Project Researcher

Result of Service

The Individual Contractor will undertake the following 1. Provide support to delivering the Asia Pacific Regulatory Forum • Communication with stakeholders, partners and resource persons. • Prepare memos, briefing notes and agendas for internal and external meetings towards organizing the Forum. • Support research on key issues. 2. Provide support to delivering capacity building for ASEAN regulators and other key stakeholders • Communication with stakeholders, partners and resource persons. • Prepare memos, briefing notes and agendas for internal and external meetings towards organizing the Forum. • Support research on key issues. 3. Develop communications products to support the activities • Prepare written content, infographics, posters and other relevant communication materials to increase visibility of the activities • Develop digital materials showcasing the initiative. 4. Undertake ad hoc assignments upon request.

Work Location

Bangkok

Expected duration

9 months

Duties and Responsibilities

The member States of the South-east Asian sub-region have for many years been actively seeking to integrate their power systems across borders and increase renewable energy deployment, through development of the ASEAN Power Grid (APG). The past few years have seen some notable areas of progress on the APG’s development, including the successful launch of the third ASEAN Interconnection Masterplan Study (AIMS III), the establishment of the Lao PDR-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore Power Integration Project (LTMS-PIP), and the announcement in 2023 of the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines Power Integration Project (BIMP-PIP). However, a number of priority areas for the APG’s development remain at an early stage or otherwise under-developed, including development of full multilateral, multidirectional power trading, and increased support for the cross-border trade of renewable electricity. One of the key obstacles to successful and sustainable integration in South-east Asia is a lack of regulatory harmonization across countries. ESCAP’s roadmap on power system connectivity in Asia, endorsed by member States in 2021, highlights regulatory harmonization as a key strategy to support sustainable power system integration across the region. Specifically: Strategy 4: coordinate, harmonize and institutionalize policy and regulatory frameworks Strategy 8: build capacities and share information, data, lessons learned and best practices https://www.unescap.org/our-work/energy/energy-connectivity/roadmap These strategies highlight the need to identify existing regulatory gaps, to develop common regulatory frameworks to support cross-border power trade, and to establish forums and associations to support regulatory collaboration in areas like harmonization, capacity building, and knowledge sharing. The ASEAN Energy Regulators Network (AERN) in South-East Asia represents one of the few formal bodies in the Asia-Pacific region established to support regulatory collaboration. However, its ability to respond to the specific development needs of the ASEAN member States and the APG specifically has been limited, in part because of limited capacity on the part of regulators to engage on such issues. In this regard, there is need to both build up technical capacity on regulatory issues and develop an institutional support mechanism to strengthen coordination within AERN itself, and with utilities, energy ministries, and other stakeholders. The project supported by the China-ESCAP Cooperation Programme seeks to address this limited capacity so that regulators are better able to work on and support connectivity efforts that are linked to sustainability goals through (i) targeted capacity building on priority issues; (ii) knowledge exchange and sharing of best practices across the region and (iii) developing a long-term strategy for institutionalizing capacity-building that will also support regular networking and developing a common understanding across South-Asian regulators, helping to bridge the capacity and structural gaps between countries.

Qualifications/special skills

Degree in economics, development, international relations, energy or related field. Some research knowledge on economics, policy analysis, energy or power system would be advantage.

Languages

Good command of written and spoken English.

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.