UNDP Jobs - 77109- International Consultant on Non-communicable disea

International Consultant on Non-communicable diseases, tobacco control and development

Location :

Istambul, TURKEY

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Mar-2018

Application Deadline :

18-Feb-18 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Up to 200 working days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

1 March - 31 December 2018

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

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN’s global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life, as envisaged by 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We are on the ground in more than 170 countries and territories, working with governments and people on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners that can bring about results.

The Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has the responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan and help countries to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. BPPS’s staff provide technical advice to Country Offices; advocate for UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government and civil society dialogues, South-South and Triangular cooperation initiatives, and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas.

BPPS supports UNDP’s 2014-2017 Strategic Plan and will focus on strengthening institutions to progressively deliver universal access to basic services (outcome 3). The HIV, Health and Development Group (HHD), within BPPS, is helping to contribute towards this outcome.

UNDP is a founding cosponsor of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), a partner of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, and a co-sponsor of several other international health partnerships. UNDP’s work on HIV, health and development, as described in the HIV, Health and Development Strategy 2016-2021: Connecting the Dots, leverages UNDP’s core strengths and mandates in human development, governance and capacity development to complement the efforts of specialist health-focused UN agencies. UNDP delivers three types of support to countries in HIV, health and development.

First, UNDP helps countries to mainstream attention to HIV and health into action on gender, poverty and the broader effort to achieve and sustain the Sustainable Development Goals. For example, UNDP works with countries to understand the social and economic factors that play a crucial role in driving health and disease, and to respond to such dynamics with appropriate policies and programmes outside the health sector. UNDP also promotes specific action on the needs and rights of women and girls as they relate to HIV.

Second, UNDP works with partners to address the interactions between governance, human rights and health responses. Sometimes this is done through focused or specialized programmes, such as promoting attention to the role of the law and legal environments in facilitating stronger HIV responses, including the use of flexibilities in intellectual property law to lower the cost of drugs and diagnostics. UNDP also works to empower and include marginalized populations who are disproportionately affected by HIV, such as sex workers, men who have sex with men and people living with HIV. Beyond these focused efforts, UNDP plays a key role in ensuring attention to HIV and health within broader governance and rights initiatives, including support to municipal action on SDGs, sustainable responses for Health and HIV such as improving sustainability of AIDS financing, sustainable health procurement, strengthening of national human rights institutions and increasing access to justice for key populations.

Third, as a trusted, long-term partner with extensive operational experience, UNDP supports countries in effective implementation of complex, multilateral and multisectoral health projects, while simultaneously investing in capacity development so that national and local partners can assume these responsibilities over time. The UNDP/Global Fund partnership is an important part of this work, facilitating access to resources for action on SDG 3 by countries that face constraints in directly receiving and managing such funding. UNDP partners with countries in crisis/post-crisis situations, those with weak institutional capacity or governance challenges, and countries under sanctions. When requested, UNDP acts as temporary Principal Recipient in these settings, working with national partners and the Global Fund to improve management, implementation and oversight of Global Fund grants, while simultaneously developing national capacity to be able to assume the Principal Recipient role over time.

Context:

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory disease, are a leading health and development challenge. Responding to NCDs requires the significant engagement of sectors beyond health, who are often uniquely placed to address the underlying drivers that shape people’s exposure to the four main behavioural risk factors for NCDs – tobacco use, harmful use of alcohol, unhealthy diet and physical inactivity – as well as access to prevention and treatment services.

Tobacco use, driven by industry marketing and fueled by social inequities, kills seven million people per year, inhibiting socio-economic development at household, national and global levels, exacting economic burdens on national health care systems, infringing human rights and obstructing progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. UNDP works closely with the Secretariat of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to help countries strengthen their national tobacco control governance frameworks.

Collaborating with WHO and the FCTC Secretariat, UNDP’s support to countries focuses on the areas of:

Linking NCDs and tobacco control to development instruments to address prevention and control;
Assisting with planning of National Strategies for NCDs and tobacco control;
Supporting a whole-of-government and multi-sectoral approach to addressing NCDs and their risk factors; and
Advancing tobacco control through supporting national strategy development and national coordination mechanisms, legislative reviews, and prevention of corruption as appropriate.

Objective of the assignment:

The consultant will provide expert policy and research support for UNDP’s work on both NCDs and tobacco control, including through participation in country-level missions. Contributions will be made to both global and regional-level knowledge products and country-level programming. The consultancy is expected to entail travel to UNDP programme countries.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the HHD Regional HHD Team Leader for EECA, the consultant will be responsible for:

Providing inputs to the technical support to countries and UNDP country offices on addressing NCDs and implementation of the FCTC through a multi-sectoral, whole of government approach;
Contributing to the development of NCD and FCTC investment cases through both desk reviews and travel to support country-level needs assessment and other missions;
Contributing to global UNDP Knowledge Products on health and development, with an emphasis on the development dimensions of tobacco control and non-communicable diseases; and
Contributing to UNDP resource mobilization for flagship health programmes.

All activities and tasks will be coordinated in close collaboration with UNDP HHD policy specialist in New York, regional and country offices, WHO, the WHO FCTC Secretariat and other partners.

Expected Deliverables:

Contribute to technical support to at least 12 countries / UNDP country offices on addressing NCDs and tobacco control through multisectoral approaches.
Research, draft and contribute to the finalization of UNDP knowledge products (including advocacy, research and discussion papers).
Contribute to the development of NCD and WHO FCTC Investment Cases with data collection, drafting and coordination.
Work with partners in countries to collect experiences for input into UNDP knowledge products.
Work with other members of UNDP’s Health, Governance, Gender and Environment Team to develop and execute a resource mobilization strategy on NCDs.
Contribute to reporting inputs for NCD and tobacco control projects.

Reporting:

The consultant will work regularly with the Programme Specialist of UNDP’s Health, Gender and Environment Team, and report to the Regional HHD Team Leader for EECA. Quarterly reviews of progress against deliverables will be done with the global Health, Gender and Environment team.

Travel:

Some travel is foreseen under this contract. Travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon between the supervisor and Individual Consultant, prior to travel booking and will be reimbursed as per agreement.

Payment Method: All-inclusive daily fee:

Consultant will be paid in monthly installments upon submission of progress report and timesheet providing details of time spent on respective tasks, their timely execution and acceptance by the Supervisor. Specific deliverables and timeline will be agreed between Consultant and the Supervisor at the beginning of the contract.

Evaluation of Applicants:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal.

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 (P11 desk reviews) and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Only the highest ranked candidates who would be found qualified for the job will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max. 70 points:

Criteria A: At least 5 years of progressive professional experience in health and development - 15 points
Criteria B: Knowledge of UNDP/UN health and development policies and processes – 10 points
Criteria C: Experience of NCD or tobacco policy work in low- and middle-income countries – 20 points
Criteria D: Proven track record in programme development, project delivery and resource mobilization on health and development – 10 points
Criteria E: Proven track record with health and development research and writing – 5 points
Criteria F: Working proficiency in English plus another UN language, preferably Russian – 10 points

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max. 30 points

Competencies

Organizational Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling 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.

Functional Competencies:

Familiarity with and experience in global health economics, including NCDs.
Knowledge of the development dimensions of health.
Familiarity with national health and development planning processes an asset.
Familiarity with the sustainable development goals and targets, including how UNDP’s work on health advances these.
Competence with Microsoft Word and Excel.

Project and Resource Management:

Ability to produce high quality outputs in a timely manner while understanding and anticipating the evolving client needs.
Strong organizational skills.
Ability to work independently, produce high quality outputs.
Sound judgment, strategic thinking and the ability to manage competing priorities.

Partnership building and team work:

Demonstrated well developed people management skills.
Demonstrated flexibility to excel in a multi-cultural environment.

Communications and Advocacy:

Strong ability to write clearly and convincingly, adapting style and content to different audiences and speak clearly and convincingly.
Strong analytical, research and writing skills with demonstrated ability to think strategically.
Strong capacity to communicate clearly and quickly.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s Degree in Social Science, Public Health, Medicine, Law, Economic, International Development or other related field.

Experience:

Minimum of five years of professional experience in health and development with policy or programme management experience.
Work experience in a developing country highly desirable.
Experience of NCD or tobacco policy work in low- and middle-income countries is an asset
Experience in the use of computers and office software packages as well as web based management systems.
Experience with research on health and development
Experience with programme development, project delivery and resource mobilization on health and development
Knowledge of UN and/or UNDP policy priorities, operational procedures and programme implementation is highly desirable.

Language skills:

Fluency in English is required
Working proficiency in another official UN language, is required. Russian specifically, would be an asset.

Guidelines for Application:

Application procedures

Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via this website. The application should contain:

Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position and Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.
Signed and Updated Personal History Form (P11). The template can be downloaded from this link: http://sas.undp.org/documents/p11_personal_history_form.doc)
Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability indicating daily fee in USD. The daily rate specified in the submission will be considered as a ceiling amount / maximum daily fee.
Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials in one PDF file.

*Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant/contractor during the contract period (e.g. fee, health insurance, vaccination and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services...). Per diems cannot exceed UN DSA rates (http://icsc.un.org/rootindex.asp).

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 dss.un.org

Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply.

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

ANNEX 1- INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS is provided here: http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf.