Background
The Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has the responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. BPPS’s staff provides technical advice to Country Offices; advocates for UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government and civil society dialogues, South-South and Triangular cooperation initiatives, and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas. BPPS works closely with UNDP’s Crisis Response Unit (CRU) to support emergency and crisis response. BPPS ensures that issues of risk are fully integrated into UNDP’s development programmes. BPPS assists UNDP and partners to achieve higher quality development results through an integrated approach that links results based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working. BPPS supports UNDP and partners to be more innovative, knowledge and data driven including in its programme support efforts.
The Cluster on Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction focuses on integrating UNDP’s climate change, energy, and disaster risk reduction work into a coherent policy and programming framework. It seeks to provide an integrated package of services covering these three highly interlinked areas through a joint approach that affords far greater opportunities in securing development gains and in building resilient societies that are better able to withstand the multiple challenges posed by rapidly increasing exposure to disaster and climate change risks. Such an approach builds on UNDP’s experience in supporting countries in these areas and provides the best possible support that is requested and needed by countries as they look to implement post-2015 agreements including the SDGs, UNFCCC Climate Agreement and Sendai Framework on DRR.
The Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction cluster in the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) is seeking a consultant with experience in research, knowledge management, and communications related to climate change, energy, and disaster risk reduction. The consultant based in New York is responsible for initiating briefs and speaking material for BPPS and the UNDP Executive Office, providing research support, contributing to enhancing the knowledge produced and disseminated by the team, and strengthening the team’s advocacy and outreach capacity. S/he collaborates with all teams in the Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction Cluster and across UNDP’s Regional Hubs, Country Offices and Global Policy Centers, helping them to capture, generate and share knowledge to provide quality briefings, speeches, knowledge and advocacy material.
Duties and Responsibilities
Scope of Work
The Climate Change and DRR Researcher and Writer based with the BPPS Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction Cluster at HQ is responsible for support to all the functions of the Cluster related to briefings and communications, with a focus on climate change. S/he will draft and provide inputs to briefs, speeches, presentations, and support the development of substantive knowledge products and communications materials including online content for the Cluster’s webpages. S/he will also be responsible for supporting the various thematic teams in preparation and planning for major events and ensuring fulfilment of all incoming requests.
Expected Deliverables
The expected total duration of the assignment is 95 working days from 17 August 2015. The consultant is expected to produce the following deliverables within the proposed timeframe:
Drafts briefs, speeches, presentations and advocacy/informational materials:
- .Works with the climate change and disaster risk reduction team members, prepares inputs for briefings and other materials requested by the Executive Office and BPPS Directorate, including through sourcing, editing and formatting information from available evidence, research and corporate knowledge;
- Supports development of advocacy materials relating to UNDP’s priority policy/programming areas in climate change, energy, and disaster risk reduction such as Fast Facts, Results pages, Issue Briefs, media releases, op-eds, brochures, etc.
Develops content for knowledge products including corporate web content and social media:
- Contributes to researching, distilling and codifying knowledge and best practices in climate change, energy, and disaster risk reduction initiatives from UNDP programmes in these areas;
- Support the Cluster global team leaders in editing all knowledge products;
- Supports coordinating team contributions to corporate KM activities pertaining to climate change and disaster risk reduction cluster;
- Contributes to corporate knowledge campaigns, organization of knowledge events, and knowledge networks and communities of practice.
Supports event planning and preparation:
- Supports the planning and preparation for major events including drafting preparation of briefs, speeches, and other relevant materials for senior management;
- Liaises with participants and speakers and prepares invitations, RSVPs, and follow-up correspondence;
- Supports the rapporteur function through note-taking and drafting of relevant meeting reports.
Ensures timely BPPS responses to correspondence received through the corporate registry system related to climate change, energy, and disaster risk reduction:
- Works with global team leaders to support drafting and ensuring timely response to correspondence received through corporate registry on issues related to climate change, energy, and disaster risk reduction;
- Monitors fulfillment of follow-up on (non-correspondence) action items received through the registry system;
- Supports the cluster to share results in corporate annual reporting on climate change, disaster risk reduction and energy, including through the collection of inputs, research and writing.
Institutional Arrangement
The consultant will be under the overall supervision and guidance of the Chief of Profession for Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction, and under the supervision of the Global Team Leader for Climate Change on Climate Change related work. The consultant will also interact with other members of the cluster particularly working closely with the Cluster’s Global Team Leaders on climate change, energy, and disaster risk reduction. No travel is required for this assignment.
Competencies
Technical/Functional Competencies:
Primary:
- Excellent knowledge of a range of climate change thematic areas, policy issues, and concepts including on adaptation, mitigation, and financing;
- Demonstrated competencies in brief and speech writing, and the ability to prepare quality briefs and/or speeches;
- Proven strong research and analytical skills.
Secondary:
- Ability to capture, develop, share and effectively use information and knowledge;
- Ability to turn raw information into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to stated need;
- Demonstrated competencies in organization and facilitation of operations and logistics related to major events, workshops, and meetings.
Core Competencies:
Ethics & Values:
- Demonstrating / Safeguarding Ethics and Integrity;
- Demonstrates and promotes the highest standard of integrity, impartiality, fairness and incorruptibility in all matters affecting his/her work and status.
Organizational Awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment:
- Understands the structure and hierarchy of UN/UNDP, process flows throughout the organization, products and services, their measures of effectiveness, and perceptions of clients.
Working in Teams: Acting as a team player and facilitating team work:
- Works collaboratively with colleagues inside UN/UNDP as well as its partners and other stakeholders to pursue common goals.
Communicating Information and Ideas:
- Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively;
- Delivers verbal/written information in a timely, clear, organized and easily understood manner.
Conflict Management/Negotiating & Resolving Disagreements:
- Managing conflict;
- Remains calm, composed and patient, regardless of his/her own state of mind in the face of conflict.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Masters degree in climate change, environment, energy, disaster management, or a closely related field.
Experience:
- A minimum of 2 years relevant work experience on climate change; other environment related activities an asset;
- Work experience in an international organization is required, UNDP experience is an asset
Language:
- Proven excellent oral and written communications and presentation skills in English; and
- Knowledge of other UN languages is an asset.
Schedule of Payments
Payments will be made on a monthly basis upon submission of timesheets and approval by the supervisor of satisfactory progress on set deliverables specified in the section on Expected Deliverables and upon certification by the direct supervisor as stated in the section Institutional Arrangements.
Recommended Presentation of Offer
The application is a two-step process. Failing to comply with the submission process may result in disqualifying the applications:
Step 1: Interested individual consultants must include the following documents when submitting the applications in UNDP Job Site (Please note that only 1 (one) file can be uploaded therefore please include all docs in one file).
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 uploaded however UNDP may later request a P11 form to be completed.
At least two samples of related written work or publications through accessible web links (Do not attach whole publications). For each sample, a brief explanation on how the candidate was involved in the development and writing of the publication (i.e. research methodology, stakeholders involved, etc.) needs to be provided – this can be included and/or attached in the P11 or CV.
Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable candidate for the assignment. Indicate available start date.
Note:
Please group all your documents into one single PDF file when uploading to the UNDP Job Site because the system allows only one attachment.
Step 2:
Submission of Financial Proposal.
Applicants are instructed to submit their financial proposals in US Dollars for this consultancy to eeg.jobfinproposal@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 – Climate Change and DRR Researcher and Writer“ 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.
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 breakdown of the evaluation of the technical proposal is as follows:
- Masters degree in climate change, environment, energy, disaster management, or a closely related field - (10);
- A minimum of 2 years relevant work experience on climate change and/or environment activities - (20);
- Knowledge and experience working on issues related to climate change including adaptation, mitigation, and climate finance - (30);
- Experience in writing briefs, speeches, and developing communications and knowledge products - (30);
- Knowledge and experience of UNDP and UN system policies, rules and regulations, guidelines. -(10).
- TOTAL : (100)
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.