Background

The UN General Assembly, and all its 193-member countries, in September 2015 adopted a global development vision entitled Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This 2030 Agenda was designed as a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity.  It lays out 17 new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets, to stimulate global action over the next 15 years on issues critical to humanity and the planet.

India committed to these SDGs at the September 2015 UN Summit and the SDGs officially came into force on 1 January 2016. The Government of India has actively engaged in nationalizing the SDGs from early 2016. NITI Aayog, the National Institution for Transforming India, has been entrusted with the responsibility of coordinating the efforts on SDGs with ministries and states, indicative of “whole of government” approach. NITI Aayog is also responsible for formulating a vision document expected to be aligned with SDGs. The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) is responsible for providing an indicative national SDG monitoring framework.

The UNDP India Country Programme Document CPD (2018-2022) signed with the Government of India (GoI) aims at transformative change and development impact at scale. In line with this, UNDP has initiated active support to many state governments in mainstreaming SDG’s within their schemes and programmes as a part of an UN system wide to SDG roll out for visioning and planning in India. In view of India’s commitment to the 2030 Agenda, the Odisha State Government is committed to fulfilling the SDGs targets by aiming to improve the performance in Health sector, Education sector immediately, and focusing on long term economic growth.                                      

Government of Odisha has signed MoU with UNDP to work collectively for the development of the state including the SDGs. Services of a technical officer are required to lead UNDP’s intervention regarding Localisation and Integration of SDGs in the State.  Primarily the Individual Consultant will have to support the State Government in finalizing the Vision Plan 2030 and its roll out in the State. The technical officer shall report to State Head, Odisha.

Duties and Responsibilities

A. Provides support and inputs to strategic planning in line with the priorities and development objectives of the state governments in support of the SDGs through:

• Support in the preparation and finalisation of the Vision Plan in consultation with the Planning Department.
• Identifying entry points in consultation with the State governments for SDG localization
• Designing strategies for implementation of SDGs in the states aligned with projects that UNDP can support;
• Identifying opportunities for high value addition/high impact projects, testing of innovative development solutions, and scaling up successful initiatives at various levels State, district or community;
• Undertaking research, writing concepts notes, technical proposals, reports and any other technical document to support the expansion of the UNDP engagement with the State Government in various sectors. 

B. Support to research, analytics and capacity development. Strengthening the capacities for planning and implementation at state and district level, to deliver on key development priorities and objectives;

• Preparing background analysis on SDGs and related issues for partner consultations and high-level meetings with government counterparts, donor community, etc.
• Developing knowledge products for increasing understanding on SDGs at all levels
• Develop and implement customized training manuals and tools for localizing SDGs
• Analysis of SDG-related information and best practices, with emphasis on gender, people with disabilities, the youth and other vulnerable groups
• Identification of data gaps impeding sound and timely data analysis for policy, planning and monitoring and evaluation
• Conduct policy research for identifying areas which need further input for achieving the SDGs by 2030

C. Support for Stakeholder Engagement

• Engaging other stakeholders, including other UN agencies for disseminating information and creating SDG centric platforms in collaboration with the government
• Promoting synergies between various specialized agencies, think tanks and other knowledge hubs for strengthening linkages with UNDP
• Engaging grassroots level functionaries into preparing SDG centric participatory planning exercise

Any other work assigned by the supervisor.

Competencies

Desirable Skills

• Data Analytics
• Reporting writing & documentation
• Management &Leadership skills

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Essential: Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent in Development Studies, Public Administration or Business Administration, Economics, Political Sciences, Social Sciences or related field.
• Desirable: Master’s Degree in Development Studies, Public Administration or Business Administration, Economics, Political Sciences, Social Sciences or related field. Experience:
• At least 5 years of experience in related sector after the completion of the Post Graduation.

Language:

• Fluency in English and Oriya is essential.

Experience

• 5-7 years of relevant experience of working with the government at national level or sub-national level in the area of inter-sectoral planning.
• Experience in research and policy-level analysis, including in formulation, monitoring and evaluation of strategies and development programmes/projects.
• Sound understanding of working of state government departments.
• Exposure to state Planning Processes and annual budgeting exercise of the government.
• A sound knowledge of outcome budget, Green budgeting, plan formulation, resource mobilization, economic analysis, convergence modelling
• Experience in coordination with stakeholders
• Adequate experience of drafting Project Proposals including monitoring tools such as log frame among other
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems.

Desirable:

• Working experience with the Government of Odisha
• Sound knowledge of UNDP rules and regulations, policies, procedures and practices.
• Having Exposure to SDG (or MDGs) concept and implementation
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation

Duration of the Work:

• The contract will be awarded for eight months initially. Working days will be as per the State Government policy.

Travel:

• Travel within the state and districts may be required.

Schedule of Payments:

• Consolidated Monthly Fee (Remuneration) of Rs 70,000) payable in monthly instalments, upon submission of monthly progress report certified by the reporting officer.

Documentation required:

• 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.

Evaluation Method and Criteria: Evaluation and ranking will be done based on the following criteria:

• Educational Qualification: 30 Marks;
• Relevant Experience: 40 Marks;
• Interview: 30 Marks

Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (49 marks) of 70 marks will be eligible to appear for the interview. Top scoring candidate (out of total 100 marks) will be sent offer of consultancy in order of ranking.

Interview for the shortlisted candidates would be either conducted face to face in Bhubaneswar or by telephone /over skype.

Note - Please ensure that all the documents to be uploaded should be combined in a single PDF file before uploading as the system has provision of uploading only one document. For any clarifications, please write to: ic.india@undp.org