The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) envisions to contribute to Africa’s efforts to eradicate poverty and reduce inequalities and exclusion through implementation of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. In view of the transforming development cooperation landscape and the ambitious goals set out by the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development and the African Union Agenda 2063, it is more than ever crucial to mobilize a variety of sources for development finance and implementation of national development priorities. In this sense, South-South Cooperation has become an opportunity on the rise for technical and financial cooperation for partners from the South, whereas the respect of Development Effectiveness related principles, including through the Development Finance Assessments can enhance the effectiveness of development resources towards the SDG implementation, while contributing to the Addis Ababa Action Agenda.

In order to ensure continued support to our initiatives, UNDP’s Regional Service Centre for Africa (RSCA)-SSC&DE team invites candidates to send their applications for inclusion in a Vetted Roster of external experts. The process for including candidates in the Expert Roster is described in the later sections of this advertisement.

To be considered for inclusion in the roster, applications would need to have expertise in one or more of the following areas of expertise:

1. Effective Development Cooperation
2. South-South Cooperation.

1. Effective Development Cooperation includes:

UNDP work on Effective Development Co-operation (EDC) focuses in strengthening countries' capacities to manage and co-ordinate development co-operation and to strengthen peer-learning, South-South Co-operation and knowledge sharing as tools for capacity development. It also assists countries in shaping and participating in the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation (GPEDC) as the platform which enables governments, bi-lateral and multi-lateral organizations, civil society and representatives from parliaments, local governments, foundations and the private sector to come together voluntarily to track progress and held each other accountable in the implementation of agreements on the principles of effective development cooperation (EDC): ownership by developing countries, focus on results, partnerships for inclusive development and transparency and accountability, towards the SDG implementation. The required areas of expertise under effective development cooperation function are listed as follows:

• Effective Development Cooperation principles
• GPEDC related Monitoring Framework (as SDG17 indicator)
• Aid Coordination Architecture, including Aid Information Management Systems
• Public and Private finance management

 2. South-South Cooperation includes:

UNDP work on South-South and Triangular Cooperation is a high profile, fast-paced corporate and global priority agenda, under the framework of UNDP Corporate Strategy on South-South and Triangular Cooperation, driven by the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals. The portfolio of the team covers activities related to regional and country level support in the implementation of the UNDP South-South Cooperation Strategy and the Africa South-South Cooperation Project.  In particular, to convene and facilitate regional policy dialogues to strengthen the engagement in South-South cooperation, including the Africa Reporting on South-South cooperation, acting as partnership facilitator through the codification of good practices, matching them with demand of solutions, supporting countries capacities of emerging African Development Cooperation Agencies, engaging think-tanks, CSO and private sector partners from the South in SDG implementation. The required areas of expertise under South-South cooperation function are listed as follows:

• South-South and triangular cooperation principles and related policies
• Partnership modalities and Project Document tools
• Knowledge Management, research and analysis

Tasks assigned in each individual assignment may include one or more of the following:

• Policy and strategic advice and development
• Prepare Policy briefs, Status papers on developmental challenges/issues based on review of existing literature for evidence based advocacy and policy dialogue.
• Review and compilation of relevant policy literature in Africa.
• Formulation of relevant regional, national and sub-national development policy.
• Identification of barriers and solutions for proposed interventions.
• Risk Identification and Mitigation.

Research, policy analysis and documentation

• Support SSC&EDC team in the research and policy analysis of African trends and challenges on the implementation of Development Effectiveness principles at country level, on opportunities of innovative financing for development and emerging South South/Triangular Cooperation partnerships
• Undertake secondary research in the new areas of developmental concern based on review of existing literature
• Develop research design, research questions and scope of work for undertaking primary research in new areas
• Document good practices, case studies, innovations and pilot models for wider dissemination and sharing
• Undertake process documentation of models for upscaling

Knowledge Management

• Draft various kinds of key Knowledge Products of the team such as country briefs on EDC, country and thematic case studies on SSC, other regional and global knowledge products
• Provide support to countries in the codification of good practices and in their dissemination through South-South exchanges to other countries
• Maintain regional needs assessment mappings and databases Development Effectiveness and South South/Triangular Cooperation in a structured way
• Prepare knowledge and other relevant communications products related to the projects/programs (Audio, Video and Hard copies)
• Review of Knowledge products (subject, design and content)
• Prepare and publish featured articles and case studies in publications of the UNDP, other pertinent organizations, academic journals;
• Disseminate knowledge and communications products.
• Contribute to Communities of Practice (CoP) of SSC and EDC.

Capacity Development/Training

• Carry out capacity assessments of public institutions and domestic policies for establishing SSC Units for promoting and coordination of South-South Cooperation.
• Based on capacity assessment, develop Capacity Development Plan to achieve the milestones identified and address the identified capacity gaps
• Conduct, facilitate and/or coordinate trainings and workshops for various stakeholders, based on training needs assessment.

Results based Programme/Project Design, Formulation & other project related functions

• Prepare conceptual framework/concept note on new area of work/developmental challenge
• Support the COs and the SSC&EDC in the development of country consultations for SSC situation assessments.
• Provide technical assistance in identification opportunities for the countries in the South to interact, share experience, and apply the development solutions,
• Provide technical support in development on new interventions/projects with Implementation (operational plan, monitoring and resource requirement), Institutional, financial and management arrangement, exploring partnership and resource mobilization with parties and organizations which have interests in the subject

Monitoring & Evaluation

• Carry out required independent monitoring and evaluation of UNDP projects.
• Facilitate community and process monitoring.
• Undertake Baseline and Client satisfaction surveys

• Good track record in project management, with UNDP experience being an asset;
• Understanding of Government functioning and systems;
• Updated familiarity on, various international projects on across one or more areas of expertise;
• Familiarity with UNDP ERP would be advantageous;
• Working knowledge of objectives-oriented project planning, or results-based management;
• Leadership skills;
• Understanding of Development Effectiveness, South-South/Triangular Cooperation and/or Development Finance would be beneficial;
• Africa experience or know-how is beneficial;
• Good computer literate in standard software applications;
• Demonstrate keen interest in the work of the UN, and of UNDP in particular, and have a personal commitment to UNDP's Statement of Purpose and to the ideals of the UN Charter;
• Demonstrate ability to successfully interact with individuals of different cultural backgrounds and beliefs, which include willingness to try and understand and be tolerant of differing opinions and views.

Academic Qualifications:

• Advanced university degree in the fields of Public Administration, International Relations, Economics, and the broad social sciences or other related disciplines is required.

Years of experience:

Band 1, Implementation Support: Master’s Degree in relevant field with minimum 3 years of relevant work experience, or Bachelor’s Degree in relevant field with minimum 5 years of relevant work experience;

Band 2, Specialist Support: Master’s Degree in relevant field with minimum 7 years of relevant work experience, out of which minimum 3 years of international experience as a requirement;

Band 3, Senior Advisory: Master’s Degree in relevant field with minimum 12 years of relevant work experience, out of which minimum 5 years of international experience as a requirement;

• Minimum 5 years of work experience on effective development cooperation, south-south cooperation partnership building and development finance with demonstrated understanding of substantive policy issues in the field of economic and development cooperation.
• Proven knowledge and experience in providing advisory and/or consultancy services in the area of effective development cooperation and/or South-South cooperation, in particular, track record of advisory on development cooperation policies and strategies, national results framework, monitoring systems, country systems, inclusive multi-stakeholder partnerships, transparency and mutual accountability mechanisms on the one hand (for Effective Development Cooperation) and on South-South policies, mechanisms and partnerships, on the other (for South-South Cooperation). 
• Demonstrated hands-on knowledge and experience at regional or country level in the Africa region.
• Sound knowledge of and familiarity with effective development cooperation agenda including the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation and International Aid Transparency Initiative. 
• In-depth understanding of the main policy, technical and operational aspects of South-South and triangular cooperation - its opportunities and challenges
• Experience in doing research and analysis in broader development cooperation framework and development agenda including MDGs, SDGs, and financing for development
• Previous work experience with UN systems will be highly desirable

Language Requirements:

• Excellent oral and written English;
• Fluency in French;
• Portuguese and/or Spanish would be an asset, or a requirement, for some assignments.

Applications should include:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• A cover letter, clearly identifying the “Areas of Expertise” as mentioned in the background section above;
• Updated P11 and Personal CV, indicating all experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references with email address;
• Daily professional fee.

Please submit the above documents in one of the following two addresses

• On UNDP Jobs site:  http://www.jobs.undp.org ;or  procurement.rsca@undp.org

Evaluation of Applicants

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

Stage 1: - Establishing a Roster:

Applicants will be screened against qualifications and the competencies specified above and will be evaluated as per following criteria.

All applicants will be initially screened against the minimum requirements as in ToR and those meeting the minimum requirements will be long-listed

Long-listed applicants will be evaluated through a Desk review and/or interview against the following criteria based on evident in the submitted application:

• Demonstrated specialized knowledge & expertise in one of the two areas of expertise mentioned in the TOR: (1) Effective Development Cooperation; (2) South-South Cooperation – 40 points
• Demonstrated specialized experience in working with UNDP and/or other relevant partner (OECD, UNOSSC, etc.) conducting Policy and strategy development; Research, policy analysis and Documentation; Knowledge Management; Capacity Development/Training; Project Design, Formulation; and Monitoring & Evaluation – 40 points
• Demonstrable educational qualifications and experience on projects related to the two areas of expertise mentioned above for requisite duration.  – 10 points
• Demonstrated language skills: excellent oral and written English; Fluency in French, Portuguese and/or Spanish would be an asset or a requirement for some assignment – 10 points.

Only those candidates who obtain a total technical score of 70 and above will be included in the roster

Successful candidates will be included in UNDP RSCA Experts Roster for a period of 5 years, in one of the “bands” indicated above. However, the addition of an individual in the Roster does not guarantee a contract with UNDP.

Interested candidates are advised to carefully review this advertisement and ensure that they meet the requirements and qualifications described above. Qualified women are encouraged to apply.

Stage 2: - Evaluation and call off mechanism for specific assignment /Contracting/:

When a request for services arises, the roster manager shall contact the individuals included in the specific area of expertise with ToR, location and dates of the assignment seeking confirmation of availability, as well as other costs such as living allowance, travel cost, etc. The daily fee quoted by the individual during this application process shall remain as the ceiling fee and cannot be increased upwards for any offered individual assignment(s).

Consultants that confirmed their availability for Specific assignment will be evaluated in one of the two evaluation criteria that shall be clearly indicated in the respective assignment ToR

• Lowest price and technically compliant offer
• When using this method, the award of a contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as both:
• Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
• Offering the lowest price/cost

“responsive/compliant/acceptable” can be defined as fully meeting the TOR provided.

Cumulative analysis

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should 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 a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

• Technical Criteria weight; [To be determined]
• Financial Criteria weight; [To be determined]

Only candidates obtaining the minimum point specified on the assignment ToR , in the technical evaluation,  would be considered for the financial evaluation.

Due to the large number of applications we receive, we are only able to inform the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.

Travel:

• For each assignment UNDP shall reimburse cost of travel from the place of domicile of the individual to the place of assignment (most direct economy fare). This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel.  In general, UNDP should 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;
• The individual selected for the deployment will be contracted as an Individual Contractor to the UNDP;
• The Contract and its terms and conditions are non-negotiable.

Payment:

Payment(s) shall be made following certification by the hiring UNDP Office that the services related to each deliverable, as specified in the contract, have been satisfactorily performed and the deliverables have been achieved by or before the due dates specified, if any.

Other information:

This call for experts is not linked to other UNDP rosters or to a specific UNDP recruitment opportunity;

Interested individual consultants can submit the above documents in one of the following two addresses;

• UNDP Jobs site OR at;
• procurement.rsca@undp.org;
• Due to the large number of applications we receive, we are only able to inform the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.

For detailed information, please refer to the Full ToR on http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=41595

For any clarifications please write to:- rsca.icroster@undp.org.