Background

UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s 47 least developed countries. With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development.

UNCDF strategy ‘Leaving no one behind in the digital era’ is based on over a decade of experience in digital finance in Africa, Asia and the Pacific. UNCDF recognizes that reaching the full potential of digital financial inclusion in support of the Sustainable Development Goals aligns with the vision of promoting digital economies that leave no one behind. For further detail on UNCDF strategy, refer to; https://www.uncdf.org/article/4931/global-strategy-leaving-no-one-behind-in-the-digital-era

Since 2013, UNCDF has been implementing a market development approach on digital finance in Uganda.  With the support of the Sweden Development Agency (SIDA), UNCDF will execute the “Leaving no one behind in the digital era” strategy in country until 2024 under the “Connect” Rural Uganda Programme. The Programme has the aim to develop an inclusive digital economy in Uganda with a specific focus at empowering rural communities, smallholders’ farmers, agri-business and refugees - to lead productive and healthy lives, by expanding access and usage of digital services.

There is an existing dashboard which is used for designing, developing, testing and deploying robust and scalable big data ETL (Extraction, Transformation, Load) pipelines which support in data analytics and generating key indicators based on simulated and (or) actual telecoms GSM and mobile money data and effectively visualizing UNCDF's qualitative and quantitative data including performance indicators.

UNCDF seeks an individual Consultant to design additional functionalities on the dashboard to improve the user experience, showing results of UNCDF projects and standardize the dashboard data.

SCOPE OF WORK

UNCDF would like to achieve the following additional tasks related to the data analytics and visualization dashboard:

Standardized dashboard data API

This will offer seamless data exchange between UNCDF and project partners. The API will also automatically enforce required data formats and eliminate file naming conventions currently required before uploading performance reports to SharePoint for preprocessing and updating the dashboard.

Standard application interface for partners to directly upload project performance data

This user interface will allow UNCDF partners with systems not ready to integrate to APIs to directly upload project performance reports. 

Report creation and sharing interface

• This will allow the creation of reports comparing different data types (for example "Amount of UNCDF investment" versus "Number of beneficiaries reached")
• These would be easily shared with different team members, donors and other partners and stakeholders.

Converting currently static indicators to dynamic

Certain indicators which are currently static on the dashboard will automatically get updated within the dashboard periodically.

Duties and Responsibilities

EXPECTED OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES

Institutional Arrangement

Provision of Monitoring, Progress Controls & Payments:

• The Consultant will work under the supervision of the Digital Country Lead and work closely with the Result Measurement Specialist.
• Reporting will be done through weekly meetings with the Digital Country Lead
• All deliverables will be approved by the Digital Country Lead
• UNCDF will provide an office space if required by the consultant
• Payments will be made based on the successful completion of each deliverable as set out by UNCDF and upon certification of satisfactory performance, and acceptance of the output by the Digital Country Lead and/or their designate.
• Final payment shall require a signed performance evaluation of the consultants.

Duration of the Work

80 working days spread over a period of 6 months in line with agreed work plan.

Duty Station

The Consultant will be based in Kampala, Uganda.  

Travel

Travel may be required and will be compensated according to UN polices. 

Competencies

Competencies

• The consultant must have demonstrable experience in building software tools to generate synthetic telecoms GSM and mobile money data
• Hands-on experience in analyzing complex telecoms data
• Building automated, robust, and scalable big data ETL pipelines to load data from disparate data sources
• Automated reporting and dashboards development
• Experience with Apache Spark and Hadoop ecosystem related technologies
• Ability to scope, design and deliver various Big Data solutions
• Design and implementation of modern Data APIs for both internal and external data access
• Collaborate with other development and research team.

Language requirements

  Fluent command of written and spoken English is mandatory.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Data Science or other relevant advanced degree is mandatory

Skills & Experience:

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Data Science or other relevant advanced degree is mandatory
• Expertise in the use of Power BI is mandatory
• 5+ years of experience of IT platform implementation in a highly technical and analytical roles is mandatory
• Knowledge of Data Lake/Hadoop platform implementation, including hands-on experience in implementation and performance tuning Hadoop/Spark implementations is preferred
• Understanding of Apache Hadoop and the Hadoop ecosystem. Experience with one or more relevant tools (Sqoop, Flume, Kafka, Oozie, Hue, Zookeeper, HCatalog, Solr, Avro) is preferred
• Familiarity with one or more SQL-on-Hadoop technology (Hive, Impala, Spark SQL, Presto) is preferred
• Proficiency in English is mandatory.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Interested individuals must submit the following documents as proposals in order to demonstrate their qualifications. (NOTE: The system does not allow multiple uploads of document. Applicants must make sure to upload all documents in one PDF file.)

The application must contain the following:

(a) Personal Profile: 

• Cover letter demonstrating the Approach/Methodology on how the assignment will be executed (1 page). 

• Duly accomplished?Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability
• A Curriculum Vitae (CV) or P.11 Personal History Form (available at http://sas.undp.org/documents/p11_personal_history_form.doc), stipulating applicant’s official name the qualifications and professional experiences (with similar projects) relevant to the assignment/TOR and the contact details (email address, telephone numbers) of 3 professional references. 

 (b) A signed financial proposal for the assignment, quoted in US dollars, outlining the all-inclusive fee, supported by a breakdown of reimbursable – direct and indirect – costs such as travel, lodging, per diem (if applicable

EVALUATION METHOD

Cumulative analysis:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

* Technical Criteria weight; 70%

* Financial Criteria weight; 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) will be considered as technically qualified and will be reviewed further for the Financial Evaluation

Technical Criteria –70 %

Criteria                                                                            

• Relevant Qualification – 15%
• A minimum of 5 years’ relevant work experience – 15%
• Knowledge of Data Lake/Hadoop platform implementation, including hands-on experience in implementation and performance tuning Hadoop/Spark implementations – 20%;
• Description of approach/methodology and its appropriateness to the assignment- 20%

Financial Criteria – 30%

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

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

Cumulative analysis:

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

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation. Example 70%-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 individual consultant must do so in their individual capacity by 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.

Any request for clarification must be sent in writing, or by standard electronic communication to the address or email indicated above. UNCDF will respond in writing or by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all consultants.

References

UNDP’s Individual Consultant’s General Terms and Conditions are provided here:
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf