Background
UNDP is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the UN Development System and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP’s policy work carried out at HQ, Regional and Country Office levels, forms a contiguous spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. In this context, UNDP invests in the Global Policy Network (GPN), a network of field-based and global technical expertise across a wide range of knowledge domains and in support of the signature solutions and organizational capabilities envisioned in the Strategic Plan. Working in support of the Regional Bureaus, the GPN also aims to provide rapid and integrated support to UNDP country offices, combining policy advice, technical expertise, financial resources, agile tools and procedures, and partnerships. Within the GPN, the Crisis Bureau guides UNDP’s corporate crisis and fragility-related strategies and vision for crisis prevention, response and recovery and lead corporate support in response to crisis.
Support to country operations is coordinated by the Country Support Management Team (CSMT), working closely within the GPN, with the GPN Crisis and Fragility Policy and Engagement Team, the GPN SDG Integrator Team and GPN technical teams. The overall goal of the CSMT is to ensure strong, coherent and coordinated support to country offices (COs), as it relates to crisis and fragility, within the full spectrum of the GPN’s service offer.
Part of UNDP's Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy (BERA), the UNDP Representation Office in Brussels positions UNDP as European Union’s partner of choice towards the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals by influencing the policy development and fostering partnerships to make the 2030 Agenda a reality and supporting UNDP Country Offices to contribute to and benefit from the partnership with the EU. The Crisis Bureau here contributes towards the crisis and fragility component of the implementation of the SDGs.
Under the supervision of the Head of the Country Support Management Team (CSMT), and the day to day supervision of the Deployment Specialist (New York) and Policy Specialist (Brussels), the consultant will support the development of partnerships for capacity support and deployments. He/she will also support the development of a talent pool for supporting EU/UNDP Project Cycles and assist the Contract Management Unit in Brussels on issues of compliance and data collection with regard to crisis and fragility
Duties and Responsibilities
Duties and responsibilities
- Support the Crisis Bureau’s crisis and fragility engagement with the EU, with regards to talent pools, partnerships and contract management.
- Contribute to the strengthening of the collaboration and deployments through Standby Partner organizations and development of new partnerships with SPBs, networks, thinks tanks etc.
- Contribute to the enhancement of the partnership with the UNV Office and the rolling of the UNDP UNV Tandem Initiative;
- Coordinate the deployment of internal and external technical expertise for crisis response, recovery and GPN assignments, for specific high profile engagements and responses
1. Support to Crisis Bureau’s crisis and fragility engagement with the EU, with regards to talent pools, partnerships and contract management.
- Support the establishment of a dedicated pool of expert with knowledge of EU and UNDP Project cycle to support Country Office in the drafting of project proposals, initiation phase, monitoring, evaluation and verifications;
- Facilitate the deployment of this expertise to support country offices with the project cycle;
- Support the set-up of Business Processes within the Crisis Bureau on the initiation and development of new partnership with the EU at the global and regional level;
- Support the Crisis Bureau with data collection, processing and analysis and keep up-to-date information on the EU-UNDP partnership on crisis and fragility;
- Support the Contract Management Unit with year-end reporting on EU-UNDP Programmatic Partnership;
- Support the work of the Contract Management Unit in the areas of (1) compliance with the established regulatory framework of EU and UNDP (2) administrative support, data collection and processing. Priority will be given to EU action related to crisis and fragility;
2. Contribute to the strengthening of the collaboration and deployments through Standby Partner organizations and development of new partnerships with SPBs, networks, thinks tanks etc.
- Coordinate the discussions between the Global Policy Network technical units and SBP organizations and identify synergies for collaboration and deployment of experts;
- Undertake regular discussions with UNDP’s Standby Partners, identifying and agreeing on areas for collaboration and priority deployment profiles;
- Identify new SBP organizations in line with the GPN areas of service and initiate discussions, facilitate agreement on business process for the collaboration and deployments, signature of Standby Partnership Agreement;
- Coordinate the recruitment and deployment of experts through Standby Partners (submission of ToR, selection of candidates, deployment of experts, pre and post mission briefings and duty of care issues);
- Participate actively in the Standby Partner Network Working Groups
- Stay abreast of developments in deployments and roster management by maintaining close partnerships with SBPs and UN Deployment Coordinators, to learn from and share best practice and innovative approaches.
- Seek out new partners, think tanks and institutions and foster collaboration via LTAs
- Leverage expertise from these new partners for deployments across the GPN
3. Contribute to the enhancement of the partnership with the UNV Office and the rolling of the UNDP UNV Tandem Initiative to UNDP Country Offices globally;
- Promote the UNV modality (national and international UNVs) to UNDP Country Offices as part of the GPN ExpRes roster deployment mechanism offer;
- Establish a stronger collaboration with the UNV Office by identifying potential pools of experts and support that can be made available to UNDP COs;
- Coordinate the roll-over of the UNDP UNV Tandem Initiative to UNDP Country Offices globally in response to COVID-19 pandemic and work closely with the UNV representatives for the speedy recruitment of the NUNVs.
- Work closely with UNV on the development of national UNV talent pools
4.Coordinate the deployment of internal and external technical expertise for crisis response, recovery and GPN assignments, for specific high profile engagements and responses;
- Responsible for deployment of internal and external GPN experts’ requests submitted by Country Offices and UNDP units for specific high profiles cases such as COVID-19 response
- Ensure that deployment business processes and guidelines are adhered to including deployment requests, TOR development, expert identification, contracting, briefing, deployment and evaluation.
- Support the contracting and supervision of consultants and entitlement of staff
- Ensure that relevant UNDP offices access advice and information on the effective use of GPN’s deployment mechanisms including issues pertaining to modality, selection, contracting, logistics, security clearance, medical clearance, fees and other operational matters;
Deliverables
The following deliverables/actions will be provided on an ongoing basis:
- Dedicated pool of expert with knowledge of EU and UNDP Project cycle to support Country Office in the drafting of project proposals etc. established and maintained.
- Compliance with the established regulatory framework of EU and UNDP for purposes of contracted management ensured.
- Deployment of experts through Stand By Partners facilitated.
- Coordinate the deployment if UN Volunteers as part of the UNV/UNDP Tandem Team Initiative
- UNV as a deployment modality promoted to UDP Country Offices, as part of the Crisis Bureau’s Deployment Mechanism
- Deployment of experts for large regional and global responses facilitated
Competencies
Ethics & Values:
- Demonstrating / Safeguarding Ethics and Integrity;
- Demonstrates and promotes the highest standard of integrity, impartiality, fairness and incorruptibility in all matters affecting his/her work and status.
Functional Competencies:
Organizational Awareness:
- Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment understands the structure and hierarchy of UN/UNDP, process flows throughout the organization, products and services, their measures of effectiveness, and perceptions of clients;
- Excellent knowledge of development issues and internationally agreed development goals;
Working in Teams:
- Acting as a team player and facilitating teamwork;
- Works collaboratively with colleagues inside UN/UNDP as well as its partners and other stakeholders to pursue common goals.
- Ability to work at ease in a multicultural setting.
Communicating Information and Ideas:
- Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively;
- Delivers verbal/written information in a timely, clear, organized and easily understood manner;
- Excellent oral and written skills to develop knowledge products in relevant areas;
- Strong communication skills and the ability to listen and take direction and leadership from others.
Self-Management & Emotional Intelligence:
- Creating synergies through self-control tolerates conditions of stress, uncertainty or ambiguity and continues to maintain a positive outlook and to work productively.
Knowledge Sharing & Continuous Learning:
- Ability to efficiently handle and share information and knowledge.
Functional competencies:
- Knowledge of crisis response and early recovery policies and inter-agency mechanisms;
- Ability to implement methods and tools for crisis situations;
Excellent writing skills in English
Required Skills and Experience
Academic qualifications
Advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) in International Relations, Development, Project Management, Human Resources or similar is required
Experience:
- Minimum of 5 years of relevant post master’s work experience in human resources, project management, operations, management or crisis response; required
- Knowledge and understanding of crisis prevention, preparedness, response and recovery (both disasters and conflicts); resilience; stabilization; transition; etc.); international crisis response architecture (including humanitarian system; peacekeeping operations; special political missions; etc.); gender equality in the context of programming in humanitarian and early recovery settings); required
- The candidate should be familiar with matters pertaining to UN or UNDP; desired
- Understanding of deployment mechanisms; required
- Understanding of crisis response and recovery; required
- Understanding of UNDP operations; desired
- Project management, good IT skills and human resources experience is also an advantage;
- Computer proficient and well versed in the use of the HR databases Internet, Excel and Word, required
Language:
- Proficiency in English both written and oral is a must;
- Working knowledge in one or several other UN working languages (s) would be an added advantage
EVALUATION METHOD
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 a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.
* Technical Criteria: weight 70% (desk review)
* Financial Criteria weight 30%
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 490 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation
Technical Evaluation (700 points, Weight 70%)
All applicants will be initially screened against the minimum qualification requirements as specified above.
Responsive candidates will then be further evaluated against the following criteria
- Criteria 1: Proven and relevant experience providing advisory support for crisis response and recovery deployments and initiatives, and/or partnerships (Maximum150 points) ) (5-6 years’ experience 100 points, 7 years above 150 points)
- Criteria 2: Proven experience in working on partnerships to enhance capacities of country offices and or field offices – (Maximum 200 points)
- Criteria 3: Experience working with UN agencies, government entities or NGOs at the country and HQ level desirable – Maximum 150 points)
- Criteria 4: Proven ability to work in fast paced environment focusing on programmatic and operation elements – (Maximum 150 points)
- Criteria 5: Proven ability to deliver in a timely manner, ensuring quality assuarnce– 50 points
The maximum points that can be achieved in the desk review is 700 points
Only those candidates who obtain a total technical score of 490 points and above on the technical evaluation will be considered for financial evaluation and will be asked to submit a financial proposal.
Financial evaluation (300 points, Weight 30%)
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
For the General Conditions of contracts for the Services of Individual Contractors, see http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf.
Note: only shortlisted candidates will be invited to submit a financial proposal. Please do not include your financial proposal in your technical application package.
- The financial proposal should specify an all-inclusive daily fee, take into account various expenses that will be incurred during the contract, including: the daily professional fee; cost of travel from the home base to the duty station and vice versa, where required; 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 response to the announcement by New York local authorities that all United Nations non-essential workforce must stay home in an effort to combat the spread of COVID-19, the consultant is expected to telecommute (from the country of residence at the moment of application) until the situation allows for the deployment in New York HQ Offices. As such, shortlisted candidates may be asked to submit two different all-inclusive professional daily fees: home-based and office-based (based on a 7 hour working day - lunch time is not included - and estimated 21.75 days per month).
- Only for daily fee-based assignments: Both home-based and office-based all-inclusive professional daily fees will be considered during the financial assessment and will have an equal impact on the evaluation’s result. The most competitive financial proposal for each of the categories (home-based and office-based) will be awarded a total of 15 points.
- 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
Application Procedure
The application package containing the following (to be uploaded as one file):
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
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
Schedule of Payments:
- Payment will be made upon submission of a certificate of payment request, and a progress report, at a schedule agreed based on deliverables, indicating outputs achieved and days worked to be verified and cleared for payment by the supervisor.
- 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.
Institutional Arrangement:
The consultant will report to the Deployments Specialist, Programme Specialist and UNDP Brussels.
Due to the large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.