UNDP Jobs - 90384- Expert on Crowdfunding for Development (IRH)

Expert on Crowdfunding for Development (IRH)

Location :

Home-based

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

07-Mar-20 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Estimated 15 March 2020 – 15 June 2021

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

Approximately 110 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

Achieving SDGs alone according to UNCTAD’s World Investment Report will require $3,9 trillion per year between 2015 and 2030 for health, education and infrastructure - leaving a $2.5 trillion annual shortfall relative to the current and forecast commitments of $1,4 trillion. To address the financial gap, new sources of innovative finance models are needed (private and venture capital, P2P lending) as well as impactful partnerships aimed at socially geared investment projects that can leverage private investments alongside official development assistance. Innovative finance models, like crowdfunding (crowdfunding, crowd investment), impact investment, preventative and predictive finance are projected to overtake venture capitalists’ investments and grow over $100 billion as per World Bank statistics by 2020. As a form of innovative finance, Islamic Finance is one of the fastest-growing segments of the global financial industry with global assets expected to surpass US$3 trillion by 2020. The Islamic Finance, ideally, is an alternative way of financing based on ethical and socially responsible standards, which ensures fair distribution of benefits and obligations between all the parties in any financial transaction.

The initiative “NGO Empowerment for Poverty Reduction“ (“NGO empowerment”) Program is grounded in the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development, UNDP Digital Strategy, UNDP’s Strategic Plan 2018–2021, and UNDP’s ongoing work to address the challenges in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region and in other regions as well, based on the work of UNDP Alternative Finance Lab which is a part of UNDP Innovation Team. This initiative builds on the successes of and lessons learned from two phases of the Transformative Governance and Finance Facility projects, and seeks to support mapping and categorizing NGOs, platform-based approach and alternative finance mechanisms in support of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through the further work on prototypes and expanding to new grounds to understand what has the potential to be catalytic in the context of CSOs, the project was set to support CSOs through intervention of various partners of the Tadamon platform.

In this context, we are looking for the Specialist on Crowdfunding for Development who will, under the guidance of the Regional Innovation Specialist from IRH work on supporting the “NGO Empowerment” project through developing and implementing a crowdfunding trainings for CSOs (Crowdfunding academy) and the portfolio of crowdfunding projects from participating CSOs (crowdfunding and crowd investing campaigns).

Duties and Responsibilities

Under direct supervision of, and in close collaboration with the Innovation Team Leader from IRH, the Consultant’s main tasks will be the following:

Deliverable 1 (indicative work input - app. 45%): Technical and expert support to 25 crowdfunding campaigns from first seven countries within the “NGO Empowerment”; 9% payable after completion of 5 campaigns- app.10 days by 30 June 2020; 18% payable after completion of 10 campaigns- app. 20 days by 30 September 2020; 18% payable after completion of 10 campaigns- app.20 days by 30 December 2020
Deliverable 2 (indicative work input - app. 5%): Support the organization of crowdfunding Training for Trainers in Istanbul (including agenda preparation, guidance notes, confirmation of speakers) – app. 5 days by 30 May 2020;
Deliverable 3 (indicative work input - app. 13.6%): Co-organize Crowdfunding Academy in seven countries through content support and online lectures; 9% payable after completion of 5 campaigns and 2 Academies-app. 10 days by 1 July 2020; 5% payable after completion of 5 Academies-app.5 days by 30 November 2020
Deliverable 4 (indicative work input - app. 13.6%): Publish 35 campaigns on Tadamon platform, updating their information and using social media for wider reach – app. 15 days by 1 December 2020
Deliverable 5 (indicative work input - app. 9%): Develop Communication toolkit for Tadamon platform (story board for introduction video, Tadamon brochure for NGOs, Tadamon brochure for partners, templates and infographics for social media) – app.10 days by 30 March 2020
Deliverable 6 (indicative work input - app. 13.6%): Technical support with development of Campaign Alliance for Fighting Avoidable Blindness Campaign and Platform for supporting the AFAB alliance on improving their communication and visibility– app. 15 days by 30 April 2020

Travel costs related to the possible missions to Europe and CIS region and other locations, will be paid separately to the Consultant as per UNDP rules and regulations.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

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;
Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Functional Competencies:

Strong interpersonal and communication skills, ability to work in team and multi-cultural environments;
Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
Ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s degree in the field of Business, Energy, Environment or International Development is required.

Experience:

At least three (3) years of working experience in the field of crowdfunding, innovative financing models and alternative financing related fields is required;
At least 20 successfully finished crowdfunding campaigns is required (please add links from the crowdfunding campaigns)
Practical experience with organizing crowdfunding trainings/educations is required;
At least one year of working experience in the area of development in international organizations is an asset;

Language skills

Excellent English language skills, both written and verbal are a requirement.

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 desk reviews, interviews) and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Only candidates who will get at least 70% of points in desk review (Criteria A-E) will be invited for interviews. Only candidates who will get at least 70% of points in technical evaluation (Criteria A-G) will be considered for financial evaluation.

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

Criteria A - (desk review) Master’s degree in the field of Business, Energy, Environment or International Development – max points: 5;
Criteria B - (desk review) Experience in the field of crowdfunding, innovative financing models and alternative financing related fields– max points: 5;
Criteria C– (desk review) 20 successfully finished crowdfunding campaigns - max points: 5;
Criteria D – (desk review) At least one year of working experience in the area of development in international organizations– max points: 5;
Criteria E - (desk review) Methodology - max points: 5;
Criteria F – (interviews) Practical experience with organizing crowdfunding trainings/educations - max points: 5;
Criteria G - (interviews) Fluency in English - max points: 5.

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 and a brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the work. 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); please upload the P11 instead of your CV.
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.

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.