Rural Business Development Specialist

Rural Business Development

The GEF grant will be used to enhance the ADB project loan through four project components: (i) improved 
management of saline soils through rehabilitation of the drainage system and introduction of sustainable 
land and water management (SLWM) best practices; (ii) improved resilience to climate change of agro-
ecosystems and reduced flood risk to local people; (iii) improvement of wetland management and rural 
livelihoods;  and (iv) establishment of adaptive management capacity, monitoring, and evaluation.  
The GEF grant output will be implemented from 1 July 2013 until 30 June 2016. The grant closing date is 
31 December 2016. WMG will be the executing agency for the grant. The WLMIDZMC will be the implementing 
agency.

The Scope of Consulting Services will comprise the following activities:
Establishment of adaptive management capacity, monitoring, and evaluation. Management of the project and 
GEF outputs will require a monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system to assess the success of project 
activities and identify lessons learnt. The project will adopt the M&E framework of the PRC-GEF Land 
Degradation Partnership, for a ‘comprehensive land degradation and sustainable land management (SLM) 
monitoring and assessment framework’. This involves relevant sectors (agriculture, forestry, water 
resources, and rangelands) in identifying appropriate land degradation and SLM monitoring indicators and 
assessment methods to measure the global environmental benefits of GEF support. This will include (i) 
indicators at the national and local levels drawing from the Land Degradation Assessment in Drylands 
project, and (ii) defined SLM indicators for GEF-5 Indicators will include land cover and productivity, 
irrigation flows, rural poverty, and carbon sequestration. Other activities include design of a system 
to track changes and adopt remedial action through project design, schedules, and activities. Data will 
be generated and updated based on the project outcome, inputs, investment outputs, performance 
indicators, SLM, and environment and social monitoring indicators.  Measurement of these indicators will 
also assist in measuring project compliance with ADB safeguard requirements. GEF funds are considered to 
be vital for testing of innovative SLWM practices under the project to ensure that the critical 
ecosystem services of the Luyanghu area (e.g., habitats for migratory birds, water, and/or climate 
regulation) are included in the project design.

It is estimated that the GEF financed outputs of the project will require about 28 person-months of 
national consulting services.

The rural business development specialist (national, 28 person-months) will coordinate the 
implementation of rural business development objectives for output 2. The specialist will have (i) at 
least 10 years of national experience in rural business development and micro-financing, especially in 
the development of small household industries; (ii) a post-graduate degree and/or equivalent experience 
in business or related field; and (iii) fluency in spoken and written English. Working with the WMG, 
LNWP, local CSOs, international rural business development specialist, and other team members, the 
specialist will:  
(i)	assess current sources of local income and market links, including the salt harvesting industry, 
agriculture, and new potential job opportunities to be created by the project (e.g., after completion of 
Tianlu and Tianjiao Lakes); 
(ii)	conduct a capacity and needs assessment of selected communities in the project area; 
(iii)	working with the Shaanxi GDS, identify and develop options for alternative livelihoods (including 
ecotourism, alternate forms of agri-business, etc.) and prepare a training plan which can be implemented 
by the CSO during the project; and 
(iv)	facilitate and actively contribute to stakeholder consultation and capacity development workshops.

The specialist will have (i) at least 10 years of national experience in rural business development and 
micro-financing, especially in the development of small household industries; (ii) a post-graduate 
degree and/or equivalent experience in business or related field; and (iii) fluency in spoken and 
written English.