Position: Paraguay Political Economy Expert

Project: Integrated Natural Resources Management (INRM)

Level of Effort: up to 30 days

Location: Remote

Reporting: INRM SLOA Activity Manager.

Project Description

INRM is a five-year task order (July 30, 2020 – July 30, 2025) under the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) STARR II IDIQ. INRM is managed by the USAID Land and Resource Governance (LRG) Division within the Center for Natural Environment (CNE) in the Bureau for Resilience, Environment, and Food Security (REFS).  Activities under this contract may be identified and funded by USAID Washington-based offices and/or by Missions. INRM supports integrated analysis and programming across development sectors. INRM is designed to help USAID operating units achieve more integrated environment programming and to support the uptake of principles and approaches outlined in the Agency’s Environmental and Natural Resource Management Framework.

Background

USAID’s Sustainable Landscapes Opportunity Analyses (SLOA) provide national-level overviews of options to reduce GHG emissions from land conservation, management, and restoration. Typically, SLOAs synthesize information from global and national datasets to estimate the potential magnitude of emissions reductions and the cost per unit, looking at different natural climate solutions (NCS) pathways (e.g., peatland restoration, livestock management) at the national level, often broken down by subnational units like provinces. SLOAs can also give visibility into which opportunities for reducing emissions may have different levels of success and uncertainty for scaling, and to understand opportunities for achieving ambitious outcomes. Finally, SLOAs can outline co-benefits associated with different NCS pathways in a particular country or subnational geography.

USAID’s 2022-2030 Climate Strategy outlines the Agency’s “Whole of Agency” approach to addressing climate change this decade, with very ambitious targets. The Strategy’s mitigation targets pledge to reduce or avoid 6 billion metric tons of CO2 before 2030, as well as protecting, restoring, or managing 100 million hectares of natural and managed ecosystems for climate mitigation. The Strategy also seeks to elevate the use of nature-based solutions, stresses that ambitious emissions reductions must be achieved through pan-sectoral support for partner countries, and urges the active engagement of Indigenous People, women, and youth. The Strategy’s goals and targets highlight the critical need to plan and design land-based mitigation alongside other mitigation and adaptation strategies to achieve sustainable, equitable low-emissions development.

Eight SLOAs have already been undertaken to date: Ecuador, Madagascar, Philippines, Vietnam, West Africa, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, and Guatemala. Many of these countries or regions have

reasonably cost-effective land-based mitigation potential, with some having mitigation potential that exceeds their own annual emissions. The SLOA reports outline, for each country/region, which NCS pathways provide the largest opportunities for land-based mitigation. This information is to be used both for Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) support and Mission planning.

Furthermore, in 2022, a SLOA Geospatial Companion was produced to complement the Papua New Guinea SLOA. The Geospatial Companion is a map-based resource created to assist USAID and partners in leveraging SLOA findings for spatial planning. The datasets and developed maps are overlaid and analyzed to identify the areas of greatest mitigation opportunity, taking multiple factors into account. The Geospatial Companion serves as a live resource, which can be added to over time.

USAID’s Paraguay Mission is interested in developing a SLOA focused on the Gran Chaco region and Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest. USAID’s Paraguay Mission is interested in developing a SLOA that will include desk-based analysis, a livestock sustainability assessment, and a political economy analysis. The SLOA will provide an overview of options to reduce GHG emissions through land-based conservation, management, and restoration and will include estimates of the potential impact of each intervention on net GHG emissions. In addition to evaluating the magnitude and cost assessment of the different mitigation options, the SLOA will evaluate potential co-benefits, possible risks, and likely barriers to implementation of each set of potential strategy options. Co-benefits—benefits that are neither specifically cost related nor linked to emissions mitigation—are a factor to consider for SL programming, as they may help to align investments with existing programs or with the priorities of the Government of Paraguay. Many SL options have significant co-benefits, particularly related to biodiversity, agriculture, climate resilience, WASH, education, governance and health. Opportunities to achieve co-benefits may include payment schemes that incentivize or subsidize climate change mitigation actions.

Objective and Duties

The Political Economy Expert will be part of the Paraguay SLOA team. and will serve as the author of the PEA in collaboration with USAID and INRM. The Political Economy Expert will contribute to the SLOA deliverables as needed, and as directed by the SLOA Team Lead but will maintain ultimate responsibility for the deliverables.

The Political Economy Expert will:

Support the Team Lead in the development and submission of a draft work plan. The draft work plan should include a schedule of tasks and milestones. Support the Team Lead in the delivery of a desk-based SLOA of 40-60 pages, outlining the magnitude of the biophysical potential for emissions avoidance, reduction, or sequestration in Paraguay, organized by NCS pathway. Lead the drafting and finalization of the Political Economy Analysis. Support the collection of relevant geospatial data and information to inform the creation of a SLOA Geospatial Companion in collaboration with USAID Washington technical experts and other SLOA team members. Support the incorporation of political feasibility of emissions reduction activities into the desk-based SLOA and the Geospatial Companion. Collaborate and coordinate with the SLOA team to complete a work plan for fieldwork of up to 20 days, provide input for selection of local institutions and stakeholders for key informant interviews in both the green and blue carbon sectors that best characterize the past decade and current state of Paraguay’s activities in the AFOLU and carbon mitigation sector (inclusive of restoration and conservation). The work plan should include all tasks and a timetable, milestones, and deliverables, a detailed fieldwork schedule with proposed interviews/interviewees and proposal for coordination with USAID Mission and other stakeholders.

Qualifications

Required:

Post-graduate degree qualifications or equivalent experience in research and analysis in political science, forestry, rangeland management, climate science, nature-based solutions, environmental science, ecology, or a related field Familiarity with recent literature regarding GHG mitigation strategies in general and the AFOLU sector in particular, with preference for those with experience in AFOLU in Paraguay Knowledge of USAID’s strategic planning process both broadly and as related to Sustainable Landscapes Demonstrable understanding of how democratic and economic factors influence land-based mitigation outcomes Knowledge of gender and inclusive development issues Exceptional organizational, analytical, writing, and presentation skills Knowledge of South American climate finance issues and revenue sharing schemes that incentivize climate action and environmental outcomes Fluency in English  

Desirable:

Familiarity with Paraguayan laws and planning Familiarity with the political feasibility and conflict risks of emission reduction opportunities in Paraguay Fluency in Spanish

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