UNCDF Jobs - 102562- Inclusive Innovations for Insurance Expert

Inclusive Innovations for Insurance Expert

Advertised on behalf of

UNCDF

Location :

PACIFIC MULTI ISLANDS

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Jan-2022

Application Deadline :

01-Nov-21 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

12 Months

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

12 Months

UNDP 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. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

About UNCDF

The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s 47 Least Developed Countries (LDC). UNCDF uses its capital mandate to support LDCs pursue inclusive growth. UNCDF promotes financial inclusion, also through digital financial services (DFS), as a key enabler of poverty reduction and inclusive growth; and it demonstrates how localizing finance outside the capital cities can accelerate growth in local economies, promote sustainable and climate-resilient infrastructure development, and empower local communities. Using capital grants, loans and credit enhancements, UNCDF tests financial models in inclusive finance and local development finance; ‘de- risks’ the local investment space; and provides proofs of concept, paving the way for larger investors.

UNCDF’s objective is to develop inclusive financial systems in which a range of financial products are available to all segments of society, at a reasonable cost, and on a sustainable basis. UNCDF supports a wide range of providers (e.g., microfinance institutions, banks, cooperatives, money transfer companies) and a variety of financial products and services (e.g., savings, credit, insurance, pension, payments, and remittances). The vision of UNCDF is to empower millions of people by 2024 to use services daily that leverage innovation and technology and contribute to the Sustainable Development Goals. For further detail on UNCDF strategy, refer to; https://www.uncdf.org/article/4931/global-strategy-leaving-no-one-behind-in-the-digital-era

Introduction: Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme

Pacific Island countries are highly vulnerable to natural hazards like cyclones, floods, earthquakes, and droughts. Such events cause economic losses running into millions of dollars. As climate change increases the frequency and severity of naturally induced disasters, economic losses worsen. With limited insurance protection options in the region, many Pacific Islanders affected by disasters are left with nothing or are dependent on government assistance. These payments can take weeks, pushing vulnerable populations into poverty and economic hardship.

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), through a joint programme with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), and in close collaboration with key stakeholders from the government, public, private sector and other development partners, aims to address the challenge through the workstreams envisaged in the Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme (PICAP). The Programme is aligned to the United Nations Pacific Strategy, UNCDF global strategies and the respective country national development plans. The Programme will specifically target women, youth and MSME segments to work across agriculture, fisheries, and tourism sectors.

The overall program objective is to improve the financial preparedness of Pacific households, communities, small businesses, organisations and governments towards climate change and natural hazards through a combination of stakeholder engagement, co- creation of solutions, awareness and capacity building, innovative financing options and digital linkages – with a robust interface to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Programme implementation commenced in January 2021 and the first pilot parametric microinsurance product has been successfully introduced in Fiji. The Programme has established robust partnerships with the Government, private and public sector stakeholders and based on the pilot test results, replicate in other countries like Tonga and Vanuatu.

The consultant will provide technical advice to the Programme across the thematic areas below:

Inclusive Insurance Innovation Hub – an innovation programme setup to develop and test new products, processes, and frontier ideas, such as digital climate risk insurance.
Disaster risk insurance for MSMEs – insurance product that will provide financial protection to small businesses from climate induced financial risks.

The Inclusive Insurance Innovation Hub that is proposed to be established will look into developing new climate and disaster risk insurance projects to cover MSMEs, specific agriculture/livestock/fisheries insurance and other frontier initiative including exploring the feasibility of piloting, testing and scaling other disaster risk financing instruments based on market assessments and established needs. The consultant will provide strategic guidance, oversight and technical support to develop all the above new initiatives. At the moment, the Programme expects to develop, and pilot test an SME focused disaster risk insurance product, however, depending on the outcome of the market research and willingness of insurers, the exact nature of the product may be different.

The consultant will be responsible to work closely with UNCDF partners at regional, global and national level to achieve the programme outcomes by providing regular technical assistance and facilitating partnerships related to innovations, inclusion and resilience.

Expected outputs and deliverables

The table below outlines the list of key deliverables and estimated dates of completion:

Component	Activities	Deliverables / Outputs	Estimated completion/ due date	Payment % against delivery
1. Inclusive Insurance Innovation Hub	Prepare the concept and strategy for the PICAP inclusive insurance hub	Output 1.1: PICAP Inclusive Insurance Innovation Hub concept and strategy document Output 1.2: Insurance innovation challenge launched	Mar. 2022	20%
	Support the team in setting up the hub infrastructure
	Conduct the background (secondary) research on the need and scope for innovations in the disaster risk financing domain in the Pacific
	Using the research, develop the material for the first innovation challenge with a focus on agriculture, fisheries, and MSMEs sectors.
	Coordinate the necessary activities to launch of the first innovation challenge, including working with programme communication team for social media promotion
	Facilitate the scanning and selection of applicants, including leading information events
	Support the shortlisted applicants to develop their innovation deployment plans that are in sync with PICAP’s mandate	Output 1.3: Project Innovation plans finalized as per PICAP mandate and a report highlighting the innovation deployed	May. 2022	10%
	Jointly with PICAP assigned team member, develop a blog or case study	Output 1.4: A blog or case study on one or more of the supported innovations	Sep. 2022	10%
	Coordinate and lead partner meetings and stakeholder consultations related to the Hub	Output 1.5: Hub progress report (a composite report from July - Dec. 2022)	Dec. 2022	10%
2. Disaster risk insurance product for MSMEs	Coordinate primary and secondary research leading to the development of climate and disaster risk insurance products focusing on specific livelihood sectors like agriculture, fisheries, tourism and for segments such as women, MSME, migrants.	Output 2.1: New product research report	Apr. 2022	20%
	Liaise with PICAP's disaster and insurance modelling partners to finalize the design for at least one new product (focus on SMEs)	Output 2.2: New product concept, validated by PICAP partners	June. 2022	10%
	Conduct concept validation workshop with select insurance providers to iterate the product		June. 2022	10%
	Support PICAP in identifying suitable implementation partners (insurers, distributors, payments providers. etc.)	Output 2.3: Product launched with at least one suitable insurer partner in at least one programme country	Aug. 2022	10%
	Support the PICAP team in organizing the launch event for the finalized product		Aug. 2022	10%
	Liaise with various stakeholders and programme partners to coordinate activities and streamline communication related to the product	Output 2.4: Product progress report	Dec. 2022	10%
Total Payment				100%

Duty Station: The consultant will be home-based.

Travel: At this point, no travel is anticipated. Subject to COVID-19 related restrictions, occasional travel may be required to programme countries.

All the travel will be requested by UNCDF management on a need basis and will be either provided by UNCDF PICAP or compensated on a reimbursable basis following the UNDP/UNCDF rules and regulations that state that consultants shall only be paid the most direct and most economical ticket, as will be quoted by the official UN travel agency. Any amount in excess of the said quotation, such as class and airline preference of the consultant, shall be borne by the consultant. The daily living allowance will be paid in amounts not exceeding the UN established rate.

Institutional Arrangement for the provision of reporting, monitoring and progress Control

The consultant will be part of the UNCDF/PICAP Regional team and will work closely with other UNCDF initiatives in the Pacific and other regions as required
The consultant will report to the Programme Manager-Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme.
The consultant shall be responsible for providing his/her own laptop during the course of his/her engagement with UNCDF.
The consultant will be required to provide a short weekly update by email or calls with the Programme Manager highlighting any significant challenges faced in delivery.

Payments

Payment shall be made only upon satisfactory completion and UNCDF’S written acceptance of each deliverable duly approved by the Programme Manager, Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme.

Final payment shall require a signed performance evaluation of the consultant.

The following supporting documents will serve as conditions for disbursement:

submission of an Invoice and Certificate of Payment (COP).
submission of all deliverables with relevant supporting documentation; and

review, approval and written acceptance of each deliverable by the Programme Manager, Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme or designate

Competencies

Ability to plan, organize, implement and report on work
Strong networking, interpersonal, communication and facilitation skills
Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities skills
Experience in managing clients and partners—from early-stage companies to mature organizations
Solution-focused and medium-agnostic, willing to step out of your core skill set or discipline to find the correct solution to a challenge
Results-driven, problem-solver with structuring and analytic capabilities
Strong ability to plan and act strategically, even in situations of ambiguity, to develop tangible solutions; and

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

Required Skills and Experience

Required Skills and Experience

Educational Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Economics, Business, Finance, Public Administration, Social Sciences or related discipline is mandatory

Experience

• Minimum seven (7) years of experience working in progressively responsible positions, such as team leader or project manager, in the financial services industry, financial inclusion especially in the areas of design thinking, innovations, and digital finance is mandatory.

• Working experience and knowledge of innovation methods, design thinking and working with undeserved social groups, in particular women, youth, MSME’s and other vulnerable groups is required.

• Demonstrated broad knowledge of development issues, especially in the areas of financial inclusion in the Pacific is desired.

• Experience engaging diverse set of public and private sector stakeholders, regulators, government departments, industry associations would be an advantage.

Language requirements

• Excellent command of written and spoken English language is required.

Application Process and Evaluation

Interested applicants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document:

Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided at: Offerors Letter to UNCDF Confirming Interest and Availability.
Personal CV or P11 indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the applicant and the names of at least three (3) professional references (e-mail addresses, telephone numbers); http://sas.undp.org/documents/p11_personal_history_form.doc
A brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment (maximum two pages, including hyperlinks to any published work);
A signed Financial Proposal that indicates all-inclusive fixed total contract price supported by a breakdown of costs, as per above template provided. Offerors Letter to UNCDF Confirming Interest and Availability.

If the Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNCDF under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNCDF.

Selection process:

Applications will be rated on both technical and financial submissions. The following selection method will be used: Highest rated proposal using the combined scoring method, which assigns the weight distribution between the technical and financial proposals.

The overall combined score will be 100%, where weight distribution shall be 70% technical (desk review) and 30% financial.

The Technical Evaluation will entail two key steps, as follows:

Step I: Screening
Applications will be screened and only applicants who meet the following mandatory criteria will progress to the pool for shortlisting.

Master’s degree in Economics, Business, Finance, Public Administration, Social Sciences or related discipline
Minimum 7 years of experience working in progressively responsible positions in the banking, finance, microfinance, insurance, financial inclusion or development sector

Step II: Technical Desk Review (70% out of technical assessment)

UNCDF will conduct a screening as per Step 1 above to produce a shortlist of candidates and technically evaluate the candidates. Only candidates that obtained 49 out of 70 of the points at this stage shall be invited for the next step.

Shortlisting scoring:

Education

Master’s degree in in Business/Commerce, Finance, Public Administration, Social Sciences or related discipline – 5%

Experience and Language skills (65%):

Minimum 7 years of experience working in progressively responsible positions, such as team leader or project manager, in the banking, finance, microfinance, insurance, financial inclusion or development sector, additional experience related to innovations and design thinking and working with underserved groups is desired – 25%
Demonstrated broad knowledge of development issues and experience working on financial inclusion in the Pacific – 20%.
Experience engaging diverse set of public and private sector stakeholders, regulators, government departments, industry associations – 15%
Excellent command of written and spoken English language – 5%

Only candidates who have obtained scores above 70% of the technical assessment will be considered technically qualified and will be subject to further review for a financial evaluation.

Step III: Financial Evaluation
The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

Lowest priced proposal/price of the proposal being evaluated x 30.

Step IV: Award Criteria

The award of the contract shall be made to the best individual consultant whose profile has been evaluated and determined as:

a) Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and

b) Having received the highest combined score of weighted technical criteria (70%) and financial criteria (30%).

Individual consultants and persons employed by a company or institution are invited 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.

Subject to satisfactory performance by the consultant, UNCDF may rehire the consultant through other modalities as relevant and applicable.