UNDP Jobs - 81490- Crisis Response and Deployments consultant

Crisis Response and Deployments consultant

Location :

NY, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Nov-2018

Application Deadline :

23-Oct-18 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

6 months

Languages Required :

English

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 Bureau is responsible for managing deployments for crisis response, recovery and preparedness 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. This deployment mechanism will also go onto support the Global Policy Network (GPN) and incorporate areas of UNDP’s work outside of crisis response, recovery and preparedness.

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 the UN through deployment of technical expertise for crisis preparedness and response.

The Rapid Response and Preparedness Team (RRPT) of the Crisis Bureau facilitates these deployments and managed deployment infrastructure, including expert databases, deployment tracking systems, automated communication tools, trainings and communications materials.

Under the supervision of the Programme Specialist (Deployments), the Crisis Response and Deployments Consultant will support the effective and efficient functioning of the Crisis Bureau’s deployment mechanisms and maintain the various rosters in coordination with Crisis Bureau’s Crisis Coordination teams in support of the selection, recruitment, deployment and support of field personnel in emergency situations. The Programme Specialist will also support the Rapid Response and Preparedness Team in developing existing and new partnerships with the Stand by Partners Finally, the Crisis Response and Deployments Consultant will provide support to a range of RRPT processes, including knowledge management, reporting, capacity building, coordination and operations.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Programme Specialist (Deployments) and guidance of the Programme Advisor (Tools and Capacity Development), the Crisis Response and Deployments Consultant will:

Support the deployment of technical expertise for immediate crisis response, recovery and preparedness requests
Support the strengthening of partnerships and deployments through Standby Partners;
Support the capacity building initiatives and enhancement of UNDP’s crisis response, recovery and preparedness roster:
Provide assistance to operational and coordination processes for the Rapid Response and Preparedness Team.

1) Support the deployment of technical expertise for immediate crisis response recovery and preparedness requests with a geographic focus

Provide region specific support for the deployment of experts from the Crisis Bureau Rosters;
Identify candidates for deployment by searching the HR database, contacting, interviewing, and shortlisting cvs in a timely and efficient manner. This should include liaison with country offices, experts and other parts of UNDP as required;
Provide support to experts and country offices during deployments including travel, logistics, and contracting and troubleshooting as required;
Ensure that Country Offices provide evaluations of assignments and that these evaluations are recorded within the rosters.

2) Support the strengthening of partnerships and deployments through the Standby Partners:

Contribute to the enhancement of current SBP areas of collaboration through existing strategic partnerships;
Support the deployment of experts through Stand By Partners
Contribute to SBP discussions on duty of care

3) Support capacity building initiatives and enhancement of UNDP’s crisis response, recovery and preparedness roster:

Collaborate with the Crisis Bureau’s Regional Teams and support the expansion of the Crisis Bureau’s rosters through regular recruitment drives and outreach to Country Offices and Regional Hubs
Support the integration of the Crisis Bureau’s rosters with other rosters within the GPN (Global Policy Network)
Support the consolidation of regional rosters under one unified platform

4) Provide assistance to operational and coordination processes for the RRP Team:

Liaise with the Crisis Bureau’s Operations regarding procurement and finance issues related to deployments;
Support the Crisis Bureau in the planning and preparation of Crisis Board meetings, assist as necessary with preparation of meeting minutes and uploading of the decisions and action points.

Prepare and work with the graphic designer for finalizing knowledge management products such as: infographic for deployments, two-page presentation on the CRU’s roster, Crisis Response Annual Report;

Competencies

Core Competencies:

Ethics & Values:

Demonstrating / Safeguarding Ethics and Integrity;
Demonstrates and promotes the highest standard of integrity, impartiality, fairness and incorruptibility in all matters affecting his/her work and status.

Functional Competencies:

Organizational Awareness:

Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment understands the structure and hierarchy of UN/UNDP, process flows throughout the organization, products and services, their measures of effectiveness, and perceptions of clients;
Excellent knowledge of development issues and internationally-agreed development goals;

Working in Teams:

Acting as a team player and facilitating team work;
Works collaboratively with colleagues inside UN/UNDP as well as its partners and other stakeholders to pursue common goals.
Ability to work at ease in a multicultural setting.

Communicating Information and Ideas:

Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively;
Delivers verbal/written information in a timely, clear, organized and easily understood manner;
Excellent oral and written skills to develop knowledge products in relevant areas;
Strong communication skills and the ability to listen and take direction and leadership from others.

Self-Management & Emotional Intelligence:

Creating synergies through self-control tolerates conditions of stress, uncertainty or ambiguity and continues to maintain a positive outlook and to work productively.

Knowledge Sharing & Continuous Learning:

Ability to efficiently handle and share information and knowledge.

Functional competencies:

Knowledge of crisis response and early recovery policies and inter-agency mechanisms;
Ability to implement methods and tools for crisis situations;
Excellent writing skills in English.

Education:

Advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) in International Relations, Development, Project Management, Human Resources or similar is required.

Experience:

Minimum of 5 years of relevant post Masters Work experience, human resources, project management, operations, management or crisis response; required
The candidate should be familiar with matters pertaining to UN or UNDP; desired
Understanding of rosters; required
Understanding of crisis response and recovery; desired
Understanding of UNDP operations; desired
Some understanding of French; desired
Project management, good IT skills and human resources experience is also an advantage;
Computer proficient and well versed in the use of the HR databases Internet, Excel and Word, required

Language Requirements:

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

Required Skills and Experience

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

Online application with brief description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable 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 Offeror 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 in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.
The Financial Proposal is to be emailed as per the instruction in the separate email that will be sent to shortlisted candidates.

Evaluation process

Applicants are reviewed based on 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% (700 points)

Criteria 1: Proven and relevant experience providing advisory support for crisis response and recovery deployments, and/or partnerships 150 points
Criteria 2: Proven experience in working on rosters and deployment mechanisms with an emphasis on rapid response– 150 points
Criteria 3: Experience working with UN agencies at the country and HQ level desirable – 150 points
Criteria 4: Proven ability to work in fast paced environment focusing on programmatic and operation elements – 150 points
Criteria 5: Proven ability to deliver in a timely manner within cost and quality standards – 50 points
Criteria 6: Some ability to communicate in French is an asset – 50 points

Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (490 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (700 points) shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

Financial Evaluation - Total 30% (300 points)

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:
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

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 Team Leader 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.

VII. CONFIDENTIALITY AND PROPRIETARY INTERESTS

The Individual Consultant shall not either during the term or after termination of the assignment, disclose any proprietary or confidential information related to the consultancy service without prior written consent. Proprietary interests on all materials and documents prepared by the consultants under the assignment shall become and remain properties of UNDP.