Background

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.  BPPS’ staff provides technical advice to Country Offices, advocates for UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder for 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.

As an accredited entity to the Green Climate Fund (GCF), UNDP is also acting as Delivery Partner to eligible country governments for GCF Readiness support. This support aims to build the institutional capacities of the National Designated Authorities (NDAs) to the GCF, develop GCF Country Programmes through stakeholder consultations at the national level (including with the private sector and civil society), support direct access entities in their accreditation process, and accelerate access to GCF finance. The UNDP Country Offices directly implement the project’s activities, with guidance and leadership of the NDAs. UNDP-GEF Global Technical Advisor of the GCF Readiness Programme provides targeted technical and management oversight and interface with the GCF for this portfolio.  

UNDP is seeking a specialist in GCF Readiness thematic areas to support the Global Technical Advisor in providing technical support and management services to the GCF Readiness portfolio.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will be responsible for providing day-to-day portfolio management support and liaising with UNDP country offices and national counterparts. 

Scope of Work

The consultant will work under the guidance and supervision of the GCF Readiness Programme Global Technical Advisor, based in UNDP-GEF unit in New York to undertake the following:

• Support the Country Offices and Governments in the preparation, submission and review process of new proposals;
• Monitor and support projects’ timely implementation and delivery, in collaboration with the GCF Readiness Programme Associate, including review and approval of annual work plans;
• Coordinate with the UNDP-GEF Results-Based Management (RBM) Team for the compilation, review, and timely submission of the financial and narrative progress reports for the portfolio;
• Respond to GCF Secretariat’s inquiries in such reports, as appropriate;
• Provide targeted technical inputs to projects’ deliverables, terms of reference for required expertise, workshop design, and other technical input, as needed;
• Contribute to corporate communications (internal or external) in regard to the GCF Readiness portfolio, as needed;
• Participate in coordination teleconferences with GCF Secretariat and other readiness delivery partners, and GCF regional and global dialogues, as needed;
• Conduct monitoring/knowledge management missions to participating countries of the programme, as requested by the Country Offices or Global Advisor;
• Assist in the execution of South-South learning events, workshops, panels or side-events, as needed;
• Support development of communications outputs (newsletters, blogs, videos and media);
• Establish linkages between the UNDP-GEF readiness portfolio and other UNDP-led like-minded readiness initiatives supporting NAPs and NDCs, amongst others;

Anticipated Key Deliverables:

• Portfolio reports completed and submitted to RBM team in UNDP-GEF HQ;
• Bi-monthly reports of delivery and expenditure of portfolio and management actions envisioned/executed to increase delivery where appropriate;
• Mission reports after each mission conducted;
• Other related tasks as needed.

Institutional Arrangements:

• Estimated level of effort: approximately 200 days in the first year. Maximum working days over the 2-year period would be 369; 
• UNDP does not warrant that any quantity of services will be purchased during the term of the Framework Agreement, as this will depend on forthcoming needs;
• IC as a Framework agreement is non-exclusive (i.e. it does not prohibit UNDP from entering into another such framework agreement with another individuals or entities);
• The initial contract would be for one year with an option for renewal in the subsequent year dependent on demand for services and satisfactory performance evaluation;
• The Framework Agreement will be for a fixed all-inclusive daily fee;
• Once the Framework Agreement is signed, if there is a specific assignment, the focal person(s) at UNDP would contact the Consultant by email informing of specific deliverables and timeline;
• The consultant must advise within 48 hours whether s/he is available to deliver the requested service;
• Thereafter a Purchase Order will be raised. Financial commitments will only be established each time the services are requested within the scope of the Framework Agreement through the transmitted email and purchase order;
• The consultant will work from home with limited mission travel;
• The consultant will report to, and be directly supervised by the GCF Readiness Global Technical Advisor;
• The Consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment;
• The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own work station (i.e. laptop, internet, phone, scanner/printer, etc.) and must have access to reliable internet connection;
• Given the global scope of this assignment, the consultant is expected to be reasonably flexible with his/her availability for such consultations taking into consideration different time zones;
• Payments will be made upon submission of a detailed time sheet and certification of payment form, and acceptance and confirmation by the Supervisor on days worked (with a “day” calculated as 8 hours of work) and outputs delivered.

Travel:

• The following mission travels may be required during the term of the Framework Agreement:

1. One mission to New York, USA (approx. 5 business days) during the first month of the assignment for briefing on portfolio, expected scope of work, and meeting the Global Advisor, Programme Associate, and relevant Directorate staff in UNDP-GEF HQ. Another mission to NY in the second year of the assignment may be necessary.
2. 2 Monitoring mission travels (approx. 3- 5 business days each) to Africa, South or East Asia, and/or Latin America;
3. 1 Mission envisioned per year, depending on countries’ needs and/or as deemed necessary by the GCF Readiness Global    Technical Advisor. 

• Any necessary mission travel must be approved in advance and in writing by the Supervisor;
• The Advanced and Basic Security in the Field II courses must be successfully completed prior to commencement of travel;
• 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 https://dss.un.org/dssweb/;
• Consultants are responsible for obtaining security clearances and any visas needed in connection with travel with the necessary support from UNDP;
• The consultant will be responsible for making his/her own mission travel arrangements in line with UNDP travel policies;
• All related travel expenses will be supported by the project travel fund and will be reimbursed as per UNDP rules and regulations for consultants.  Costs for airfares, terminal expenses, and living allowances should not be included in financial proposal.

Competencies

 Corporate:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling 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;
• Treats all people fairly without favouritism.

Technical:

• Expertise and sound understanding of global climate change negotiations, climate finance and multilateral climate funds, readiness, climate change mitigation and adaptation proposal development, project implementation, etc;
• Project management expertise, including budget management, Monitoring & Evaluation, reporting, knowledge management, results-based monitoring.

Functional:

Communication: 

• Excellent writing and verbal communication skills in English language.

Professionalism:

• Demonstrated ability in analytical thinking;
• Strong organizational, reporting and writing abilities;
• Capacity to work independently, plan, prioritize and deliver tasks on time;
• Flexibility to travel for work to all regions and under short notice.

Teamwork:

• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Ability to work under pressure;
• Ability to work in and manage in multi-partner teams.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree in international development or economics, environmental/climate change policy, or natural resource management (max. 10 points).

Experience:

• At least 6 years of relevant work experience in climate change policy, negotiations, or climate finance (max. 15 points);
• Demonstrated working experience on projects or developing proposals funded by/regarding the Green Climate Fund or GCF readiness (max 15 points);
• At least 5 years of demonstrated experience in project management and results-based monitoring and evaluation in environment or climate change projects. (max. 15 points);
• Previous experience in UNDP is an advantage (max. 5 points);

Language Requirements:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English (max. 5 points);
• Fluency in Spanish or French is an advantage (max 5 points). 

Evaluation Method:

• Only those applications which are responsive and compliant will be evaluated.  Incomplete applications will not be considered;
• Offers will be evaluated according to the Combined Scoring method – where the technical criteria will be weighted at 70% and the financial offer will be weighted at 30%;
• The technical criteria (education, experience, language [max. 70 points] and interview [max. 30 points]) will be based on a maximum 100 points;
• Only the top 3 candidates scoring 49 points or higher from the review of education, experience and language will be considered for the interview;
• Candidates obtaining 21 points or higher from the interview will be deemed technically qualified and considered for financial evaluation;
• Financial score (max 100 points) shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal of those technically qualified;
• The financial proposal shall specify an all-inclusive daily fee. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal must additionally include a breakdown of this daily fee (including all foreseeable expenses to carry out the assignment);
• Applicant receiving the Highest Combined Score and has accepted UNDP’s General Terms and Conditions will be awarded the contract.

Documentation to be submitted

• Applicants must submit a duly completed and signed UNDP Personal History form (P11) to be downloaded from the below link;
• Applicants must reply to the mandatory questions asked by the system when submitting the application.
• Applicants must submit a duly completed and signed Annex II Offeror´s letter to UNDP confirming interest and availability for the Individual Contractor (IC) assignment to be downloaded from the UNDP procurement site.

Kindly note you can upload only one document to this application (scan all documents in one single PDF file to attach).

UNDP Personal History form (P11) required of all applicants:

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/Careers/P11_Personal_history_form.doc.

General Conditions of Contract for the ICs:

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf.

Annex II Offeror´s letter to UNDP confirming interest and availability for the Individual Contractor (IC) assignment:

http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=47134