Background

The Sustainable Development Goals Fund is a development cooperation mechanism created in 2014 to support sustainable development activities through integrated and multidimensional Joint Programmes. It builds on the experience, knowledge, lessons learnt, and best practices of the MDG Fund and the MDG experience, while focusing on the fostering of sustainable development, public-private partnerships and gender and women’s empowerment as cross-cutting priorities in all our areas of work. The SDG Fund aims to act as a bridge in the transition from MDGs to SDGs providing concrete experiences on how to achieve a sustainable and inclusive world as part of ‘Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development.

‘Engaging Youth in Fiji and Vanuatu in Organic Farming: A Farm to Table Chain Approach’ is a Joint Programme, formulated to assist these 2 countries (Fiji and Vanuatu) in their ongoing efforts to address youth unemployment with the following objectives;

  1. To assist youth in developing the knowledge and skills needed to enter the labour market, and to pro-vide supporting services needed to secure decent work opportunities in either wage/self-employment.

  2. To create employment opportunities in organic agriculture through a value chain approach of public- private partnerships in the key economic sectors of agriculture and tourism

  3. To address the vulnerability of youth working within the informal economy by supporting policy dialogue with Government and creating enabling environment for SME businesses.

Duties and Responsibilities

To review progress towards the project’s objectives and outcomes, assess the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of how the project has moved towards its objectives and outcomes, identify strengths and weaknesses in project design and implementation, and provide recommendations on design modifications that could have increased the likelihood of success, and on specific actions that might be taken into consideration in designing future projects of a related nature.

 

In essence, the Consultant is expected to:

 

  • Measure to what extent the joint programme has contributed to solve the needs and problems identified in the design phase. This include assessing the appropriateness of the project design particularly as it relates to the achievement of project objectives, its linkages with the government’s national strategic plans, and problems it intends to address;
  • To measure joint programme’s degree of implementation, efficiency and quality delivered on outputs and outcomes, against what was originally planned or subsequently officially revised;
  • Measure to what extent the joint programme has attained the results originally foreseen in their project document, M&E frameworks, etc.;
  • To measure the impact of the joint programme on the achievement of the SDGs. This entails assessing the direct and indirect effects of the project on intended beneficiaries and broader socio-economic, political, SDG and gender dimensions;

  • Assess the management and implementation arrangement of the project, including financial and human resource management, monitoring and oversight as well as the  risks and  risk management strategies in terms of their contribution to the delivery of  project results in accordance with the project Results and Resources Framework (RRF);
  • To identify and document substantive lessons learnt and good practices on the specific topics of the thematic areas and crosscutting issues: gender, sustainability and public private partnerships;

  • Recommend options to improve any future designing of similar projects by UNDP

 

Competencies

  • A minimum of 7 years of progressive experience in project evaluation in the context of agriculture and or community livelihood development;

     

  • Prior experience working in small and remote island contexts, preferably in the Pacific;

     

  • Experience working in a coordination role involving a range of stakeholders, Knowledge and experience of gender dimensions relating agricultural contexts, In-depth knowledge of organic farming and ability to provide high level advice and Experience in designing and managing evaluative/learning events and processes;

     

  • Excellent English writing and communication skills with excellent interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills ;

Required Skills and Experience

  • Minimum of  university degree in one of the following disciplines: agriculture, environmental science, public administration, international relations, development studies or other relevant field
  • Consultancy Proposal should be mailed to C/- UNDP Fiji MCO, Private Mail Bag, Suva, Fiji or sent via email to etenderbox.pacific@undp.org no later than 25th July, 2018 (Fiji Time) clearly stating the title of consultancy applied for. Any proposals received after this date/time will not be accepted. Any request for clarification must be sent in writing, or by standard electronic communication to procurement.fj@undp.org. UNDP will respond in writing or by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all consultants. Incomplete, late and joint proposals will not be considered and only offers for which there is further interest will be contacted. Failure to submit your application as stated as per the application submission guide (Procurement Notice) on the above link will be considered incomplete and therefore application will not be considered.

Proposal Submission

Offerors must send the following documents.

  1. < >

    Cover letter setting out:

    A statement of how the applicant meets the qualifications and experience requirements.

            iii) Completed template for confirmation of Interest and Submission of Financial Proposal

     

    Consultant must send a financial proposal based on a Lump Sum Amount. The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, travel costs, living allowance (if any work is to be done outside the IC´s duty station) and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment. The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables/outputs.

     

    In general, UNDP shall 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

     

    In the event of unforeseeable travel not anticipated in this TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and the Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.