Background

In 2016, a special committee led by Ministry of Economic Affairs (MEA) (then known as Economic Planning Unit (EPU)), has formulated a B40 Action Plan to address the issues of increasing cost of living through a consultative process with B40 communities.

Since then, the findings from the consultation with the B40 communities were used to validate as well as to inform the study of B40 challenges, which has been completed with recommendations. Among others, the study pointed out a few key findings.

• To make services and B40 programmes very effective and impactful is very challenging due to the fact that urban poverty is by nature, multidimensional and heterogeneous.
• Cooperation and collaboration between government agencies is difficult as each work within their mandate to resolve multidimensional problems in silos. Each agency maintains its own database of target groups corresponding to its own services and programmes. The absence of data sharing policies and provisions in government has hindered efforts to consolidate personal data.
• Monitoring and evaluation of cross-agency and ministerial coordination of B40 programmes is not currently a common practice. This hinders deeper outcome-based analysis that can give feedback on gaps or inefficiencies such as, duplications, insufficient assessment, and inconsistent indicators and standards.

Taking this lead, a Project Coordinator’s position is required towards two objectives:

1. To work closely with the Project Core Team to coordinate the day-to-day smooth operations of the project.

2. To provide strategic support in the planning and implementation of the B40 pilot project, including to support in the reporting of policy recommendations as input to the 12 Malaysia Plan.

Guiding principles of the pilot project:

• While the scope of the pilot has been established, experimentation and the flexibility for variations is encouraged in response to new information as the pilot progresses.
• The pilot’s intention is to demonstrate the value of the CJA, and is designed to learn useful lessons (even if results are not seen to be successful) to improve subsequent initiatives.
• The pilot considers existing government processes and procedures – so that roles and functions are not duplicated, and implementation does not increase workload of participating frontliners.
• Training and guidance on the implementation of the pilot will be provided.
• Check-points are established in the pilot to assess its progress. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective 1: To work closely with the Project Core Team to coordinate the day-to-day smooth operations of the project.

More specifically, the Project Coordinator shall work closely with and support the Pilot Project Core Team to:

1. Maintain and monitor project plans and schedules, ensuring deadlines are met;
2. Organize and facilitate stakeholder meetings;
3. Document and follow-up on important actions and decisions from meetings;
4. Prepare materials for meetings / workshops, as necessary;
5. Regularly communicate project changes to ensure the Project Core Team is kept up-to-date;
6. Providing administrative support (e.g. logistics) and other project tasks, as needed;
7. Ensuring all documentation is maintained appropriately for the project.

Objective 2: To provide strategic support in the planning and implementation of the B40 pilot project, including to support in the reporting of policy recommendations as input to the 12 Malaysia Plan.

The Project Coordinator shall work closely with the Project Core Team to:

1. To develop project strategies, identify risks and issues, and provide solutions, where applicable;
2. To provide design input to the toolkit that will be developed for pilot implementation;
3. To support the Facilitation Expert in planning, organizing and facilitating stakeholder workshops and trainings;
4. Lead the roll-out of the pilot implementation, e.g. as the focal point / first point of contact to state actors who are involved in the implementation;
5. To develop mechanism and lead the monitoring of the progress of the pilot implementation;
6. To resolve any challenges or issues faced in the pilot implementation in consultation with the Project Core Team;
7. Support Project Core Team in providing strategic inputs and reporting for policy recommendations, based on the experience and insights gathered from the pilot project;
8. Involved in stakeholder consultations or interviews where necessary, including liaising with think tanks, research institutions, and NGOs.

Duration of work:

The consultancy is a full-time engagement which will take place from July 2019 to 31 December 2019 (6 months).

Duty Station:

The B40 Project Coordinator will be based on full-time in UNDP Office at Putrajaya.

Contracts based on daily fee:

The B40 Project Coordinator will be paid on a monthly based on time sheet completed with description of tasks, certified by UNDP Programme Manager. UNDP makes payments based on the actual number of days worked. Payments must be supported by a duly completed time sheet.

The estimated maximum number of workdays for the duration of the consultancy is as follows:

Professional fee: (Applicant to provide the details)

UNDP makes payments based on the actual number of days worked. Payments must be supported by duly completed time sheet.

Travel costs:

1. Estimate 2 days, 1 night for each time travel to Kelantan and Sabah. Travel for consultation within KL is envisaged to be day trips.
2. Please include flight, ground travel, accommodation and meals into lump sum cost.
3. In the event of unforeseen additional travels, UNDP will reimburse individual contractor based on pro-rated lump sum travel cost as indicated in this financial proposal.
4. Reimbursement of travel costs (either envisaged or unforeseeable travels) will be made upon submission of a travel claim and all necessary supporting documents, following UNDP standard procedure.
5. Regardless of the purpose of travel, the prevailing price for an economy class ticket on the most direct routes shall apply for all individual contractors. UNDP will not accept travel costs exceeding those of a full-fare economy class ticket. Individual contractors wishing to upgrade their travel to business or first class shall do so at their own expense.

Competencies

• Passion, empathy and strong drive for improving the lives of the disadvantaged and poor communities in Malaysia;
• Demonstrates strong analytical skills;
• Supports team effectively and a good team player;
• Ability to work flexibility and creatively in the context of an exploratory pilot project implementation;
• Willing to travel frequently for the pilot implementation;
• Consistently approaches work with enthusiasm and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills, in English and Bahasa Malaysia;
• Ability to work under pressure and time constraint, and produce quality deliverables;
• Understanding about government programmes, processes and systems, is an added advantage.

Required Skills and Experience

• Minimum Master’s degree and at least 3 years’ experience preferably in public policy, developmental economics, political science or other related fields; or
• In lieu of a Master’s degree, a minimum of Bachelor’s degree with 5 years’ experience preferably in public policy, developmental economics, political science.

Experience:

• Experience working in participatory social research with urban and rural disadvantaged communities;
• Experience in project management or coordination;
• Experienced in rapporteuring and / or facilitating stakeholder consultations;
• Experience working in collaborative team processes;
• Experience in the usage of office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.), to generate charts/tables/graphs to present data / research findings;
• Experience in working with public or private research institutions or think tanks or local development actors, is an added advantage.

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

Interested individuals must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. Technical Proposal:

• Explain in a cover page (maximum 2 pages) how candidate’s qualification and experience in research makes them suitable for the work and can lead towards the successful deliverable of the two objectives of this consultancy within the required timeframe.
• Please summarise evidence of project coordination and participation in stakeholder engagement previously involved.

2. Financial proposal

Specify a daily fee amount which is all inclusive and take into account various expenses the candidate expects to incur during the contract, including:

• The daily professional fee;
• The cost of travel from the home base to the duty station (UNDP Office, Putrajaya) and vice versa;
• The cost of envisaged travel (refer to Financial proposal template);
• Communications, utilities and consumables; and
• Life, health and any other insurance.

Note: In the event of unforeseen additional travels, UNDP will reimburse individual contractor based on pro-rated lump sum travel cost as indicated in the financial proposal, upon submission of a travel claim and all necessary supporting documents, following UNDP standard procedure.

3. Personal CV including areas of expertise and past experiences in similar area of work and at least 3 references.

Note: Incomplete applications will not be considered for shortlisting.  

How to Apply:

• Kindly download the Letter of Confirmation of interest and availability, Financial Proposal Template and General Terms & Conditions mentioned below;
• Read and agree to the General Terms & Conditions;
• Click the ‘apply’ icon and complete what is required;
• Scan all documents into 1 pdf folder and then upload;
• For clarification question, please email to procurement.my@undp.org. The clarification question deadline is three (3) days before the closing. When emailing for clarification questions, please put "MyIC/2019/035" as the subject matter.

Forms and General terms & conditions to be downloaded:

• The UN Personal History Form (P11) is available at:http://www.my.undp.org/content/dam/malaysia/docs/Procurement/P11%20for%20SC%20&%20IC.doc?download
• The Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Financial Proposal Template at: http://www.my.undp.org/content/dam/malaysia/docs/Procurement/MyIC_2019_035%20Annex%201-2.docx
• The General Terms & Conditions for Individual contract is available at:http://www.my.undp.org/content/dam/malaysia/docs/Procurement/General%20Conditions%20of%20Contract%20for%20IC.pdf?download
• The General Terms & Conditions for Reimbursement Loan Agreement is available at:http://www.my.undp.org/content/dam/malaysia/docs/Procurement/Reimbursable%20Loan%20Agreement%20_%20Terms%20&%20Conditions.pdf?download 

Evaluation:

Individuals will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individuals whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) 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%]

UNDP applies a fair and transparent selection process that will take into account the competencies/skills of the applicants as well as their financial proposals. Qualified women and members of social minorities are encouraged to apply.