Background

The UNDP Seoul Policy Centre on Global Development Partnership (USPC) was established in 2011, and has three main functions: to work with Korea on international issues; to share Korea’s development experiences with other countries; and to perform pragmatic and policy-relevant research. USPC, co-funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea and UNDP, also represents UNDP in Korea. USPC’s mandate to share Korea’s experience is fulfilled through the Development Solutions Partnerships (DSP), a programmatic approach to connect Korea with the wider UNDP network and enhance the Korea-UNDP partnership on strategic development issues. DSPs package Korea’s experience and knowledge, facilitate dynamic exchange of lessons learnt & peer-to-peer mentoring, and support the national adaptation of the tools at the country level, by channeling seed funding and technical support to the partner countries through existing project facilities of UNDP country offices.

As a cross-cutting area of work, the USPC also engages with Korean institutions of higher learning and the broader public to enhance the understanding of the role and work of UNDP, and to build public awareness of key development issues particularly the SDGs. A third pillar of USPC’s work focuses on conducting state-of-the-art policy-oriented research pieces on various topics.

One of the topics USPC is currently engaging on – in order to inform the ongoing global debates and the UN reform process – is the humanitarian-development-peacebuilding nexus. Within this work stream, USPC will organize a “deep dive” workshop on November 20th, 2017, to provide a platform that connects experienced development, humanitarian and peacebuilding experts that represent international assistance providers, development partners, civil society, academia and member states.

The workshop will facilitate honest and direct discussions on the implementation of “the new way of working” (stock-taking) and the way forward. The discussion rounds during the “deep-dive” shall reflect on the progress made since the World Humanitarian Summit, shed light on remaining obstacles and hurdles, (from recipient, donor and implementing perspective), and lead to clear outcomes and recommendations aimed at integrating humanitarian, development and peacebuilding considerations and operation modalities.

The workshop participants will include approximately 20 humanitarian, development and peacekeeping experts from government, international organizations, civil society and academia within Korea and from abroad.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work

UNDP is seeking an international expert to contribute to USPC’s envisaged publication on the humanitarian-development-peacebuilding nexus. The consultant shall – based on a comprehensive USPC background paper and existing UN policy documents - conduct comprehensive research and thereby address the angles and specifications of the humanitarian-development-peacebuilding nexus and the implementation of the ‘new way of working’, as suggested below:

• How to assure that national and international assistance efforts reinforce and strengthen the capacities that already exist at national and local level and generate collective outcomes, leading to sustainably improved living conditions and accelerated development?;
• How to improve cooperation in the field among development partners, implementing agencies and UN agencies in terms of pooling and combining data, analysis and information; conducting joint planning and programming processes; and adopt financing modalities, reporting and monitoring mechanisms to support collective outcomes?;
• How to improve and institutionalize cooperation among all actors (including the private sector) regarding prevention and resilience towards natural (and men-made) disasters and environment challenges caused by climate change?;
• How to design pragmatic modalities that combine humanitarian needs, development priorities and peacebuilding objectives (while being fully in accordance with the international principles of humanitarian assistance)?;
• How to strengthen national ownership and accountability in development and humanitarian assistance on national and local level, including governmental and civil society actors?.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

The consultancy is partly home-based and partly Seoul-based. Under the overall guidance of the UNDP Seoul Policy Centre Director and in close cooperation with the team, the consultant shall carry out the following tasks:

1. Comprehensive qualitative and quantitative research (7 days – 5 home-based; 2 Seoul-based)

• Conduct high-level research on a concrete example of how improved cooperation between development, humanitarian and peacebuilding actors can improve assistance delivery to affected populations (based on the research proposal provided in the application process), in accordance with international academic standards; and
• Provide a detailed overview of sources and references (together with the final paper);
• Support USPC in staff in finalizing the concept note for the “deep-dive” workshop.

 2.  Presentation of preliminary findings and thoughts (3 days – Seoul-based)

• Present and discuss the preliminary research findings and outline of the research paper (TOC) with UNDP/USPC; and
• Revise the structure and arguments based on the received feedback.

 3.  Production of a top-notch research paper (10 days – Seoul-based)

• Draft a publishable high-quality written paper, in accordance with international academic standards in terms of integrity and code of conduct;
• Prepare a PowerPoint presentation of the main findings based on the drafted research paper;
• If requested, depending on timings and venues, present the findings in related seminars or other dialogue fora.

Deliverables

The consultant is expected to deliver the following:

Institutional Arrangement

The consultants will report to the Director, Seoul Policy Centre;

• The consultants will be responsible for providing her/his own laptop and software to be used;
• Payments will be made upon submission of the deliverables and a detailed time sheet and certificate of payment form, and approval and confirmation by UNDP Seoul Policy Centre.

Duration of the Work: 1 October 2017- 30 November 2017 (up to 20 working days).

Duty Station: Home- based with possible travel to Seoul, The Republic of Korean.

Competencies

Functional Competencies

• Expert knowledge related to humanitarian, peacebuilding and development issues, demonstrated international experience, including in crisis countries (conflict; post-conflict and/ natural disaster) and substantial knowledge of the UN reform process;
• Strong analytical, research and synthesizing skills;
• Excellent organizational and time-management skills; ability to work independently against tight deadlines;
• Proficiency in the usage of computers, office software packages and online research tools;
• Excellent writing, editing and oral communication skills essential;
• Familiarity with the work of UNDP and the UN system.

Corporate Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP, and partner organizations;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Excellent understanding of international development issues and knowledge of the UN system.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s Degree or higher in Public Administration, International Development, Law, Political Science, Human Rights, Humanitarian Assistance or related field.

Experience:

• At least seven years’ experience with supporting policy research and production of policy papers and knowledge products in the field of humanitarian assistance, development assistance and/or peacebuilding;
• Proven experience with quantitative and qualitative research;
• Extensive experience in humanitarian assistance, reconstruction, development or peacebuilding work from the country level perspective;
• Knowledge regarding UN reform processes;
• Experience from UN peacekeeping or humanitarian missions an asset.

Language:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English.

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

The contract will be based on Lump Sum

Consultant must send a financial proposal based on Lump Sum Amount. The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, travel costs, living allowance (if any work is to be done outside the IC´s duty station) and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment. The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables/outputs and as per below percentages:

•               Deliverable 1, 2, and 3: 100 % of total contract amount (upon a completion of 3 deliverables).

In general, UNDP shall not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources

In the event of unforeseeable travel not anticipated in this TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and the Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Travel costs shall be reimbursed at actual but not exceeding the quotation from UNDP approved travel agent.  The provided living allowance will not be exceeding UNDP DSA rates. Repatriation travel cost from home to duty station in Bangkok and return shall not be covered by UNDP.

Evaluation Method and Criteria

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology;

Cumulative analysis

The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as a) responsive/compliant/acceptable; and b) having received the highest score out of set of weighted technical criteria (70%). and financial criteria (30%). Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment.

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points)

• Criteria 1: Suitability of proposed research approach-  Max 20 points;
• Criteria 2: At least seven years’ experience in the field of humanitarian assistance, development and/or peacebuilding work - Max 20 points;
• Criteria 3: Experience with the work of the UN system on humanitarian, development and peacebuilding issues - Max 20 points;
• Criteria 4: Experience regarding the development of strategy papers and policy guidelines - Max 10 points.

Criteria for financial evaluation (30 points maximum):

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

p = y (µ/z), where

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal
µ=price of the lowest priced proposal
z = price of the proposal being evaluated

The award of contract will be made to the individual consultant who receives the highest combined score out of the weighted technical and financial criteria as specified above.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

For required document template, please click the link as follow: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=40818