Background

Over the past decade, the Millennium Development Goals, or MDGs, have been critical in focusing attention, mobilizing resources and driving real progress on some of the world’s most pressing problems. With the MDGs’ deadline of 2015 fast approaching, multi-stakeholder discussions about the “Post-2015 development agenda” and about the set of goals that will succeed the MDGs – known as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - have been taking place at national, regional and global levels in the lead-up to member state negotiations and then sign-off on the process in September 2015.

Philanthropic organizations and foundations are emerging as important contributors and participants in the conversation about the SDGs and there is also growing interest in how the foundations can contribute in a more coordinated fashion at global and national levels.

The Post-2015 Partnership Platform for Philanthropy is a new project initiative launched in 2014 and is designed to enable philanthropy to understand better the opportunities for engaging in shaping and implementing the SDGs, and help governments and the UN system understand and build on the added value of philanthropy’s engagement. The project is implemented jointly by UNDP with the Foundation Center (FC), and the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA).

Ghana has been selected as one of four pilot countries, including Kenya, Indonesia and Colombia where the project is to be implemented over the next year or so. The Ghana platform was launched at a one-day workshop held on July 9, 2015 at the La Palm Royal Beach Hotel, Accra.   The national coordinator is expected to take this work forward.

Rationale of the Assignment

UNDP is looking for a dynamic national coordinator with an understanding of the role of philanthropy in development as well as someone who has good networks and experience in the field. The consultant will be instrumental in shaping and developing the Philanthropy Platform in Ghana, undertaking advocacy, and identifying and coordinating strategic partnerships.

Duties and Responsibilities

UNDP seeks national coordinator with an understanding of the role of philanthropy in development as well as someone who has good networks in the field. The consultant will be instrumental in shaping and developing the Philanthropy Platform in Ghana, undertaking advocacy, and identifying and coordinating strategic partnerships.

The consultant will be responsible for connecting philanthropic leaders with the UN, the government and civil society led policy discussions in Ghana and cultivating relationship building and collaborations and virtually and via real time convening.

The consultant will take the lead in reaching out to relevant government agencies and stakeholders to identify and ensure how data on the contribution of philanthropy can be gathered and reported on a more systematic basis in country as well feed into the global partnership initiative data initiative at SDGfunders.org.

The consultant will also play a key role in fostering learning and engaging with regional and global philanthropic associations and fora as relevant, as well as cooperating with the other pilot countries and UNDP corporate team of the Private Sector and Foundations which coordinates the initiative globally.

More specifically, the assignment calls for:

• Ability to work with senior leadership from the government, philanthropy and the UN system to facilitate a more strategic alignment and engagement of philanthropy in processes related to the development and implementation of Ghana’s development agenda particularly the localizing the SDGs;
• Demonstrated project management skills with strong ability to manage multiple work streams simultaneously;
• Leading and developing multi-stakeholder partnerships and initiatives;
• A strong advocacy role and facilitating collaboration, promoting learning, reporting and accountability for results for relevant work-streams and partnerships;
• Comfort with communications/multimedia assets that promote, educate and catalyse action.

Duties and Responsibilities

Key deliverables

The following deliverables and areas of work are for guidance only. A detailed work plan will be established with the Consultant after the contract is signed.

Mapping of work of philanthropy and contribution to Ghana’s development:

• Oversee the mapping of philanthropic entities, including local as well as international foundations, their areas of engagement and initiatives, working in collaboration with online UN volunteers and partners as needed;
• Oversee the collection of data on philanthropy and liaise with key government departments and UN partners and stakeholders, to explore how contributions of philanthropy can be incorporated into national statistics and reports relating to development cooperation, and sectoral/spatial plans etc.; and ensure that such data is made available in a timely fashion to SDGfunders.org the Foundation Centre and for regional/global exchanges as relevant;
• Familiarize him/herself with the UN current work, national development plans, the new strategic frameworks and policy-landscape in the country, keep track of the implementation of the global post-2015 agenda and engagement of philanthropy at global and national levels; identify with government, foundations and stakeholders how to deepen areas of engagement of philanthropy and facilitate reporting on activities with the framework of national plans and strategies to meet the SDGs (Agenda 2030).

Develop strong relations with foundations:

• Initiate follow-up from the Philanthropic Forum launch workshop (9th July 2015) and bring together philanthropy, civil society organizations, government and the UN entities to discuss how they can take the various work streams and broader alignment and partnership agenda forward;
• Develop strong relationships and networking between philanthropy, and other stakeholders to advance common SDGs and identify synergies between the Platform initiative and other relevant partnership initiatives related to the SDGs in Ghana;
• Engage and sensitize all major stakeholders while establishing and maintaining close relationships with foundations, CSOs and UN agencies as well as key development partners who work through or engage with philanthropic entities and grantees;
• Identify and broker concrete collaboration initiatives between partner and other foundations and stakeholders to scale up activity in support of SDGs implementation; and develop concept notes and funding proposals as needed;
• Lead the design and execution of a strategy that would anchor the Platform in the local With the support and coordination of the UN RC/RR develop a strategic plan to invite and include foundations and CSOs to relevant UN initiated policy discussions (on-line, sectoral, annual development summits, etc.) and identify entry points relevant to the foundations interests.

Reporting, Learning and Exchange and Communications:

• Regularly liaise and report the progress to UNDP Ghana, the global HQ project manager, UN teams in Ghana, and Coordinators in other countries involved in the Platform, in order to share lessons and progress and resolve challenges – it is expected that the consultant will contribute to the intellectual development and in country local contextualization of the Platform with new ideas/suggestions based on field experience;
• Report on a regular basis on progress vis-à-vis a clear outline of duties and expected results on annual basis as well as work plans to UNDP Ghana;
• Prepare communication initiatives, including ensuring timely inputs to the Platform website, and outreach to the local media etc. in collaboration with UNDP’s communication specialist;
• Provide inputs into country reports that synthesize the results of policy discussions and lessons from the Platform mechanism for multi-stakeholder collaboration;
• Contribute to producing of knowledge products from the process of engaging foundations into the SDG localization and implementation in Ghana.

Reporting Line

Dual reporting relationship with the UNDP in Ghana and the global project manager in Turkey.

Competencies

Corporate competencies:

• Commitment to UN mission, vision and values;
• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to produce high quality outputs and in a timely manner while understanding and anticipating the evolving client needs;
• Ability to focus on impact and results for the client, promoting and demonstrating an ethic of client service;
• Strong organizational skills;
• Ability to work independently, flexibly and under pressure utilizing initiative;
• Sound judgment, strategic thinking and the ability to manage competing priorities;
• Flexibility in responding to changing priorities in a fast-paced environment;
• Productive and efficient worker, highly motivated;
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to prioritize tasks;
• Strong analytical, research and writing skills and demonstrated ability to think strategically;
• Performance-oriented and focused on results;
• Persistence and willingness to follow through;
• Strong advocacy and outreach skills and ability to communicate clearly and quickly;
• Ability to take instructions and to learn on the job.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Graduate degree in international development, policy, economics or international relations.

Experience:

• Minimum seven years relevant experience in the field of development: international organization, NGO or philanthropic sector internationally and in the country;
• Familiarity and working in the philanthropic sector and the UN is a big plus, especially if it involves leading, developing and operationalizing multi-stakeholder partnerships;
• Sound understanding of the development situation in Ghana;
• Good convening capabilities and report writing;
• Strong leadership, advocacy and networking competencies.

Notes:

• Obligatory military service is not considered professional experience;
• Professional experience gained in an international setting is considered international experience;
• Experience gained prior to completion of undergraduate studies is not considered professional experience;
• Documents that demonstrate participation to project cycle management are not considered an internationally recognized project management certificate.

Language:

• Fluency in English is required (written and verbal);
• Working knowledge of other UN official language(s) is desirable.

Application Submission Process

The application submission 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 shop (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:  http://europeandcis.undp.org/files/hrforms/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc).

CV and copies of Educational Certificates

Cover letter, including an explanation of why you are the most suitable for the work and how you would approach the opportunity and deliver on the stated priority areas.

Step 2:

Submission of Financial Proposal
Applicants are instructed to submit their financial proposals in US Dollars for this consultancy to bpps.procurement@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 for Post-2015 Partnership Platform for Philanthropy – National Coordinator for Philanthropy" by the deadline for this vacancy. Proposals to be received after the deadline will be rejected. 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. 

Application Evaluation Process

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis methodology (weighted scoring method), where the award of the contract will 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 technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical Criteria weight: [70%]
Financial Criteria weight:  [30%]

Only Individual Consultants obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70%) on the Technical evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max. 100 points:

• Academic qualification – University degree (Masters) in International Development, Policy, Economics or International Relations.– 30 points;
• At least five years of relevant professional experience in the field of international development: international organization, NGO or philanthropic sector – internationally and in the country.– 20 points;
• Proven track record of ability to reach out and convene and strengthen relations between foundations, civil society, government and development partners. – 20 points;
• Demonstrated ability to facilitate discussions and research and good analytical skills. – 10 points;
• Excellent communication, advocacy and presentation skills coupled with strong writing skills. – 10 points;
• Distinctive experience and understanding of the development ecosystem in the country, including ongoing national policy dialogues, UN system, major philanthropic actors, CSOs, and the private sector.– 10 points.

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation

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 applying fair and transparent selection process that would take 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.
UNDP retains the right to contact references directly.
Payments will be made in monthly installments based upon the agreed daily rate that is expected to be all inclusive and to cover the cost of your providing the services (.i.e., including professional fees, commuting costs, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Consultant are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the financial proposal. 
Costs associated with national and international travel for work purposes will be covered by UNDP as relevant.
Payments will be made only upon confirmation of UNDP on delivering on the obligations and deliverables in a satisfactory manner. A detailed work plan and milestones for payment will be discussed and agreed with the selected candidate. 
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
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.