Background

Demonstrating the relevance of innovation as a critical design principle for programming is a key priority for the UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub. BRH has been supporting Country Offices in the region to advance the innovation agenda by providing the creative space and discretionary resources to prototype innovative solutions and experiment with new ways of working to tackle complex development challenges outside the traditional business cycle. Particular emphasis has been placed on nurturing innovative tools, techniques and approaches, especially on data and design.

The Bangkok Regional Hub is a regional hub focusing on providing policy and programmatic support to UNDP activities in the Asia and Pacific region. Throughout UNDP´s programmatic focus areas, it assists Country Offices in development and implementation of initiatives and at the regional level, it conceptualizes and implements activities in partnership with a wide range of partners. The structure of the BRH is composed of policy/programme teams consisting of specialists and advisors that work both cross-thematically and issue-based.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Lead, Knowledge & Innovation, the Data & Design Specialist will contribute to the work of the team in the area of innovation, event management, concept formulation, initiatives implementation and evaluation, etc. through provision of technical expertise.

The consultant will be responsible for the following deliverables:

Manage data projects from planning to implementation

• Support on advising Country Offices on identifying and conceptualising potential entry points for data innovations;
• Scope and research the data ecosystem to provide detailed and exhaustive mapping of the region;
• Undertaking a desk review of existing literature from data-related initiatives, laws and regulatory frameworks, to broadly capture the data landscape of stakeholders, relationships, and processes in the region;
• Provide analysis, research, summaries and presentations on data on specific projects and related topics;
• Draw insights from researches and turn the findings into project workplan and proposals;
• Apply agile approaches such as rapid prototyping and design thinking to activity and project design;
• Monitor implementation activities, advise from technical perspective and prepare documentations when necessary;
• Exercise quality control to ensure proper outputs/services are delivered.

Design an R&D event on data

• Design the framework of the R&D event and integrate it with the existing and planned innovation work;
• Survey and map out leaders and influencers in data and design related R&D in the region;
• Network and reach out to identified resources people;
• Support the organization of the event and provide technical facilitations;
• Follow-up after the event with participants to build the community around data, design and development.

Build and maintain strategic partnerships

• Mapping of existing players in the data ecosystem in the region, including governments, development partners, private sector, civil society and other stakeholders;
• Conduct surveys, interviews and focus group discussions as relevant and required, in order to capture detailed and precise perspectives of stakeholders;
• Identify opportunities for new partnerships and collaborations;
• Develop project with relevant partners and coordinate with internal/external stakeholders;
• Provide recommendations to better store, process and analyze data for UNDP and our partners to allow interoperability

 Supports knowledge building and sharing around data

• Track and document data sources/ innovative strategies/ best practices/ new approaches/ latest trends;
• Organize and prepare training for the teams involved with data and design projects;
• Ensure knowledge transfer of research projects to internal and external stakeholders;
• Contributions to internal knowledge networks and external communities of practice;
• Identify relevant information for advocacy for a variety of audience.

 Data & Design Specialist, within the scope of his/her responsibility, will:

• support on advising Country Offices on identifying and conceptualising potential entry points for data innovations;
• answer all requests from Country offices within the scope of work are duly and timely;
• keep all internal/external systems in operational mode;
• adequately track and mitigate all incidents related to the systems functionality;
• support prototyping and scaling-up efforts with technical expertise by creating prototypes and specifications and evaluating them;
• provide regular updates on the emerging new technologies and advise on their applicability and value to development;

Specific deliverables will be agreed upon with the Supervisor at the beginning of each month, in writing. Payments will be made once a month upon submitted satisfactory progress report against deliverables and approved timesheet submission providing details of time spent on respective deliverables, their timely execution and acceptance by the Supervisor.

The consultant will carry out tasks specified above and will report weekly to the Knowledge and Innovation Specialist and the Chief of Regional Policy and Programme Support, Asia and the Pacific.

Duration:

Approximate duration of assignment is from 01 September 2016 to 31 March 2017.

Duty Station:

Bangkok, Thailand with possibility to travel to two countries within Asia and the Pacific

Competencies

• Excellent communication skills and good coordination skills;
• Excellent writing skills and good presentation skills;
• Conceptual innovative design in the provision of technical expertise;
• Strong analytical, reporting, designing and writing abilities;
• Adaptation and application of knowledge/innovation in different context;
• Rapid prototyping and evaluating;
• Demonstrated organizational and planning skills;
• Critical thinking and self-motivation;
• Safeguard ethics and integrity;
• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgement;
• Self-developing and initiative-taking;
• Acting as a team player and facilitating team work;
• Fast learner and encourage the learning of others;
• Informed and transparent decision making;
• Professional interest in development and public sector issues.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master degree in Statistics, Mathematics, Social Sciences, Computer Science, Art and/or Design or a related discipline

Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of professional experience in research or project management, preferably with quantitative and qualitative data;
• Excellent knowledge of big data, open data, software engineering, social design;
• Good knowledge of social innovation and project management;
• Understanding of programming language such as Python, R, etc. and platforms.

Language:

• Excellent English report writing and communication skills.

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 and a brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the work. 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; please upload the P11 instead of your CV;
• Financial Proposal* - specifying a total lump sum amount for the tasks specified in this announcement. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (number of anticipated working days, daily rate, travel costs to join the duty station/repatriation travel, if any, and any other possible costs).

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials.

 *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). All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel.

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.

Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply.

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.

The method of payment shall be made based on Monthly lump-sum payable upon submission of the monthly time-sheet, the monthly report and approval of the UNDP.

Each deliverable must be approved and based on satisfactory by, the lead, Knowledge and Inovation Specialist and the Chief of Regional Policy and Programme Support, Asia and the Pacific.

The proposed fee must be all-inclusive. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket, quoted by UNDP authorized travel agent. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

• Contracts based on daily rate

Daily rate payable upon submission of the monthly time-sheet, the monthly report and approval of the UNDP.

Travel;

Travel might be required to two countries within Asia and the Pacific

Payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

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 and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

 Technical Criteria – 70% of total evaluation – max 35 points

• Criteria A (Academic background) specified in the announcement – max 5 points
• Criteria B (professional experience in research or project management, preferably with quantitative and qualitative data – max 15 points
• Criteria C (Proven knowledge of UN/UNDP, particularly of specific modalities of work and priorities.) – max 10 points
• Criteria D (Proven experience in developing partnerships) – max 5 points

Only the highest ranked candidates who would be found qualified for the job will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

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

The Payment will be made in daily rate and will be paid upon confirmation of UNDP on the satisfactory completion of the respective deliverable

Annexes:

• Annex 1 – Terms of References (TOR);
• Annex 2 – Individual Consultant General Terms and Conditions;
• Annex 3 - Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability Template;
• Annex 4 - Financial Proposal Template.

All Annexes are avaialble for download at http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=32162

This contract does not carry any expectation of any future engagement by UNDP.