UNCDF Jobs - 51408- Consultancy: Support for the Development of the F4

Consultancy: Support for the Development of the F4F Programme Approach and Tools

Advertised on behalf of

UNCDF

Location :

Home-based with possibility of travel to programme countries

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

02-Dec-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

100 days

Languages Required :

English French

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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

UNCDF, the UN capital investment agency for the 49 least developed countries, provides seed capital and technical assistance to test new modalities of public and private financing for local development. These investments are designed to leverage financial flows from the private sector, national governments and developments partners, for maximum impact towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

The LDFP core approach

The approach of the Local Development Finance Practice (LDFP) programmes is to mobilise, allocate, invest and make accountable these increased flows through improved and strengthened local public and private institutions. UNCDF seed capital and technical assistance is applied towards this end. UNCDF has a strong track record of investing in locations and on issues where others do not – and this tradition is continued in the current LDFP business plan.

This core approach is applied through four separate types of instruments that use our seed capital and technical assistance in policy experiments to prove concepts and enable national governments or other actors to scale them up, thereby mobilising further resources and designing allocation mechanisms for local infrastructure and service provision. These instruments are: (1) local development funds, (2) municipal finance, (3) government-to-person payments and (4) the Local Finance Initiative (promoting public-private partnerships and the mobilization of private domestic resources).

UNCDF and food security

In the area of food security, UNCDF has designed an innovative Finance for Food (F4F) approach intended to support local food security in Africa and Asia through encouraging increased public, public-private and community investments to fill missing links in the Local Food System. F4F aims to enhance the four pillars of food security (availability, stability, accessibility and utilization of food) by targeting relevant stakeholders involved in the LFS, bringing together, engaging and leveraging the capacities of the LGs, private businesses and civil society. F4F is a pioneer program that strives to make an impact by ensuring that the Local Food System is improved through targeted investments. The aim of F4F is to set up a cash mechanism to orient available funds at global and national level to finance the LFS. The F4F is an adaptive tool, providing local financing in the form of grants, loans, guarantees, equity, and/or quasi-equity, as well as advisory services and capacity building support. This flexible toolkit of instruments allows the F4F to customize its interventions to specific situations and conditions, thereby maximizing its impact depending on the country and local situations. Three financial tools are utilized in this approach: The Local Development Fund, the G2P transfers and the Structured Project Finance for credit enhancement.

This approach is built on several programs developed and implemented by UNCDF in LDCs Africa and through a long-term partner organization with SBF/BFFS, UNCDF has applied its signature approach to support a number of SBF and BFFS programs in Africa by strengthening the implementation of food security policies through sustainable local governance and local governments finance: Benin, Burundi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger. In addition to that, UNCDF has developed a partnership with IFAD in order to develop a public finance approach and set up local development funds in Senegal and Burundi.

The F4F programme will also contribute to achieving UNCDF’s overall mandate as measured by its Integrated Results and Resources Matrix (IRRM). It will in particular contribute to Outcome 2 “Effective financing mechanisms established to increase resilience to economic and environmental shocks” by improving access to and usage of public and private local investments as an effective way to reduce vulnerability and shocks.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will help refine and develop UNCDF’s current food security approach. He/she will support UNCDF in identifying opportunities for the expansion of the programme and the development and strengthening of UNCDF’s food security approach, in particular tools used for planning, budgeting and monitoring at the country-level. The consultant will also be called upon to help in identifying new opportunities for partnerships and resource mobilisation and strengthen the reporting aspects of the F4F programme.

The consultant will work under the general supervision of the Deputy Director, Local Development Finance Practice, acting as project manager for the F4F and perform the following tasks:

Support the development of an innovative and original approach to the implementation of F4F at the country level based on the concept of local food systems (LFS), the LDFP core approach and using a combination of LDFP investment instruments;
Produce relevant documentation on the food security approach, including support on the formulation of project documents, country frameworks and thought pieces;
SStrengthen the UNCDF food security approach in the current program countries by supporting the analysis and evaluation of these programmes and producing relevant analytical documents (reports, thought pieces, notes, etc.);
Refine current approaches and tools in existing programme countries, including the development, streamlining and strengthening of tools for planning, budgeting and monitoring at the country level;
Monitor the progress and evolution of current country level food security programs and provide technical support, guidance and possibly training to project staff;
Support the identification of opportunities for resource mobilization from a variety of public and private domestic and international sources;
Provide advice on developing and strengthening relations with strategic partners, including the preparation of meetings with partners;
Support monitoring activities, in particular with regard to the implementation of recommendations from past evaluations relating to the creation and use of more effective M&E tools (Benin evaluation);
Contribute to the reporting on UNCDF food security programmes for the UNCDF Annual Report and the strengthening of existing reporting mechanisms.

Deliverables:

Develop a strong and coherent monitoring framework for UNCDF food security country programs;
Develop new and streamline existing tools to support LFS-sensitive planning, budgeting and monitoring at the local level;
Pproduce relevant documentation as requested including proposals for donors, country frameworks for the implementation of F4F in other countries, and other analytical documents;
Advice on and develop a network of partners for the F4F global program including international and national institutions, donor countries, beneficiary countries and experts on food security.

Competencies

Analytical and problem solving skills, including the ability to formulate recommendations and advice;
Demonstrated excellent written and oral communication skills in English and French;
Ability to work independently, manage time, scheduling and logistical issues;
Strong ability to communicate and function effectively in international/multicultural environment;
High level planning, organizational and time management skills; including
Flexibility, attention to detail; and
Ability to work under pressure.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Masters in economics, agronomy, environmental studies, development studies or any related field.

Experience:

A minimum of 15 years of professional experience in local development and food security. The major part of this should be in a developing country, preferably at the local level;
Strong knowledge of food security issues and debates and familiarity with local development finance and/or financing mechanisms for food security;
Knowledge of local development and related tools in planning, project management and budgeting;
Experience of working with local economic actors and local governments, preferably in an LDC context;
Proven ability to develop and work with innovative approaches to dealing with development issues, especially in the area of food security;
Proven research and analytical skills, including track record of publications and/or contributions to high-quality reports;
Strong record of developing partnerships and networks of experts on specific development themes, preferably in food security.

Language:

Excellent written and oral communication skills in English and French.

Evaluation method

Consultants will be evaluated based on UNCDF’s cumulative analysis method. When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract shall be made to the consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as: Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical (70%) and financial (30%) criteria specific to the solicitation.

Evaluation criteria:

Competencies (30%);
Experience (30%);
Education (10%);
Daily rate (30%)

Proposal requirements:

The technical and financial proposal should contain the following information:

Offeror’s letter/Application form, including financial offer – form can be found here: http://uncdf.org/en/hiring-consultants;
Updated CV;
Brief description of chosen work methodology/approach.

Please upload all documents as one single file under “CV”.

Additional documentation:

http://uncdf.org/sites/default/files/Download/ldfp_-_business_plan_2014_-_2017.pdf.

http://uncdf.org/sites/default/files/Download/integrated_results_and_resources_matrix_methodological_note.pdf.