Background

Available evidence and the decisions adopted by Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) indicate that a significant gap remains in finance for biodiversity management, for countries to drastically scale up their efforts and achieve the 20 Aichi Targets defined in the CBD’s Strategic Plan for 2011-2020. A preliminary assessment recently conducted under the auspices of the High-level Panel on Global Assessment of Resources for Implementing the CBD Strategic Plan estimated that the global investment required ranges between 130 and 440 billion US$ annually. While useful, this and similar other global estimates are based on extrapolations sensitive to the underlying assumptions. To define biodiversity finance needs and gaps with greater precision and determine related challenges and opportunities for resource mobilisation, detailed national-level (bottom-up) assessments are therefore required.

In this context, UNDP in October 2012 launched the Biodiversity Finance Initiative – BIOFIN, as a new global partnership seeking to address the biodiversity finance challenge in a comprehensive manner – building a sound business case for increased investment in the management of ecosystems and biodiversity.

BIOFIN is managed by the UNDP Ecosystems and Biodiversity Programme, in partnership with the European Union and the Governments of Germany, Norway, Flemish and Switzerland, who support the initiative with a total of USD 29 million. As of September 2017, BIOFIN is implemented in 30 developing countries. BIOFIN is hosted by the Ecosystems and Biodiversity (EBD) cluster under the Sustainable Development Group of UNDP’s Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS), responsible for providing leadership and technical support to engineer delivery of the Environment and Sustainable Development pillar of UNDP’s Strategic Plan.

The overarching objective of BIOFIN is to deliver a new methodological framework, facilitating the identification, development and implementation of optimal and evidence-based finance plans and solutions. An updated version of the methodology is detailed in the 2016 BIOFIN Workbook available on the BIOFIN website www.biodiversityfinance.net.

Purpose of the Workshop:

The workshop will bring together approximately 200 participants including representatives from up to 30 BIOFIN member countries (government, experts and UNDP country offices), UNDP headquarters and regional offices, as well as, international thematic experts. The workshop has the following objectives:

• Develop capacities to scope, design and implement biodiversity finance solutions;
• Review opportunities to forge partnerships with the private sector;
• Enable South-South knowledge sharing on biodiversity finance concepts;
• Facilitate learning on the full BIOFIN Process and Methodology.

The BIOFIN Team is seeking a consultant who can help design and facilitate the Global Conference to be held in Chennai, India from 6th to 8th March 2018. Under the direct supervision of the BIOFIN Manager, the facilitator is required to ensure the successful preparation and facilitation of the above workshop. The consultant is expected to deliver innovative and participatory approaches to maximize the effectiveness of the meeting. 

Duties and Responsibilities

In particular, the duties include:

• Contribute to the overall design of the workshop methodology and agenda;
• Design the format of individual workshop sessions. Each session adequately prepared with a specific facilitation approach;
• Ensure the workshop is conducted in an interactive and participatory style;
• Facilitate participants’ sharing of experiences and identification of priorities;
• Facilitate concrete action planning;
• Collaborate with the Communication Specialist and the Knowledge Management and Monitoring and Evaluation Expert on the Workshop related products;
• Produce a post-workshop synopsis of the process of the workshop.

Outputs/Deliverables:

• Proposal for overall workshop design and methodology. Finalized agenda, including methodology and formats of individual workshop sessions and an outline for the workshop synopsis by 31st of January 2018;
• Workshop successfully facilitated in Chennai, India in line with the finalized agenda on 6 – 8 March 2018;
• Post-workshop synopsis produced by 30 April 2018.

Payment Schedule:

Payments will be made upon satisfactory completion and acceptance of the deliverables by the Supervisor as per below percentages:

• Proposal for overall workshop design and methodology. Finalized agenda, including methodology and formats of individual workshop sessions and an outline for the workshop synopsis by 31st of January 2018- 50%;
• Workshop successfully facilitated in Chennai, India in line with the finalized agenda on 6 – 8 March 2018- 40%
• Post-workshop synopsis produced by 30 April 2018 - 10%.

Working Arrangements:

• Estimated level of effort is 15 days;
• Preparatory work: home – based with access to email and skype;
• Workshop venue: Chennai, India with arrival at least one day before the event;
• Final report writing and Post-workshop synopsis delivered and follow-up to take place by email/Skype from home;
• The Consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment including background information of the workshop objectives, project methodology and other related materials;
• 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 reliable internet connection, as well as, provide her/his own facilitation materials;
• 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 timesheet and certification of payment form, and acceptance and confirmation by the Supervisor on days worked (with a “day” calculated as 8 hours of work) and outputs delivered.

Travel:

• Mission travel to Chennai, India will be required;
• Any necessary missions must be approved in advance and in writing by Supervisor;
• The Advanced and Basic Security in the Field II courses must be successfully completed prior to commencement of official travel;
• Individual Consultants 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 https://dss.un.org/dssweb/ ;
• Consultants are responsible for obtaining any visas and security clearances needed in connection with travel with the necessary support from UNDP;
• The consultant will be responsible for making his/her own mission travel arrangements in line with UNDP travel policies.
• Travel costs should be included in the financial proposal.
• The workshop organizers will provide:

1. Accommodation for 5 – 8 March 2018 (departure on 9 March 2018);
2. Breakfast, Lunch, coffee breaks and dinner 6 – 8 March 2018.

           These costs should not be included in the financial offer. 

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• 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 Competencies:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills, with analytic capacity and demonstrated ability to synthesize complex information in high quality papers/reports and in effective presentations to different audiences;
• Ability to develop and maintain partnerships/relationships, including with clients, focusing on results for the client/partner and responding positively to feedback;
• Technical knowledge to perform effectively in own specialty.

Professionalism:

• Capable of working in a high pressure environment with sharp and frequent deadlines, managing many tasks simultaneously;
• Excellent analytical and organizational skills;
• Exercise the highest level of responsibility and be able to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner.

Communication:

• Active listening and dialogue (acknowledges and responds constructively to the points of view of others).
• Excellent writing and verbal communication skills;
• Communicate effectively in writing to a varied and broad audience in a simple and concise manner.

Teamwork:

• Works well in a team to advance the priorities of BIOFIN and UNDP as a whole;
• Projects a positive image and is ready to take on a wide range of tasks;
• Focuses on results for the client;
• Welcomes constructive feedback;
• Good interpersonal and networking skills;
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relations;
• Supports and encourages open communication in the team, and facilitates team work. 

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in environment, development, social sciences and/or another relevant field (Max: 5 points);
• Certifications/Qualifications in workshop/conference facilitation, Training of Trainers etc would be an advantage (Max: 5 points).

Experience:

• At least 5 years of work experience related to environmental management, environmental finance, biodiversity or another related field (Max: 10 points);
• Proven experience in the preparation and facilitation of workshops/ meetings of culturally diverse groups for UNDP and/or other international, regional or bilateral organizations, preferably at the regional/and or global level and preferably on environmental, biodiversity, environmental finance or similar topics (Max: 20 points).
• Computer literacy for Microsoft Office Package or equivalent is an asset (Max: 5 points).

Languages:

• Fluency in English (Max: 3 points);
• Spanish fluency would be an advantage (Max: 2 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 technical criteria will be weighted at 70% and the financial offer will be weighted at 30%;
• The technical criteria (education, experience, languages [max 50 points], interview [max 30 points]), will be based on a maximum 80 points;
• Applicants scoring 31.5 points or higher from the review of the education, experience, languages will be considered for the interview;
• Applicants obtaining 24.5 points or higher in the interview will deemed technically qualified and 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 a lump sum fee, including breakdown per deliverable as outlined above. 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). Travel costs (except accommodation from 5 – 8 March 2018, and Breakfast, Lunch, coffee breaks, and dinner on 6 – 8 March 2018) should be included in the financial proposal.
• Applicant receiving the Highest Combined Score and 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-admin.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=41500