CONSULTANT - JOINT PROGRAMME OF SUPPORT TO COMBAT POACHING & ILLEGAL WILDLIFE TRAFFICKING

Globally, the illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife derivatives has an estimated value of USD 8-10 billion per annum, making this the third largest illegal trade, after that in narcotics and small arms. As is the case with other forms of illicit trade, the trafficking of wildlife is undermining national and regional security. Heavily armed and highly organized groups of poachers, often linked to organized crime syndicates, are exploiting the opportunities provided by corrupt officials, weak institutions and porous border controls in conducting the trade. There is increasing evidence that criminals engaged in this trade also engage in crime syndicates dealing in small arms, drugs and human trafficking, and speculation that some wildlife trafficking groups may be linked to militias involved in civil conflicts. Poaching for wildlife parts and meat for domestic consumption is an ongoing phenomenon in Africa. Much of this is small-scale poaching for domestic consumption by poor communities. However, in the past few years, Africa has witnessed a huge escalation in the trafficking of wildlife and wildlife parts, spurred by international demand for elephant ivory and rhino horn. This has corresponded in a striking shift in terms of the focus of poaching (elephant tusks and rhino horns, rather than a range of species including game), numbers poached (herds of up to 400 elephants killed in one day), and tools (poachers using helicopters and high-tech surveillance equipment and weaponry).  The escalation in the wildlife trade is a major issue of concern to government authorities, development agencies and conservation groups in Africa. The upsurge in poaching of African Elephants is a major issue for Tanzania, as it is to varying degrees in all 38 African Elephant range states. A recent study conducted by the Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute (TAWIRI) revealed that the number of elephants in two protected areas fell sharply (by more than 40 percent) in just three years, as poachers increasingly killed the animals for their tusks. The study was conducted in the Selous Game Reserve and Mikumi National Park and revealed that elephant numbers had plunged from 70,406 in 2006 to 38,975 in 2009 (TAWIRI 2010). Given that the estimated total elephant population in Tanzania is between 110,000 and 140,000, the large drop in numbers over a short period of time portends badly for the future. Such levels of poaching have the potential to wipe out the country's elephant population in many areas within the next 7 years. This would have serious consequences for Tanzania's economically important tourism industry.  UNDP supports a huge portfolio of projects managing biodiversity for development. UNDP is also providing support to countries to strengthen their protected area systems, and is currently providing support to over 1,000 protected areas globally, covering 300 million hectares. Much of this work has centred around strengthening capacities for protected areas management and managing public goods, and developing conservation-compatible community livelihoods. The area of intervention includes sites harbouring some of the largest populations of threatened species, particularly African Elephants. Escalating poaching by armed gangs is effectively privatizing public goods for illicit gain, and is undermining successes achieved by countries in biodiversity conservation through development assistance and with UNDP support. This is a serious governance problem. Moreover, there has been a significant increase in demand from programme countries in Africa and Asia for UNDP to strengthen support on enforcement.

Duties and Responsibilities

Work collaboratively with government stakeholders, UNDP, relevant UN agencies and development cooperation agencies in shaping programme design—incorporating feedback into the document;  Undertake a background review of relevant national policies integral to wildlife management, governance issues, benefit-sharing options for local communities, law enforcement and available technologies and other issues necessary to situate the programme in the context of national policies; Review existing institutional arrangements and mandates governing the roles and interaction of national and sub-national government agencies and UNDP with regard to the wildlife enforcement and development agendas; Review implementation capacities and make recommendations on operational resource needs to support implementation.  National Scale The programme will aim to strengthen governance, ensuring transparency, and supporting the government in enforcing wildlife protection and anti-corruption strategies. The strongest deterrent to poaching is the enforcement of the rule of law, starting with the formulation of well thought out policies, rules and laws, sensitization/awareness-raising including of the judiciary and law enforcement officers (facilitating coordination between eco-guards and the police). UNDP's work in governance and anti-corruption can be used to leverage the necessary linkages and support. Input and support from other UN agencies and relevant institutions will be incorporated to ensure the programme provides a holistic solution building on existing national institutions and coordination structures to address the problem. This will therefore look into the following possible areas of intervention: Legislative environment and policy framework; Institutional strengthening; Coordination of enforcement efforts (conservation agencies, police, intelligence networks, customs etc Advocacy.                           Local Scale Local communities and underpaid/ill-equipped eco-guards have been involved in poaching activities due to economic constraints and lack of access to the benefits from the natural resources within their locality. Providing communities with secure sources of income that minimize the incentive to collaborate with the criminal syndicates is thus critical. At the same time there is an urgent need to strengthen the surveillance and enforcement capabilities of conservation agencies such as TANAPA—ensuring that staff cadres are capacitated and equipped to perform these functions. The response can be built upon the existing work at site – where UNDP is building the enforcement capabilities of Tanzania National Parks in Ruaha National Park (NP), through a GEF funded project (Strengthening the Protected Area Network in Southern Tanzania - SPANEST) and scaling it up to other affected NPs. The SPANEST project is assisting the Government to create an inter-agency law enforcement unit supporting enforcement efforts in Southern NPs that will include Tanzanian National Parks as well as the police/ intelligence services. Institutional strengthening (readiness, communications, monitoring); Capacity development and skills development and staff safety; Sustainable livelihoods; Human-animal conflict management.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN's values and ethical standards; Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP; Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptabilit;y Treats all people fairly without favoritism. Functional Competencies Promotes a knowledge sharing and learning culture in the office; Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more practice areas and applies newly acquired skills; Development and Operational Effectiveness; Ability to perform a wide range of varied, inter-related complex administrative services; Ability to plan and organize work; Ability to organize and facilitate workshops, seminars etc. Computer literacy, including familiarity with spreadsheets, power point presentations and databases; Shows conflict resolution skills; Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude; Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills; Demonstrates strong management and networking skills in order to build strong relationships with clients and external actors; Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure; Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.

Required Skills and Experience

Education: Advanced university degree in environment and development, environmental management, environmental law, biodiversity protection or other relevant field. Experience: At least ten years of professional experience at the international level in environment and natural resource management; Recent experience working on wildlife enforcement in Tanzania; Demonstrated capacity to apply tools/approaches for Results Based Management and Monitoring and Evaluation; Proven qualities of and experience in: programme design, research and oral/written communication. Language: Fluency in written and spoken English is required; Working knowledge of spoken Swahili is preferred. Application conditions: All necessary information including complete terms of Reference, Individual Consultant Procurement Notice, and IC guidelines are found on the following link underhttp://www.tz.undp.org/operations_vacancies.html. Proposals should be submitted to the following e-mail address not later than 13th Sept 2013 (Tanzanian Time 12:00 noon),icprocurement.tz@undp.org   Applicants should download the application documents (presented in compresses file) from the previously mentioned link for UNDP Tanzania-Procurement Notice website, complete and sign them, and the send the scanned copies to the email account above by or before the deadline of this post; Applications with no financial offer or missing P11 form and CV or the required documents for the technical evaluation will not be considered for evaluation; Applications without submitting a financial offer instead of other format will not be considered due to the ease comparison of the received offers. All necessary information for this post (TOR, Deliverables, Target dates, etc. are presented in the procurement notice documents) therefore applicant MUST download it to apply for this post. Do not send CV only to the Email account mentioned above without Cover Letter and Methodology (IF requested) as it will be considered as incomplete application; The documents are available in PDF (the TOR, ICPN and IC guidelines) format: this is the only format available and it will not be provided in other formats; Each email should be less than 8MB; emails over this size will not be received to the above mentioned account.

Apply Now