Historique

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme is the UN organization that promotes volunteerism to support peace and development worldwide. Volunteerism can transform the pace and nature of development and it benefits both society at large and the individual volunteer. UNV contributes to peace and development by advocating for volunteerism globally, encouraging partners to integrate volunteerism into development programming, and mobilizing volunteers.

Since 1970, UNV has collaborated with a variety of partners at different levels to promote volunteer contributions to sustainable human development and peace.  Every year around 8,000 skilled individuals from about 160 nationalities serve as UN Volunteers in about 130 countries (Africa, Arab States, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Baltic States and CIS). Many live and work in challenging conditions. The majority of UN Volunteers are from low and middle income countries. UNV also operates the Online Volunteering service, which connects development organizations directly with online volunteers who can provide services and advice over the internet. Every year, UNV mobilizes more than 11,000 online volunteers who undertake more than 17,000 online volunteering assignments. 60 percent of online volunteers come from developing countries.

UNV is headquartered in Bonn, Germany and has approximately 150 staff positions – with the majority in Bonn and some positions with different UN peacekeeping and political missions, and in other Headquarters locations (e.g. New York and Tokyo). www.unv.org
The Volunteer Knowledge and Innovation Section.

UNV’s Volunteer Knowledge and Innovation Section (VKIS) was created as one of the outcomes of the 2009-2010 ‘Changing Together’ process, an organization wide change process focused on facilitating greater organizational coherence, efficiency and strategic impact.  The section has been designed to foster innovation in UNV’s contribution to volunteerism, drawing upon good practices and concrete results achieved in the field, knowledge exchange with partner organizations dedicated to volunteerism as well as ideas for new approaches to volunteerism emerging from within and beyond UNV.

VKIS was preceded by the Research and Development Project, initiated in the year 2000. At that time, UNV recognized a tendency among some partners that perceptions of volunteerism and volunteer action were limited to the mobilization of specialized human resources in a cost-effective manner, while not always sufficiently appreciating that volunteerism brings a unique contribution to peace and development. The demonstrated potential for volunteerism to ignite wider community involvement in peace and development initiatives and tap into the talents and influence of people within the communities was not as prominent in peace and development planning / programming as it could have been. UNV recognize the need to move from reacting to requests for volunteers to being proactive in volunteer mobilization and programming. As such UNV’s R&D efforts were directed at explicitly demonstrating the positive impact of volunteerism and proactively working to translate these results into direct engagement in peace and development programming across the UN System and in concert with external organizations dedicated to volunteerism. In light of these efforts, UNV secured an expanded mandate in 2001, which reflected an organizational focus on promoting volunteerism, and not simply mobilizing volunteers.

Much of UNV’s research and development efforts also resulted in the creation of substantive expertise on volunteerism, as well as meaningful partnerships with external CSO and VSO organizations, that has helped to provide a credible foundation from which UNV can help define normative positions on volunteerism for peace and development, and an equal partner within the UN to help shape peace and development dialogue and programmes. This substantive expertise in UNV’s core competency – volunteerism for peace and development – is a key organizational asset, which warrants dedicated investment in developing further.

In 2012, a review of the VKIS and QAU (the Quality Assurance Unit) teams prompted fresh thinking on the role of innovation and advisory services in fortifying UNV’s position and advancing its programme strategy, which drove a functional redesign of VKIS. The outcome of this organizational review, and internal resources resulted in a VKIS project which outlines the functional design components of (1) Volunteer Management; (2) Volunteerism Advisory Services and Research; and (3) Volunteer Learning and Knowledge Management, and the proposed human resources needed to fulfill these functions.
 
Specifically the functional contribution of the VKIS team was designed to contribute to:

• Realize UNV’s comparative advantage: The ability and knowledge to bring about transformational change through volunteerism, community voluntary action and civic engagement in active participation with civil society, volunteer involving organizations, UN agencies and Governments;
• Ensure UNV fulfils its expanded organizational mandates: VKIS serves to support other units within UNV in advancing shared organizational commitments or mandated roles for which innovative thinking, substantive expertise and knowledge based advisory services are instrumental.

These mandate areas include:

• 1) Serving as a convening organizational for civil society and volunteer involving organizations;
• 2) Promoting normative positions on volunteerism with the UN and globally;
• 3) A voice influencing the global development dialogue about post 2015 sustainable development goals; and
• 4) A substantive leader in integrating volunteerism into peace and development programing, in which VKIS supports UNV in acting as a catalyst for a holistic people-centred development approach that empowers communities, especially young people.
• Promote UNV core expertise and knowledge on volunteerism: UNV’s substantive expertise in demonstrating peace and development results and impact through volunteerism and VKIS contribution in delivering volunteerism advisory services.

In 2014, UNV adopted a new Strategic Framework 2014-2017 that sets a roadmap for the next three years. Within this Strategic Framework, VKIS leads the outcome two and contributes to the achievement of outcome one as well as result areas that contribute to volunteer learning and capacities.

Furthermore, after the successful marking of the tenth anniversary of the International Year of Volunteers (IYV+10) at national and global level, as well as the launch of the State of the World’s Volunteerism Report (SWVR 2011), the UNV “Volunteering and Sustainable Development: RIO+20, the MDGs, the post-2015 Agenda” project was developed to leverage the results of IYV+10 at different levels. Firstly the role of volunteering was emphasized in the sustainable development agenda discussed at Rio+20; subsequently efforts have been concentrated in order to integrate the concept of volunteering and community participation into the policy discussions about enabling factors contributing to MDG achievement and the new post-2015 development framework.

More specifically the project outputs were defined as follows:

Facilitating UNV’s corporate efforts to position volunteerism in the post-2015 discussions, the project has mainly focused on leveraging efforts at the global and national level by:

• i) engaging in conversations among UN entities and provision of support to member states through the technical support team of the UN Task team on the post-2015 agenda and other mechanisms;
• ii) supporting global Volunteer Involving Organisations and particularly the Post-2015 Volunteering Working Group in their engagement with the inter-governmental negotiations for the SDGs as well as other opportunities;
• iii) supporting the UNDG global conversation through the offline rollout of the My World survey as well as the engagement in first and second round UNDG-led consultations and dialogues.

Devoirs et responsabilités

This consultancy should be carried out by a senior consultant or a team of consultants (preferred) with high-level expertise and experience in conducting evaluations and functional reviews.

Main objectives and responsibilities

Purpose and scope of this review:

The purpose of this work is to:

• Evaluate the work of the post 2015 project as to what results have been achieved; and
• Review the functional setup of the volunteer knowledge and innovation section in order to align it with the strategic framework

This consultancy will therefore focus on the following two aspects:

A. An advance independent assessment of UNV’s advocacy efforts under the Post-2015 project This will inform implementation of UNV’s current advocacy strategy and civil society engagement framework; and (2) to  provide forward-looking recommendations for the implementation (including the potential partnerships required, structuring and prioritization) of the UNV advocacy strategy in the context of the Strategic Framework 2014-2017, the UNV Advocacy Strategy as well as the UNGA mandated UNV ten year plan of Action for the coming decade and beyond and My World.

Specifically:

• Progress made toward the achievement of the expected results of the project (July 2012 to date);
• Mid-term results of HQ efforts to position volunteerism during the post 2015 project (including efforts with VIOs, Field units and MyWorld). Level of success in positioning volunteerism in the context of peace and development, both at the international and the national level;
• Quality of support given to UNV’s external partners and UNV Field Units under the Post-2015 project;
• Contribution to and alignment with the UNV Strategic Framework, Partnership Strategy and Advocacy Strategy.

B. A review of the VKIS functions in order to align with the Strategic Framework and emerging development priorities
Specifically:

Review functional set up of UNV’s Advocacy (including post 2015 project), Civil society, knowledge management, volunteer learning, Research and Advisory Services to align with the Strategic Framework, the draft Plan of Action for integrating volunteerism into peace and development in the next decade and beyond and the SDGs.

• Look at the Comparative Advantage:  What work should UNV take on itself and what should it enable others to do?
• Assess resource mobilisation and partnership development opportunities for UNV
• Review the functional set up: Internal responsibilities, division of labour and use of resources
• Performance Measurement - What measurements should UNV use to judge the outcome (success or failure) of its Knowledge Management, Advocacy, Civil society, Research, Innovation, Volunteer learning and Advisory services programmes?  What type of performance indicators and methods are needed to allow on-going performance assessment and measurement?

Description of  the proposed analytical work

Methods and Approaches

The Consultant/s will be partly home-based with two travels to UNV Headquarters in Bonn, Germany. Travel costs should be included as a lump sum in the Financial Proposal.

The source of information will be UNV primarily. The consultant/s will also identify and pursue additional secondary information sources and will be responsible for implementing additional research and exploratory consultations as required.

Methods and tools can be combined at various stages of the process. Guidance to the consultant/s and support to the process will be provided by the Volunteer Knowledge and Innovation Team. In addition, a core reference group will provide advice throughout the consultation process.

Consultation Process and Deliverables

Under the responsibility of the overall guidance of the Volunteer Knowledge and Innovation Chief, the Consultant is expected to work on the deliverables presented in the table below.

For each of the deliverables below, the consultant is expected to submit a draft, to which s/he will incorporate UNV’s comments before submitting a final version.

Based on the above, this consultancy is expected to deliver the following four deliverables:

• Deliverables/ Delivery Date;
• Inception report for the evaluation Within 10 days;
• Draft evaluation report Within 20 days;
• Draft Report of the review and recommendations Within 30 days;
• Final Report and presentation Within 40 days.

Reporting

A succinct and fully edited report with no more than 4,000 words is expected.  The report will include an executive summary (up to 1,000 words) and will address all of the key issues indicated above.  The report should be structured to provide brief conclusions for each issue as well as specific, targeted and action-oriented key recommendations.  The annex will include a description of the method used, persons interviewed and terms of reference.
Timescale

The review will be finalized no later than 30 September 2015 with the submission of the final report.  A draft report should be presented to senior management no later than mid-May.  The final report should reflect the feed-back received by the consultant during the debriefing to senior management.

Compétences

Functional Competencies:

• Proven track record of conducting project evaluations;
• Proven track record of conducting organizational development reviews;
• Advanced knowledge of trends and new developments in non-financial return on investment and value add of development work;
• Excellent analytical and strategic thinking skills;
• Knowledge of volunteerism would be an asset.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education:

• Advanced university degree in relevant field.

Experience:

• Minimum 7 years of experience in organizational and functional development;
• Knowledge of and demonstrable experience in at least two of the following functional areas: advocacy, knowledge management, innovation, learning and advisory services and research is essential;
• Experience and knowledge of volunteerism is desirable;
• Experience in evaluating organizational advocacy efforts.

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is an absolute requirement;
• Knowledge of French and/or Spanish is an asset.

Criteria for Selection of the Best offer:

The selection of the best offer will be based on the combined scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted – 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted 30%.

Evaluation Criteria/Weight
Experience in Organizational Development: 30
Knowledge of at least two of the relevant functional areas: 20
Experience of reviewing advocacy, knowledge and research functions: 20
Sub-Total 70
Financial* 30
Grand Total 100

How to apply

Applicants must provide a technical and financial proposal.

The technical proposal shall describe the methodology and the approach how to fulfill the required deliverables as well as outline the major components of its implementation.

Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via the UNDP website. Interested candidates are advised to carefully review this ToR and ensure that they meet the requirements and qualifications described above. Applications should contain: A brief cover letter, a short summary of relevant qualifications and a technical. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application. A current completed and signed P11 form/ UN Personal History Form in English. Blank form can be downloaded from www.sas.undp.org/documents/p11_personal_history_form.doc. proposal (IMPORTANT, Please complete Annex 1 and attach to your application)

Please also include your CV. Contact details for 3 references. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you provide all requested materials. All documents should be scanned and attached in one PDF format document.

The financial proposal shall consist of all-inclusive lump sum for the whole duration of the contract period, which shall include the consultancy fee, cost of travel  and per diems to and from the duty station. The financial proposal shall contain a breakdown of these costs and indicate the number of off-days the consultant wants to take during the contract period (if any).
The lump sum/contract price is fixed regardless of subsequent changes in the cost components. See Annex 1.

Your Financial proposal should be sent in a separate e-mail before the deadline to: procurement@unv.org  clearly marking the job title in the subject line. Please complete Annex II and include in your financial submission (see link below). Please password protect your financial offer.  You will be requested the password if your technical proposal qualifies (70% of the techincal score).

Qualified women and members of social minorities are encouraged to apply.

For more information, please follow the link below: http://www.unv.org/fileadmin/docdb/pdf/2015/procurement/Consulancy_Announcement_VKIS_Review2015.pdf