The UNDP Oslo Governance Centre (OGC) is UNDP’s Global Policy Centre for policy development and applied research with an overarching focus on democratic governance and peacebuilding in crisis, conflict and transitional contexts. The Oslo Governance Centre sits within the Governance and Peacebuilding Cluster, Bureau for Policy and Programme Support. It engages with Nordic and other partners, including from the South, in undertaking applied research and developing policy options and tools for governance support in post-crisis and post-conflict environments, in order to find practical solutions on the ground. One of the priority areas for the OGC is UNDP’s support to the implementation and monitoring of Goal 16 of the SDGs – promoting peaceful, just and inclusive societies.  This focus on peaceful, just and inclusive societies in the 2030 Agenda includes key elements on democratic governance, peace, security, justice, human rights and institutional capacity

With 10 years left for the achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, there is a real urgency in working towards achievement of the goals and targets – many of which have faced setbacks because of COVID-19. The impact of COVID-19 goes beyond health and the economy and has affected the quality of governance in many countries. At the same time, it has also shown how interlinked governance and the thematic issues covered under SDG 16 is to the rest of the 2030 Agenda – from ensuring effective and inclusive service delivery to enable equitable access to health and education services, to addressing issues of integrity and corruption in procurement processes of the public sector, to putting in place safeguards to uphold human rights and the rule of law. As countries adopt response and recovery plans, there is also an opportunity to envision a recovery that aims for achieving more peaceful and just societies with more inclusive, accountable and responsive institutions.

UNDP’s work on SDG 16 includes:

1. SDG16 Data and Measurement – Support to the development of methodologies and processes for collecting data on SDG 16 and enabling countries to collect and globally report on the data, promoting data innovations and partnerships on governance statistics.
2. Monitoring and Reporting on SDG 16 - Support to reporting, monitoring and follow-up on SDG 16, particularly regarding the annual Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs).
3. Implementation of SDG 16 - In-country programs, policy advice and support aimed at spurring progress on the targets under SDG 16 related to peace, justice and inclusive societies or explicitly supporting portfolios on SDG 16.
4. SDG16 Research and Knowledge Sharing – Fostering partnerships and developing forward looking research on the themes of peace, justice and inclusion and its interlinkages across the 2030 Agenda.
5. Advocacy, community engagement and partnerships on SDG16: through the SDG16 Hub and advocacy and information products and communication campaigns on SDG 16.

Institutional Arrangements

The consultant will be supervised by OGC’s Senior Research and Policy Adviser on SDG 16, under the overall supervision of the OGC Director, and in close liaison with relevant colleagues in New York.

Travel

In the event of travel, the UNDP Oslo Governance Centre and the consultant should agree on the manner in which travel costs, including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses, are to be reimbursed prior to the travel.

Application Process

The application is a two-step process. Failing to comply with the submission process may result in disqualifying the applications.

Step 1: Interested individual consultants must include the following documents when submitting the applications in UNDP job shop. Please note that only 1 (one) file can be uploaded, therefore, please include all documents in one file:

• Personal History Form (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, www.sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc).
• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment. Please indicate available start date.

Step 2: Financial Proposal.

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

The financial proposal should state the all-inclusive, daily rate in USD, supported by a breakdown of costs (Table A1). The term ‘all inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, utilities, consumables, insurance, travel as per ToR etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal. The form can be found here: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=45780

The financial proposal should be sent separately to this email address: oslo.governance.centre@undp.org, with subject line: “Financial proposal SDG 16 Learning and Research consultant”.

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 this at in the Financial Proposal, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.   The consultant will be paid only after approving authority confirms the successful completion of each deliverable as stipulated under chapter 3.

In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses will be agreed upon, between UNDP and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. In general, UNDP will 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.

Criteria for selection of individual consultant for award of contract:

Only those candidates who meet the minimum level of education and relevant years of experience requirements will be considered for the technical evaluation. The technical evaluation will include a desk review and interviews with shortlisted candidates. With weight of 50% desk review and 50% interview of the total technical score.

The combine scoring method will be used to evaluate proposals:

Combined scoring method – the qualifications will be weighted a maximum of 70% and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a maximum of 30%.

Technical criteria weight: 70 (70% of total obtainable scores). Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 (70%) points on technical part will be considered for the financial evaluation.

Financial criteria weight: 30 (30% of total obtainable scores)

When using this weighted scoring method, 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 weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical Evaluation (70 Points) 70% weight

Technical evaluations will be conducted based on the following criteria:

• Proven expertise of working on governance and the SDGs, including governance programming (20 points);
• Proven knowledge of the SDGs, their interlinkages and the 2030 Agenda more broadly (20 points);
• Experience in conducting and / or coordinating applied research and in facilitating and consolidating learning, including at country level on SDG 16 (10 points);
• Experience in producing policy-oriented publications using a clear and concise style (10 points);
• Experience on research related to SDG 16 and SDG 16 interlinkages with the 2030 Agenda; knowledge on interlinkages between peace, justice and inclusion (SDG 16) with oceans (SDG 14) are an asset (10 points);

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

Financial Evaluation. 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

Functional Competencies:

• Demonstrated ability to organise and structure information and make accessible to a range of stakeholders;
• Specialist knowledge of governance and the SDGs, particularly SDG 16 and its interlinkages with other SDGs, and knowledge of governance programming; 
• Expert knowledge on the SDGs, their interlinkages and the 2030 Agenda more broadly;
• Demonstrated ability to conduct and/or coordinate applied research on one hand and to facilitate and consolidate learning on the other;
• Ability to write and communicate policy guidance and research in a clear and concise manner;
• Demonstrated ability to develop new areas of work and activity, trouble-shooting problems and ensuring delivery of results.

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP, and partner organizations:
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Excellent understanding of international development issues and knowledge of the UN system.

Education:

• Advanced university degree or equivalent in political science, peace-studies, social sciences or other related disciplines. Relevant experience will also be considered in lieu of an advanced university degree for especially qualified candidates;

Professional experience:

• Minimum 12 years of professional work experience in a related field;
• Specialist knowledge of governance and the SDGs; knowledge of governance programming;
• Expert knowledge on the SDGs, their interlinkages and the 2030 Agenda more broadly;
• Proven experience in conducting and / or coordinating applied research and in facilitating and consolidating learning, including at country level on SDG 16;
• Proven experience in producing policy-oriented publications using a clear and concise style;
• Experience on research related to SDG 16 and SDG 16 interlinkages with the 2030 Agenda; knowledge on interlinkages between peace, justice and inclusion (SDG 16) with oceans (SDG 14) are an asset.
• UNDP programming experience as well as experience in mainstreaming gender and human rights is an asset.

Language:

• Fluency in English, both written and oral;
• Working knowledge of additional UN languages is an asset.