The Global Centre for Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Development (GCTISD) was announced as a new initiative in late 2018 between the Government of Singapore and UNDP, supported by government partners including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), the Ministry of Environment and Water Resources (MEWR), the Singapore Food Agency (SFA), the Public Service Division (PSD) and the Economic Development Board (EDB).

The aim of the new Centre is to leverage the thriving technology and innovation ecosystems in Singapore to help the developing world achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

Global Centre for Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Development (GCTISD):

The GCTISD has the mandate to co-design and share innovative tech solutions for sustainable development. It will work closely with UNDP’s Accelerator Labs Network and Policy Advisors at Regional Hubs, in the Global Policy Network and at HQ who guide programme and policy.

On the whole, the Centre aims to catalyse new insights, partnerships and action on the ground. Above all, we want to make a difference in the development journeys of our partners – Governments and development partners who are working towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The GCTISD's current emerging areas of work:

• Sustainable Agriculture: Climate change and population growth have increased the vulnerability and volatility of the global food system and the ecosystems that support it. In order to feed the growing world population, we must leverage innovation and technology to drastically improve the productivity, efficiency and sustainability of agriculture (and aquaculture).
• Cities and Digitalisation: Digitalisation is a priority pathway for developing countries to leapfrog to a more advanced level of sustainability, resilience and human development. This affects most areas of policy and practice, including sectors like transportation, health, liveability and governance.     
• Financial Inclusion / Impact Finance: More than a third of the world’s population remains without access to finance. Financial technologies and impact finance can help bridge the gap through introducing new processes, products and applications which can be extended to the unbanked.

Why we think Innovation, Technology and Partnerships are key to Sustainable Development:

• Innovation: in order to achieve the objectives of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals, business-as-usual is not sufficient. We must embrace new ways of tackling wicked problems and leverage emerging opportunities to become more agile and flexible in the face of rapid change.
• Partnership: Partnerships can connect ideas, talents and expertise, supporting co-create technological solutions for sustainable development challenges.
• Technology: Knowledge and technology transfer among countries can help close development gaps, provide opportunities for innovations to reach scale and accelerate sustainable development in developing countries.

GCTISD is seeking applications for a thematic leadership role on Sustainable Agriculture (including both agri- and aquaculture). The person recruited for this position will work in close partnership with the team on the delivery of the Centre’s workplan and on growing its impact at the country-level. The Consultant is expected to have specialization/expertise in a relevant area, professional experience with project design/management as well as a high level of energy to carry out liaison and support functions for events.

Thematic output under the Sustainable Agriculture Work Stream:

GCTISD seeks to explore partnerships, innovations and solutions (tech and non-tech) that lend themselves to adaption, co-design and/or scaling in developing country contexts. Specifically, this work stream would focus on:

• Building substantive partnerships with Governments, the agriculture / food & nutrition / commodities sector and related technology sectors (in Singapore and globally), academic institutions and non-government organisations that help further the objectives of the Centre;
• Identifying innovative existing and emerging technologies, business models, and financing models which promote sustainable agriculture/aquaculture
• Understanding the challenges/issues faced in developing countries and formulating problem statements that help the GCTISD scan for common ground and potential collaboration. 
• Matching innovations/soluctions or joint research & development efforts with the need/demand in developing countries, leveraging UNDP's global network of offices and partners;
• Showcasing innovations which are technically ready (post Proof-of Concept stage) and in broad alignment with the political, social and technological context of developing country contexts;
• Supporting the adaptation, adoption and scaling of such innovations by national, regional and global stakeholders and partners.
• Facilitating partners to jointly research and develop solutions for shared challenges where available technology/solutions do not exist or are inadequate

The Consultant will be asked to connect the GCTISD to global thought leadership on the current and future direction of Sustainable Agriculture through her/his professional networks in the sector and a sound understanding of the opportunities and risks related to emerging technologies and innovation.

The ideal candidate for this assignment is a committed, creative self-starter with a passion for promoting Sustainable Agriculture and the Sustainable Development Goals

Candidates are expected to have experience (ideally in developing country contexts) in scaling existing innovations and emerging solutions relevant to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

• Lead thematic activities and partnership engagements (as assigned by the Director);
• Continuously scan for and map existing and new innovations in the agricultural system at the pre-production, production, post-production and consumer stage;
• Draft think pieces, articles, news items, speeches, blogs and other knowledge products;
• Actively contribute to the internal and external communication and knowledge sharing efforts of the GCTISD (incl. within the relevant UNDP Communities of Practice);
• Represent the GCTISD as a participant/speaker in relevant events;
• Provide advisory services to UNDP country offices, regional hubs and headquarters;
• Connect partners and innovations with the GCTISD’s network and UNDP country offices;
• Design and management of thematic events (incl. speaker identification, outreach, agenda design, facilitation, etc.) involving researchers, innovators, entrepreneurs, non-governmental representatives, government and other relevant stakeholders;
• Produce documentation of above activities and dissemination material in various forms;
• Preparing updates, progress and financial reports for internal and external use;
• Liaise with relevant agencies in the Government of Singapore and other partner governments;
• Provide overall support to the Director in furtherance of the aims of the Centre. 

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

1. Thematic results-based workplan of activities developed to provide detail to and complement the annual work-plan document of the Centre;
2. Digital roster of relevant experts, institutional partners, entrepreneurs, funders, etc. developed, updated and maintained throughout the assignment;
3. Digital roster of relevant experts, institutional partners, entrepreneurs, funders, etc. developed, updated and maintained throughout the assignment;
4. Annotated database of relevant innovations/solutions (for both internal and external use) developed, updated and maintained throughout the assignment;
5. Coordination and content leadership role assumed for GCTISD's first Global Innovation Challenge on sustainable agriculture (to be launched in November 2019);
6. Problem statements sourced and refined from UNDP's country offices to be used for GCTISD work, incl.the global innovation challenge;
7. Partners and collaborators identified and onboarded to provide resources (financial and in-kind) for the implementation of the GCTISD Workplan;
8. Thematic contribution made to the design and implementation of a 2020 GCTISD flagship event;
9. Thematic community engagements and knowledge sharing activities of GCTISD organized and facilitated;
10. Advisory services provided to internal & external partners (as requested by the Director);
11. High quality reports/documentation for the board as well as funding agencies/institutions drafted and submitted in a timely manner;
12. Regular updates on activities provided and information on relevant innovations/solutions shared with internal and external partners.

Management Arrangements:

• The Consultant will report to the Centre Director;
• All reports and documents relating to the assignment will be submitted to the UNDP Global Centre for Technology, Innovation and Sustainable Development;
• In undertaking the assignment, the consultant will work as an integral member of the GCTISD and will receive logistical support when working at the duty station.

Duty Station:

• The Consultant will be based at the GCTISD offices in Singapore;
• UNDP will not provide additional Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) to the Consultant during his/her stay. All costs need to be integrated into the lumpsum bid.

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;
• Capacity to interact with senior officials and credibly influence senior decision makers in UNDP programme countries and other international development organizations;
• Strong analytical, negotiation and communication skills, including ability to produce high quality practical briefing notes, think pieces and external communications products (e.g. blogs).

Functional Competencies:

Innovation:

Ability to make new partnerships and identify innovations

Collaborates and Integrates

• Creates new partnerships;
• Aligns innovations with Sustainable Development Goals;
• Identify scalable and implementation innovations for developing countries;
• Generates connections and partnerships that could scale up innovation for greater impact.

Leadership:

Ability to persuade others to follow

Creates excitement for work through demonstrated excellence

• Generates individual commitment, excitement and excellence;
• Creates opportunities for team to learn and take on new responsibilities;
• Actively shares experience and knowledge.

People Management:

Ability to improve performance and satisfaction

Motivates excellence and engagement

• Expands team substantive capacity;
• Models independent thinking and action;
• Raises standards, motivates excellence;
• Coaches team members to appropriately share knowledge across teams;
• Addresses conflicts in a timely, sensitive manner; escalates to leadership when appropriate;
• Expands team engagement.

Communication:

Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform

Builds trust and creates lasting partnerships

• Builds professional networks with partners;
• Sought for advice by subordinates, peers and leaders;
• Distills strategy into concise practical messages;
• Influences decision makers;
• Resolves managerial conflict;
• Represents organisation in formal settings.

Delivery:

Ability to get things done

Creates new standards of work

• Accepts responsibility for the outcomes of programme delivery;
• Creates an environment that fosters excitement for work;
• Sets strategic goals and builds the means to achieve.

• Master’s Degree in environmental studies, environmental management, agricultural economics, agricultural engineering, or related fields. 

Experience:

Minimum of 10 years’ work experience (after obtaining a postgraduate degree).

Demonstrated progressively responsible professional experience in designing and managing programmes as well as demonstrated substance knowledge on:

• sustainable agriculture/aquaculture practices and their nexus with energy, food, poverty and water issues;
• agriculture/aquaculture technology and innovation;
• challenges and opportunities for agriculture/aquaculture in developing country contexts (globally).

Professional experience in consulting/advisory, product development, solution design, technology innovation, start-up finance or business development function are desirable.

Research/publication/writing expertise on technology/innovation and relevant megatrends is an added advantage.

Knowledge and practical application of the following relevant themes and concepts is an added advantage: circular economy, climate change adaptation, ecosystem services, green economy, urban agriculture, innovative farming/aquaculture methods, value-chains, nutrition, food systems, inclusive growth and needs of small holder farmers, etc.

Required skills:

• Cultural and political awareness, diplomatic, inter-personal, and networking skills;
• ability to adapt, ability to work independently and take responsibility for delivering results;
• proficiency in office software applications;
• user-level skills in theme-related digital technologies.

Language: 

• Excellent English writing and presentation skills are required;
• Working knowledge of another UN language is considered an asset.

Travel:

• Willingness to travel to developing countries.

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

Consultant shall quote an all-inclusive Daily Fee for the contract period. The term “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, consumables, etc.) that could be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment are already factored into the daily fee submitted in the proposal.

If applicable, travel or daily allowance cost (if any work is to be done outside the IC’s duty station) should be identified separately. Payments shall be done on a monthly basis based on actual days worked, upon verification of completion of deliverables and approval by the IC’s supervisor of a Time Sheet indicating the days worked in the period.

In general, UNDP shall 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. In the event of unforeseeable travel not anticipated in this TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon between the respective business unit and the Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed as per UNDP standard rules and procedures.

Evaluation Method and Criteria:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on cumulative analysis:

The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as a) responsive/compliant/acceptable; and b) having received the highest score out of set of weighted technical criteria (70%). and financial criteria (30%). The financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment.

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points)

• Criteria A (Minimum requirement) Master’s Degree or equivalent in environmental studies, environmental management, agricultural economics, agricultural engineering, or related fields: 15 pts
• Criteria B: Demonstrated progressively responsible professional experience in designing and managing programmes as well as demonstrated substance knowledge on: (1) sustainable agriculture/aquaculture practices and their nexus with energy, food, poverty and water issues; (3) agriculture/aquaculture technology and innovation; (3) challenges and opportunities for agriculture/aquaculture in developing country contexts (globally): 25 pts
• Criteria C: Professional experience in consulting/advisory, product development, solution design, technology innovation, start-up finance or business development function: 10 pts
• Criteria D: Research/publication/writing expertise on technology/innovation and relevant megatrends: 5 pts
• Criteria E: Knowledge and practical application of the following relevant themes and concepts: circular economy, climate change adaptation, ecosystem services, green economy, urban agriculture, innovative farming/aquaculture methods, value-chains, nutrition, food systems, inclusive growth and needs of small holder farmers: 5 pts
• Criteria F: (1) Cultural and political awareness, diplomatic, inter-personal, and networking skills; (2) ability to adapt, ability to work independently and take responsibility for delivering results; (3) proficiency in office software applications; (4) user-level skills in theme-related digital technologies: 10 pts

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

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/2019/047" as the subject matter.

Documentation required:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload one single file:

• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided online via http://bit.ly/UNDP_ExprInterestForm.
• Personal CV or P11 Form, indicating all past experience from similar assignments, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the candidate and at least three (3) professional references.
• Technical proposal, covering (1) a brief description of why the candidate considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment; (2) a list of relevant publications/articles/blogs/etc. that can be directly attributed to the candidate.
• Financial proposal, as per template (Annex 2) provided in the same online template as the Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability.
  Note: All candidates must quote prices in United States Dollars (USD).

Terms and Standard Form:

• Individual IC General Terms and Conditions: http://bit.ly/UNDP_IC-Terms
• Offeror’s Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability for the Individual IC, including Financial Proposal Template: http://bit.ly/UNDP_ExprInterestForm

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.

Incomplete applications will not be considered, and only candidates for whom there is further interest will be contacted.