The COVID-19 pandemic and its far-reaching socioeconomic impacts has clearly exposed the vulnerabilities of the informal economy and its world of work. These impacts have been most pressing for women and youth who are also overrepresented in the informal economy. At the same time, the policy response to COVID-19, particularly the social protection response, has fallen short of meeting the needs of informal workers and enterprises, particularly in low-middle income countries and did not address women’s economic security with the same intensity as it has been destroyed. As the informal economy continues to cater for the livelihoods of billions of people worldwide, enhanced policy and programmatic efforts to both protect and empower informal workers and businesses while facilitating transitions to formality will be key critical to avoid a deepening of poverty and inequality and promote inclusive and sustainable recovery pathways.

Against this background and as part of its broader support to the implementation of UNDP Strategic Plan 2022-2025 Signature Solution on Poverty and Inequality and related enablers (strategic innovation, digitalization and development finance), the Inclusive Growth Team of UNDP Bureau for Policy and Program Support (BPPS) is in the process of expanding its work and service offer on economic informality issues.  The offer will include the provision of tools, knowledge products, capacity development, knowledge sharing and networking opportunities, as well as technical expertise and other resources to help UNDP Country Offices and their partners with the design, implementation and scaling-up of context-specific, evidence-based, and innovative policy and programmatic solutions to protect and empower actors of the informal economy and enable gradual transitions to formality. To expand technical support to Country Offices, a dedicated roster of experts is being developed under the UNDP’s GPN/Experts Roster for Rapid Response (GPN/ExpRes Roster)[1], comprising of vetted capable and qualified individuals who can be called upon as International Consultants (ICs) to support UNDP policy and programmatic work on economic informality issues, with a particular focus on the following areas:

• Development of databases/ design and conduct of surveys of informal economy actors (workers and enterprises); including through the use of new data and metrics.
• Mappings and analysis of informal economy ecosystems
• Policy and program development for the expansion of social protection for informal workers, incl. through digital solutions, hybrid social insurance/social assistance schemes
• Policy and program development for enhancing productivity and resilience of informal businesses, including through digital solutions (e- skill development, e-commerce, and other business e-services etc.)
• Analysis of innovation dynamics in informal sectors; role of informal economies in green transitions
• Reviews of national policy and legal frameworks that impact informal sectors.
• Monitoring and evaluation of informality-formalization policies and programs
• Fiscal space analysis and creation for financing social protection and support to informal enterprises
• Organization/facilitation of multistakeholder policy dialogues, involving informal economy actors/grassroot organizations
• Cross-cutting – Policy and program development for enhancing Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in the informal economy

A screening procedure will be applied to select the prospective applicants to be registered in the Roster. The Roster will be maintained for a period of 3 years. Retention in the Roster of selected experts will be contingent on continuous delivery of satisfactory services

[1] The GPN/ExpRes Roster is a recruitment and deployment mechanism which maintains technically vetted consultants across 21 profiles and 79 sub-profiles to support the work of UNDP Country Offices/units and other UNDP partner agencies.

Selection of candidates will be done by the Bureau for Policy and Program Support (BPPS) and Regional Hub Inclusive Growth team leaders in close collaboration with the relevant program or policy unit. Responsibility for management, contracting and payment of evaluators will be held by the program or policy units at the Country Office, Regional or Headquarters level.

The ICs will be assigned to provide research, policy, programmatic or capacity development support to selected projects and programs on informality. In cases where there is a national consultant (NC) as part of the team, the IC will act as a team leader. Specific reporting and working relationships will be specified at the time of contracting for a specific assignment. Detailed Terms of Reference (TOR) with relevant annexes and additional guidance will be provided for each assignment.

For each assignment, expected tasks and deliverables may include but not be limited to:

• Inception report
• Draft and final reports
• Conducting validation workshop with key stakeholders

The exact timing, due dates and guidance for each deliverable will be outlined in each assignment-specific TOR.

Working Arrangements:

• Candidates successfully selected through a technical criteria review will be included in the UNDPGPN/ExpRes Roster for a period of up to three (3) years once roster is approved;
• The level of work requirements will vary according to each individual assignment (including whether or not travel is required);
• Consultants will be home-based with possible mission travel, depending on the assignment;
• UNDP does not warrant that any quantity of services will be purchased during the term of entry into the Roster as this will depend on forthcoming needs and performance appraisals;
• Entry into the Roster is non-exclusive (i.e. it does not prohibit UNDP from sourcing expertise from other rosters, entities, or individuals).
• The final nature and scope of each assignment will vary and will focus on particular aspects of this Terms of Reference (TOR). Such details will be included in a separate TOR for each specific assignment;
• The financial proposal will specify only the all-inclusive daily fee and payments will be made to the consultant based on number of days worked payable against assigned deliverables.  Such fee would be the ceiling amount.
• The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own working station (i.e. laptop, internet, phone, scanner/printer, software, etc.) and must have access to reliable internet connection;
• Given the global consultations to be undertaken during his/her assignment, the consultant is expected to be reasonably flexible with his/her availability for such consultations taking into consideration different time zones where applicable;
• Payments will be made as specified in the actual contract upon confirmation of UNDP on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner and as per specified due dates.

Integrity:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
• Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Communication:

• Speaks and writes clearly and effectively;
• Listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately;
• Asks questions to clarify, and exhibits interest in having two-way communication;
• Tailors language, tone, style and format to match the audience;
• Demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.

Professionalism:

• Demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter;
• Conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results;
• Motivated by professional rather than personal concerns;
• Shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges;
• Capable of working in a high-pressure environment, managing many tasks simultaneously;
• Excellent analytical and organizational skills;
• Exercises the highest level of responsibility and able to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner.

Teamwork:

• Works well in a team to advance the priorities of the assignment and UNDP as a whole;
• Projects a positive image and is ready to take on a wide range of tasks;
• Focuses on results for the client;
• Welcomes constructive feedback.

Client Orientation and Communication:

• Good interpersonal and networking skills, ability to establish and maintain effective working relations, supports and encourages open communication in the team, and facilitates team work;
• Ability to communicate verbally and in writing with a wide range of stakeholders, in a manner which is courteous and professional at all times, employing an appropriate level of formality and diplomacy;
• Ability to follow instructions accurately and also to work under minimum supervision.

Education:

• Master’s degree in a relevant field in development studies, international development, other relevant political or social sciences area, or closely related field (Max. 10 points).

Experience:

• At least 7 years of professional experience in social- economic research and analysis, and/or policy-program development related to informality issues (Max 30 Points)
• At least 3 years of experience in one or more of the focus areas listed above/below ( Max 20 points)
• Demonstrated experience in gender-sensitive analysis, policy and program development(Max. 10 points)
• At least 2 years of experience working with international organizations (Max 10 points) - Experience with the United Nations system will be considered an asset.
• Experience working in one or more of the following regions: Latin America & Caribbean; Africa; Arab States; Eastern Europe & CIS; Asia & Pacific; Global (Max. 10 points).
• Publication record on economic informality issues (Max 10 points)

Language:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English language -Good command of other UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish) is an advantage. (max. 10 points);

Evaluation method and inclusion in roster:

• Only those applications which are responsive and compliant will be evaluated;
• The technical criteria (education, experience, language will be based on a maximum 100 points;
• Candidates scoring 70 points or higher from the review of the education, experience and languages will be considered for the roster.

Documentation to be submitted:

• Candidates must clearly indicate in a cover/motivation letter the following:
  1. TECHNICAL EXPERIENCE on economic informality issues
  2. TECHNICAL AREAS: the candidate has specialized expertise in one or more of the following areas:

•             Development of databases/ design and conduct of surveys of informal economy actors (workers and enterprises); including through the use of new data and metrics.

•             Mappings and analysis of informal economy ecosystems

•             Policy and program development for the expansion of social protection for informal workers, incl. through digital solutions

•             Policy and program development for enhancing productivity and resilience of informal businesses, including through digital solutions (e- skill development, e-commerce, and other business e-services etc.)

•             Analysis of innovation dynamics in informal sectors; role of informal economies in green transitions

•             Reviews of national policy and legal frameworks that impact informal sectors.

•             Monitoring and evaluation of informality-formalization policies and programs

•             Fiscal space analysis for financing social protection and support to informal enterprises

•             Organization/facilitation of multistakeholder policy dialogues, involving informal economy actors/grassroot organizations

•             Cross-cutting – Policy and program development for enhancing Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment in the informal economy

1. REGION(S) the candidate has experience working in: a) Latin America & Caribbean; b) Africa; c) Arab States; d) Eastern Europe & CIS; e) Asia & Pacific; f) Global

• Applicants must submit a P11 or CV including Education/Qualification, Professional Certification, Employment Records /Experience;
• Applicants must submit or provide links to two writing samples of past evaluations;
• Applicants must reply to the mandatory questions asked by the system when submitting the application;
• Applicants must submit a duly completed and signed Annex II Offeror´s letter to UNDP confirming interest and availability for the Roster to be downloaded from the UNDP procurement site.  Such fee would be the ceiling amount.

Kindly note you can upload only one document to this application (scan all documents in one single PDF file to attach). Incomplete applications will not be considered.

UNDP Personal History form (P11):

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/Careers/P11_Personal_history_form.doc.

General Conditions of Contract for the ICs:

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf.