Background

The political and security situation in Afghanistan remains uncertain. UNDP and its Afghan and international partners are actively preparing for a possible political transition over the coming year. Whether in the form of a peace arrangement with the Afghan Taliban, or a transfer of power through the Presidential election, several analysts are warning that the political, economic and security conditions in Afghanistan could change swiftly. With a possible peace deal now rumoured for as early as 2019, UNDP has decided to move quickly to reassess its current impact and national footprint, act on newly identified strategic and programmatic entry points to reposition it as a policy leader and integrator on the SDGs in national development planning with government stakeholders and its international partners in Afghanistan. The overall strategic objective is to establish and leverage UNDP’s role as the SDG integrator to support the transition from a war economy to a peace economy in Afghanistan.

The “Programme Development and Management Expert” position is urgently required to help shape UNDP’s ongoing transition from a projectized approach to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), towards establishing a more comprehensive, holistic and integrated approach through the conceptualization and design of an SDG Country Support Platform (CSP) for Afghanistan. It is presently envisaged that the SDG CSP for Afghanistan will be underpinned by four new Pillars: (1) Inclusive Economic Transformation, (2) Social Protection, (3) Governance for Peace and (4) Energy & Environment.

Duties and Responsibilities

SCOPE OF WORK AND DELIVERABLES

The Individual Consultant will provide technical assistance focusing on the following areas:

  • Advise and support in developing appropriate programmatic, administrative, financial and institutional strategies, documentation and mechanisms to support the conceptualization and design process of UNDP’s “SDG Integrator” role and Platform in Afghanistan;

  • Support and advise on the development of the UNDP Afghanistan SDG Country Support Platform, ensuring coherence and synergy between new programming areas, including SDG Finance. This will include the development of new programmes and projects in line with updated Country Office strategies, POPP requirements, One-UN commitments, and the SDGs; Develop and operationalize Theories of Change, workplans and impact strategies for the UNDP Afghanistan Country Office, as requested;

  • Contribute to scenario-planning exercises for a range of possible future scenarios in Afghanistan, to develop workplans and help coordinate country-office responses and implementation, as required;

  • Support the development of peacebuilding programming options, to be implemented to strengthen peace in the case of a peace agreement or other form of political transition in Afghanistan, that make full use of UNDP’s limited available resources;

  • Conduct research and analysis on relevant areas, as required, to support coordination and design of new programming areas under four new pillars: (1) Inclusive Economic Transformation, (2) Social Protection, (3) Governance for Peace and (4) Energy & Environment.

  • Support the drafting of key UN strategy documents, possibly including UNDP’s next Country Programme Document (CPD), UNDP’s contributions to the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), UNDP’s Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP), and associated Country Programme Results and Resources Frameworks (RRFs), as required;

  • Advise, coordinate and support the implementation of results and evidence-based management and monitoring tools throughout the Country Office’s planning, programming and decision-making processes;

  • Conduct consultations with relevant stakeholders (Government, UNDP, donors, civil society organizations) to understand stakeholders’ concerns and expectations for project design and formulation, as required;

  • Support the Chief of the PSRU in supporting, preparing and submitting additional documentation or correspondence as may be required;

  • Assist the Resident Representative, Deputy Representative, and UNDP Front Office in any additional tasks as may be required and assigned.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

The Consultant will submit monthly progress report and any other documentation as required by UNDP Senior Management. The monthly progress report shall report on activities conducted during the month for the scope of work described above and include specific deliverables completed during the month.

Payment Modality:

Payments under the contract shall be time-based. Payments under the contract shall be made on submission and acceptance of monthly progress report including specific deliverables completed during the month and a timesheet for the month as per UNDP procurement formats for individual contractors.

WORKING ARRANGEMENTS

Institutional Arrangements:

The International Consultant will work under the overall strategic guidance of the UNDP Resident Representative and his/her Deputy and will be supervised and report directly to the Head of Programme Strategy Result Unit (PSRU) which is leading the conceptualization and design of the SDG Country Support Platform. The consultant shall work in close collaboration and coordinate with other Front Office staff, PSRU M&E and SDG Project teams, programme and operations focal points within the UNDP Country Office, as well as various multidisciplinary, national and international experts and other relevant stakeholders.

The UNDP Country Office will provide office space and internet facilities, logistical and other support service including transport and security applicable to UNDP international personnel. The consultant however is expected to bring his/her own laptop and mobile phone and meet local communications costs (UNDP will provide a local pre-paid SIM card). Costs to arrange meetings, workshops, travel costs and DSA during field visits (if any), etc. shall be covered by UNDP.

Duration of the Work:

The performance under the contract shall take place over total contract duration of 12 months (maximum 222 working days), excluding joining and repatriation travel days. The target date for the start of work will be 1 January 2020 depending on the availability of the selected consultant.

Duty Station

The duty station for the contractor is Kabul, Afghanistan and homebased. Some field visits outside Kabul are envisioned under the contract. The Contractor will be required to report regularly and be present at UNDP (UNOCA) during the working hours, security conditions permitting. The contractor will follow the working hours and weekends as applicable to UNDP CO staff. Contractor’s movement for meetings and consultations shall be coordinated by the PSRU. The contractor is at all times required to observe UNDP security rules and regulations.

Competencies

Core competencies:

  • Promotes ethics and integrity and creates organizational precedents;

  • Builds support and political acumen;

  • Builds staff competence and creates an environment of creativity and innovation;

  • Builds and promotes effective teams;

  • Creates and promotes environment for open communications;

  • Leverages conflict in the interest of UNDP and sets standards;

  • Shares knowledge across the organization and builds a culture of knowledge sharing and learning.

Functional Competencies:

Job knowledge/technical expertise:

  • Possesses expert knowledge of advance concepts in primary discipline, a broad knowledge of related disciplines and in-depth knowledge of relevant organizational policies and procedures;

  • Applies knowledge to support the Project´s objectives and to further the mandate of UNDP;

  • Keeps abreast of new developments in the area of professional discipline and job knowledge and seeks to develop him/herself;

  • Demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments;

  • Demonstrates expert knowledge of the current programme guidelines and project management tools and manages the use of these regularly in work assignments.

Conceptual innovation in the provision of technical expertise:

  • Conducts programme assessment to improve development of models and methodologies;

  • Designs policy models to support comprehensive interventions linking UNDP´s policy objectives to programme delivery and capacity development objectives;

  • Ensures that the design of policies is appropriate to country social and development context;

  • Demonstrates the ability to engage development partners at all levels in conceptual and methodological innovation that is pertinent to the context.

Advancing a policy-oriented agenda:

  • Advocates for inclusion of UNDP´s focus areas in the public policy agenda;

  • Brings visibility and sensitizes decision makers to relevant emerging issues;

  • Builds consensus concerning UNDP´s strategic agenda with partners on joint initiatives;

  • Leverage UNDP´s multidisciplinary expertise to influence policies and programmes;

  • Demonstrates political/cultural acumen in proposing technical sound, fact-based solutions/approaches;

  • Dialogues with national counterparts and other stakeholders to strengthen advocacy efforts, incorporating country, regional and global perspectives;

  • Demonstrates cultural sensitivity, political savvy and intellectual capacity in handling; disagreements in order to promote and position UNDP in complex environments.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

Master´s Degree in International Development, Social Sciences, Economics or public-sector management or similar.

Required experience:   

  • Minimum of five (5) years of progressive experience in programme/project design, development, and implementation;

  • Minimum of two (2) years of experience in designing and developing funding/grant proposals is a requirement;

  • Experience in planning, programming and management support roles on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is mandatory;

  • Experience in working at the country level in a post- conflict environment is a highly desirable;

  • Previous experience working with the UN, UNDP and international donors is preferable;

  • Previous experience in Afghanistan is an advantage;

  • Solid technical knowledge in the design and formulation of project documents, monitoring frameworks and multi-year budgets;

  • Strong communication skills both written and verbal, excellent report writing and organizational skills;

  • Good computer literacy – MS office applications, web-based management information systems

Language:

Excellent written and oral English skills a necessary requirement

The Consultant shall submit a price proposal as below:

  • Daily Fee –. The Consultant shall propose a daily fee which should be inclusive of his/her professional fee, local communication cost, insurance (inclusive of medical health and medical evacuation etc.), equipment, and other costs required for performance of the contract but excluding travel, visa and DSA. The number of working days for which the daily fee shall be payable under the contract is 222 working days over a contract duration of 12 months.

  •  The Consultant shall be separately paid the DSA as per applicable UNDP rate for stay in Kabul and travel to other locations as per actual number of nights spent in Kabul or other locations. Deductions from DSA shall be made as per applicable UNDP policy when accommodation and other facilities are provided by UNDP. An estimated provision in this regard shall be included in the contract. The consultant need not quote for DSA in Financial Proposal.

    Accommodation in Kabul - The Consultants are NOT allowed to stay in a place of their choice other than the UNDSS approved places in Kabul, Afghanistan. UNDP will provide accommodation to the Consultant for the duration of the stay in duty station (Kabul) in UNDSS approved places. Deductions in this regard shall be made from DSA payment as per applicable UNDP Policy.

  • The Consultant shall include lumpsum cost of travel per trip for Home-Kabul-Home (estimated 7 trips) in the Financial Proposal. Any other travel for work, originating from Kabul shall be payable by UNDP separately as per applicable Policy.< > – UNDP shall facilitate visa requirements and reimburse the visa cost, if any.

    Payment schedule - Payments towards fee shall be time-based and shall be made upon submission and acceptance of monthly report and certified timesheet. Payment towards travel shall be made on an instance of actual travel and shall be cost-reimbursable limited to the amount quoted in Financial Proposal. Payments towards DSA, Visa, etc. shall be cost-reimbursable, as specified above.

EVALUATION METHOD AND CRITERIA

Individual Consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

  • Cumulative analysis

The award of the contract shall 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%

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

Technical criteria (70 marks) will be assessed as follows:

Technical Proposal (20 marks)

  • Technical Approach & Methodology – This explains the understanding of the objectives of the assignment, approach to the services, methodology for carrying out the activities and obtaining the expected output, and the degree of detail of such output. The Applicant should also explain the methodologies proposed to adopt and highlight the compatibility of those methodologies with the proposed approach.

Interview (20 marks)

Qualification and Experience (30 marks) [evaluation of CVs for shortlisting]

  • General Qualification (10 marks);
  • Experience relevant to the assignment (20 marks);

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

Interested individual Consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:

  • Duly accomplished confirmation of Interest and Submission of Financial Proposal Template using the template provided by UNDP (Annex II) as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
  • Personal CV indicating all experience from similar assignment relevant to the assignment.

Technical proposal:

  • Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable candidate for the assignment;
  • A methodology and approach on how they will approach and complete the assignment.

Annexes (click on the hyperlink to access the documents):

Incomplete application will not be considered, it will be disqualified automatically.