Antecedentes

Those applicants who previously applied to this VA should revisit the UNDP Procurement notice site to review the TOR and revised procurement notice in order to decide whether to resubmit his/her application. If no resubmission is received, previous submission will be used for evaluation.

In 2012 the UNDP Administrator expanded the Charter of the Office of Audit and Investigations (OAI) to include the mandate to investigate UNDP’s compliance with its social and environmental commitments.  In 2013 OAI established the Social and Environmental Compliance Unit (SECU) to respond to complaints that UNDP may not be meeting its social and environmental commitments during the interim phase. The main purpose of the compliance review is to investigate alleged violations of UNDP’s social and environmental policies and procedures. In order to maximize UNDP accountability on social and environmental issues, the SECU collaborates closely with the Stakeholder Response Mechanism (SRM) that ensures individuals, groups, peoples, and communities affected by UNDP projects can raise project-related grievances to UNDP when necessary and receive a timely and appropriate UNDP response. 

As principal reference points for UNDP’s commitments, Social and Environmental Standards were issued in December 2014 to apply to all UNDP projects and programmes.  The application of Social and Environmental Standards across UNDP programming protects the values UNDP stands for and helps UNDP become a more effective organization.  The objectives of the Standards are to: (i) strengthen the social and environmental outcomes of UNDP projects; (ii) avoid adverse impacts to people and the environment affected by projects; (iii) minimize, mitigate, and manage adverse impacts where avoidance is not possible; (iv) strengthen UNDP and partner capacities for managing social and environmental risks; and (v) ensure full and effective stakeholder engagement, including through a mechanism to respond to complaints from project-affected people.

OAI seeks to engage in a Long Term Agreement (LTA) with a suitably skilled and experienced consultant to call upon as required from time to time to support OAI in matters relating to Social and Environmental Compliance of UNDP.

Deberes y responsabilidades

The consultant will support and, as tasked by the Lead Compliance Officer, lead the following activities:

  • Support the work of the Lead Compliance Officer for UNDP’s Compliance Mechanism;
  • Receive and review eligibility of claims;
  • Support and conduct investigations related to compliance with Social and Environmental policies;
  • Refer claims that are ineligible for compliance review to the appropriate window in the UNDP grievance mechanism;
  • Prepare training and outreach materials explaining the compliance review process both to UNDP staff and to potentially affected persons;
  • Provide advice about the Social and Environmental Compliance Unit to potential claimants;
  • Provide advice to OAI Management and UNDP staff about the application of UNDP Social and Environmental standards to UNDP projects;
  • Substantial research and writing assistance on compliance cases and policy development;
  • Support the development of investigation reports;
  • Support the preparation of responses to external stakeholders about SECU and its functions;
  • Support the preparation of outreach and communications materials about SECU and its functions;
  • Maintain the SECU roster of compliance experts;
  • Support the preparation of annual reports on SECU;
  • Support engagement with the Stakeholder Response Mechanism.

Institutional arrangement: 

The Consultant will be tasked by the Lead Compliance Officer, SECU.  All work products produced by the Consultant as a result of this engagement are owned by UNDP and shall be submitted to SECU. 

Deliverables:

  • Advisory notes to the Lead Compliance Officer and Management of OAI as requested;
  • Analysis of social and environmental commitments and their application to UNDP proposed and current projects;
  • Explanatory materials for internal and external audiences about the Social and Environmental Compliance Unit and its procedures;
  • Timeline and payment milestones will be determined in association with each task/deliverable.

Competencias

Communication:

  • The consultant should be able to communicate effectively in writing to a varied and broad audience in a simple and concise manner.

Professionalism:

  • The consultant should be capable of working in a high pressure environment with sharp and frequent deadlines, managing many tasks simultaneously;
  • Able to handle a large volume of data and reports accurately and thoroughly, with great attention to detail;
  • Exercise the highest level of responsibility and be able to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner.

Teamwork:

  • The consultant should work well in a team;
  • Projects a positive image and is ready to take on a wide range of tasks;
  • Focuses on results for the stakeholders; and welcomes constructive feedback.

Technical Skills:

  • The consultant should be able to draft and edit documents in word and excel in English; French and/or Spanish are assets;
  • Have excellent computer skills.

Knowledge Management and Learning:

  • The consultant should willingly share knowledge and experience and make contributions to UNDP practice areas (e.g., documented knowledge, community of practice building initiatives);
  • Actively develop substantive understanding and experience in one or more knowledge areas, including process and/or technical knowledge.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

  • An advanced degree (Masters, Doctorate, or Law) in environmental or international development related field is required.

Experience:

  • Ten (10) years of experience in implementing or evaluating social and environmental impact assessment practices and procedures within an international development context is required;
  • Expertise in the social and environmental safeguard policies of international institutions is required;
  • Expertise in the purpose, design and use of accountability mechanisms is required;
  • Experience in stakeholder engagement, including communities is required;
  • Knowledge of UNDP’s Programming and Operations Policies and Procedures, as well as the UNDP Social and Environmental Standards is desirable;
  • Excellent analytical and organizational skills are essential.

Languages:

  • Excellent communication skills in English, both written and oral, are required;
  • Working level of other UN languages is advantageous.

Application procedure:

This assignment is also advertised in UNDP Procurement Notice, where P11 and financial proposal templates are posted . The link is:

http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=25957

The interested applicants should submit the below required documents:

  • P11 in lieu of Curriculum vitae;
  • Financial proposal;
  • Cover letter.

Travel:

  • Travel may be required to conduct investigations;
  • As and when travel for business purposes is required, OAI will notify the consultant and agree upon reimbursable travel cost including ticket, lodging and terminal expenses as per UNDP Policy on individual consultant.

Criteria for Selection of the best offer:

The applicants are evaluated based on the Cumulative analysis.

  • Technical criteria weight: 70%:;
  • Step 1 - CV scoring;
  • Step 2 - Interview.

Financial criteria weight: 30%:

  • One candidate who scored the highest on cumulative score of technical and financial scores will be awarded LTA.