ADPC’s recruitment process and in compliance with the World Bank Procurement Regulations.