Background

Based in UNDP’s Bureau for Policy and Programme Support, Sustainable development Cluster, the UNDP-Global Environmental Finance Unit (UNDP – GEF Unit) has as objective to help countries achieve the simultaneous eradication of poverty and significant reduction of inequalities and exclusion by assisting Country Offices in accessing environmental finance for sustainable development. UNDP is an accredited implementing entity for the following environmental vertical funds: (i) the funds managed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF): the Global Environment Facility Trust Fund (GEF TF), the Nagoya Protocol Implementation Fund (NPIF), the Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), and the Special Climate Change Fund (SCCF); (ii) the Adaptation Fund (AF); and (iii) the Green Climate Fund (GCF). As an Implementing Agency for these funds, UNDP offers countries highly specialized technical services for eligibly assessment, programme/project formulation, due diligence, mobilization of required co-financing, project implementation oversight, results management and evaluation, performance-based payments and knowledge management.

The UNDP – GEF Unit is organized into five substantive technical teams including the Ecosystems and Biodiversity (EBD) team, which is headed by the Senior Technical Adviser (STA) and comprises Regional Technical Advisers (RTAs) based at the four regional hubs. UNDP’s work in EBD is guided by the Ecosystems and Biodiversity Framework (2012-2020) and has as an overall strategic objective to maintain and enhance the goods and services provided by biodiversity and ecosystems in order to secure livelihoods, food, water and health, enhance resilience, conserve threatened species and their habitats, and increase carbon storage and sequestration. The value of all UNDP-managed EBD projects currently in planning or under implementation is US$6.7 billion (including $ 5.1 billion in co-financing from national governments and other partners), supporting around 400 projects in over 130 countries to access GEF  and other vertical funds’ grant finance for biodiversity conservation, combating Land Degradation, Sustainable Forest Management, and ecosystem based mitigation and adaptation to combine this with domestic and bilateral sources of finance.  The EBD portfolio also a range of global initiatives such as the NBSAP Forum (http://nbsapforum.net ), the BIOFIN initiative, www.biodiversityfinance.net, and the BES-Net Web Portal.

Through this project portfolio UNDP provides support to countries’ work in three programming areas: (i) Integrating biodiversity and ecosystem management into development planning and production sector activities; (ii) Unlocking the potential of protected areas, including indigenous and community conserved areas to contribute towards sustainable development; and (iii) Managing and rehabilitating ecosystems for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

UNDP would like to engage a portfolio management support consultant to carry out a number of tasks supporting the global work of the EBD team, linking this with the portfolio of UNDP-supported GEF-financed national projects, as described within this TOR.

Duties and Responsibilities

The portfolio management support consultant will provide support to the EBD Team on portfolio management including monitoring and evaluation, communications, knowledge management, and maintaining partner relationships.

Scope of work:

1. Portfolio Management & Resource Mobilization

• Support the STA with the identification and development of project ideas for entry to the UNDP-GEF pipeline within the overall strategic priorities identified by the countries, UNDP, the Regional Service Center(s) ( RSCs) and in line with the global strategic priorities articulated by GEF and other donors;
• Support the STA with management and implementation of global DIM projects;
• Assist with the generation and maintenance of project and portfolio information system;
• Assist with provision of timely quality information and technical advice on GEF policies and activities to country offices, executing agencies, governments and other partners to enable the delivery of a portfolio of UNDP-GEF EBD projects;
• Assist with quality assurance of project proposals and project preparation grant funding initiation plans;
• Support identification and sourcing of technical expertise and support including assisting with the preparation of Terms of Reference (TORs), identification and evaluation of experts and drafting/reviewing reports;
• Support the STA with supervision, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, troubleshooting, and adaptive management of approved GEF projects;
• Support the STA in organizing global and regional meetings and training sessions.

2. Knowledge management, data, and communications

• Review of project mid-term review and terminal evaluation reports to feed into thematic review of EBD project results in the field of protected area system strengthening and other fields and support development of knowledge management products from thematic reviews;
• Support the STA and communications team on communications work, e.g. drafting press releases, conducting research for op-ed, preparing UNDP Management tweets, blogs and video messages, text and photos for UNDP website, photo essays, etc.;
• Support the Global Ecosystems and Biodiversity Team in drafting speeches and briefing notes, and create Power Point presentations on the team’s work and lessons learnt from the portfolio to support a variety of meetings and workshops;
• Support EBD team to populate, maintain and moderate content on the NBSAP Forum and BES-Net websites, drawing upon UNDP’s GEF portfolio, also to share updates on relevant parts of the portfolio with the BIOFIN team.

3. Support to EBD team on key external partnerships

• Support UNDP in providing input on our work to relevant partners including secretariats of IPBES, CBD, UNFCCC, UNCCD and other Multilateral Environmental Agreements;
• Support UNDP’s participation in conferences and meetings of key partners including participation in high level events and bilateral meetings by senior management and in hosting and participating in side events;
• Support UNDP’s participation in the Biodiversity group led by the CBD secretariat making inputs to the Technical Support Team on Sustainable Development Goals and the emerging post-2015 development agenda;
• Support EBD STA on team liaison with the GEF secretariat and implementing agencies, including assisting with the provision of timely quality information and technical advice on GEF policies and activities to country offices, executing agencies, governments and other partners.

Anticipated Key Deliverables (year 1):

• Protected Area Thematic Learning Report and associated knowledge management products by September 2018;
• At least 60 review reports of mid-term review and terminal evaluation reports under GEF-3, 4 and 5 by September 2018;
• At least 5 PPG Initiation and Project Document Review Reports by September 2018;
• At least 30 press releases, research briefs, text for tweets, blogs and video messages, text and photos for websites and/or photo essays by September 2018;
• At least 5 draft speeches and briefing notes, Power Point presentations by September 2018;
• Global EBD business planning meeting successfully conducted by April 2018.

Information on Working Arrangements:

• Estimated level of effort including travel days: 200 days per year;
• The initial contract would be for one year with an option for renewal in the subsequent year dependent on demand for services and satisfactory performance evaluation;
• The consultant will work from home with limited mission travel;
• The consultant will report to, and be directly supervised by the EBD Senior Technical Advisor in consultation with the Global Results and Knowledge Specialist;

• The Consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for the execution of the tasks under this assignment;
• The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own working station (i.e. laptop, internet, phone, scanner/printer, etc.) and must have access to a reliable internet connection;
• Given the global consultations to be undertaken during this assignment, the consultant is expected to be reasonably flexible with his/her availability for such consultations taking into consideration different time zones;
• Payments will be made upon submission of a detailed time sheet and certification of payment form, and acceptance and confirmation by the Senior Technical Advisor Ecosystems and Biodiversity on days worked (with a “day” calculated as 8 hours of work) and outputs delivered.

Travel:

• International travel may be required to attend the Conference of the Parties of the Rio Conventions, EBD Business Planning meeting etc., which in total will not exceed three weeks’ travel in a 12-month period;
• Any necessary missions must be approved in advance and in writing by the STA EBD;
• The Advance and Basic Security in the Field II courses must be successfully completed prior to commencement of travel;
• The consultant is responsible for ensuring that s/he has the necessary vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director;
• The consultant is responsible for obtaining any visas needed in connection with travel with the necessary support from UNDP;
• Consultants are required to comply with the UN security directives, set forth under https://dss.un.org/dssweb/;  
• The consultant will be responsible for making his/her own mission travel arrangements in line with UNDP travel policies; 
• All related travel expenses will be supported by the project travel fund and will be reimbursed as per UNDP rules and regulations upon submission of an F-10 claim form and supporting documents.  Costs for airfares, terminal expenses, and living allowances should not be included in financial proposal.

Competencies

Corporate:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling 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;
• Treats all people fairly without favouritism.

Technical:

• Good computer skills, including use of Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint;
• Experience in handling data;
• Experience in working with social media, e.g. Facebook, Twitter.

Professionalism:

• Works toward creative solutions by analysing problems carefully and logically;
• Has a dynamic, positive and adaptive attitude towards work-related challenges;
• Facilitates discussions and meetings effectively and efficiently;
• Resolves conflicts as they arise;

• Sets priorities, produces quality outputs, meets deadlines and manages time efficiently;
• Highly organized, detailed oriented.

Communication:

• Writes and presents clearly and convincingly.

Client Orientation:

• Maintains strong relationships with partners and clients.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master´s degree in environmental management, biology, economics, social/political sciences, international relations, development studies, economics, administration & management or other related expertise areas would be a plus (max 10 points).

Experience:

• At least 5 years of relevant professional experience including:

       - At least 2 years of professional experience in portfolio and programme evaluation including gathering of evidence from various information sources, analysis and synthesis of data and preparing reports (max 10 points);

       - At least 2 years of professional experience in project/portfolio management, communications, knowledge management, content development, maintaining partner relationships, and data tracking (max 10 points);

• Experience in conducting research, summarizing material, and preparing draft inputs to written/oral communications pieces (max 5 points);
• Previous experience with UNDP or a related organization is an advantage (max 5 points);
• Previous experience with GEF funded projects is an advantage (max 5 points);
• Computer literacy, including MS Office, Internet (max 5 points).

Language requirements:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English language (max 5 points).

Evaluation method:

• Only those applications which are responsive and compliant will be evaluated;
• Offers will be evaluated according to the Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications will be weighted at 70% and the financial offer will be weighted at 30%;
• The technical criteria (education, experience, language [max 55 points] and interview [max 45 points]) will be based on a maximum 100 points. Only the top 3 candidates scoring 38,5 points or higher from the review of the education, experience, language criteria will be considered for the interview;
• Applicants obtaining 31,5 points or higher from the interview will be deemed technically qualified considered for financial evaluation;
• Financial score (max 100 points) shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal of those technically qualified;
• The financial proposal shall specify an all-inclusive daily fee.  In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal must additionally include a breakdown of this daily fee (including all foreseeable expenses to carry out the assignment);
• The applicant receiving the Highest Combined Score and who has accepted UNDP’s General Terms and Conditions will be awarded the contract. 

Documentation to be submitted:

Kindly note you can upload only one document to this application (scan all documents in one single PDF file to attach).  Incomplete applications will not be considered.

• Applicants must submit a duly completed and signed UNDP Personal History form (P11).
• Applicants must reply to the mandatory questions asked by the system when submitting the application.
• Applicants must submit a duly completed and signed Annex II Offeror´s letter to UNDP confirming interest and availability for the Individual Contractor (IC) assignment to be downloaded from the UNDP procurement site;

General Conditions of Contract for the ICs:
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf

UNDP Personal History form (P11) required of all applicants:
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/Careers/P11_Personal_history_form.doc

Annex II Offeror´s letter to UNDP confirming interest and availability for the Individual Contractor (IC) assignment:

http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=41355