Climate Policy and Planning Specialist (Pakistan)

About Asian Disaster Preparedness Center

ADPC is an intergovernmental regional 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 is a competent regional resource center and has seven thematic departments: ADPC Academy, Risk Governance, Climate Resilience, Urban Resilience, Health Risk Management, Preparedness for Response and Recovery, Geospatial Information. These are supported by the Finance, Human Resources and Administration, and Strategic Planning departments. In addition to the departments, ADPC 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/

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. 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. Scaling up the climate-resilient policy, planning, and financing is vital to satisfactorily implement all the required components of the project. It would involve a review of national policies to support in the development of climate-resilient frameworks in planning and financing. Accordingly, a highly qualified and experienced Climate Policy and Planning Specialist will be required to support in reviewing national reports and frameworks. S/he will be selected on a competitive basis following World Bank Procurement Regulations. The objectives of this consultancy service are:

• Country technical lead in reviewing, updating, and enhancing public policy and planning mechanisms related to climate resilience including institutional and related public expenditure.
• Provide technical inputs in reviewing relevant country documents to highlight gaps in climate resilience with focus on public policy on climate resilience including planning mechanisms and public expenditure in Pakistan.
• Lead in facilitating cooperation between the Ministry of Planning and Development (MoPD) with the Ministry of Finance and Revenue (MoFR), the Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC), and members of the Planning Commission of Pakistan to identify gaps and develop an action plan for climate and disaster-risk informed investment.

Statement of Intent

The Climate Policy and Planning Specialist will play an essential role in the program’s presence in Pakistan to ensure National expertise is available with a strong understanding of the processes in developing climate policy and plans to mainstream climate change. The Climate Policy and Planning Specialist will work closely with the Climate Policy and Planning Specialist in ADPC-Bangkok and the Climate Finance Specialist in Pakistan. The Climate Policy and Planning Specialist will be based in Islamabad, Pakistan. 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

Duties and Responsibilities

The Climate Policy and Planning Specialist shall provide the following inputs:

Technical Review and Support

• Assist and coordinate in organizing inception meeting/consultations/workshops in Pakistan related to public policy and planning for climate resilience.
• Support in review, update and revalidation of the Climate Public Expenditure and Institutional Review (CPEIR) with the Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC), MoPDR and the Ministry of Finance and Revenue (MoFR).
• Provide support in reviewing documents on the country’s Climate Change Financing Framework (CCFF) and CPIER and provide inputs to develop Pakistan review report on gaps for climate and disaster risk informed investments.
• Support the preparation and conduct of a National Policy Dialogue on Climate Change.
• Provide technical inputs to identifying climate indicators to be incorporated in the planning and policy documents in Pakistan.
• Support the development of a climate change financing framework implementation plan in Pakistan.
• Perform other relevant tasks as assigned by the Project Director, Country Project Lead and Climate Policy and Planning Specialist (Regional).

Qualifications

• A master’s degree, PhD or equivalent qualification in the field of Public finance management, Economics, Business administration, Public accounting in Climate Change, International Development or Public Relations, Political Science, Public Administration or a relevant social science degree.
• Minimum 8 years of experience in climate change and resilience and development policy analysis, and at least 5 years’ experience in policy and planning for resilient development.
• Strong analytical skills and a solid understanding of climate science, global frameworks, climate adaptation/resilience strategies, climate-informed policies, and planning frameworks and sectoral interventions, global and national framework of climate services.
• Knowledge of latest climate policies, frameworks such as Pakistan’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (PAK-INDC), National Adaptation Plans (NAP), and other compliance and obligatory documents in the country relevant to climate adaptation and resilience.
• Knowledge of public financial management, specifically in one or more of the following areas: budget preparation and execution processes; public investment management and PFM information systems.
• Experience in analytical work related to public financial management and public expenditure analysis.
• Knowledge of national laws and government.
• Proven research and analytical work.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills and capacity to work under pressure and short deadlines.
• A professional relationship with the MoPD, and the MoCC is an advantage.
• Cross-cultural awareness and ability to work amongst a diverse group of staff, and partners.
• Required computer proficiencies: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Microsoft Teams.
• Experience in training, capacity building and facilitating high-level discussions.
• 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 a general audience.

Reporting Relationships

The Climate Policy and Planning Specialist will report to Country Project Lead for the day to day activities and maintain close coordination with the ADPC’s Country Representative in Pakistan. The technical oversight will be provided by the Climate Policy and Planning Specialist (Regional) at the Bangkok office through the PIU. The specialist will also coordinate with the other CARE project specialists at the regional and national level to carry out different activities under the project.

Contract Duration

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

Selection Method

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