Historique

Project title

Support to RCO in strengthening the strategic engagement of UNCT in Mauritius and Seychelles.

Project description

Work has already started on the overall UN reform as set out in the Secretary General’s vision for a UN development system that is fit for the 2030 Agenda.  Fundamental to this reform, is the vision of a UN as a trusted partner delivering timely and relevant support on the sustainable development agenda, and doing so better together. The reforms seek to establish greater accountability and clarity of leadership, stronger integration of system-wide efforts and action, higher standards of transparency and accountability to government and to people, and a diversity of partnerships needed to deliver on results.

Both Government of Mauritius and Government of Seychelles fundamentally see the UN development systems role as critical in terms of the UN’s ability to provide and support capacity building efforts, promote policy dialogue and advocacy, sharing best practices and identifying lessons, and support for research and data analysis.  However, the challenge remains on how to deliver the services that are requested and required from two MICs (Mauritius has been classified as an Upper MIC and Seychelles a High-Income Country) at exceptionally high quality and at the appropriate pace and speed.  Moreover, the UNCTs in both countries  are largely non-resident making aid coordination more complex.  Communication and advocacy is an important tool to    engage government and stakeholders but also within and among agencies more so when ICT has become a driver for development and the UN is seeking for ways to accompany the country in this journey with appropriate support.

The RCO is therefore seeking the services of an individual contractor to support the RCO in strengthening its Strategic Engagement Mauritius and Seychelles and elaborate a Communication Strategy and provide suggestions on how to support countries ambitions to embrace ICT.

Devoirs et responsabilités

Scope of work and key tasks

The specific tasks of the consultant are to:

• Accompany the RCO and UNCT to understand the vision, mission and potentiality of One UN, UN Comparative Advantage, priority areas, programmes and internal structures in both countries;
• Undertake a stakeholder mapping exercise for both countries;
• Elaborate a communication/Advocacy Strategy for the RCO/UNCT;
• Suggestions on how the UN can further support the countries to embrace technology;
• Consolidate the strategic document and include the information gathered during UNCT consultation meetings to come up with a linguistically and substance-wise consistent, succinct and high qualitative document.

During the assignment, the consultant will work closely with the UNCT (mostly online) and the RCO, maintaining full focus on delivering key results and any other tasks falling within the ambit of the terms of reference.  The Consultant will also work under the guidance of the UN Development Group Expert team.

It is expected that he or she promptly communicates any justified proposals, requests for additional support by drawing on the assets of the UNCT, as well as the RCO’s early attention to any duplication, inconsistencies discovered.

Expected outputs and deliverables

The consultant shall prepare and submit in soft copy:

• An inception Report by 19th December 2017;
• A consolidated final Strategic Engagement Document for both Mauritius and Seychelles by 16th February 2018;
• A Communication/Advocacy strategy and suggestions to foster ICT as a driver for development 16th February 2018.

All deliverables shall be submitted in draft form for comments and then in final format. Draft documents should be complete and not in schematic form. The documents shall be in English language.

Institutional arrangement

The consultant shall work in close collaboration with the RC Office, the UNCT members and relevant national stakeholders where necessary.

The RCO office will make the necessary arrangements for the consultations meetings.

All draft and final reports shall be to the UN office of the Resident Coordinator for Mauritius and Seychelles.

Duty station

The contractor’s duty stations will be both home based, and missions based to Mauritius and Seychelles if needed.

Compétences

• Excellence in analysis and reporting on socio-economic issues, development needs and UN strategies to support national development agendas;
• Good knowledge of the national development agenda and poverty reduction strategies, as well as the role of the UN Country Team and Individual UN Agencies in supporting their realization;
• Good knowledge of the Delivering as One Reform Process, including current policy developments and goals.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education

• A Degree or equivalent in strategic planning, development studies, international relations, social sciences, economics, law or related fields. Deep knowledge of ICT is very relevant.
• Fully capable to use Microsoft Office, including Word and Excel.

Experience

• At least 5 years of professional work experience at national or international level.
• Experience must relate to drafting, editing and finalization of situation analysis, strategic planning documents and reports concerning development assistance.

Language

• Excellence in oral and written English.

Scope of price proposal and schedule of payment  

Financial proposals must be “all inclusive” and expressed in a lump-sum for the total duration of the contract based on UNDP salary rules and regulations. The lump sum is fixed regardless of changes in the cost components.

Payment will be made based upon successful completion of the deliverables as per terms below:

• Fifty per cent (50%) after the submission and the acceptance of the Inception Report;
• Fifty per cent (50%) after the submission and the acceptance of the consolidated Strategic Engagement Document and the Communication/Advocacy Strategy.

Recommended presentation of offer

Interested parties must submit the following documentation:

• Personal History Form (P11) or personal CV, indicating all past experiences from similar projects;
• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and financial proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided. 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;
• A detailed technical proposal in accordance with the scope of work, methodology, expected outputs and deliverables provided for herein.

Individual consultants are invited to submit applications on UNDP jobsite system as per requirements below. Applications that do not include all of these elements will not be considered.

Criteria for selection of the best offer

The award of the contract will be made to the Individual Consultant whose offer has been evaluated using the “Combined Scoring Method” and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable;
• Having a minimum of 70 points out of 100 for the technical evaluation to be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

The selection will be based on a Combined Scoring method – where the technical proposal will be 70% and combined with the price offer which will be weighted 30%.

Required expertise and Submission evaluation

All submissions will be assessed against the following criteria:

Technical evaluation (70%):

• Education of the consultant (sub-total: 10 marks);
• Proposed methodology (sub-total: 30 marks): Understanding of TOR (5 marks); Compliance with project schedule (5 marks); Coverage of required tasks (5 marks); Technical approach (10 marks); Deliverables (5 marks);
• Work experience (sub-total: 50 marks): At least 5 years of professional work experience at national or international level/ Experience relating to drafting, editing and finalization of situation analysis, strategic planning documents and reports concerning development assistance (25 marks); Experience in analysis and reporting on socio-economic issues, development needs and UN strategies to support national development agendas (15 marks); Experience in elaborating communications/advocacy plans (10 marks);
• Communication skills (sub-total: 10 marks): Strong interpersonal skills, team working skills and excellent communication skills (5 marks);
• Fluent in written English (5 marks).

Financial evaluation (30%):
Value for money: The value that UNDP Mauritius will receive from the service provider.

Only the best candidates will be contacted for the next stage.

Important Note:

• Interested offeror is strongly advised to read the Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice/TOR, which can be viewed at http://www.mu.undp.org/content/mauritius_and_seychelles/en/home/operations/procurement/
• For more detail about term of references,general terms and conditions of IC and templates to be included when submitting offer;
• Interested offerors above the age of 62 and requiring travelling: UNDP regulations require, at their own cost, to undergo a full medical examination including x-rays. Medical evaluation documentation does not need to be submitted with the other requested documents listed above, but will be requested should the candidate be chosen;
• Interested offeror is required to submit application via UNDP jobsite system, because the application screening and evaluation will be done through UNDP jobsite system;
• Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file. Your on-line applications submission will be acknowledged where an email address has been provided. If you do not receive an e-mail acknowledgement within 24 hours of submission, your application may not have been received. In such cases, please resubmit the application, if necessary.