Environmental Specialist of the EAPP – PIU | Individual Consultant

Position: Environmental Specialist of the EAPP – PIU

• Organization:  Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP)
• Department: Eastern Africa Power Pool – Project Implementation Unit (EAPP – PIU)
• Duty Station: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• Reports to: EAPP – PIU Project Manager
• Contract Period:  one year, renewable upon satisfactory performance
• Expected Start Date: 1^st October 2021.

Horn of Africa Regional Integration for Sustainable Energy Supply (P174175)

Horn of Africa Regional Integration for Sustainable Energy Supply (P174175) is an Investment Project Financing operation. It will provide support to the priority activities identified by the HoA countries (Ethiopia, Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti, and Kenya). The project will finance critical transmission interconnectors to ensure that the HoA countries can benefit from regional trade under the EAPP and secure increased supply to meet the growing demand for socio-economic development. It will also support access to the grid, off-grid renewable connectivity, and clean cooking solutions for regional integration in the borderlands. Lastly, it will provide technical assistance and capacity building to national sector institutions and regional entities, including the Eastern Africa Power Pool (EAPP). A Project Preparation Advance has been established to ensure adequate project preparation and subsequent implementation of the project.

EAPP has requested 5 million USD as Project Preparation Advance from the World Bank to facilitate the preparation of the Horn of Africa Regional Integration for Sustainable Energy Supply (P174175) Project and strengthen EAPP’s technical capacity for the same.

Key tasks covered under the requested PPA include:

• Prepare Feasibility and Preliminary Environment and Social Impact Assessments (ESIA) studies for the proposed Ethiopia-Somalia Transmission Interconnectors
• Update of the Feasibility Study and ESIA for the second Ethiopia-Sudan Interconnector
• Hiring of EAPP Project Implementation Unit (PIU) consultants, operational costs, workshops, training

EAPP has already begun activities to advance the preparation of transmission interconnector projects in the Horn of Africa. For the Ethiopia-Somalia interconnectors, the EAPP has published the Expression of Interest (EOI) for feasibility and preliminary ESIA study and received EOIs on June 18 following which it will launch the request for proposals (RFP). A similar exercise for the Ethiopia-Sudan interconnector will commence soon.

The EAPP now wishes to recruit a Consultant (Environmental Specialist) to strengthen EAPP’s Environmental and Social risk management capacity during the initial stages of the Project’s implementation. The position will be funded under the HOA RISES to EAPP.

Objectives of the Assignment

The major role and objective of the assignment are to be responsible for documenting, provide support and inputs for the EAPP – PIU and the EAPP Secretariat to regularly apprise the management and update environmental risk-related information within the secretariat that would help in tracking effective management of environmental risks and resource deployment.

The Environmental Specialist will provide guidance to the EAPP other technical staff on environmental and social risk management aspects of the various projects’ implementation and operation and ensure adherence to sound safeguards practices consistent with agreements, manuals, and project documents.

To this effect, the Environmental Specialist will assist the EAPP to develop and implement Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP); to update other environmental risk management instruments; to supervise and monitor the implementation of ESMP and other environmental and social risk management instruments (ESMF, RPF, SEP, LMP, PMP); to provide professional inputs during project, implementation; and to build the technical capacity of staff within the secretariat.