Background

The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 47 least developed countries. With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development. UNCDF’s financing models work through two channels: financial inclusion that expands the opportunities for individuals, households, and small businesses to participate in the local economy, providing them with the tools they need to climb out of poverty and manage their financial lives; and by showing how localized investments — through fiscal decentralization, innovative municipal finance, and structured project finance — can drive public and private funding that underpins local economic expansion and sustainable development. By strengthening how finance works for poor people at the household, small enterprise, and local infrastructure levels, UNCDF contributes to SDG 1 on eradicating poverty and SDG 17 on the means of implementation. By identifying those market segments where innovative financing models can have transformational impact in helping to reach the last mile and address exclusion and inequalities of access, UNCDF contributes to a number of different SDGs.

The Local Climate Adaptive Living (LoCAL) Facility of the UNCDF was designed and launched in 2011 with the aim of promoting climate change–resilient communities and local economies by establishing a standard and internationally recognized country-based mechanism to channel climate finance to local government authorities in LDCs and to increase local resilience, thereby contributing to achievement of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly the goals of poverty eradication (SDG 1) and climate action (SDG 13). LoCAL increases awareness and capacities to respond to climate change at the local level, integrates climate change adaptation into local governments’ planning and budgeting systems in a participatory and gender-sensitive manner, and increases the amount of finance available to local governments for climate change adaptation.

LoCAL combines performance-based climate resilience grants (PBCRGs) with technical and capacity-building support. PBCRGs ensure programming and verification of climate change expenditures at the local level and offer strong incentives for general performance improvements targeting areas of importance for enhanced resilience. The PBCRG can be seen as an earmarked cross-sectoral grant with conditions attached to the use of its funding for climate change adaptation beyond business as usual. Combined with regular grant allocations, PBCRGs enable 100 per-cent of the investments in climate-sensitive sectors to become climate resilient over time. They include a set of minimum conditions, performance measures and a menu of eligible investments.

LoCAL focuses on the delivery of four outputs that will directly contribute to increasing local governments’ access to climate finance and building resilience to climate change:

• Output 1 – Awareness and capacities to respond to climate change adaptation at the local level are increased;
• Output 2 – CCA is mainstreamed into government’s planning and budgeting systems and investments are implemented in line with the PBCRG mechanism;
• Output 3 – The PBCRG system is effectively and sustainably established in participating countries and leads to an increased amount of CCA finance available to local government and local economy;
• Output 4 – The role of local authorities and of the PBCRGS in addressing climate change are increasingly recognized at international level, through outreach, learning and quality assurance.

The Programme operates in three distinct phases:

Phase I: Piloting, consists of an initial scoping analysis, followed by testing in two to four local governments. As of 2019, The Gambia, Lesotho, Tanzania and Tuvalu are in Phase I; Ghana, Lao PDR, Mali, Mozambique and Niger are preparing to enter Phase II.

Phase II: Consolidating, takes place in 5–10 local governments in a country. It involves collecting lessons and demonstrating the mechanism’s effectiveness at a larger scale. As of 2019, Bangladesh, Benin and Nepal are in Phase II.

Phase III: Scaling-up, is full national roll-out of LoCAL based on the results of the previous phases and lessons learned. LoCAL is gradually extended to all local governments, with domestic or international climate finance, and becomes the national system for channeling adaptation finance to the local level. Bhutan is in Phase III, with budget support from the European Union; Cambodia has also begun Phase III preparations.

Since its global scale up in 2014, LoCAL has engaged 107 local governments in 14 countries representing over 6 million people. Between 2014 and 2018, it delivered close to USD 17 million, with grants and technical assistance to countries totaling USD 11.9 million. During the same period, 612 climate change adaptation interventions were finalized across 11 countries using grants, with another 36 under implementation or being planned.

This solicitation is for a Long-Term Agreement (hereafter referred to as “LTA”) for one year and renewable up to a maximum of three (3) years based on satisfactory performance of the individual consultant. “LTA” refers to a mutual arrangement whereby the selected individual consultant will provide services as required, over a specific period of time based on a separate specific TORs for the specific assignment (on call basis). An LTA specifies the unit price (daily rate), scope of work, allowing for a framework agreement to be used when the services are needed.

Duties and Responsibilities

UNCDF would like to enter into a non-exclusive Framework Agreement, also known as Long-Term Agreement (LTA), with one or more individuals that will perform the services described below on a need-basis.  In UNCDF, an LTA is a framework agreement by and between UNCDF and a company or individual where the latter may, at any time within the duration of the LTA, be required to render the agreed services at the agreed and fixed unit prices for a minimum period of 12 months, with potential extension for up to two (2) additional years, depending on satisfactory performance of the company.

Under an LTA, UNCDF does not guarantee that any specific quantity of services shall be purchased during the term of this agreement. The LTA does not form a financial obligation or commitment from UNDP at the time the LTA contract is signed and that such an agreement is non-exclusive.

Where a request for service arises, UNCDF can engage the individual on LTA through a “call-off” of the LTA.

Every call-off shall have specific tasks, scope of services and outputs to be delivered within a specific period of time.   For this particular work, the call-off shall be formalized through the issuance of a Purchase Order, attaching thereto the TOR, and any other document relevant to the call-off.  Financial commitments will only be established each time a Purchase Order for the specific services/TOR for Individual Contractor is committed.  Where there are multiple consultants qualified to perform the services on an assignment, UNCDF may conduct a secondary competition among them in order to determine who should receive the call-off.  The criteria for such selection shall be limited only to the lowest priced offer among those who confirmed availability.

The LTA shall have a cumulative ceiling amount that may accrue to the individual contractor during the life of the LTA, but said amount shall remain as an upper limit, and must not and cannot be interpreted nor understood as neither a financial commitment nor guarantee of business volume.  The said limit shall be inclusive of both professional fees and all other travel entitlements received by the consultant.

The objective of this consultancy is to support the LoCAL programme by providing technical assistance to the development of tailor-made Climate Change Risk, Vulnerability and Adaptation Local Information System (RVALIS) in selected LoCAL countries.

Candidates applying through their company or network should apply as individual candidates and shall indicate in the technical proposal and in the methodological approach possible support services (peer review, editing, formatting) that will be utilized to ensure the quality of the results/deliverables. These costs should be included in the technical-financial offer.

Additionally, one of the three selected individual contractors will have a team leader/coordinator role and will thus oversee the work of the other two ICs, in close collaboration with the LoCAL Facility, e.g. by developing briefings and debriefings, quality assurance of outputs/deliverables/methodology, technical review of draft reports and methodology, and so forth. Candidates shall indicate in their application their preferences for team leader or expert status.

Working under the direct supervision of the LoCAL Project Manager, and in close collaboration with governments and UNCDF country teams, the consultant(s) will be responsible for providing technical support to LoCAL programme and will work towards the following objectives

In performing the tasks, the incumbent will, inter alia, undertake, organize or facilitate (remote or in-country) consultations, workshops, and on-the-job learning, as agreed during the inception phase.

 As previously informed, one of the three selected individual contractors will have a team leader/coordinator role and will thus oversee the work of the other three ICs, in close collaboration and consultation with the LoCAL Facility. His/her functions will include, inter alia:

• developing briefings and debriefings on missions and assignments;
• Ensuring standards and quality of outputs/deliverables/methodology are observed and applied;
• Technical review of draft reports, methodology and other documents submitted by the experts;
• Focal point for technical support on field of expertise to selected experts;
• Supporting the LoCAL Facility in assessing distribution of workload among selected individual contractors.

N.B.:

1) Candidates shall indicate in their application their preferences to be considered as a team leader or expert.

2) Candidates applying via their network or on behalf of a company should apply as individual candidate and shall indicate in the technical proposal and in the methodological approach all the human resource that will be utilized to achieve expected results/deliverables.

Job type     Long-Term Agreement (LTA) as part time based on specific assignment and deliverables. Under the LTA, a Terms of Reference (TORs) which indicate a set of clear deliverables, budget and timelines will be prepared, agreed and approved by UNCDF prior to each assignment and/or mission. The payment will be made based on satisfactory completion of assignment and submission of deliverables under the specific assignment, and within the terms of approved ToRs.

Duration: Up to 90 days over 9 months (to be confirmed) per country.

Duty Station and expected places of travel: Home based with 4 missions to the country assigned (around 2 weeks each).

The schedule of travel will be agreed on with the incumbent according to the requirements of each programme country. Travel costs associated to the assignment will be paid following the UN rules and regulations which is Economy Ticket + UN Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) for specific countries. DSA rates are set on a monthly basis by the International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), accessible from https://icsc.un.org/Home/DataDSA

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise

• Demonstrated knowledge of relevant climate change issues and impacts, as well as on risks associated with climate change and extreme whether events, particularly in the least developed countries;
• Strong analytical skills, particularly applied to climate change and climate risk assessments;
• Work experience with climate modelling and CRA at national level (e.g. climate change downscaling, stressors, impact, exposure and vulnerability analyses, risk analysis, etc);
• Proven experience in developing and implementing best practice methodological approaches for localized climate risk assessments.

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to identify needs and interventions for capacity enhancement of counterparts, clients and potential partners;
• Ability to take responsibility for achieving agreed outputs within set deadlines;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Postgraduate degree in Environmental Science or Management, Climate Change Science, International Development, Mathematics, Statistics, Economics or other related fields.

Professional Experience and Skills:

•  At least 10 years of professional experience in the fields of environment and climate change adaptation with a specific emphasis on local climate risk assessments, environmental risk assessment, risk mapping, climate modelling, and/or climate change mainstreaming;
• Experience in capacity development and institutional strengthening in developing countries, ideally in the context of decentralization processes and/or climate change adaptation;
• Experience in developing and implementing best practice methodological approaches for localized climate risk assessments, particularly in LDCs;
• Strong analytical and writing skills and track record in producing relevant reports and other communications and knowledge materials;
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills and experience in organizing and facilitating consultations and workshops;
• Work experience in Africa, Pacific and/or Asia, ideally working with a number of the LoCAL countries;
• Work experience with LoCAL will be considered an asset;
• Sensitivity to diverse opinions and difficulties arising from differing social and cultural perceptions;

Language:

Written and spoken fluency in French

Interested consultants are requested to submit the offer comprising of

1. Personal profile including:

• CV including past experience in similar projects;
• 1 page of cover letter describing why the candidate is the most suitable for the assignment;
• Confirmation of availability to take up assignments for the whole period;
• Name and contact details of 3 references.

2. Technical Proposal (4 pages maximum)

• Track Record and Experience outlining experience of direct relevance to the assignment (1 page maximum)
• Approach and methodology for how the consultant will achieve the Terms of Reference of the project keeping in mind the appropriateness to local conditions and project environment (3 pages maximum)

3. Sample of written work or publications related to the assignment

4. Financial proposal

• Price will be offered in Daily professional fee in US Dollar. To submit the financial proposal, please use the template for Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability. The financial proposal should be in a separate document from the technical proposal and other document (1) – (3) under this section.

EVALUATION OF THE OFFER

Applications will be rated on both technical and financial submissions.

Evaluation of the proposal will be the combined scoring method. The award of the contract will be made to the individual consultants 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.

Step I: Screening/Longlisting:

Applications will be screened and only applicants meeting the following minimum criteria will progress to the pool for shortlisting:

•  Education as per required qualification
• A minimum 10 years of relevant professional experience in the required fields

Step II: Shortlisting by Desk Review:

UNCDF will conduct a desk review to produce a shortlist of candidates by evaluating the following criteria with the corresponding points (100 points)

*Technical Criteria weight: 70%

   Total maximum obtainable score for Technical proposal = 100 points

   Only candidates obtaining a minimum score of 70 points under technical evaluation will be

   considered for the financial evaluation.

Step III: Financial Proposal Evaluation:

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

Lowest Financial proposal/price of the proposal being evaluated X 30%. Lowest Financial Proposal refers to the lowest price offered by Offerors scoring at least 70 points in the technical evaluation.

Step IV: Selection

The contract shall be awarded to the best 3 applicants whose offers have been evaluated and determined as: responsive/compliant/acceptable and having received the highest combined weight technical proposal 70% + financial 30%= 100%. Should one or more candidates obtain the same Total Combined Score, the one with highest score on the proposed approach and methodology shall have precedence over the other.

CONTRACT AWARD

Up to 3 candidates obtaining highest combined scoring in the final round of evaluation will be offered to enter into a Long Tern Agreement with UNCDF under this procurement notice. The successful candidates under this LTA will be selected for specific assignments based on availability, geographical preferences, and language ability.

Shortlisted Candidate may be required by UNCDF to submit a “CONFLICT OF INTEREST DISCLOSURE FORM” prior to, or at the time, of contracting,

Warning: Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when traveling 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

Both individual consultants and individuals employed by a company or institution are welcome to apply. Any individual employed by a company or institution who would like to submit an offer in response to a Procurement Notice for IC must do so in their individual capacity (providing a CV so that their qualifications may be judged accordingly).

Women candidates or women-owned businesses are strongly encouraged to apply. UNCDF 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.

Please include all documents into one file while submitting your application.

References

UNDP’s Individual Consultant’s General Terms and Conditions are provided here:

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf