UNDP Jobs - 65745- Re-advertisement - Consultant for the Development

Re-advertisement - Consultant for the Development of the Crises Modifier Mechanism

Location :

Harare, ZIMBABWE

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

09-May-2016

Application Deadline :

29-Apr-16 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

20 working days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

20 working 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

Similar to other sub-Saharan African countries, Zimbabwe has faced a number of economic, environmental and social shocks and stresses that has led to chronic vulnerabilities of a number of rural communities, leaving them extremely exposed to any hazard or crisis. The challenges of this situation will persist due to the effects of climate change and slow economic growth. Drought trends analysis in Zimbabwe shows that the country used to experience droughts once in every five years, but recent developments are indicating that drought has become more frequent and severe with drought being expected after every two years mainly driven by key environmental drivers which include climate change and variability (Zimbabwe Metrological Department, 2015). The direct impacts of these phenomenon include crop failures, food shortages, and reduced incomes from agriculture produce, high livestock deaths and disposal at very low prices, disease and acute malnutrition. The Government of Zimbabwe and its development partners has been responding to these crisis in a number of ways over the year. However, the lack of an efficient and coordinated system that provides real time information on early warning data and analysis to prompt timely response to ensure that long term investments are protected and to inform when assistants can be stopped so that continued support do not undermine resilience efforts by creating donor dependency syndrome is impacting the response.

Furthermore, there is a need to develop clear context specific indicators and thresholds, agreed among various stakeholders to monitor and measure the impact of shocks and stresses. This will allow for agile and flexible funding mechanism by including crisis modifiers in multi-year development grants to build recurring emergency response into development programming. It is against this background that the development of a Crisis Modifier for programming under the Zimbabwean Resilience Building Fund (ZRBF) is proposed.

Duties and Responsibilities

Specific Objectives of the Consultancy:

Bring together any insights gained from earlier and on-going experiences on the crisis modifier approach in Zimbabwe and other countries;
What are feasible options for the development of an agile and flexible funding mechanism by including crisis modifiers in multi-year development grants to build recurring crisis response into development programming under ZRBF, in the context of Zimbabwe?
Build a knowledge base on the factors and variables to take into account for the activation of the crisis modifier;

Develop two contextual and dynamic models for estimating early warning threshold for the activation of the crises modifier both at national and program level that provide us with the:

Ability to determine when to start & stop supporting which intervention with some level of accuracy with all factors considered by determination of livelihood "elasticity limits".
Ability to determine and quantify within a dynamic context the various factors and impacts each variable has on a household, livelihood, community so as to tailor flexible programs that will be responsive and adoptive and provide a range of responses given identified challenges
Prepare a multi-year (three years) crisis modifier plan with a clear cut t for ZRBF program in the piloted 10 districts;
Identify existing programmes that could potentially be used or up-scared as part of the crisis response under ZRBF;
How would this action plan be implemented and monitored? What is the role of the various stakeholders?

Expected outputs:

Draft the Inception plan;
Power point Presentation(s) on preliminary findings for stakeholders;
Draft Report (for review/comments from the ZRBF team, donor partners and UNDP);
Final Report, including an Executive Summary, clearly articulated recommendation section, and annexes as required.

Competencies

Strong analytical, quantitative and problem solving skills;
Ability to provide clear messages on complex information;
Ability to seek and synthesize information from a variety of sources and draw solid conclusion based on in depth analysis.
Accuracy and attention to detail;
Good communication skills, including the ability to write high quality reports, conduct studies and to articulate ideas in a clear and concise style;
Excellent interpersonal skills, teamwork and adept at working with people of diverse cultural and social backgrounds;
An understanding of and ability to abide by the core values of the United Nations;
Ability to determine when to start & stop supporting which intervention with some level of accuracy with all factors considered by determination of livelihood "elasticity limits";
Ability to determine and quantify within a dynamic context the various factors and impacts each variable has on a household, livelihood, community so as to tailor flexible programs that will be responsive and adoptive and provide a range of responses given identified challenges.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

PhD or Master’s Degree in development economics, agricultural economics, applied statistics or related field.

Experience:

At least 10 years of relevant field-based experience in conducting systematic analysis of socio economic and development issues;
Proven track record of excellence in quantitative and qualitative measurements;
A sound understanding of resilience building concept and developmental issues;
Relevant experience in developing an innovative financing mechanisms such as crisis modifier;
Familiarity with Sub Sharan African Region (preferably with Zimbabwe);
Exce llent analytical, writing and presentation skills.

Language:

Excellent verbal and written communication in English.

Reporting & Quality Control for the Assignment:

The Consultant will work in close collaboration with the ZRBF team and overall guidance of the UNDP ZRBF M&E Specialist. The M&E specialist will provide liaison support in identifying institutions and individuals that the consultants are expected to engage with in the course of the assessment. The ZRBF team will provide support at each stage of the assignment in terms of availing documents and facilitating meetings relevant to the assignment.

Application procedure:

Any request for clarification must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: procurement.zw@undp.org.

The response will be sent by standard electronic mail and written copies of the response including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry will be sent to all consultants.

Applicants are requested to upload a copy of their latest updated P11 Form which can be downloaded from this website - http://www.sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc.

Incomplete applications will not be given consideration.

Please group all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document;

Please note that only applicants who are short-listed will be contacted.

Selection criteria:

Technical Evaluation: 70% of total evaluation (maximum 70 points).

Criteria A: Education (maximum 10 points).
Criteria B: Experience (maximum 50 points, divided into 25 points for substantive and technical expertise in the area of resilience programming; in particular with specific knowledge and experience on the development crisis modifier; 10 points for experience in carrying out analysis and identifying/formulating lessons and best practices; 5 points for experience within the UN system and/or inter-agency settings; 10 points for familiarity with the Sub Sharan African resilience programmes);
Criteria C: Language (maximum 5 points).

In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses will be agreed upon, between UNDP and Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. In general, UNDP will not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the Consultant wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

Final selection: only the candidate with the highest ranked will be selected.

Note: only the highest ranked candidates who have obtained a minimum of 49 points (70%) on the technical evaluation will be considered for the financial evaluation.

Financial Evaluation: 30% of total evaluation (maximum 30 points).

Please submit an all-inclusive lump sum daily fee. Financial proposals must be all inclusive and must be expressed in USD. The term "all inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, consumables, insurance, etc.) that could possibly be incurred in discharging this assignment should be factored into the financial proposal.