UNDP Jobs - 54618- Policy Support Consultant

Policy Support Consultant – Development Cooperation

Location :

Bangkok, THAILAND

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

15-Apr-2015

Application Deadline :

28-Mar-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

6 months with potential extension

Languages Required :

English

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

UNDP, the global development network for the United Nations system, is present in 166 countries and territories and is uniquely equipped to help developing countries build sustainable capacity to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). In support of this, UNDP offers a wide range of solutions to global, regional and national development challenges through a comprehensive knowledge network, expert practitioners and focused strategic areas of support.

The Effective Development Cooperation (EDC) Team, under the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) is the institutional anchor of UNDP’s work on development cooperation, focusing on the comparative advantages of UNDP in strengthening country capacities to manage and coordinate development cooperation, with particular emphasis on strengthen peer-learning, South-South Cooperation and knowledge sharing as a tool for capacity development. It also assists countries in shaping and participating in the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (GPEDC), as part of the OECD/UNDP Joint Support Team. This includes supporting global policy dialogue and mutual learning on effective development cooperation as well as leading country support in implementation and monitoring of the effective development cooperation principles. In addition, UNDP leads the coordination of the International Aid Transparency Initiative, including Secretariat services to the Chair, Vice Chair and 63 member states and organizations, drawing on UNDP’s track record to date in supporting cross-UNDP initiatives and global processes on transparency, mutual accountability, and national ownership of development cooperation.

UNDP is seeking to recruit a Policy Support consultant to work full-time as a member of the GPEDC Joint Support Team based in Bangkok, with particular emphasis on supporting country implementation and monitoring efforts in the Asia-Pacific region.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision and guidance of the EDC Global Policy Adviser based in UNDP HQ and with matrixed reporting to the Governance, Climate Finance and Development Effectiveness Advisor in Bangkok Regional Service Center, the Consultant will focus on the following:

Policy support and country outreach on effective development cooperation

Analyze the trend of development effectiveness/cooperation issues and identify policy priority areas of effective development cooperation work in advancing development effectiveness agenda in the Asia-Pacific region;

Provide effective and timely advice and capacity development support services to governments and UNDP Country Offices in the Asia-Pacific region on effective development cooperation issues. Specific area of attention will include:

institutional strengthening and capacity development support for effective development cooperation;
peer-learning, South-South and triangular cooperation and knowledge sharing for development;
transparency and information management of development cooperation flows and other sources of development finance; and
inclusive partnership coordination and mutual accountability mechanisms between all development stakeholders.

Identification and facilitation of country pilot initiatives of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, as well as support for the Results Building Block, Climate Finance Building Block and Effective Institutions Building Block as well as the IATI (i.e. automatic exchange).

Support to country monitoring and implementation support as part of the Joint Support Team work plan.

Contribute to the work to strengthen the Global Partnership monitoring framework, including the four global pilot indicators and supporting outreach efforts of the Steering Committee members of the Global Partnership.

Identification of opportunities for innovative approach in managing development cooperation in the region.

Prepare briefs, testimonies, stories/relevant awareness materials on effective development cooperation, including the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation, the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI), and relevant UN ECOSOC process relating to development cooperation, such as the UN Development Cooperation Forum, and support country outreach efforts of the Global Partnership and IATI.

Regional knowledge sharing and peer learning

As part of the Asia Pacific Development Effectiveness Facility (AP-DEF) and UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub, provide the following:

Collection and dissemination of best practices and lessons learnt on effective development cooperation and management of South-South Cooperation and triangular cooperation;
Identification, dissemination and exchange of best practices, methods and tools for SSC in the region;
Facilitation of knowledge sharing, South-South Cooperation and cross-country learning on effective development cooperation;
Facilitation of programme country participation in global and regional dialogue on effective development cooperation.

Deliverables

Support to UNDP development effectiveness projects in at least four countries;
Support to roll out of the Global Parntership monitoring process in at least four countries and support at least one regional monitoring workshop / discussions on monitoring;
Support to at least four countries as part of the roll out of relevant Busan Building Blocks;
five policy briefs/awareness presentation produced for the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation and the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI);
2 regional webinar/knowledge exchange virtual dialogue on effective development cooperation;
Progress report on implementation of the APDEF annual work plan;
Contribution to an updated list of the UNDP Country Focal Points, Inter-agency working group on SSC and TC Focal Points and UNDP Community of Practices on effective development cooperation Focal Points.

Competencies

Fonctional/Technical:

Excellent client orientation and interpersonal skills and able to communicate effectively at all levels of the organization.
Manage complexity and able to work in a highly pressured environment with extreme deadlines, managing many tasks simultaneously.
Exercises the highest level of responsibility and is able to handle confidential and sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner.
An excellent team player, projecting a positive image and ready to take on a wide range of tasks to create an enabling environment for the supervisor, focusing on results for the client and responds positively to feedback.
Impeccable analytical skills and able to research, analyze and draft well and is able to present convincingly.
Excellent computer skills, including frequent use of Excel and PowerPoint.
Willingly shares knowledge and experience and makes contributions to UNDP practice areas (e.g., documented knowledge, community of practice building initiatives).
Understanding of the United Nations system, operations and structures, this includes demonstrating keen political awareness, particularly in relation to the principles of development effectiveness and transparency

Corporate:

Demonstrates integrity and fairness, by modelling the UN/UNDP's values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UN/UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree in Public Administration, International Relations, Economics, and the broad social sciences or other related disciplines.

Experience:

At least 5 years of work experience, with increasing independence, in an international organization;
Substantive exposure to and understanding of regional policy dialogue on effective development cooperation, knowledge management and innovation for development, etc.
Experience in the areas of managing development cooperation, South-South Cooperation, preferably at the country level.
Knowledge and experience with UNDP is an asset.

Language requirements:

Proficiency in written and spoken English;
Good working knowledge of another official UN language is an asset.

Application procedure:

Personal CV and/or UNDP Personal History Form.

Applicants must submit their CV or Personal History Form through this Online system. Click “Apply Now” button, fill in necessary information on the first page, upload the document and click “Submit Application”. Please note that the system takes only one attachment. Scan all documents into a single PDF file to attach.
To note, a completed PH 11 Form will be required at the time a consultant signs an Individual Contract (IC) or his/her employer, if employed, signs a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA) for work associated with this assignment. UN Personal History form (UN PH11) can be downloaded from (http://sas.undp.org/documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc

Schedule of Payments:

Payments will be made based on the agreed financial proposal and released upon submission of a certificate of payment request, indicating outputs achieved and days worked to be verified and cleared for payment by the supervisor.

Selection process:

The award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has 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 and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

All applicants will be initially screened against the minimum requirements as specified above. These long-listed candidates will then be further evaluated against the following criteria as evident in the submitted P11/CV:

Experience working in development planning and management (25 points);
Experience providing programmatic and technical support to government officials at the country level in the area of effective development cooperation (20 points);
Experience organizing a peer-learning/knowledge sharing initiative (25 points);
Experience developing policy briefs/country case studies (15 points)
Experience working in a team with diverse background (15 points).

Only candidates who have scored a minimum of 70% will be considered for an interview and asked to submit a financial proposal.

Financial Evaluation

Shortlisted applicants will be instructed to submit their financial proposals for this consultancy. In order for the hiring unit to compare financial proposals, the financial proposal should be all-inclusive and include a breakdown. The term ‘all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel related expenses, communications, utilities, consumables, insurance, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the financial proposal

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

p = y (µ/z), where:

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated;

y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal;

µ = price of the lowest priced proposal;

z = price of the proposal being evaluated.

UNDP is applies a fair and transparent selection process that takes into account both the technical qualification of Individual Consultants as well as their price proposals. The contract will be awarded to the candidate obtaining the highest combined technical and financial scores.