Background

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN’s global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. We are on the ground in 170 countries and territories, working with governments and people on their own solutions to global and national development challenges to help empower lives and build resilient nations.

UNDP’s HIV, Health and Development Approach

UNDP is a founding co-sponsor of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), a partner of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and a co-sponsor of several other international health partnerships. UNDP’s work on HIV, health and development leverages UNDP’s core strengths and mandates in human development, governance and capacity development to complement the efforts of specialist health-focused UN agencies. UNDP delivers three types of support to countries in HIV, health and development.

First, UNDP works with partners to address the interactions between governance, human rights and health responses. Sometimes this is done through focused or specialized programmes, such as promoting attention to the role of the human rights, law and legal environments in facilitating stronger HIV responses, including the use of flexibilities in intellectual property and human rights law to lower the cost of drugs and diagnostics and to increase access to HIV-related treatment. UNDP also works to empower and include marginalized populations who are disproportionately affected by HIV, such as sex workers, men who have sex with men and people living with HIV; this includes increasing access to justice for these populations. Beyond these focused efforts, UNDP plays a key role in ensuring attention to HIV and health within broader governance and rights initiatives, including support to district and municipal action on MDGs, strengthening of national human rights institutions and increasing access to justice for marginalized populations.

Second, UNDP helps countries to mainstream attention to HIV and health into action on gender, poverty and the broader effort to achieve and sustain the Millennium Development Goals. For example, UNDP works with countries to understand the social and economic factors that play a crucial role in driving health and disease, and to respond to such dynamics with appropriate policies and programmes outside the health sector. UNDP also promotes specific action on the needs and rights of women and girls as they relate to HIV.

Third, as a trusted, long-term partner with extensive operational experience, UNDP supports countries in effective implementation of complex, multilateral and multi-sectoral health projects, while simultaneously investing in capacity development so that national and local partners can assume these responsibilities over time. The UNDP/Global Fund partnership is an important part of this work, facilitating access to resources for action on MDG 6 by countries that face constraints in directly receiving and managing such funding. UNDP partners with countries in crisis/post-crisis situations, those with weak institutional capacity or governance challenges, and countries under sanctions. When requested, UNDP acts as temporary Principal Recipient in these settings, working with national partners and the Global Fund to improve management, implementation and oversight of Global Fund grants, while simultaneously developing national capacity to be able to assume the Principal Recipient role over time.

Access and delivery of new health technologies for TB, malaria and neglected tropical diseases

The majority of deaths caused by infectious disease are of poor people living in low and middle income countries with many occurring in children under five. HIV, malaria, tuberculosis (TB) and other epidemics continue to devastate communities throughout the developing world. The prevalence of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), endemic in 149 countries, also remains high.

As part of its work on accelerating progress on the MDGs, UNDP is committed to working with partners to achieve the health related MDGs including MDG 8.E specifically aimed to address the sector gap in research and development (R&D) funding for new global health technologies for global diseases and their availability: “in cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in developing countries.”

The Access and Delivery Partnership (ADP) is a five-year (2013-2018) project that aims to help LMICs enhance their capacity to access and introduce new health technologies for TB, malaria and NTDs. New health technologies are broadly defined as drugs, diagnostic tools and vaccines that are relevant for the prevention, treatment or cure of TB, malaria and NTDs, but are not yet available for market introduction or have not been introduced in LMICs. The introduction of new health technologies can place a weighty burden on existing health systems. These burdens may include new requirements for drug regulation, supply and distribution, and health personnel training. Accordingly, the Access and Delivery Partnership will focus on building capacity of LMIC stakeholders to enable the development of the systems and processes required to effectively access new health technologies, and introduce them to populations in need. Led and coordinated by UNDP, the ADP is a unique collaboration among UNDP, the Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases at the World Health Organization (WHO/TDR) and PATH. Working together, the partners will leverage the expertise within each organization to provide the full range of technical skills necessary to strengthen capacity in LMICs.

Duties and Responsibilities

Consultant - Programme Support for the Access and Delivery Partnership

The objective of the consultancy is the provision of substantive technical and coordination support to the ADP within the HIV, Health and Development Group. Under the supervision of the Programme Advisor of the ADP, based in Bangkok, the Consultant will undertake the following tasks:

• Support project management of the ADP, by maintaining regular communications with ADP project partners, relevant UNDP Country Offices and regional program teams, for updates on country implementation workplans, budgets, activities and relevant reporting requirements;
• Assist in the convening of periodic partners meetings, the annual ADP Advisory Group meeting and capacity building activities in target countries, through technical and organizational support, including the preparation of meeting/workshop concept notes, materials and press kits, logistical coordination;
• Prepare memos, meeting minutes and presentations, and contribute to the preparation and development of knowledge products, through background research and technical editing; and
• Any other assignment as requested by and mutually agreed with the HIV, Health and Development Group.

Specific Deliverables:

• Implementation workplans and budgets for ADP target countries prepared and updated;
• Relevant contributions to annual progress report prepared;
• Periodic partners meetings successful convened;
• Annual Advisory Group meeting successfully convened;
• Two (2) capacity building activities in target countries successfully organized;
• Two (2) knowledge products (policy papers/briefs) on access and delivery of new health technologies for TB, malaria and NTDs finalized and disseminated; and
• Relevant memos, meeting minutes and presentations prepared.

Reporting:

At the start of the assignment, the Consultant will agree on a workplan, detailing the expected deliverables and timelines, against which the Consultant and the Programme Advisor of the ADP will conduct a monthly evaluation on the progress in undertaking tasks and meeting the specific deliverables.

Institutional Arrangement:

In line with the project management and coordination needs of the ADP, the Consultant will be required to liaise and communicate with ADP project partners – WHO/TDR and PATH – as well as the relevant UNDP Country Offices and regional program teams. The costs of such communication will be covered by UNDP.

Duration of the Work:

The expected duration of the assignment is from 15 October 2014 to 15 May 2015 during which the Consultant is expected to work approximately 20 days per calendar month.

Duty Station:

The duty station is Bangkok, Thailand. During the period of the assignment, the Consultant will be required to be present at the UNDP APRC office for a minimum of three (3) days per week. The Consultant will be provided with an office space, connection to the internet and a security/building pass. The Consultant will be expected to have his/her own laptop.

No travel is expected for this consultancy. In the case of additional and unforeseeable travel, payments of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UNDP HHD Team and the Consultant, prior to travel and will be covered and reimbursed by UNDP. The fare will always be most economical and any difference in price with the preferred route will be paid for by the expert.

UNDP will not cover any costs associated with moving to the duty station. If applicant is requesting for such coverage the cost to be calculated and included in the financial proposal.

Competencies

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills;
• Strong analytical, reporting, research and writing abilities skills;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Ability to plan, organize, implement and report on work;
• Ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines;
• Proficiency in the use of office IT applications and internet in conducting research;
• Outstanding communication, project management and organizational skills;
• Excellent presentation and facilitation skills.
• Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
• Positive, constructive attitude to work;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Required Skills and Experience

Educational Qualifcation:

• An advanced degree (Master’s Level) in social science, development, public health, law or a related field.

Professional Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years of work experience in public health or development, preferably with experience of project management at both national and international levels;
• Experience and knowledge of UN and/or UNDP procedures and program implementation an advantage;
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages, experience in handling of web based management.

Languages:

• Fluency of the English language is a requirement; both written and spoken;
• Knowledge of a UN language is an asset.

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

The Consultant must send a financial proposal based on a Daily Fee basis. The Consultant shall quote an all-inclusive daily fee for the contract period. The term “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, consumables, etc.) that could be incurred by the Consultant in completing the assignment are already factored into the daily fee submitted in the proposal.

Payments shall be done on a monthly basis based on actual days worked, upon verification of achievement of monthly outputs, as specified in the workplan, and approval by the Consultant’s supervisor of a Time Sheet indicating the days worked in the period. The final monthly payment will be made when all deliverables outlined in workplan are fully completed with acceptance of quality by UNDP.

If applicable, travel or daily allowance cost (if any work is to be done outside the IC’s duty station) should be identified separately. In general, UNDP shall not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the Consultant wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources. In the event of unforeseeable travel not anticipated in this TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and the Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Evaluation Method and Criteria:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis

The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of set of weighted technical criteria (70%). and financial criteria (30%). Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment.

Technical Criteria for Evaluation 70%  (Maximum 100 points):

• Criteria 1. Experience in relevant key areas (project management and coordination) - Max.20 points;
• Criteria 2. Experience in area of specialization (public health, access to medicines and health technologies) - Max.20 points;
• Criteria 3. Writing and research skills - Max.20 Points;
• Criteria 4. Knowledge of UN and/or UNDP procedures - Max.20 Points;
• Criteria 5. Qualification in terms of education - Max.10 points;
• Criteria 6. Availability - Max.10 points.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Documentation required

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document:

• Financial proposal, indicating all-inclusive daily professional fee in USD;
• Personal CV or P.11, 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;
• Technical proposal, describing the candidate’s relevant previous experience, knowledge and skills in accordance to the listed criteria, and should be no more than five (5) pages long (or not more than 2000 words). In addition, please provide attach two (2) writing samples, which may be journal articles, technical reports or studies, or related documents. The samples should not be more than 5000 words in length each.

 Incomplete proposals may not be considered.

 Annex - Individual IC General Terms and Conditions

For any clarification regarding this assignment please write to: rcb.procurement.th@undp.org.