Climate smart policy analyst - 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 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.

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 national policies on climate change is vital to satisfactorily implement all the required components of the project. It would involve review of national and sectoral policies to support in development of climate resilient tools and guides for the agriculture sector.

Accordingly, a highly qualified and experienced Climate Smart Policy Analyst will be required to support in reviewing national and sectoral guidelines for the agriculture sector and climate change. S/he will be selected on competitive basis following World Bank Consultants Guidelines.

The objectives of this consultancy service are to:

• Support in reviewing national and sectoral guidelines, policies, programs, frameworks etc. for agriculture sector and climate change
• Support the development of regional and national tools and guides to promote climate-smart design and standards
• Support in scaling up climate smart agriculture and water management framework
• Conduct needs assessment, workshops and capacity building for agriculture sector

Statement of Intent

The Climate Smart Policy Analyst will support in reviewing various regional and national policies, plans and guidelines related to agriculture and water sector and climate change. The consultant will provide further support in collecting and reviewing data to support in scaling up climate smart agriculture in Pakistan.

The Climate Smart Policy Analyst 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 Smart Policy Analyst will be responsible for:

Technical Review and Support

• Supporting the review of key documents and existing strategic frameworks, including institutional set-up and research activities, on climate smart agriculture and water management
• Collecting data on climate change, agriculture, and water sector
• Provide support in detailed review of existing climate-related hazard and risk assessment studies/approaches to conduct risk information related to stakeholder and needs assessment for agriculture and water sector
• Assisting in the collection and review of existing geospatial data needed for climate-related hazard, exposure, vulnerability, risk assessment for agriculture and water sector to support in establishing databases
• Assist in the review and assessment of existing agro-climatic zones and updates of zones based on data analysis
• Provide inputs to revise the climate smart agriculture and water management strategic framework of Pakistan
• Support towards review and analysis of existing regional, national guidelines and international frameworks and strategies for climate resilient agriculture, and water sector
• Support in reviewing national adaptation plans and NDCs in South Asia and summarize findings and recommendations contextual for agriculture and water sector in Pakistan
• Support in conducting workshops/meetings/consultations in Pakistan especially relevant to the agriculture and water sector.

Tool and Guides Development

• Preparing draft of regional guidelines for priority areas in agriculture, and water sector
• Preparing IEC materials for dissemination
• Finalizing regional guidelines on promoting climate resilient design and standards
• Supporting in drafting guidelines for climate-smart agriculture and agro-climatic zoning in Pakistan

Needs Assessment

• Provide technical and coordination support in conducting needs assessment and validation workshops with relevant stakeholders in agriculture and water sector.

Capacity Building

• Support towards developing Training modules/Training of Trainers modules on climate resilient agriculture and water sector in Pakistan.

Perform other relevant tasks as assigned by the Country Project Lead and Climate Policy and Planning Specialist (Regional).

Qualifications

The candidate should at least have:

• A master’s degree in Climate Change, Agriculture Systems, Integrated Water Resource Management, Sustainable Development or relevant fields
• Minimum 5 years of experience in agriculture or water sector, and experience in dealing with climate smart and climate resilience agriculture or integrated water resource management, climate-informed policy, strategy and interventions in development sectors.
• Strong analytical skills and 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 and experience of latest climate smart policies, frameworks etc. in the South Asia and Pakistan
• 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, PowerPoint, Internet
• Experience in training and capacity building
• 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

Reporting Relationships

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