Background

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been working in Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (ECIS) since 1992, and serves over 30 countries and territories in Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build better lives.

The UNDP  Regional Centre for Europe and  the CIS – based in Istanbul, Turkey -- provides advisory support and knowledge management services to UNDP Country Offices and its partners in the ECIS region in the areas of Sustainable Development (including Poverty and Inequality; Green Economy and Employment; Extractive Industries), Governance and Peacebuilding (including HIV, Health and Development; Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Development; Anti-Corruption and E-Governance; Local Governance and Decentralization; Human Rights and Rule of Law), Gender Equality, Knowledge and Innovation, and Energy, Climate Change and Disaster Resilience . In addition, the Centre supports the programme development of these offices at the national level. The UN programming instrument for UN cooperation and partnership on development issues at the country level is guided by the UN Common Country Programming Process, resulting in the key documents such as the Country Analysis and the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). Based on these UN-level documents, UNDP’s programming document (contributing to the UNDAF) is the Country Programme Document.  It is essential to ensure that these documents are strategic, measurable, responsive to emerging national and global needs and trends, reflect demand and strong national ownership, and support evidence-based analysis and decision-making.  The Programme Strategy Development Expert is expected to develop and facilitate preparation of all or any of these programming documents in consultation and cooperation with the UNDP country office, UN Country Teams, and/or partners as appropriate.

UNDP is soliciting the submission of CVs (individuals, not firms) to be considered for registration in the UNDAF/Country Programming Expert roster of UNDP Regional Center for Europe and the CIS. The expert roster will consist of highly-qualified and experienced consultants. Only the applicants who pass all selection procedures will be registered for the roster.

Interested consultants are advised to carefully study selection procedures of this ToR and ensure that they meet the general requirements as well as specific qualifications. Only applicants who pass all screening procedures will be included into the roster and recommended to Country Offices in the region.

Duties and Responsibilities

Consultants will provide advisory support to clients (UNDP offices, national project teams, and national stakeholders including governments, civil society organizations and affected communities in the region). Specific reporting and working relationships will be specified at the time of contracting for a specific assignment.

When demand arises, pre-selected consultants are called upon to provide demand-driven advisory services, access to knowledge, and technical backstopping to UNDP Country Offices. The range of tasks for the consultant may include applied research, diagnostic missions, provision of strategic and operational advice, capacity assessments and capacity development activities, strategic development and implementation of policies, on-site support to programme identification and development, monitoring and evaluation, , negotiation and coordination with public/private partners and stakeholders, partnership development, community engagement and outreach including through social media, training, report drafting, peer review, and others. Consultants will perform their duties from home through e-mail, telephone and/or fax combined with the in-country missions and/or project site visits (per request of the UNDP Country Office). Consultants are expected to attend relevant meetings and workshops at the country level, including stakeholder consultations, inception and validation meetings.

The Expert’s primary tasks may include the following, among others:

• Setup and facilitate stakeholder discussions within the country that contributes to the country-level programme strategy.
• Develop and implement the workplan for the programme development process;
• Coordinate programming strategy and processes (e.g., Roadmap, Country Analysis, Strategic Prioritization Retreat, Drafting UNDAF document) with the stakeholders and ensure management of overall calendar of UNDAF process;
• Collect and analyze relevant documentation such as national development plans and strategies, programme/project evaluations, lessons learned, and agency-specific data and resources from previous programme cycles;
• Draft first and subsequent drafts of the programming documents with special attention to UNDAF Programming Principles (Human Rights-Based Approach, Results-Based Management, Capacity  Development, Gender Equality, Environmental Sustainability)  and the Monitoring and Evaluation sections, i.e. ensure clear baselines, indicators, targets at outcome and/or output levels).
• Provide a final brief report on lessons learned from the programming process.

To coordinate the process of submissions, reviews and revisions of UNDAF programming documents, including:

• Making sure – together with the relevant UN Coordination Officer -- that all draft UNDAF documents (i.e.,  Roadmap, Country Analysis,  UNDAF document) are submitted in time to the regional Peer Support Group (PSG) for comments (and with sufficient notice for substantive comments);
• Encouraging the readers to provide comments to the draft UNDAFs;
• Stimulating and facilitating discussion among the readers around the content of each individual draft UNDAF document;
• Collecting and reflecting as appropriate all the contributions and comments made by the readers;
• Acting as a technical resource and/or focal point for UNCTs in case they seek clarifications on the content and structure of UNDAFs and answer any other questions they might have re the UNDAF process.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the UN and/or 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 harassment.

Functional Competencies:

• Strategic vision, strong technical and analytical capabilities and demonstrated ability to gain the assistance and cooperation of others in a team endeavour through technical leadership in a broad range of operational areas;
• Excellent analytical, reporting. Writing, reporting and presentation skills, as well as resourcefulness, initiative, maturity of judgment, tact, and negotiating skills, and the ability to cope with situations which may pose conflict;
• Proven ability to work in a team, develop synergies and establish effective working relations within the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office, with persons from different UN Agencies, government counterparts, donors and NGOs;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Ability to handle effectively multiple tasks without compromising quality, team spirit and positive working relationships;
• Excellent organizational skills and Ability to solve complex problems with minimal supervision;
• Strong technical skills in leading formulation and evaluation of development programs and projects;
• Ability to work with small multi-disciplinary, multi-national teams to deliver quality products in high stress, short deadline situations.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree in a relevant field in relevant development studies or related social science fields with experience in Result Based Management, Monitoring and Evaluation, Institutional Development, and Strategy Development.

Experience:

• At least 7 years of work experience in programme development and results based management;
• Experience in the ECIS (Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States) Region;
• Experience in preparation of country assessments/analysis, UNDAF development, UN strategic planning and country programme documentation;
• Good knowledge of the UN system, procedures and operational activities for development is considered as strong asset;
• Proven interagency facilitation skills, analytical and training skills in relation to programming and strategic planning.

Language:

• Excellent English writing and communication skills;
• Fluency in Russian is considered as a strong asset;
• Demonstrated ability to assess complex situations in order to screen succinctly and clearly critical issues and draw forward-looking conclusions.

Evaluation of Applicants

Applicants will be screened against qualifications and the competencies specified above. Those selected for the next stage of the selection process will participate in an assessment.
Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal.

The inclusion into the Vetted Roster of Experts will be offered to those individual consultants whose offers have been evaluated and determined as a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and b) Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical (P11 desk reviews,  written essay and interviews) and financial criteria.

Only those individual consultants who obtained at least 70% of points in each of the steps of the process will be considered for financial proposal evaluation.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max. 70 points:

P11 Desk Review  - max - 35 points:

• Programme development and RBM experience in Europe and CIS region – max points - 10;
• Experience in preparation of country assessments/analysis, UNDAF development, UN strategic planning documentation – max points - 10;
• Knowledge of UN system, procedures and operational activities for development - max points - 5;
• Experience in interagency facilitation skills, analytical and training skills in relation to programming and strategic planning and country programme documentation – max points - 5;
• Language skills  - max points - 5.

Written Essay  - max 20 points

Interview  - max 15 points

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max. 30 points.

Contracting Arrangements:

The successful candidates will be included in UNDP’s technical expert roster for a period of three (3 years). Entry into the expert roster system does not necessarily mean that contract with UNDP is guaranteed. This will depend on forthcoming needs.

Where a request for services arises, the UN/UNDP unit/office in need of the service shall directly contract the consultant from the roster without the need for further selection process. A specific Term of Reference (ToR) outlining the outputs for each assignment shall be provided and a Individual Contract (IC) will be issued to the consultant, detailing the time frame directly by the contracting unit/office. Conditions of a particular assignment may be negotiable.

Payments:

Payments will be made as specified in the actual contract upon confirmation of UNDP on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner. 

Application procedures:

Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via this website.

The application should contain:

• Cover letter, including applicant's qualifications for the advertised position. The letter should be pasted into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application;
• Filled P11 form including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees (blank form can be downloaded from http://europeandcis.undp.org/files/hrforms/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc ); please upload the P11 instead of your CV;
• Financial Proposal – all-inclusive maximum daily fee in USD valid for three years (Daily fee includes health insurance, vaccination and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services such as communication, office costs etc.);
• Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials.

Consultants who are part of the RBEC Vetted Roster in the 3 year validity period have to re-apply during this call.

Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply.

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

Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org

General Terms and conditions as well as other related documents can be found under: http://on.undp.org/t7fJs.