UNDP Jobs - 80142- CONSULTANCY – Outreach Consultant, Crisis Response

CONSULTANCY – Outreach Consultant, Crisis Response Rosters

Location :

New York

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

03-Sep-2018

Application Deadline :

17-Aug-18 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

6 months

Languages Required :

Expected Duration of Assignment :

6 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

The Crisis Response Unit (CRU) is responsible for UNDP’s corporate crisis response strategy and capability. It develops and drives UNDP’s vision and priorities for crisis response, coordinates and facilitates UNDP’s crisis response with a whole-of-UNDP approach, provides oversight for all UNDP crisis response actions and ensures high quality engagement of the organization in crisis in general. The responsibility of CRU focuses primarily upon and is confined to the two specific typologies of crisis listed below, to which CRU provides support for limited duration:

Sudden onset crisis: This would include countries that have been affected by natural disasters or sudden outbreak of armed conflicts;
Complex protracted crisis: Examples include countries that are impacted by protracted conflicts, often with regional implications.

CRU’s key functions, include: i) advising UNDP on identifying the level of a particular crisis or on scaling up or down a particular response; ii) leading timely and informed decision-making and management actions, particularly on high level crises; iii) supporting early warning and guiding corporate preparedness for crisis response; iv) managing UNDP’s crisis response tools (including Standard Operating Procedures for Crisis Response and the Crisis Response Packages); and v) managing deployments for crisis response through the SURGE and ExpRes rosters. The deployment of technical and operations experts through the SURGE (UNDP Staff), ExpRes (Consultants), and Standby Partnerships mechanisms are a key component of UNDP’s response to the immediate crisis and technical support to Country Offices.

SURGE Advisors are UNDP staff with extensive crisis experience in at least one of 18 generic UNDP profiles who are deployed to fill capacity gaps within CO units facing unexpected workload/portfolio requirements due to a crisis.

The Experts Roster for Rapid Response (ExpRes) is a recruitment and deployment mechanism which maintains pre-vetted consultants on a roster and contracts them quickly for country office support. The primary purpose of this roster has been to deploy Crisis Prevention and Recovery (CPR) technical experts to UNDP Country Offices on short notice in the aftermath of a crisis and for CPR Programming.

UNDP has Memorandums of Understanding with eight Stand by Partners who provide in-kind support to the UN through the deployment of technical expertise for crisis preparedness and response.

One of the major challenges of the CRU’s deployment mechanism is to ensure that both internal and external rosters have the required capacity and availability of this capacity to support UNDP Country Offices in times of need. CRU will look to systematically develop outreach plans and efforts to reach out to potential experts through both online and off-line initiatives.

Under the supervision of the Programme Specialist (Deployments), the Outreach Consultant will support these outreach initiatives that will ensure that the various rosters remain dynamic and that there is a steady flow of new expertise available on the rosters.

Duties and Responsibilities

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Programme Specialist (Deployments),the Outreach Consultant will be the coordinator for the RRPT’s efforts to identify and bring on board new expertise and potential partner institutions.

The consultant will:

Identify new candidates through Country Offices and Regional Hubs
Identify UN Agencies, regional organizations, networks, and thinks tanks, and facilitate the identification of experts from these organizations for the roster
Ensure greater gender, geographic, and language parity on the rosters
Coordinate with a ‘social media and online talent search company’ to identify new experts for the roster
Manage roster information on both the internet and intranet and oversee the addition of new experts

Identification of new candidates through Country Offices and Regional Hubs

Support the implementation of the enhancement plan for CRU rosters including expansion, trainings, vetting processes and quality control
Liaise with CRU’s Crisis Coordination Teams (CCTs) to facilitate addition of new staff members and new consultants in collaboration with Country Offices and Regional Hubs to the SURGE and ExpRes rosters
Review and research UNDP information portals to identify staff for the SURGE roster
Review and research UNDP information portals to identify long term UNDP consultants and service contract holders for UNDP rosters
Support the various processes linked to the expansion of the existing deployment mechanism and consolidate the various rosters that exist within UNDP

Identify UN Agencies, regional organizations, networks and thinks tanks and facilitate identification of experts from these organization for the roster

In collaboration with Crisis Coordination Teams (CCTs), BPPS and Regional Bureaus; identify regional expertise to be added to the ExpRes Roster
Liaise with the relevant institutions and review candidates for addition to the ExpRes Roster
Identify and liaise with UN Agencies to source expertise relevant for CRU – UNDP Rosters.
Liaise with (Stand By Partners) SBPs to source expertise from their rosters

Ensure greater gender, geographic, and language parity on the rosters

Put in place initiatives to have greater language diversity on UNDP rosters, focusing on experts speaking French, Arabic, and Spanish
Proactively seek regional expertise to ensure that the rosters have geographical diversity
Ensure that both the composition and usage of UNDP rosters approaches gender parity

Coordinate with a ‘social media and online talent search company’ to identify new experts for the ExpRes roster

Draft a ToR to with relevant CRU colleagues to identify and contract a social media and talent search company to enhance the composition of CRU rosters
Develop a work plan and a social media/online strategy with said company identifying timelines, activities, and deliverables
Participate in online job fairs to identify expertise
Develop and manage a LinkedIn profile for UNDP Crisis Response
Institutionalize the process within CRU’s Rapid Response and Preparedness Team

Manage roster information on both the internet and intranet and oversee the addition of new experts

Manage and develop the CRU deployments section on www.undp.org
Use UNDP’s website to attract new talent for the consultants roster and facilitate the review and addition of new experts
Manage the SURGE portal on the UNDP intranet and keep SURGE Advisors updated on development and opportunities

Deliverables:

The following deliverables/actions will be provided on an ongoing basis:

UNDP’s SURGE roster enhanced with systematic head hunting within the organization
Partnerships and networks developed within and outside the UN system to source new expertise
Rosters to be made more gender, geographic, and language compatible
CRU’s online and social media presence developed to attract new expertise to the roster
CRU’s deployment section managed on the UNDP website and new expertise solicited, reviewed, and added to the rosters

Competencies

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 favoritism;
Diplomacy and tact.

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications:

Education:

Advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) in International Relations and/or Regional Studies, Project Management, Human Resources or Information Technology.

Experience:

Minimum of 7 years of relevant post Masters Work experience, in roster management, operations, management or crisis response;
The candidate should be familiar with matters pertaining to the UN or UNDP
Proficiency in social media and online recruitment platforms such as LinkedIn, UNDPs work, and humanitarian field work in general;
Project management, good IT skills, and human resources experience is also an advantage;
Exceptional networking and partnership development skills
Flexibility and organizational skills are highly preferred;
Computer proficient and well versed in the use of HR databases, the Internet, Excel and Word

Language Requirements:

Proficiency in English, both written and oral, is a must;
Fluency in one or several other UN working languages (s) would be an added advantage

Application Procedure

An application package containing the following (to be uploaded as one file):

Online application with brief description of why the applicant considers her/himself the most suitable candidate for the assignment; and
Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects and specifying the relevant assignment period (from/to), as well as the email and telephone contacts of at least three (3) professional references.

Note: The above documents needed to be scanned into one file and uploaded to the online application as a single document.

Shortlisted candidates (ONLY) will be requested to submit a Financial Proposal.

The financial proposal should specify an all-inclusive daily fee (based on a 7 hour working day - lunch time is not included - and estimated 21.75 days per month).
The financial proposal must be all-inclusive and take into account various expenses that will be incurred during the contract, including: the daily professional fee; cost of travel from the home base to the duty station and vice versa, where required; living allowances at the duty station; communications, utilities and consumables; life, health and any other insurance; risks and inconveniences related to work under hardship and hazardous conditions (e.g., personal security needs, etc.), when applicable; and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services under the contract.

In the case of unforeseeable travel requested by UNDP, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging, and terminal expenses should be agreed upon between UNDP and Individual Consultant prior to travel and will be reimbursed. In general, UNDP should 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.
If the applicant is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated into the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.
The Financial Proposal is to be emailed as per the instructions in the separate email that will be sent to shortlisted candidates.

Evaluation process

Applicants are reviewed based on the Required Skills and Experience stated above and based on the technical evaluation criteria outlined below. Applicants will be evaluated based on cumulative scoring. When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

Being responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation where technical criteria weighs 70% and Financial criteria/ Proposal weighs 30%.

Technical Evaluation - Total 70% (70 points)

Criteria 1: Proven and relevant experience in networking projects, social media , programming, partnerships, and coordination – 15 points
Criteria 2: Experience working in the different pillars of the UN system is highly desirable – 15 points
Criteria 3: Proven ability to deliver in a timely manner within cost and quality standards – 5 points
Criteria 4: Proven ability to work in a multicultural setting – 15 points
Criteria 5: Proven networking skills – 15 points
Criteria 6: Proven knowledge of organizations and institutions providing the technical knowledge that CRU seeks - 15

Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (35 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (50 points) shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

Financial Evaluation - Total 30% (30 points)

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposals:
p = y (µ/z), where
p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal
µ = price of the lowest priced proposal
z = price of the proposal being evaluated

Contract Award

The candidate obtaining the highest combined scores in the combined score of Technical and Financial evaluation will be considered technically qualified and will be offered to enter into contract with UNDP.

Institutional Arrangement

The consultant will report to the SURGE Deployment Coordinator/Deployment Specialist in the Crisis Interface Team, UNDP Crisis Response Unit, New York. A work station will be provided to the consultant in the UNDP Crisis Response Unit. The consultant is expected to bring a laptop. Frequent interactions and consultations with a variety of UN stakeholders will form an integral part of the consultant’s duties.

Payment modality

Payment to the Individual Contractor will be made based on the actual number of days worked, deliverables accepted, and upon certification of satisfactory completion by the manager.
The work week will be based on 35 hours, i.e. on a 7 hour working day, with core hours being between 9h00 and 18h00 daily.