Background

The Joint SDG Fund supports countries as they accelerate their progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It operates through joint programmes (JPs) that provide the mechanism for transformative solutions implemented by governments and national stakeholders and supported by the UN Country Team led by Resident Coordinators (RCs). Strategic direction for the Fund is provided by the Strategic Advisory Group chaired by the Deputy Secretary-General as the chair of UN Sustainable Development Group. The Fund is managed by the Operational Steering Committee, comprised of representatives of 5 UN entities, and with the support from the Secretariat of the Fund. The UN Development Coordination Office (DCO) hosts the Fund and provides for the alignment with the broader UN Development System reforms. The Administrative Agent of the Fund, in charge of financial management, is the Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTF-O). Official documents (e.g., Terms of Reference and Operational Guidance) of the Fund and information on funding can be found on the Gateway portal.

The SDG Financing: Enabling Environment portfolio was launched in the summer of 2020 with the release of grant funding up to US$1 million to 62 JPs in 69 countries. Twenty-one UN agencies under the leadership of UN Resident Coordinators collaborated, building on UN-DESA methodological work, agencies’ technical support at the country level and development partners’ support. Although each JP is unique, all support governments in the development of SDG financing strategies – most in the form of Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFFs). In a nutshell, this portfolio helps countries define the “financing” behind the “policies” and building the related capacities to operationalize financing reforms. It supports the linking of planning with financing. It drives coherence (and adequateness of) existing policies and institutional arrangements.

The JP, designed jointly with UNICEF and WFP, is developed to: (i) help the Government create clear links between policies, planning and budgeting processes (horizontal workstream); and (ii) deploy innovative and evidence-driven mechanisms to leverage partnerships and multiple sources of finance towards three priority areas in Armenia - climate change, food security and human capital (vertical workstream).

The two workstreams coincide with the three levels of action highlighted in the Decade of Action – global, local and people – and will jointly contribute to SDG acceleration in Armenia. Focus will be on increasing the understanding of national financing needs and gaps and help channel resources towards sectors that disproportionately benefit vulnerable groups, including women. In line with the Theory of Change of the Joint Programme, investments in these sectors will in turn have a knock-on effect on other sectors, thus promoting sustainable development across all dimensions of the 2030 Agenda.

OBJECTIVES

The JP is required to develop an evidence-based final narrative report (“Final Report”) covering a review of the JP activities and results over the 30 months implementation period. The unit of analysis is the JP in its entirety, i.e., outcomes, outputs, activities, and inputs that were detailed in the programme document and any associated modifications. The objectives of the assignment are to:

• Collect and present evidence to review the extent to which the JP achieved its overall objective to unlock financial resources towards the SDGs and catalyse sustained change in the way government and its partners seek to finance the SDGs that will unlock resources into the future.
• Review and provide evidence as to how the JP’s activities have contributed to foster SDG acceleration at the country level.
• Collect and present evidence to the extent to which the JP achieved its results as described in the JP document and result framework. This review should include the contribution towards the Joint SDG Fund’s Outcome 4 and Output 2.
• Review the extent to which the JP has contributed to strengthening the UN Development System (UNDS) reform and describe the level of coordination between relevant actors, especially participating UN agencies (PUNO) and government.
• Review the extent to which the JP has contributed to creating sustainable partnerships and collaborations with local and international partners from public and private sectors.
• Review to which extent the JP has contributed to mainstream gender equality and human rights.
• Review the extent to which local capacity has been built.
• Review the likelihood of sustainability of the JP’s results and the quality of the exit strategy. Review the planned next steps of the JP.
• Based on the above, present the key progresses or achievements, lessons learned, best practices and areas for improvement to inform future interventions.

Duties and Responsibilities

The JP in Armenia’s results, against which the programme should be reviewed, are as follows:

PURPOSE AND SCOPE

The independent local consultant/contractor will prepare the Final Report in a phased manner, under the guidance of the UN Country Team, based on desk reviews, stakeholder consultations, field visits (if appropriate), and evidence-based contribution analysis and reporting of the JP’s results as per the foreseen targets and indicators. The consultant/contractor shall review the extent to which the project results have been achieved, progresses made, partnerships established, systems changed, financial resources mobilized and aligned with the SDGs (including systemic changes that will mobilise and align resources after the JP ends), capacities built, and cross cutting issues (i.e., gender, human rights) addressed. Finally, the report shall recommend areas for improvement and learning. The report is intended to provide evidence of the contribution of the JPs to the Joint SDG Fund’s results and identify lessons learned and best practices for future interventions.

The scope of the exercise covers the entire period of the implementation, between 1 June 2020 and 31 December 2022, of the JP titled Making Finance Work for Transformative Change in Armenia:  Unlocking Finance for Armenia 2030. The report shall include the following:

• Contextual Analysis
  • Brief review of the scope and focus of the JP considering the development landscape, the contextual changes happening in the country as well as its contribution to strengthen the UNDS reform at the country level and to accelerate the progress on the SDGs.
• Overview of Strategic Results
  • The consultant/contractorr will conduct a detailed review and analysis of JP progress reports, results framework, workplan, acceleration plan, communications materials, and any other relevant document. The consultant/contractor will also conduct consultations/interviews with key stakeholders both including PUNOs, government partners, private sector, and other stakeholders as relevant.
  •  This will lead to an overview of the JP's contribution to strategic results, including its progress toward an INFF, contribution to SDG acceleration, contribution to increased SDG financing flows, leverage of strategic partnerships, contribution to UN development system reform in terms of enhancing the role of the RC and facilitating UN coherence and efficiency in the country team, and contributions to cross-cutting issues including gender, human rights, and COVID-19 recovery.
• Results by Joint Programme Outcomes and Outputs
  • Based on the analysis of JP materials and consultations with stakeholders referenced above, the consultant/contractor will review and describe the JP’s progress toward its specific outcomes and outputs.
• Challenges and Changes
  • The consultant/contractor will provide a description of the challenges and risks faced by the JP during implementation and explain the appropriateness of the JP’s responses and risk mitigation measures.
• Sustainability and Local Ownership
  • The consultant/contractor will review and describe the next steps and sustainability of the JP’s strategy and results, with particular reference to local ownership and capacity building of key stakeholders.
• Communications
  • The consultant/contractor will review the implementation of the communication strategy/plan of the JP and provide a brief description/highlights of the events organized as part of the JP.
• Lessons learned and best practices
  • Based on the review of materials and consultations with stakeholders, the consultant/contractor will identify lessons learned and best practices from the JP’s implementation, with the purpose of identifying recommendations for the successful implementation of future joint programmes and SDG financing programmes.
• Annexes
  • The consultant/contractor will include the results framework of the JP and summaries of all stakeholder consultations and interviews, as well as any additional relevant material in the annexes.

The consultant/contractor will need to present evidence of development results or intermediate measures of tangible progress toward them. This assignment requires an advanced aptitude for analyzing complex information from different sources, identifying most essential insights, and articulating multi-faceted and cross-sectoral findings in a clear and concise manner. It will also require the ability to quickly acquire optimal understanding of a complicated country context and undertake high-quality research using both quantitative and qualitative methods.

DELIVERABLES 

Based on the JP’s scope and focus, the consultant/contractor will produce the following deliverables:

Inception Report/Work Plan (2-5 pages)

Initial review of documents and exchange with the UN country team shall result in the outline of work plan to produce the final report. The inception report should include the list of interviewees, key documents and materials that the consultant will review for this process, other methods, sources, and procedures for data collection and a concrete timeframe for the work plan milestones and deliverables. The inception report frames a common agreement and understanding of what is to be produced by the consultant, the UN country team, and relevant partners. The report is shared within the first 5 workdays of the contract.

Final Report (maximum 30 pages)

The Final Report will consolidate the overall progress, innovations, and lessons learned based on concrete evidence and cases. The Report will focus on reporting results and transformative changes (including tangible, evidenced intermediate outcomes toward them) rather than listing of activities. The report should focus both on the JP’s progress against targets (what) as well as how the JP contributed to enhancing UN coherence, coordination, and efficiency at the country level (how). The report should include detailed references and/or annexes to substantiate its findings. The report should follow the outline stated in Annex 1. The questions in the template (UN country teams can adapt and expand it as needed) define the information that must be generated and presented in the Evidence-based Final Narrative Report.

The consultant/contractor is expected to complete the assignment in up to 40 workdays under the following deadlines:

• Inception report (Armenian and English versions): 31/10/2022
• Final Progress report (Armenian and English versions): 05/12/2022

Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’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
• Treats all people fairly without favouritism
• Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment
• Strong interpersonal skills, communication and diplomatic skills, ability to work in a team
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback
• Ability to work under pressure and stressful situations
• Strong analytical, research, drafting and reporting skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree in economics/finance, social science or related field. 

Experience:

• At least 10 years of professional experience in international development and cooperation out of which at least 3-4 years of professional experience in SDG financing.
• Successful track-record on producing similar reports, reviews, assessments or evaluations of development programmes, funds, or complex projects overall
• Expertise in Result-Based Management (or Result-Oriented Management).
• In-depth understanding of multi-stakeholder and cross-sectoral project/programmes.
• Experience of working with UN development system will be an asset.
• Knowledge of human rights-based and/or Leaving No One Behind approach will be an asset.

Languages

• Fluency in English and Armenian; Knowledge of another official language will be an asset.

CANDIDATES WILL BE EVALUATED BASED ON THE FOLLOWING METHODOLOGY:

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants' technical qualifications, experience and financial proposal.The contract will be awarded to the candidate whose offer has been evaluated and determined as technically responsive/compliant/acceptable to the requirements of the ToR and received the highest cumulative (technical and financial) score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation - max. 70 points

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation - max. 30 points.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE APPLICATION.

• Financial Proposal and Availability form: OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP (A total lump sum  option is applicable for this assignment)
• CV shall include Education/Qualification, Processional Certification, Employment Records /Experience

General Conditions of Contract is available here: GENERAL CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT

Note: Please note you can upload only one document to this application (scan all documents that should be included in the application in one single PDF file and upload it).