Individual Consultant at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is a regional group of fifteen West African countries. Founded on 28 May 1975, with the signing of the Treaty of Lagos, its mission is to promote economic integration across the region.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Individual Consultant, Expert in Charge of the Regional Observatory of Natural Resources of the Regional Programme of Integrated Management of the Fouta Djallon Massif

Reference Number: PRAI-MFD / 2021 / SCI / 02
Location: Abuja
Venue: ECOWAS Commission

Description

• Within the framework of the Regional Programme for the Integrated Management of the Fouta Djallon Massif, the ECOWAS Department of Agriculture, Environment and Water Resources is considering the selection of an Individual Consultant, expert in charge of the Regional Observatory of Natural Resources (rivers, forests, soils, river basins, wetlands and mangroves) who will be based in Conakry, Republic of Guinea.
• The general objective of the expert's mission is to be the guarantor of the achievement of the contractual objectives set by ECOWAS.
• He/she will have to carry out, under the supervision of the programme coordinator, all monitoring and evaluation activities of the programme in particular and the implementation of the monitoring and evaluation plan for the implementation of the Environmental Action Plan of the ECOWAS Environmental Policy (ECOWEP).
• The consultancy services ("the services") comprise the following elements, as indicated below, and the duration of the contract is one (1) year, it begins from the starting date of the contract. It is renewable in case of success and availability of funds.

Responsibilities
The consultant will undertake the following tasks: 

• Collect field data and carry out their mapping their lands/landscape with a view to monitoring their evolution dynamics in terms of degradation and/or enrichment trends;
• Ensure the processing and dissemination of relevant information/data on the state of the natural resources of the Fouta Djallon Massif with a view to strengthening the decision-making process for sustainable and efficient resource management in the Fouta Djallon Massif's areas and transboundary water basins;  
• Promote knowledge of natural resource potential (water, forests, biodiversity, land, etc.) and monitoring of the impact of global change on the evolution and availability of natural resources in the Fouta Djallon Massif; 
• Support the development and implementation of regional or sub regional initiatives or projects in the field of sustainable natural ecosystems management and restoration of degraded lands in order to strengthen the resilience of local dependent communities for their adaptation and mitigate their vulnerabilities to climate change ;
• To ensure the effective functioning of the Observatory network and relationships necessary for sound management, good governance, planning and efficient programme delivery through the establishment of operational, institutional, knowledge management and communications programmes;
• Establish a network of exchange and sharing with member countries and basin organizations for feeding the system with data on natural resources tributary to the Fouta Djallon Massif;
• Manage and monitor the data collection process;
• Update the Observatory's data;
• Contribute to the preparation and execution of the programme budgets.

Requirements
The ECOWAS Commission now invites eligible individual consultants ("Consultants") to express their interest in providing the Services. Interested Consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have the required qualifications and relevant experience to perform the Services. The pre-selection criteria are as follows:

Diploma of Study:

• The candidate must have a Master's degree (Bac+5) in a field of water resources or natural resources management with a specialization in GIS (Geographic Information System) and be from an ECOWAS member country.
• Mastery of results-based management tools is required.

Experience:

• A minimum of 10 years of professional experience in geographic information systems and 3 years in the management of observatories;
• A minimum of 5 years’ experience in integrated natural resources planning and management;
• A good knowledge of natural resources and environment sectors in West Africa.

Language:

• Proficiency in one of the 3 working languages of ECOWAS (French, English, Portuguese) is expected, proficiency in two languages (English and French) is an asset.

Application Closing Date
10th December, 2021 11:00 am (GMT+1, Nigerian Time)