Background

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 requires enterprises and investors to manage their impact to mitigate or minimize negative externalities and use their capabilities to drive positive change. To enable different organizations to play their respective roles in advancing the Global Goals, we need widely-agreed standards for what constitutes ‘good’ impact measurement and management practice in relation to the SDGs. As more and different actors enter the field, we need standards that set expectations for good practice and accountability and processes for assurance of practice.

About UNDP

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN’s global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP is on the ground in 176 countries and territories, working with governments and people on their own solutions to global and national development challenges. As they develop local capacity, they draw on the people of UNDP and our wide range of partners that can bring about results. UNDP, as an integral part of its mission to fight poverty and improve the lives of people around the world, is committed to being open, transparent and accountable.

About SDG Impact

The SDG Impact Platform seeks to catalyze financial investments from the private sector that advance the SDGs. As interest grows among private sector actors to align investment activity with the SDGs, there is a demonstrated need for unifying standards, tools, and services that can be relied upon by investors to support a process of targeting, measuring and achieving development outcomes. SDG Impact will be working to eliminate barriers to SDG-enabling investing by developing a set of products to empower investors with clarity, insights and tools to authenticate their contribution to the achievement of the SDGs.  UNDP is working in partnership with the Impact Management Project to coordinate SDG-enabling impact measurement and management norms and standards for companies and investors looking to align their capital to the SDGs and measure, manage and report their impact.

Business Case

MARKET DEMAND: As interest grows among private sector actors to align their investment activity with the SDGs, there is a demonstrated need for unifying standards, tools, and services that can be used and relied upon by investors to support a process of aligning with and achieving development outcomes.

VALUE PROPOSITION: UNDP is positioned well to offer services to capital providers to help increase the volume of SDG-enabling investment, by virtue of UNDP’s technical knowledge and capabilities, extensive geographic reach, and credibility as a neutral partner in pursuit of global development objectives. 

CATALYTIC IMPACT: By becoming the standard-setting body for SDG-enabling investment and offering tools and services to deepen engagement with private sector actors to meet that standard, UNDP can help to catalyze much-needed private capital and direct it towards the achievement of the SDGs and help connect impact driven activity with investment to significantly enhance progress toward development goals.

Context and opportunity

There are a range of current efforts to promote impact management that make it a timely moment to launch a standard of practice, starting with a standard for the investment community.

Over the last three years, the Impact Management Project (IMP) has brought together over a thousand organizations to agree on best practices in impact management. The norms were co-created by big and small enterprises, private and public markets investors and development finance institutions, as well as experts from development, social science and evaluation. The IMP norms go into sufficient detail to clarify how practice varies between different actors and different asset classes. As investors create new analytical frameworks – or hire consultants to create their frameworks – there is growing appetite for verification that the practice they are setting up is “aligned with the IMP and other industry best practices”.

The recently-published Operating Principles for Impact Management, of which IFC is secretariat, describe the essential features of managing investment funds which contribute to measurable positive social, economic, or environmental impact, alongside financial returns, and require Signatories to describe publicly how their practice demonstrates the principles. However, IFC explicitly does not provide guidance on how the Principles are to be applied and operationalised.

In addition, although one of the principles requires independent verification of Signatories’ impact management practice, this verification is of the existence of processes (e.g. that the Signatory sets impact objectives), not of the quality of those processes. There is currently no defined standard that enables auditors to assure that an investor’s impact management practice is of sufficient quality to be considered “SDG-enabling”. This is critical to drive consistency and comparability and accountability.

Approach

As the UN’s implementing arm of the SDGs, UNDP is well-positioned to provide authentic standards and guide the accompanying certification for what constitutes SDG-enabling impact management practice.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will be guided by SDG Impact and the Impact Management Project (IMP), in the development of impact management standards for private equity investors that are relevant, credible, useful and transparent and that reflect a balance of stakeholder interests. The consultant will:

• Map existing impact principles generated by members of the Impact Management Project structured network that the SDG Impact Standards will need to work along-side and complement with a focus on the IFC’s Impact Principles;
• Map other relevant standards to which intended end users are subject and ensure the SDG Impact Standards are not inconsistent or conflicting;
• Articulate the theory of change and organize the implementation best practices established under the IMP according to the process-based Operating Principles for Impact Management;
• Identify best practices that can be objectively assessed for each Principle, that results in the development of standards of impact management practice for SDG enabling investment;
• Codify these private equity process standards into a scoring system, which can be used by third-party organizations to assure the SDG-enabling impact management practice of investments.

The content and presentation of the deliverables including outcomes of the mapping component and presentation of draft SDG Impact Standards will be agreed to facilitate a stakeholder and development of verification and accreditation of independent certifiers based on the standards.

Expected Deliverables:

• Deliverable 1: Presentation within one week of award of contract of workplan
• Deliverable 2: Presentation of draft process standards for impact management and measurement for Private Equity within 10 weeks of award of contract for review and consideration; and
• Deliverable 3: Presentation of final draft standards within 3 months of award of contract.

Institutional Arrangements

• The assignment will be home-based;
• The consultant will be supervised by and report directly to the Director of SDG Impact;
• 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 and outputs delivered; and
• The consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment; and

Duration of the Work

The duration of the assignment is 3 months (65 working days) spread through a contractual period ending no later than 15 June 2019.

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

Payment will be made based on the following payment schedule and acceptance of deliverables listed in Section C and payment arrangements in Section D above.

Competencies

Technical Competencies

• Knowledge of impact investing and development finance: including an understanding of market dynamics, landscape of actors, and factors driving the evolution of the strategy;
• Data gathering and presentation: proven ability to monitor, measure, evaluate and report impacts and understand how to synthesize results for clear presentations to non-expert audiences; and
• Building and maintaining new and existing client/partner relationships effectively.

Functional Competencies

• Self-starter, proven ability to work independently and in an entrepreneurial setting;
• Strong motivation and ability to work and deliver under pressure and short deadlines;
• Good interpersonal skills and able to coordinate well with UNDP partner agencies;
• Proficiency in Excel;
• Strong presentation skills;
• Promotes a knowledge sharing and learning culture in and outside UNDP; and
• Respectful of the mandates and roles of different partners, particularly government supported institutions and is able to build and sustain productive and mutually beneficial partnerships.   

 Core Competencies

• Demonstrates and promotes the highest standard of integrity, impartiality, fairness and incorruptibility in all matters affecting his/her work and status
• Understands the structure and hierarchy of UN/UNDP, process flows throughout the organization, products and services, their measures of effectiveness, and perceptions of clients
• Works collaboratively with colleagues inside UN/UNDP as well as its partners and other stakeholders to pursue common goals
• Delivers verbal/written information in a timely, clear, organized and easily understood manner

• Remains calm, composed and patient, regardless of his/her own state of mind in the face of conflict

Required Skills and Experience

Required Skills and Experience:

Application Procedure

Technical Proposal

Submit the technical proposal application package containing the following (to be uploaded as one file):

1. Online application with brief description of why the Offeror considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment; and
2. Personal CV, 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.
3. A Financial Proposal is to be emailed as per the instruction in the separate email that will be sent to applicants who meet minimum requirements.

Note: The above documents (1 & 2) need to be scanned in one file and uploaded to the online application as one document.

Financial Proposal:

Note, only applicants who meet the minimum requirements will be contacted to submit a Financial Proposal.

• The financial proposal should specify an all-inclusive daily fee.
• 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.
• Any unforeseeable travel agreed between UNDP and Individual Consultant, will be supported by the project travel fund and will be arranged according to UNDP entitlements and travel policy. Costs for airfares, terminal expenses, and living allowances should not be included in financial proposal.
• 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.

Criteria for the Selection of the Best Offer

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. Demonstrated understanding of impact investing and development finance. Weight = 20%; Maximum Points: 200;
• Criteria 2. Evidenced investment credentials, ideally having served in an investment advisory or portfolio management capacity. Weight = 20 %; Maximum Points: 200;
• Criteria 3. Demonstrated ability with standards and impact management processes. Weight =20 %; Maximum Points: 200;
• Criteria 4. Demonstrated track record in project management. Weight = 10 %; Maximum Points: 100;

Only shortlisted 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

The candidate obtaining the highest combined score of the technical and financial evaluations will be considered technically qualified and will be offered to enter into contract with UNDP