UNDP Jobs - 77716- Individual Consultant-Infrastructure Development Q

Individual Consultant-Infrastructure Development Quality Assurance for the Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund - (2 Consultants - 1 based in Harare and the 2nd in Bulawayo)

Location :

Harare and Bulawayo, ZIMBABWE

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

02-Apr-2018

Application Deadline :

22-Mar-18 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

10 months

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

10 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

As a key partner in the Resilience debate in Zimbabwe, UNDP has in partnership with a number of donors taken the lead in designing the Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund (ZRBF). The overall objective of the fund is to contribute to increased capacities of communities to protect development gains and achieve improved well-being outcomes in the face of shocks and stresses enabling them to contribute to economic growth of Zimbabwe. This will be achieved through a combination of 3 sets of results which will focus on a) creating a body of evidence for increased application of evidence in policy making and application for resilience; b) setting up a multi donor trust for Resilience Building in Zimbabwe to allow for partners to come together around the Resilience Framework and principles to improve the absorptive, adaptive and transformative capacities of at-risk communities; and c) setting up a risk financing mechanism which will provide appropriate, predictable, coordinated and timely response to risk and shocks from a resilience perspective.

Operating on the principles of joint programming the Zimbabwe Resilience Building Fund aims to provide flexible, coordinated and predictable funding of approximately 75 million USD to support building of resilience in rural communities of Zimbabwe. To contribute to the achievement of the above, the ZRBF programme has made some significant investments in construction, repair, maintenance and rehabilitation of some small scale productive infrastructure. The major thrust of this support is to ensure functionality, productivity and sustainability thereby contributing to building resilience at both household and community levels. To ensure that this is achieved, the ZRBF PMU seeks the services of an Infrastructure Development Quality Assurance Consultant to provide technical oversight and guidance to ZRBF PMU and its grantees in all the ZRBF infrastructure development work.

Under the overall guidance and supervision of the Head of Unit, the Consultant will support the successful implementation of all ZRBF infrastructure development work and ensure that it is done with the highest standards and quality to ensure that greater impact is achieved through support.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Quality Assurance will report to the Programme Specialist, and be responsible for the following key duties:

Support feasibility studies for infrastructure development work;
Support the ZRBF PMU, grantees and stakeholders to undertake preliminary or detailed designs for all ZRBF infrastructure development work (including preparing, writing and assembling drawings, schematics, masterplans, design calculations, technical specifications and reports). This requires a detailed knowledge of the international standards and codes;
Follow up with Grantees and stakeholders on proper implementation and adherence to the set and agreed standards in all the infrastructure development work, including acquiring all necessary approvals/ certificates;
Support partners in developing project budgets or preliminary and detailed costs estimations to implement civil, structural, electrical, mechanical or special systems within the projects (including feasibility studies, project schedules and bids). Work-time estimates could be also required;
Support the Grantees with the preparation of Scope of Works, infrastructure technical support in tender packages, tender evaluation, contracting and reporting;
Supervise construction works, programming and co-ordination;
Review and evaluate the planned and ‘in progress’ construction projects;
Establish and maintain project performance monitoring, evaluation and reporting procedures, up to project completion;
Monitor the quality of the works during design and construction;
Participate in design reviews (including reading, interpreting and critique/comment on technical drawings, schematics, and computer-generated reports) and giving advice and recommendation;
Assist Rural District Councils to craft and implement sustainability strategies for all infrastructure development work under ZRBF
Contribute input to quarterly and annual reports;
Perform other related duties as required.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies

Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Competencies

Judgement/Decision-making

Strong technical skills and analytical capacities, sound judgment;
Strong technical problem-solving skills;
Ability to understand and establish priorities and work by objectives.

Teamwork

Ability to work in a team and establish effective working relationships with people from different nationalities and cultural backgrounds;

Ability to work under stress and work overtime when required.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

University degree in Civil or Structural Engineering; Professional;
Chartered accreditation by an appropriate national or international regulatory authority for Engineers is an asset.

Experience

At least 5 years of postgraduate progressively responsible professional experience in civil or structural engineering;
Experience in ‘health and safety’ systems is highly desirable;
Good knowledge of engineering design, particularly in the civil and structural fields;
Familiarity with public procurement procedures, international contract formats and construction management procedures;
Knowledge of a relevant engineering discipline, such as electrical/mechanical design, designing of buildings, designing of roads, alternative energy technologies or fire safety design;
Proficiency in MS Office (Word, Project, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) and other standard office software packages and systems;
Previous experience working with multi-sector projects;
Experience in design, facilitation, use of participatory techniques and practical community based approaches;
Previous UN or UNDP work experience will be an added advantage.

Language Requirements

Fluency in English with good verbal and written skills.

Application procedure
Applicants are requested to upload a copies of:

Latest CV highlighting the relevant experience;
Updated P11 Form template of which can be downloaded from this website - http://www.sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc.
A detailed technical proposal on undertaking the tasks and evidence of previous work;

Please group all your documents (CV, P11, Technical Proposal and certificates) into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document. Incomplete applications will not be given consideration.

Applicants must reply to the mandatory questions asked by the system when submitting the application

Please note that only applicants who are short-listed will be contacted.

Evaluation criteria

The Consultant will be evaluated based on qualifications and the years of experience, as outlined in the qualifications/requirements section of the ToR. In addition, the Consultant will also be evaluated on the following methodology:

Technical Criteria weight: 70%;
Financial Criteria weight: 30%;
The award of the contract shall be made to the 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 Terms of Reference

“UNDP is committed to gender equality in its mandate and its staff, and equal opportunities for people living with disabilities. Well qualified candidates, particularly women and people living with disabilities are especially encouraged to apply”.