Background

SoCha is the sole holder of an umbrella contract mechanism to provide MEL services to USAID/Central Asia. To support an upcoming final performance evaluation of the regional Power Central Asia (PCA) activity, SoCha is seeking a qualified Regional Energy Markets Specialist to provide technical subject matter expertise.

USAID’s PCA program is assisting the five CA countries — Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan — to meet their national and regional priorities in energy security and unlock the economic benefits of regional energy trade. The activity collaborates with national governments and energy stakeholders to address three objectives: national market liberalization reforms, scale-up of government efforts and private sector investment to increase clean and renewable energy, and bolstering regional power markets. USAID is providing technical services to national governments, utilities, and other stakeholders, including international institutions and development organizations, system operators, local and international investors, and energy companies.

The primary focus of these evaluations will be to assess whether the project is successfully meeting its goals. This will involve identifying the projects’ effective and ineffective components, examining challenges encountered during implementation and the strategies used to overcome them, gauging the long-term viability of the changes implemented, identifying any existing gaps that future projects may need to address, and extracting valuable lessons from the evaluation process.

Scope of Work

The Regional Energy Markets Specialist will provide technical subject matter expertise for the PCA evaluation over a period of six to eight months, likely to begin in October, 2024. She/he will work as part of an evaluation team, under the guidance of an evaluation Team Leader. This consultant will have the following responsibilities:

• Advise on regional electricity market development, implementation, and management issues as they relate to informing the evaluation design, data collection, and analysis.
• Review relevant documents and complete background research.
• Contribute to designing the study approach.
• Contribute to development of qualitative or quantitative question guides.
• Conduct and document interviews to contribute to data collection.
• Contribute to synthesis, interpretation, and analysis of data as they relate to subject matter expertise.
• Draft assigned sections of the report and other communication outputs.
• Facilitate meetings with USAID to solicit input and to present findings.
• Any other tasks to successfully address the SOW.

Minimum Qualifications and Experience

• An advanced degree in energy resources management, engineering, energy trade, or a related field.
• More than six (6+) years of experience working in regional electricity market development, implementation, and management.
• Technical skills and knowledge relevant to regional electricity markets operations in other regions is an advantage (e.g. Europe, South America, South Africa, USA, etc.).
• Strong demonstrated understanding of energy-related policies and development challenges in Central Asian countries.
• Strong written and oral communication skills in English.
• Demonstrated experience designing, implementing, and performing analysis for evaluations and assessments.
• Strong personal work ethic and teamwork approach.

Additional desired qualifications:

• Speaking proficiency in Russian is highly desired.
• Proficiency in other Central Asian languages is a strong plus.
• Past work experience on energy issues in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and/or Turkmenistan is highly desired.
• Past experience working on USAID-funded programs or evaluations is highly desired.

Location

Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The assignment involves three to four weeks of data collection across these countries (note Turkmenistan data collection will be fully remote). Evaluation planning and analysis may be done remotely.