Historique

UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s least developed countries. It creates new opportunities for poor people and their communities by increasing access to microfinance and investment capital.  UNCDF focuses on Africa and the poorest countries of Asia and the Pacific, with a special commitment to countries emerging from conflict or crisis.  It provides seed capital – grants and loans – and technical support to help microfinance institutions reach more poor households and small businesses, and local governments finance the capital investments – water systems, feeder roads, schools, irrigation schemes – that will improve poor peoples’ lives.

Through the UNCDF MM4P programme, UNCDF is expanding its work to focus on digital finance and innovations to both help digital finance reach its potential for the poor, but also to better use digital finance and other services to achieve the SDGs, anchored through a new initiative that will grow into a multi-country effort.  In each country, UNCDF will bring together companies to design, develop, test and refine digital solutions supported under a structured environment and with ready to use tools.  Those digital companies will be connected to enabling stakeholders, such as regulators, universities, think-tanks, providers, companies, other labs, and industry associations. Inspired by how technology can leapfrog limitations and pain points in today’s user experience, as well as imagine new uses for technology to address access, literacy, security, and other barriers. Ultimately, to create innovative user experiences that will help low-income people move from distrust, disenfranchisement, and exclusion to become confident and empowered.

The proposed approach focuses on supporting innovative solutions delivered  by:

• Traditional stakeholders (companies, providers, government) by building innovation mindset, team and processes
• Small and start-ups companies by providing access to finance, crowdsourcing, human centered design support, industry sandbox, business to business linkages that will allow to scale.

The development of in-country platforms is proposed to start from Malaysia, Uganda, China, Nepal in 2018 followed by other countries later.

As part of this engagement, UNCDF requires a consultant to support the inception and launch of its digital innovation platform in Malaysia.

Devoirs et responsabilités

Under the supervision of the UNCDF´s Regional Technical Specialist – Asia the consultant will support the following activities and deliverables tied to the project.

Phase I: Inception design and launch of UNCDF´s digital innovation platform.  Month 1 to 6.  30% of engagement.

Activities;

• Develop project plans and milestones for the first six themes to be launched by the digital platform
• Design UNCDF´s methodology for incubation/accelerator engagement with start-ups/entrepreneurs and established players in Malaysia. Including the architecture of the iterative design process of the digital innovation platform.
• Design the toolbox that include methodologies around design thinking, Open innovation, Lean start-up, agile, stage-gate, etc.
• Train UNCDF teams in the above-mentioned methodology and conduct quality assurance in project design.
• Assist UNCDF in selecting the challenges for the first 6 cohorts.

Deliverables:

• Work plan and milestones for the first six cohorts
• Report and presentation outlining the use cases that could be the basis for launching the cohorts aimed at addressing new problem statements.
• Toolkits and training materials for Customer mapping approach and other methods using behavioral science that could be readied.   Other toolkits that would be necessary for driving product innovation.
• Toolkit for short engagement formats with the start-ups that would allow them to interact with industry leaders or other subject matter experts based on the need of their project (eg, start-up weekend model followed by TechStars).

Phases II to VII : Support to the six cohorts.  60% of the engagement:

• First cohort Month 3 to 6.
• Second cohort. Month 7 to 9.
• Third cohort. Month 10 to 12.
• Fourth cohort. Month 13 to 15.
• Fifth cohorts. Month 16 to 18.
• Sixth cohort. Month 19 to 21.

Activities and deliverables for all cohorts are detailed below:

Activities:

• Manage the cohort focused on market theme on the journey to develop/address problem, through the complete cycle of insight, ideation, concept, design, to delivery and measurement.
• Support and train on behavioral science methodology and iterative design process for the participating teams.
• Provide technical support to partners´ solutions design to market.
• Support participants (Private Sector, Banks, Government Officials, UNCDF) in using innovation techniques
• Act as a mentor and coach on innovation techniques. Run innovation workshops, events, hackathons, other methods that would allow for developing a community of practice in Malaysia around digital innovations.
• Communicate the story of UNCDF work with partners, funders, and other stakeholders working closely with the communication team.
• Work with UNCDF on collecting data that shows the impact of our solutions once launched.

Deliverables:

• Detailed plan from conceptualization stage to development.
• Business case for each partner.
• Training materials to support each cohort.
• Report on the engagement with the service providers.
• Report on field testing.
• Learning materials of the cohort from technical perspective.
• Workshop with local stakeholders on sharing the innovation methodology and creating interest in programme for further participation/partnership.

Phase VIII Review the first six cohorts and design next iteration for the Digital Innovation platform.

Month 22 to 24. 10% of the engagement.

Activities;

• Conduct a technical review of the first six cohorts to inform the priorities of the next Digital platform.
• Review UNCDF´s methodology for incubation/accelerator engagement with start-ups/entrepreneurs and established players in Malaysia.

Deliverables:

• Technical review and recommendations.
• Methodology review and recommendations. 

Compétences

• A passion for what design and technology can do for people.
• Experience in managing clients and partners—from early stage companies to mature organizations.
• Solution-focused and medium-agnostic, willing to step out of one’s core skill set or discipline to find the correct solution to a challenge.
• Fluency in the human-centered design process from qualitative research and synthesis to ideation, prototyping, and implementation.
• Cultural sensitivity, creativity, and resourcefulness— comfortable in finding one’s way through a bustling market in Malaysia as one does in a design studio workshop.
• Results-driven, problem-solver with structuring and analytic capabilities.  
• Strong ability to think and act strategically, even in situations of ambiguity, to develop both short- and long-term visions.   
• Inspires others, influences and builds trust.
• Strong communicator that can serve multiple functions as needed

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education:

• Bachelors’ Degree in either international development, research, anthropology, behavioral economics/sciences, business or service design, product innovation methodologies, human-centered design, UX, etc. is required.

Experience:

• At least 4 years of professional experience in a design consultancy or equivalent position leading multidisciplinary product innovation teams specialized around behavioral science, open innovation or agile is mandatory;
• In-depth understanding of the key drivers in a digital product/emerging technology business.
• Understand methodologies and frameworks related to behavioral change, gamification, human-centered design, UX;
• Understands the product innovation concepts that includes implementing tools like design thinking, agile, lean start-up, open innovation, stage-gate, etc.
• Experience building, leading, and coaching teams.
• Experience in a middle and/or low-income country and a deep understanding of the complexity of challenges low-income communities deal with would be a plus.
• Comfortable in operating in a flat organization, all hands-on deck.   
• Insight into the way that digital transformation is affecting industry and knowledge of best practices.   
• Exceptional written and oral communications skills.

Language:

• Excellent written and oral English is mandatory.
• Fluency in one local language (Malay, Mandarin) is a plus but not mandatory.

Timeline, total number of working days, duty station:

• Timeline: July 2018 – June 2020
• Total Number of Working Days for Assignment: up to 220 working days within 12 months, 440 days in 24 months.
• Duty station: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

For unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. UNCDF would cover the cost of stay for the selected person.

Please note that UNCDF cannot guarantee residence permits or visas for consultants. Consultants are responsible for securing their work documentation. In the case of national consultants, applicants that are not nationals of the duty station requested will have to prove their residence status.  

Please note that consultants residing in the duty station will not be compensated for living expenses.

Progress Controls & Payments:

Payment will be made against each satisfactorily achieved deliverable. All payments are subject to the clearance and approval of the Regional Technical Specialist – Asia.

Payment schedule is as follows:

Final payment shall require a signed performance evaluation of the consultant.

Application process:

Interested individuals must submit the documents mentioned below as proposals in order to demonstrate their qualifications (Note: the system does not allow multiple uploads of documents. Applicants must make sure to upload all documents in one PDF file).

All applications must contain the following information:

• Cover letter with a summary statement of competencies in relation to the Terms of Reference (TOR);
• Earliest availability and proposed schedule for consultancy;
• Curriculum Vitae;
• Complete and signed P11, Personal History Form with names and current contacts of 3 referees (available from http://sas.undp.org/documents/p11_personal_history_form.doc)
• Signed financial proposal for the assignment outlining: All-inclusive fee (including professional fees and other professional expenses, such as insurance, taxes, etc.), the cost of one return ticket to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from place of origin. Available at http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=29916). The consultant’s hosting is provided by UNCDF, therefore no DSA or living allowance is to be quoted in the financial proposal.

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials. 

Evaluation: 

Step I: Screening: Applications will be screened and only applicants meeting the minimum criteria will progress to the pool for shortlisting.

Step II: Technical Evaluation:

Shortlisting (20 points): UNCDF will produce a shortlist of candidates and technically evaluate candidates as per experience requirements in the Terms of Reference. As applicable, only the first top 3 ranked applicants shall be considered for an interview.

Shortlisting scoring:

20- Education/Qualification;

20- Functional competencies for assignment;

30- Experience.

Interview (80 points): An interview shall be conducted for the top 3 shortlisted candidates.

Step III: Financial Evaluation: Only candidates with scores above 70% of the technical evaluation (70 Points or above) will be considered. 

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal: lowest priced proposal/price of the proposal being evaluated x 30%.

Award Criteria

The contact shall be awarded to the applicant whose offer have been evaluated and determined as:

Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and Having received the highest combined weight (technical scores) 70% + financial 30%= 100%.

Both individual consultants and individual employed by a company or institution are welcome to apply. 

Any individual employed by a company or institution who would like to submit an offer in response to a Procurement Notice for IC must do so in their individual capacity (providing a CV so that their qualifications may be judged accordingly). Women candidates or women-owned businesses are strongly encouraged to apply.

Any individual employed by a company or institution who would like to submit an offer in response to a Procurement Notice for IC must do so in their individual capacity (providing a CV so that their qualifications may be judged accordingly). Please not that in such case the company institution will be asked to issue an RLA http://www.undp.org/content/dam/vietnam/docs/Legalframework/Reimbursable%20Loan%20Agreement.doc.  

Women candidates or women-owned businesses are strongly encouraged to apply.

(Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA): A legal instrument between UNCDF and a Company/institution, according to which, the latter makes available the services of an individual delivering time-bound and quantifiable outputs that are directly linked to payments. An RLA is governed by the provisions of this policy.)

Any delay in the completion of the deliverables shall not translate into additional payment to the individual.  The total contract amount shall remain the same for the duration of the contract, including any time extensions that may be granted as necessary and mutually agreed by UNCDF and the individual.