Background
The Covid 19 pandemic has posed severe challenges especially for the urban poor and migrant workers. Physical distancing has become a new normal and one has to learn to live with it. Unemployment is set to rise and conditions of the poor and marginalized is bound to deteriorate further with dip in economy. Such scenario calls for adopting innovative measures for combating the new challenges while adapting ways to cope.
COVID-19 is an unprecedented health and development crisis that jeopardizes India’s tremendous gains in reducing poverty and improving access to food and nutrition for 1.3 billion people. The pandemic has begun to overload vulnerable health systems and put frontline health workers and civil society organizations (CSOs) at risk. In order to contain its spread and manage grave health risks, a country-wide lock down was announced on March 24th. Although necessary, the lockdown has severely impacted lives and livelihoods, stalled economic activity and affected food and nutrition security. As a consequence, informal workers people who are on the fringes, and those living in poverty are highly vulnerable to falling into poverty or facing deepening poverty, hunger, illness, homelessness and social stigma.
At the onset of the crisis, the Government of India took proactive action to prevent new infections, provide treatment, support economic relief and ensure delivery of basic services and essential commodities. Eleven inter-ministerial Empowered Groups were formed by the Prime Minister to oversee India's response, and a USD 22.5 billion relief package was announced, including insurance for frontline health workers, increased subsidies for food grains, and cash transfers for the poor, vulnerable women and daily wage earners. Under the National Mission for Financial Inclusion, 200 million women will receive Rs 500 per month for three months, and wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) have been increased from Rs 182 to Rs 202 a day, potentially benefitting 136 million families. Through the National Social Assistance programme, an ex-gratia payment of Rs 1,000 will be provided to 30 million poor senior citizens, widows and disabled people to support rural livelihoods. The Government is also providing Rs 2,000 in cash assistance to 87 million farmers and has urged State Governments to facilitate provision of assistance to construction workers. While this package provides significant protection measures, the social protection apparatus in States will need to be strengthened to reach the most marginalized.
The economic slowdown is also impacting the informal sector which accounts for more than 85 percent of the workforce, including tens of millions of migrant workers, resulting in a massive reverse migration from urban to rural home villages due to loss of jobs and livelihoods. Many are stranded as single individuals in urban areas with few social networks, with their families in villages, often headed by women, with no remittance income and only limited benefits from government social protection systems. As a result, these increased social and economic burdens will aggravate pressures on families, increase the burden of care giving on women, and increase vulnerability to gender-based violence.
The containment procedures have led to a scarcity of staple foods and price hikes due to reduced cultivation, disruption in supply chains, shortage of labour, reduced employment and reduced purchasing power, thereby impacting food and nutrition security of the most vulnerable. The crisis in food supply creates additional nutritional insecurity. Despite recent improvements in nutrition outcomes, the prevalence of malnutrition is well above acceptable levels, with India being home to one-quarter of the world’s malnourished children. This also has grave gender implications, with women and girls being least prioritized in the order of food consumption within households, and thereby most at risk of reduced food intake.
The lockdown imposed to prevent new COVID infections has resulted in a loss of jobs and earnings for an estimated 200 million workers who fall under the category of self-employed and daily wage earners. The communities that are most affected by the crisis include migrant workers, urban slum dwellers and day labourers, such as construction workers and waste collectors. With hundreds of thousands of vulnerable urban migrants losing their jobs and attempting to return to home communities, large numbers of people on the move and displaced persons are unable to access social assistance and social protection. Due to Medium and Small Micro Enterprises (MSME), According to one estimate, over 22 percent of the over 75 million MSME units in India may be shut if the lockdown in cities extends beyond 4 weeks and a staggering 43 percent will shut shop if the panic extends beyond 8 weeks.
UNDP has been leading the COVID response in social protection and livelihood reconstruction across India. UNDP has designed solutions which supports the government and civil society networks in delivering effective response of COVID. UNDP will focus on
- Identification of vulnerable and facilitate access to social protection schemes and programmes
- Mobile application to access the entitlements under TPDS and availing essential commodities through local stores
- Technical support for opening Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and registration of eligible households
- Technical support to SRLM for training of community cadres on COVID response, social protection and livelihood reconstruction
- Facilitate formation of farmers’ and artisans’ producer groups, link them to marketing opportunities
- Facilitate opening-up of village procurement centres with help of state rural livelihoods mission
- Provide training on financial literacy and digital marketing and facilitate linkages to financial institutions
- Leverage online technologies and partnerships to support State Governments on skilling and employment
- Advice industry and private sector associations on safely resuming production, in line with government requirements
The project will provide support to nearly 2.5 million people affected by the crisis in selected states and will indirectly benefit an estimated 14 million vulnerable people. Through the strengthening of the social protection systems, these interventions have the potential to impact nearly 100 million vulnerable people in India through their inclusion in the safety nets. This project will be implemented in Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, North Eastern Region etc. Through support to systems strengthening, a number of government entities like the Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Ministry of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare etc. will receive long lasting benefits from through technical support and expertise.
The state of Uttar Pradesh has also been severely impacted by COVID and the economic damage caused by lockdown has been immense.With more than 80 percent of India’s workforce employed in the informal sector, and one-third working as casual laborers, one of the greatest challenges post recovery would be to address the socio-economic and human rights impact of COVID on the poor and marginalized populations. The crisis has compounded the financial burden on an already slowing economy. There has been an exodus of millions of informal migrant workers and their families from urban centres to return to home villages due to the loss of jobs and daily earnings. The vulnerable and deprived communities now face a double burden of disease, displacement from their homes and scarcity of essential items, along with the existing economic vulnerabilities. The gains of several government welfare schemes are diminished and at risk; such as the ‘One District One Product’ program of the Government of UP (GoUP). One of the greatest challenges, post-lockdown would be to address the socio-economic impact of COVID on the migrants, poor and marginalized populations. The challenge is to provide the vulnerable access to these schemes and ensure that no one is left deprived. There is need to support the government system to ensure that relief packages and welfare measures are inclusive, targeted, efficient and reaches the last mile, impactfully. Government has been trying to find ways and means to provide employment or livelihood opportunity to these 3-5 million migrants coming to UP. In this context, UNDP is committed to support government of Uttar Pradesh to provide meaningful support to design and implement the COVID response.
UNDP is focusing on supporting following themes in Uttar Pradesh
- Farm value chain development
- Non-farm value chain development
- Micro enterprise development
- GEET platform usage training and capacity building for tracking entitlements
- Creating alliance of development organization for supporting economic recovery of Uttar Pradesh
UNDP has been working with or in discussion with following departments to provide technical support and try out innovative solutions to support urban poor, migrants, rural women, marginalized communities etc.
- Office of Relief Commissioner, Department of Revenue, GoUP
- ULB Directorate, Department of Urban Development, GoUP
- Uttar Pradesh State Rural Livelihood Mission, Department of Rural Development, GoUP
Besides, UNDP intends to work with departments of MSME, Skills, Labour, Women & Child Development, Health etc. to support in COVID response.
UNDP has been working on a coordinated and comprehensive strategy to deal with health emergency to support economic activity and to prepare the ground for recovery. Also, UNDP has established and coordinating the management of Uttar Pradesh COVID-19 Economic Recovery Alliance for Marginalized Communities to support the beyond health response contributing towards reducing the pressure on health systems. The alliance will collaborate with the GoUP and strengthen the providing of last mile outreach, livelihood support services, addressing water and food security challenges, promoting multi-stakeholder, community engagement, as well as address issues related to stigma and discrimination through appropriate psycho-social care, ensuring the protection of fundamental human rights, justice, and security needs of vulnerable persons and communities.
UNDP has supported the development of Pravasi Rahat Mitra App with Office of Relief Commissioner, Government of Uttar Pradesh to collect the data on skills available with the large migrants’ populations so that appropriate matching of skills with the existing job opportunities in MSME and other sectors can be facilitated. The app is being used in collecting the data of returnee migrants basic details, corona screening information and skill sets. The data from millions of returnee migrants will be analyzed and policy notes will be developed to provide recommendation and action plans for providing jobs and livelihood opportunities to returnee migrants.
UNDP intends to provide support to related departments of Skills & Entrepreneurship, Labour, MSME etc. to support a holistic response by the Government of Uttar Pradesh. In this context, UNDP is looking to hire an experienced consultant with experience in government relationship, strategy development, project management etc.
Duties and Responsibilities
Scope of Work
- Coordinate with UP CERA alliance partners and support in advocacy of Covid response done by alliance partners in Uttar Pradesh by convening meetings, newsletters, dashboard, joint programming etc.
- Support UNDP State team in implementation of projects with various government departments like rural development, UPSRLM, Urban development, Office of Relief Commissioner etc.
- Support in attending meetings and discussion organized in Lucknow by various government department and agencies like UPSDMA etc. and civil society groups like Inter Agency Group etc.
- Conduct secondary research on issues related to COVID response in Uttar Pradesh and prepare strategy notes, policy notes etc.
- Collate the work done by different UNDP projects in Uttar Pradesh and coordinate meeting among UNDP colleagues in Lucknow either in person or virtually
- Liaise with government departments for achievement of projects goals of UNDP
- Engage in new dialogues with stakeholders across UNDP portfolio of poverty, SDG, Health & system strengthening and climate change
- Support the UNDP work in Uttar Pradesh in all manner possible
Activities:
The specific tasks to be undertaken are as follows:
- Liaise with government departments and attend the meetings called by government and different civil society group
- Convene meetings of UPCERA Alliance, and write minutes of meeting
- Work with UPCERA alliance partners on developing newsletter, dashboard, joint programming opportunities
- Coordinate with UPCERA alliance partners and other civil society partners to manage various government requests for support
- Conduct secondary research to identify possible areas of intervention for addressing the critical needs so as to ensure traction for economic recovery
- Undertake field-visit to respective offices of government and CSO partners; connect with a range of stakeholders across local community, civil society, government agencies, the private sector to document the challenges and opportunities on the ground
- Support in strategy formulation with the timeline, potential timelines, activities, deliverables, budget, implementation mechanism, monitoring, and evaluation framework,
- Development knowledge management framework for achieving the intended outputs and outcomes and prepare knowledge reports
- Monitor the implementation plans and progress of technical support agency to implement the projects under TRAC 2, MPTF, JAPAN etc. proposals
- Write proposals on resource mobilization for Uttar Pradesh for UNDP
- Documentation of the work done by UNDP Uttar Pradesh for external communication within UNDP and outside UNDP in a simple unambiguous, engaging, informative, and convincing manner
- Support in capacity building of government staff, cadres and other stakeholders
- Complement the work of other UNDP team members with the department and pitch in for support wherever required
- Support department in issuing orders and communications specific to the capacity building
- Support UNDPs research by coordinating with the departmental officers as well as the on-ground team and provide analytical support for the data collected
- Prepare actionable reports and policy notes based on finding of research study and data analytics for the department
- Prepare meeting notes and meeting minutes; draft articles, speeches, briefings, presentations, reports; compile documents and collate information as and when required
- Support capacity building of CSO and government staffs in order to implement the decided solutions
- Support data collection, analysis, documentation, and reporting for the COVID 19 economic recovery activities conducted with the concerned department
- Monitor the activities and ensure implementation of activities of technical support agency selected to support implementation of COVID response across various financial facilities in Uttar Pradesh
- Support UNDP in development of IEC materials as and when required
Objective of Assignment
The Consultant will support the UNDP State team of Uttar Pradesh to manage the Uttar Pradesh COVID-19 Economic Recovery Alliance and support UNDP Uttar Pradesh team in management of projects across state for COVID response. The consultant will provide full time support in all the portfolios of UNDP for Uttar Pradesh and play an active role in managing UPCERA alliance. The consultant will work in partnership with the civil society partners as well as government department to ensure that effect COVID response is delivered on the ground.
Competencies
Core Competencies:
- Demonstrates/safeguards ethics and integrity
- Works as a team member
Required Skills and Experience
Duration of the Project
12 months of signing of contract
Deliverables and Schedule of Payment:
Monthly payment up to maximum 22 working days on submission of monthly reports of work done
TIME FRAME:
June, 2020 to May, 2021
Project Location:
The assignment will be home as well as field based or may be based at the Office of the Government Department. It might include travel to districts in Uttar Pradesh if required as well as to the UNDP Country Office in New Delhi to meet with project team members.
Educational Qualifications:
Mandatory: Bachelor’s in technology/Management/ Economics etc.
Desirable: Postgraduate in Development Studies/Social Work/Rural Management etc.
Experience:
- At least 3 years of experience in programme design, implementation, monitoring, evaluation or research
- Minimum 3 years of work experience in implementation of programmes at state level, documentation of project reports, development of dashboards, and stakeholder management
- Experience of partnerships with multiple stakeholders
- Experience of working in livelihoods or skills domain preferably in leadership roles
Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise
- Experience in programme design, implementation, monitoring, evaluation or research etc. in development sector
- Excellent demonstrated documentation skills vis-a-vis MS Office Suite and prior experience in developing concept notes / reports / project plans will be essential
- Excellent communications and documentation (MS Word, Excel) skills in English
- Previous experience of working with UN system will be preferred
Communication skills
- Good communication, interpersonal skills, with an ability to work in a multi-cultural environment.
Language Requirements:
Fluency in English is essential. Knowledge of Hindi would be an asset.
Evaluation Criteria
The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as Responsive to the requirement. Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation;
• Technical Criteria weight - 70%;
• Financial Criteria weight – 30 %
Technical Criteria (70% of total evaluation)
- At least 3 years of experience in programme design, implementation, monitoring, evaluation or research – 20%
- At least 2 years of experience of partnerships with multiple stakeholders – 20%
- At least 2 years’ experience of working in livelihoods or skills domain -20%
- Excellent demonstrated documentation skills vis-a-vis MS Office Suite and prior experience in developing concept notes / reports / project plans will be essential - 10%
Financial Criteria: (30% of the total evaluation) based on the total all-inclusive lump sum amount for professional fee for tasks specified in this announcement
Submission of Proposal
Financial Proposal:
Consultant should specify his/her lump sum consultancy fee. Please quote your professional fee only. Do not include travel costs in your financial quote as these will be reimbursed separately, as per actuals, subject to UNDP’s prevailing rules.
Documents to be submitted:
Offeror letter to UNDP confirming interest and availability for the Individual Contractor Assignment;
Curriculum Vitae indicating experience in similar projects, name / contact details of 3 referees;
A financial proposal indicating all-inclusive per day consultancy fee (in INR), excluding travel expenses.
The following documents can be accessed by clicking the link:
General Conditions for Individual Contract-
http://www.in.undp.org/content/dam/india /docs/procurement/UNDP%20General%20Conditions%20for%20Individual%20Contracts.pdf
Offerors Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability for the Individual Contractor (IC) Assignment, including Financial Proposal
template-
For queries, please email to: ic.india@undp.org
Notes:
- Any kind of miscellaneous charges i.e. internet, phone etc. would not be reimbursed;
- Individuals working with institutions may also apply, contract would be issued in the name of institution for the specific services of individual;
- Please note proposals without financial proposal will not be considered;
- All the above documents should be clubbed in one file (pdf) for uploading;
Consultants must bring his/her own computing equipment
Note:
- Any kind of miscellaneous charges i.e. internet, phone, relocation charges etc. would not be reimbursed;
- Travel, lodging and boarding as per UNDP rules subject to prior approval
- Individuals working with institutions may also apply, contract would be issued in the name of institution for the specific services of individual
- Please note proposals without financial proposal will not be considered.