Empleos en el PNUD - 54448- International Researcher to Lead Research on Aid M

International Researcher to Lead Research on Aid Modalities and Management Systems

Localidad :

home-based, with one 2-day travel to Beijing at the end of the assignment, China

Tipo de contrato :

Individual Contract

Fecha de comienzo del contrato :

Fecha límite de postulación :

18-Mar-15 (Medianoche Nueva York, Estados Unidos)

Nivel de puesto :

International Consultant

Duración del contrato inicial :

About 3 months starting from end of March

Idiomas requeridos :

Inglés

Duración esperada del puesto :

El PNUD está comprometido con lograr la diversidad de su personal en términos de género, nacionalidad y cultura. Se alienta por igual a las personas que pertenecen a grupos minoritarios, a pueblos indígenas o que tienen alguna discapacidad a presentar su candidatura. Todas las solicitudes se tratarán con la mayor confidencialidad. UNDP no tolera la explotación y el abuso sexual, ningún tipo de acoso, incluido el acoso sexual, ni la discriminación. Por lo tanto, todos los candidatos seleccionados serán sometidos a una rigurosa verificación de referencias y antecedentes.

Antecedentes

Traditional bilateral donors have strived over the decades to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of aid but with only limited success. In the same vein, emerging South-South cooperation providers are also increasingly seeking to achieve better development outcomes with their aid programmes. This has led to many changes in the way aid packages are designed, distributed, managed, implemented and evaluated. It is recognized that the choice of aid modalities plays a critical role in addressing development needs and has a direct impact on aid efficiency and effectiveness. Both traditional donors and South-South cooperation providers have adopted various aid modalities with sophisticated management systems; some have also shifted their approaches at some point in time. Over the past decades, some aid modalities have gone through numbers of changes and new ones have emerged, leading to continuing debate over the merits and relevance of different aid modalities.

Against this background, this research will examine a range of aid modalities and seek to understand the choice of different modalities by a selected number of countries including China. These will include but are not limited to: complete projects; goods and materials; debt relief; project aid implemented by the provider; the partner country or a third party; project grants; budget support for the partner government’s general budget; pooled funds from donors; sector budget support; macroeconomic and social policy support; support to a defined partner government programmes; interest-free loans; concessional loans; trust funds; challenges funds; risk guarantees; trilateral cooperation technical cooperation; human resources development cooperation; medical teams; volunteer programmes and emergency humanitarian aid. There are also other modalities that are important but will not be the focus of this research, including peacekeeping, refugee costs, trade tariff changes, trade increases and other domestic policy shifts. This research seeks to draw lessons learned and good practices from the analysis of different aid modalities of selected countries. It will serve to provide evidence-based policy recommendations for developing a more effective aid management system to promote positive developmental impact. In terms of methodology, the research should be quantitative using data and statistics from primary and secondary sources, and also qualitative, based on literature review, interviews or other forms of conversations with counterparts from the selected countries and relevant organizations.

Research Proposal

Section I – Introduction, choice of countries and methodology.

This section should provide an introduction to the project, the rationale for the choice of countries and the methodology used.

Section II – Definition and literature review.

This section should serve to clarify the definition of aid modalities and provide an overview of each modality. Moreover, it looks at the current discussion in the existing literature and the development community and examines the relationship between aid modalities and development effectiveness.

Section III – Analysis by modality

This section will be organized by modality. Under each modality, there should be 2-3 countries examined, which may overlap with those under other modalities. It could also include a part on “hybrid” modalities, if necessary. This section will use quantitative methodology to examine the causality or correlation between the choice of modalities and its effectiveness. For each modality, we seek to understand how it works, how it has evolved over time, its relationship with aid management, what has worked and what has not. This section should also provide an overall assessment of the effectiveness of different modalities and identify general trends in the use of aid modalities across countries.

Section IV – Analysis by country

This section examines each country’s foreign aid policy, institutional setup, current policies, initiatives and trends regarding aid modalities. More importantly, it seeks to understand each country’s rationale behind the choice of aid modalities. It also horizontally compares all the countries in this study and seeks to identify the factors leading to the different choices of aid modalities. At least 6 countries should be examined in this report. The country selection should be made to reflect the diverse range of existing aid modalities and management systems. It should include some of the major donors and South-South cooperation providers with substantial experience in development aid and well-developed institutions and systems to ensure that they can provide substantive lessons learned and be comparable with one another. They could include the US, the UK, Japan, Brazil, India and the UAE.

Section V – Conclusion

This section will provide an overview of China’s aid modalities and draw conclusions from the above analysis by modality and by country.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Main Responsibilities and Timeframe:

In consultation with UNDP China and CAITEC, prepare a comprehensive inception note outlining the background, goals, methodology and desired results of the research (5 days);
Working with Chinese researcher, undertake desk review, interviews and other preparation work for the research. Analyze both quantitative and qualitative data and take the lead role in writing the research report in consultation with the Chinese researcher, UNDP China and CAITEC (30 days);
Participate in disseminating and discussing research findings in Beijing (2 days).

Expected Outputs:

By the end of the contract, the following outputs are expected:

Comprehensive inception note;
A research paper based on desk review, data analysis and interviews, and conducted in close collaboration with Chinese researcher as well as in consultation with UNDP China and CAITEC;
Active participation in dissemination and discussion seminars in Beijing if requested.

Location and Expected Time Period

The assignment will be home-based, with one travel to Beijing at the end of the assignment. The consultant is expected to be available from March 23 to the end of June to finalize the research paper and participate in related activities.

Method of Payment:

First installment will be paid upon satisfactory inception note received (20 %);
Second installment will be paid upon satisfactory first draft received (50%);
The last installment of will be paid upon completion of the report and the dissemination events (30%);
Flight costs and DSA will be reimbursed when processing each installment for the consultant.

Important:

Documents to be included when submitting application

All applicants are required to submit a technical proposal and financial proposal with daily rate of professional fees for the expected number of working days (37), which is included in the template of Offeror’s Letter and proposal (download the format in below link).

Please provide Offeror’s Letter and proposal together with your CV while submitting application.
Please note that the system will not accept the uploading of more than one document so please merge or scan all your documents into one prior to uploading.

Download Link:

Offeror’s Letter and proposal

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zhov5ekfaty7ncz/Offeror%27s%20letter%20and%20Proposal.doc?dl=0.

Or, http://pan.baidu.com/s/1pJ6xCBT.

General Conditions for Individual Contractor

https://www.dropbox.com/s/4euv94xzevkefsm/General%20Conditions%20for%20IC.docx.

Or, http://pan.baidu.com/s/1pJ1DKH9.

Competencias

Functional Competencies:

Strong awareness of development effectiveness principles from the perspectives of developing countries;
Good understanding in the field of policy-oriented research in the area of aid and development;
Responsible, innovative, solution-oriented with a consultative approach and able to work under minimum supervision and tight deadlines;
In-depth knowledge of international development and foreign aid modalities and trends, including multilateral and bilateral donors, providers of South-South cooperation and other development financing mechanisms.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

Advanced university degree in international relations, development studies or related areas.

Experience:

A minimum of 7 years of experience in the field of international development cooperation and development, including in-depth research;
Considerable work experience and knowledge related to China’s development cooperation approach;
Extensive contacts with (or access to research colleagues who have contacts with) government representatives in participant countries with detailed knowledge of their respective structures and operations of development institutions, national policies for development cooperation, and accountability mechanisms;
Have experience working in China and/or on China-related development issues.

Language:

Proficiency in written and spoken English, essential.