UNCDF Jobs - 76294- Administrative Support Consultant

Administrative Support Consultant – Mobile Money for the Poor

Advertised on behalf of

UNCDF

Location :

Brussels, BELGIUM

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

15-Jan-2018

Application Deadline :

31-Dec-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

12 months

Languages Required :

English French

Expected Duration of Assignment :

12 months

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

UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s 48 least developed countries (LDCs). With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development. This last mile is where available resources for development are scarcest; where market failures are most pronounced; and where benefits from national growth tend to leave people excluded.

Mobile Money for the Poor (MM4P) is a programme launched by UNCDF in partnership with the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida), the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The MasterCard Foundation. MM4P provides support to branchless and mobile financial services in a select group of LDCs to demonstrate how the correct mix of financial, technical and policy support can build a robust branchless and mobile financial services ecosystem that reaches low income people in LDCs.

The assignment entails:

Evaluate operations and closure phase in Uganda: The Uganda project is currently under review and scheduled to be closed in Q3 2018. The consultant is expected to support downsizing and monitor any requests and act as liaison with the operations team in Brussels and to assist MM4P with the project closing.
Support continued operations in Nepal in 2018: MM4P Operations in Nepal are shared with National Implemented Programmes. This requires MM4P to support Nepal for all international operations including strategic procurement and missions. MM4P funds for Nepal come to an end on Q4 2018 and the project is due a donor audit in Q1 2017, the consultant will be required to assist PMU with the project closing.
Assist the launch of operations in Malaysia and China: MM4P is currently preparing to launch operations in in Malaysia and China in 2018. Currently there is no operations infrastructure in Malaysia and China and thus the consultant will be required to support MM4P to set up the project infrastructure in these countries.
Support the Project Management team in the decentralization of operations to local offices.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct responsibility of the UNCDF Operations Analyst, the Consultant will specifically provide:

Evaluate operations and closure phase in Uganda:

Liaise with country teams, assess their needs and support the operations team in Brussels managing the requests from Uganda until the programme closing in July 2018;
Support the team in the management of the project files in Uganda;
Ensure that all files and reports are in order for the project closure.

Deliverables:

Updated Uganda file maps.
Updated transaction reports from 2014 to 2018.
Project closure report.

Support continued operations in Nepal (2018):

Build project, administrative and operations capacity of the Nepal project team until this team can act independently;
Liaise with the Nepal country team, asses their needs and support the operations team in Brussels managing the requests;
Support the Nepal project team in project closure for 2018 and request for extension in 2019 including internal audit and management of the project file for the audit.

Deliverables:

Training of Nepal staff completed.

Updated Nepal file maps.
Updated transaction reports from 2014 to 2018.
Project closure report.

Assist the launch of operations in China and Malaysia:

Build capacity project, admin and operations of the China and Malaysia project teams, until these teams can act independently;
Support the China and Malaysia project team in setting up and managing their project file.

Deliverables:

MM4P China and Malaysia office set up completed Q2.
Training of China and Malaysia staff completed Q3.

Create Myanmar file maps completed Q4.

Support the Project Management in the decentralization of operations to local offices.

Support the Brussels project management team in building the administrative capacity of the field offices;
Assist the Brussels team in preparing 2018 audits, including management of the project file for the audits;
Support the Brussels team in the procurement and transition of new premises scheduled for Q3 2018;
Assist the MM4P field team travel arrangements.
Support to the organization of common services with UNDP country offices;
Administrative support for events organized locally.

Deliverables:

New premises procured.
Updated transaction reports from 2018.
New MM4P office set up in Q3.

Competencies

Strong ability to communicate and function effectively in local/international/multicultural environment;
Fundamental knowledge of public procurement processes, methods and procedures;
Data gathering and implementation of management systems;
Maintains effective client relationships.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Secondary Education, preferably with specialized certification in Management, Accounting or Finance or related field.

Experience:

A minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible administrative experience at the national or international level is required.
Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and advance knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web based management systems is required.
Experience in the use of Enterprise Resource Planning Software (i.e. ATLAS, Oracle or similar) is required.
Experience with international public procurement and finance procedures is required.
Experience in corporate training and capacity building is desirable.
Experience with a UN organization/agency is desirable.

Language requirements

Fluency in English and French is mandatory.
Excellent writing skills in English is mandatory.

Competencies

Strong ability to communicate and function effectively in local/international/multicultural environment;
Fundamental knowledge of public procurement processes, methods and procedures;
Data gathering and implementation of management systems;
Maintains effective client relationships.

Timeline, duty station and total number of working days:

Timeline: 12 months, starting 15th January, 2018
Duty station: Brussels, Belgium
Total Number of Working Days for Assignment: 22 days per month, 264 days in total per annum.

This is a national consultant position. Applicants that are not nationals of the requested duty station will have to prove their residence status. UNCDF will not provide relocation expenses (expenses to join duty station).

Provision of Monitoring, Progress Controls & Payments:

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Operations Analyst.
Payment will be made on periodical basis in accordance with number of days worked and upon satisfactorily achieved deliverables. All payments are subject to the clearance and approval of the direct supervisor.

Final payment shall require a signed performance evaluation of the consultant.

Application:

Applications will be rated on both technical and financial submissions. The best proposal that will be awarded the contract shall be selected through the following method:

Highest rated proposal using the combined scoring method, which assigns the weight distribution between the technical and financial proposals as set out in the RFP. The weight distribution shall be 70% technical and 30% financial.

All applications must contain the following information:

Cover letter with a summary statement of competencies in relation to the TOR;
Earliest availability and proposed schedule for consultancy;
Curriculum Vitae;
Completed and signed P11 - Personal History Form with names and current contacts of 3 referees (available from http://sas.undp.org/documents/p11_personal_history_form.doc);
Signed financial proposal for the full months assignment outlining: 1) Total professional fee 2) Other professional expenses (such as insurance, taxes, etc.);

The financial proposal form is available at http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=29916).

Evaluation:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Preliminary Evaluation - Step I: Screening;

Technical Evaluation Weight - 70% x (Step I: 20 Points + Step II: 80 Points = 100 Points);

Financial Evaluation Weight - 30% = Step III.

Step I: Screening

Applications will be screened and only applicants meeting the following minimum criteria (listed under education and experience) will progress to the pool for shortlisting:

Step II: Technical Evaluation

Shortlisting (20 points)

UNCDF will produce a shortlist of candidates and technically evaluate candidates as per experience requirements in the Terms of Reference. As applicable, only the first top 4 ranked applicants achieving minimum 49 points shall be invited for an interview.

2. Interview (80 points)

An interview shall be conducted for the top 4 shortlisted candidates.

The financial evaluation of those candidates who have reached 70% of the Technical Evaluation will take place.

Step III: Financial Evaluation:

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal: lowest priced proposal/price of the proposal being evaluated x 30%.

Award Criteria:

The contract shall be awarded to the applicant whose offer have been evaluated and determined as:

Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and having received the highest combined weight (technical scores) 70% + financial 30%= 100%.

Please note that UNCDF cannot guarantee residence permits or visa´s for consultants. Consultants are responsible for securing their work documentation. In the case of national consultants, applicants that are not nationals of the duty station requested will have to prove their residence status.

Any individual employed by a company or institution who would like to submit an offer in response to a Procurement Notice for IC must do so in their individual capacity (providing a CV so that their qualifications may be judged accordingly). Please note that in such case the company institution will be asked to issue an RLA: http://www.undp.org/content/dam/vietnam/docs/Legalframework/Reimbursable%20Loan%20Agreement.doc.

Women candidates or women-owned businesses are strongly encouraged to apply.

(Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA): A legal instrument between UNCDF and a Company/institution, according to which, the latter makes available the services of an individual delivering time-bound and quantifiable outputs that are directly linked to payments. An RLA is governed by the provisions of this policy.)