Job Profile: Senior Adviser (N1),
Urban Environmental Management Programme
South Africa
Recruitment No.: 31615-2005/SAR.01
1. Preliminary
1.1. Short background:
The Urban Environmental Management (UEM) Programme will provide support to South Africa’s priorities in urban environmental management and development. The programme is derived from South Africa’s national development policies and aims to promote a sustainable development path that contributes to poverty reduction, economic growth and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The UEM Programme also supports enhanced inter-governmental cooperation for coordinated and effective municipal implementation of public sector services.
The UEM Programme is developed in response to South African priorities for Urban Environment, and in accordance with the Danida Environmental Strategy, the strategy for Danish-South African development cooperation, and the Danida Aid Management Guidelines. The UEM programme marks a shift from implementation through environmental projects to a sector programme support with an emphasis on poverty reduction. The strategic focus of the UEM Programme is:
• to develop institutional capacity for UEM at national, provincial and in particular municipal levels in selected locations with a particular focus on enabling implementation,
• to enhance the quality of the urban environment in cities of South Africa through mainstreaming of urban environmental challenges into planning and implementation of general development plans,
• to apply Danida assistance in a catalytic manner that adds value to the existing South African resources available to UEM.
1.2. Purpose of memo:
This memo describes the main tasks involved in the position and the qualifications desired in candidates for the job. A more detailed job description will be elaborated jointly during the inception period
1.3. Expected composition of the selection committee:
The Royal Danish Embassy (RDE) in consultation with the Ministry of Environment and Tourism (DEAT) will select suitable applicants for the position; The Ministry will also be represented at the job interview. Mercuri Urval will participate in the process by conducting personality tests and test interviews with the selected candidates.
2. The Urban Environmental Management Programme
2.1 Background
The Programme aims to promote a sustainable development path through cooperation and support for effective Urban Environmental Management (UEM). The cooperation on UEM agreed at the annual consultations has been developed into:
A targeted approach supporting the urban environmental sector in South Africa, i.e. the Danida support will address selected thematic topics, organisations and geographical areas (‘hot-spots’).
Supporting urban environmental interventions, which prioritise poverty reduction and contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.
Collaborating on national priorities as reflected in policies and strategies of the Government of South Africa to enhance institutional capacity and implementation of urban environmental management. This includes support for the development and use of manuals and guidelines by officials, as well as for the empowerment of elected municipal councillors given responsibility for functions related to UEM.
Adding value to existing priorities by strategically positioning relatively small amounts of resources to catalyse a more effective implementation of existing budgets and plans.
Supporting applied research and knowledge management, which develops wider awareness and understanding of the practical relationships between improved UEM and poverty reduction.
Enabling participation and voice of poor communities adversely affected by degraded urban environments through support to selected Civil Society Organisations
2.2 Objectives
The development objective of the UEM Programme is:
• Sustainable and poverty oriented environmental management of urban areas in South Africa.
The immediate objectives of the UEM Programme are:
• National and provincial framework for pro-poor integrated urban environmental management operational
• Knowledge creation, awareness and advocacy on best practices and poverty alleviation in urban environmental management created and applied
• Improved local urban environmental management and planning for poor communities
2.3 Programme Components
The three components making up the UEM Programme are:
National and Provincial Urban Environmental Management (NPUEM).
This component includes support and management arrangements with the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT), the Department of Health (DoH), and provincial government departments responsible for environment. Component management is integrated into existing intra-departmental structures, with all partners reporting via DEAT to the Environment MinTECH and to the Programme Steering Committee. Financial support allocated is disbursed directly from the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) Fund in National Treasury to DEAT and to Provincial Treasuries respectively. Financial support for DoH will initially flow via DEAT, and later directly to DoH from the RDP Fund.
Knowledge Management and Civil Society Support (KMCSS).
This component concerns knowledge management and includes a partnership with the South African Cities Network (SACN) and selected research institutions. The component will provide grants to civil society organisations working to support poor urban communities adversely affected by environmental degradation, through developing awareness, advocacy and voice in public participation. The RDE will enter into a direct agreement with SACN to implement the agreed outputs related to SACN. A research contract management modality will be agreed between RDE and SACN or through a third party identified in a public tender process. Support to civil society will comprise a relatively small number of contracts and will be managed directly by the RDE.
Local Government Support (LGS).
The component will support interventions on strengthening integrated urban environmental management in four metropolitan municipalities and one district municipality in three provinces, i.e. Johannesburg, Sedibeng, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini and Cape Town. The component will be implemented by each of the municipalities with cross-learning activities and linkages, a number of which will occur through the KMCSS component. The Programme is designed to enable additional cities to join in the course of implementation. Financial support allocated is disbursed directly from the RDP Fund in National Treasury to Municipal Treasuries.
2.4 Implementation Strategy
The UEM Programme supports the development of institutional capacity for urban environmental management and implementation at local government levels. Working directly with selected provinces and municipalities, and assisting partner organisations in developing institutional delivery mechanisms achieve this. Simultaneously at the national level, capacity is developed within DEAT and DoH to support and coordinate harmonised approaches to local implementation. Horizontal and vertical linkages, with replication of results achieved in other geographic locations, and processes to inform policymaking are actively pursued as part of the UEM Programme implementation.
The implementation strategy of the UEM Programme is informed by the following context:
• Resources provided by Danida for the UEM Programme are relatively small compared to existing and growing government budgets for UEM. The deployment of Danida resources will be designed so as to play a catalytic and supportive role in further developing institutional and intergovernmental capacity for local delivery.
• The outputs and activities of the UEM Programme are addressing issues related directly to urban environmental management and have a direct or indirect impact on poverty reduction.
• The programme is responsive to the priorities of local partners and supportive of the process of decentralisation in South Africa. The outputs and activities that will be supported are informed by government priorities as described in existing business and strategic plans. Emphasis is on support for local implementation.
• The ‘on-budget’ programme approach allows flexibility of activities in response to changing and emerging priorities as identified by the appropriate existing institutional decision-making structures within government. Annual work-plans and budgets for programme-supported activities will be developed, approved, implemented and reported upon using the same procedures and committees as required for normal government operations.
• A budget is allocated towards innovative projects supporting government-identified priorities involving more than one government department, and also for promising actions that are not yet part of the programme-targeted business plans and budgets.
• For reasons of cost effectiveness and simplicity of overall programme management, three component documents have been developed; each having a number of thematically connected outputs.
2.5 Programme Management
The lead agency for the UEM Programme is the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism (DEAT). DEAT will be responsible for coordinating UEM Programme implementation with other stakeholders. Each of the outputs for components one and three will be anchored specifically in a national, provincial or municipal directorate or similar. The collaboration will be on request by the South African partners and chosen activities will be in line with those already prioritised and approved in Government’s annual business plans.
A Programme Steering Committee (PSC) is established at programme level for oversight and decision-making on overall programme direction, and for considering and deciding upon the recommendations of Joint Annual Programme Reviews. Given the staggered financial-year timeframes of the different levels of government, the PSC shall meet at the end of February and May each year to enable consideration of work plans and budgets submitted by programme partners. The Chair may call additional meetings of the PSC if and when necessary. A PSC Secretariat will operate from within DEAT, and will be assisted by the International Programme Advisor.
Components one and three will be managed using existing intra- and inter-departmental structures of government. For purposes of component-specific integration and coordination, some cities will establish dedicated inter-departmental coordinating committees. Combined component reporting from each city and province will be collated through the PSC Secretariat, assisted by the International Programme Advisor, and submitted to the PSC. Component two partners, outside of government, will report via the RDE to the PSC.
Budget
The total budget of the Programme is DKK 220 million.
3. The position
3.1. Title:
Senior Adviser (N1).
3.2. Place of work:
Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Pretoria. The programme adviser will report to the Programme Director appointed by the Ministry of the Environment, and will work closely together with the component managers and the national component advisers.
3.3. Terms of employment:
Provided the approval by the authority empowered, the contract is for 2 years, with possibility for extension. Attractive salary, the size of the salary is based on qualifications and on family status. Contribution to a pension scheme, sickness insurance and reimbursement of school expenses. Free housing. Grant for removal and establishment.
The Senior Adviser (N1) will be remunerated according to the AC salary scale of a Chief Consultant, i.e. according to the former Danida grade of Chief Adviser.
3.4. Area of responsibility/tasks:
The main responsibilities of the Programme Advisor are to:
• Support Programme implementation and provide relevant capacity development and management support to the national, provincial and local components, with a view to supporting institutional capacity development across the three spheres of government.
• Provide technical assistance to establishment of coherent indicators and performance monitoring systems across the 3 spheres of government in the field of UEM and help integrating these indicators into the general reporting and budgeting system.
• Contribute with technical assistance for the implementation of the programme in the field of urban environmental management and planning.
• Contribute to planning, coordination, monitoring and quality assurance of the programme implementation in as informed by the Programme Director.
• Support the development of indicator and reporting systems for the State of the Cities Report
• Assist the components in the coordination of activities of all international short-term TA in the UEM Programme in
• Collaborate with the national component advisors with a view to promoting opportunities for sharing resources and ensuring capacity building and sharing of experience across the programme
• Support to analysis of job descriptions and development of training activities across the programme partners
• Provide technical assistance for establishment of procedures, clarification of reporting lines and responsibilities of national advisers etc. during the Inception Phase.
• Provide support to clarification of recruiting procedures for short term technical assistance and provide training as needed in development of ToR, tendering and contract management to component managers and national advisers
• Facilitate coordination of all short-term consultancies with a view of optimising the use of resources across the three spheres of government
• Assist in coordination, back-up, and QA of International Short Term consultants hired via the central programme facility under DEAT.
• Assist in the preparation of the consolidated programme inception report and assist and coordinate preparation of and input from component inception reports.
• Assist the Programme Committee in relevant management issues.
4. Requirements profile/qualifications
4.1 Qualifications:
The Programme Advisor will have the following qualification:
• Higher education (minimum master level) in urban planning, environmental management or social science with subsequent urban environmental management experience.
• Relevant technical qualifications and experience in at least one of the thematic areas of the UEM programme (waste management, air quality, renewable energy or planning) will be an asset.
• Professional experience with urban environmental management and planning in the public and/or private sector. A good understanding of the importance of governance in the urban environment sector including social issues and linkages to poverty reduction.
• Senior level experience with preparation and/or implementation of development programmes from Danida and/or other donor organisations.
• Minimum 15 years of relevant professional experience with applied urban environmental management and development programmes including poverty reduction.
4.2 Personal qualifications
• Ability to work with complex problems in diverse institutions and cultural settings.
• Excellent interpersonal skills and understanding of the advisory role in the South African setting. An able net worker
• Energetic and persistent work effort – ability to start-up processes
• Leadership, management and coordination skills are essential.
5. Appointment procedures
5.1 How do you apply?:
Application form (must be used) can be downloaded from: http://www.urval.dk/upload/ansogningsskema_007.doc.
Reference number: 31615-2005/SAR.01 should be stated in the application.
Applications should be sent to Mercuri Urval A/S at [email protected], alternatively to the office address: Philip Heymans Allé 5, DK 2900 Hellerup, Denmark, fax: +45 39 45 65 65.
5.2 Deadline for applications: December 6th 2005, at 09.00 hours Danish time.
5.3 Preliminary interviews and personal evaluation: Weeks 2, 2006. Mercuri Urval will conduct a personal evaluation of selected candidates.
5.4 Language test: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided that all candidates called in for interview – except for those to whom the relevant language is mother tongue – shall be language tested in Denmark in the working language of the duty station in question (i.e. either English, French, Spanish or Portuguese).
5.5 Presentation to the appointments committee (Danish and local authorities): January 13th 2006.
5.6 Decision: A decision is expected at the end of week 3.
5.7 Expected commencement as soon as possible.
