UNDP Jobs - 90166- Framework Agreement for Data Analyst Consultant fo

Framework Agreement for Data Analyst Consultant for Europe and CIS Biodiversity for the Land Degradation and Sustainable Forest Management Portfolio (IRH)

Location :

Home-based

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

25-Feb-20 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

estimated May 2020 – May 2023

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

maximum of 180 working days

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

As one of the three implementing agencies of the Global Environment Facility (GEF), UNDP oversees a portfolio of projects in the focal areas of biodiversity, climate change, international waters, ozone depleting substance phase-out, land degradation, and persistent organic pollutants. The cumulative value of UNDP’s GEF portfolio is valued at nearly US$5.0 billion. These projects are implemented thro`ugh UNDP’s network of more than 130 country offices located in developing countries, as well as, numerous UN and other agency partners. In Europe and CIS, there are 21 country offices, implementing over 25 projects in the focal areas of biodiversity, land degradation, and sustainable forest management.

As part of project monitoring and supervision, the GEF conducts annual review of project monitoring through Project Implementation Reports, Tracking Tools, and regional portfolio summaries. This consultancy is aimed to support review process, completion and delivery of high quality monitoring tools and documents mentioned above for the focal areas of biodiversity, land degradation, and sustainable forest management in the region of Europe and CIS.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of, and upon request from, the RTAs for Biodiversity, Land and Ecosystems, the consultant will be expected to carry out the following main tasks:

Review Tracking Tools and completion of other data for projects having completed Mid-Term/ Final Evaluation (MTE/FE) during the course of the current PIR period;
Support for Annual Project Implementation Review for Europe and CIS;
Support preparation of regional summaries for the Biodiversity, Land and sustainable forest management focal areas for Europe and CIS;

Review Tracking Tools, and completion of other data for projects having completed Mid-Term/ Final Evaluation during the course of the current PIR period.

Ensure the appropriate GEF tracking tools have been submitted along with the PIR reports;
Check that all portions of the tools have been completed in required quality;
Liase as necessary with project teams to ensure completion of tracking tools;
Cooperate with Regional Knowledge Management specialist as necessary;
Prepare separate table to reflect which tools have been completed for MTR/FEV;
Package the electronic tools in zip file(s) of up to 3MB and transfer worksheet summary and zip files to RTA and PTA for submission to GEF SEC in line with PIR requirements.

Support for Annual Project Implementation Review for Europe and CIS

Review and finalize each APR/PIR Excel spreadsheet (or Word document in exceptional cases) for quality and completeness of information collected through the annual PIR process, including the following: project progress, project risk (number, type, description and response), financing and co-financing, outcomes (general for all projects, specific outcomes for each OP), and, lessons learned. The PIRs should be finalized with due consideration to the PIR quality evaluation criteria, which will be provided;
Liaise with the relevant Country Office, project team and/or RTA as directed, to support correction and completeness of every PIR, including review of receipt of supporting documentation (e.g., MTEs, FEVs).

Support for the preparation of regional summaries on Biodiversity, Land and sustainable forest management focal areas for Europe and CIS

On request of RTA, prepare regional summaries of previous year’s results in the area of biodiversity, sustainable land management, and sustainable forest management. This may include:
Provide an analysis of projects that were highly satisfactory in terms of implementation progress and progress towards achieving objectives;
Provide an analysis of projects rated unsatisfactory and highly unsatisfactory satisfactory in terms of implementation progress and progress towards achieving objectives, and indicate what will be done to address the causes of poor performance;
Describe emerging good practice from these projects.

In addition:

Portfolio development: Provide an assessment of trends regarding elapsed times in the overall portfolio, indicate the most prominent problems in slow maturing projects, and identify actions that will be taken to move projects along at various phases of the project cycle;
Adaptive management: Highlight examples where project design has been adapted to changing circumstances on the ground;
Lessons learned: Provide an account of lessons learned during project implementation, grouped by topic or theme. Indicate how these lessons are being disseminated and incorporated into project design and implementation;
Specific types of analysis may change based on the formats of the GEF Secretariat.

Target Deliverables (in each of the 3 years):

Finalized descriptions of key project progresses and weakneses within a given 12-months period, between 1.5 and 2.5 pages per project (for each and every project, covered by GEF Europe and CIS, Biodiversity and Ecosystems cluster, the list to be provided to consutant by RTA),; These to be delivered by 10 August of each year of the contract.
Finalized annual regional summaries submitted to RTA, depicting: Slow delivery projects and reasons; 2-3 examples of successful adaptive management in the portfolio; Summary of progress towards UNDP corporate and GEF global indicators in areas of land degradation, biodiversity and ecosystems; Regional summary to be submitted every year before 30 November.
Finalized tracking tools on annual basis with a worksheet provided by RTA, summarizing status of biodiversity, land degradation and sustainable forest management tracking tools submitted at mid-term or final evaluations during Project Implementation Reporting period Submitted every year before 31 December.

Information on Working Arrangements:

Estimated level of effort: approximately 60 days each year, spread in various intermittent assignments. Maximum working days over the 3-year period would be 180;
UNDP does not warrant that any quantity of services will be purchased during the term of the Framework Agreement as this will depend on forthcoming needs and satisfactory performance;
IC as a Framework agreement is non-exclusive (i.e. it does not prohibit UNDP from entering into another such framework agreement with another individuals or entities);
The Framework Agreement to be signed will be for a fixed all-inclusive daily fee;
Once the Framework Agreement is signed, if there is a specific assignment, the focal person at UNDP-GEF would contact by email the Consultant informing of the assignment, specific deliverables, and timeline;
The consultant must advise within 48 hours whether s/he is available to deliver the requested service;
Thereafter a Purchase Order will be raised. Financial commitments will only be established each time the services are requested within the scope of the Framework Agreement through the transmitted email and purchase order;
The consultant will work from home;
The Consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment;
The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own working station (i.e. laptop, internet, phone, scanner/printer, etc.) and must have access to a reliable internet connection;
The consultant will engage with the Supervisor by email and Skype on an as needed basis;
Given the global consultations to be undertaken during this assignment, the consultant is expected to be reasonably flexible with his/her availability for such consultations taking into consideration different time zones;
Payments will be made upon submission of a detailed time sheet and certification of payment form, and acceptance and confirmation by the Supervisor on days worked and outputs delivered.

Competencies

Corporate:

Demonstrates integrity by modelling 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;
Treats all people fairly without favouritism.

Functional:

Demonstrates commitment to human development principles and values;
Shares knowledge and experience;
Provides helpful feedback and advice;
Responds positively to critical feedback and differing points of view;
Acknowledges and responds constructively to the points of view of others;
Works toward creative solutions by analyzing problems carefully and logically;
Expert excel skills to generate various worksheets, pivot tables, presentations;
Highly organized, detailed oriented, ability to work with ease and accuracy to generate financial related worksheets.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master Degree in Business Administration, Social Sciences, Environmental Sciences or any other closely related field.

Experience:

At least 5 years of experience in the review and analysis of project evaluation reports and direct project management or support experience;
Experience with preparation of PIRs for GEF-funded projects and/or UN agency direct project management or support experience highly desirable;
At least 3 years of experience preparing portfolio impact assessments in the biodiversity land or ecosystems management focus areas is an advantage
Experience with completion and/or review of GEF tracking tools is desirable.

Language:

Excellent communication skills in English;
Basic level of Russian is an asset.

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, andb) Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical (P11 desk reviews) and financial criteria specific to the solicitation. Only the highest ranked candidates who would be found qualified for the job will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max. 35 points:

Criteria A (Education)– max points: 5
Criteria B (Experience in the review and analysis of project evaluation reports and direct project management and/or support experience)– max points: 5
Criteria C (Experience with Ppreparation of PIRs for GEF-funded projects and/or UN agency direct project management or support experience)– max points: 10
Criteria D (Experience preparing portfolio impact assessments in the biodiversity land or ecosystems management focus areas)– max points: 5
Criteria E (Experience with completion and/or review of GEF tracking tools)–– max points: 4
Criteria F (Language skills – English) –– max points: 4
Criteria G (Language skills – Russian) –– max points: 2

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max. 15 points.

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.
Brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the work.
Filled P11 form or CV including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees (blank form can be downloaded from http://www.eurasia.undp.org/content/dam/rbec/docs/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc); please mention past experience in at similar projects

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

Payments will be made only upon confirmation of UNDP on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner.

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: http://on.undp.org/t7fJs. 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.