Historique

World leaders have pledged to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), including the overarching goal of cutting poverty in half by 2015. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) coordinates global and national efforts to reach these goals and partners with people at all levels of society to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. UNDP offers global perspective and local insight to help empower lives and build resilient nations by helping countries build and share solutions to challenges like poverty reduction, democratic governance, crisis prevention and recovery, and environment and energy for sustainable development. In all its activities, the UNDP promotes the protection of human rights, capacity development and the empowerment of women.

Devoirs et responsabilités

Objective:

UNDP, with its partners, implements a variety of local development projects designed to improve livelihoods of the poor and vulnerable, such as through employment and entrepreneurship programmes for women and youth or capacity building programmes of local administrations. The consultant will produce a study on the scalability of interventions of a specific project that offers insights on both the implementation and challenges activities, highlights major results of the project (both intended and unintended), tease out lessons learned and successful methodologies which could be adopted and scaled up in other development contexts.

Scope of the Scalability Study:

The scalability study will cover the following issues:

• Background analysis which includes description of the initial situation that justified the particular intervention or interventions as linked to national priorities;
• Results achieved so far in terms of gender equality and women’s empowerment, providing qualitative and/or quantitative evidence;
• Key contextual factors that influenced the practice and results achievement;
• Strategies employed to address the identified issues;
• Documented experiences of the role of partnerships and any coordination efforts in results achievement;
• Successes during implementation and factors that helped the above mentioned project succeed;
• Problems and challenges encountered and measures taken to overcome them;
• Potential application of the practice beyond the original context and essential conditions necessary for replicating or scaling up;
• Evidence, both in quantitative and/or qualitative form, to back the description of the results and the implementation process. This evidence can come both from the monitoring process carried out by the programme itself and from other sources;
• Results, implementation processes, challenges, lessons learned must also be described through the voices of involved stakeholders: implementing UN agencies, civil society counterparts and NGOs,  national and local government counterparts, , community participants and other actors;
• Ways/recommendations in which such projects can be executed to inform and influence future programming and resource allocation.

Specific Activities:

In producing the study  the consultant will undertake the following tasks:

• Prepare a thorough proposal that details the background of the study, research questions, proposed methodology, including:  methods for gathering information, key stakeholders to interview, questionnaires for interviews, focus groups. The proposal must include a literature review, detailed work plan and timelines, outline of the scalability study final document, foreseeable challenges/limitations, and strategies to address those challenges;
• Design the data collection methods through quantitative (i.e., surveys/ questionnaire) and qualitative means (i.e., conducting interviews, focus groups, desk review) in-line with/based on the identified research questions;
• Collect primary and secondary data, analyze and synthesize the information such that the objective of the study is met and the research questions are properly answered/addressed;
• Provide frequent updates on research progress to Poverty Practice Team Leader throughout the process, insuring close coordination and awareness of arising challenges;
• Document findings and submit an initial draft of the case study for team and peer review;
• Incorporate feedback and suggestions and finalize the case study whilst including a 2-page summary of the case study.   

Deliverables

Interim deliverables:

• Detailed proposal that includes work plan/timelines, methodology, literature review;
• Outline of the case study final document;
• First draft of case study document, including a short background analysis of project results in the Haitian context.

Final deliverables:

• Final report (20- 30 pages plus annexes);
• Overall summary of the case study (2 pages);
• Accompanying visual material: photographs, videos, etc., as well as other documents produced by the Empowering vulnerable women through income generating activities project;
• Self-contained PowerPoint presentation of up to 10 slides and complete speaking notes that summarizes the final report.

Sample Outline of Final Report:

The scalability study should cover all of the following sections including respective topics and issues:

Analysis of the background/context (initial situation that justified the intervention):

• How does the programme link to national priorities and/or international agreements?
• What were main objectives of the intervention?
• What were the main constraints in terms of the desired outcomes (e.g. women's economic empowerment, employment, peace consolidation, improved services delivery, etc)?
  
• Provide quantitative and qualitative data.

Description of the main results achieved through the intervention:

• How have the various interventions influenced the different stakeholders including the main beneficiaries? (i.e,.conduct a comparative analysis or achieved results);
• What type of beneficiaries benefited the most from the program and why? And oppositely what type beneficiaries did not benefit as much from the program and why? (discuss impact of the program on victims of gender based violence);
• What national and/or local institutional capacities have been strengthened? How?
• What civil society capacities have been strengthened? How?
• Has there been any unexpected result, either positive or negative?

Analysis of the implementation process:

• What contextual factors influenced the implementation of the strategy, both in positive and negative ways? Consider both internal and external factors.
• Which have been the main successes of the experience? Which factors have helped to succeed?
• Which have been the main challenges and difficulties encountered during implementation? Which measures have been taken to overcome them? How have these measures worked out? Have any of the challenges persisted? Why?
• Sustainability:
• What mechanisms and strategies have the programme designed to guarantee the continuity of activities and results beyond the life of the programme?
• Has the programme already secured any political and/or financial support to continue the initiated processes?
• Potential application and Lessons Learned:
• What are the potential applications of this practice beyond the original context? Are there potential applications nationally, regionally, etc.?
• What are the essential conditions necessary for replicating or scaling up the promising practices emerging from experience?
• Are there lessons learned that could be shared to inform similar initiatives in other contexts?
• Provide advice to future strategies, based on this experience and or/ insights that contribute to the global discourse on local development as it relates to the particular outcomes of the intervention(s).

 Timeframe:

The project will be conducted over a period of 2 months (about 25-30 working days).

Payment:

The payment will be made in an all-inclusive lump sum, broken down into 2 instalments contingent on successful completion and approval of the deliverables by their respective deadlines. The contract price is fixed regardless of changes in the cost components.

Reporting:

The consultant shall report to the Practice Manager of the Poverty Group in the Bureau for Development Policy and liaise with the Policy Analyst for any queries and assistance on a day-to-day basis. 

Compétences

Competencies:

•  Proven track record in  research and well-developed  data collection skills;  as well as experience in documentation of best practices and lessons learnt;
• Demonstrated strong technical and practical knowledge in poverty reduction, particularly as it relates to all areas of sustainable human development including local development, gender equality and women’s empowerment, and capacity building;
•  Strong familiarity with international development processes, programming and operations;
• High level of communication, interpersonal and presentational skills, with an extensive network of possible interviewees;
• Ability to work independently and manage competing priorities; and
• Respect for diversity and ability to work in a multicultural team.
  

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education:

• Advanced degree and research in social sciences, development, economics, governance or other related field (previous research and/or publication record in the subject is an asset).

Experience:

• A minimum of 8 years of professional experience with proven competence in any of the areas detailed in the scope of work;
• Experience in post-conflict/humanitarian and recovery contexts is an asset. 
• Proven track record in developing scalability studies of development projects, with UN experience a plus.

Language:

• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English, with competency in other UN language(s) an asset.

Application procedure:

Please submit a cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position and a brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the work (if applicable). Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.

Please include a relevant and very brief writing sample in addition to your CV (please include the sample with the CV as an attachment in the next page), or provide links to your samples. (mandatory).

Please specify the total all-inclusive lump sum amount in United States Dollars for the tasks specified in this announcement. Please note that this financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant/contractor during the contract period (e.g. fee, health insurance, vaccination and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services...) (mandatory).

Due to the large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process. Incomplete applications will not be considered.

Evaluation method:

Applicants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ technical qualifications (70%) and financial proposal (30%).

The scoring method for the technical qualifications will be as follows:

• Relevant educational background and work experience:30;
• Proven track record in conducting research and similar studies on scalability of development projects, including level of writing skills: 30;
• Strong familiarity with international development processes, programming and operations, including at UNDP: 10.

Only the highest ranked candidates will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

The contract will be awarded to the applicant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as: (1) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and (2) having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.