Background

UNDP’s Strategic Plan 2018-2021 emphasizes the need to innovate – to identify, test, evaluate and scale up novel approaches across UNDP’s subject areas, in programme development, and in management. Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals requires dedicated investments in innovation by governments, development organizations, private sector players and other emerging development actors. To achieve the 2030 Agenda, UNDP is increasing its efforts to test and scale new approaches to development.

The UNDP Regional Hub for Europe and the CIS (based in Istanbul, Turkey) is UNDP’s main knowledge and advisory hub for the countries serviced by UNDP’s Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS (RBEC). Through its regional programme, the Hub provides advisory support, organizational learning and innovation services to UNDP Country Offices in the ECIS region in the areas of sustainable development, effective democratic governance, energy and resilience, gender, health and development.  

Based on the experience accumulated in the last years, and in line with the guidance articulated by the new UNDP Strategic Plan 2018-2021, the Partnerships team aims to broaden the scope of its activities, expanding its emerging donors portfolio and further stimulating partnerships with IFIs, the private sector and partner governments for a more efficient and coordinated development financing ecosystem, for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Within the framework of the Regional Programme 2018-2021, the UNDP RBEC Partnerships Team seeks to hire an international consultant to undertake the responsibilities of a Partnerships Knowledge Management Specialist. The consultant will support the team and selected UNDP Country Offices in mapping partnership opportunities (including donor portfolios) and providing on-demand support to information gathering for resource mobilization. The consultant will be contracted to support the afore-mentioned efforts of the Partnerships Team in the Regional Hub.  She/he will report to the Partnerships Team Leader for the RBEC, based in Istanbul.

Location: Istanbul, Turkey with possible travels to partner countries in the region

Duties and Responsibilities

Partnership Team is seeking a Consultant to support the team on a series of activities, related to implementation of the Regional Programme and provision of CO support with a specific focus on active Knowledge Management- putting knowledge management and intelligence at the center of partnership activities and the support provided to the CO’s and facilitate a Community of Practitioners working on partnerships and resource mobilization in the region.    

The Consultant is expected to continuously engage with country offices and other partners to make sure that demand/need for knowledge and intelligence is collected and relevant knowledge, information and intelligence (on resource mobilization and partnership opportunities, new developments, modalities etc.) is timely shared using various channels. This assignment is a key function in the Partnerships Team and the consultant is expected to actively engage with other teams promoting and adapting different learning opportunities and knowledge management tools. In addition, the Consultant will be contributing to key team activities – including conducting high quality desk research, will draft knowledge products, will contribute to donor intelligence, organization of events and support resource mobilization and partnership development activities of the UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub and selected UNDP Country Offices. 

The consultant will be responsible for delivering tasks, including the following:

Conduct high quality desk research, will draft knowledge products, will contribute to donor intelligence, organization of events and support resource mobilization and partnership development activities of the UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub (40% of the work input)

• Assessment of opportunities for resource mobilization and mapping of current and potential traditional and non-traditional donors;
• Monitoring and provision of regular updates on the international development landscape and finance, i.e. on green finance, climate finance, in the RBEC region for UNDP Country Offices and thematic teams at the UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub;
• Identification of emerging sources of funding and emerging partnership opportunities, including assessment of their potential for the future;
• Direct on-demand information gathering support in the area of resource mobilization for several selected Country Offices and/or initiatives.
• Proactive facilitation of a regional knowledge management approach including establishing and managing the regional partnerships Community of Practice. 
• Preparation of donor intelligence reports for selected Country Offices / initiatives.
• Other research and information collection tasks related to partnership building and resource mobilization as required by the RBEC Partnerships Team and BERA, including the sub-regional and country level RM maps. 

Contribute to implementation of the Knowledge Management and new corporate KM approach, in line with the Strategic Plan (35% of the work input):

• Under the supervision and overall guidance of the Partnerships Team Leader, the consultant will actively take part to contribute and extract knowledge from the Global Policy Network;
• Support the Team Leader in designing the new KM approach engaging with the regional Community of Practice as well as external partners. 
• Works with the various team representatives and leadership to promote adoption and engagement in the agreed upon KM tools and other KM tools to promote understanding and focus for KM – including through regular sharing of information on SharePoint and other related tools, via internal meetings, organization of brown-bag lunches, organization of webinars, etc.;
• Maintains and promotes the continuous updates of a repository of documents relating to partnerships (in the Teams infrastructure) to ensure efficient and effective knowledge sharing for all team members when needed. 
• Any other duties within the scope of tasks and responsibilities specified in this Terms of Reference.
• Other related duties, as required.

Results Reporting & Support to Corporate Initiatives on KM/Organizational Learning (25% of the work input)

• Supports the Partnerships Team Leader in preparation of results reporting requirements;
• Supports the collection of information from COs and other partners, as may be deemed necessary;
• Ensures the Partnerships Team reporting is in line with the agreed upon indicators and requirements in close cooperation with the Partnerships Analyst;
• Provides inputs or draft briefs and Talking points for the team leader, RBEC senior management or others as needed; 
• Upon request from the Partnerships Team Leader, prepares reports and maintains an updated database with innovative initiatives;

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

Under the direct supervision of the Partnerships Team Leader, this consultant will:

• Establish a regional Community of Practice on RM and partnerships, with a workplan for pro-active facilitation and knowledge sharing. Provide continuous information and knowledge flow on corporate initiatives, emerging partnerships opportunities, developments on new modalities and agreement formats, MoUs etc. 
• Organize regular learning opportunities for the CO staff and team on RM/partnerships as needed;
• Support to Partnerships Team ROAR inputs for 2020 and IWP, upon request from Partnerships Team Leader; 
• Undertake travel, as required by the Partnerships Team. Travel costs will be borne by UNDP and consultant expressly accepts UNDP travel policies;
• Regional and thematic resource mobilization analysis presented in a structured and comparable format covering the RBEC Region, informed by consultations with RBEC COs, national partners, donors and others as needed (updated bi-monthly between February and 31 December 2020);
• Four Regional Newsletters with updates and new trends (between March and 31 December 2020)
• Two knowledge products covering new trends in development financing/development partnerships (ideally produced in partnership with external partners between 2 March and 31 December 2020) to be shared via Yammer, Microsoft Teams space, etc. and the Community of Practice;
• Contextual and organizational support to the organization of knowledge management events and country exchanges on various topics as per the annual workplan. 

Payment schedule: 

Payments will be made in 12 installments upon submitted satisfactory progress report against deliverables listed above and upon its acceptance by the certifying officer. The timeline for submission of deliverables will be specified by the certifying officer at the beginning of each month. 

Description of deliverables - Target delivery dates - Payment schedule

• Monthly Progress Report 1 - 1 month after contract signature - 10%
• Monthly Progress Report 2 - 2 months after contract signature - 10%
• Monthly Progress Report 3 - 3 months after contract signature - 10%
• Monthly Progress Report 4 - 4 months after contract signature - 10%
• Monthly Progress Report 5 - 5 months after contract signature - 10%
• Monthly Progress Report 6 - 6 months after contract signature - 10%
• Monthly Progress Report 7 - 7 months after contract signature – 10%
• Monthly Progress Report 8 - 8 months after contract signature - 10%
• Monthly Progress Report 9 - 9 months after contract signature - 10%
• Final Report - by the end of the contract - 10%

Competencies

Corporate competencies:

• Promotes the mission and values of the UN;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity;
• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN's values and ethical standards;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional competencies:

• Strong analytical, research, reporting and writing abilities, 
• Strong organizational and process management competencies;
• Demonstrated ability to contribute to the development of approaches to capacity-building, knowledge management and organizational learning;
• Ability to contribute effectively in team-based setting, especially in the area of knowledge-sharing and learning
• Familiarity with current knowledge management technologies and social media-based systems;
• Ability to work under pressure and stressful situations;
• Effective interpersonal and communication skills;
• Team working competencies and ability to effectively work in teams;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Ability to handle effectively multiple tasks without compromising quality, team spirit and positive working relationships;
• Ability to work with small multi-disciplinary, multi-national teams to deliver quality products in high stress, short deadline situations.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree in relevant development studies, or related social sciences or other fields related to the scope of the assignment;

Experience:

• At least 3 years of relevant work experience on development finance, resource mobilization or partnership building for an international organization, non-governmental organization or a business, with strategic research, communication or report writing functions; 
• At least 2 years of solid experience in the area of knowledge management, organizational learning, and innovation in development context;
• Experience in development finance with focus on green/climate finance is a strong asset 
• Proven work experience and familiarity with the latest trends on emerging donors is an asset
• Experience in international development cooperation landscape with specific focus on strategic partnerships and resource mobilization (through relevant previous work experiences/research /other knowledge products produced) is an asset. 

Language:

• Excellent writing and oral communication skills in English.

Evaluation of Applicants

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 (P11 desk reviews and interviews) and financial criteria specific to the solicitation. 

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max. 35 points:

• Criteria A (the documents presented as samples of previous work) – max points: 5
• Criteria B (experience in knowledge management and organizational learning)– max points: 5
• Criteria C (experience on development finance and/or partnerships) – max points: 10
• Criteria D (experience in team work and contributing to learning in team setting)  – max points: 5
• Criteria E – interviews (understanding of the priority and issues relating to emerging donors) – max 5
• Criteria F - interviews (ability to work in multi-teams with short deadlines and under stressful conditions) – max 5

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max. 15 points

Application Procedure:

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 one document to be uploaded).

• 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)
• Offeror’s Letter (blank template can be downloaded from https://bit.ly/2KO1okS).
• 2-3 Samples of previous work on knowledge management, learning in development cooperation 

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

Payments will be made only upon confirmation of UNDP on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner. 

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.