Background

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is the UN’s Global Development Network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP is present in over 170 countries, employing participatory approaches to developing local solutions to national and global development challenges. UNDPs core vision is to help countries and communities achieve simultaneous eradication of poverty and significant reduction of inequalities and exclusion.  We do this through three main areas of work are: (1) sustainable development (2) inclusive and effective democratic governance and peacebuilding, and (3) resilience.

Under its current Strategic Plan 2018-2021, UNDP outlines a strong organizational commitment to work with communities to recover from crisis and build resilience. As one of the few partners with a permanent presence and a cross-cutting mandate on the ground before, during and after a crisis, UNDP aims to take immediate action at the onset of crises in addressing community and government needs for rapid recovery and effective transition to sustainable development. To implement this vision, UNDP reasserted its commitment to be faster, more effective, and more predictable in its response to crisis.

As part of its crisis response strategy, UNDP’s Crisis Bureau supports UNDP country offices to design sound early response/recovery projects and implement them in a timely manner. The various tools developed by the Crisis Bureau provides relevant guidance, tools and mechanisms on programming, operations, human resources and communication/partnerships, in coordinated toolboxes and cover key thematic areas, such as: (i) resilient livelihoods (including debris management, community infrastructure rehabilitation, municipal solid waste management, emergency employment, enterprise recovery and cash-based interventions), (ii) restoration of core government functions, and (iii) disaster recovery planning and coordination. Furthermore, the CB’s Rapid Response and Preparedness Team has developed an intranet-based Crisis Response Portal to bring together the various tools, services and guidance to support UNDP’s immediate crisis response. The Crisis Response Portal is meant to function as a one-stop platform for UNDP personnel to access tools and services such as the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for Immediate Crisis Response, information on deployable capacities, the UNDP crisis response packages and more.

In line with its crisis response systems and tools, the CB is invested in building the capacity of its personnel to respond to crises. Such efforts materialized in the development of training material (SURGE training, First Responders training, CRPs training, etc.), e-learning modules and online spaces, such as through Yammer, which support knowledge exchange within and among UNDP personnel that are members of practice networks.

The Crisis Bureau is seeking a consultant to continue to develop the team building component into existing trainings, as well as into any new trainings developed in 2020 and/or activities related to the transition process to UNDP’s GPN.

The Crisis Bureau’s existing training for SURGE Advisors and First Responders prepare staff to provide capacity support to UNDP Country Offices in crisis situations. The First Responders training simulates a deployment of a UNDP staff to a country office that has recently experienced a major crisis (e.g. a disaster or an escalation of violent conflict) and details the tasks that will be carried out by the first responder throughout the deployment that usually lasts up to two weeks. The SURGE Advisor Workshop familiarizes participants with the operational framework for SURGE through a closer look at UNDP’s crisis response systems, Standard Operating Procedures for UNDP’s Immediate Crisis Response, and the SURGE Deployment Mechanism.

The Team Building/Belbin component of the training and workshops aim to instill a sense of ‘effective teams’ for responding to crises. It provides insight into the required soft skills and the various roles needed for high performing teams.

Duties and Responsibilities

Belbin Team Roles and Team Building exercises are used to identify people's behavioral strengths and weaknesses in the workplace. This information can be used to:

• Build productive working relationships;
• Select and develop high-performing teams;
• Raise self-awareness and personal effectiveness;
• Build mutual trust and understanding;
• Aid recruitment processes.

These Team Building exercises look at how teams of UNDP staff can incorporate these concepts to ensure optimal results during crisis response.

Pre – Workshop review and analysis

• Delivery of self-perception inventory via questionnaires;
• Delivery of observer assessments;
• Analysis of responses in preparation for the workshop/training;
• Input in the simulation exercises and other group exercises to enhance soft skills of participants
• Generation of final reports.

Introduce Belbin Team Roles Assessment Tool (for applicable trainings)

• Presentations of basic team roles along with an identification of some of the strengths and weaknesses of each group;
• Provision of a clear understanding of the model, enabling workshop participants to interpret their results;
• Common language and making sure everyone is on the same page.

Individual Assessment Results based on Belbin or similar modules

• Review of team profiles and what the different result pages mean along with an explanation of the observer roles and how and why they might differ with the self-perception results. Group exercises on preferred team roles and how to be best utilize and interact in group situations;
• Compare and contrast self-assessment results with the observer profiles;
• A chance to group together with others who share the same preferred team roles to look at common similarities;
• A chance to ask people with differing preferred team roles on how to best interact with them and utilize them;
• A chance to brainstorm ways to overcome or compensate for least-preferred team roles that you or other participants might have;
• An opportunity to address questions that participants have regarding their profile and resolve any questions or concerns they might have.

Group Work/Teamwork exercises

• Provide several challenges in a group work format to test the team work skills and abilities of the participants, for instance working in stressful situations characterized by insecurity, time pressure to deliver, competitive environments, etc.;
• Monitoring of how groups utilize each member’s ability and team role in order to complete the task;
• Review whether groups allow for other participants team roles to be able to positively contribute to the process or were they drowned out;
• How do groups deal with the frustration from the challenge when it hit its rocky moments?
• How do groups handle the pressure of only a one timed attempt to get it right? If applicable, how did the groups handle the situation if there was a “bump” with their process?
• How emotional intelligence qualities such as self-awareness, self-regulation, motivation, empathy, and social skills allow individuals and teams to overcome the challenges posed by the exercises.
• Supervise the simulation exercise and give feedback to participants

Final analysis of roles in a team and ways to maximize potential, based on group exercises

• An examination of the group exercises and how they relate to the Team Role profiles;
• A specific examination of how participants, operating under tight time restrictions, blend into teams and how their knowledge of The Belbin Team Roles Profile enabled them to work more effectively;
• A look at how they adapted their own role to fit the needs of the group;

A chance to reflect on their experience in the activity and relate it to their upcoming challenges and how they can improve their performance during their missions. 

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Adherence to the UN principles of integrity, respect, ethical behavior, and gender and cultural sensitivity.

Functional Competencies:

Development and Operational Effectiveness 

• Ability to lead strategic planning, change processes, results-based management and reporting;
• Ability to lead formulation, oversight of implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects;
• Ability to apply development theory to the specific country context to identify creative, practical approaches to overcome challenging situations.

Management and Leadership

• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
• Ability to lead effectively, mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills;
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
• Proven networking, team-building, organizational and communication skills;
• Capacity to work under pressure, manage stress and adapt to rapidly evolving situations;
• Sound time management and organizational skills with the ability to handle multiple tasks;
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment with sound understanding and capability to empower and develop the capacity of national counterparts;
• Strong analytical, interpersonal, team work, communication and stress management skills;
• Proven ability to deliver timely and quality results under high pressure;

Required Skills and Experience

Academic qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration, Public Administration, Economics, Political Sciences, Social Sciences or related field is required. Master’s degree is an asset.

Experience:

• At least 10 years’ experience in team building across a range of industries including the private and public sector – required;
• Extensive experience in facilitating multi-cultural trainings and workshops – required;
• Experience with the UN System – desired;
• Extensive experience at the national or international level in providing management advisory services, hands-on experience in design and delivery of team building workshops for both the public and private sector – required;
• Experience in the usage of computers and software packages required for various team building initiatives – desired;
• Experience with delivery and analysis of personality tests such as BELBIN – required.

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required;

• Working knowledge of another UN language would be an asset

Application Procedure

The application package containing the following (to be uploaded as one file):

• A cover letter with a brief description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment;

• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects and specifying the relevant assignment period (from/to), as well as the email and telephone contacts of at least three (3) professional references;

• Note: The above documents need to be scanned in one file and uploaded to the online application as one document.

  Shortlisted candidates (ONLY) will be requested to submit a Financial Proposal.

  The financial proposal should specify an all-inclusive daily fee (based on a 7-hour working day - lunch time is not included - and estimated 21.75 days per month).

• The financial proposal must be all-inclusive and take into account various expenses that will be incurred during the contract, including: the daily professional fee; (excluding mission travel); living allowances at the duty station; communications, utilities and consumables; life, health and any other insurance; risks and inconveniences related to work under hardship and hazardous conditions (e.g., personal security needs, etc.), when applicable; and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services under the contract.
• In the case of unforeseeable travel requested by UNDP, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UNDP and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. In general, UNDP should 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.

• If the 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 a 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.

The Financial Proposal is to be emailed as per the instruction in the separate email that will be sent to shortlisted candidates.

Evaluation process

Applicants are reviewed based on Required Skills and Experience stated above and based on the technical evaluation criteria outlined below.  Applicants will be evaluated based on cumulative scoring.  When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Being 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 where technical criteria weighs 70% and Financial criteria/ Proposal weighs 30%.

Technical evaluation - Total 70% (70 points):

• Criteria 1. Proven and relevant experience in developing team building workshops material; Maximum Points: 15;
• Criteria 2. International experience in delivering team building workshop for the public and private sector; Maximum Points: 15;
• Criteria 3. Proven ability to deliver in a timely manner within cost and quality standards; Maximum Points: 5;
• Criteria 4. Proven ability to work in a multicultural setting; Maximum Points: 15;
• Criteria 5. Proven networking skills; Maximum Points: 15;

• Criteria 6. Understanding of UN System’s crisis training needs with regard to team building and soft skills; Maximum Points: 5; and

Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (49 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (70 points) shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

Financial evaluation - Total 30% (30 points)

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

p = y (µ/z), where

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal

µ = price of the lowest priced proposal

z = price of the proposal being evaluated

Contract Award

Candidate obtaining the highest combined scores in the combined score of Technical and Financial evaluation will be considered technically qualified and will be offered to enter into contract with UNDP.

Institutional arrangement

The consultant will work under the guidance and direct supervision of the SURGE Deployment Coordinator/Deployment Specialist in the Rapid Response Team, UNDP Crisis Response Unit, New York and will be responsible for the fulfilment of the deliverables as specified above. He or she will also closely collaborate with the Rapid Response and Preparedness Specialist to support the preparation and delivery of First Responders trainings. A work station will be provided to the consultant in the UNDP Crisis Response Unit. Frequent interactions and consultations with a variety of UN stakeholders will form an integral part of the consultant’s duties.

The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own laptop.

Payment modality

• Payment to the Individual Contractor will be made based on the actual number of days worked, deliverables accepted and upon certification of satisfactory completion by the manager.

• The work week will be based on 35 hours, i.e. on a 7 hour working day, with core hours being between 9h00 and 18h00 daily.

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

Annex 1 - UNDP P-11 Form for ICs

Annex 2 - IC Contract Template

Annex 3 – IC General Terms and Conditions

Annex 4 – RLA Template

Any request for clarification must be sent by email to cpu.bids@undp.org 

The UNDP Central Procurement Unit will respond by email and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants.