1. BACKGROUND

Saudi Arabia has achieved remarkable progress in human development over the past three decades including, for example, literacy at above 95%, increased life expectancy, and access to energy, even in remote rural communities. The Kingdom is a high-income country and is one of the most industrialized Gulf Countries with a highly educated population. Its economy is mainly based on oil as the world’s biggest exporter holding 16% of global proven petroleum reserves. It is also the largest country in the Arabian Peninsula with a population of approximately 35 million, 1/3 of whom are expat migrant workers. According to the UNDP Human Development Report, Saudi Arabia’s Human Development Index (HDI) value for 2020 was 0.854— which put the country in the very high human development category—positioning it at 40 out of 189 countries and territories. Between 1990 and 2019, Saudi Arabia’s HDI value increased from 0.697 to 0.854, an increase of 22.5 %.

Those achievements aside, Saudi Arabia faces significant development challenges.  Before 2016, the Government’s drive for economic diversification delivered modest results. The share of the private sector in the country’s economy only increased by 10 % from 2000 to 2015 mostly coming from the non-oil sector.  The oil price crash in 2016 exposed the volatility of its oil-based economy prompting the Government to put in place austerity measures as well as the introduction of a 5 % value-added tax in January 2018 later increased to 15% in July 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework 2022–2026 (UNSDCF) agreed between the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) serves as an integrated SDG-based strategy for achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s (KSA) Vision 2030.

UNDP is well-positioned to demonstrate its comparative advantage in Saudi Arabia since UNDP has been present and active in the Kingdom since 1976. UNDP is a respected and trusted advisor to dozens of partners and is seen as a window to the multilateral landscape and benchmarking to which the Kingdom aspires. Through a more coherent and engaged UNCT and expanded partnerships with UN agencies (e.g., UNICEF on disability and inclusion, and gender, UN-Habitat on development housing and urbanization, FAO on food security and food waste, and UNFPA on statistics and the national census), UNDP will advance its integrator role and broaden UN engagement in Saudi Arabia beyond its current engagement which is mostly with Government.

The UNDP Country Programme 2023-2027 (CP) is fully aligned with the four Strategic Priority Areas and corresponding Outcomes of the UNSDCF (CF), namely People, Planet, Prosperity, and Peace, Partnerships, and Other Cross-Cutting Issues, all of which emanate from the Vision 2030. With activities under each of the four CF Outcomes, UNDP represents the significant majority of UN system programming in the country. This critical mass and diversity of engagements across numerous entities afford UNDP the opportunity to build synergies that are transformational and that address the siloed approaches that can be pervasive in the large bureaucratic ecosystem. The CP seeks to support opportunities for economic, environmental, social, and institutional change.

UNDP Saudi Arabia is seeking a Senior Program Advisor to ensure that an integrated and cross-sectoral focus permeates all programs and projects with a holistic and people-centered lens and make sure that cross-cutting themes such as youth, gender, and environmental sustainability, and the achievement of the SDGs and national development priorities in addition to strategic innovation are embedded in all programs. s/he is expected to facilitate the engagement with UN entities and partners on potential area-based programming at the local level as proposed in the country program.

The Senior Advisor also liaises closely with the Country Office and assists the Country Office in all relevant activities of the outputs identified in the UNDP-approved Country program -2023-2027 such as Strategic urban Innovation, Urban Resilience, and Sustainable urban transformation, Community development, Environment and Energy, Public Sector excellence, Localization of SDG, Regional Development Plans, Public-Private Partnerships.

SCOPE OF WORK AND DELIVERABLES

The objective of the assignment is within the Framework of the UNDP KSA Country office.  The assignment intends to provide a high-level policy advisory service on UNDP Saudi Arabia Programme, focusing on urban planning.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

Under the overall guidance of UNDP Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Resident Representative, the senior program advisor will perform the following tasks:

1. Develop programme design proposal to achieve cohesion across Thematic Country Program Pillars via new programmatic approaches as part of the new CPD 2023-2027
2. Review existing programs and align Results-Resources Frameworks to KSA vision 2030 and UNDP Country Programme, including with focus on SDG localization and gender indicators
3. Review country programmes’ risk logs and prepare a proposal for risk management oversight in support to CPD2023-27 implementation
4. Develop a harmonization framework between CPD 2023-27 and UNSDCF 2022-2026 and provide inputs to the development of the 2023 KSA Voluntary National Report (VNR) in coordination with UNCT/RCO
5. Initiate and lead at least three critical dialogues with partners, other UN Agencies and stakeholders to ensure UNDP’s role as an integrator of SGDs across different sectors
6. Draft a plan for Sustainable finance hub in KSA to be submitted to the new assigned RR.

Duration of Assignment:

The anticipated duration of the assignment is 3.5 months.

Duty Station and Expected Places of Travel, if any:

The assignment will be based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, at the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Country Office.

• If unforeseen travel outside the consultant home-based city is requested by UNDP and not required by the Terms of References (ToR), such travel shall be covered by UNDP in line with applicable rules and regulations and upon prior written agreement. In such cases, the consultant shall receive living allowances not exceeding the United Nations (UN) Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) rate for such other location(s).

• Note: A written approval from UNDP and relevant authorities will be required to facilitate the consultant's travel to any locations than stated on this TOR on official missions where necessary.Working Arrangements:

• All mission travels must be approved in advance and in writing by the Supervisor.
• United Nations Development of Safe and Security – BSAFE course must be successfully completed prior to the commencement of travel.
• The Consultant is responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when traveling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director.
• The consultant is also required to comply with the UN security directives.
• The consultant is responsible for obtaining any visas needed in connection with travel with the necessary support from UNDP.
• The consultant will be responsible for submitting his/her own mission travel arrangements in line with UNDP travel policies.
• The consultant is responsible for required health and life insurance related to work or travel.
• The consultant is expected to have his/her own Laptop/Computer.

Institutional arrangement:

The expert will be reporting to UNDP Saudi Arabia Deputy Resident Representative. A detailed work plan for the expert’s duties and responsibilities will be formulated during the assignment. The expert will be collaborating and liaising with the assigned task force to meet the deadlines set by UNDP Saudi Arabia Resident Representative.

Impact of Results:

The key expected result of the SPA is to impact the overall success of UNDP Saudi Arabia in reaching its goals by improving the quality programming of the Partnership.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, and nationality sensitivity and adaptability

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to handle effectively multiple tasks without compromising quality, team spirit, and positive, working relationships
• Highly savvy in program design and implementation with strong knowledge- base in the Urban field or National transformation processes.
• Demonstrated ability to conceptualize, develop and oversee complex program implementation.

Management and leadership

• Excellent communication, organizational and management skills
• Focuses on the impact and results of the client
• Demonstrate conflict resolution skills
• Consistently approaches work with energy and positive-constructive attitude
• Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors
• Effectively manages teams and creates an enabling work environment

Effective coacher and mediator

1. QUALIFICATIONS and REQUIREMENTS 

Education:  

• Master’s degree in economics, Sustainable Development or related fields

Experience:

• Minimum of 10 years’ experience in sustainable development, and urban planning and development with a strong focus on programming institutional capacity building.

• Proven experience in handling high-level coordination among professionals and senior management.
• Strong understanding of change management.
• Experiences in programming and project management
• relevant in-depth Multi-Disciplinary Background in the Saudi context is an asset.

Languages:

• Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills in English and Arabic language.

1. Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

All proposals must be expressed in a lump sum amount. This amount must be “all-inclusive”. Please note that the term “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the Proposal.

Payments shall be made to the expert upon successful completion and certification by UNDP that services have been satisfactorily performed, based upon the actual number of working days.

Payment shall be made as a deliverables-based lump sum payment, to be paid in installments.

The schedule of payment will be distributed upon satisfactory submission of the deliverables listed in the table hereunder:

1. Recommended Presentation of Offer

For purposes of generating Offers whose contents are uniformly presented and to facilitate their comparative analysis, it is best to recommend the preferred contents and presentation of the Offer to be submitted, as well as the format/sequencing of their presentation.  The following documents may be requested:

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
2. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
3. Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a methodology, if applicable, on how they will approach and complete the assignment. A methodology document is required for this case. 
4. Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per the template provided. The terms “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the Proposal. If an Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under the Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial Proposal submitted to UNDP. 

1. Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

Step I: Screening and desk review:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology.

Technical Criteria (CV review and Desk Review/Interview optional) – maximum 70 points. Only candidates who obtained at least 70% of points from the CV desk review (who will score at least 49 points) will be considered for the next evaluation stage, i.e., financial evaluation.

Applications will be first screened, and only candidates meeting the following minimum criteria will progress to the pool for shortlisting:

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points)

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% of the points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

Financial evaluation - Total 30% (30 points)

The following formula will be used to evaluate the financial proposal:

p = y (µ/z), where

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal

µ = price of the lowest-priced proposal

z = price of the proposal being evaluated

1. Instructions for on-line submissions

Step 1:  Please prepare all required documents electronically.

Step 2: Combine all documents in ONE SINGLE FILE (preferably in PDF however, Word format can also be accepted) and upload to the UNDP Jobs links

Step 3: After that, you will receive an auto-reply from the UNDP jobs if your offer is received successfully.

Interested applicants are advised to carefully review this advertisement and ensure that they meet the requirements and qualifications described. 

Given the volume of applications that UNDP receives, only shortlisted offerors will be notified.

UNDP reserves the right to reject any incomplete applications.

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

Interested Offerors are required to submit an 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 documents, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file. Your online application submission will be acknowledged where an email address has been provided. If you do not receive an email 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 you to upload a maximum of one document.

Any request for clarification/additional information on this procurement notice shall be communicated in writing to UNDP office or send to email mohammed.abbas@undp.org  with a copy to huda.alsaud@undp.org  While the Procurement Unit would endeavour to provide information expeditiously, only requests receiving at least 3 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 the Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice page as provided above. Therefore, all prospective Offerors are advised to visit the page regularly to make obtain updates related to this Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice

UNDP 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.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Interested applicants are advised to carefully review this advertisement and ensure that they meet the requirements and qualifications described. 

The 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=97295 for more detailed information about terms of references, instructions for the offeror, and to download the documents to be submitted in the offer online.

UNDP 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.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.