Background
Bangladesh was a global leader in the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and shaping the discourse for the Post 2015 development, resilience, urban poverty reduction and social protection agendas. In the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) era, UNDP Bangladesh looks to continue to act on its portfolio of programs to achieve the national objectives of Bangladesh and eliminate poverty. It has originated many of the most exciting and innovative solutions to development challenges. UNDP Bangladesh’s mission is to help create open and inclusive civic spaces, within which the government and people are empowered to realize national development goals and fully engage in global sustainable development efforts.
UNDP Bangladesh is supporting the Government to find innovative solutions to its development challenges based on the new Country Programme Document, which began in 2017.
The Social Security Policy Support (SSPS) Programme, through expert, evidence-based support, is working with the government to reconfigure the current social security system so that economic growth is achieved in a more inclusive manner, with economic opportunities reaching the rural and urban poor and the protection of vulnerable groups against shocks. The programme will help the government in two areas namely governance of social protection and strengthening of systems. The programme is tied to a sister project, Strengthening Women's Ability for Productive New Opportunities (SWAPNO), which will be undertaking an advanced e-payment study with programme participants, with the intent to drive knowledge on strengthening G2P, as mandated by the National Social Security Strategy (NSSS).
SSPS has been awarded a grant by the iData Studio in Bangkok and the Innovation Facility in New York to carry out a quasi-RCT research study on digital financial services. All the tools and methods, including research design, surveys, interviews, collection methods, data analysis framework, and reporting will need to be developed and implemented. Findings will need to be synthesized into formal presentations for a range of stakeholders. These tools will be developed by the Lead Researcher on the study.
A total of 1296 beneficiaries within the SWAPNO project will be broken into 2 groups of 648 between bKash and Dutch Bangla Bank Limited’s (DBBL) Rocket services. Further, each group of 648 will be subdivided into groups of 324 where 1 group will receive basic orientation and the second group will receive basic orientation and additional reminders / orientation throughout the study.
The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Lead Researcher and the Senior Programme Advisor to provide extensive contributions to the study, particularly with strengthening the behavioural design components of the study, including review of developed tools, direct input into refining methodology, and expert input in behavioural insights aspects, specifically in the subdivision orientation activities of the groups.
Objective
The overall objective of this assignment is to:
- Provide the Government of Bangladesh, through SSPS and SWAPNO activities with technical support, through specialized expertise on behavioural insights in relation to the study.
Duties and Responsibilities
Scope of work
Under this assignment, the consultant will work to achieve the following tasks:
- Review and refine all the necessary tools of the digital financial services study from a behavioural insights perspective, indicatively including study methodological design, survey design, enumeration structuring, data analysis framework, and focus group interview questions;
- Develop an orientation activity schedule for the subdivided groups;
- Participate in at least 1 observation mission to each of Kurigram and Satkhira districts.
Expected outputs / deliverables
- Digital Financial Services Study Methodological Review Report - Within 15 days (including weekends);
- Orientation activity program report - Within 22 days (including weekends).
Supervision and Performance Evaluation
The assignment will be supervised by the Senior Programme Advisor, Project Manager of SSPS, and the Lead Researcher.
Timeframe and Deliverables
This specific assignment is expected to be carried out over between 22 days.
Inputs
UNDP Bangladesh will provide office space and transport / travel to field sites (Dhaka to Kurigram and Satkhira) when required.
Travel
Under this assignment, the Consultant is required to participate in at least one mission to Dhaka, Bangladesh, of at least 12 working days, to provide direct quality assurance over the behavioural insights components development of the digital financial services study. The consultant is responsible for arranging international air travel to and from Dhaka, Bangladesh. The cost of such travel (one time) should be indicated in the consultant’s financial proposal.
In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed in line with UNDP travel policy.
Contracts based on daily fee
Payments will be made to the Individual Consultant based on the delivery of agreed upon deliverables, verified by the Senior Programme Advisor, Project Manager of SSPS, and Lead Researcher
Competencies
- Excellent communication, reporting, and professional writing skills
- Demonstrated understanding of social development issues and the SDGs
- Critical thinking skills and ability to provide material supported by evidenced bases research
- Plans, prioritizes, and delivers tasks on time and produces quality results to meet established goals
- Knowledge of digital financial services in developing countries
- Proven track record in working on behavioural insight components of related research
- Creative and innovative in producing the desired outputs
- Ability to work with a multicultural environment and a multidisciplinary team
- Willingness to travel to project site
Language Requirements
- Perfect fluency in English (written, oral, and spoken)
Required Skills and Experience
Education
- Minimum Masters in Psychology, Behavioural Analysis, International Development, Development Studies, Global Health, public policy, public planning, financial banking, and / or social development fields.
Experience
- Minimum 3 year experience in social protection, social behavioural analysis, or monitoring and evaluation, human rights issues, indigenous communities, rural vulnerable and marginalized communities, or public health
- At least 1 year experience working with UNDP / UN agencies or Donor, with project design development, and / or research related to poverty, and / or research related to health or vulnerable communities
- Minimum 2 prior work assignments related to survey design and methodological review
Evaluation of the Candidates
Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology
Cumulative analysis
The candidates will be evaluated through Cumulative Analysis method. The award of the contract will 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 obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for Financial Evaluation.
Technical Evaluation Criteria (Total 70 marks)
- Demonstrated experience in social protection, social behavioural analysis, or monitoring and evaluation, human rights issues, indigenous communities, rural vulnerable and marginalized communities, or public health (25 marks)
- Demonstrated experience working with UNDP/UN agencies or Donor, with project design development, and / or research related to poverty, and / or research related to health or vulnerable communities (25 marks)
- Demonstrated experience related to survey design and methodological review (20 marks)
Financial Evaluation (Total 30 marks)
All technical qualified proposals will be scored out 30 based on the formula provided below. The maximum points (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal. All other proposals received points according to the following formula:
p = y (µ/z)
where:
- p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated;
- y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal;
- µ = price of the lowest priced proposal;
- z = price of the proposal being evaluated.
The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days).
Financial Milestone
- 1st Payment (50%): Digital Financial Services Study Methodological Review Report;
- Final Payment (50%): Orientation activity program report.
Candidates are requested to submit their financial proposal using the template from the below link;
Documents to be included when submitting the Proposals
- Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
- 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;
- Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided. (The financial proposal will specify the daily fee, 1 round-trip international travel expense, payments are made to the Individual Consultant based on the number of days worked.)