Background
As the world is changing with increasing pace, it becomes ever more important for UNDP to be able to respond to different types of development challenges with agile and flexible solutions, representing a shift away from a “business as usual” approach.
What is unique about development challenges today is not so much their nature but their complexity and interconnectedness which may accelerate the speed and unpredictability of events as well as generate negative feedback loops. These complex issues are not easily addressed, and definitely not by traditional sector approaches. Innovative approaches and solutions are thus clearly called for.
In a gradual process of change, UNDP has begun working differently. We are taking steps to create space and encouragement for individuals to collaborate creatively, adopt an outside-in perspective that is driven by the clients’ views and needs, and take measured risks.
Recognizing the immense potential for innovation to promote development goals, but with the proviso that proper prototyping – conducting small and low-cost experiments before investing time and money in substantial projects is conducted, UNDP country office in Macedonia has been one of the early adopters of this approach. With innovation gaining popularity in the country, the Government launched a Strategy for promoting innovation and enacted a Law on Innovation.
To support these efforts, and to provide capacity building to public administration for better understanding of the social innovation concept, and consequently to enhance the knowledge for implementation of the aforementioned Strategy and the Law on Innovation, UNDP and FINKI through the Regional Social Innovation Hub and the Social Innovation Laboratory –SIL in a partnership with Ministry of Information Society and Administration embarks in developing an e-course on Social Innovation.
OBJECTIVES
The overall objective of the assignment is to support Ministry of Information Society and Administration (MISA) to develop capacities of public administration and other affected sides in its efforts for effective and efficient implementation of the Strategy for promoting innovation and the Law on Innovation. The engaged consultant will develop E-course on Social Innovation that will be integral part of existing and comprehensive e-platform developed and operated by the MISA. In this way E-course on Social Innovation will:
- Expose its users to definition and understanding of Social Innovation,
- Importance of Social Innovation for development processes in general and specifically for the country,
- Identify, nurture and grow social innovations to its full scaling and diffusion.
Furthermore, the E-course on Social Innovation will be reach out to entire state administration and it will contribute to awareness raising of administration personnel (central and local government) that there are many ‘different’ ways to ensure well designed and quality delivery of the services, at a cheap budget, not necessarily run by them and without any need for regulating it with legislative acts. Likewise, the course will pave the ground for further more advanced activities for introduction of social innovation into the public service.
Duties and Responsibilities
Under direct supervision of the UNDP Social Innovation Specialist and in consultation with the representative of MISA and FINKI Lab Lead, the consultant will perform the following duties and tasks:
1. Develop a short concept on objective and sub-objective of the course in general, its benefits to public administration and its usefulness for the context in the country.
- Assess the existing awareness and knowledge of public administration on Social Innovation
- Discuss with stakeholders: MISA, FINKI, representatives of Line Ministries on existing challenges and where do they recognize innovative approaches are necessity.
- Assess UNDP interventions in the field of Social Innovation and scoop experiences and examples relevant for the content of e-course.
2. Develop a framework of the e-course content divided by modules, topic and objectives for each module.
- Based on the findings under point 1, develop a coherent framework consisted with a brief outline of the e-course modules.
- The framework and the outline of the modules should follow the objectives and principles of the MISA operated platform were other learning content for administration is posted.
- The framework should consist of at least 5 modules.
3. Develop full content of the modules in English language.
- Each module should be a learning topic with a content presented in its entirety (intro, main learning point, and conclusion) within one module.
- Each module should be supported by a assessment of understanding part (a type of checking successfulness of the transfer of knowledge)
- The modules should also be a building blocks for a public administration and civil servants who decides to take entire E-Course on Social Innovation. Therefore at the end of the E-Course a simple exam should be developed. For those who successfully undertake the exams a system will issue an electronic certification.
- Closely cooperate with course designer (subject to separate TOR) in transferring the content of the e-course into the electronic form.
DELIVERABLES
- Concept on objective and sub-objective of the E- course – 25 November 2014
- Framework of the e-course content divided by modules, topic and objectives for each module – 5 December 2014
- Full content of the modules – 25 December 2014
- Input in electronic development (visuals, intrusiveness, clarity, audio) of the E-course – 28 February 2015
Competencies
- Demonstrate integrity and fairness by modeling UN values and ethical standards
- Demonstrate professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results
- Ability to work with a diverse set of partners to create problem specifications, system requirements, and then implement software and technology innovations on a national scale
- Excellent communication and documentation skills;
Required Skills and Experience
Academic Qualifications:
- Master degree in public administration, public policy, development or similar.
Professional Experience:
- Over ten years work experience on development projects
- Three years of demonstrated working experience in the area of Social Innovation
- Knowledge of national development context, its challenges and opportunities in the filed of Social Inclusion in general and Social Innovation in particular.
- Demonstrated experience in developing learning contents (research, publications, reports, etc)
- Previous experience working with international organizations
Language requirements:
- Fluency in English (written and spoken) and Macedonian languages is required. Knowledge in Albanian will be an asset.
REPORTING
The consultant will report to UNDP through the Social Innovation Specialist and activities report submitted at the end of the assignment.
DURATION OF ASSIGNMENT
The Content developer for E-Course on Social Innovation will be hired by UNDP under IC (Individual Contract) modality for a period from 12 November 2014 until 28 February 2015.
PAYMENT SCHEDULE
The payment for the services will be carried out in three installments (deliverable 1-20%, deliverable 2 and 3- 70% deliverable 4 - 10%)
Application procedure:
Applications should include:
- Offeror’s letter to UNDP confirming interest and availability for the individual contractor (IC) assignment, including financial proposal, indicating a total lump sum* for the delivery of outputs as per above description;
- CV or P-11 form (that can be downloaded from UNDP Jobs site) including past experience in similar assignments.
- Short (1-2) pages of methodology and proposed content for the course, including materials that will be used in reference.
*Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant during the contract period (e.g. fee, health insurance, vaccination and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services such as preparing and printing training materials, handouts or necessary equipment etc.). All envisaged travel costs must also be included in the financial proposal.
Evaluation of Applicants:
Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal. The contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:
- responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
- having received the highest score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.
- Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.
Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max. 70 points:
- Criteria A: Relevant University Degree – max. points 10;
- Criteria B: Professional experience - 10 years in development and 3 years in social innovation – max. Points 20;
- Criteria C: Proven experience in social innovation and development of learning content – max. points 35;
- Criteria D: Language proficiency in both written and oral Macedonian and English – max. points 5.
Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation - max. 30 points
The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal. All other price proposals receive points in inverse proportion. A suggested formula is as follows:
p = 30 (µ/z)
Where:
p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
µ = price of the lowest priced proposal
z = price of the proposal being evaluated
UNDP applies fair and transparent selection process that would take into account the competencies/skills of the applicants as well as their financial proposals.