UNDP Jobs - 52275- Consultant – Development of Knowledge Management R

Consultant – Development of Knowledge Management Roadmap at Regional Level with Focus on Connecting People and Knowledge, Sharing Capabilities and Creating New Knowledge

Location :

Istanbul, TURKEY

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

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

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Estimated January-June 2015

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

Approximately 80 working days

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

Within the framework of the regional programme (2014-2017) and in line with the corporate Knowledge Management Strategy Framework (2014-2017) a contract will be awarded by the UNDP Regional Centre for Europe and the CIS for a highly qualified international consultant to develop a Knowledge Management Roadmap for UNDP in Europe and the CIS.

The UNDP Regional Hub for Europe and the CIS (based in Istanbul, Turkey) is UNDP’s main knowledge and advisory hub for the countries serviced by UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS (RBEC). Through its regional programme, the Hub provides advisory support and knowledge management and innovation services to UNDP Country Offices in the ECIS region in the areas of sustainable development, effective democratic governance, energy and resilience, gender, and health and development. For UNDP’s knowledge management (KM) work this means that any KM activity in UNDP has to serve these areas of development work, either directly though externally oriented evidence collection, knowledge capture, analysis, generation and exchange initiatives and engagement in policy debate, or indirectly by improving organizational effectiveness and efficiency fostering a culture of learning and exchange.

The UNDP Strategic Plan 2014-2017 sets out to “draw on knowledge and expertise gained in all development settings, thus, able to grasp and respond flexibly to common concerns and important differences between countries and regions”. It demands the “utilization of South-South and triangular cooperation, in particular, to share knowledge on policy and institutional issues”, emphasizing that UNDP’s “role will be that of a knowledge broker, builder of capacities and facilitator of exchanges driven primarily by programme countries themselves, working with other interested stakeholders.”

The consultant will be contracted to carry out tasks specified below and will report to the Regional Hub Manager.

Overall objective of the assignment

The overall objective of this assignment is to develop knowledge management roadmap for UNDP in Europe and the CIS at the regional level, as well as to propose feasible business model in line with the corporate UNDP Knowledge Management Framework (2014-2017), and also reflecting on the latest development trends and knowledge management best practices.

The KM roadmap aims at acceleration of the sourcing, sharing and practical application of knowledge and should reflect on:

On connecting content

Applying systematic approach in collecting the existing knowledge in formats that are easily accessible, visually meaningful and understandable, and digested for different audiences.

On connecting content to people and connecting people

Applying systematic approach to connect the existing knowledge to the people that actually need it and have a clearly defined context and client – e. g. through search-engines and expert rosters, Communities of Practice, Teamworks, etc.

On organizational culture shift and incentives

Incorporating a reward system to encourage staff to make knowledge-sharing part of their core work and fostering a culture of learning and exchange.

On looking outside of the organization

Scanning the horizon for and partnering with outside organizations in order to tap into external knowledge pools and bring those insights into UNDP for achieving greater development impact.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will be responsible for the following deliverables:

Deliverable 1:

Identify and analyze in a report the existing internal systems for knowledge collection, including through revisiting some of the previous RBEC knowledge management practices and conducting thorough assessment of what has worked and what didn’t and reinvigorating the best aspects of:

Old SURF and later Regional Center’s search-engines;
Community of practice;
Success stories and lessons learned notes;
Action reflections;
BTO reports, etc.

Deliverable 2:

Identify and map in a report competencies across the region (both country office and project personnel) encompassing substantive areas of development, management, and operations skills and experience through using existing, publicly available platforms, e.g. Teamworks, LinkedIn, Google, Facebook, etc. to facilitate the Regional Hub brokering function. On the basis of the mapping, establish a virtual network of Country Office knowledge management focal points to ensure active Country Office engagement in the knowledge management process at regional level.

Deliverable 3:

Propose a strategy to strategically engage with key partners and tap into relevant best practices and scan the horizon for:
external knowledge management best practices, tapping into external knowledge pools and bring those insights into UNDP.
meaningful impact metrics that can bear on knowledge management work in order to measure the impact of our engagement and outreach efforts for reporting purposes.

Deliverable 4:

Prepare a knowledge management road map by compiling Deliverable 1, 2 and 3 and by:

Applying networked knowledge (connecting and collecting knowledge) creation concept to knowledge management with the focus on connecting people, sharing capabilities and creating new knowledge;
Ensuring active Country Office engagement in the design and maintenance of knowledge management business processes (e.g. ongoing mapping of competencies, building and maintaining consultant rosters, etc.);
Proposing a knowledge services team function, dedicated to providing cross-cutting knowledge services (e.g. roster maintenance, networking with Country Office knowledge management focal points, and a dedicated brokering function that sources the right people for the right task at the right time);
Focusing more attention on quality assurance, strengthening linkages to RBEC’s strategic advocacy goals, more effective dissemination, and impact monitoring;
Identifying several key knowledge partnership opportunities with selected knowledge management leaders with the potential to connect UNDP to top-notch expertise;
Incorporating a reward system to ensure appetite for knowledge sharing;
Ensuring a clear link between KM, innovation, and internal and external communications;
Elaborating specific recommendations for a business model of UNDP’s knowledge management system at regional level by taking into account corporate practices, and reflecting on the latest knowledge management trends and best practices.

The work on and acceptance of deliverables will be preceded by agreement with the Hub Manager on the outline of each deliverable, methodology, and the sources of information.

Timeline for submission of each deliverable will be agreed with the consultant upon signing of the contract.

Payment schedule:

The Payment will made in 4 equal instalments where each installment will be made upon confirmation of UNDP on the satisfactory completion of the respective deliverable.

Competencies

Corporate competencies:

Promotes the mission and values of the UN;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional competencies:

Ability to work under pressure and stressful situations;
Effective interpersonal and communication skills;
Strong analytical, research, reporting and writing abilities;
Strong organizational and process management competencies;
Team working competencies and ability to effectively work in teams;
Ability to assess complex situations in order to screen succinctly and clearly critical issues and draw forward-looking conclusions.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree in development economics, business administration, social sciences or other fields related to the scope of the assignment.

Experience:

At least 7 years of proven knowledge management or technical advisory experience in knowledge management. Consulting assignments are applicable;
Proven experience in developing knowledge partnerships.

Language:

Excellent English report writing and communication skills;
Knowledge of another regional language, e.g. Russian, is an asset.

Evaluation of Applicants

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal.

The award of the contract should be made to the individual 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 and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical Criteria – 70% of total evaluation – max 35 points:

Criteria A (Academic background) specified in the announcement – max 5 points;
Criteria B (Proven knowledge management or technical advisory experience in knowledge management – max 15 points;
Criteria C (Proven knowledge of UN/UNDP, particularly of specific modalities of work and priorities and good communication skills assessed through interviews) – max 5 points;
Criteria D (Proven experience in developing knowledge partnerships) – max 10 points.

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max. 15 points

Only the highest ranked candidates who would be found qualified for the job will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Application procedure

Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via this website. The application should contain:

Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position and a brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the work. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.
Filled P11 form including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees; please upload the P11 instead of your CV.
Financial Proposal* - specifying a total lump sum amount in USD for the tasks specified in this announcement. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (number of anticipated working days, daily rate, travel costs to join the duty station/repatriation travel, if any, and any other possible costs).
Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials

*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. fee, health insurance, vaccination and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services). This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. Financial proposal should not include costs related to missions, which will be paid separately as per UNDP rules and regulations.

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

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.

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.