Background

he 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.

Lao PDR is in a critical stage in its national development, with the ninth five-year National Socio-Economic Development Plan being implemented that will take the country to within 5 years of the 2030 deadline for the SDGs and up to the 2026 date for graduation from Least Developed Country status. Simultaneously, access to the necessary development finance to accelerate progress has become increasingly challenging, with high levels of debt, revenue collection falling short of expectations, and repeated shocks stretching coping capacity.

The JP has worked to strengthen the national architecture for managing and allocating development finance to support more efficient and effective use of available resources at this critical moment. This will be done by drawing on the strengths of UN agencies to: support development of a practical financing strategy to support implementation of the Plan in light of shocks; develop an evidence-based approach to supporting budget allocations through a pilot in the health sector; and implement an innovative budget tagging methodology that will allow actual spending to be tracked against priorities

OBJECTIVE:

The JP is required to develop an evidence-based final narrative report (“Final Report”) covering a review of the JP activities and results over the 27 months implementation period. The unit of analysis is the JP in its entirety, i.e., outcomes, outputs, activities, and inputs that were detailed in the programme document and any associated modifications. The objectives of the assignment are to:

1. Collect and present evidence to review the extent to which the JP achieved its overall objective to unlock financial resources towards the SDGs and catalyse sustained change in the way government and its partners seek to finance the SDGs that will unlock resources into the future.
2. Review and provide evidence as to how the JP’s activities have contributed to foster SDG acceleration at the country level.
3. Collect and present evidence to the extent to which the JP achieved its results as described in the JP document and result framework. This review should include the contribution towards the Joint SDG Fund’s Outcome 4 and Output 2.
4. Review the extent to which the JP has contributed to strengthening the UN Development System (UNDS) reform and describe the level of coordination between relevant actors, especially participating UN agencies (PUNO) and government.
5. Review the extent to which the JP has contributed to creating sustainable partnerships and collaborations with local and international partners from public and private sectors.
6. Review to which extent the JP has contributed to mainstream gender equality and human rights.
7. Review the extent to which local capacity has been built.
8. Review the likelihood of sustainability of the JP’s results and the quality of the exit strategy. Review the planned next steps of the JP.
9. Based on the above, present the key progresses or achievements, lessons learned, best practices and areas for improvement to inform future interventions.

Duties and Responsibilities

The JP in Lao PDR’s results, against which the programme should be reviewed, are as follows:

Output 1: SDG-aligned financing strategy for the NSEDP strengthened

Activity 1.1: An evidence-based financing strategy for the 9th NSEDP

Activity 1.2: Development of a sector-wide NSEDP costing methodology

Activity 1.3: Development of a model evidence-based investment case to inform prioritization of public investment decisions. 

Output 2: Greater optimization of budget expenditure to achieve the SDGs.

Activity 2.1: Development of a budget tagging system

More detail matrix is on the TOR

SCOPE OF WORK

The independent consultant will prepare the Final Report in a phased manner, under the guidance of the partner UN agencies, based on desk reviews, stakeholder consultations, 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 August 2020 and September 2022, of the JP titled ‘Enhancing Financing Efficiency’. 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, communications materials, and any other relevant documents. The consultant will also conduct consultations 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 Joint Programme 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 Local 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/highlights 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 joint programmes 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

Competencies

• Sound knowledge and understanding of Lao political and development context is an asset.
• Experience of working with UN development system will be an asset.
• Knowledge of human rights-based and/or Leaving No One Behind approach will be an asset.
• Excellent research, drafting and reporting skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications: 

An advanced university degree in economics/finance, or related field 

Experience:

• 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.
• Expertise in Result-Based Management (or Result-Oriented Management).
• In-depth understanding of multi-stakeholder and cross-sectoral project/programmes

Languange:  Fluent English is required

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HOW TO APPLY

Requirements for submission of proposals 

All interested and qualified International Consultant should apply on-line using the following links: 

UNDP Lao PDR Country Office website at https://www.undp.org/laopdr/jobs  or  

In order to make your submission, please read the relevant documents available on the link below  

1. TOR  (Annex I)

2. IC General Terms and  Conditions Annex II

3. Offerors Letter to UNDP Annex III

4. P11 Form

5. IC - Contract Template

Interested Individual Consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications: 

1. Technical Proposal (Free-Form):

• Explaining why you are the most suitable for the work; 
• Providing a brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the work, including the work schedule for the delivery of outputs/deliverables; 
• P11 Form: Education and work experience, including past experience in similar projects and contact references of at least three references for whom you have rendered preferably the similar services; 

       2. Financial Form (OFFEROR's LETTER): Lump sum offer with clear cost breakdown against each deliverable.

Instructions for Online Submissions: 

• Step 1:  Please prepare all required documents electronically; 
• Step 2: Combine all the required documents in ONE SINGLE FILE (preferably in PDF; however, Word format can also be accepted) and upload to the UNDP Jobs website using the link above; 
• Step 3: After that, you will receive an auto-reply from the UNDP Jobs website if your offer is received successfully. 

Incomplete Proposals or Proposals received after the deadline will be rejected. 

Note:  Any request for clarification must be sent in writing before the submission deadline to the following email: surith.sengsavang@undp.org