UNDP Jobs - 51447- International Consultant to Lead the Development o

International Consultant to Lead the Development of the Baseline Study for the Promotion of Innovations in Business Start-Up and Development in Line with the Provisions of the National Strategy on Innovations (2013-2020)

Location :

Chisinau, MOLDOVA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

25-Nov-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

3 months

Languages Required :

English Russian

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

Human development in Moldova: snapshot

According to 2014 GHDR, Moldova’s HDI value for 2013 was 0.663[1] - - positioning the country in the medium human development category at 114 out of 187 countries and territories. Between 1990 and 2013, Moldova’s HDI value increased from 0.645 to 0.663, an increase of 2.8 percent or an average annual increase of about 0.12 percent. The country may have achieved higher HDI, but mainly due to the income component of the HDI, the progress made is insufficient, particularly compared to other CIS countries. When discounting Moldova HDI for inequality, the HDI falls to 0.582, a loss of 12.2 percent due to inequality in the distribution of the dimension indices. Poverty, decent jobs, rural vs. urban divide in terms of development, uneven access to some social services, social exclusion of certain groups of population and their structural vulnerability, all negatively affect some positive MDG-related achievements. Although poverty decreased steadily in the recent years, around 84% of all poor reside in rural areas and the situation has in fact been worsening. Rural households are still much dependent on remittances and incomes from traditional agriculture, thus extremely vulnerable to external factors and climate shocks. The recent economic growth was largely jobless, as shown by the rather stagnating number of new jobs available on the local labour market in Chisinau and almost inexistent new jobs in the regions. The development of the labour market is to a large extent slow, vast majority of available jobs being concentrated in Chisinau, while the offer in the regions is poor or inexistent.

Strategic setting and links to UNPF, Moldova 2020 and other sector strategies

People’s resilience in face of multiple vulnerabilities can be improved through pro-active public policies as well as by investing in capabilities of the people and enlarging their choices. In Moldova, as the post-2015 national consultations showed, many people see high energy and food prices, climate-related threats, emigration and ageing of populations, as major challenges in the future[2]. Taken into account all of the above, the current UNPF rightly points three pillars for joint UN interventions to support the democratic governance and justice, human development and social inclusion and environment, climate change and disaster risk management. Under Pillar 2, sustained interventions should aim at more access to people to sustainable regional development, economic opportunities, including through innovation and in agriculture, and decent work. Such interventions shall tackle in a comprehensive way the reasons for such high concentration of poverty in rural areas, while at same time take into consideration the existing urban poverty and key constraints for sustainable job creation and innovation in broader sense in both areas. As identified in UNPF, key reasons for rural poverty are low employment opportunities, high job insecurity, limited access and opportunities for inclusive economic development at local level, poor management of migration flows, savings and remittances, low-productivity agriculture sector with outdated technologies and knowledge, but also very limited capacities of the LPAs to promote entrepreneurship, deliver high-quality services to citizens, including some basis public services, among others. Urban poverty represents an under-researched domain and UNDP will conduct a thorough analysis to identify key drivers and solutions to overcome the current negative trend. The current Project will be connected to such analytical endeavors, so that to maximize positive effects of the activities to be implemented.

The Moldova 2020 Strategy clearly defines seven complex areas of intervention that would permit for a more sustainable development of the country up until 2020 and beyond and better lives for the Moldovans. These include: education, roads system, finance, business, energy sector, pensions system and justice sector reform. The Strategy underlines that an improved business environment will have a positive impact on trade, investment and motivation of companies to implement innovations and create new decent jobs. The National Strategy on Innovations (2013-2020) perfectly connects the realities and desired results of the innovation processes to the selective overarching national strategic areas of intervention. Improvements in education, road infrastructure, business environment, energy sector, etc., cannot be achieved without some degree on innovations and knowledge transfer. In this sense, the current Project is aligned to both Moldova 2020 and respective sector strategy.

The new Project is aligned to the current strategic outlook of/for UNDP at global and national level. It will consistently contribute, through the promotion of innovations and focus on sustainable impacts, towards the achievement of the Outcome (a) Growth and development are inclusive and sustainable, incorporating productive capacities that create employment and livelihoods for the poor and excluded, through adherence to the main principles of national ownership and capacity building, sustainable human development, gender equality, participation and voice, among others.

Duties and Responsibilities

The project will contract an International Consultant to lead the development of the Baseline Study for the promotion of innovations in business start-up and development in line with the provisions of the National Strategy on Innovations (2013-2020) and in the framework of the preparatory activities conducted for the implementation of the Innovative Business Development for Local Sustainable Economic Growth Project of UNDP Moldova.

The expert will prepare for the mapping exercises, develop questionnaires and other instruments for collecting data and plan for consultative process (4 w/d with support from the national consultant); undertake mapping and detailed analysis of the key partners and projects (4 w/d for the international, including one field mission); undertake mapping of private sector/SMEs to identify existing/perceived cross-cutting contraints and bottlenecks in promoting innovations in OECD terms and modern business conduct (6 w/d, with support from national consultant, to include collection of data via an online platform of the Business Innovations Lab); contribute to the development and consultation of the detailed concepts for the Business Innovations Lab, Business Matching Forum and Grants scheme (10 w/d); develop and consult the M&E framework for the current project (5 w/d); integrate and consult the Baseline study (4 w/d); and deliver a public presentation of the Baseline study in front of key stakeholders on the Advisory Board (3 w/d, including one field mission).

Competencies

Strong analytical and drafting skills;
Ability to analyse, plan, communicate effectively with stakeholders and present ideas clearly and effectively;
Excellent communication and teamwork skills;
Demonstrated interpersonal and diplomatic skills;
Ability to enter new environments, adapt quickly and produce immediate results;
Computer literacy - competent user of Microsoft Office programs.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualification:

Advanced degree in Economics, Social Science or other relevant fields.

Experience:

At least 7 years of proven analytical skills and previous experience in policy analysis, development of comprehensive analytical reports in socio-economic field;
Familiarity with the situation in the national innovations system in the Republic of Moldova; knowledge of the Moldovan context would be a strong advantage;
Knowledge of the EU regulations, including institutional, legal and policy frameworks, in the area of innovation and technological transfer.

Language requirements:

Fluency in written and spoken English;
Knowledge of Romanian or Russian would be an asset.

Application procedure

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

Proposal: explaining why they are the most suitable for the work;
Financial proposal; in (USD, specifying a total lump sum amount and the number of anticipated working days);
Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references.

Financial proposal

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals the financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including fee, taxes, travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days).

Travel

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Up to two travel missions are envisaged under this assignment with a minimum of 2 days (for each field mission) in Moldova.

Note:

For complete information about this vacancy, including detailed tasks and responsibilities, full and detailed description of the evaluation procedure which will be applied, as well as the UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract, please refer to the Terms of Reference, the Individual Consultant Procurement Notice published at the UNDP Moldova website, Jobs Section: http://www.undp.md/jobs/current_jobs.