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 and programme work carried out at HQ, Regional and Country Office (CO) levels, forms a contiguous spectrum of deep, local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. Within this context, UNDP invests in 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.
From the climate crisis and global pandemic, to rising inequalities and protracted conflicts – the systemic socioeconomic failures exposed by these challenges, cannot be resolved by linear and fragmented approaches. Solutions must respond to deep systemic drivers of inequality and unsustainability and be delivered in integrated fashion. It also means that delivering the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development must be underpinned in the acknowledgement that the seventeen SDGs are complexly intertwined, and cannot be considered in piecemeal fashion, nor without considering the possible implications of positive or negative in one SDG area for another. The SDGs must be implemented in an integrated way to help countries tackle complex challenges and lay out a more sustainable future.
SDG Integration is the team that influences, shapes, and activates platforms for intersectional collaboration for complex, multi-faceted, and ‘frontier’ issues in sustainable development, enabling a network of expertise and actors across the SDGs, within and beyond UNDP. As such, the SDG Integration team is at the heart of UNDP’s Global Policy Network (GPN). In collaboration with the Regional Innovation Centre, and other relevant Regional, CO and HQ units, and whilst ensuring alignment with Strategic and Regional workplans, UNDP SDG Integration Strategy, as well as quality and coherent policy and program advisory services, the SDG Integration team in BRH curates and coordinates evidence-based support on SDG implementation to Country Offices. Implementation experiences, innovation research and piloting of new tools and approaches are all captured to act as a type of “toolkit” for GPN and COs to draw upon to help promote and spread systems-driven, integrated solutions for delivery of the SDGs.
The Development Solution Architect of the SDG Integration (SDGi) team is home-based, though ideally would be able to live and work in Bangkok, and reports to the Regional SDGi Team Lead in the Bangkok Regional Hub. S/he will, inter alia: (i) provide intellectual and evidence-based strategic design guidance, as well as technical support, on innovative, integrated solutions for complex and multi-faceted issues for UNDP in the Asia Pacific region; (ii) working closely with the SDGi Lead and Team, the Regional Innovation Centre and other relevant parts of UNDP GPN, design and, where needed, support piloting of implementation of innovative integrated solutions by the GPN and COs, ensuring alignment with the UNDP SDG Integration strategy; (iii) working closely with SDGi Lead, and the Regional Innovation Centre, help to capture pilot implementation experiences, innovative tools and approaches for curation within a “toolkit” for transformative interventions that can be drawn upon for the long term by GPN and COs; (iv) engage in wider innovation and sustainable development discourse and knowledge sharing in the Asia-Pacific region, within the UN system and among bilateral partners, expert partners, governments, private sector etc., to help support partnerships and gain input and cooperation for solutions design, and to promote SDG Integration; (v) provide back-up support to the SDGi Lead Advisor in ensuring the continuous workflow and quality of the regional SDG Integration team outputs.
Duties and Responsibilities
Main scope of work for the consultant
In collaboration with the programme and policy teams in the Regional Hub, including the Regional Innovation Centre, Country Accelerator Labs, SDG Finance Team, UNDP SDG Integration Team (global and country levels), and UNDP’s wider Global Policy Network (GPN) s/he is responsible for supporting the provision of technical expertise and policy and programme advisory services to COs, by lending, inter alia, their solutions design support to BRH support efforts to CO implementation and delivery of the SDGs, and promoting integrated delivery as the preferred modality for implementing solutions. The consultant also ensures alignment with SDG Integration Strategy and other global/regional corporate priorities, policies and workplans, and advances the credibility and recognition of UNDP’s capabilities in this knowledge domain and associated community of practice.
The services and expertise of the Development Solution Architect of the SDG Integration team include:
· Support UNDP COs with systems engagement and solution design assistance on integrated development solutions for complex, large scale development challenges at the regional, country, and local levels. The support provision focuses on complex requests/problems that relate to multiple thematic/SDG areas in defining their complexity, scalability, entry points as well as the integration of policy and programming, data and analytics, innovation and learning, and financing.
· Supporting the Regional SDG Integration Team Lead, the Development Solution Architect will work as a connector to fulfill the support which include, inter alia: planning and designing integrated strategies that influence GPN’s programming, streamline monitoring and evaluation; that closes both positive feedback loop and lessons-learned; and also assistance in acquisition of expert consultants/contractors.
· Support the Regional SDG Integration Team Lead in coordinating multi-disciplinary engagement and collaboration across the SDGs, including the provision of a common Secretariat capability for UNDP pilot initiatives, as well as an in-house coordination platform for scoping and deploying technical engagements that draw from UNDP’s network of SDG advisory expertise;
· Direct provision, working closely with SDGi Lead and Team, the Regional Innovation Centre, and relevant GPN colleagues, of technical advice on comprehensive SDG themes and/or processes to national and regional leaders/counterparts and external industry leaders, which include strategic development planning, specific technical support on various complex challenges, collaborative design, research/data analysis, facilitating ‘sense making’ of development trends, sensitization/stakeholder engagement, advisory support on establishment of country platforms, etc.
· In an autonomous manner, facilitate joint planning and design work to advancing a coherent narrative and operational platform for integrated development approaches within the SDG Framework, as well as information management of UNDP’s integration offers and Inter-Agency investments in collaborative SDG engagement.
· This shall include working closely with the Regional Innovation Centre and GPN, towards curating the innovative engagements, and implementation experiences of new tools and innovations into a “toolkit” of approaches and other knowledge management products that can be accessed in the long term by COs and GPN Thematic areas to further SDG Integration and Innovation;
· Apply corporate’s integrated strategies to regional projects managed by UNDP’s development experts and consistently provide thought-provoking perspectives and approaches to ensure the coherency of the corporate’s strategy and projects being implemented on the ground.
Scope of work and Responsibilities
In all areas, SDGi Lead may also indicate need for direct collaboration with SDGi New York specialists, Digital Transformation Specialists, and others, as appropriate, to ensure strategic continuity and alignment of all activities. In addition, the consultant shall work across SDG Integration priorities, bringing their skills of strategic and technical design to all outputs.
1. Strategic Planning and Design of Integrated SDG offers
o In collaboration with the SDG Integration Team Lead, the Bureau and Hub’s senior management, the Regional Innovation Centre and other relevant teams, serve as a strategic planner and designer to structure coherent and integrated strategies and storylines.
o Ensure effective responses to complex, multi-sectoral and integrated development solutions by providing coordinated technical support in planning and visualized structures that help make sense of the UNDP’s unique integrator role within and beyond the UN system and external partners, including government partners and the private sector.
o Fit-for-purpose planning and design based on requests for any integrated SDG support from UNDP COs, and sub-regional requests, working closely with the CO Desk Officers and BRH Teams;
o Help the SDG Integration team grasp the complexity of requests by visually mapping different layers and categories of the challenges and proactively engage in planning and designing integrated offers.
o Maintain high-quality collaborative networks with UNDP and non-UNDP experts across knowledge domains through regular and episodic substantive work, as required in the design and delivery of integrated SDG services.
o Support the SDG Integration Team Lead in assuring the quality of the delivery of integrated SDG advisory engagements.
o Engage with service requestors to drive demand and collectively define the scope of anticipated technical support and define the detailed service offer, including through the Country Support Platform;
o Support the Regional SDG Integration Team Lead, collaborating across the Team, , in developing integrated offers in emerging areas/requests, while also jointly working with the Regional Invention Centre, SDG Finance Team Leader, the Sustainable Development Advisor in Bangkok, and UNDP’s wider GPN, including the Strategy and Systems Management team and help identify valuable expertise from across the GPN’s capacity network/roster to coordinate the release and deployment of experts within SDG integration engagements;
2. Provision of Technical Design Research and Pilot Support on Solutions to Complex Development Challenges
o Based on a systems and holistic approach, provide technical support on complex and multi-faceted development challenges for the regional bureau and country offices as they emerge, especially those attached to environmental and spatial challenges such as air pollution, waste and plastic pollution, hydrological services, climate induced disasters, land-use planning and conflicts, etc.
o Working closely with the SDGi Team, Regional Innovation Centre, and other relevant personnel, provide technical support on incorporation of digital transformation into development solutions that are associated with digital transformation and support GPN’s digital services in promoting standardized Principles for Digital Transformation, and appropriate tools and approaches that can help in preventing and mitigating undesirable harm to people and nature during the development process of digital projects, initiatives, to help foster favorable impacts for vulnerable areas and populations. This work shall complement other BRH GPN efforts associated with incorporation and acceleration of digital transformation across the region, and more detailed areas such as: access to digital literacy, digital services, digital infrastructure, digital identity and digital payments, and investigation of the cost of exclusion for digital citizenship.
o Support the SDG Integration Team Lead in providing technical support on SDG planning, monitoring, campaigning, and coordination
o In tandem with the SDG Integration Team Lead, deliver UNDP’s SDG integration services in collaboration with technical experts from across UNDP’s GPN network of capacity and in-house resources across knowledge domains (including the Accelerator Labs Network, SDG Impact, and the Country Support Platforms) to demonstrate intersectional policy advice and integration capabilities.
3. Advocacy and Partner Engagement for Effective Institutional Positioning of UNDP’s SDG Integration Offer
o Jointly collaborate with the UNDP Global SDG Integration team, country offices and GPN to advocate the work of UNDP in leading SDG Integration efforts on social media and UNDP SDG Integration global webpage
o Provide technical support to SDGi Team Lead, if requested, to support efforts of SDGi BRH to engage with, mobilize and foster external partnerships (UN and non-UN) behind large scale and integrated SDG solutions.
o Support the SDGi Team Lead in maintaining high-quality collaborative networks with UNDP and non-UNDP experts across knowledge domains through regular and episodic substantive work, as required in the delivery of integrated SDG services
o Support the Regional SDG Integration Team Lead in refining UNDP’s roadmap and engage proactively with funding partners to influence the global discourse on the 2030 Agenda by feeding the outcomes of UNDP work into other UN and non-UN processes.
o Participate in UN interagency coordination as well as in other fora with the aim to advance UNDP’s strategic agenda in the thematic area, as assigned by the SDGi Lead.
o Support the SDGi Lead in advocating policy and positioning of this thematic area in various fora and through programme efforts, including academia, private sector, and civil society.
o Help the SDGi Lead develop the building of strategic alliances and partnerships, especially with key think tanks, governmental organizations (or funders) and non-governmental organizations.
4. Contribution to knowledge management, community of practice networking, content development and curation of tools and resources to build capacity around integrated SDG engagement for governments and national counterparts
o Under guidance of SDGi Lead, provide technical expertise in knowledge codification, content development and repository for regional/CO knowledge products, identifying tools, developing methodologies and programmatic solutions and producing knowledge to facilitate and advance innovation in driving and accelerating SDG achievement in close collaboration with the Regional Innovation Centre and SDG Accelerator Lab network team
o Where appropriate (eg arising out of piloting experiencing and establishment of proof of concept), and coordinating with the SDGi Team and Regional Innovation Centre in particular, design and deliver training on programming tools including by developing training packs for COs (and GPN) to facilitate innovation learning, foster and encourage policy and technical innovation and continuous improvement to enhance programme delivery;
o Support to showcase UNDP knowledge on integrated SDG solutions and engagement processes at internal or external fora, as required by SDG Lead, and ensure that UNDP’s SDG integration capability is contextualized in relevant and impactful ways in multi-disciplinary and multi-sectoral arenas;
o Work closely with SDGi Team Lead to develop and strengthen linkages with the global SDGs Community of Practice and across regions.
Expected Outputs and Deliverables
The successful Contractor will provide continuous support to the Asia Pacific SDGi Lead to deliver the following outputs throughout the assignment:
- Up-to-date structure coherent and integrated strategies and storylines;
- Coordinated technical support in planning and visualized structures of SDG Integration;
- Integrated development offers design and delivery planning;
- Identification of valuable expertise from across the GPN’s capacity network/roster to coordinate the release and deployment of experts within SDG integration engagements;
- Technical support on incorporation of environmental and spatial challenges as well as digital transformation into development solutions and promotion of standardized Principles for Digital Transformation, and appropriate tools and approaches;
- Technical support on SDG planning, monitoring, campaigning, and coordination;
- Knowledge codification, content development and repository for regional/CO knowledge products.
Institutional Arrangement
The consultant will report to the Asia Pacific SDG Integration Lead in Bangkok Regional Hub, and will work closely with colleagues in the Asia Pacific Global Policy Network (GPN).
The consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment. She/he will be responsible for providing her/his own laptop.
Duration of the Work
1 January 2021 – 31 December 2021 (Up to 261 working days.)
Duty Station
ome based with potential travel to countries in the Asia- Pacific region.
Competencies
Core Competencies
- Innovation: Ability to make new and useful ideas work.
- Leadership: Ability to persuade others to follow.
- People Management: Ability to improve performance and satisfaction.
- Communication: Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform.
- Delivery: Ability to get things done while exercising good judgement.
- Initiative: Displays initiative, sets challenging outputs for her/himself and willingly accepts new work assignments.
Functional/Technical Competencies:
- Strong interpersonal skills, communication and diplomatic skills, ability to work in a team;
- Excellent analytical skills and the capacity to research and comprehend technical and strategic documentation and prepare policy and strategy papers;
- Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
- Ability to work under pressure and stressful situations, and to meet tight deadlines;
- Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities;
- Capacity to establish and maintain excellent relationships with key partners;
- Good presentation skills;
- Good computer skills (Advanced skills of office computer systems (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook) as well as data management, visualization, graphic, and geospatial data management tools (Adobe Illustrator, ArcGIS, QGIS, STATA, R, D3.js)
- Strong command of English with an ability to communicate verbally and in writing with a wide range of partners persuasively and collaboratively.
- Sustainable Development Goals: Knowledge of the Sustainable Development Goals and the ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situations.
- Strong Visualization Skills: Ability to understand complexity of issues and visualize them that helps to strategically plan solutions to achieve the SDGs.
- Technical Knowledge in Environmental and Spatial Issues: Knowledge of various development challenges, especially those strongly linked with environmental and spatial issues and a good understanding of cross-cutting issues that require integrated solutions.
- Substantive Networking: Ability to substantively engage and foster networks with governments, academia, research institutions, and think tanks.
- Collaboration & Partnerships: Ability to develop, maintain, and strengthen partnerships with others inside (Programmes/projects) or outside the organization who can provide information, assistance, and support. Sets overall direction for the formation and management of strategic relationships contributing to the overall positioning of UNDP
- Planning & Coordination: evidence of ability to plan and coordinate campaigns and people with inspiration.
Required Skills and Experience
Educational Qualifications
- Master degree in any of social science, engineering, systems design, policy, natural/environmental science, urban studies, climate, international development, or other relevant fields.
Experience
- A minimum of 4 years of experience in public or private sector that focuses on technical design of solutions to complex problems (technological, sociological, infrastructural, policy solutions etc.)
- At least 3 years prior experience of working with one or more UN agencies
- At least 3 years working in the Asia Pacific region, working across sectors (public and private) in designing or developing to complex issues, including those focused on aspects of sustainable development in countries. Experience in 4IR, digital tools and platforms would be an asset.
- At least 3 years in demonstrated experience in communications, advocacy and/or stakeholder engagement
Language requirements
- English proficiency (verbal and written).
Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments
The contract will be based on Daily
Consultant shall quote an all-inclusive Daily Fee for the contract period. The term “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, consumables, etc.) that could be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment are already factored into the daily fee submitted in the proposal. If applicable, travel or daily allowance cost (if any work is to be done outside the IC’s duty station) should be identified separately. Payments shall be done on a monthly basis based on actual days worked, upon verification of completion of deliverables and approval by the IC’s supervisor of a Time Sheet indicating the days worked in the period.
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.
Travel costs shall be reimbursed at actual but not exceeding the quotation from UNDP approved travel agent.
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 combine technical evaluation of desk review and interview (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.
- Only those applications which are responsive, compliant and accept in general condition will be evaluated;
- For those passing technical and interview evaluation above, offers will be evaluated per the Combined Scoring method:
- Technical as desk review (30%)
- Interview (40%)
- Financial Evaluation (30%)
- The financial proposal shall specify a daily fee;
Technical Criteria for desk review evaluation (Maximum 100 points)
- Criteria 1: Relevance education background - Max 15 points;
- Criteria 2: Work experience in public or private sector that focuses on technical design of solutions to complex problems (technological, sociological, infrastructural, policy solutions etc.)- Max 30 points;
- Criteria 3: Work experience in UN agencies - Max 20 points;
- Criteria 4: Work experience in Asia Pacific region – Max 20 points;
- Criteria 4: Experience in demonstrated experience in communication, advocacy and/ or stakeholder engagement - Max 15 points;
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70 points (100% of technical evaluation) would be considered for an interview and Financial Evaluation respectively.
Please advise the score on each part and would team prefer to do a desk review first and then interview will be conducted for those who pass the desk review.
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 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.
- Brief description of why the applicant considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, relating how he/she proposes to conduct the assignment to their previous experience.
- Financial proposal, as per template provided in Annex II. Note: National consultant must quote price in U.S. Dollar that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided. If an 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 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.
Incomplete proposals may not be considered. The shortlisted candidates may be contacted and the successful candidate will be notified.
To download form and related documents, please follow the link below:
https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=71222