UNDP Jobs - 102686- Providing National Consultancy on “South-South and

Providing National Consultancy on “South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) Framework”

Location :

Tehran, IRAN

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

14-Oct-2021

Application Deadline :

28-Oct-21 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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

To apply for this job please refer to http://www.ir.undp.org/content/iran/en/home/procurement.html under the subject:UNDP-Iran Request for Providing National Consultancy on “South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) Framework”

A UN multi-agency programme funded by the European Union (EU) has been recently launched to support Iran achieve sustainable economic and social development by responding to current emerging needs and enhancing the resilience of the most vulnerable communities, in the face of economic and disaster-related shocks. Under this Joint Programme, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) will aim at strengthening the resilience of women, youth and the most vulnerable through economic empowerment and disaster preparedness. UNDP will apply an integrated approach to achieve those objectives through a number of interrelated up-stream and down-stream components, promoting policy-dialogue on the one hand and interconnected programmatic pilot interventions on the other hand. Two specific components of the work package focus on South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) which is a broad framework of collaboration among developing countries, and the UN Technical Assistance Package (TAP) which intends to promote an enabling environment for systemic change through economic empowerment of vulnerable groups in Iran.

South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) Framework:

South-South Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) is a broad framework of collaboration among developing countries. It includes different spheres of economic, social, cultural, environmental, and technical domains. South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC) has increasingly gained importance due to its proven contribution to national development objectives through its variety of flexible cooperation modalities and the introduction of good practices and innovations. However, to further catalyze development, it is critical to enhance the capacity of national institutions for SSTC oriented policy and planning and improve the management of such initiatives to help accelerate the achievement of national development goals, including those related to government international objectives.

Given Iran’s middle-income country status, the role of the United Nations in Iran has been primarily focused on developing Government’s institutional capacities, providing policy advice and technical expertise, supporting knowledge transfer, the sharing of international best practices, and facilitating SSTC.

Consultation for the implementation of TAP based on the South-South and Triangular Cooperation Framework

UN developed a Technical Assistance Package (TAP) in February 2019, that has the potential to respond to the needs in Iran. TAP consists of three policy focus areas, buttressed by two operational elements and cross-cutting assistance. The improvement of the cross-cutting support in terms of communication, coordination, and facilitation of country-to-country knowledge and technical and capacities exchange will be possible through South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTC).

TAP has been defined by UN based on global best practices to help alleviate poverty and vulnerability in Iran. Drawing on global good practices is aligned with the UN’s commitment to support SSTC, one of the key strategies for the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) implementation and a central part of the country program documents and projects of the UN specialized agencies, funds and program operating in Iran.

To enhance the SSTC approach of the UN in Iran and prepare a mapping of SSTC activities and possibilities for the UNDAF cycle, a South-South Cooperation workshop was held in November 2019 with the participation of the representative of executive bodies and organizations to identify prioritized demands for SSC and knowledge exchange based on government needs. Moreover, a short questionnaire was sent through MFA to receive primary inputs and topics that the participant organizations are willing to cooperate with other countries to use the best practices and solutions through SSC, and finally, a list of priorities was drafted as an initial output of the workshop and other consultations.

This assignment will aim at finalizing the list of priorities for SSTC and knowledge exchange and developing an SSTC framework taking into account TAP priorities and National entities' concerns.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will be responsible for performing the specific tasks, as outlined below:

Verify the initial list of the priorities with the related stakeholders and get their comments, and finalize prioritized demands for SSTC and knowledge exchange based on government needs with a focus on the areas, such as:

Targeted social protection mechanisms;
Improved data management for responding and recovering from economic and disaster-related shocks;
Youth and women entrepreneurship/service provision;
Financial inclusion of vulnerable women and youth;
Economic recovery;
Local economic development;
Job generation/stabilization;

In the next step, in cooperation and consultation with the focal points of the relevant UN agencies, review and finalize the priorities list based on the areas of interest of Iran for learning and benefitting from other developing countries;
Identification and extract the best SSTC practices and best SSTC options potentially contributing to the implementation of TAP;
Compile existing M&E methodologies and tools for SSTC and develop an M&E matrix and process for the SSTC framework for Iran;
Provide a final report with a summary of how the initial list of the priorities has been prepared, methodology, the scope of work, process, and data requirements/sources;
Submit the final SSTC framework document along with its M&E matrix and programme.
Identify SSTC priorities for the implementation of TAP

Competencies

N/A

Required Skills and Experience

The Consultant is required to have the following eligibility criteria:

Mandatory Qualifications:

At least 5 years of experience research in development policies and practices and relevant fields;
Master’s degree in relevant fields to development policies;
Proficiency in verbal and written English and Farsi;

Other Qualification:

Have a good knowledge of the social, economic, and political situation in Iran, and of national and international development issues, with special reference to SSTC concepts and modalities;
Strong communication, coordination, and collaboration skills;
Good analytical skills in gathering and consolidating data and research.

Desirable Qualifications:

Familiarity with UNDP projects and procedures;
Familiarity with, and updated on, various national stakeholders