Background
This September, governments are due to agree on the ‘Post-2015 Agenda’ with a set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at its core. It will strive for a world that is just, equitable and inclusive, committing stakeholders to work together to promote sustained and inclusive economic growth, social development and environmental protection. This new universal agenda will require an integrated approach to sustainable development and collective action, in every country, to address the challenges of our time.
The Post-2015 Agenda speaks to the core values of the UN System, and UN agencies, funds and programmes can broker relevant knowledge and technical assistance on sustainable development challenges, opportunities and solutions. They can also support Member States in identifying and convening key stakeholder groups. The UN Development Group (UNDG) – through its Sustainable Development Working Group – has committed to delivering on a strategy for effective and coherent implementation support, under the acronym ‘MAPS’: Mainstreaming, Acceleration and Policy Support. It focusses on policy coherence and multi-stakeholder engagement, paying special attention to partnerships, data and accountability.
Under the ‘mainstreaming’ element of this strategy, the UNDG would like to provide guidance to UN Country Teams (UNCTs) who are called upon to assist governments and national stakeholders in landing the Post-2015 Development Agenda at the country level.
Duties and Responsibilities
Under the supervision of the Director of the Post-2015 Team, the consultant is to draft a guidance note designed to help UNCTs, under the leadership of the UN Resident Coordinators, to draw up context-appropriate services to support governments and other national stakeholders in putting in place the institutional and policy architecture required for the implementation of the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
The guidance note should provide options for:
- Conducting an initial cross-sectoral assessment / review of key national plans and strategies to take stock of how the SDG areas are reflected, including a review or mapping of division of responsibilities, stakeholder groupings and existing coordination mechanisms;
- Building public awareness and sensitisation among and engagement of national stakeholders in the implementation of the Post-2015 Agenda and SDGs , adopting a One UN approach to implementation grounded in a human rights-based and inequality-reduction approach;
- Identifying areas for change and creating a common understanding of how well existing national, sub-national and local development plans and sectoral strategies align – in content and ambition – against the new agenda, and establishing criteria for national adaptation whilst avoiding an à la carte approach;
- Creating policy coherence, identifying synergies and translating intermediate targets into national policy frameworks, including recognition of the interconnectedness of national, transnational, regional and global policy frameworks (by the country and on the country);
- Matching ambition and commitments with resources and capacities in the national adaptation of the Post 2015 agenda;
- Designing multi-stakeholder policy development and implementation modalities to encourage and facilitate partnerships between government and nationally and sub-nationally active stakeholder networks of civil society, universities, think tanks, the private sector and other development actors;
- Designing monitoring, review and reporting modalities, and ensuring that the data systems, capacities, methodologies and mechanisms are in place to track progress, with the engagement of citizens, parliaments and other national stakeholders.
Such guidance should be useful to all countries and development contexts.
Specific Responsibilities
The consultant is expected to provide an initial annotated outline and then write the guidance note (of an expected length of 30-40 pages) taking direction from and integrating suggestions from a dedicated reference group composed of members of the UNDG.
The assignment is expected to be home-based with a visit to the office in New York upon delivery of the draft guidance note (mid/end-August, approx. 3 days).
Competencies
Functional Competencies:
- Strong analytical and communication skills;
- Good interpersonal skills and proven ability to work in a multi-cultural setting, while at the same time being capable of working independently to agreed workplans;
- Demonstrated organisational and planning skills, and ability to meet deadlines and to manage multiple tasks effectively and efficiently;
- Understanding of the evolving post-2015 agenda and implementation issues.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Masters’ Degree (or equivalent degree/experience) in sustainable development, development planning or a related field.
Experience:
- Minimum 10 years of experience in integrated policy-making for sustainable development;
- Experience in working on whole-of-government approaches as well as in multi-stakeholder outreach and engagement;
- Demonstrated excellent synthesising, writing and editing skills;
- Previous working experience with the UN at country level and knowledge of UN normative frameworks at policy and legal level.
Language:
- Proficiency in English is required;
- A second UN language preferably French or Spanish is desirable.
Recommended Presentation of Offer
Interested individual consultants must include the following documents when submitting the applications:
- Personal History Form (P11), indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references (the template can be downloaded from this link www.sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc Alternatively, an updated CV can be submitted however UNDP may later request a P11 form to be completed;
- Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable candidate for the assignment. Indicate available start date.
Financial proposal of “all inclusive” consultancy fee
Applicants are instructed to submit their financial proposals in US Dollars for this consultancy to grace.ledda@undp.org, using the financial proposal template available here: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=45780. The proposals should be sent via email with the following subject heading: “Financial Proposal – Consultancy for Guidance Note for supporting national governments to implement the Post-2015 Agenda" by the deadline of this vacancy. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of 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.
This consultancy is home based and therefore no travel costs will be associated. However, there is one visit to the office in New York expected upon delivery of the draft guidance note which will take place around mid-end August for approximately 3 days. Applicants must budget the cost of this trip into their financial proposals.
NOTE: Proposals not submitted as instructed and/or received after the deadline will be rejected.
Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer
The award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose proposal is determined as having the highest combined score of the technical and financial scores, calculated as follows:
- Technical criteria weight (70%);
- Financial criteria weight (30%);
- Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70 points out of 100 at the technical evaluation will be considered for the financial evaluation.
Technical Proposal (70%)
The technical evaluation will be conducted in accordance with the below criteria:
- Experience in integrated and inclusive policy-making for sustainable development - 30 points;
- Experience working with the UN and knowledge of UN normative frameworks - 25 points;
- Familiarity with relevant aspects of the Post-2015 Agenda - 25 points;
- Language and writing skills - 15 points;
- Relevance of degree - 5 points;
- Total - 100 points.
Financial Proposal (30%)
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 (30 points);
- µ = price of the lowest priced proposal;
- z = price of the proposal being evaluated.
The award of contract will be made to the individual consultant who receives the highest combined score out of the weighted technical and financial criteria as specified above.
General terms and conditions_Individual Consultant (IC)
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.