UNDP Jobs - 59807- International Consultant: Joint Review of National

International Consultant: Joint Review of National Data Availability for Reporting on the Proposed Sustainable Development Goals

Location :

Ulaanbaatar, MONGOLIA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

25-Sep-2015

Application Deadline :

18-Sep-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

30 days

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

Governments are set to adopt 17 SDGs and 169 associated targets in September 2015 with implementation and reporting beginning in 2016. At the global level, the UN Statistical Commission is developing a set of global SDG indicators for consideration by member states but in addition, the draft outcome document for the UN Summit to adopt the post-2015 development agenda and SDGs in September calls for governments to ‘set its own national targets guided by the global level of ambition but taking into account national circumstances’. During the 3rd session of the Post-2015 intergovernmental negotiations, 23 to 27 March 2015 in New York, member states also reiterated that national indicators, to be developed by national bodies, would comprise an important part of the overall indicator framework. To ensure effective reporting against the proposed 169 SDG targets, member states will therefore need appropriate national indicators and accompanying metrics to be available, adequate monitoring protocols and data collection modalities agreed, and sufficient resources mobilized.

The global UN System Task Team on the Post-2015 Development Agenda has also highlighted the need at an early stage to comprehensively examine data gaps and compilation limitations country by country and theme by theme, with a view to addressing them systematically in national statistical services. The Task Team also noted that the new fields under consideration for post-2015 will to a large extent require the development of new data sources, some along more traditional lines, such as household surveys, some with methods outside the official statistics mainstream, such as opinion and satisfaction surveys, and civil society. In many cases, new indicators will have to be developed, together with information gathering systems, to cover SDG targets areas. This will require major investments in national capacity to collect and analyze data. The state of negotiations at the global level indicate that it is highly unlikely that the SDG goals will change from those proposed by the Open Working Group and that the SDG targets are unlikely to be substantively changed.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of the consultancy

The objective of the study is to provide an overview of national and provincial data availability and data gaps in regard to indicators for reporting against the proposed SDG targets. Such analysis on data availability can contribute to national SDG readiness and planning and to identifying potential areas for targeted capacity development support to data collection and management.

Scope of work/tasks

Activities to be undertaken in partnership with the National Statistical Office in Mongolia (NSO);
Identification of national SDG indicators;
For each proposed SDG target the consultant will identify a list of indicators - based on available official statistics at the national and provincial (including city) levels- that could be used to report on the draft target including potential proxy indicators where necessary. The consultant will draw on the proposed SDG indicators identified by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network on Indicators and a Monitoring Framework for the SDGs as well as the Technical report by the Bureau of the United Nations Statistical Commission (UNSC) on the process of the development of an indicator framework for the goals and targets of the post-2015 development agenda. In addition, the consultant will identify ‘localized’ SDG indicators of unique relevance to the country where applicable;
The consultant will review national indicators used to report on the Government’s commitments under international and regional economic, social, environmental and human rights agreements and integrate these indicators into the SDG framework where feasible;
For those targets where there are data gaps in terms of the availability of official statistics, the consultant will review and identify indicators that could be supplied from data sources from outside government including academia, private sector, utilities, civil society organizations etc.;
The consultant will analyse proposed indicators to ensure that they are clearly linked to the target, are easy to understand and unambiguous for interpreting positive and negative change relative to the target by policymakers, Governments, civil society and the public;
The consultant will also identify baseline data for each proposed indicators;
For each target consultant will assist the government in identifying appropriate, realistic, quantifiable national targets for each SDG target. In doing that, the consultant is expected to provide technical expertise to the government working group established on SDGs;
Present the key findings at the national consultation on SDGs.

To the maximum extent possible, SDG indicators identified by the consultant should be:

Clear and straightforward: Indicators need to be simple to compile and interpret;
Consensus based, in line with international standards: Indicators, in particular, should be underpinned by a broad consensus on their measurement and be based on international standards, recommendations, and best practices to facilitate international comparison;
Constructed from established and consistent data sources: Indicators should draw on well established and acceptable to government sources of public and private data and be consistent to enable measurement over time.

Disaggregated:

Preference should be given to indicators that lend themselves to disaggregation by:

(i) Characteristics of the individual or household (e.g. gender, age, income, disability, religion, race, or ethnicity);
(ii) Economic activity; and
(iii) Spatial disaggregation (e.g. by metropolitan areas, urban and rural, or districts). As the High Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post 2015 Agenda report recommends, targets can only be considered ‘achieved’ if they are met for all relevant groups.

Managed by a designated organization:

Each Core Indicator should be managed by one or more designated lead organization(s) that will be responsible for annual, high quality national reporting of the indicator with due consideration to cost effectiveness, lean reporting processes, and national monitoring methods;
Integrate normative indicators from global level treaties, conventions and other relevant agreements including multilateral environmental agreements, human rights conventions etc. where relevant to the SDG target.

Outputs and deliverables

Report preparation

The consultant will prepare a draft report comprised of the following sections:

Executive summary, including a summary matrix of proposed SDG targets and indicator availability.

Section1: Narrative highlighting data gaps and capacity needs based on the analysis of section 2.

Section 2: In Excel a matrix broken down by SDG goal/target/indicators (noting level and type of disaggregation)/source of data/time series (frequency of collection and reporting of the indicator)/other remarks. Matrix should also note if a proposed indicator also links to an international treaty or agreement.

Microsoft PPT presentation summarising key findings of the review to be presented to the national consultation.

Consultant will support the preparation and facilitation of a national level workshop for national planning officials across government to present the findings of this data assessment and raise awareness of the SDGs.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Strong proven capacity in research, data collection and analysis;
Good facilitation and communication skills;
Ability to plan, prioritize and deliver a variety of tasks on time;
Ability to provide constructive coaching and feedback for others;
Ability to liaise with a myriad of stakeholders and partners, including government, civil society, international organizations and grassroots organizations;
Ability to plan for and produce quality results in meeting established goals;
Excellent analytical and writing skills, with a proven ability to focus on practical outputs

Corporate Competencies:

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

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s Degree or equivalent in Statistics, Development studies, Economics

Experience:

Must have at least 10 years of work experience in the field of research and policy making;
Proven expertise in data analysis, assessment;
Previous experience in MDGs monitoring at global, regional and country level;
Good relevant understanding of SDGs.

Language:

Excellent command of English.

Payment instalment

The UNDP standard method of payment is the output-based lump-sum scheme and shall be made in instalments upon completion of the tasks/deliverables as indicated below. The amount paid shall be inclusive of all associated costs such as social security, pension and income tax etc.

1st instalment:

40% upon submission of a Draft excel matrix with proposed SDG goals/target indicators (25 days after the signature of the Contract).

2nd instalment:

60% upon presentation made on the main findings at the national workshop, submission of revised matrix and final report including executive summary and data gaps and capacity needs (45 days after the signature of the Contract).

The payments for each instalments will be made within thirty (30) days after submissions upon clearance/approval from NSO, UNDP Country Office and UNDP and UNEP regional teams.

Duration of Assignment

The consultant is expected to work in total 30 working days during 25 September – 15 November’ 2015.

Team composition:

The international consultant is expected to work together with a national consultant and provide joint deliverables listed above. The national consultant will be recruited by UNDP Mongolia.

Duty station:

The consultant is expected to have a mission in Ulaanbaatar during 1-23 Oct’ 2015. NSO will host both international and national consultants during the contracting period.

Institutional setting and reporting mechanism

The consultant will be contracted by UNDP Mongolia. The consultant will report to the Team Leader of Human Development and MDGs, UNDP Mongolia and the Regional Coordinator of UNEP in Bangkok. National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Finance (MoF) and Government working group on SDGs will provide the required guidance and support in undertaking the consultancy.

The present TOR may be subject to modification, without changing the overall objective and the scope of work, on the basis of mutual consultations. UNDP and UNEP will hold the copyright of the assignment outputs.

Application

Qualified and interested candidates are requested to apply online using this site: www.jobs.undp.org;

The application should contain the followings:

Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability indicating why the applicant considers him/herself suitable for the assignment;
Personal CV (with a minimum of three professional referees (withn their e-mail addresses) familiar with the applicant’s work who can be contacted in case the applicant is short-listed; UN P11 form shall be required from selected candidate;
Copies of relevant work (such as Executive Summaries of Reports, etc.) or web references to them;
A technical proposal for your work outlining how the applicant will undertake the assignment to achieve the objective, which should include an approach, work planning and timeline;
All inclusive Financial Proposal with a breakdown of consultancy fee and all travel-related costs that are expected to be incurred. The standard for all travel authorized by UNDP for individual subscribers is economy class.

Criteria for selection of the best offer

Applicants will be evaluated based on cumulative analysis (i.e. technical qualifications and price proposal).

The weight of the technical criteria is 70%; the weight of the financial proposal is 30%.

Only candidates who obtain a minimum of 70% in the technical evaluation will be considered for the financial evaluation.

Note:

This site has a limited feature in uploading documents, hence it is recommended to compile all documents into one file to upload.

For further questions and clarifications, please contact UNDP Mongolia at bids.mn@undp.org.

All applicants are highly recommended to visit the UNDP Mongolia website for detailed TOR (http://www.mn.undp.org/content/mongolia/en/home/operations/procurement.html)