Antecedentes

Building on a long history of effective collaboration, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Government of Singapore (GoS) have set up a Global Centre for Public Service Excellence (GCPSE). 

The GCPSE’s aim is to find and promote the evidence needed to galvanize public service capacities for improved development results. It will deliver this by acting as a knowledge and convening hub on public service excellence, promoting cutting edge practices in public services management and reform. It aspires to offer: 1) a structured way of thinking (theory) about public service excellence, that values each country’s own development experience; 2) evidence of successes and failures through well-documented case studies and cross-country comparisons; 3) opportunities to convene thinker-practitioners in South-South and Trilateral knowledge sharing events, organised in partnerships that promote excellence in the policy and practice of the public sector.

Design Thinking
An increasing number of Governments around the globe are using design approaches to innovate and co-create with professionals and citizens that used to be at the receiving end of services, entitlements and legislation. Public service innovation labs and design centres have been put in place to foster innovation, spin off initiatives in different Government institutions and to train civil servants in the application of design thinking approaches.

Design thinking processes begin with the end user in mind, using design skills in thinking about how we approach public service challenges – from unsolved issues at the local level (e.g. drug abuse, domestic violence, etc.) to large scale wicked problems (e.g. climate change, obesity, or migration). Such problems are difficult or impossible to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements that are often difficult to recognize. Wicked problems have in common that there are no quick fixes or simple solutions and their complex interdependencies pose additional challenges to traditional public service institutions.

Solutions developed through design thinking approaches can range from programmes, policies, and ICT solutions to organizational and service delivery design. They are developed through an increasingly systematic exploration of design methodologies (e.g. rapid prototyping, service blueprinting, visualisation) and processes (e.g. ethnography, qualitative research, interviews) which involve the ultimate users, interdisciplinary teams and a wide spectrum of stakeholders. These processes of engagement and collaboration foster the “professional empathy” of civil servants, reduce the risk of failure through low-cost testing rather than expensive piloting and have the potential to generate more sustainable solutions.

Objective:
In order to support the effective and innovative implementation of its mandate, the GCPSE is looking for an expert in the public service to support the evidence building work of the Centre on the subject of design thinking. How to best leverage design thinking for the Public Service has been capturing the attention of a wide range of thinker-practitioners – both from the academic world and among policy makers in Government offices tasked with modernization, reform and innovation in public service.

In this policy note, the GCPSE is looking to capture a global snapshot of how design thinking approaches have contributed to solving public service challenges and to explore the potential that is yet to be tapped (mainly for wicked problems). The annexure of the note will provide a listing of design thinking institutions (think tanks, innovation labs, design centres) that Governments and international agencies have put in place and which drive design thinking approaches. A select number of such institutions will be featured in the note (with a focus on middle- and low-income countries) to illustrate the institutionalization of design thinking.

The note will provide an overview (“state-of-the-art”) of various methods and tools used, showcasing recent examples where design thinking has been employed by Governments and what impact this has made on policy development, programme design and implementation. The intention is to familiarize the public service “thinker-practitioner” reader with the underlying philosophy and methodologies, as well as challenges and opportunities that have been discovered. Particular attention will be paid to the capacities that the public service needs to develop to apply design thinking.

The note will explore the wide range of possible applications in the field of public service from a functional perspective (e.g. planning, service delivery, implementation monitoring, public communication, etc.). It will provide examples from a large variety of development contexts, focusing on middle- and low-income countries.

The policy note will inform discussions at a consultation on social innovation and design thinking (tentatively 1st - 3rd December 2013) with participation from Governments, UNDP, experts and practitioners. An additional policy note on “social innovation” will be commissioned separately.

Bidding Process:
Interested individuals must submit the following documents/information to express their interest and demonstrate their qualifications:

• 1 or 2 page proposal for the policy note (in the form of an abstract / outline of the paper)
• Personal CV including past experience with similar assignments;
• List of publications;
• Financial proposal (please provide a lump sum figure based on the abovementioned deliverables).

Important note:

Please scan all your documents into one PDF file and upload to the application website. UNDP Singapore reserves the right to disqualify any incomplete submission.

Any request for clarification must be sent in writing to procurement.my@undp.org. Please write the Project reference "MyIC/2013/023" in your e-mail heading.
 
The deadline for submitting requests for clarification/question is 19 September 2013.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Deliverables:

Produce:

• A “policy note” (roughly 8,000 to 10,000 words) written for a public service “thinker-practitioner” audience;
• Concise (4-pager) version of the ”policy note” (roughly 850 to 1,200 words) for “busy practitioners”;
• An executive summary (2 pager version) of the “policy note” (approx. 500 words) for “very senior officials”;
• A set of slides with key take-aways from the “policy note” (that can used for presentations or packaged as an online slideshow);
• A factsheet with key data (that can be turned into an info-graphic);
• Ten key facts from the report (that can be disseminated via social media).

Duty Station and Travel
The expert will be contracted as a home-based consultant and official travel is not foreseen. If travel is deemed necessary, prior approval from the Director, GCPSE is required. Travel and allowances will be covered as per UNDP standard rules and procedures and will be funded outside the ambit of the consultancy contract.

Reporting and Approval Process
Working from home, the expert will deliver knowledge products related to the abovementioned thematic focus areas. The expert will report to the GCPSE Director through telephonic and electronic communication. It is expected that the consultant submits a first draft within 4 weeks of contract start date and reverts with a revised final draft for approval within 2 weeks after receiving comments. The final will be released upon acceptance of the deliverables by the GCPSE Director.

Competencias

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent communication skills;
• Able to think and communicate concisely and analytically;
• Comfortable working with a variety of people within a multicultural environment;
• Able to work and follow-up independently and to take initiative;
• Able to ‘multi-task’ in a deadline-driven environment and work under pressure;
• Strong work ethic and commitment;
• High level of creativity and imaginative thinking;
• Mastery of Microsoft Word.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Academic Qualifications

• Postgraduate degree in a related academic field.

Professional Experience

• Minimum of 5 years of relevant professional experience;
• Work experience with the public sector, in international organisations or the NGO sector is an added advantage;
• Demonstrated experience in the subject matter;
• Demonstrated experience in writing and editing publishable text (writing samples may be requested and a written test conducted);
• Demonstrated experience in producing knowledge products.

Languages

• Excellent written and spoken English;
• Proficiency in other languages would be an asset.

FC: 11888