UNDP Jobs - 73261- Consultant for Mapping of South-South Cooperation

Consultant for Mapping of South-South Cooperation Mechanisms & Solutions in the Arab States, Europe and the CIS, Information Technologies and Online Communications

Location :

Home-based, TURKEY

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

19-Jul-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

estimated 01 August 2017 – 31 July 2020

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

up to 252 full working days

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

Type of Contract:
Individual Contract - The offered assignment will be implemented through individual contract designed as the framework agreement as the indicated services are needed on repetitive basis. The individual contract designed as the framework agreement does not form a financial obligation or commitment from the UNDP/UNOSSC at the time the Individual Contract is signed. Financial commitments will be established each time the services are requested within the scope of the Individual Contract, through the call-off in the standard one-page service request form accompanied by the issuance of a purchase order. For months when services are provided, consultant will deliver a timesheet and a delivery report. Payment will be released upon UNOSSC approval of these documents.

Duration of assignment:
estimated 01 August 2017 – 31 July 2020, up to 252 full working days, given that 8 working hours - whether within one or several days - constitute a full working day.

Mission travel:
The assignment envisages possible mission travel to Istanbul (Turkey), Cairo (Egypt), and possibly other geographic locations as needs may arise. Mission-related costs shall be calculated as per UNDP rules and regulations and paid for separately.

Considering the realistically ambitious development agendas of Arab States region and the Eastern Europe and CIS region as well as a highly competitive development assistance environment, South-South Cooperation (also sometimes referred to as East-East Cooperation) is considered as a complementary means in broadening opportunities for creating partnerships and coalitions among various development stakeholders in the two regions. It is in this context that triangular cooperation is gaining additional importance. Serving as a potential bridge between the North-South, South-South/East-East Cooperation systems, and building on the principles of South-South Cooperation, such as non-conditionality, national ownership, and equality, triangular cooperation provides all the actors involved with a unique opportunity for a transformational change in the ways that challenges are addressed in the regional development context.

In the Nairobi outcome document, Member States encourage Southern “centers of excellence, as well as regional and sub-regional economic groupings, to establish closer links among themselves, with the support of the Special Unit for South-South Cooperation (currently referred to as the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation - UNOSSC), including through its Global South-South Development Academy, Global South-South Development Expo and South-South Global Assets and Technology Exchange”. Similarly, at the seventeenth session of the High-level Committee in May 2012, the European Union acknowledged that the “UNOSSC had successfully created a space where United Nations actors, Member States, the private sector and non-governmental development actors can forge inclusive partnerships for effective development”. The Secretary-General in his report on the quadrennial review (A/67/93) also acknowledged that UNOSSC has “created a three-in-one multilateral South-South architecture to enable all stakeholders to forge inclusive South-South and triangular partnerships”.

On the basis of the above record of performance, the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation aims to systematically provide the Member States in the Arab region, and in the Eastern Europe and CIS, including the governments, civil society, academia and the private sector, as well as the United Nations agencies, funds and programmes active in the two regions with the support in advancing their respective South-South/East-East Cooperation agendas by providing access to the Global Three-in-One Multilateral Support architecture for South-South Cooperation. UNOSSC support is based on the complex of advisory modules in various aspects pertinent to the afore-mentioned Three-in-One architecture, as well as in piloting specific project initiatives on South-South Cooperation that can be used as a basis for testing such modules in specific areas of development.

More specifically, based on the mandate of the UNOSSC as the coordinator for promoting and facilitating South-South and triangular cooperation for development on a global and United Nations system-wide basis, it was suggested that UNOSSC comes up with the proposal on supporting South-South cooperation in the field of Agricultural Development. The resulting project initiative supported by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) aims to contribute to improved self-reliance of pilot rural communities in selected countries in Arab States, Europe and CIS, further improvements in cross-regional South-South cooperation for enhanced food security, to streamlining access to relevant knowledge and expertise, as well as to mainstreaming South-South Cooperation model and approaches in the national-level decision making processes where appropriate.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Chief, Division for Arab States, Eastern Europe and the CIS of the UN Office for South-South Cooperation, the incumbent is responsible for provision of technical & organizational consultancy services in area of information technologies, online communications, crowdsourcing, and mapping of South-South Cooperation mechanisms & solutions in the Arab States, Europe and the CIS. More specifically, the incumbent will:

As an overall guiding framework for the provision of expert services under the TOR and as a group of deliverables in itself:

With a view of ensuring relevance and responsiveness of services provided, regularly acquaint herself/himself with the standards, norms and principles of South-South/East-East Cooperation described in relevant guiding policy documents, including: Nairobi Outcome Document (http://ssc.undp.org/content/ssc/library/policy_papers/statements/nairobioutcomedoc.html), Strategic Framework of the United Nations Office for South-South Cooperation (http://ssc.undp.org/content/dam/ssc/documents/Key%20Policy%20Documents/N1362177.pdf), Recent decisions of the UN General Assembly’s High-level committee on South-South Cooperation, Framework of operational guidelines on United Nations support to South-South and triangular cooperation, Regional Strategic Approach on advancing South-South, East-East, and Triangular Cooperation for development in the Arab States, Eastern Europe and CIS;
In line with the range of overall priorities identified by the supervisor, as well as based on the requests from/consultations with relevant stakeholders vis-à-vis concrete tangible outputs expected as a result of provision of the incumbent’s services in line with the given TOR, proactively recommend identify gaps for improvements as well as concrete tangible deliverables on a quarterly basis and seek comments/endorsement from the supervisor in the form of request for services under the LTA subject to the supervisor’s decision on the relevance/efficiency of the proposed activities and other considerations;
Prepare (on months when services are requested under the LTA and delivered) concise one page service delivery reports outlining concrete tangible deliverables relevant to the overall priorities identified as well as key activities that have not yet led to concrete results but are essential for future success.

In the part of the TOR related to advisory & organizational services in mapping of South-South Cooperation mechanisms and solutions in the Arab States, Europe and the CIS:

Advise on maintaining functionality of the southsouthworld.org online platform for storing and mapping the centers of excellence; ensure proper uploading information on centers of excellence online with classification by sector across countries (Target deliverables: at least 100 entries on centers of excellence);
Provide expert assessment of the successful mechanisms and solutions received from government institutions, international organizations, civil society, private sector and globally recognized centers of excellence on and implement their storing and mapping (Target deliverable: 60 solutions documented per year);
Provide advisory support in implementing effective deepening of the online mapping platform to feature South-South Cooperation mechanisms and solutions in the Arab States, Europe and the CIS, including documenting successful solutions in the field of small-scale agricultural production in the framework of the IFAD-UNOSSC partnership initiative on South-South Cooperation in Agricultural Development for Enhanced Food Security (Target deliverable: 70 solutions documented per year);
Advisory support in creation of the web-extension of the MEVA application as part of the southsouthworld.org portal (Target deliverable: the web-extension is operationalized);
Support in collecting, reviewing, cleaning up and compiling all the SSTC-ADFS power point presentations to be placed in the online library with the contacts of presenters (translations to English to be provided where absent); Developing universal presentation template; Creating a segment within agro.southsouthworld.org and upload all the presentations thematically.

In the part of the TOR related to the provision of advisory & organizational services in information technologies, and online communications, media and advocacy:

Provide advisory services on IT , provide regular backup and maintenance services of the regional division’s website as part of the UNOSSC global portal and perform regular updates in consultation with the Advisor, Regional and Country-level Support for Europe and the CIS (Target deliverable: website in place, at least 60 recorded updates per year);
Advise on and develop design of cover page and layout, ensure quality graphics, produce final PDF documents for publications and reports produced by the division and jointly with national partners in Arab States, Europe and the CIS (Target deliverable: 30 final PDF documents);
Provide expert advice in division’s advocacy activities in line with activities and deliverables indicated in the division’s advocacy plan;
Advise on the division’s outreach to wider public through the use of social media tools including Facebook and Twitter (Target deliverable: 20,000 followers cumulative);
Support in ensuring online publication and dissemination through social media of quarterly online bulletin based on the proceedings of quarterly regional coordination and knowledge exchange workshops for government and institutional focal points on South-South/East-East Cooperation and highlighting key progress and achievements of the partner institutions reflected in quarterly reports (Target deliverable: 4 bulletins per year);
Consult on and ensure collection, maintenance, update of master contact lists of potential and existing partners for dissemination of mailings by areas of interest and engagement.

Provide advisory support on financial monitoring, procurement of services, knowledge management, and mobilization of volunteers.

Competencies

Professionalism – Shows pride in work and achievements; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results;
Teamwork – Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to establish and maintain effective partnerships and working relations in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity, including gender balance;
Communication - Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and respond appropriately; asks questions to clarify, and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; tailors language, tone, style and format to match the audience, demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed;
Client Orientation – considers all those to whom services are provided to be “clients” and seeks to see things from the clients’ point of view; establishes and maintains productive partnerships with clients by gaining their trust and respect; identified clients’ needs and matches them to appropriate solutions; keeps clients informed of progress or setbacks in projects; meets timeline for delivery of products or services to client;
Technological awareness – keeps abreast if available technology; understands applicability and limitations of technology to the work of the office; activity seeks to apply technology to appropriate tasks; shows willingness to learn new technology;
Organizational skills: Demonstrated ability to assess, plan, coordinate and monitor related activities.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

University degree (Bachelor or above) in information technologies, media, communications or another relevant field is essential.

Working experience:

Minimum of 1 year of experience in information technologies, media, online communications or administration.
Prior experience in the field of Media and Advocacy for South-South Cooperation with one of the United Nations institutions or another international organization, is a considerable asset;
Knowledge and experience in the use of standard office software (e.g. word processing, spreadsheets).

Languages:

Fluency in spoken and written English.

Evaluation of Applicants:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal.
The award of the contract should 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 a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Only candidates who would be scored min 70% of total Criteria A and B will be considered for evaluation by Criteria C
Only the highest ranked candidates who would be found qualified for the job will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max. 35 points:

Criteria A: number of years and quality of working experience in the field of information technologies, media, online communications or administration – max points: 10;
Criteria B: type and quality of working experience in the field of Media and Advocacy for South-South Cooperation, preferably with one of the UN organizations, or other international organization – max points: 10;
Criteria C: quality of the technical proposal on the vision of a candidate on the role of media, online communication, and online tools in advocating for South-South Cooperation – max points: 15.

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max. 15 points

Application procedures:
Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via this website. The application should contain:

Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.
Filled P11 form including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees (blank form can be downloaded from http://europeandcis.undp.org/files/hrforms/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc ); please upload the P11 instead of your CV.
Technical proposal on performing the offered assignment, consisting description of your vision on the role of media, online for communication, and online tools in advocating for South-South Cooperation.
Financial Proposal* - The financial proposal shall indicate the hourly fee in the US Dollar equivalent.
Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials

Special Notes:

The financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the individual contractor during the contract period (e.g. fee, health insurance, vaccination and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services...) except for the costs related to the mission travel. Mission-related costs, if any, shall be calculated as per UNDP rules and regulations and paid for separately as mentioned above.

Payments will be made only upon confirmation of UNOSSC on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner.

Individual Contract holders are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org

General Terms and conditions as well as other related documents can be found under: http://on.undp.org/t7fJs.