UNDP Jobs - 63522- Consultant - Support for Peace Building Fund Activ

Consultant - Support for Peace Building Fund Activities in South Sudan

Location :

Juba,South Sudan, SOUTH SUDAN

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

23-Feb-2016

Application Deadline :

15-Feb-16 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

70 days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

70 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

In 2013, the Peace Building Fund provided programmatic funding for two out of the 15 priority areas of the South Sudan Peace Building Support Plant (PBSP), and this support was allocated from the Peacebuilding Recovery Facility (PRF), amounting to USD 10 million. The PRF requires the establishment of a national Joint Steering Committee (JSC) for local decision-making and accountability supported by a Secretariat. The PBF allocation provided support for deliverables related to vocational and literacy training of youth and construction of haffirs (watering areas for cattle to allow communities to remain stable and prevent conflict over water access) and water points, divided in 4 projects, and a Secretariat project housed in the Resident Coordinator’s Office. The activities were mainly focused on Jonglei, which was considered the most unstable state at the time.

After the outbreak of hostilities in South Sudan in December 2013, Participating UN Organizations (PUNOs) experienced delays, but most activities resumed, beginning from September 2014, and Jonglei turned out to become one of the more stable areas in South Sudan over the last year, due to the establishment of the Greater Pibor Administrative Area.

The PBSP was set to expire on 31 May 2015, but was subsequently extended until December 2016 to allow for completion of several projects. As of February 2016, one project by UNOPS to construct haffirs and boreholes with a total budget of USD 5,920,352 remains active. This large project remains on track, but with significant delays, and implementation is now scheduled to be completed in November 2016. 2 remaining haffir constructions in Pibor has commenced, and are expected to become completed in the on-going dry season. Two remaining boreholes in Pibor will also be completed. The training of Water User Committees to be conducted by PACT (partners with UNOPS) had been delayed and is now an urgent priority.

The Joint Steering Committee (JSC) and its Secretariat were largely inactive in 2015 with no meetings, but there is a likelihood that the JSC will again become more active as South Sudan is making progress with its peace transition. As part of the phasing out of the USD 10 million PRF allocation from the PBF, the Secretariat project was set to end in December 2016. However, it has now been agreed with the PBF to allow for a limited Secretariat function until completion of remaining project activities in November 2016.

The RCO in South Sudan is therefore now recruiting an experienced consultant to conduct a range of tasks related to maintaining Secretariat functions and ensure a sufficient level of independent monitoring of the UNOPS project.

Duties and Responsibilities

To support the UNCT in its development of the South Sudan ICF 2016-2017, the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office (RCO) will engage an experienced international consultant for to undertake work amounting to a total of 70 consultant days within the next 8 months until end of November. Part of the work will be home based and part will be Juba based, to be further agreed. Travel to Juba will be arranged by the RCO and compensated according to UNDP policies.

The main task of the consultant will be to support the RCO in maintaining its core Secretariat function and to provide oversight, coordination, monitoring and technical support to the Steering Committee and to UNOPS as the remaining participating UN agency.
Specifically, the consultant will be responsible for the following:

Ensure preparation and implementation support for Joint Steering Committee decisions, quality assurance and compliance as core functions of the Technical Secretariat;
Provide effective support to participating UN Agencies and help resolve coordination issues and trouble shoot. Support closing of the UNOPS project and full delivery;
Conduct field monitoring trips and produce monitoring reports, and support work to prepare an evaluation of the entire PRF program in South Sudan. Support other reporting tasks as required.

Competencies

Strong knowledge of the UN system and UN joint country strategy processes in post-conflict countries;
Specific knowledge of UN-Peacebuilding, and the PBF;
Excellent communication, interpersonal skills, teamwork and adept at working with people of diverse cultural and social backgrounds;
Ability to work under pressure and deliver outputs at specific deadlines;
An understanding of, and ability to abide by the core values of the United Nations.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree or equivalent in Economics, Development Studies, Peace Studies, Social Studies, International Relations or other related field.

Experience:

At least 5 years of relevant experience in UN peacebuilding in post-conflict countries and related areas;
Proven experience with UN peacebuilding, including technical secretariat support functions and field based monitoring of projects;
Previous experience in South Sudan will be a strong advantage;
Experience in working with teams and team processes, including UN-coordination;
Documented experience with support for the functions of technical secretariats of pooled funds and monitoring of peacebuilding projects in post-conflict countries.

Language:

Proven excellent command in written and spoken English.

Other relevant information regarding the Consultancy:

Start date and duration;

The consultancy will commence as soon as possible and will be for 70 consulting days within the period until November 2016. There will be some flexibility in agreeing on the specific time periods of work.

Reporting arrangements, location of the assignment and payments:

The consultant will report to the head of the RCO and receive guidance from other RCO staff that may be assigned, and will engage and support UNOPS and other UN entities as required;
Part of the work will be home based and part of the work will require visits to Juba and visits to field locations in South Sudan, including Pibor and surrounding areas;
Payments of fees will based on milestones as per the TOR. Travel will be arranged and funded directly by the RCO/UNDP.

Documents to be included when submitting proposals:

Brief explanation (up to 300 words) why the consultant is the most suitable for the work, and what the availability of the consultant for the planned work is;
A financial proposal indicating the daily fee;
An updated P11 form which can be downloaded from this website: http://www.sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc

Evaluation of proposals
The award of the contract will be made to the team leader or consultant team whose offer has been evaluated and determined as having received the highest combined score of the technical and financial scores.

Technical Criteria weight; 70%.

Financial Criteria weight; 30%.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70 points out of 100 points at the technical evaluation will be considered for the financial evaluation.