Nature for Health and Biodiversity Economy Project Manager

Result of Service

This assignment is expected to support and coordinate the scoping phase of the Nature for Health in Kenya to co-create an Implementation Project Document. The process coordinated by the consultant will support the establishment of a common understanding, vision and commitment to collaborate among the various stakeholders in Kenya, to improve understanding of the links between health of the environment and human and animal health, and to understand the importance of preventive approach. Technical materials are produced and dialogues held to support and feed into (i) the Vanishing Treasures sequel and support further upscaling and follow-up activities as well as formulation of follow up project ideas, as well as support the work under other BPL related projects such as Congo Basin Landscapes Initiative, Great Green Wall, Resilient Mountains/ UNEP’s broader work on biodiversity, peoples and landscapes.

Work Location

Nairobi, Kenya

Expected duration

12 Months

Duties and Responsibilities

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. Its mandate is to coordinate the development of environmental policy consensus by keeping the global environment under review and bringing emerging issues to the attention of governments and the international community for action. UNEP's Ecosystems Division engages with governments and other partners to develop and promote ecosystem-based solutions for sustainable development. This position is in Biodiversity and Land Branch. This assignment is intended to (i) mainstream biodiversity economy in various landscape portfolios, and (ii) conduct the scoping phase of the Nature for Health initiative in Kenya. (i) The expected outputs of this consultancy will strengthen the biodiversity economy approach in forests, drylands, mountains and other relevant landscapes. It will specifically inform and contribute to the portfolio of the Biodiversity, Peoples and Landscapes Unit of UNEP, particularly through expanding on the proof of concept of innovative and economic tools for conservation in rich biodiversity regions. This includes leading up to disseminating information at COP CBD 17 and development of concepts. Strengthening the collaboration between the biodiversity economy and BPL portfolio, in particular, the ongoing Congo Basin Landscapes Initiative, the Great Green Wall (TALSIG), Vanishing Treasures (VT) , CAMCA and Resilient Mountains (including Adaptation at Altitude/MtAdapt component) Projects, the Biodiversity, People and Landscapes Unit (BPLU) teams intends to develop proof of concept of innovative, economic tools for conservation in bioregions benefitting Indigenous Peoples, local communities and peoples of African descent, focusing in particular on the climate nature nexus (resilience) linked also with human-wildlife conflict, building in particular on recent achievements and case studies/innovative approaches to be explored from the projects with the overall aim to provide the overall ground in further leveraging bioeconomy approaches in forest, drylands and mountain landscapes. Biodiversity economy has the potential and current policy support to foster a transformational shift to create resilient livelihoods based on a sustainable use of biodiversity in critical forest, mountains and drylands biomes (e.g. Congo Basin, Amazon Basin, Indo-Malaya basin, Sahel, Tropical Andes, Central Asia, Virunga/East Africa, Hindu-Kush Himalaya, South Caucasus). The 7th High level Principle on Bioeconomy (G20, 2024) emphasizes the importance of “robust and coherent policy frameworks that foster trade for bioeconomy products and services, market conditions, sustainable business models, decent jobs, local value creation and private sector and civil society participation.” This initiative will identify and assess the existing gaps, barriers and potential drivers for this transition to support further upscaling. By exploring case studies/innovative approaches from the existing projects and other relevant activities, this initiative will capture best practices on demonstrating the economic case, sustainable business models, identifying investment opportunities, targeting in particular Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) while at the same time harnessing the traditional knowledge from the communities and contributing to the conservation of biodiversity and climate change adaptation. As well as communicating to decision makers to support further upscaling at national and regional level. Dialogues will be promoted to facilitate South-South cooperation and exchange and develop a baseline to develop future activities to support a wider transformational shift in identified countries. (ii) This assignment is intended to support UNEP's Biodiversity, People and Landscapes Unit in their role as Convening Partners of the Nature for Health initiative during its scoping phase. N4H is a global initiative, working nationally to reduce health risks through environmental determinants. Initial work will focus on strengthening the environmental and preventive aspects of One Health. N4H aims to contribute to an improved understanding of the links between the health of people, animals and ecosystems, to mainstream them into public health approaches and to support decision makers and relevant actors to make use of relevant evidence to help prevent future pandemics and enhance planetary health. In its first eight years, N4H is working in three overlapping phases in 18 low- and middle-income countries or regions. For its first phase of work, N4H employed an open call to government agencies for Expressions of Interest. Selection criteria centered on reducing the risk of zoonotic disease spillover, political commitment to collaboration and One Health, and potential as an N4H partner. In Phase I, N4H is working in Ecuador, Ghana, Mongolia, Rwanda, and Vietnam and operational work started in 2023. The scoping stage is designed as a systemic inquiry and will conclude when a co-developed Implementation Project Document is produced that details the activity plan and budget. The scoping stage is a limited exercise estimated to last approximately 9 months and to be completed in 2027. Expected results/ Ultimate results of service Under the overall supervision of the Head of the Biodiversity People and Landscapes Unit, with direct oversight by the Programme manager, the consultant will: 1. For N4H, Plan and organize stakeholders' workshops • Liaise with the Systems Approach Facilitator and BPLU to plan and conduct consultation and co-creation workshops, as well as bilateral meetings and focus group meetings with relevant stakeholders in Kenya. • Support the administrative staff in the unit with the organization of at least 3 stakeholders' workshops on the environmental aspects of One Health and Nature for Health to assess the situation in Kenya, engage relevant stakeholders, understand zoonotic spillover risks and identify prevention interventions: - Liaise with UNEP and Systems Approach Facilitator on the design of the stakeholder workshops, bilateral and focus group meetings. - Liaise with participants in advance to ensure their proactive participation - Provide communication requirements prior to the workshops to the core team and stakeholders i.e. agendas OH and N4H documentation, etc. - Contribute to agenda development, presentations and activities to ensure maximum participation - Support UNEP and Systems Approach Facilitator to keep discussions on track, ensuring they are productive, efficient and focused on sustainable outcomes; - Prepare the reports and summaries of discussions to inform the development of the Implementation Project Document for the Implementation Phase and other key take-aways after each workshop 2. Support the engagements with stakeholders to build the N4H Partnership and inform the development of the Implementation Project Document • Maintain communication and engagement with stakeholders throughout the process on progress and needs on an ad-hoc basis and as requested by UNEP and the Systems Approach Facilitator • Maintain relationship between N4H core team and project • Co-facilitate and support the process of collaboratively building the N4H partnership in Kenya and its programmatic structure for the implementation phase in collaboration with UNEP and the Systems Approach Facilitator • Arrange, co-facilitate and support Partner's meetings to discuss partnership roles and develop implementation activities in collaboration with UNEP and the Systems Approach Facilitator. 3. Design the Implementation Phase (in collaboration with UNEP and Systems Approach Facilitator) • Gather contributions from the meetings and from the Systems Approach Facilitator to design the Implementation Project Document for the implementation phase of N4H. • Contribute to the development of relevant Terms of Reference and key components for the Implementation phase as required in collaboration with the Systems Approach Facilitator. 4. N4H Project management • Take responsibility for project planning based on engagements with UNEP, the Core Team and the System Approach Facilitator and timely delivery of the Implementation Project Document: Prepare a project plan for the scoping phase with timelines for delivery. • Lead on the development of the Implementation Project Document, ensuring inputs from the Systems Approach Facilitator, from BPLU in UNEP, from the Core Team and from all the co-creation and consultation workshops and meetings. • Prepare various written reports and ensure accurate and timely record keeping, as required by UNEP to carry out the duties of N4H in Kenya • Support the process to submit the Implementation Project Document for consideration by the N4H Steering Committee, Technical Advisory Group and revise the document as needed with final submission for approval. 5. For Biodiversity Economy, develop an internal report on the compilation of case studies/best practices and impacts from the economic tools for conservation from the BPL regions (as well as possibly other related case studies with a specific focus on critical biomes and bioregions). Including: - Stakeholder consultations across the BPL portfolio and partnership networks - The investment case to support biodiversity economy in critical forest, mountain and dryland ecosystems, the priority intervention areas and existing partnerships. - Integration of evidence from best practices and economic tools for conservation Including from areas/countries not covered by respective projects - Providing an analysis and highlighting the existing gaps, barriers and drivers to attain the sustainable livelihoods and strengthen resilience based on biodiversity economy. - Recommendations to inform decision-making supporting upscaling at national and regional as well as global level 6) For Biodiversity Economy, develop (1) policy brief based on the previous analysis, highlighting the necessary enabling conditions for successful uptake by governments and best practices/innovative approaches to foster an equitable economic transition based on a sustainable use of biodiversity. This includes; - Synthesis of evidence from available project related case studies, best practices and other relevant initiatives. - Identification of scalable and innovative approaches. - Focus on drivers, enabling policy frameworks, financing mechanisms, and scaling pathways. 7) For Biodiversity Economy, coordinate (1) policy dialogue session on bioeconomy in critical forest, mountains and drylands as a side event at CBD CoP17 in Armenia (including one event within context of potential thematic day on mountain biodiversity tbc), This includes; - Develop the programme outline - Liaise on administrative and management tasks to arrange venue and session logistics. - Document key messages outcomes and recommendations for the session - Engaging and bringing together donors, government stakeholders with experience in the adoption of policies and practices to enable resilient livelihoods based on bioeconomy to share lessons learned and facilitate discussions in support of a further transformational shift. 8) Draft (1) donor facing biodiversity economy proposal, designed to support broader resource mobilisation efforts and outreach. Draft (1) one specific baseline report (three-pager) to inform Vanishing Treasures project sequel design, including: - Data and stakeholder analysis - Priority activities and partners identified - Draft problem tree, theory of change, log frame outline developed - Opportunities for scaling bioeconomy outlined As part of an overall effort to support a wider transformational shift and through further conducted internal and external consultations develop a baseline in support of future programmatic work in support of UNEP PoW/Nature Action Subprogramme (e.g. in support of possible sequel to Vanishing Treasures project, the biodiversity economy UNEP project document and UNEP’s efforts towards GBF 9 and 18) including initiatives focused on applying innovative economic tools to enable an equitable economic transition based on resilient livelihoods and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Qualifications/special skills

An advanced university degree (MSc level or higher) in the social, behavioral or management sciences is required. A first level degree with additional two years of qualifying experience maybe accepted in lieu of advanced degree. A minimum of 5 years of postgraduate work experience in project management and organizational partnership building in diverse multi-stakeholder environments is required. Experience organizing and coordinating workshops and processes for stakeholders across sectors is required. Experience in cross-sectoral partnership building and collaboration is required. Demonstrated experience in communication and presentation, planning and organizing, writing and reporting are required. Progressive responsible experience in sustainable use of biodiversity and landscapes management, biodiversity conservation and restoration or experience in Biodiversity Economy Projects implementation is desirable. Demonstrated experience in project management and programming for sustainable development is required. Experience in developing project documents including the intervention strategy and logframe that capture outcomes from meetings is required Experience in System Thinking approaches is desirable.

Languages

English is the official working languages of the United Nations. For this position fluency in both oral and written English is required. Working knowledge of another UN language is an advantage. Knowledge of language(s) spoken in Kenya is an advantage.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.