Background

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN’s global development network, advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP works through 136 country offices to provide development advocacy, advice and assistance to 166 countries in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Arab States, Eastern Europe, CIS, Latin America and the Caribbean, working to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). SDGs Integration is at the core of UNDP’s Global Policy Network (GPN), which is leveraged and engaged in the delivery of integrated support to countries on implementation and monitoring of the 2030 Agenda.

The Regional Hub is part of the Regional Bureau for Arab States (RBAS) with a presence in Amman (Jordan) and Beirut (in Lebanon, for the execution of the Regional Programme functions). The Hub expands and revitalizes UNDP’s presence in the Arab region. It provides policy advice and programmatic support to country offices (COs) in the region to be more responsive to increasing needs across the region. It also comes as part of UNDP’s global effort to become a more effective and efficient organization, fit for its purpose – to help countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and leave no one behind.

Under the guidance and supervision of the Regional Policy Adviser on SDGs and Development Planning, the consultant is responsible of helping refine SDG integration portfolio from COs demands in the Integrated Workplans (IWPs) and piloting new SDG localization approaches for delivering integrated support to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda in Arab States; and supporting research and briefs on a broad range of 

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the SDG Integration Advisor the contractor will undertake the following tasks:

• Contributing background development materials on SDG integration portfolio  for CO support and prototyping of UNDP’s SDG localization for integrated support to countries in Arab States;
• Supporting the tracking and mapping of SDG integration support in the CO IWPs and thematic linkages against the SDGs and helping assess their impact on the SDGs implementation at CO level;
• Providing input to the development of SDGs; quarterly reports, capacity reviews/assessment reports profiles, policy papers, briefing notes, and speeches, as requested by the supervisor;
• Liaising with different units within the wider RBAS and UNDP on issues and work related to the SDGs
• Providing support in the organization of workshops, quarterly meetings, country dialogues sessions and other SDG related events, including those related to the Inter-Agency forums; and
• Under the supervisor’s guidance, engage in RBAS desk function meetings on stock-taking the SDG integration approaches in crisis context, including moving the SDG agenda forward.

EXPECTED OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES

The consultant will be in charge of providing programme and administrative support, supporting policy research, and knowledge generation/management related to the area of SDG Integration. As per below table

EXPECTED OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES

Competencies

Corporate

• Demonstrates integrity and fairness, by modeling the UN/UNDP’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional

• Excellent time management and organizational skills, with the ability to undertake multiple tasks and deliver under pressure;
• Ability to produce clear and concise written reports.
• Strong analytical and synthesis skills;
• Ability to work independently and achieve quality results with limited supervision and within tight schedules;
• Strong quantitative and qualitative research skills;
• Experience in reports production;
• Good teamwork and interpersonal skills;
• Flexibility and ability to handle multiple tasks and work under pressure;
• Excellent computer skills especially Word, Excel and Power Point.

Knowledge Management and Learning

• Ability to strongly promote and build knowledge products;
• Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example;
• Seeks and applies knowledge, information and best practices from within and outside of UNDP;
• Demonstrates a strong capacity for innovation and creativity in providing strategic policy advice and direction.

Leadership

• Demonstrated ability to think strategically and to provide credible leadership;
• Demonstrated flexibility in leadership by performing and/or overseeing the analysis/resolution of complex issues;

Required Skills and Experience

Academic background:

• Master’s degree related to International Relations/Law/Public Policy or other relevant experience discipline.

Experience & Knowledge:

• Previous working with the UN and/or international organization, familiarity with its mandate and work preferred.
• Proficiency in the use of computers and office software packages (ERP, MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.);
• background development materials on SDG integration portfolio  for CO support and prototyping of UNDP’s SDG localization for integrated support to countries in Arab States;

Language Requirements

• Proficient in English required. Proficiency in French an asset.

INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT

• The individual is required to exhibit his or her full-time commitment with UNDP Regional Hub;
• She shall perform tasks under the general guidance and direct supervision of the Regional Advisor on SDG Integration. The supervision will include approvals/acceptance of the outputs as identified in the previous section;
• There will be an initial briefing for the consultant with the Advisor and the broader SDG integration team and RBAS Team.
• The contractor will be home-based and, after the contract signing and prior to starting work, will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment by the UNDP Regional Hub.

DURATION OF THE WORK

The contract is expected to require a commitment of 12 months.

The expected date of commencement is 20 December, 2020.

DUTY STATION AND TRAVEL PLAN

The contractor will be home-based. Consultant may travel to Amman when travel is required and authorized.

If any unforeseen travel outside the individual home-based city is requested by UNDP and not required by the Terms of References (ToR), such travel shall be negotiated to be covered by UNDP in line with applicable rules and regulations and upon prior written agreement. In such cases, the individual shall receive living allowances not exceeding the United Nations (UN) Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) rate for such other location(s).

SCOPE OF PRICE PROPOSAL AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS

Interested candidates should provide lump sum fees for requested services with detailed breakdown.  This amount must be “all-inclusive”. Please note that the terms “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal. Payment to the Individual Contractor will be made based on the actual number of days worked, deliverables accepted and upon certification of satisfactory completion by the manager and will be made upon satisfactory achieved deliverables and submission of time sheet in accordance with number of days worked and certification of payment. All payments are subject to the clearance and approval of the direct supervisor. The contract price is fixed regardless of changes in the cost of components.

The contractor will be paid an all-inclusive Deliverables/Outputs based lump sum amounts over the assignment period, subject to the submission of Certification of Payment (CoP) duly certified or an invoice and confirmation of satisfactory performance of achieved work (deliverables/outputs) by the Task Manager in line with the schedule of payments table hereunder:

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS.

Candidates wishing to be considered for this assignment are required to submit the following documents 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:

• Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
• 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;
• Financial Proposal 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

All necessary information including: Complete Procurement Notice, the Selection Criteria, and Annexes are found on the following link under Procurement http://procurement-notices.undp.org/

Interested individual consultants must submit the abovementioned documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications to Job advertisement website https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_jobs.cfm not later than 25 November 2020 , Candidates that fail to submit the required information on or before the set deadline will not be considered. 

Please do not submit financial proposal in this stage. Financial proposal shall be requested from Candidates who are considered technically responsive

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF THE BEST OFFERS

Only those applicants who meet the minimum level of education, relevant years of experience requirements and provide sound methodology for the assignment will be considered for the technical evaluation. The technical evaluation will include a desk review and may also include interviews with shortlisted applicants.

Candidates will be compared using a combined scoring method with the qualifications weighted at 70% and the price offer weighted at 30%.

Step I: Screening and desk review:

Applications will be first screened and only candidates meeting the following minimum requirements will progress to the pool for shortlisting:

• Criteria A: Master’s degree related to International Relations/Law/Public Policy or other relevant experience discipline.
• Criteria B: Previous working with the UN and/or international organization, familiarity with its mandate and work preferred.

• Criteria C: Fluency in English required.

Step II : Technical Review

Shortlisted candidates will undergo a technical evaluation and a submission of a proposal to tackle the assignment.

Technical evaluation Criteria max 100 points (Weighted 70):

• Master’s degree related to International Relations/Law/Public Policy or other relevant experience discipline. (30 points)
• Previous working with the UN and/or international organization, familiarity with its mandate and work preferred. (30 point)
• Background development materials on SDG integration portfolio for CO support and prototyping of UNDP’s SDG localization for integrated support to countries in Arab States; (20 points)
• Proficiency in the use of computers and office software packages (ERP, MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.); (10 points)
• Proficient in English required. Proficiency in French an asset (10 points)

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation

For those offers considered in the financial evaluation, the lowest price offer will receive 30 points. The other offers will receive points in relation to the lowest offer, based on the following formula: (PI / Pn) * 30 where Pn is the financial offer being evaluated and Pl is the lowest financial offer received.

Step II: Final evaluation

The final evaluation will combine the scores of the desk review and the financial proposal with the following weights assigned to each:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis methodology (weighted scoring method), where the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

“responsive/compliant/acceptable” can be defined as fully meeting the TOR provided.

Technical Criteria weight: [70%]

Financial Criteria weight: [30%]

Only Individual Consultants obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70%) on the Technical evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.