UNDP Jobs - 54380- Consultant to Support UNDP’s Work on Intellectual

Consultant to Support UNDP’s Work on Intellectual Property, Innovation and Access to Treatment

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

23-Mar-2015

Application Deadline :

09-Mar-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

200 working days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

23 March 2015 – 15 February 2016

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.

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.

The Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has the responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. BPPS’s staff provides technical advice to Country Offices; advocates for UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government and civil society dialogues, South-South and Triangular cooperation initiatives, and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas. BPPS works closely with UNDP’s Crisis Response Unit (CRU) to support emergency and crisis response. BPPS ensures that issues of risk are fully integrated into UNDP’s development programmes. BPPS assists UNDP and partners to achieve higher quality development results through an integrated approach that links results based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working. BPPS supports UNDP and partners to be more innovative, knowledge and data driven including in its programme support efforts.

BPPS supports UNDP’s 2014-2017 Strategic Plan, focusing on 7 outcomes including strengthening institutions to progressively deliver universal access to basic services (outcome 3). The HIV Health and Sustainable development team, within BPPS, is helping to contribute towards this outcome.

HIV, Health and Development Approach

UNDP is a founding cosponsor of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), a partner of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and a co-sponsor of several other international health partnerships. UNDP’s work on HIV, health and development leverages the organization’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 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.

Second, 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 legal environments (law and access to justice) 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 people living with HIV and marginalized populations who are disproportionately affected by HIV - also known as key populations - such as sex workers, men who have sex with men, transgender people. 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.

Third, as a trusted, long-term partner with extensive operational experience, UNDP supports countries in effective implementation of complex, multilateral and multisectoral 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 interim 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 for governments or local entities 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.

Objective

Increasing access to affordable treatment for HIV and related co-infections in low and middle income countries remains a key aspect of UNDP’s work under the UNAIDS Unified Budget and Accountability Framework (UBRAF). The cost of treatment is often affected by intellectual property laws and policies. They are part of the complex set of factors that influence access at national, regional and international levels. As a founding co-sponsor of UNAIDS , guided by the health-related MDGs, particularly MDG 6; “to halt and reverse the spread and HIV, Malaria and other epidemics by 2015”, UNDP is mandated to provide support to governments in their implementation of policies and programs that protect the human rights of people affected by HIV. Under this assignment, contributing to both to UBRAF and UNDP’s ADP objectives, the consultant will assist with activities to, upon request:

Provide policy and technical co-operation to assist countries to incorporate laws and policies that can be used to facilitate treatment access while in compliance with their international obligations; and
Undertake capacity development assistance to national legislators, government offices and civil society actors on matter related to trade, innovation and public health.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the Policy Advisor, HIV, Health and Development Team, the Consultant will be responsible for:

Supporting the work of the Advisor on Human Rights, Law & Access to Treatment in designing and implementing national capacity development trainings on access to treatment in LMICs;
Responding to government and civil society requests to provide technical support into draft laws, to ensure that public health concerns are adequately incorporated;
Supporting the UNDP HIV, Health and Development Team (including the ADP) by preparing background and concept papers, presentations, analyses and reports on the intersection between trade related laws and treatment access in low and middle income countries, including as it relates to the findings and recommendations of the Global Commission on HIV and the law;
Supporting requests for policy and technical support from UNDP country and Regional offices;
Undertaking related activities on treatment access, innovation and south-south co-operation as required by the HIV, Health and Development Team of UNDP; and
Providing substantive technical and programme support relating to UNDP’s activities within the ADP.

Specific Deliverables:

The following specific activities still have to be undertaken:

Based on preliminary analysis within UNDP HIV, Health and Development Team on policy coherence and South-South cooperation on intellectual property law and policy making, assist in the planning and delivery of a capacity building seminar in the African region;
In conjunction with UNDP staff and consultants, assist in the organization of activities to implement UNDP’s partnership project on Access and Delivery of New Health Technologies;
Drawing on existing UNDP materials, support the design and implementation of a capacity building activity to promote the use of competition law to promote access to health technologies;
Support the finalization and dissemination of two publications on price and regulatory status of HIV treatments in priority regions;
Provide technical support in the organizing of national and regional capacity development seminars on intellectual property, public health in select African countries, under the ADP;
Provide technical support in the organizing of national capacity development seminars on intellectual property, public health in select middle-income countries, as required; and
Any other activities as required by the HIV, Health and Development Team.

Expected Outputs:

The completion of a capacity building seminar on policy coherence and South-South cooperation on intellectual property law and policy making in the Africa region. Expected deadline: 31 April 2015.
The completion of one training for parliamentarians in an African country on law reform to optimize treatment access. Expected deadline: 30 June 2015.
The completion of a training for use of competition law to promote access to health technologies in select LMICs. Expected deadline: 30 September 2015.
The completion of two (2) capacity development seminars on treatment access and public health in a select LMICs. Expected deadline: 31 December 2015.
The completion of a knowledge product (policy paper/brief) on access and delivery of new health technologies for TB, malaria and NTDs finalized and disseminated. Expected deadline: 15 January 2016.
The completion of two (2) publications on the price and regulatory status of key treatments for HIV in two (2) regions. Deadline: 31 January 2016.
The production of relevant advice and research on access to treatment, for HIV and co-infections, innovation and enabling legal environments as required. Expected deadline: Ongoing.

Reporting:

The consultant will regularly evaluate progress in meeting the set targets with the Policy Advisor, Human Rights, Law & Access to Treatment.

Travel:

No travel is anticipated under this consultancy. In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Timeframe:

The consultant’s assignment is office-based (UNDP HQ NY) and is expected to last 200 days, completed over the period from 23 March 2015 – 15 February 2016.

Evaluation:

Applicants will be screened against qualifications and competencies specified below through a desk review or an interview process. Applicants will be evaluated based on: Cumulative analysis method that combines the results of technical and financial evaluation results.

Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.
Technical Criteria weight: 70 points
Financial Criteria weight: 30 points

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

Criteria for technical evaluation (70 points maximum):

An advanced degree in human rights, public health, intellectual property, international law, international affairs or a related degree (maximum points: 20)
Minimum of 5 years of relevant work experience in the area of HIV, public health, human rights, international affairs or a related field (maximum points:30)
A demonstrated knowledge of HIV, access to treatment, public health, international law as evidenced by a publications record (maximum points:10)
Strong writing and editorial skills, as evidenced by a writing sample (maximum points:10)

Criteria for financial evaluation (30 points maximum):

The following formula will be used to evaluate 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

Payment:

Payment will be certified through the Certificate of Payment (COP) and timesheet, certified by the direct supervisor. The rate will be based on the all-inclusive daily rate.

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, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:

Strong analytical, negotiation and communication skills, including
Ability to produce high quality practical advisory reports and knowledge products;
Excellent writing, research, analysis and presentation skills.

Project and Resource Management

Ability to produce high quality outputs in a timely manner while understanding and anticipating the evolving client needs.
Strong organizational skills.
Ability to work independently, produce high quality outputs.

Communications and Advocacy

Strong ability to write clearly and convincingly, adapting style and content to different audiences and speak clearly and convincingly.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

An advanced degree in international trade law, intellectual property law, international affairs, public health law and a knowledge of at least one of the other substantive areas.

Experience:

A minimum of 5 years relevant work experience in the area of HIV, treatment access, international trade and international law or a related field;
Relevant experience strengthening the capacity of civil society or government officials on access to treatment would be highly advantageous;
Professional and/or academic experience in one or more of the areas of the access to treatment;
Work experience from a developing country highly desirable;
Knowledge of UN and/or UNDP procedures, grant applications and program implementation is highly desirable.

Language Requirement:

Fluency in English (spoken and written) is essential;
Fluency in Spanish and/or French would be an added advantage.