UNDP Jobs - 67229- Knowledge Management in Open Data and Governance C

Knowledge Management in Open Data and Governance Consultant

Location :

Istanbul, TURKEY

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

16-Jul-16 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

15 August 2016 – 15 August 2017

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

approximately 220 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

Substantial progress has been made in many countries towards political stability, consolidation of democracy, rule of law, provision of public services, and improvement of human rights in the Europe and CIS region. After a period of relative stability however, indicators of democratic governance in the region have recently shown declines in many countries. The entire region still faces the consequences of past totalitarian regimes and of recent and current armed conflicts. In many parts, trust in governance institutions is low, democracy remains fragile, and restrictions on political and civil rights continue to hamper progress. The Worldwide Governance Indicators of voice and accountability, regulatory quality, and political stability and absence of violence have declined over the last seven years in the region. Out of the 172 countries ranked by the 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index, only Georgia is on the list of the 50 countries with the least perceived corruption. The current geo-political tensions within and along the borders of the countries in the region, and animosities between ethno-national groups represent key conflict risks in much of the ECIS.

Sustainable Development Goal 16 frames the promotion of peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provision of access to justice for all, and the building of effective, accountable, and inclusive institutions at all levels as a priority for the 2030 development agenda. UNDP’s Strategic Plan (2014-2017) prioritizes democratic governance and peacebuilding as the key to strengthening the social contract between the people and the state in realizing resilient and sustainable development. To contribute to this overall goal, UNDP in ECIS works regionally and at country level on:

Advocating for openness, transparency and accountability of public institutions, anti-corruption and strengthening civil society engagement;
Supporting legal reforms and developing parliamentary processes;
Strengthening the rule of law including community security and promoting rights and access to justice of marginalized communities;
Building efficient National Human Rights Institutions; supporting the implementation of international standards and recommendations;
Enhancing public services and institutional responsiveness including public sector performance measures, voice and participation, particularly of excluded groups including youth;
Supporting effective local governance frameworks, decentralization and implementation mechanisms;
Supporting conflict prevention through national dialogue, local peace committees, and confidence-building activities while building institutional capacity to address risks and crises;
Placing gender equality and women at the center of decision-making and peace efforts.

Duties and Responsibilities

A Consultant will be hired to support the Transformative Governance and Finance Facility project and the team leader within the Governance and Peacebuilding Team at the Istanbul Regional Hub on preparing for a number of events and publications as part of the team’s policy and programme role. S/He will support the rapporteuring and subsequent reporting of the events as well as the coordination of communications efforts. They will also support the Governance and Peacebuilding Team in monitoring of a number of projects supported around the ECIS region by the Catalytic Facility and consolidating updates and reporting. The Consultant will also be engaged in migrating knowledge outputs and files from the current storage system to a new Knowledge Platform under development.

Deliverables:

Deliverable 1 - Provide technical specifications for the terms of reference for researchers, review and coordinate input to the Open Data Barometer by the researchers (August-September 2016);
Deliverable 2 - Advise and develop a communications strategy for the Ministry of Data challenge (5 pages), and preparation and consolidation of lessons learned and scaling up the initiative for next year (a report consisting of at least 15 pages) (October-November 2016)
Deliverable 3 - Review the inputs to the Governance Annual Report 2015, ensuring that the report reflects the contribution of UNDP in the ECIS region in the governance area (November 2016);
Deliverable 4 - Capacitate all GPB staff on the use of COSMOS, including support on the coordination of service requests, and entry of service plans (December 2016);
Deliverable 5 - Develop the lessons learned and identifying key challenges in implementation of the country office pilots funded under the Transformative Governance and Finance Facility, during the mid-year review (January 2017);
Deliverable 6 - Provide consulting services and specialized input on M&E in preparation for the annual reports for 2016 on the open data related projects, each to be at least 10 pages and in line with donor requirements (February 2017);
Deliverable 7 - Provide technical specifications for the terms of reference for consultants, for the implementation of the Transformative Governance and Finance Facility, and the Open Data in Europe and Central Asia network (March 2017, 10 days);
Deliverable 8 - Consolidate lessons learned (at least 10 pages) for the projects supported through Catalytic Facility, referencing the successes and challenges (April 2017);
Deliverable 9 - Provide specialized input for the two calls for proposals and a request for quotation for activities under the Transformative Governance and Finance Facility, and the Open Data in Europe and Central Asia network, by also integrating and reflecting input from GPB team (May 2017);
Deliverable 10 - Design and develop at least 3 specialized pages in the Governance and Peacebuilding Knowledge Platform for GPB events and train all team members to use the platform in their day-to-day work (June 2017);
Deliverable 11 - Consolidate the governance and peacebuilding inputs and reviews of the Regional Programme Catalytic Facility (July 2017);
Deliverable 12 - Provide consulting services on M&E for mid-year reports for 2016 and 2017 to the donors for the open data related projects, each to be at least 5 pages and in line with donor requirements (August 2017).

Payment schedule:

Deliverable 1 to 11: 8% of lump sum;
Deliverable 12: 12% of the lump sum.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment;

Functional Competencies:

Strong interpersonal skills, communication and diplomatic skills, ability to work in team;
Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities;
Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
Ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree in Political Science, International Relations or related topic.

Experience:

At least six years’ experience supporting development programmes in international environment;
At least two years’ work experience relating to governance;
At least two years’ experience in project monitoring and evaluation with international organizations or in international environment.
Experience with UNDP is considered an asset.

Language skills:

Excellent oral and written proficiency in English.

Evaluation of Applicants:
Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal.
The award of the contract should 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 weighted technical (P11 desk reviews) and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Only those individual consultants who obtained at least 70% of points in each of the steps of the process (P11 desk review) will be considered for financial proposal evaluation.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max. 35 points:

Educational background, max 5 points;
Relevant work experience in supporting development programmes in governance: max 10 points;
Track record of monitoring and evaluation of development projects and programme: max 10 points;
Proven analytical, communication and language skills in relevant fields, such as governance and rule of law, max 5 points.
UNDP experience in areas related to the performance of the outlined task, max 5 points.

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max. 15 points.

Application procedures:
Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via this website. The application should contain:

Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application;
Filled P11 form including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees (blank form can be downloaded from http://europeandcis.undp.org/files/hrforms/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc ); please upload the P11 instead of your CV;
Financial Proposal* in USD - specifying a) total lump sum amount for the tasks specified in this announcement and b) travel costs to and from the duty station.
Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials. Please group all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.

Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant/contractor during the contract period (e.g. fee, health insurance, vaccination and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services, this includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel). Financial proposal should not include costs related to missions, which will be paid separately as per UNDP rules and regulations.

Payments will be made only upon confirmation of UNDP on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner.
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
General Terms and conditions as well as other related documents can be found under: http://on.undp.org/t7fJs.