Background

Rapid economic dynamism across Asia-Pacific has resulted in widespread growth and significant reductions in poverty. Regional growth averaged 7.5 percent per annum from 1990-2015.  Over a billion people have also been lifted out of poverty since 1990. Based on current projections, the region is expected to account for between 60 and 70 percent of global growth over the next five years. 

This has coincided, however, with increasing income inequality in many countries of the region, including many of the most populated countries. In countries where inequality has reduced, meanwhile, the decline has often been slow and often from a high initial level. Reducing inequality is fundamental to meeting the aspirations of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The unequal distribution of income, opportunities, and resources has wide-ranging impacts on society, the economy, and the environment. Within-country inequality also tends to worsen in the absence of dedicated policies to contain it. UNDP’s global 2018 Human Development Report focuses on inequality and aims to contribute to this discussion.

Climate, demographic, and technological change are also already profoundly affecting societies in Asia-Pacific. The scale of change is likely to increase rapidly in the coming years. This means that future generations are likely to feel the impacts of these changes more significantly than people today. Managing these trends—especially climate change—and their likely consequences for society necessitates a shift in governance and decision-making processes to more explicitly consider inter-temporal impacts. 

In this context, UNDP Asia-Pacific is launching a regional initiative in 2019-20 under the theme of “Ensuring Inter-generational equity in Asia-Pacific”. It will aim to better understand and identify systems that support decision-making processes anchored in promoting equality across generations. It will also analyse how to measure multi-dimensional impacts over time and the challenges related to bringing these approaches into government decision-making processes. The initiative will set out to support the development and introduction of approaches to addressing inequality across its many dimensions—including inter-generational. It will focus primarily on providing policy-relevant analysis in support of practical approaches to reducing inequality now and in the future.

Strengthening the social safety net across generations

Re-examining approaches to social protection and the obligations of the government to its citizens is critical for reducing inequality now and promoting equity over time. Adapting to the coming changes will be difficult for many. Some workers, for example, will likely lose their jobs and others will discover their skills outdated. The impact of climate and technological change will also not be evenly distributed, including different consequences for men and women such as gaps in opportunity for developing skills relevant to the new economy. Demographic transitions underway also mean the possibility of an unemployed generation in the absence of preventive measures in some countries and pension crises in others. Governments need to consider—even in the best-case scenario—how to support citizens, including through re-examining ideas of social protection.

UNDP will hire a consultant to write a 20-page background paper on strengthening the social safety net across generations. This research will feed into the broader regional flagship initiative. The overall aim will be to explore government spending and the design of initiatives to strengthen the social safety net to help reduce inequality both today and tomorrow. This includes targeted expenditures to strengthen social safety nets and ensure that the benefits of accrue to those at the bottom of the income distribution rather than disproportionately to those at the top. It will also cover understanding current approaches to targeting and the likely implications over time, including by exploring possible new forms of social assistance and other protection measures (e.g., universal basic income (UBI) approaches and other forms of employment support. The research will also consider the range of approaches in use now and challenges to their wider adoption.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective

The consultant will conduct policy-relevant research and deliver an analytical background paper on strengthening the social safety net across generations. The work will analyse approaches to social protection in the context of ensuring equity across generations, drawing on specific country experiences, detailing case studies, and identifying the scope for introducing new approaches. The research will focus on Asia-Pacific, but examples can be drawn from other regions/countries. The work will contribute to a broader research initiative focused on inter-generational equity and the consultant will participate in discussions with colleagues leading other work streams.

Scope of Work

The research aims to add value to existing literature on the topic and, critically, to provide practical support to governments and UNDP Country Offices for promoting inter-general equity through strengthening the social safety net.

The work plan includes:

• Write and submit an annotated outline and incorporate relevant feedback as necessary.
• Conduct a literature review on approaches to promoting inter-generational equity through the social safety net.
• Research and produce short case studies/use cases of fiscal interventions, drawing on examples from within and outside Asia-Pacific.
• Incorporate relevant feedback from peer review mechanisms, including the UNDP regional economics team.
• Identify a set of pragmatic and implementable recommendations.
• Identify potential entry-points and opportunities for UNDP with government, both programmatic and advisory.
• Ensure integrity of all references cited in footnotes or bibliography.
• Present results to UNDP and external colleagues (e.g., through regional policy seminar).
• Contribute to discussions on the overall regional initiative on inter-generational equity, including colleagues leading other work streams.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

Consultant is expected to deliver the outputs as per the deliverable timeline below:

Institutional Arrangement

The consultant will work closely with members of the Inclusive Growth Team in all aspects of the activities that s/he will be involved in. The consultant shall work under the direction and overall supervision of the Economic Advisor.  

Duration of the Work

16 December 2019 – 30 April 2020 (up to 40 days)

Duty Station

Home based with one travel to Bangkok for two working days to participate in a regional seminar, present findings and discuss the broader research initiative with relevant colleagues.

Competencies

• Expertise and knowledge of the Asia-Pacific region.
• Expertise and experience in fiscal policy/public finance, tax and revenue collection systems.
• Excellent research, writing, and presentation skills.
• Effective communication skills and ability to work under time constraints.

• Full computer literacy in Microsoft Office i.e. MS-Word, MS-Excel, and MS-Power Point.

Required Skills and Experience

Education Qualification:

• Advanced degree in economics, public finance, public policy, or closely-related field

Experience

• Minimum 10 years of relevant professional experience
• Minimum 7 years of experience in policy analysis and public finance, including track record of policy analysis and analytical researches
• Direct experience working with government, think tank, and/or international organization will be an asset
• Relevant experience in Asia-Pacific will be of advantage
• Excellent English communication skills, both written and oral

 Language requirements

• Fluency in written and oral English is essential.  Working knowledge of another UN language is also an advantage.

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

The contract will be based on Lump sum

Consultant must send a financial proposal based on a Lump Sum Amount. The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, travel costs, living allowance (if any work is to be done outside the IC´s duty station) and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment. The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables/outputs and as per below percentages:

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.

Travel costs shall be reimbursed at actual but not exceeding the quotation from UNDP approved travel agent. 

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 a) responsive/compliant/acceptable; and b) having received the highest score out of set of weighted technical criteria (70%) and financial criteria (30%). Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced qualified proposal received by UNDP for the assignment.

·         Only those applications which are responsive and compliant will be evaluated;

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points)

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

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 maximum one document:

• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided in Annex II.
• Brief description of the applicant and one writing sample. The applicant is requested to submit a brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, including one work sample on a topic relevant to the assignment which the applicant produced in his/her past experience.
• 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.
• Financial proposal, as per template provided in Annex II. Note: National consultant must quote price in U.S. Dollar that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided. If an Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.

Incomplete proposals may not be considered. The shortlisted candidates may be contacted and the successful candidate will be notified.

To download related documents and templates, please click the link below:

http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=61299