The Policy Advisor (Water), under the overall guidance of the Country Director and the direct supervision of the Deputy Country Director and in close coordination and cooperation with responsible UNDP Programme Analyst/Portfolio Manager, will assist the Government, programme team and CO to deliver policy advice and technical support to the Government of Tajikistan on water sector reform implementation and trans-boundary water cooperation.
In Central Asia, water is becoming more and more critical and a potential source of regional conflict. The growing demand in hydropower, especially in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan with no natural oil and gas resources, and the growing need for agriculture water in the region are already causing tension between the riparian states, especially Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The planned Roghun Dam construction in Tajikistan has already escalated the fragile peace between Tajikistan and Uzbekistan while growing agriculture in Kyrgyzstan and the need for more irrigation water has been the source of timely minor border incidents between Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, such as the recent events in December 2013.
While drinking water supply in much of the urban areas is being addressed thanks to major investment by development partners, notably the Swiss, the World Bank and EBRD, access to clean drinking water in rural areas remains a major challenge in all of the Central Asian countries. With the growing industry, especially in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan and with attempts to improve management of the natural resources, especially in view of deteriorating environment, coupled with the impact of climate change, demand for water keeps growing.
There is no lack of water in the region but prevailing miss-management of water resources continues to reduce access to water. According to national reports, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, the two upstream states, for instance utilize only 20-30% of the available water resources, while continued deterioration of the irrigation infrastructure causes further losses in the system, further reducing the actual water available for the users.
In Tajikistan, the government has taken the initial step towards water sector reforms in November 2013, by separating the water resources regulation and policy development from day-to-day management and operation. Overall policy and regulation responsibilities have been transferred to the newly restructured Ministry of Energy and Water Resources (MoEWR) and the irrigation management and operation has been shifted to the newly established Agency for Land Reclamation and Irrigation (ALRI). The approved regulation of the MoEWR state that “Ministry of Energy and Water Resources of the Republic of Tajikistan (hereinafter – the Ministry) is the central body of executive power that works on the state policy formulation and implementation and on legal regulation in the sphere of fuel and energy and water resources.” (Article 1. of I. General Provisions of the draft regulation)
Yet, considering the severe brain drain and as a result of lack of necessary policy and regulatory skills and institutional abilities as well as lack of sufficient financial resources, the implementation of these reforms remains a challenge. Therefore, without a systematic approach to policy dialogue, including provision of necessary Technical Assistance, the implementation of these reforms will remain a challenge.
Duties and Responsibilities
The Policy Advisor, under the overall guidance of the Country Director and the direct supervision of the Deputy Country Director and in close coordination and cooperation with responsible UNDP Programme Analyst/Portfolio Manager, will assist the Government, programme team and CO to deliver on the results of the project “Support to IWRM-based water sector reform implementation in Tajikistan”. The Policy Advisor is the lead international expert in the area of Integrated Water Resources Management. S/he will maximize efforts to achieve expected project results, by providing strategic guidance for the implementation of activities in accordance with the water sector reform roadmap agreed upon between UNDP, donors, implementing partners and as well as other relevant plans and decisions.
Location : Dushanbe, TAJIKISTAN
Application Deadline : 17 July 2014
Read more and apply here.
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