Background

Please note that UNDP is not in the position to accept incomplete applications - please make sure that your application contains all details as specified below in this notice.

I. BACKGROUND

Launched in 2008, the Business Call to Action (BCtA) is a unique multilateral alliance between key donor governments including the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), UK Department for International Development, and the United Nations Development Programme - which hosts the secretariat. BCtA aims to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by challenging and supporting companies to develop inclusive business (IB) models that offer the potential for both commercial success and development impact. BCtA aims to enhance the visibility, credibility, scale and effectiveness of inclusive businesses as market-based solutions to contribute to the achievement of the SDGs and benefit those at the Base of the Pyramid (BoP).

BCtA's value proposition is to drive the inclusive business agenda globally by engaging private sector, governments and development community in joint efforts towards inclusive economic growth and social impact. BCtA members are market leaders and innovators, committed to developing commercially viable business ventures that engage people living at the BoP as consumers, producers, suppliers, and distributors of goods and services. Worldwide, over 200 companies have responded to BCtA by making commitments to improve the lives and livelihoods of millions through commercially-viable business ventures.

Following Phase I and Phase II, BCtA’s Phase III (the Project) started in July 2017 and continues till June 2020.  It builds on the success of previous Phases, in which service offerings to members were refined and number of members grew significantly. In Phase III, BCtA is aiming to further deliver scale and quality IB models across sectors and geographies towards the SDGs by benefiting those at the BOP. Raising awareness of inclusive business practices, guiding companies in aligning their contributions with the SDGs, providing recognition and visibility to quality inclusive business commitments and supporting companies through tools and training in their inclusive business maturity journey are other main targets of BCtA in Phase III. At selected countries, BCtA is also seeking to engage inclusive businesses, country governments and other key stakeholders to help build the infrastructure for more effective collaboration on inclusive business towards the SDGs.

Principles and Best Practices for Inclusive Business Networks

Following an examination of M&E frameworks for similar platforms and networks, the following cross-cutting lessons and best practices were distilled, and should be taking into account:

• Expect a gap (of 3 to 10 years) between when a company starts an inclusive business initiative and when impact can be measured; therefore, company commitments should be seen as a leading indicator of impact
• When evaluating network organizations or programmes, using a mix of qualitative and quantitative indicators is particularly crucial, since portraying attribution will be difficult and costly, and impossible through quantitative indicators alone
• Evaluative surveys should pose counter-factual questions to sector stakeholders and network members to gauge both network effectiveness and impact (e.g., “Would your company have pursued this initiative without BCtA engagement?”)
• To measure network effectiveness, it’s important to track member sentiment in a way that is sufficiently granular and consistent over time
• The traditional approach to measuring network effectiveness is to simply aggregate the measured impact of its members without increasing the complexity of the analyses with attribution claims for each indicator; this aggregated measurement can then serve as the baseline against which to measure over time

Duties and Responsibilities

II. PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES OF THE REVIEW

BCtA would like to undertake an independent Mid-Term Review (MTR) to provide its Donor Steering Board and the BCtA team with an opportunity for joint reflection with an external evaluator about the programme’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as lessons that can be incorporated into future planning and implementation. The MTR will seek to:

• Take stock of lessons and experiences so far
• Analyze progress towards BCtA’s performance against key indicators in the logical framework, with emphasis on the development impact (i.e. impact on the Base of the Pyramid) of the programme to date and the extent to which the programme approach and strategy design ensures impact
• Identify areas for improvement as well as those that can be reinforced to amplify their success
• Reflect on its relevance and opportunities going forward as a leading inclusive business platform and its competitive landscape
• Assess the impact at the local level in the focus countries

The findings and recommendations of the review should help validate BCtA’s key assets and provide in-depth insights into how BCtA should move forward. The MTR will also provide essential learning for the Donor Steering Board, the interested private sector actors, and the international development community.

III. SCOPE OF THE REVIEW AND KEY QUESTIONS

The reviews are expected to provide objective information and essential learning for the BCtA Secretariat, Donor Steering Board, the interested private sector actors, and the international development community. The review will cover 10 broad topics: strategic programming, relevance of the project, principled programming, management and monitoring, efficiency of the project, effectiveness of the project, progress towards results, sustainability and national ownership of the project, impact for development, and future pathways for BCTA. Specific points for each topic are provided below.

i. Strategic Programming

To what extent is BCtA contributing to the implementation of the UNDP Strategic Plan and ultimately to the 2030 Agenda?

Why is BCtA’s approach the most appropriate to drive the inclusive business agenda?

How robust are the assumptions that underpin BCtA’s theory of change? (BCtA theory of change and results framework are provided in the Annex available at https://www.dropbox.com/s/nahkhp572acz3ge/Annex.docx?dl=0).

To what extent are BCtA’s strategy and operations capable of adapting to new opportunities and changes in the development context?

ii. Relevance of the Project

The extent to which the objectives and design of the Project serve to the Sustainable Development Goals, encourage and support inclusive business initiatives and are in line with the mandates of donors. Is the project relevant to the BoP? To what extent does it potentially change their lives?

How meaningful are the assumptions that underpin BCtA’s theory of change?

How do members perceive BCtA and its services? What are member companies’ key demands and how can BCtA best assist them?Does the Impact Lab provide enough value to those using it?

If and how should BCtA’s value proposition evolve to meet company demands and inclusive business trends?

Are the focus countries chosen the right ones?

How do the UNDP Country Offices benefit from BCtA’s expertise? How could this knowledge transfer be improved so that UNDP Country Offices strengthen their capacities to engage with the private sector?

How could the cooperation between BCtA and/or their member companies and the members of the DSC on the ground be strengthened?

iii. Principled Programming

Assessment of whether the project was designed in a way to contribute to gender equality and empowerment of women. In terms of results, to what extent has the project promoted positive changes in gender equality and if the project caused any unintended consequences for gender quality.

In which ways does the Project guarantee that the core principles of human rights and leaving no one behind are being followed?

What is BCtA’s distinctive contribution to social and environmental sustainability?

What are the Project’s potential drawbacks to people and the environment? Which strategies can be in place to avoid or mitigate these drawbacks?

How aligned is BCtA with UNDP’s Social and Environmental Standards?

iv. Management and Monitoring

Is the project’s results framework used effectively as a management tool?

Are BCtA’s outcomes and outputs are clearly defined and following a SMART framework and consistent with its Theory of Change?

Are plans in place and implemented to support evidence-based management, monitoring and evaluation.

Is the governance of the programme defined with clear roles and responsibilities and provides active and regular oversight to inform decision-making?

Is there quality collaboration with stakeholders?

Should the BCtA Secretariat make any adjustments to its ongoing monitoring approaches in order to better support evaluation needs?

Which external factors can affect the Project? How can BCtA leverage on opportunities and mitigate threats?

v. Efficiency of the Project

How has BCtA performed thus far in accordance to efficiency and effectiveness of its key metrics?

The overall efficiency of the management (including financial management) of the project in achieving results expected by the Project.

Is BCtA’s approach to promoting inclusive business an efficient one relative to other approaches to mainstreaming inclusive business? Has BCtA succeeded in spuring a movement for inclusive business that the SDGs can be turned into business opportunities and brought to scale?

Is BCtA’s strategy resource-efficient (e.g., provides good value for money for donors)?

vi. Effectiveness of the Project

To what extent the planned outcome has been achieved or has progress been made towards its achievement?

What are the main factors (positive and negative) that have/are affecting the achievement of the outcome? How have these factors limited or facilitated progress towards the outcome?

How can BCtA best optimize its resources going forward in terms of value and cost-effectiveness for donors and members?

To what extent has the UN been able to form and maintain partnerships with other development actors including bilateral and multi-lateral organizations, civil society organizations and the private sector to leverage results?

What has been the contribution of partners and other organizations to the outcome, and how effective have UNDP partnerships been in contributing to achieving the outcome?

To what extent did the outcome achieve benefit women and men equally?

To what extent do the poor, indigenous groups, women, and other disadvantaged and marginalized groups benefit?

vii. Progress Towards Results

The extent to which the objectives of the Project have been achieved or are expected to be achieved. This includes reviewing the log frame indicators against progress made towards the end-of-project targets and making recommendations for the areas “not on target”.

How has BCtA contributed to the development impacts outlined in the logframe (e.g., job creation, improved access to goods and services, enhanced capacity)?

• Has BCtA substantively contributed to new companies adopting IB practices?
• Has BCtA contributed to scaling up and increasing the effectiveness of IB programs?
• Has BCtA increased awareness and the adoption of IB within local governments and development actors?

Which are the key BCtA activities that have contributed to BCtA’s mission? (E.g., test BCtA’s performance and relevance in provision of recognition, impact management, convening, etc.)

viii. Sustainability and National Ownership

What is the likelihood that the benefits that resulted from the activities of BCtA will continue? Are there scale-up plans in place? 

The extent of any social or political risks that may jeopardize the effective progress of project and the risk of a decline in any key stakeholder interest.

What might be potential solutions to strengthen financial sustainability of the programme? Is there any room for offering certain services for money?

How does BCtA align with new private sector strategy of UNDP?

In which ways is BCtA contributing towards strengthening the capacity and sustainability of national institutions, particularly in Human Rights and Gender Equality issues?

To what extent are policy and regulatory frameworks in place that will support the continuation of benefits?

How strong is the level of ownership of the results by the relevant governments and other stakeholders?

What is the level of capacity and commitment from Governments and broader development community to ensure sustainability of the results achieved?

To what extent are relevant stakeholders and Governments been included in programme design and implementation and policy advocacy processes?

ix. Impact for Development

Assessment of the impact of inclusive business initiatives of BCTA members on key development aspects such as employment and gender equality as well as the commercial viability of the IB model.

What are the key lessons learned about implementing and/or encouraging the adoption of inclusive business?

Is the inclusive business approach an effective development tool? Is the inclusive business approach delivering positive development impacts for low income people? Is it delivering substantial business value for companies?

Is there evidence that inclusive business is delivering development impact?

What are the key lessons learned about implementing and/or encouraging the adoption of inclusive business?

x. Future Pathways for BCTA

Identification of two potential pathways that BCTA could follow based on the assessment of relative demonstrated value-add of BCtA’s services within the context of member needs, the availability of continued donor funding, and/or alternative sources of funding.

IV. METHODOLOGY

Review should employ a combination of both qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods and instruments. The contractor will benefit from 3 sources of information:

• All relevant documents that will be delivered by the project team and communications (see the Annex for the list of documents).
• Semi-structured interviews with BCtA team, donors, partners and focus country stakeholders (see the Annex for the full list of stakeholders).
• Short surveys with select member companies (at least 15 companies).

The consultant is expected to follow a collaborative approach ensuring a close engagement with the Project Team and stakeholders. As stakeholders, particularly member companies, are scattered all around the world, the consulting firm is expected to effectively communicate with them via email, phone calls and other type of distant communication methods. The Review process will start with a desk review and an inception report will be prepared by the consultant. After receiving feedback from the Team, the consultant will start to prepare the draft report and undertake two field visits two Istanbul and Colombia to meet the Team and stakeholders. Final report will be prepared based on the comments that will be provided by the team on the draft report. The final report should describe the full MTR approach taken and the rationale for the approach making explicit the underlying assumptions, challenges, strengths and weaknesses about the methods used. A sample evaluation matrix and outline of the review report format are provided in the Annex.

V. DELIVERABLES, TIME FRAME AND PAYMENTS

 Expected duration of the assignment is app. 36 working days between 6 May 2019 and 15 August 2019.

Payment Schedule:

• Payment 1: 15% upon confirmation by Head of BCtA of satisfactory delivery of Deliverable 1 and 2.
• Payment 2: 35% upon confirmation by Head of BCtA of satisfactory delivery of Deliverable 3.
• Payment 3: 50% upon confirmation by Head of BCtA of satisfactory delivery of Deliverable 4.

Competencies

VI. REQUIRED COMPETENCIES

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
• Substantive knowledge of inclusive business initiatives
• Ability to conduct strategic planning, results-based management and reporting
• Ability to actively seek to improve programmes/services, offer new and different options to solve problems
• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Ability to establish and maintain good working relationships in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary environment

Required Skills and Experience

VII. REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Education:

• Minimum Master’s Degree in a subject related to socio-economic development

Experience:

• Minimum 10 years of work experience in development subjects, minimum 2 of which is in the area of inclusive business
• Minimum 4 years of experience in evaluating global programmes involving multiple stakeholders       
• Experience in designing, developing and implementing monitoring and evaluation frameworks, is desirable
• Track record of producing high quality and deeply analytical reports and publications
• Experience in conducting evaluations for UN agencies, particularly UNDP, is desirable

Language skills:

• Outstanding communication skills in English

VIII. MANAGEMENT AND IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENTS

Head of BCtA will directly supervise the consultant. The disbursement of payments will be approved by Head of BCtA. Assignment is home-based with two field visits to Istanbul and Colombia.

IX. REVIEW ETHICS

The review will be conducted in accordance with the principles outlined in the UNEG ‘Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation’. The consultant must safeguard the rights and confidentiality of information providers, interviewees and stakeholders through measures to ensure compliance with legal and other relevant codes governing collection of data and reporting on data. The consultant must also ensure security of collected information before and after the review.

X. SUBMISSION PROCESS AND BASIS FOR SELECTION

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal.

The award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation

• Criteria A: Experience in the area of inclusive business - max points: 14
• Criteria B: Experience in evaluating global programmes involving multiple stakeholders – max points: 14
• Criteria C: Experience in designing, developing and implementing robust and easy to use monitoring and evaluation frameworks – max points: 8
• Criteria D: Track record of producing high quality and deeply analytical reports and publications (samples) – max points: 8
• Criteria E: Experience in conducting evaluations for UN agencies, particularly UNDP – max points: 4
• Criteria F: Methodology - max points: 10
• Criteria G: (interviews) Communication skills in English - max points: 12

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation

Only candidates who will receive min. 70% of points in desk review (criteria A-F) will be invited to interview (criteria G). Only candidates who will get min. 70% of points in technical evaluation (criteria A-G) will be considered for financial evaluation.

Application procedures

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

Step 1: Interested candidates must include the following documents when submitting the applications (Please group all your documents into a single PDF attachment as the system only allows upload of one document).

• Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.
• A brief methodology (maximum 600 words) on how you will approach and conduct the work, including plan of missions and locations to be visited in each country
• Filled P11 form or CV including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees (blank form can be downloaded from: http://www.eurasia.undp.org/content/dam/rbec/docs/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc)
• Sample report authored/coauthored by the candidate (sample can be submitted as .pdf or provided as web links in the Publications section (section 22) or within additional questions of the applications).

Step 2: Submission of Financial Proposal - Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and requested to provide a financial offer.

Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org. General Terms and conditions as well as other related documents can be found under: http://on.undp.org/t7fJs. Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply. Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.