UNDP Jobs - 84645- Adviser, Partnership Consultant

Adviser, Partnership Consultant

Location :

New York, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Jun-2019

Application Deadline :

26-Apr-19 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Up to 1 year, starting 1 June 2019

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

Up to 1 year

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 UNOSSC, hosted by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is responsible for supporting intergovernmental political process in South-South and triangular cooperation and mainstreaming South-South and triangular cooperation across the UN system and assisting developing countries in strengthening their capacities to manage, design and implement South-South and triangular cooperation policies and initiatives through the identification, sharing, and transfer of successful Southern generated-development solutions.

The UNOSSC also supports Member States and other stakeholders in cultivating, building and consolidating strategic partnerships that are critical for advancing South-South and triangular cooperation for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other Internationally Agreed Sustainable Development Goals.

UNOSSC supports the United Nations development system and its partners at global, regional and national levels, to raise awareness and enhance South-South and triangular cooperation through: monitoring progress in South-South cooperation globally; supporting dialogue among Southern countries; coordinating focal point networks; coordinating an inter-agency mechanism on South-South cooperation; providing advisory services to Member States; and supporting training programmes.

With the growing importance of South-South and triangular cooperation in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development era, there is a need to increase the UNOSSC’s ability to support the development, the nurturing and the management of partnerships and action in line with policy guidance emanating from the General Assembly and the High Level Committee on South-South Cooperation (HLC) for which UNOSSC acts as the Secretariat.

UNOSSC engages in multi-stakeholder partnerships to galvanize South-South and triangular collective action with diversity of actors in support of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and related international agreements. Multi-stakeholders’ engagement should be linked to the policy and partnerships mandate of the UNOSSC and its contribution to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals, leveraging the UN system’s institutional, substantive, human and financial resources and UNDP’s related policies and procedures for its implementation.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the guidance and supervision of the Deputy Director for Policy and Strategic Partnerships, the Advisor on Partnerships will perform the following tasks:

Advises on building, consolidating and nurturing South-South and triangular cooperation partnerships with governments and other stakeholders that will advance the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals and other Internationally Agreed Development Goals.
Assists in the implementation and consolidation of partnership with the Department of Economic Affairs of the General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and provide ideas and initiatives that could feed into the relevant projects and programmes of UNOSSC for consideration and possible implementation.
Advises on implementation and consolidation of the partnership with the Commonwealth Secretariat and provide ideas and initiatives that could feed into the relevant projects and programmes of UNOSSC for consideration and possible implementation.
Provides implementation support and consolidates partnership with the Colombian Presidential Agency of International Cooperation (APC) and provide ideas and initiatives that could feed into the relevant projects and programmes of UNOSSC for consideration and possible implementation.

Key Deliverables include:

1. Advisory service provided on partnership with different governments and relevant partners dealing with South-South and triangular cooperation as well as UN and non-UN institutions and entities. The consultant is expected to be responsive in providing advisory service within an agreed timeframe.

2. Innovative new partnerships identified and initiated, built, and integrated further into the work of UNOSSC. The consultant, during the one-year contract term may need to test and formalize at least 3 new partnership opportunities.

3. Advisory service provided on UNOSSC’s partnerships with various national, regional and global stakeholders, leading to diversified partnership portfolio of UNOSSC. The consultant is expected to be responsive in providing advisory service with planned timeframe and quality.

4. Contributed to the work on drafting and rolling out the UNOSSC’s strategy for regional networking, consolidating Memoranda of Cooperation between the Office and the relevant regional intergovernmental and financial institutions, including the Economic Cooperation Organization and the Islamic Development Bank.

5. Partnership between the Department of Economic Affairs of the General Secretariat of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the UNOSSC facilitated and operationalized for joint activities in support of sustainable development efforts.

6. Advise and facilitate to the successful launch of the partnership between the Commonwealth Secretariat and the UNOSSC for following indicators: strengthened capacity of Commonwealth Members to engage in South-South and triangular cooperation in support of regional integration and the promotion of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals; successful knowledge sharing during high-level policy debates; and concrete technical exchanges that strengthen institutional partnerships through South-South and triangular cooperation.

7. Partnership between the Colombian Presidential Agency of International Cooperation (APC) and the UNOSSC successfully implemented with the following performance indicators: strengthened capacity of APC and partners to enhance and diversify their South-South and triangular cooperation activities through promoting and establishing strategic alliances with the relevant international organizations and agencies in order to implement, promote, and articulate South-South cooperation in the related spheres; sharing of experiences among partners; and development of a full-fledged ACP cooperation agenda with local, national and international actors and other stakeholders within and outside the country.

8. Advise and facilitate the successful organization and engagement with various partners during intergovernmental processes and forums, including the High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation and the Director-Generals Forum.

The specific plan of deliverables, timelines as well as performance indicators will be developed monthly and agreed between manager and consultant.

Duration of work / Contracting Arrangements:

The overall objective of this contract is to facilitate and expedite the process by which UNOSSC can engage the services of Adviser – Partnerships;
The consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment;
The consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own laptop;
Given the global consultations to be undertaken during this assignment, the consultant is expected to be reasonably flexible with his/her availability for such consultations taking into consideration different time zones where applicable;
If the consultant will be required to work remotely, the consultant will engage with the Supervisor by email and Skype regularly;
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 (with a “day” calculated as 8 hours of work) and outputs delivered.

Travel:

Mission travel may be required to attend relevant meetings and/or trainings, which will likely not exceed 4 missions a year.
Any necessary mission travel must be approved in advance and in writing by the Deputy Director for Policy and Strategic Partnership;
The BSAFE course must be successfully completed prior to commencement of travel;
Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director;
Consultants are responsible for obtaining any visas and security clearances needed in connection with travel with the necessary support from UNDP;
Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under https://dss.un.org/dssweb/;
All related travel expenses will be supported by the unit’s travel fund and will be arranged as per UNDP rules and regulations for consultants. Costs for airfares, terminal expenses, and living allowances should not be included in the financial proposal.

Payment:

Payments to individual contractor will be made based on the actual number of days worked, subject to deliverables accepted and upon certification of satisfactory delivery of services by the UNOSSC manager.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies

Demonstrates integrity by modeling 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.

Functional Competencies

Learning and people development:

Excellent analytical and information-management skills.
Manages projects effectively and consistently ensures timeliness and quality of project work.
Builds strong relationships with partners, focuses on impact and result for the partner and responds positively to feedback.
Establishes lasting relationships and substantive dialogue that create valuable intervention opportunities for UNOSSC, and access to critical information within and outside the Office.
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.

Communication:

Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills with capacity to research briefs.
Ability to interact with government, partners, UN and UNDP officials.
Ability to interact with and communicates effectively with staff at all levels of the UN and UNDP.

Knowledge Management and Learning:

Full knowledge of the UNOSSC vision for promoting South-South and triangular cooperation on a global and United Nations system-wide basis.
In-depth knowledge of South-South and triangular cooperation policy and technical/operational aspects of sustainable development, as well as the challenges and opportunities presented by global and national politics, economic structures and civil society processes.
Excellent knowledge of policy processes and work culture in UN Agencies, private sector and civil society.
Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development and applies newly acquired skills.
Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside of UNDP.

Teamwork:

Acts as a team player and facilitates team work;
Willing to learn from others;
Collaboratively works with colleagues inside the UN as well as its partners and other stakeholders to pursue common goals;
Projects a positive image and ready to take on a wide range of tasks

Required Skills and Experience

Education

At least advanced university degree (Masters or equivalent) in development studies, economics, social sciences, public administration, international relations or equivalent required.

Experience

At least 7 years of experience in providing support in partnerships development, and policy analysis and/or support on international development and development cooperation, including through South-South and triangular cooperation required.
Work closely with government delegations, excellent relations with delegations and close familiarity with the intergovernmental process on South-South and triangular cooperation and the High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation are required.
Experience and expertise regarding global development issues (especially on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and development cooperation) based on previous work experience in a multilateral institution required.
Proven track record of effective resource mobilization is an asset.
Good knowledge of political developments; sound understanding of the UN system, including intergovernmental bodies and processes especially on operational activities for development are assets.
Sound knowledge and experience on South-South and triangular cooperation for development in the United Nations system is an asset.
Experience in organizing UN high-level meetings and global forums is an asset.
Knowledge of Multilateral and bilateral cooperation agencies’ programmes, priorities and procedures are an asset.

Language Requirements

Fluency in English language at Professional level is required (Oral and written)
Knowledge of other UN languages would be an asset

Qualified women are encouraged to apply.

PROCEDURE FOR SUBMISSION OF APPLICATIONS

Application is a two-step process:

STEP 1

Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via this website. The application should contain the TWO following documents, ALL IN ONE FILE:

DOCUMENT 1: Personal CV, 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.
DOCUMENT 2: Brief description of why the individual considers her/himself suitable for the assignment. Please submit this information in the same file as Document 1.
All the information requested above must be submitted in the same file. Candidates who fail to submit all the information requested above will be disqualified.
Do not include your financial proposal at this stage. Only shortlisted candidates (technically qualified) will be invited to submit a financial proposal.

STEP 2

Financial Proposal

After review of applications, technically qualified candidates will be contacted by UNDP and requested 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.
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 responsive and qualified candidates.

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

Financial proposals must be all inclusive and must be expressed on the basis of “a daily fee” in USD.
Payment will be made upon submission of a certificate of payment request, at a schedule agreed based on deliverables, indicating outputs achieved and days worked to be verified and cleared for payment by the supervisor.
Any official mission travel expenses will be duly paid for directly by UNDP and should not be included in the price proposal.

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials

Please send your request for?clarifications?to pso.bids@undp.org before?18 April 2019. UNDP will respond via e-mail and publish the clarifications without identifying the source of inquiry at the following sites:

http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id= 54745

Due to the large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process

Criteria for Selection of The Best Offer

The selection of the best offer from the shortlisted candidates will be based on a Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and experience will be weighted a maximum of 700 points and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a maximum of 300 points out of 1000 points.

Method: Cumulative analysis method will be used to evaluate proposals.

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:
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

Technical Criteria weight: 70%

Financial Criteria weight: 30%

Technical Evaluation (700 points, Weight 70%)

All applicants will be initially screened against the minimum qualification requirements as specified above.

Only those applicants who meet the minimum level of education (Masters or equivalent), relevant years of experience requirements (7 years minimum) and minimum languages requirements (English) will be longlisted and considered for the technical evaluation against the following criteria:

DESK REVIEW OF TECHNICAL CRITERIA AS EVIDENT IN THE SUBMITTED APPLICATION:

Relevance of the experience in providing support in partnerships development, and policy analysis and/or support on international development and development cooperation, including through South-South and triangular cooperation. (150 points)
Proven track record of effective resource mobilization, international fundraising and funding diversification, Development and evaluation of donor funded programmes and projects (50 points)
Relevance of experience working with government delegations, excellent relations with delegations and close familiarity with the intergovernmental process on South-South and triangular cooperation and the High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation are an essential prerequisite for this function. (100 points)
Experience and expertise regarding global development issues (especially on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and development cooperation) based on previous work experience in a multilateral institution. (20 points)
Good knowledge of political developments; sound understanding of the UN system, including intergovernmental bodies and processes especially on operational activities for development. (20 points)
Sound knowledge and experience on South-South and triangular cooperation for development in the United Nations system, organizing UN high-level meetings and global fora, Multilateral and bilateral cooperation agencies’ programmes, priorities and procedures. (60 points)

The maximum points that can be achieved in the desk review is 400 points.

Only those applicants obtaining a minimum of 280 points (70% of points obtainable in the desk review) will be considered for an interview.

The total obtainable score on the interview is 300 points bringing the total points for the technical evaluation to a maximum of 700 points.

Candidates obtaining less than 210 points during the interview (70% of points obtainable during the interview) will be disqualified.

Only those candidates who obtain a total technical score of 490 points (70% of total technical score) and above on the technical evaluation will be considered for financial evaluation and will be asked to submit a financial proposal.

Financial evaluation (300 points, Weight 30%)

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

Note:

Please visit http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=22291 to view the Individual Contract (IC) General Terms and Conditions (for Individuals/Free Lancers who will sign the UNDP contract on behalf of themselves).
For Individuals who will be represented on behalf of a company, a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA) will be signed between UNDP and the company. To view the RLA's terms & conditions, please see http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=22292 Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA): A legal instrument between UNDP and a Company/institution, according to which, the latter makes available the services of an individual delivering time-bound and quantifiable outputs that are directly linked to payments.