Background

The Joint SDG Fund supports countries as they accelerate their progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It operates through joint programmes (JPs) that provide the mechanism for transformative solutions implemented by governments and national stakeholders and supported by the UN Country Team led by Resident Coordinators (RCs). Strategic direction for the Fund is provided by the Strategic Advisory Group chaired by the Deputy Secretary-General as the chair of UN Sustainable Development Group. The Fund is managed by the Operational Steering Committee, comprised of representatives of 5 UN entities, and with the support from the Secretariat of the Fund. The UN Development Coordination Office (DCO) hosts the Fund and provides for the alignment with the broader UN Development System reforms. The Administrative Agent of the Fund, in charge of financial management, is the Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTF-O). Official documents (e.g., Terms of Reference and Operational Guidance) of the Fund and information on funding can be found on the Gateway portal.

The SDG Financing: Enabling Environment portfolio was launched in the summer of 2020 with the release of grant funding up to US$1 million to 62 JPs in 69 countries. Twenty-one UN agencies under the leadership of UN Resident Coordinators collaborated, building on UN-DESA methodological work, agencies’ technical support at the country level and development partners’ support. Although each JP is unique, all support governments in the development of SDG financing strategies – most in the form of Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFFs). In a nutshell, this portfolio helps countries define the “financing” behind the “policies” and building the related capacities to operationalize financing reforms. It supports the linking of planning with financing. It drives coherence (and adequateness of) existing policies and institutional arrangements.

The JP titled Integrating National Financing Framework (INFF) to Catalyze Blended Finance for Transformative CSDG in Cambodia sets out an ambitious agenda to build a high quality, demand-driven financing framework for Cambodia (in line with the INFF concept developed globally) and to enable the expansion of development resources for accelerating the achievement of the CSDGs. The Joint Programme is jointly implemented by UNDP as Convening/ Administrative Agency and UNCDF as Participating Agency.

The underlying rationale of the programme is Cambodia’s need to grow fiscal space and non-traditional sources of finance. The Government’s priorities are to orient the policy and legislative agenda towards: (i) the identification and attraction of new sustainable sources of finance; (ii) the maintenance and boosting of existing flows to counterbalance the loss of Official Development Assistance (ODA) and meet new demands; and (iii) the use of data enhancements, budget and financial flow tracking to inform the progress of the CSDGs and development targets. The expected results of the JP are the delivery of a Cambodian Financing Framework (based on the INFF) and increased development resources, delivered via three facilities: (i) establishment of an evidence base on finance sources; (ii) policy and technical advisory; and (iii) data for performance-based budgeting (PBB) and CSDG resource tracking. These three facilities will drive the expansion of resources through what/ where/ why-type activities. Critical outputs of the JP are publication of a new Development Finance Assessment, a series of deep-dive studies into regulatory and policy changes, innovations in capital flows, the linking of CSDG targets and data to Budget Strategic Plans (BSP) including the plugging of data gaps and developing new instruments for monitoring the progress of the CSDG financing.

Duties and Responsibilities

The independent consultant will prepare the Final Report in a phased manner, under the guidance of the UN Country Team, based on desk reviews, stakeholder consultations, field visits to Phnom Penh (if appropriate), and evidence-based contribution analysis and reporting of the JP’s results as per the foreseen targets and indicators. The consultant shall review the extent to which the project results have been achieved, progresses made, partnerships established, systems changed, financial resources mobilized and aligned with the SDGs (including systemic changes that will mobilise and align resources after the JP ends), capacities built, and cross cutting issues (i.e., gender, human rights) addressed. Finally, the report shall recommend areas for improvement and learning. The report is intended to provide evidence of the contribution of the JPs to the Joint SDG Fund’s results and identify lessons learned and best practices for future interventions.

The scope of the exercise covers the entire period of the implementation, between 1 June 2020 and 31 December 2022, of the JP titled Integrating National Financing Framework (INFF) to Catalyze Blended Finance for Transformative CSDG in Cambodia. The report shall include the following:

• Contextual Analysis
  • Brief review of the scope and focus of the JP considering the development landscape, the contextual changes happening in the country as well as its contribution to strengthen the UNDS reform at the country level and to accelerate the progress on the SDGs.
• Overview of Strategic Results
  • The consultant will conduct a detailed review and analysis of JP progress reports, results framework, workplan, acceleration plan, communications materials, and any other relevant document. The consultant will also conduct consultations/interviews with key stakeholders both including PUNOs, government partners, private sector, and other stakeholders as relevant.
  •  This will lead to an overview of the JP's contribution to strategic results, including its progress toward an INFF, contribution to SDG acceleration, contribution to increased SDG financing flows, leverage of strategic partnerships, contribution to UN development system reform in terms of enhancing the role of the RC and facilitating UN coherence and efficiency in the country team, and contributions to cross-cutting issues including gender, human rights, and COVID-19 recovery.
• Results by JP Outcomes and Outputs
  • Based on the analysis of JP materials and consultations with stakeholders referenced above, the consultant will review and describe the JP’s progress toward its specific outcomes and outputs.
• Challenges and Changes
  • The consultant will provide a description of the challenges and risks faced by the JP during implementation and explain the appropriateness of the JP’s responses and risk mitigation measures.
• Sustainability and National Ownership
  • The consultant will review and describe the next steps and sustainability of the JP’s strategy and results, with particular reference to local ownership and capacity building of key stakeholders.
• Communications
  • The consultant will review the implementation of the communication strategy/plan of the JP and provide a brief description/highlight of the events organized as part of the JP.
• Lessons learned and best practices
  • Based on the review of materials and consultations with stakeholders, the consultant will identify lessons learned and best practices from the JP’s implementation, with the purpose of identifying recommendations for the successful implementation of future JPs and SDG financing programmes.
• Annexes
  • The consultant will include the results framework of the JP and summaries of all stakeholder consultations and interviews, as well as any additional relevant material in the annexes.

The consultant will need to present evidence of development results or intermediate measures of tangible progress toward them. This assignment requires an advanced aptitude for analyzing complex information from different sources, identifying most essential insights, and articulating multi-faceted and cross-sectoral findings in a clear and concise manner. It will also require the ability to quickly acquire optimal understanding of a complicated country context and undertake high-quality research using both quantitative and qualitative methods.

Precise outputs include:

• Producing Inception Report/Work Plan (2-5 pages)

Initial review of documents and exchange with the UN country team shall result in the outline of work plan to produce the final report. The inception report should include the list of interviewees, key documents and materials that the consultant will review for this process, other methods, sources, and procedures for data collection and a concrete timeframe for the work plan milestones and deliverables. The inception report frames a common agreement and understanding of what is to be produced by the consultant, the UN country team, and relevant partners. The report is shared within the first 5 workdays of the contract.

• Producing the Final Report (maximum 30 pages)

The Final Report will consolidate the overall progress, innovations, and lessons learned based on concrete evidence and cases. The Report will focus on reporting results and transformative changes (including tangible, evidenced intermediate outcomes toward them) rather than listing of activities. The report should focus both on the JP’s progress against targets (what) as well as how the JP contributed to enhancing UN coherence, coordination, and efficiency at the country level (how). The report should include detailed references and/or annexes to substantiate its findings. The report should follow the outline stated in Annex 2. The questions in the template (UN country teams can adapt and expand it as needed) define the information that must be generated and presented in the Evidence-based Final Narrative Report.

Interested offeror must read the Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice, which can be viewed at https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=91782 for more detail information about term of reference, instructions to offeror, and to download the documents to be submitted in the offer through online.

Competencies

• Strong analytical and synthesis skills, including ability to quickly assess a diverse range of information and ability to extract essential insights from complicated information
• 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
• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.
• Informed and transparent decision making
• Positive and results-oriented attitude, able to meet targets/deadline 

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree in Economics/Finance, development studies, social sciences, or other relevant fields

Experience/Knowledge:

• At least 10 years of professional experience in international development and cooperation out of which at least 3-4 years of professional experience in SDG financing
• Successful track-record on producing a minimum of 5 reports, reviews, assessments or evaluations of development programmes, funds, or complex projects overall, with a minimum of 2 conducted on JPs
• Excellent writing skills required, as demonstrated by previous high-quality research/analytical reports on relevant topics
• Expertise in Result-Based Management (or Result-Oriented Management)
• In-depth understanding of multi-stakeholder and cross-sectoral project/programmes
• Previous experience of work in Cambodia or countries of similar context, especially with a development partner or government is a very strong advantage
• A specific experience in similar assignment in similar international development contexts is an advantage
• Knowledge of human rights-based and/or Leaving No One Behind approach will be an asset
• Experience of working with UN development system will be an asset

Languages:      

• Fluency in written and spoken English

Please be informed that we don’t accept application submitted via email.

 Interested individual offeror must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

 1. Proposal: Letter of explaining why they are most suitable for the work

2. Financial proposal (Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP)

3. Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references

Interested Offerors are required to submit application via UNDP jobsite system as the application screening and evaluation will be done through UNDP jobsite system. Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file. Your on-line applications submission will be acknowledged where an email address has been provided. If you do not receive an e-mail acknowledgement within 24 hours of submission, your application may not have been received. In such cases, please resubmit the application, if necessary. Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.

 Any request for clarification/additional information on this procurement notice shall be communicated in writing to UNDP office or send to email chanpisey.ky@undp.org and cc procurement.kh@undp.org . While the Procurement Unit would endeavor to provide information expeditiously, only requests receiving at least 5 working days prior to the submission deadline will be entertained. Any delay in providing such information will not be considered as a reason for extending the submission deadline. The UNDP's response (including an explanation of the query but without identifying the source of inquiry) will be posted in Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice page as provided above. Therefore, all prospective Offerors are advised to visit the page regularly to make obtain update related to this Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice