Background

Rapid and continued economic dynamism has translated into growth and reduced poverty levels in several countries in Asia and the Pacific. Greater foreign direct investments and capital movements, accentuated by higher regional mobility, are reasons for further optimism for future regional growth. This progress has often come at the expense of the human rights of minorities, marginalized and disadvantaged and at-risk groups in the interest of investments and financial gains.

The UNDP Asia-Pacific, Governance and Peacebuilding Team, Business and Human Rights Unit, is currently engaged in promoting the implementation of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP). The UNGP clarifies the duty of states and the responsibility of businesses to uphold international norms and treaties on human rights. These Guiding Principles rest on three pillars: 1) the State’s duty to protect human rights; 2) the corporate responsibility to respect human rights and; 3) the joint-responsibility of both the State and businesses sector to provide access to remedy for victims of business-related abuses.

Momentum supporting the implementation of the UNGP through National Action Plans (NAPs) is developing quickly in the region. Nurturing this, an already well-developed community of industry advocates, human rights activists, and development practitioners are deepening their work on a wide variety of thematic area or industry-specific B&HR activities. While leading national and multi-national corporations are embedding human rights due diligence approaches into their operational policies and corporate communication profiles.

Based on the findings from the inception phase period, UNDP proposes to develop and implement the regional project, to which this consultancy is attached to, Business and Human Rights in Asia: Promoting Responsible Business Practices through Regional Partnerships.

The goal of this project is to promote the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles in Asia through regional efforts focused on advocacy, policy development, technical advisory support, capacity building, awareness raising, innovation platforms, regional peer learning events, and South-South cooperation. Based on a year-long scoping and piloting phase, funded by the Regional Development Cooperation Section at the Embassy of Sweden in Thailand, the proposed project will be implemented by the UNDP Bangkok Regional Hub in collaboration with UNDP Country Offices in the region and in partnership with regional initiatives, NHRIs, CSOs, other UN agencies, and the UN Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises.

The objective of this assignment is to support the second phase of the project on Business and Human Rights in Asia: Promoting Responsible Business Practices through Regional Partnerships. The assignment will be structured around the following five (5) deliverables and focused on South Asia

1. Conduct advocacy missions in the respective sub region.
2. Deliver trainings and conduct workshops.
3. Provide technical expertise and advice on the drafting of NAPs.
4. Provide quality assurance of the work at country level and report on progress.
5. Coordinate the presence of stakeholders from countries in South Asia to Regional and Global events.

Duties and Responsibilities

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Scope of Work

The International Consultant shall focus on five main workstreams:

1. Conduct awareness-raising, advocacy, and follow-up scoping missions in the project focus countries in Southeast Asia, including:

• Visits to focus countries in South Asia, including consultations with government agencies, private sector actors, and UN system entities
• Drafting reports to highlight key issues, trends, emerging opportunities, risks, potential project partners, and entry-points for the regional programme in focus countries
• Consultations with Regional Bodies such as SAARC to promote regional approaches
• Consultations with APF and individual NHRIs in the sub-region to discuss a mechanism of regional cooperation on Business and Human Rights
• Consultations at National and Regional level with CSOs and Indigenous Peoples’ Groups.

2. Provide expert input and facilitate capacity-building workshops and training events, including:

• Facilitate Workshops to present key issues and discuss the partnership architecture with all stakeholders
• Deliver Presentations/workshops to Resident Coordinators and UN Country Teams in each of the countries visited to raise awareness and build partnerships at national level.
• Participate in consultations with international partners interested in supporting the Regional Programme
• Supporting Capacity-building of private sector actors and civil society organisations.

3. Provide technical support, expert advice, and policy representation to support governments in developing a National Action Plan on Business and Human Rights, or similar policy documents, including:

• Organizing regional events on Business and Human Rights to exchange best practices, encourage a regional race-to-the-top to develop NAPs, and maintain momentum
• Training government representatives on Business and Human Rights and seize opportunities to use the implementation of the UNGPs as an instrument to strengthen gender equality and promote Environmental Rights
• Facilitating discussions on key country-specific issues that can be incorporated into a NAP
• Provide Comments on Base Line Assessments and National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights
• Contributing to and facilitating consultations with designated government ministries to ensure quality of NAPs
• Supporting Policy coherence among different Policy documents being drafted by supported Governments.

4. Provide programme support and quality assurance of activities implemented by country offices, including:

• Support to awareness raising activities (trainings and presentations) organized for or by relevant country offices
• Provide any other Technical Assistance in the implementation of the regional programme at country-level
• Draft quarterly updates and annual reports on progress in the sub-region
• Draft Speeches and Talking Points for UNDP Senior Management
• Take Charge of overall Project Implementation in the periods of absence of the Business and Human Rights Adviser

5. Support the sub-regional project partnership architecture

• Convene all relevant stakeholders and key partners for programme events in the sub-region
• Cultivate new working relationships with emerging partners working on Business and Human Rights in the project focus countries
• Support private sector engagement with regional and national companies in Southeast Asia
• Represent UNDP Asia-Pacific and the programme unit in regional and national events on Business and Human Rights.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

Institutional Arrangement:

The international consultant shall work under the direction of the Business and Human Rights Advisor.

Duration of the Work:

The consultant is expected to commit a period of 1 September 2018 – 31 August 2019, up to a maximum of 200 working days over the contract period. The consultant must work full-time and based in the Bangkok Regional Hub.
 

Duty Station:

Based in Bangkok but expected frequent travel in South Asian countries or as requested by the Business and Human Rights Advisor.

Travels will be authorized by the Business and Human Rights Advisor when required. Travel expenses (ticket, living allowance and local transport) shall be agreed prior travel and reimbursed after trips completed in compliance with UNDP travel regulations.

Competencies

• Expertise in Human Rights and familiarity with The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights
• Excellent leadership and organisational skills, including the ability to share information and coordinate efforts within the team
• Excellent analytical, reporting, and writing skills.
• Proven resource mobilization experience
• Effective communication skills and ability to work under time constraints
• Extensive knowledge of UNDP’s policies, procedures, and practice is an asset
• Full computer literacy in Microsoft Office i.e. MS-Word, MS-Excel, and MS-Power Point.

Required Skills and Experience

Educational Qualifications:

Advanced university in Law, Political Science, Public Policy, International Development, other Social Sciences, or closely-related fields.

Experience:

• Minimum 5 years of relevant experience on program and policy work in the Human Rights/Rule of Law field.
• Relevant experience in Asia Pacific, particularly in South Asia, is an asset.
• Proven track record in successfully working with governments, business, and civil society in Asia on Human Rights issues.
• Reporting and Project drafting experience      

Language requirements

Fluency in written and oral English is essential.  Working knowledge of another UN language or a South Asian language is also an advantage.

Price Proposal

Consultant shall quote an all-inclusive daily fee for the contract period. The term “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, consumables, etc.) that could be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment, are already factored into the fee submitted in the proposal. Payments will be made to the IC on a monthly basis based on actual days worked and upon submission of timesheets and approval of the supervisor.

Consultant shall also indicate costs of travel to reach the duty station (if applicable).

For the purpose of reaching the duty station, 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.

Travel costs shall be reimbursed at actual but not exceeding the quotation from UNDP approved travel agent.  The provided living allowance will not be exceeding UNDP DSA rates. Repatriation travel cost from home to duty station in Bangkok and return shall not be covered by UNDP.

Evaluation Method and Criteria

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis

The award of the contract shall 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 set of weighted technical criteria (70%). and financial criteria (30%). Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment.

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points)

Criteria 1: Relevance of educational background (max 10 points)

Criteria 2: Relevant experience in Business and Human Rights/Human Rights (max 30 points)

Criteria 3:  Relevant experience in South Asia (10 points)

Criteria 4: Availability to start by September 2018 (max 5 points)

Criteria 5: Reporting and Project drafting experience (max 15 points)

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Documentation required

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document:

1. Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided in Annex III. Commenting on the ability to start the assignment by September 2018.
2. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.
3. Technical proposal, including a brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, including work samples of Reports and Project Documents.
4. Financial proposal, as per template provided in Annex III.

Incomplete proposals may not be considered.  The short-listed candidates may be contacted, and the successful candidate will be notified.

Annexes

Annex I – TOR Business and Human Rights Specialist
Annex II – Individual IC General Terms and Conditions

Annex III – P11 for ICs

Annex IV - Offeror's Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability for the Individual Consultant, including and financial proposal template. Annex V – Procurement notice

All documents can be downloaded at :http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=48577