UNDP Jobs - 48974- International Consultancy for UNDP/UN Habitat Con

International Consultancy for UNDP/UN Habitat Contribution to the formulation of the inclusiveness pillar Mauritius – Blueprint - Transformation agenda

Location :

Port Louis, MAURITIUS

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

08-Sep-2014

Application Deadline :

01-Sep-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

3 weeks in September 2014

Languages Required :

English French

Expected Duration of Assignment :

3 weeks in September 2014

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. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Project Title
Planning and Resource Management for Inclusive Growth

Funding Agencies
UNDP Project on Planning and Resource Management for Inclusive Growth in collaboration with UN Habitat Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme

Project Description
Background and rationale:

As stated by the Prime Minister, Minister of Finance and Economic Development, Mauritius is now resolutely embarked upon a major transformation agenda underpinned by the attainment of the following three overriding and interrelated objectives namely High Income, Inclusiveness and Sustainability. The ultimate purpose is to better serve the people, ensure their well-being and further improve their quality of life.

The challenge faced by Mauritius to move to a high-Income, inclusive and sustainable country is to develop an incentive framework conducive to acceleration of growth through increased human capital, better policies and processes, as well as policies and schemes to promote inclusiveness and empowerment in a sustainable and equitable way.The transformation agenda aims at addressing all these facets.

Inclusive growth constitutes a strategic priority area in the new UNDP Strategic Plan 2014-2017 endorsed by the UNDP Executive Board. In Mauritius, UNDP supports Government through several projects promoting inclusiveness, including technical assistance for the design and implementation of the Social Register of Mauritius, formulation of policy options on social aid reform and community development in poor areas.

UN Habitat in partnership with the Ministry of Housing and Lands will launch the Participatory Slum Upgrading Programme as from August 2014 to define an appropriate strategy to improve in a sustainable way the living conditions of people living in slums in Mauritius. UN Habitat will support UNDP and MOFED to develop this strategic initiative, considering their complementary experience in the field of development and social housing issues.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work

A team of consultants will provide direct support to the team at Ministry of Finance and Economic Development in charge of coordinating the formulation of the transformation agenda to be implemented by 2020. The services expected from the consultants include:

Assist the coordinating team in formulating the inclusiveness pillar of the transformation agenda;
Formulate an innovative and implementable strategy to promote and strengthen inclusiveness through a suite of policies and services to be implemented by 2020, with a focus on 4 specific issues:

Social housing policy:

Assessing the existing social housing strategy and programme. This would include identifying the new needs and development as well as the expectations of the families, for example, use of technology that are aligned with the MID objectives;
Identifying alternative funding and subsidy mechanisms to implement social housing projects;
Identifying measures that would sustain investment in the social housing sector, improve access of social housing units for vulnerable and low income groups and encourage social mobility and income development.

Contribution on social housing policy will benefit from UN Habitat support through an Urban and Housing Policy Review to support and feed this consultancy.

Women participation in the labour force and promotion of gender equality:

To make an assessment of women participation in the labour force;
How to encourage/help women especially those above 30 years of age to reintegrate the world of work to increase their participation in the labour force;
Specific policies and programmes to promote gender equality and improve our ranking in the gender equality index.

Social mobility (with emphasis on the issue of income disparity, inequality and inclusiveness):

Analyse trends in income levels of different groups;
Make proposals to bridge gaps in income disparities and to promote social inclusion;
Overall assessment of current programmes and policies on social protection and social inclusion.

Social entrepreneurship (with emphasis on empowerment of Civil Society and Vulnerable groups/disability):

Policies and programmes for the promotion of social entrepreneurship (including use of CSR Fund);
To provide an assessment of various models of social entrepreneurship – to build a model for Mauritius;
to be able to announce a budget for developing social entrepreneurship on a grand scale, starting with a couple of concrete projects;
A study on basic principles of social entrepreneurship to be included in our secondary and tertiary curricula;
How to build capacity in that area for the future - for example, the role of universities and other tertiary institutions;
A focus on how to create the social entrepreneur sector in Mauritius.

Expected Outputs and Calendar:

Final report presenting a strategy to promote inclusiveness in the 4 above-mentioned issues to besubmitted to UNDP, UN Habitat and MOFED (deadline: end September 2014);
The initiatives presented in the report will need to be specific and clearly formulated and indicate in what way they will contribute towards the achievement of the high-level inclusiveness objective.

Institutional Arrangement:

The consultant will report:

For MOFED: to the Ag Deputy Financial Secretaries and to the Senior Adviser coordinating the Blueprint formulation;
For UNDP: to the UNDP Technical Adviser (PFM) based at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development;
For UN Habitat: to the national UN Habitat Technical Adviser based in Mauritius.

Competencies

Required Skills:

Autonomy and leadership skills required to perform research, thorough analysis and reporting;
Able to work in a team and collaborate with various Government institutions, as well as international agencies based in Mauritius and abroad.

Functional competencies:

Strong leadership, communication and interpersonal skills;
Excellent organizational skills;
Strong oral and written communication skills - use of simple and clear language;
Demonstrated ability to work in a team (strong task management and team leading competencies);
Ability to work under pressure and in a politically sensitive environment;
Demonstrated cultural sensitiveness and sound judgment;
Proven success in working collaboratively with a number of different stakeholders;
Knowledge of UNDP mandates and programmes, especially in the area of public administration reform and deconcentrated governance, and with a RBM (Results Based management) / evaluation profile;
Ability to assess the effectiveness and sustainability of programme structure and implementation modalities;
Thorough understanding of key elements of results-based programme management;
Strong capacity for data collection and analysis, as well as report writing;
Sound knowledge and understanding of gender sensitivity and social inclusion.

Corporate 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;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

At least a Master degree in Economics, International Trade, Development Studies or a related field.

Experience:

At least 10 years of experience in the formulation and review of social development policies and programmes, social housing issues, employment policies, gender policies;
10 years of experience in interacting and collaborating with Government institutions, private sector and NGOs.

Language:

Excellent spoken and written English required;
Spoken French would be an asset.

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

Proposals must be expressed in one of the following pricing options:

Lump Sum Amount – this is the preferred approach, because it is representative of IC payments closely linked to deliverables. It also has the added benefit of lowering transaction costs for UNDP. Please note the following:

the lump sum amount that will be proposed must be “all-inclusive” (The term “All inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consummables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal);
the contract price is fixed regardless of changes in the cost components;
If duty travels are expected, the selected Consultant will be provided with the UN’s Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) rates prevailing at the time of sourcing (rate for August is USD 275), for the duty station and all other cities indicated in the TOR as part of duty travel destinations. This will give them an indication of the cost of living in a duty station/destination, to aid their determination of the appropriate fees and financial proposal amount, but it does not imply that Offerors are entitled to DSA payment (Individuals on IC are not UN staff are therefore not entitled to DSAs. All living allowances required to perform the demands of the TOR must be incorporated in the financial proposal, whether the fees are expressed as daily fees or lump sum amount); and
Include in your initial payment the actual cost of the IC’s travel to arrive at the designated Duty Station. Such cases therefore imply that the completion of the journey can be considered as one of the deliverables payable upon arrival.

Recommended Presentation of Offer:

For purposes of generating Offers whose contents are uniformly presented and to facilitate their comparative analysis, it is best to recommend the preferred contents and presentation of the Offer to be submitted, as well as the format/sequencing of their presentation. The following documents may be requested:

Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a methodology, if applicable, on how they will approach and complete the assignment. A methodology is recommended for intellectual services, but may be omitted for support services;
Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided. If an Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer:

A Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted a max. of 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a max of 30%;
The key criteria for rating the qualification and methodology, together with their equivalent percentage weight, will be as follows:

Key Criteria: At least a Master degree in Economics, International Trade, Development Studies or a related field;
Weight (%): Maximum of 10%.

Key Criteria: At least 10 years of experience in the formulation and review of social development policies and programmes, social housing issues, employment policies, gender policies;
Weight (%): Maximum of 20%.

Key Criteria: 10 years of experience in interacting and collaborating with Government institutions, private sector and NGOs;
Weight (%): Maximum of 20%.

Key Criteria: Autonomy and leadership skills required to perform research, thorough analysis and reporting;
Weight (%): Maximum of 10%.

Key Criteria: Language;
Weight (%): Maximum of 10%.

Key Criteria: Financial Proposal;
Weight (%): Maximum of 30%.

Key Criteria: Total;
Weight (%): 100.

Important note:

Interested offeror is strongly advised to view the general terms and conditions of IC and templates to be included when submitting offer from the CO website at http://www.mu.undp.org/content/mauritius_and_seychelles/en/home/operations/procurement/ ;
Interested offerors above the age of 62: UNDP regulations require, at their own cost, to undergo a full medical examination including x-rays. Medical evaluation documentation does not need to be submitted with the other requested documents listed above, but will be requested should the candidate be chosen;
Interested offeror is required to submit application via UNDP jobsite system, because the application screening and evaluation will be done through UNDP jobsite system;
Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file. Your on-line applications submission will be acknowledged where an email address has been provided. If you do not receive an e-mail acknowledgement within 24 hours of submission, your application may not have been received. In such cases, please resubmit the application, if necessary.