Background

BACKGROUND:

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime is implementing a two-year project entitled “Mitigating COVID-19’s Negative Impact on At Risk Communities” that is part of its COVID-19 response efforts, with the support of the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) of the United States. The project aims to contribute in mitigating the impact of the pandemic to at-risk communities, specifically people who use drugs, people with drug use disorders, their families and communities within the Philippines by improving the capabilities and skills of service and care providers and by empowering local communities and services related to drug use prevention, treatment and rehabilitation to create a safer environment for all. 

The four major outcomes that are expected through this project to be implemented from October 2020 to September 2022 are:

1.       Participating Local Government Units (LGUs) implement effective and evidence-based infection prevention and control (IPC) measures while continuously providing services to people who use drugs, people with drug use disorders and their families, as part of the overall COVID-19 response in the community;

2.       Community-based interventions to implement evidence-based drug use prevention, psychosocial therapy for the treatment of drug use disorders among adolescence, and fostering education contribute to reducing stress on the Philippines’ COVID-19 recovery plans; and,

3.       Substance abuse treatment and rehabilitation protocol and guidelines will effectively respond to community crisis and will mitigate the threats for person with substance use disorder during public health crises.

4.       Guidelines for public health are reviewed and available for public distribution.

This project will respond flexibly, rapidly and effectively to the needs of the Philippines while prioritizing technical assistance requests that demonstrate political will and are sustainable, because the political environment may be volatile and the window of opportunity for enabling reform can be small and short-lived. This project aims to be responsive to local needs as they arise and will be underpinned by strong partnerships and based upon impartiality, openness and mutual respect.

Promotion of Human Rights. A human rights-based approach is a cross-cutting theme underlying all UN programmes and policies. It is embedded into all programmes and materials in the project including in the international standards and guidance documents.The implementing team and partners will be guided by this value in their day-to-day operations.

Gender Mainstreaming in all activities, promoting gender equality in the access to health and social services.

The UNODC Health and Drugs team in Manila manages the project.  Technical oversight is provided by the Regional Office for Southeast Asia and the Pacific (ROSEAP).  The Dangerous Drugs Board is the main government counterpart in the project and other government agencies such as the Department of Education (DepEd), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) and the Department of Health (DOH) are likewise consulted and involved.

OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The UNODC seeks a consultant to support the implementation of activities under the Health and Drugs programme, particularly for the project indicated above. Individual Consultant shall conduct needs assessments of family programming and services for people affected by drug use and dependence, identifying the gaps especially in the context of the COVID-19 situation. These outputs of the assessment will become a basis for the project’s subsequent capacity building interventions, and introduction of evidence-based family skills-based tools to the selected LGUs.  Specifically, the results of this consultancy will contribute to the accomplishment of Output 2.1 (Family interventions, programmes and services are accessible and available in the community).

Under the supervision of the UNODC Senior Resident Policy Advisor in the Philippines and using and adapting the various operational guidances by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) the World Health Organization (WHO) on COVID-19, the IC will undertake the assessment activities related to the impact of COVID-19 to the community-based services implemented by LGUs through the Anti-Drug Abuse Councils (ADACs), including services that addresses/tackles issues faced by families.

INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT

Under the supervision of the Health and Drugs Team together with the UNODC Senior Resident Policy Advisor, the consultant is expected to constantly update the Health and Drugs National Program Officer on the progress of his/her work related to the project, at least 3 days a week or 40 person days spread over 3 months during the contracting period, to ensure that targets are met in a timely manner:

• Inception Report (with Rapid Needs Assessment design based on UNODC guidances, and with draft instruments for data collection)
• Desk Review, Document Analysis, and Final Data Collection and Consolidation instruments and schedules
• Presentation and Submission of Initial Results to UNODC, and submission of 1 set hard copy and soft copy of raw and processed data;
• Final Rapid Needs Assessment Report, annexed with individual LGU reports, and cleared by UNODC

DUTY STATION AND DURATION OF WORK

Duty Station: Manila, Philippines (with possible travel within the country) The Consultant is expected to work remotely and provide his/her own laptop, work space, internet connection for the work requirement. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and declaration of State of Public Health Emergency in the Philippines, all work and travel of the Individual consultant shall be done within the guidelines and protocols set by the local and national government and in compliance with community quarantine policies.

Duration of work: 40 person days spread over 3 Months (schedule of report submissions and other related documents is as indicated in the Expected Outputs and Deliverables clause). Regular updating/reporting to the designated coordinator assigned for the particular project is as stated above. 

SCOPE OF PRICE PROPOSAL AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS

1. The Contractor should send the financial proposal based on a lump-sum amount for the delivery of the outputs identified below. The total amount quoted shall be “all inclusive” (professional fees X number of person-days, communications, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor should be factored into the final amount submitted in the proposal.
2. Travel, as deemed relevant by UNDP and compliant with government guidelines on community quarantine, will be arranged and paid for by UNDP and should not be included in the financial proposal.
3. Medical/health insurance must be purchased by the individual at his/her own expense, and upon award of contract, the Contractor must be ready to submit proof of insurance valid during contract duration
4. The contract price will be fixed output-based price..
5. Payments will be done upon satisfactory completion of the delivery by target due dates. Outputs will be certified by the Senior Policy Advisor prior to release of payments.

Duties and Responsibilities

SCOPE OF WORK

For the period January 2020 to April 2021, the Consultant will design and operationalize the Rapid Needs Assessment of family-based services in the context of drug use and dependence in 15 selected LGUs in the Philippines.

The needs assessments will be conducted in 15 selected LGU sites, which have yet to be selected, but will likely be composed of roughly 7 sites in Luzon, 3 sites in Visayas and 5 sites in Mindanao. A final list of LGUs will be provided.

EXPECTED OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES

The following task and deliverables table shall guide the Consultant’s work:

Competencies

Corporate Competences

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN mission, vision, values and ethical standards
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability

Other Competencies

• Ability to work in close collaboration with a group of national and international experts, to meet strict deadlines and plan the work according to priorities;
• Initiative, good analytical skills, mature judgment and ability to work under tight schedule while respecting deadlines achievement, ethics and honesty;
• Ability to establish effective working relations in a multicultural team environment
• Strong initiative and desire to succeed, accountable and willingness to be pro-active in identifying

suitable companies and engaging in appropriate business opportunities

• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
• Builds strong relationships with internal and external clients
• Demonstrates capacity to plan, organize and execute effectively
• Encourages risk-taking in the pursuit of creativity and innovation
• Excellent written communication and presentation/public speaking skills in English, focus on results, ability to interact productively in a teamwork environment;
• Proven experience in dialoguing with senior level government and private sector executives

Required Skills and Experience

Candidates will be evaluated based on the Combined Rating methodology:

• Technical qualifications = 70%
• Financial Proposal =    30%

For the evaluation of the Technical Proposal, the selection of the successful consultant must be based on the following qualifications (with the appropriate obtainable points):

Applicants who will only receive 70 points from the assessment of the CV will be qualified for the assessment of the Financial Proposal. 

Annexes to the TOR

https://www.unodc.org/documents/drug-prevention-and-treatment/UN-Covid19-infographic-200328-5070.pdf

https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-general-s-opening-remarks-at-the-media-briefing-on-covid-19---21-september-2020

https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

Recommended Presentation of Offer

Interested applicants 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 a maximum of one document. 

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
2. UNDP Personal History Form (P11) or Curriculum Vitae (following the template attached) indicating all past experiences from similar projects or requirements, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
3. Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided, and clearly stating the payment percentage as indicated in this TOR. 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. 

Note: The above documents need to be scanned in one file and uploaded to the online application as one document.

Interested applicants to note that personal Medical/health insurance (to be purchased by the individual at his/her own expense) is mandatory for the issuance of contracts. Upon award of the contract, the consultant must be ready to submit proof of insurance valid during the contract duration.

The following templates / Annexes and IC General Terms & Conditions can be downloaded from http://gofile.me/6xdJm/bE9TCw8fU:

• General Terms and Conditions for Individual Contract
• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability
• P-11 form

In view of the volume of applications, UNDP receives, only shortlisted offerors will be notified