The World Humanitarian Summit was organized in May 2016 to address the scale of human suffering greater than at any time since the Second World War. The Summit generated more than 3,000 commitments to action and launched more than a dozen new partnerships and initiatives to turn the Agenda for Humanity into meaningful change for the world's most vulnerable people.

Leading up to the Summit, consultations with more than 900 companies called for more strategic private sector engagement across disaster risk reduction, emergency preparedness, response and recovery. They also called for networks and a mechanism to be created to facilitate coordinated private sector engagement. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and a number of partners launched the Connecting Business initiative (CBi) as a response to this demand. CBi is a multi-stakeholder initiative that provides a mechanism for the private sector to engage with the United Nations system, national governments and civil society in a coordinated manner across all stages of disaster management.

CBi is supported by OCHA’s Emergency Response Section in Geneva and UNDP Istanbul International Center for Private Sector in Development (IICPSD). These units collaborate with multiple other global units, as well as regional and country offices of OCHA and UNDP, as well as with many other private sector organizations, UN Agencies, NGOs and governments. 

The Connecting Business Formulation of the Project Document Consultant will be home based in. The Consultant will report to the CBi Programme Coordinator in Geneva and UNDP Global Programme Advisor Private Sector in Istanbul. The activities will be carried out in collaboration with CBi Member Networks, Executive Committee Members, OCHA and UNDP colleagues and other partners. In 2019 the Boston Consulting Group conducted a strategy refresh process for the CBi.  The consultant’s main objective is to support CBi in the revision and finalization of the formulation of the Project Document for CBi from 2020 – 2023 based on this strategy.

Read more about CBi at www.connectingbusiness.org, follow CBi Twitter @Connecting_biz and learn more through CBi YouTube videos.

The following areas are considered to be within the scope of this consultancy:

• Based on the recent CBi BCG Strategy Refresh document revise and finalize the CBi Project Document. This should be completed in accordance with the revised UNDP Project Document template. 
• The formulation of the project document should meet the standards defined within the new Project Quality Criteria, as defined in the Project Quality Assurance system (built on the Design and Appraisal Assessment of the Project Quality Assurance). This includes, but is not limited to, a strong theory of change aligned with the CPD theory of change.
• The formulation of the project document should also take in consideration the Social and Environmental Standards.
• The result framework should be built on SMART results aligned with the CPD outcomes. A set of SMART indicators should be defined and included whenever relevant indicators from the IRRF.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

Under the direct supervision of the CBi Programme Coordinator the consultant shall produce a finalized CBi Project Document. This should be completed in accordance with the revised UNDP Project Document template. The outline of the document is the following:

• Development challenge
• Strategy
• Results and Partnerships
• Project Management
• Results Framework
• Monitoring and Evaluation
• Multi-Year Work Plan
• Governance and Management Arrangements
• Legal Context
• Risk Management

Annexes:

• Project Quality Assurance Report
• Social and Environmental Screening Template
• Risk Analysis
• Capacity Assessment
• Project Board Terms of Reference and TORs of key management positions

Description of deliverables - Target delivery dates - Payment schedule

• Draft of Project Document (a draft of each section should be ready to be circulated for peer review and further inputs) (45 days after start of consultancy), 50% of the payment
• Finalized Project Document where all comments from the peer review are addressed, including a detailed log of requested changes and how they have been applied – (Final day of consultancy, 50% of the payment

Reporting Requirements

The Consultant shall report to the CBi Programme Coordinator in Geneva and the UNDP Global Programme Advisor Private Sector in Istanbul.

Corporate Competencies

• Commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values;
• Sensitivity to cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age differences.

Functional Competencies

• Strong analytical, negotiation and communication skills, including ability to produce high quality project documents and technical documents in English;
• Strong analytical capacities.

Behavioural Competencies

• Productive and efficient worker, highly motivated;
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to prioritize tasks;
• Strong interpersonal and written and oral communication skills;
• Has ability to work both independently and in a team, and ability to deliver high quality work on tight timelines

Academic Qualifications/Education: 

• Master's degree in Business Administration, International Relations, Economic Development, Development Studies, Social Science, International Development, Political Science, International Relations or other relevant field. 

Experience: 

• Minimum 7 years of experience in emergency or development work out of which at least 4 years of experience related to private sector partnerships and private sector engagement for development or humanitarian fields;
• Previous experience in conducting formulation of project/programme documents;
• Experience in private sector engagement in developing countries in disaster risk reduction, emergency preparedness, response and recovery or climate related resilience is an asset;
• Experience in working with international organizations and donors in terms of partnership building initiatives on disaster risk reduction, emergency preparedness, response and recovery is an asset;
• Proven practical experience in UNDP and other UN organizations project/programme formulation using results-based management principles;

Language skills:

• Experience in writing professional documents in English.

Evaluation of Applicants

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal.
The award of the contract should 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 a pre-determined set of weighted technical (P11/CV desk reviews, samples evaluation and interviews) and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Only candidates who will get min. 70% of points in desk review (criteria A-C) will be invited for interviews. Only candidates who get min. 70% of points in technical evaluation (includes desk review and interview, criteria A-F) will be scored in financial evaluation.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation (includes desk review) – max. 70 points:

• Criteria A (CV review) – Experience in the development of project documents related to disaster risk reduction, preparedness, emergency response, early recovery or climate related resilience . (Max points 30) 
• Criteria B (samples evaluation) – Experience in producing high quality documents in English that are relevant for this consultancy. (Max points 10)  
• Criteria C (samples evaluation) – Experience in UNDP or other UN organization in project/programme formulation using results-based management principles. (Max points 10) 
• Criteria D (interviews) – Experience in developing countries related to business and disaster risk reduction, preparedness, emergency response, early recovery or climate related resilience (Max points 10) 
• Criteria E (interviews) – Experience in working with international organizations and donors in terms of partnership building initiatives on disaster risk reduction, emergency preparedness, response and recovery is an asset. (Max points 5) 
• Criteria F (interviews) – Experience and understanding of the role of disaster risk reduction, preparedness and emergency response, early recovery or climate related disasters (max points 5)

Please ensure that your experience and competencies related to the above criteria is very well documented in your P11/CV and cover letter.

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation (max points 30).

Application procedures

The application submission is a two-step process. Failing to comply with the submission process may result in disqualifying the applications.

Step 1: Interested candidates must include the following documents when submitting the applications (Please group all your documents into one (1) single PDF attachment as the system only allows upload of one document): 

• Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application. 
• Filled P11 form or CV including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees 
• (blank form can be downloaded fromhttp://www.eurasia.undp.org/content/dam/rbec/docs/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc) 
• Links to previous work samples authored/coauthored by the candidate (sample can be submitted as .pdf or provided as web links in the Publications section (section 22) or within additional questions of the applications)
• Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials.

Step 2: Submission of Financial Proposal - Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and requested to provide a financial offer.

Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org
General Terms and conditions as well as other related documents can be found under: https://www.eurasia.undp.org/content/dam/rbec/docs/UNDP%20General%20Conditions%20for%20Individual%20Contracts.pdf

Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply.
Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.

Existing literature and further information to get a better understanding of the work can be found from www.connectingbusiness.org .