Team leader

ADVERT FOR KEY EXPERTS
The EU-China Environmental Governance Programme is a major programme to strengthen environmental governance in China. It will be funded by the European Commission and is due to commence on 1 November 2010 for a period of six years. The project office will be based in Beijing, China.

Environmental Resources Management Limited has been invited to tender for this exciting contract and has formed a strong consortium with Project Management Limited, IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute, and the Institute of Environment and Resources Law of China University of Political Science and Law.

In accordance with the Terms of Reference, we are seeking to include in our proposal 2 exceptional Key Experts to be at the forefront of this programme for the duration of the contract:

Position Working days 2010-2016

Team leader (Senior expert) 1100 (full-time)

The overall aim of the programme is to “contribute to the efforts of the Chinese Government and general public to improve environmental protection in China and promote local sustainable development for the benefit of the people through public participation and accountability in China”. Its main purpose is to strengthen environmental governance through enhanced policy and law as well as improve public access to information and public participation in environmental decision making.

There are 2 components to the project:

Component I – will focus on the local level and will achieve its results through a series of local-level partnership projects, selected following a call for proposals. The main focus will be on the public right and access to information, encouraging modification to implementing rules and regulations which at present may be a barrier to expanding rule-of-law in environmental legislation, making all stakeholders aware of both their rights and their responsibilities and changing the passive culture borne of top-down governance.

Component II – focus will be placed on the national level, providing technical advice to the government’s own initiatives in environmental governance, especially in the fields of access to information, accountability, access to justice, and public participation. To do so it will initiate and facilitate discussion of environmental policy and legislation. It will also draw on the outputs of partnership projects which it will consolidate and draw lessons from. Additionally, it will support activities from Component I and transversal activities at a national level. Furthermore, it will contribute to the continuing EU-China policy dialogue on environmental governance with a view to improving national environmental policy and legislation. It will use the coordinated results of field projects to inform policy.

TEAM LEADER
The Team Leader will be expected to work full-time for the duration of the contract (1,100 days over six years) and will be based in the project office in Beijing, China. This position will also require considerable travel within and outside China.

The Team Leader will be in charge of the organisation, coordination and performance of the project Support Facility (PSF). She/he will work closely with and report to the Project Director (Chinese Counterpart) for operational matters. In particular, she/he will support implementation of all activities of the Central Policy Component according to the approved work plans; she/he will ensure coordination with partnership projects during the whole programme implementation and she/he will ensure that all administrative procedures and tasks related to planning, monitoring and reporting are duly and timely implemented.

The Team Leader will be directly involved in the development of the work plans, budgets and drafting of reports. The Team Leader may verify, before adoption by the Project Director, draft work plans, budgets and reports. The Team Leader will submit to the EU Delegation a six-monthly progress report on the implementation of the PSF technical assistance tasks. The Team Leader will attend PSC meetings as an observer.

Qualifications and skills
 University or equivalent degree of at least three years in a discipline relevant to the scope of the assignment such as public administration, international relations, environmental sciences, management, economics, development economics or other relevant subjects.
 Excellent communication skills to be able to communicate convincingly and diplomatically with a wide range of contacts, including strong public speaking and presentation skills.
 Strong people management skills to be able to lead, coach and motivate a multi-cultural team to deliver the required results.
 Knowledge of EC procedures highly preferable.
 Computer literacy.
 Proven excellent report writing and communication skills in English.
 Chinese language skills an asset.
 Good knowledge of the Chinese context an advantage.

General professional experience
 Minimum 10 years of relevant professional experience; of which a minimum 5 years of experience in project management is required.
 Experience with an international team is required.
 Experience abroad in assignments in developing and/or transitional economies is an asset.

Specific professional experience
 Minimum 5 years experience in implementing technical cooperation projects at an international level, preferably as a team leader.
 Experience in institutional capacity building of public administrations is an asset, experience in working with local authorities at provincial level is a further advantage.
 Experience in the field of environment.
 Experience in development cooperation projects in China an asset.
 Experience with EC/EU funded projects preferable.

Candidates must be available to take up these positions from 1 November 2010 for the number of working days set out above, and will be required to sign a statement confirming their availability. This is a strict requirement of the EC and failure on the part of any Key Expert to comply with this requirement will lead to the cancellation of the award of contract. Candidates are therefore asked to apply only if they are available from the date and for the duration described.

Interested and available candidates are invited to send a CV and covering letter to Natasha Ezekiel – natasha.ezekiel@erm.com . The deadline for applications is Friday 16th July.

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