UNICEF recruits 01 Solar Electrification consultant

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LOCATION/DURATION:

Duration:  11.5

Location:

On-site working days: 9 months

Off-site working days: 2.5 months

Field Missions/Travel: Expected onsite support Damascus, Gaziantep, Sudan and Palestine and any other countries if required.

Estimated Start Date: 15 June 2019

Estimated end Date:  31 May 2020

BACKGROUND:

Immunization is among the most successful, most equitable and most cost-effective public health interventions reaching four out of five children globally. UNICEF’s work with governments, partners and communities aims at increasing demand for immunization and establishing better cold chain and logistic systems; design approaches to “Reach the Unreached”; The rising cost of vaccines and the greater storage capacity now required at every level of the cold chain, needs a consistently high standard of supply chain management including in emergency.

 

The MENA region is facing the expansion and evolution of immunization programs. The situation in countries, affected by conflict, is requiring significant operational and structural change to achieve better performance. Results from effective vaccine management (EVM) assessments in the regions also show bottlenecks in the immunization supply chain systems. Until these supply chains are improved, there will be an increasing threat for coverage, equity, and cost-effectiveness of immunization programs. Beyond that, it will jeopardize the implementation of high impact Maternal New Born and Child Health programs. UNICEF will support countries in achieving national immunization goals, with an increased focus on strengthening immunization supply chain aligned with the priorities of the EVM assessment and improvement plan. The objectives of a strong immunization supply chain system are to ensure that potent vaccines are available and that resources are used efficiently.

In 2015 UNICEF supported GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, to establish and operationalize the Cold Chain Optimization Platform. The platform will support countries to ensure adequate cold chain capacity at subnational level and to accelerate the deployment of higher-performing technologies with lower operating costs and lower total costs of ownership. This will positively impact the availability of vaccines and the quality. For the countries in the region this is an opportunity to help overcome gaps in their cold chain system as identified in their EVM. In addition to this effort, GAVI has also extended the support to Syria to improve cold chain and vaccine management considering the emergency in Syria. It is a real opportunity to build the cold chain system in Syria to overcome the problem of declining immunization coverage.

 

As part of the deployment plan more than sixty facilities have been identified for solarization in 2018 but due to the delays in arrival of the supplies the implementation has been delayed, in addition the donor has extended the funding for the second phase where additional sixty facilities will be solarized during 2019 in addition to the original facilities which have been selected during 2018. Based on the experience some other countries in the region such as Sudan, Yemen and Palestine have requested similar support during 2019. The solarization is a specific area which need more specific support for the success of this project.

 

OBJECTIVE:

Support the planning and deployment of solar power systems for primary health care facilities, Cold Rooms, and hospitals, as well as supporting integrated Electric Vehicle Infrastructure where relevant and possible. Consultancy to be primarily focused on Syria (in-country, and cross-border), with possible support for project-life-cycle operation to other County Offices in the region including: State of Palestine, Sudan, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, as assigned to by the RO team.

 

DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT:

Under the general guidance of Regional immunization specialist responsible for cold chain and vaccine management in collaboration with SD cold chain unit and coordination with Health / Immunization and supply sections at CO and RO levels. The selected consultant will assist UNICEF in the following manner:

1. Provide technical support country office in preparation of solar project implementation plans.
2. Provide technical advice to country related to solar power systems such as: Solar feasibility analysis, needs assessment, cost/benefit analysis, project scoping, requirements definition, site survey, etc.
3. Provide technical support to country office team on solar power system electrification projects.

Provide technical direction or support to installation teams during installation, start-up, testing, system commissioning, or performance monitoring. Provide technical support in creating checklists for review or inspection of completed solar installation projects

6. Provide technical support in developing tender ready solar power system specifications/requirements.
7. Support the technical review of tender submissions for solar power system projects
8. Support the Offices in the Supervision and quality assurance of the project(s) implementation
9. Documentation of the Solarization project through to share the knowledge to support other countries with the similar project.

 

KEY DELIVERABLES:

Key deliverables:

• Gaziantep Syria Cross-Border Operation:
  • Manage and support of the implementation of phase 1 solar electrification activities (25 PHCs and 5 Cold Rooms).
  • Manage the support the project-life activities of phase 2 solar electrification project, from initial assessment, procurement, implementation planning, and field deployment and commissioning (20-30 PHCs 3 and 3 Cold Rooms, and 3 EV stations).
• Damascus; Syria Country Office Operation:
  • Support in the planning and implementation process for the phase 1 solar electrification activities, in collaboration with other stakeholders in the CO/RO
  • Support the planning, engineering, procurement and implementation activities for the phase 2 solar electrification for facilities without adequate access to electricity with other stakeholder in the CO/RO.
• Occupied Palestinian Territory Operation:
  • Support with the SDD deployment for 11 UNRWA PHCs
  • Support with Energy Efficiency recommendations and activity coordination for various facilities.
  • Support with planning for transitioning of maternity and pediatric hospitals in the Gaza strip to solar power.
• Sudan Country Office Operation:
  • Support in the planning and implementation process of solar electrification activities, in collaboration with other stakeholders in the CO/RO
  • Support the planning, engineering, procurement and implementation activities for the solar electrification for facilities which doesn’t have adequate access to electricity, with other stakeholder in the CO/RO.

 

REPORTING REQUIREMENTS (IF APPLICABLE):

The major purpose of the consultancies is to work in close collaboration Syria and Gaziantep team to plan, implement and monitor the solar electrification project in Syria. The consultant will provide similar support any other countries if required. This work will be led technically by UNICEF Regional office to ensure learnings from this assignment can be leveraged to improve the system in other emergency countries in the region.  The regular supervision will be done by Syria country office and other country offices as indicated in this document.

 

TRAVEL CONSIDERATIONS

Mission travel

 

For individual contractors and consultants, all travel arrangements to commence the assignment, including insurance and visas, will be managed and paid by the individual.  Therefore, expected travel costs must be included as a budget item in the financial proposal.  Should “mission travel” be required, UNICEF will manage and pay for travel via Travel Authorization.  However, this will be subject to the following prerequisites:  Medical Clearance, Security Clearance through the Travel Request Information Process (TRIP) system, the Basic and Advanced Security in the Field Trainings, Travel Visa, and liability waiver. Trip prerequisites will be met at the expense of the consultant.

Considering the deliverable, the consultant is expected to give onsite support as following

• Damascus, Syria – Three months
• Gaza Strip, Palestine – One month
• Gaziantep, Turkey – Three months
• Sudan – Two months

Travel cost shall be calculated based on economy class travel, regardless of the length of travel.  Costs for accommodation, meals and incidentals shall not exceed applicable daily subsistence allowance (DSA) rates, as promulgated by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC at http://icsc.un.org).  The consultant must travel on UNICEF approved airlines.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

1. Education:

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree) preferably in the areas of Project Management, Supply Chain management, Electrical Engineering, Renewable Energy or similar.
• Technical training in Electrical Engineering and/ or Photo Voltaic and/or Renewable Energy is required
• Completion of a Professional Engineering Accreditation (i.e. Association of Energy Engineers Certified Business Energy Professional, Renewable Energy Professional, or similar) is desirable.

2.         Work experience:

• Minimum 5 years of relevant international experience in designing and/or implementing technical solar power systems solutions in developing countries is required; of which Minimum of 3 years of relevant experience (including practices) at the national or international level in procurement is desirable.
• Field experience on delivering projects in high risk environment.

 

3.         Technical knowledge:

• Experience in planning, execution, monitoring, control and closure of Solar Power electrification or similar projects.
• Experience in Solar Power Systems Sizing
• Experience in Solar Power Site Survey and needs assessment
• Experience in training, planning and delivery of technical assistance to teams in country and regional offices.
• Experience in supporting countries in solar power system projects. More specifically working experience in the countries in the Region will be an asset.
• Experience in preparation of tender documents of new projects (designs, bill of quantities, cost estimate and technical specifications) in accordance with International codes and relevant work practices.
• Experience in reviewing and verifying projects tender documents (designs, bill of quantities, cost estimate and technical specifications).

 

4.         Competencies and language

• Strong analytical, oral & written communication skills
• Proven track record in project management.
• Effective facilitator with proven ability to engage and train a group of individuals (through an interpreter if necessary)
• Demonstrated ability to work in a multi-cultural environment
• Demonstrated ability to work in a team

5.         Language:

Fluency in English (Speaking, reading and writing) is required and fluency in Arabic is preferred and will be an added advantage for consideration.

 

Payment Schedule:

 

12.       PROPOSED PAYMENT SCHEDULE

Select proposed methodology By Deliverable

(Payment upon deliverables/milestones):  UNICEF will only make milestone payment based on achievement of specific deliverables as listed on the table above. These payments should be stated in terms of percentage.  Also note that UNICEF does not make advance payment except under certain conditions in line with UNICEF Financial Rules and Regulations.

 

	Deliverable	Delivery date	Percentage of total cost
Phase 1 Syria
	Report highlighting the implementation of the solar electrification project in north west Syria areas including the report for O&M plan (Gaziantep office) – Phase 1	30th June 2019	10%
	Report highlighting the implementation of the solar electrification project in Government controlled Syria including O&M plan (Damascus office) – Phase 1	30th July 2019	10%
Phase 2 Syria	Assessment Report for the additional facilities for solar electrification in north west Syria areas & site selection (Gaziantep office) – Phase 2	15th August 2019	5%
	Assessment Report for the additional facilities for solar electrification in Syria areas & site selection (Damascus office) – Phase 2	30th August 2019	10%
	Detailed report for procurement & implementation activities for phase 2 (Gaziantep office)	30th September 2019	10%
	Detailed report on procurement & implementation activities for phase 2 (Damascus office)	31st December 2019	10%
Sudan	Report highlighting planning and implementation process of solar electrification activities in Sudan,	28th February 2020	10%
Palestine	Report highlighting planning and implementation process of solar electrification activities in Palestine	15th May 2020	10%
Final Report and SOP on Solarization	Comprehensive Final Report on Solarization in MENA Region accompanied by All documents generated during all phases of implementation. Documentation on Lessons Learned, Best Practices. Regional SOPs and Guidance note on effective planning and implementation of solarization projects.	20th June 2020	25%

 

UNICEF will only make milestone payment based on achievement of specific deliverables as listed on the table above. These payments should be stated in terms of percentage.  Also note that UNICEF does not make advance payment except under certain conditions in line with UNICEF Financial Rules and Regulations.

 

 

EVALUATION PROCESS:

Qualified candidates are requested to submit:

1. Cover letter/application.
2. Financial quote as lump sum for professional fees, and lump sum for travel/administrative/subsistence, if applicable.
3. CV
4. Examples of previous, relevant work as applicable
5. Proposed methodology/approach to managing the project.
6. 3 Referees

Incomplete submissions will not be considered.

“UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.”