UNDP Jobs - 56841- Junior Consultant to Support the UNDP-GEF Ecosyste

Junior Consultant to Support the UNDP-GEF Ecosystems and Biodiversity (EBD) Portfolio

Location :

Home-based with Limited Mission Travels

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

29-Jun-2015

Application Deadline :

10-Jun-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

150 days over 12-month period

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

Up to 2years(maximum 300working days in the period)dependent on demand for services and performance

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 UNDP’s Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS), the Ecosystems and Biodiversity (EBD) cluster under the Global Environmental Finance unit is engaged in supporting developing countries to access finance from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and other sources, providing additional support through global projects on policy, finance and capacity.

The EBD portfolio includes projects in over 120 countries, with oversight and technical support provided by a Senior Technical Advisor (STA) and Regional Technical Advisors (RTAs). Teams work out of different locations and regions, requiring both staff and consultants to be flexible in order to produce results. Important mechanisms for the provisions of additional support include the NBSAP Forum (http://nbsapforum.net), the BIOFIN initiative, www.biodiversityfinance.net, and the emerging BES-Net web portal and capacity network.

As part of project monitoring and supervision, the GEF requires the submission of Tracking Tools (TTs) for projects in the Biodiversity and Land Degradation Focal Areas at three stages in a project’s lifetime: CEO Endorsement; project mid-term with the Midterm Review; and project closure with the Terminal Evaluation. These TTs measure performance against indicators across all projects in a given GEF Strategic Objective.

UNDP would like to engage a junior consultant to carry out a number of tasks supporting the global work of the EBD team, linking this with the portfolio of UNDP-supported GEF-financed national projects, as described within this TOR.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective

Provide support to the Ecosystems and Biodiversity Team on communications, knowledge management, maintaining partner relationships, content development and data tracking, and monitoring and evaluation.

Scope of work:

Knowledge management, data, and communications:

Support EBD Senior Technical Advisor and communications team on communications work, e.g. drafting press releases; conducting research for op-ed; preparing UNDP Management tweets; blogs and video messages; text and photos for UNDP website, photo essays, etc.;
Support the Global Ecosystems and Biodiversity Team in drafting speeches and briefing notes, and create Power Point presentations on the team’s work and lessons learnt from the portfolio to support a variety of meetings and workshops;
Collect, analyze and summarize key data related to GEF Tracking Tools, using Microsoft Excel or other appropriate platform;
Support EBD Results and Knowledge Specialist to populate, maintain and moderate content on the NBSAP Forum and BES-Net websites, drawing upon UNDP’s GEF portfolio, also to share updates on relevant parts of the portfolio with the BIOFIN team.

Support to EBD team on key external partnerships:

Support UNDP in providing input on our work to relevant partners including secretariats of IPBES, CBD, UNFCCC, UNCCD and other Multilateral Environmental Agreements;
Support UNDP’s participation in conferences and meetings of key partners including participation in high level events and bilateral meetings by senior management and in hosting and participating in side events;
Support UNDP’s participation in the Biodiversity group led by the CBD secretariat making inputs to the Technical Support Team on Sustainable Development Goals and the emerging post-2015 development agenda;
Support EBD Senior Technical Advisor on team liaison with the GEF secretariat and implementing agencies, including assisting with the provision of timely quality information and technical advice on GEF policies and activities to country offices, executing agencies, governments and other partners.

Key Deliverables:

Press releases, research briefs, text for tweets, blogs and video messages, text and photos for websites and photo essays;
Draft speeches and briefing notes, Power Point presentations;
Spreadsheets summarizing data from GEF Tracking Tools;
Draft content for NBSAP Forum, BES-Net and BIOFIN websites, events and publications;
Draft text for inputs to key external stakeholders.

Information on Working Arrangements:

Estimated level of effort including travel days: 150 days per year.
The initial contract would be for one year with an option for renewal in the subsequent year dependent on demand for services and satisfactory performance evaluation;
The consultant will work from home with limited mission travel;
The consultant will report to, and be directly supervised by the EBD Senior Technical Advisor in consultation with the Global Results and Knowledge Specialist;

The Consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for the execution of the tasks under this assignment;
The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own working station (i.e. laptop, internet, phone, scanner/printer, etc.) and must have access to a reliable internet connection;
Payments will be made upon submission of a detailed time sheet and certification of payment form, and acceptance and confirmation by the Senior Technical Advisor Ecosystems and Biodiversity on days worked and outputs delivered.

Travel:

International travel may be required to attend the Conference of the Parties of the Rio Conventions, e.g. in Turkey, Mexico etc., which in total will not exceed three weeks’ travel in a 12-month period;
Any necessary missions must be approved in advance and in writing by the STA EBD;
The Advance and Basic Security in the Field II courses must be successfully completed prior to commencement of travel;
The incumbent is responsible for ensuring that s/he has the necessary vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director;
The incumbent is responsible for obtaining any visas needed in connection with travel with the necessary support from UNDP;
Consultants are required to comply with the UN security directives, set forth under https://dss.un.org/dssweb/;
The incumbent will be responsible for making his/her own mission travel arrangements in line with UNDP travel policies;
All related travel expenses will be supported by the project travel fund and will be reimbursed as per UNDP rules and regulations upon submission of an F-10 claim form and supporting documents. Costs for airfares, terminal expenses, and living allowances should not be included in financial proposal.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favouritism.

Technical Competencies:

Good computer skills, including use of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint;

Professionalism:

Works toward creative solutions by analysing problems carefully and logically;
Has a dynamic, positive and adaptive attitude towards work-related challenges;
Facilitates discussions and meetings effectively and efficiently;
Resolves conflicts as they arise;
Sets priorities, produces quality outputs, meets deadlines and manages time efficiently;
Highly organized, detailed oriented.

Communication:

Writes and presents clearly and convincingly.

Client Orientation:

Maintains strong relationships with partners and clients.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Bachelor’s degree in environmental management, biology, economics, social/political sciences, international relations, development studies, economics, administration & management or other related expertise areas is essential (max 10 points);
Master´s degree in environmental management, biology, economics, social/political sciences, international relations, development studies, economics, administration & management or other related expertise areas would be a plus (max 5 points).

Experience:

At least 1 year of experience (employment, internships, apprenticeships) in communications, knowledge management, maintaining partner relationships, content development, data tracking, and/or monitoring and evaluation (max 5 points);
Practical experience in online communication, networking and collaboration tools is an advantage (max 10 points);
Experience in conducting research, summarizing material, and preparing draft inputs to written/oral communications pieces is an advantage (max 10 points);
Experience in data collection and data analyses is an advantage (max 10 points);
Previous experience with UNDP or a related organization is an advantage (max 5 points);
Computer literacy, including MS Office, Internet (max 5 points).

Language:

Excellent oral and written communication skills in English language (max 5 points).

Evaluation method:

Only those applications which are responsive and compliant will be evaluated;
Offers will be evaluated according to the Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications will be weighted at 70% and the financial offer will be weighted at 30%;
The technical criteria (education, experience, language [max 65 points], written test [max. 30 points] and interview [max 35 points]) will be based on a maximum 130 points. Only the top 5 candidates scoring 45.5 points or higher from the review of the education, experience, language criteria will be considered for the written test;
Only those with a score of 21 points or higher on the written test will be invited for interview;
Applicants obtaining 70% of the combined total technical points (education, experience, languages written test and interview) will be considered for financial evaluation;
Financial score (max 100 points) shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal of those technically qualified;
The financial proposal shall specify an all-inclusive daily fee. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal must additionally include a breakdown of this daily fee (including number of anticipated working days and all foreseeable expenses to carry out the assignment);
The applicant receiving the Highest Combined Score and who has accepted UNDP’s General Terms and Conditions will be awarded the contract.

Documentation to be submitted:

Applicants must submit a duly completed and signed UNDP Personal History form (P11).
Kindly note you can upload only one document to this application (scan all documents in one single PDF file to attach). Incomplete applications will not be considered.
Applicants must reply to the mandatory questions asked by the system when submitting the application.

General Conditions of Contract for the ICs:
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf

UNDP Personal History form (P11) required of all applicants:
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/Careers/P11_Personal_history_form.doc