Background

UNDP’s Bangkok Regional Hub and AP-DEF have been developing the Development Finance Assessment (DFA), a tool to respond to the growing demand from countries in the region to establish evidence and analysis, and introduce policy and institutional reforms for managing the increasing complexity of domestic and international sources of finance for development. DFAs were introduced as the very first development finance studies of their kind, seeking to bring together fragmented approaches on the use of the different sources of funds that may not all be primarily dedicated to address development challenges.

The Development Finance and Effectiveness Team also covers work led under the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) as the institutional anchor of UNDP’s work on development cooperation, focusing on the comparative advantages of UNDP in strengthening country capacities to manage and coordinate development cooperation, with particular emphasis on strengthen peer-learning, South-South Cooperation and knowledge sharing as a tool for capacity development.

The Team also serves as Secretariat for the Asia Pacific Development Effectiveness Facility (AP-DEF), a country-led regional platform, chaired by the Government of Bangladesh, which supports countries to implement their national agendas on development finance and cooperation. The Facility is a platform for regional dialogue, cooperation, and sharing of country knowledge and experiences. It is responding to the growing demand from countries in Asia Pacific to establish evidence and analysis, and introduce policy and institutional reforms for managing the increasing complexity of domestic and international sources of finance for development.

To address these challenges and achieve sustainable development, countries will need to develop new, more effective and integrated approaches to managing public and private finance.  The Addis Ababa Action Agenda assumes that countries will use their own national development strategies and plans to respond to the SDGs and calls for the adoption of Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFFs).  These frameworks should provide a structure for governments to form and implement a strategic, holistic, results-driven approach to financing their development objectives. This approach should help countries set a strategy to effectively mobilise the investments they need, and provide a structure that supports coherence across government in channelling resources to the areas they are most suited.

The establishment of an INFF represents an ambitious long-term endeavour. While such frameworks do not exist so explicitly in most countries, many on-going initiatives and policy and institutional reforms in the areas of public finance and results-based management provide countries with a good starting basis to build upon. The Consultant will be engaged in assisting UNDP to provide guidance for countries on establishing and strengthening INFFs in Asia-Pacific region while also synthesizing lessons from countries undertaking the DFA. The Consultant will also be responsible for identifying lessons and areas for exchange, facilitating knowledge sharing and working with the UNDP team to track good practices and opportunities for South-South exchange and new areas of work for expanding the understanding and strengthening of INFFs.

UNDP is seeking to recruit a Policy Specialist (Consultant), Development Finance and Cooperation, to work full-time as a member of the Development Finance and Effectiveness Team within the Governance and Peacebuilding Cluster based in Bangkok. The Consultant will support the team with particular emphasis on policy analysis for the development of INFFs, country DFA implementation and AP-DEF activities and communications.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work

Under the overall supervision and guidance of the Governance, Climate Finance and Development Effectiveness Advisor in Bangkok Regional Hub, the Consultant will focus on the following:

Support on implementing Development Finance Assessments and Integrated Financing Solutions

• Coordinate and substantively guide the finalization of the DFA Methodology Guidance Note, including internal and external peer review and establishment of an Advisory Group.
• Coordinate, support and review at least 3 DFA inception, draft and final reports.
• Provide policy advice and capacity development support to governments and UNDP Country Offices in the Asia-Pacific region on implementing the DFA/Integrated Financing Solutions process and recommendations. This includes technical advice and quality assurance services on the DFA analysis as well as advisory services for government counterparts as requested.
• Develop conceptual and practical links between the DFA and Integrated Financing Solutions platform with recommendations for how to link these services within the context of the DFA Methodology.
• Support the development of the regional data hub based on lessons from DFAs and country experiences of establishing Integrated National Financing Frameworks
• Collect lessons learned from DFA process from country offices, government representatives and other stakeholders and propose knowledge management strategies for future DFAs across UNDP.
• Liaise with UNDP teams in HQ and other regional offices to ensure DFA experiences and processes benefit from Asia-Pacific experiences. 

Policy support on development finance and cooperation

• Using the conceptual framework of the INFF, identify policy priority areas in the Asia-Pacific region with specific attention to the strengthening of building blocks of Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFFs) through policy analysis and consideration of an index for measuring progress.
• Provide guidance and support to governments and UNDP Country Offices in the Asia-Pacific region on development finance issues, with specific focus on institutional strengthening and capacity development support on INFFs and financing solutions.
• Identification of opportunities for strengthening links between finance and results with specific attention to issues such as South-South and triangular cooperation, transparency, inclusive partnerships and mutual accountability.
• Support ongoing research and analysis on the global Financing for Development agenda and its relevance at regional and country level with specific focus on the INFF concept, and UNDP’s contribution to the FfD agenda.
• Support drafting and publication of knowledge products on the DFA including the updated DFA and Integrated Financing Solutions Brief, the INFF Country Experience Compendium, ASEAN regional report, collection of ASEAN DFAs and other briefs and topic areas to be identified.
• Contribute to global UNDP work to strengthen SDG implementation and financing strategies at country level, with specific attention to country monitoring of development effectiveness principles.  

Regional dialogue and knowledge sharing

• Support the AP-DEF Steering Committee by implementing communications strategy for relevant activities of the AP-DEF workplan.
• Facilitate and contribute substantively to regional dialogue and cross-country learning on the Financing for Development agenda and effective development cooperation.
• Support AP-DEF in identifying and disseminating best practices and lessons learnt on DFAs, INFFs, effective development cooperation, South-South and triangular cooperation, and links between finance and results.
• Support UNDP’s substantive contribution to the research agenda of the ASEAN Symposium on Financing the SDGs
• Support AP-DEF and UNDP regional dialogue and workshop events, including AP-DEF periodic regional consultations.

Expected Outputs, Deliverables and Timelines:

Institutional Arrangements:

 The Consultant will work under the supervision of the BRH’s Governance, Climate and Development Effectiveness Advisor.

Duration of the Work:

The duration of the assignment is from 16 July 2017 – 15 July 2018 (maximum 264 working days).

Duty Station:

The assignment will be based in Bangkok, Thailand with possibility to travel for mission.

Competencies

Competencies:

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrate integrity and ethical standards;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favouritism;
• Promote the vision, mission and strategic goal of UN

Functional Competencies:

• Effective team player, with good communication, diplomatic and inter-personal skills;
• Has ability to communicate clearly and present coherent and well-founded arguments;
• Demonstrates openness to change, responds positively to feedback and different point of view;
• Excellent communication skills including presentations, networking and interpersonal skills;
• Has ability to synthesize large amounts of information into succinct written reports;
• Proven experience in writing, editing and proof reading; Strong analytical skills.

Special skills requirements

• Proficiency of spoken and written English is required;
• Previous work on Development Finance Assessments in the Asia-Pacific region an advantage.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree in Development Studies, International Relations or the broad social sciences or other related disciplines.

 Experience:

• At least 5 years of work experience, with increasing independence, in an international organization;
• Knowledge of and experience of the Development Finance Assessment including proven knowledge of the process, methodology and quality assurance measures;
• Experience in producing and coordinating knowledge products with country and regional focus;
• Experience in providing technical and coordination support in the area of development finance at country level with a focus on policy and institutional reform an asset;
• Experience communicating with and facilitating discussion with senior government officials, development partners and civil society partners;
• Experience in designing exchanges among countries in the region and providing substantive support to discussions
• Substantive exposure to and understanding of regional policy dialogue on effective development cooperation;
• Strong analytical skills with a demonstrated track record in policy research, data analysis, and production of knowledge products;
• Strong communication skills, with proven experience in writing for international/multi-stakeholder audiences;
• Experience in the areas of managing development cooperation, South-South Cooperation, preferably at the country level in Asia-Pacific region;
• Knowledge and experience with UNDP is an asset.

 Language requirements:

• Proficiency in written and spoken English;
• Good working knowledge of another official UN language used in the region is an asset.

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments 

Consultant must send a financial proposal based on Daily Fee. Payments will be made monthly, upon approval of timesheet record and certification of number of days worked.

Consultant shall quote an all-inclusive Daily Fee for the contract period. The term “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, consumables, etc.) that could be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment are already factored into the daily fee submitted in the proposal. If applicable, travel or daily allowance cost (if any work is to be done outside the IC’s duty station) should be identified separately. Payments shall be done on a monthly basis based on actual days worked, upon verification of completion of deliverables and approval by the IC’s supervisor of a Time Sheet indicating the days worked in the period.

In general, UNDP shall not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC 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

Cumulative analysis

The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as a) responsive/compliant/acceptable; and b) 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 (Maximum 70 points)

• Criteria 1: Relevance of education – Max 15 points
• Criteria 2: 5 years of relevant work experience on development effectiveness, development finance, South-South cooperation– Max 20 Points
• Criteria 3: Experience contributing to country level analytics on development finance with a focus on policy and institutional reform– Max 20 points
• Criteria 4: Experience organizing multi-stakeholder regional consultations on development finance and cooperation in Asia-Pacific region– Max 15 points

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

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document:

• Duly accomplished Confirmation of Interest and Submission of Financial Proposal Template using the template provided by UNDP (Annex III);
• Personal CV or P11, 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.

Incomplete documents may not be considered.

The short-listed candidate may be called for a written exam and/or interview.

Annexes

• Annex I –TOR_ Policy Specialist - Development Finance and Cooperation
• Annex II - General Terms and Conditions
• Annex III – Offeror’s Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability for the Individual IC, including Financial Proposal Template

All documents can be downloaded at : http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=38421