Resilient Agriculture Specialist (Nepal)

SECTION I: INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND

A. About Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC)

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 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 at http://www.adpc.net/

B. Background

Agriculture is the key economic sector of Nepal contributing to 35% of national GDP, and employment to 74% of the economically active population. Nearly 30% of the total land area is under Agriculture in Nepal. However, agriculture in Nepal is still subsistence. Nepal is one of the most vulnerable countries due to climate change as per Global Climate Risk Index – 2020 (09th rank). Changes in precipitation and temperature patterns are likely to affect rainfed agricultural activities, causing significant annual yield variability and higher production risks in Terai areas. Frequency of hydro-met hazards is expected to increase due to climate change, further affecting croplands and yields.

Inadequate policies, plans and capacities at provincial and local government levels to the larger extent are responsible for poor growth and development and low resilience to water and weather induced disasters in the agriculture sector. The present agriculture practices are not profitable, competitive, sustainable, and inclusive. To address the challenges faced by the agriculture sector, there is a need to develop climate-smart agriculture with a greater focus on a set of innovative technologies and practices related to i) climate change adaptation, ii) climate change mitigation, and iii) productivity enhancement. There is growing evidence that investing in Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) is the way forward to achieving these triple goals and contribute to sustainable and competitive growth of the agriculture sector.

Capacity building and policy facilitation will allow the government to mainstream climate risk management in policy, planning and sectoral investments. The National Consultation organized on April 9, 2021 with the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development (MoALD), and Nepal Agricultural Research Council (NARC) has clearly recommended to focus on building local and provincial capacity and policy process selecting specific geographical locations so that tangible results could be possible within the project life. In this context, Madhesh Province has been selected to implement agriculture sector activities under this project.

To implement the sectoral activities in the Province and select local levels, an individual consultant will be required to facilitate the whole process of delivery of approved annual workplan. The consultant requires to work closely with the Ministry of Land Management, Agriculture and Cooperative (MoLMAC), Agriculture Knowledge Centres, Provincial Directorate and research stations NARC at provincial level, selected municipalities/rural municipalities. This terms of reference (ToR) aims to guide a competent consultant to design, organize, coordinate, conduct, and manage the implementation of the planned activities annually with constructive engagement of project team, public, private and farmers’ institutions to achieve the goal of CARE for South Asia project.

C. Statement of Intent

The Resilient Agriculture Specialist – Nepal will provide technical support in analyzing policies that influence provincial and local governments and supporting the government agencies to develop tailored policies and guidelines. This support will include work on CARE for South Asia Project. 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 – Nepal will be contributing towards creating enabling policy environment, build provincial and local government capacity on climate resilient agriculture in Madhesh and Bagmati provinces, Nepal. The detailed scope of work is outlined below:

1. Support Ministry of Agricultural, Land Management and Cooperatives (MoLMAC) to develop resilient agriculture policies and guidelines in Madhesh Province. (In line with Nepal Climate Change Policy 2019 and Agriculture Development Strategies 2015-35, Nepal Climate Smart Agriculture Investment Plan, 2021)

• Mapping existing policies, plans and programs related to agriculture in Madhesh Province
• Identification of gaps and challenges, and priorities of policies and plans to promote climate resilient agriculture at provincial level through Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs)
• Prepare a report of the gap analysis and provide recommendations on necessary policy changes and enhance implementation of priorities listed in the policy and plan documents.
• Facilitate and provide technical support to the relevant government agencies in policy formulation and endorsement at provincial level

2. Support selected Local Government (Municipalities/Rural Municipality) in Madhesh Province to develop climate-informed agriculture sector policy (2 Local governments) (In line with Nepal Climate Change Policy 2019 and Agriculture Development Strategies 2015-35)

• Identification of needs and issues in the agriculture sector with focus on addressing challenges related to climate change at local level through Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs)
• Facilitate and provide technical support to developing local level agriculture policy to support climate-resilient agriculture

1. Support to prepare Local Level Climate Smart Agriculture Investment Plan (LCSAIP) in line with Nepal Climate Smart Agriculture Investment Plan (NCAIP) and LAPA

• Conduct consultation workshop with local authorities and other relevant stakeholders at Municipal level to prepare LCSAIP
• Provide technical support to the Municipality to prepare LCSAIP

1. Support to develop provincial guidelines on use of agro-climatic advisory system in alignment with NFCS (In collaboration with NARC)

• Identify climate services gaps and needs in the agriculture sector at provincial level
• Support to establish provincial level agro-climatic advisory system at MoLMAC based on NFCS

3. Provide technical input to national and sub-national level meetings related to scope of work of this ToR (low level of involvement)

• Attend important meetings and seminars to share results and findings of the assigned work
• Support other Consultant to organize workshop and conduct surveys for National Framework on Climate Services (NFCS)
• Provide technical support in conducting field consultations for Agriculture Sector Risk Assessment work

E. Qualifications

The candidate should at least have:

• A master’s degree in Agriculture, Environment Science, Social Sciences, International Development, Public Administration, Project Management, or another related field
• Minimum 7 years of experience of working experience in sustainable development projects and extensive knowledge on environmental and social assessments with preferably 5 years of experience in working on projects funded by the World Bank
• Knowledge and experience of latest climate change, agriculture and food security issues including Climate Smart Agriculture approaches particularly in the context of South Asia
• Knowledge in policy review, development, reform, and drafting
• Strong in facilitating meeting with stakeholders including government officials, NGOs, and private sector organizations
• Demonstrated ability to work in a team 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
• Full professional proficiency in spoken and written English and some understanding of Nepali is preferred
• Excellent communication and report writing skills
• Required computer proficiencies: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet
• Ability to travel in field and interacting with farming communities

F. Reporting Relationships

The Consultant will report to Project Director, CARE for South Asia Project, Bangkok (Thailand) and work in close coordination with Country Project Lead based in Kathmandu, Nepal. The Consultant will provide regular updates to and seek advice and guidance from the Senior Resilient Agriculture Specialist (Bangkok).

G. Contract Duration

The contract duration will be for 120 days stretched over a period of 6 months.

H. Selection Method

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