Background

Project Description

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s least developed countries. It creates new opportunities for poor people and their communities by increasing access to microfinance and investment capital. UNCDF focuses on Africa and the poorest countries of Asia and the Pacific, with a special commitment to countries emerging from conflict or crisis. It provides seed capital grants and loans and technical support to help microfinance institutions reach more poor households and small businesses, and local governments finance the capital investments – water systems, feeder roads, schools, irrigation schemes – that will improve poor peoples’ lives.

Recently, UNCDF has formulated its strategy ‘Leaving no one behind in the digital era’ 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. 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. Please refer to the link for further information: https://www.uncdf.org/article/4931/global-strategy-leaving-no-onebehind-in-the-digital-era. 

UNCDF in Uganda

UNCDF applies a market development approach. This approach aims to understand and intervene in selected market systems to address underlying market dysfunctions that lead to improved efficiencies, effectiveness and sustainability. The approach leverages and supports current players in the market and strengthens the systems and relationships among the various market and sector actors, while recognizing the dynamic and complex nature of markets.

 Digital Uganda Vision and the Third National Development Plan

The Digital Uganda Vision is an overarching 20-year ICT development framework that is aligned to the Uganda Vision 2040. Its aim is to guide and harmonize Uganda’s Digital Transformation investments, policies, strategies and other governance frameworks to facilitate the realization of the national development aspirations. The implementation of the digital Uganda vision is within the Comprehensive National Development Planning Framework (CNDPF) as adopted by Government in 2007. The key objectives of the NDP III and interventions were therefore derived from the DUV.

The Inclusive Digital Economy Scorecard (IDES)

The IDES is a policy tool, it supports governments in setting priorities that drive digital transformation while reducing the digital divide. The IDES is a central tool of UNCDF’s “Leaving no One behind in the Digital Era” strategy. 

The objective is to provide a tool for easily measuring and tracking the level of development of an inclusive digital economy at the country level. 

The tool identifies the key market constraints hindering the development of an inclusive digital economy and helps set the right priorities with public and private stakeholders in each country to foster a digital economy that leaves no one behind.

The IDES has three main components:

• The Digital Economy Score shows the status of the overall digital economy and its components (enabling policy environment, mobile infrastructure and digital payments, innovation ecosystem and customers skills).
• The Digital Inclusiveness Score measures the level of inclusion in the digital economy for key customer segments, such as women, youth, refugees, migrants, micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, and rural inhabitants.
• The Digital Divide Score is the difference between the Digital Economy Score and the Digital Inclusiveness Score. It shows the extent the digital economy is exclusive of key customer segments.

UNCDF supported the Ministry of ICT and National Guidance (MoICT&NG) to implement the IDES within the Government of Uganda in line with the National Development Plan and the Digital Uganda Vision through trainings to relevant stakeholders and convening working sessions with the Digital Transformation working group. In this process, recommendations were made for the Ministry of ICT to disseminate the IDES agenda, they require technical assistance to come up with policies that would ease the process of aligning the digitization of the NDP3 in order achieve the goals of the NDP3.

Duties and Responsibilities

UNCDF seeks the support of an individual consultant to provide technical assistance to the Ministry of ICT to perform satisfactorily at its role as the IDES champion in the Government of Uganda and to disseminate the IDES within the Government of Uganda in line with the National Development Plan and the Digital Uganda Vision:

• Support MoICT&NG in:
  • updating of the National ICT Policy to guide the addressing of gaps and inconsistencies in the institutional, strategy, legal and regulatory frameworks; and ensuring that Inclusiveness is fully entrenched in the National ICT Policy and derived strategies
• the amendment of the Uganda Communication Act and the Uganda Broadcasting Corporation Act as well as consequential amendments to other associated laws, to streamline sector management and regulation
• Reviewing and providing guidance on the National Spectrum Policy
• implementing the action plan triggered by the Uganda IDES 2021 findings, with specific focus on:
• Setting new policy and strategy directions for innovation, IT enabled services, and business process outsourcing.
• Developing strategies for addressing digital skills gaps in government and in the general population.
• Facilitate the quarterly meetings of the Digital Transformation Programme Working Group
• Working with other national stakeholders, carry out an evaluation of the Uganda IDES 2022 and write the corresponding report.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

Institutional Arrangement

Provision of Monitoring, Progress Controls & Payments:

• The Consultant will work under the supervision of the Digital Country Lead
• Progress monitoring will be performed through bi-weekly meetings between the consultant, the Digital Country Lead and the delegated staff from MoICT.
• The following supporting documents will serve as conditions for payments to an Individual Contractor(s): (i) submission of Certificate of Payment (COP); (ii) submission of all deliverables / workplan / progress report with the relevant supporting documentation; and (iii) review, approval and written acceptance of each deliverable by the Program Coordinator.
• Payments shall be made only upon satisfactory completion and UNCDF’s written acceptance of each deliverable duly approved by the Digital Country Lead
• Disbursement of the final payment shall require a signed performance evaluation of the consultant.

Duration of the Work

4 months

Duty Station

The Consultant will be home based

Travel

No travel required for this assignment

Competencies

Personal Competencies:  

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN's values and ethical standards.
• Advocates and promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the UN.
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism.
• Demonstrates and promotes the values of the UN in actions and decisions and acts in accordance with the standard of conduct for international civil servants.
• Shows willingness to work without bias with all persons regardless of gender, nationality, religion, or culture.
• Contributes effectively to team-based activities, working collaboratively and sharing information openly; works effectively with colleagues inside the UN as well as its partners and other stakeholders to pursue common goals.

Language requirements

Fluent command of written and spoken English is mandatory.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic qualifications:

Master’s degree in economics, international development, or related field is mandatory.

Skills & Experience:

• Minimum 10 years of experience in policy-related work with government is mandatory.
• Minimum 5 years’ experience working in East Africa is mandatory.
• Minimum 5 years of experience in the review and implementation of policy related to ICT is mandatory.
• Experience in managing stakeholder engagement processes, working sessions and results-oriented meetings is preferable.
• Experience in writing case studies, research papers or other learning materials is preferable.
• Prior experience working for international development organizations like the UN is a plus.

Application process

Interested individuals must submit the following documents as proposals 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)

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested documents.

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

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 %

The technical criteria will comprise of two parts:

Step 1 - desk review will contribute 30% to the technical evaluation. Candidates scoring a minimum of 70 points will be considered for the oral interview. The following will be considered:

Shortlisting scoring (100 points):

• Master’s degree in economics, international development, or related field: 10 points
• Minimum 10 years of experience in policy-related work with government: 25 points
• Minimum 5 years’ experience working in East Africa: 20 points  
• Minimum 5 years of experience in the review and implementation of policy related to ICT: 20 points
• Methodology and approach: 25 points

Step 2 – the oral interview will contribute 70% to the technical evaluation. Candidates that passed the technical assessment will be invited to the oral interview.

Candidates will be tested on the following:  

• Relevant experience
• Sector Knowledge
• Communication Skills.

Only candidates obtaining minimum 70% on the total Step I (Desk Review) + Step II (Interview) shall be considered as technically qualified and be reviewed further for financial evaluation. 

Financial Criteria – 30%

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

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

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