Background

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is tte UN’s global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. We are on the ground in 177 countries and territories, working with governments and people on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners that can bring about results.

The Bureau for Development Policy (BDP) is UNDP’s policy Bureau and backbone of the global practices.  BDP has a key role to play in helping country offices to accelerate human development through strengthening the practice areas within UNDP’s programmes.  BDP supports the development and design of projects that are responsive, effective and contribute to the national-level policies and results.  Driven by demand, BDP provides tools, analysis and capacities for country offices to make a real difference in UNDP’s practice areas.

This support is aligned to the vision of the UNDP Strategic Plan 2014-2017 of supporting countries to eradicate poverty and simultaneously reduce inequalities and exclusion, which resonates strongly with what is needed to effectively address HIV, TB and Malaria

HIV, Health and Development Approach:

UNDP is a founding cosponsor of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), a partner of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and a co-sponsor of several other international health partnerships. UNDP’s work on HIV, health and development leverages the organization’s core strengths and mandates in human development, governance and capacity development to complement the efforts of specialist health-focused UN agencies.  UNDP delivers three types of support to countries in HIV, health and development. 

First, UNDP helps countries to mainstream attention to HIV and health into action on gender, poverty and the broader effort to achieve and sustain the Millennium Development Goals.  For example, UNDP works with countries to understand the social and economic factors that play a crucial role in driving health and disease, and to respond to such dynamics with appropriate policies and programmes outside the health sector. UNDP also promotes specific action on the needs and rights of women and girls as they relate to HIV.

Second, UNDP works with partners to address the interactions between governance, human rights and health responses.   Sometimes this is done through focused or specialized programmes, such as promoting attention to the role of legal environments (law and access to justice) in facilitating stronger HIV responses, including the use of flexibilities in intellectual property and human rights law to lower the cost of drugs and diagnostics and to increase access to HIV-related treatment.  UNDP also works to empower and include people living with HIV and marginalized populations who are disproportionately affected by HIV - also known as key populations - such as sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender people.  Beyond these focused efforts, UNDP plays a key role in ensuring attention to HIV and health within broader governance and rights initiatives, including support to district and municipal action on MDGs, strengthening of national human rights institutions and increasing access to justice for marginalized populations.

Third, as a trusted, long-term partner with extensive operational experience, UNDP supports countries in effective implementation of complex, multilateral and multisectoral health projects, while simultaneously investing in capacity development so that national and local partners can assume these responsibilities over time. The UNDP/Global Fund partnership is an important part of this work, facilitating access to resources for action on MDG 6 by countries that face constraints in directly receiving and managing such funding.  UNDP partners with countries in crisis/post-crisis situations, those with weak institutional capacity or governance challenges, and countries under sanctions.

In the 25 countries where it currently holds the role of interim Principal Recipient (PR), UNDP is responsible for the financial and programme management of Global Fund grants as well as procurement of pharmaceutical, non-health items and required services. 

Given the importance of the partnership with the Global Fund, UNDP continues to strive towards providing high value-added services to governments and the Global Fund, both in its role as the PR, and, increasingly, as a significant technical partner to governments implementing Global Fund grants. In all areas of implementation, UNDP provides capacity development services to relevant institutions, sub-recipients and implementing partners.

The UNDP / Global Fund Partnership:

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) is an innovative public-private partnership that has played a crucial role in the world's efforts to respond successfully to the three diseases. The Global Fund achieves its goals through a broad range of partnerships, including with the United Nations family. The Global Fund's relationship with UNDP is a crucial component of that partnership, with a focus on three interlinked objectives:

• Supporting implementation by serving as interim Principal Recipient (PR) of the Global Fund in countries facing exceptional development challenges and/or complex emergencies;
• Developing the capacity of national entities by strengthening or creating national systems to take over the management of Global Fund programmes as soon as circumstances permit, or to improve their performance while they are already serving as Principal Recipients;
• Strengthening policy and programme quality of Global Fund related work, both at country and global levels, in line with UNDP's role as a cosponsor of UNAIDS and UNDP's core mandates in governance and capacity development.

Global Fund – New Funding Model:

Under the New Funding Model (NFM), National Strategic Plans (NSPs) serve as the basis for Global Fund funding. UNDP's capacity development activities together with other technical partners will include support for the strengthening of NSPs, the conducting of country dialogues including the engagement of Key Affected Populations (KAPs) and preparation of concept notes. In countries that are eligible for Global Fund funding, UNDP support is available to strengthen legal and policy enabling environments, which include laws, regulations, policies and law enforcement practices, as well as human rights and gender-sensitive programming.

Strategic objective: Increasing focus on, and support to, Capacity Development:

Capacity development is an integral part of the Global Fund partnership, with UNDP providing an essential service to National Programs for the three diseases, current, nominated and prospective national Principal Recipients and Sub Recipients to strengthen their capacity to implement Global Fund grants. This work is highly specialized and closely linked to the specificities of Global Fund requirements, as well as to the unique challenges of health systems strengthening (HSS) and drug procurement and supply chain management. It also contributes to improved effectiveness of management of the national disease responses through increased coordination of national stakeholders and development partners, and overall strengthening of management of both domestic and international funding sources. The introduction of the minimum capacity requirements for PRs and CCMs as part of the NFM application process, provides a greater focus and clarity on capacity development.

UNDP Global Fund Capacity Development Toolkit:

The Capacity Development Toolkit http://www.undp-globalfund-capacitydevelopment.org/ provides a platform to further respond to the growing opportunities to strengthen national disease responses for HIV, TB and Malaria.

Zimbabwe –Country Context:

In Zimbabwe, UNDP in partnership with the Global Fund works with the national government to increase uptake of HIV prevention services and access to HIV treatment. From 2001 to 2012, the number of AIDS related deaths decreased from 160,000 (2001) to 39,000 (2012). The country saw one of the sharpest declines in HIV prevalence in Southern Africa, from 27% (1997) to under 14% (2012). Through a UNDP-administered Global Fund grant, Zimbabwe and Zambia successfully initiated cross border malaria collaboration to fight malaria along the Zambezi escapement in 2013. UNDP supported the expansion of Direct Observation Treatment Strategy (DOTS) for TB, helping achieve an 81% treatment success rate for new smear-positive TB cases. The introduction of an electronic Patient Management System (ePMS) and the District Health Information System 2 (DHIS-2) increased access to reliable data, improving quality of patient care and forecasting for commodities.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective of the assignment:

The overall objectives of the assignment is to;

To provide capacity development outreach support to the countries where UNDP is acting as Interim PR for Global Fund grants including:

• To conduct a desk review of existing assessments;
• To facilitate a Capacity Development Planning Process;
• To prepare a draft Capacity Development Plan with Action Plan and Budgets;
• To conduct a review of  the draft Capacity Development Plan with Stakeholders;
• To finalize the Capacity Development Plan with Action Plan and Budgets;
• To produce a UNDP Project Document based on the Capacity Development Plan;
• To support the facilitation of a Functional Analysis of the implementation structure of Global Fund Grants in national entities;
• To support the design and development of innovative results communication to national stakeholders including Civil Society Organizations, of results of Global Fund grants;
• To produce two short case studies (maximum 10 pages) of country experiences to tell the story of capacity development and or innovative approaches for National Programs and Global Fund grants for HIV, TB and Malaria.

Under the overall supervision of the Senior Capacity Development Adviser, the Consultant will be responsible for:

Provide capacity development outreach support to Zimbabwe  where UNDP is acting as Interim PR for Global Fund HIV grant, including:

• To provide remote and mission-based advice and support together with relevant knowledge resources and tools to support Capacity Development processes closely coordinated with the Senior Capacity Development Advisor;
• To support the Senior Capacity Development Advisor in adapting, developing utilizing capacity development templates and tools;
• To conduct a desk review of existing assessments including previous capacity development work and LFA assessments;
• To facilitate a rapid Capacity Development participatory planning process with national stakeholders and partners;
  
• To prepare a draft Capacity Development Plan with Action Plan and Budgets based on the participatory planning process;
• To facilitate a review of the draft Capacity Development Plan with stakeholders, identifying priorities, who will be responsible and the implementation work plan;
• Based on the feedback and to finalize the Capacity Development Plan together with an Action Plan and Budgets;
• To produce a UNDP Project Document based on the Capacity Development Plan for review by the LPAC meeting;
• Following feedback by the LPAC meeting make final revisions to the UNDP Project Document for final submission;
• To support the support and facilitation of a Functional Analysis of the management and implementation structure roles and responsibilities of the Global Fund Grants in national entities and identify further organizational development;
• To support ensure that Key Affected Populations and related NGOs CSOs needs are represented in the above process and reflected in the capacity development actions;
• To identify opportunities for additional resource mobilization to implement the capacity development plan and produce a briefing paper to support resource mobilization;
  
• To develop and produce priority TORs to enable the implementation of the capacity development plan starting in January 2015;
• To produce a Blog documenting and communicating the approach used to develop and finalize the Capacity Development Plan.

Design and Development of innovative communication of results:

• To support the design and development of innovative communication of results of Global Fund grants to national stakeholders including Civil Society Organizations;
• To contribute to the design of one prototype of communicating results;
• To write a short lessons emerging paper of the prototype to guide taking the innovation to scale.

Development of capacity development case studies and country experiences:

• To produce two short standard UNDP format case studies (maximum 10 pages) of country experiences to tell the story of capacity development and or innovative approaches for National Programs and Global Fund grants for HIV, TB and Malaria;
• Communicate and raise awareness of the two short case studies by producing a short blog summarizing the main messages in the case studies. 

Provide capacity development outreach support to Zimbabwe where UNDP is acting as Interim PR for Global Fund grants;

• Remote and mission-based advice and support to facilitate the delivery of a participatory Capacity Development processes in one country to enable the production of a Capacity Development Plan for HIV for Program Management, Financial Management, SR Management, Procurement and Supply Chain Management and Monitoring and Evaluation, with a prioritized;

• Action Plan, work plan and budget, as well as measurable indicators.

• A UNDP format Project Document for the implementation of the Capacity Development Plan with a clear development framework produced using the standard UNDP template to a standard required for a successful review by a UN LPAC meeting.

• A set of tools, guidance, and templates for Functional Analysis that are tested in country to produce a Functional Analysis report on the implementation arrangement. The approach and tools will be available on the CD Toolkit.

Design and Development of innovative communication of results;

• The design and initiation of an innovative prototype to communicate the results of Global Fund grants to national stakeholders.

Development of capacity development case studies and country experiences:

• Production of two capacity development case studies using a UNDP Template that highlights the lessons emerging and to tell the story of capacity development and / or innovative approaches of the results achieved for National Programs and Global Fund grants for HIV, TB and Malaria.

• Direct capacity development support delivered to one country.

• Innovation prototype to communicate results.

Capacity Development Case Material and Country Experiences

• Two case studies communicating capacity development stories and / or innovative approaches with clear results and lessons learned.

• Deliverable 1: 20 days;
• Deliverable 2: 5 days;
• Deliverable 3: 5 days;
• Deliverable 4: 5 days;
• Deliverable 5: 15 days.

Three in country missions, August, September and November.

Based on a work plan produced and agreed with the Senior Capacity Development Advisor in the first 5 days of the contract.

A short one page monthly progress report will be prepared by the consultant and submitted to the Senior Capacity Development Advisor for approval.

The consultant is expected to undertake the following travels during the assignment:

Travel to and from country for mission for last two weeks of August to conduct scoping, verification and planning mission,

Two weeks in Country starting in the last week of September to share the first draft of the Capacity Development Plan with National Stakeholders, to support the implementation of the Communication of Results and complete the fieldwork needed for the case studies,

Travel 3:

Two weeks Mission in Country in November to complete the UNDP Project Document and wrap up all the deliverables.

Applicants should quote including return economy airfares for the three in-country missions and the in country DSA rate assuming 30 working days in Country and any terminal expenses.

The fare will always be “most direct, most economical” and any difference in price with the preferred route will be paid for by the expert.

Evaluation:

Applicants will be screened against qualifications and competencies specified below through a desk review or an interview process. Applicants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis based on a combination of the Technical and Financial Scores]

Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

• Strong analytical, negotiation and communication skills, including ability to produce high quality practical advisory reports and knowledge products;
• Professional and/or academic experience in one or more of the areas of the Development or knowledge management field.

• Ability to produce high quality outputs in a timely manner while understanding and anticipating the evolving client needs;
• Ability to focus on impact and results for the client, promoting and demonstrating an ethic of client service;
• Strong organizational skills;
• Ability to work independently, produce high quality outputs;
• Sound judgment, strategic thinking and the ability to manage competing priorities.

• Strong ability to write clearly and convincingly, adapting style and content to different audiences and speak clearly and convincingly;
• Strong presentation skills in meetings with the ability to adapt for different audiences;
• Strong analytical, research and writing skills with demonstrated ability to think strategically;
• Strong capacity to communicate clearly and quickly;
• Strong inter-personal, negotiation and liaison skills.

Required Skills and Experience

• Degree or equivalent in Political Science, Public Policy, Public Administration, Business Administration, Social Sciences or a related field is required.

• Minimum 5 years of working experience on issues related to organizational development or institutional strengthening for the public sector;
• Relevant work experience in capacity development of institutions in the context of strengthening national systems is required;
• Work experience in a development context is essential;
• Experience in working for an international organization and/or UNDP is required;
• Experience of working and/or knowledge of the Global Fund for HIV, TB and Malaria, is an asset;

Language:

• Written and verbal fluency in English is essential;
• A second UN language is an asset.

Guidelines for application:

Filled P11 form including past experience in similar projects and contact details of references (blank form can be downloaded from http://europeandcis.undp.org/files/hrforms/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc); please upload this P11 instead of your CV.

Financial Proposal* - specifying a daily rate in USD and, cost of travel for three in-country missions assuming 30 working days in-country  

Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant/contractor during the contract period (e.g. rent of dwelling, fee, health insurance, vaccination, visa costs and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services...). All envisaged costs (except of the unforeseen travel costs for missions, if any) must be included in the financial proposal. Unforeseen travel costs for missions, if any, will be paid separately according to UNDP rules and regulations.

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials

Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the shortlisted candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

Additional Question:

Explain why you think you are the most suitable candidate for this work? (Mandatory)

Financial proposal in USD mandatory.

Annex 1- Individual Consultant General Terms and Conditions is provided here:

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf.