Background

The consultancy is located within the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office in Fiji, with multi country responsibilities for Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu.  The UN Resident Coordinator (RC) provides leadership to the Pacific Joint UN Country Team and the UN’s programming work, as outlined in the UN Pacific Strategy, in support of national priorities. The RC has a team composed of national and international staff, forming the Fiji RC Multi-Country Office (RCO), and is based in Suva, Fiji. Twenty-six resident and non-resident UN entities are signatories to the UNPS and members of The Pacific Joint UN Country Team.

Over the past few months the escalating situation of the COVID-19 Pandemic in the Pacific is being felt across Pacific Island Countries, where health systems are one of the weakest globally. Countries in the Pacific are particularly vulnerable and will require all humanitarian partners to look at their existing operations to see how they can be reprioritized and adapted.  To date, UN has been engaging with development partners and Governments through the Joint Incident Management Team focusing mainly on ongoing health preparedness and response activities and the Pacific Humanitarian Team (PHT) to look at other key areas of concern such as education, water and sanitation, food security, logistics, livelihoods and early recovery and protection of women, children and other vulnerable groups.

In response to the requests of Governments to support development and implementation of multisectoral plans and in line with the UN Development System Reform Agenda UN’s Resident Coordinator’s office in  Fiji is leading a cohesive UN System response to COVID 19 in the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, leveraging the critical expertise and delivery capacities of UN Agencies to ensure a coordinated, system-wide and multi-sectoral approach to a quickly evolving situation.  

The proposed consultancy will provide coordination support to the delivery of the RCOs critical functions in coordination with UN colleagues across Pacific.  Tasks include but are not limited to supporting RCO team in coordination of UN COVID-19 and TC Harold response and other functions as may be delegated by the RCO Team Leader. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

• Produce and update information products such as reports, charts and infographics Enhance the linkages between governments, donor partners and other external stakeholders with the United Nations by supporting RC’s and the RCO engagement in meetings and conferences (including meeting preparations, participant lists and contacts, minute taking, virtual platform hosting);

• Support the information management network and development of IM tools within RCO to facilitate UNCT / Crisis Management Team (CMT) decision-making as well as information exchange with the countries covered (including, file management, information follow-up, archiving, website content development);

• Knowledge management: develop and maintain a systematically organized repository of UNRCO’s knowledge products, and a reference library.Support frequent and active discussion, learning, and knowledge sharing and exchange within the UNRCO;

• Provide support to the RCO team leader and Coordination Specialist in administrative tasks related to the management of the RCO, such as preparing and following up on team meetings, drafting correspondences, developing presentations, maintaining updated email lists, updating calendar of events etc.

Institutional Arrangement

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Team Leader, or designated representative of the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office in Suva, Fiji.

Duration of the Work

• Total expected duration of work is Six months of the assignment including effective person-days, if applicable.

• Targeted date for the start of work is the 1st of June 2020 and expected completion date 1st December 2020, including conditions to determining both dates, if any

Duty Station

Independent Consultant will be based within the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s office in Fiji.

Competencies

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills;
• Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities skills;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Ability to plan, organize, implement and report on work;
• Ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines;
• Proficiency in the use of office IT applications and internet in conducting research;
• Outstanding communication, project management and organizational skills;
• Excellent presentation and facilitation skills.
• Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
• Positive, constructive attitude to work;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
• Ability to work to an equally high standard both independently and team player

Required Skills and Experience

Educational Qualifications:

Graduate degree (Master’s or above) in economics, public policy, development economics, international development, political science, social science, law, international relations, communications, journalism, or other relevant fields. A bachelor’s degree in combination with additional relevant professional experience may be accepted in lieu of a master’s degree.

Experience

• A minimum of three years of progressively responsible experience in information management, information systems, data management, administration, or relevant, is required;

• Experience with data management and demonstrated analytics proficiency;

• Relevant experience within the UN system or an international organization is desirable;

• Excellent communication and analytical skills (written, verbal, interpersonal and intercultural);

• Understanding of the Pacific development architecture is desirable.

Language requirements

• Fluency of English language is required;

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

Consultant must send a financial proposal based on Monthly 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 fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done on a monthly basis upon completion of the deliverables/outputs and as per below:

• Deliverable 1: Report outlining the tasks undertaken in June.

  Payment is based on number of days worked and submission and approval by UNDP of monthly report indicating all Coordination Support and Knowledge Management work assigned.

• Deliverable 2: Report outlining the tasks undertaken in July.

  Payment is based on number of days worked and submission and approval by UNDP of monthly report indicating all Coordination Support and Knowledge Management work assigned.

• Deliverable 3: Report outlining the tasks undertaken in August.

  Payment is based on number of days worked and submission and approval by UNDP of monthly report indicating all Coordination Support and Knowledge Management work assigned.

• Deliverable 4: Report outlining the tasks undertaken in September.

  Payment is based on number of days worked and submission and approval by UNDP of monthly report indicating all Coordination Support and Knowledge Management work assigned.

• Deliverable 5: Report outlining the tasks undertaken in October.

  Payment is based on number of days worked and submission and approval by UNDP of monthly report indicating all Coordination Support and Knowledge Management work assigned.

• Deliverable 6: Report outlining the tasks undertaken in November.

  Payment is based on number of days worked and submission and approval by UNDP of monthly report indicating all Coordination Support and Knowledge Management work assigned.

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.

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 proposal received by UNDP for the assignment.

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points

• Criteria 1 Degree in Public Policy, International development or International Relations– Max 30 points

• Criteria 2 Relevance of experience in area of Information Management)– Max 20 points

• Criteria 3 Experience with data management and demonstrated analytics proficiency; Max 10 points

• Criteria 4 Understanding of the Pacific development architecture – Max 10points

   

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

Shortlisted candidates shall be called for an interview which will be used to confirm and/or adjust the technical scores awarded based on documentation submitted.

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.

• Personal CV or P11, 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.

• Technical proposal, including a) a brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;

• Financial proposal, as per template provided in Annex II. Note: National consultants must quote prices in United States Dollars (USD).

Incomplete, joint proposals and proposals sent to the wrong mailing address will not be accepted and only candidates for whom there is further interest will be contacted.

Annexes

• Annex I - Individual IC General Terms and Conditions

• Annex II – Offeror’s Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability for the Individual IC, including Financial Proposal Template

Proposal Submission

• All applications must be clearly marked with the title of the consultancy (Coordination Support & Knowledge Management) with reference (PN/FJI/054/20) and submitted via UN Job shop by 22nd May 2020.

• Note: UNDP Jobs only supports single document upload hence ensure that the proposal consolidated and submitted as one single document.

  For further information concerning this Terms of Reference, please contact UNDP Pacific Office via email: procurement.fj@undp.org.

Women applicants are encouraged to apply