Field investigator, Tajikistan

Job title: Field investigator for environmental and economic data collection
Project title: Capacity development and networking on PES in Central Asia and Azerbaijan
Organization: Regional Environmental Center for Central Asia (CAREC)
Location: Office work in Dushanbe, field trip to Nature and History park “Shirkent”
Duration: 3 weeks
Estimated start date: February 1st, 2013

Project background:
Water-related ecosystems in Central Asia provide multiple benefits to residing populations, including water quality and quantity, and are in increasing demand as local, national, regional and global economies expand. Currently, many of these healthy ecosystem services are underestimated or their value is not demonstrated and captured in the economic terms. Therefore, there is a growing need in the tools that would incorporate the values of ecosystems in decision-making through incentives. One of such incentive-based tools, which is being promoted and piloted in the region, is Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES).

The proposed project is expected to provide an added value to the two planned pilot projects in the nature protected areas of Tajikistan (Shirkent) and Uzbekistan (Ugam-Chatkal). It is concentrated on: A) estimating the economic value of water-related ecosystem services in Tajikistan, B) elevating PES results and benefits to the national level of decision-makers in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan; C) Feasibility assessment and trainings on PES in Azerbaijan. This investigator position is related specifically to the Tajikistan project component and focuses on water related ecosystem services.

Key functions:
The investigator will assist the international expert in collecting data on the field. Thanks to ready-to-be-used documentation prepared by the international experts, the investigator will have to conduct interviews with local population, experts and local business representatives. He/she will collect existing data among competent agencies or organizations in Tajikistan. He/she will present these data in a clear way for an easy use by the international expert.

The investigator will work in close relations with the international expert, the project manager in CAREC headquarter, the project coordinator in CAREC Branch in Tajikistan, national experts and natural park administration, and other relevant stakeholders.

Specific duties and responsibilities:

• The investigator will undertake the following activities:
• • Technical and logistical preparation of the field trip. Review and discussion of the documents sent by the international expert (first week of February 2013)
  • • Conduction of the field trip including (mid-February 2013)
  • • Visit of the National Park
    • Interview with park managers and specialists, collection of information on species, habitats, use of resources (in particular water resources)
    • Visits to local villages, collection of information on resource use, on tourist traffic, agricultural activities and other information required for the economic analysis
    • Visit, if necessary, of local authorities to collect the information
  • Methods used: semi-structured interviews, various participatory assessment tools (mapping resources, seasonal charts, etc.), some methods of analysis such as travel costs. All investigation tools and documents will be provided by the international expert
  • Raw materials and data are presented for an easy use and sent to the international expert and the project manager

Qualifications:

• Background studies in environmental sciences/environmental economics/natural resources management
• Practical experience in data collection and conduction of different types of interviews/meetings
• Good logistic and communication skills
• Ability to conduct field study and to be independent on the field
• Ability to speak English will be considered positively

Time frame:
The key expert will be hired from February 1st to February 20th, 2013.

Please submit your CVs and any additional questions to Mrs. Malika Babadjanova with a copy to Simon Charré and Maryia Genina