Background

The position is located in the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office (RCO) in Senegal.

The person will be the COVID-19 Coordinator for the UN system in Senegal.  This function foresees the overall coordination of the UN contingency plan in country to coordinate, propose and implement measures to ensure the duty of care of UN personnel and their dependents. The COVID-19 Coordinator has also overall responsibility for the medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) process of COVID-19. This urgent work will require intense and continuous coordinator efforts within the United Nations and with the Government actors and structures put in place to respond to COVID-19.

At the same time, the United Nations is also intensifying its efforts to support the Government of Senegal to respond to the multi-faced impact of COVID-19. In particular, under the overall leadership of the RC and with the technical advice of UNDP, the United Nations in Senegal is finalizing  a socio-economic framework to support the longer term respond and “build back better’ in line with the guidance received from the SG.

Since confirming its first COVID-19 case on 2 March 2020, Senegal has registered 15571 (as of 27 October) with a number of cases within the UN family. It is expected that the situation will continue to remain complex for at least few months.

At such critical time, the United Nations need to strengthen their coordination efforts internally and with the Government to ensure a solid number of measures are in place for the duty of care of staff and dependents

Duties and Responsibilities

1. Provide advice and coordination on behalf of the United Nations, in coordination with partners, in support to the United Nations contingency plan and efforts to ensure the duty of care of staff and dependents to protect them from and respond to COVID-19, including:

1. advice the RC and the RCO on the measures and actions necessary to ensure the duty of care of staff and dependents in relation to COVID-19
2. Lead the UN internal contingency planning coordination structure composed of various working groups within the United Nations system
3. Through these efforts, propose options and measures for consideration of the UN Crisis Management Team (CMT) in charge of taking decisions on contingency planning and duty of care measures for staff and dependents in Senegal
4. Brief the CMT during each meeting on the work of the working group under the UN coordination structure for COVID-19 and table issues for decision-making
5. Follow up with relevant working groups and actors to ensure a swift implementation of the decisions taken by the CMT.
6. Hav ethe overall responsibility for the medical evacuation (MEDEVAC) process of COVID-19.

1. The individual will work under the leadership of the United Nations Resident coordinator and key UN Agencies, notably WHO.
2. Ensure rapid and correct dissemination of information on the UN and national response plans and resourcing needs within the United Nations and to all development partners in Senegal, as needed
3. Systematically map and report on United Nations’ contributions to the outbreak response, with a view to strengthening their alignment with national initiatives within the framework of aid effectiveness principles
4. Ensure coherency and facilitate the work of the national commissions and UN working groups with regard to the needs and impact of COVID-19, ensuring that appropriate guidance is provided to these bodies

Facilitate the engagement with a variety of interlocutors, including service providers identified to

1. implement the United Nations System contingency plan and CMT decisions.

Draft position papers, briefings, provide presentations and contribute to the formulation of strategies and policies, as needed.

Livrables

Coordination of the UN coordination structure for COVID-19, proposition of measures to the CMT and follow-up to ensure the implementation of the measures.

• Support to internal consultations within the United Nations, Government and partners;
• Support to drafting of plans, project documentation, briefings, strategies, as required;
• Development of presentation materials as needed;
• Support to financing, including cross-partner coordination;
• Coordination support to cross partners initiatives and structures;
• Support to workplanning and reporting to support UN and national plans;
• Support to communications.

The consultant is requested to provide a weekly activity report to the Resident Coordinator.

Chronogramme de la Mission

The consultancy involves meetings with identified stakeholders. The consultant must ensure compliance with the timetable by all members of the team and the quality of the documents to be produced.

Competencies

Organizational

• Strategic thinking and organizational development;
• Leadership;
• Learning, sharing knowledge and innovating;
• Client orientation;
• Problem solving and decision making;
• Communicating and negotiating;
• Building relationships and partnerships.

Technical/Functional

• Strong understand and knowledge of the United Nations System;
• Previous experience engaging with senior officials within the United Nations System, Government officials and partners;
• Previous experience working in emergency context with the United Nations;
• Strong analytical skills;
• Ability to substantially contribute to formulation of strategies and policies;
• Ability to draft briefs, positions papers, and strategies, as required;
• Diplomatic communication and negotiation skills to establish and maintain trusted partnerships for achievement of objectives and to develop close and effective working relationships with diverse stakeholders at all levels;
• Demonstrated ability to formulate new approaches;
• Skill in the identification of new opportunities or requirements to meet challenges;
• Ability and skill in identifying best practices and implementing innovations adapting them to partnership issues.

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications requises

Education : 

• Advanced university degree from an accredited institution in international development, international relations, political science, business administration or other job-related field.

Expérience : 

•  Minimum of 15 years of progressively relevant experience in political affairs, development, human rights, health response, programme management or related experience is required.
• Experience in providing strategic policy advisory services and relationships building with progressively responsible supervisory experience is required.
• Successful track record in establishing, building and managing partnerships with various stakeholders.
• Experience engaging with officials from the United Nations, Government and partners.
• Experience working in the United Nations System is required.
• Strong drafting skills in English and French.
• Experience working in emergency setting is required.
• Experience working in a health emergency is desirable.
• Experience working on COVID-19 issues and responses is desirable.

Langues requises :      

• Fluency in oral and written English and French is required.

Institutional arrangement:

 The consultant will work under the guidance and direct supervision of the Resident Coordinator and will be responsible for the fulfilment of the deliverables as specified above. Given the difficulties related to travel and current travel restrictions, the candidate must be currently in Dakar and will be locally recruited. In addition, given the immediate need of this position to work on the COVID-19 crisis, the candidate must be immediately available.

Payment modality:

Payment to the Individual Contractor will be made on a monthly basis based on the actual number of days worked, deliverables accepted and upon certification of satisfactory completion by the manager, supported by a weekly report of activities. The contract will be issued for three months based on a workday of 7 hour with core hours being between 9h00 and 18h00 daily.

Budget: All costs directly related to this contract will be covered by the Office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator.

Important Note:

The Consultant is required to have the abovementioned professional and technical qualifications. Only the applicants who hold these qualifications will be shortlisted and contacted.

Upon the advertisement of the Procurement Notice, qualified Individual Consultant is expected to submit both the Technical and Financial Proposals. Accordingly; Individual Consultants will be evaluated based on Cumulative Analysis as per the following scenario:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation. In this regard, the respective weight of the proposals are:
  1. Technical Criteria weight is 70%
  2. Financial Criteria weight is 30%

Critères et pondérations

• Criteria 1:  Minimum of 15 years of progressively relevant experience in political affairs, development, human rights, health response, programme management or related experience – 15 points
• Criteria 2: Experience in providing strategic policy advisory services and relationships building with progressively responsible supervisory experience – 15 points
• Criteria 3: Successful track record in establishing, building and managing partnerships with various stakeholders -15 points
• Criteria 4: Experience engaging with officials from the United Nations, Government and partners. – 15 points
• Criteria 5: Experience working in the United Nations System – 15 points
• Criteria 6: Experience working in emergency setting – 10 points
• Criteria 7: Experience working on COVID-19 – 15 points

CONFIDENTIALITY AND PROPRIETARY INTERESTS

The Individual Consultant shall not either during the term or after termination of the assignment, disclose any proprietary or confidential information related to the consultancy service without prior written consent. Proprietary interests on all materials and documents prepared by the consultants under the assignment shall become and remain properties of UNDP.

The term “All inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consummables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal

Applicants are invited to apply online at the following address http://jobs.undp.org, no later than 06 November, 2020. NB: The system does not allow to join several files at the same time, the technical offer and the financial offer must be sent to the following address: senegal.procurement@undp.org