Historique

About UNCDF

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 47 least developed countries. With its capital mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development. UNCDF’s financing models work through two channels: financial inclusion that expands the opportunities for individuals, households and small businesses to participate in the local economy, providing them with the tools they need to climb out of poverty and manage their financial lives; and by showing how localized investments — through fiscal decentralization, innovative municipal finance and structured project finance — can drive public and private funding that underpins local economic expansion and sustainable development. By strengthening how finance works for poor people at the household, small enterprise and local infrastructure levels, UNCDF contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly Goal 1 on eradicating poverty and Goal 17 on the means of implementation. UNCDF also contributes to other SDGs by identifying those market segments where innovative financing models can have transformational impact in helping to reach the last mile and address exclusion and inequalities of access.  To achieve these goals, UNCDF is providing financial support and technical expertise to the public and the private sector. It provides capital financing – in the form of grants, soft loans and credit enhancement products – and the technical expertise to unleash sustainable financing at the local level.  

About CleanStart

The CleanStart Program supports low-income consumers to transition to cleaner and more efficient energy through microfinance. CleanStart is a global UNCDF program helping to lift at least 2.5 million people out of energy poverty by 2017. This will help contribute to achieving development goals on poverty and hunger, education, gender, health, and environmental sustainability. To achieve this vision, the program provides risk capital and technical assistance to competitively selected financial service providers and energy enterprises.

The program aims to catalyze digital energy finance (or Pay-Go energy systems) as a promising solution to reduce energy poverty and has offered products to data for over 221.000 consumers, in particular women and poor people in rural areas. The program is currently active in both Asia and Africa. CleanStart partners with microfinance institutions and energy enterprises in various Asian and African countries including Uganda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia and Nepal, Myanmar and Cambodia and expanding further in West Africa – offering seed capital and technical support – to test scalable financing solutions in varying market conditions. At the heart of the CleanStart approach is brokering risk-sharing partnerships between downstream as well as upstream value chain actors, and de- risking some investment opportunities. Of particular value to CleanStart is developing partnership and financing models that can be replicated and scaled-up by other public and private actors working towards a common vision of expanding energy access for the poor.

M&E Consultant would work primarily under the CleanStart program, but will also be covering activities for the following programs:

SHIFT

SHIFT ASEAN has been established in 2014 with initial funding from the Australian Government and focuses on ASEAN’s frontier economies of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam (CLMV) aiming to promote digital finance and fintech solutions for women’s economic empowerment and MSME growth.

SHIFT SAARC has been established in mid-2016 with initial funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the European Union. The program aims to support digital finance and fintech solutions for women’s economic empowerment and MSME growth.

Digital@UNCDF

UNCDF Financial Inclusion Practice Area is focusing on Digital Financial Services and how they can improve financial inclusion for the vulnerable groups. For this reason, all the ongoing projects will focus more and more on promoting DFS as the main tool to promote financial inclusion.

This solicitation is for a Framework agreement, also known in UNCDF as the Long-Term Agreement (LTA) for one year and renewable for two (2) more years based on satisfactory performance of an individual consultant. An “LTA” refers to a mutual agreement whereby the Consultant will provide services as required, over a specific period. It specifies the unit price (daily rate) allowing for an LTA to be used when the Consultant’s services are needed.
Where a request for services arises, UNCDF can engage the individual(s) holding an LTA through a “call-off” of the LTA.   Every call-off shall have specific tasks, scope of services and outputs to be delivered within a specific period of time.   For this particular work, the call-off shall be formalized through the issuance of a Purchase Order, attaching thereto the TOR, and any other document relevant to the call-off.  Financial commitments will only be established each time a Purchase Order for the specific services/TOR for Individual Contractor is issued.
The LTA shall have a cumulative ceiling amount that may accrue to the individual contractor during the life of the LTA, but said amount shall remain as an upper limit, and must not and cannot be interpreted nor understood as neither a financial commitment nor guarantee of business volume.  It is important to note that, under an LTA, UNCDF does not guarantee that any specific quantity of services shall be made during the term of this agreement.  The LTA does not form a financial obligation nor commitment from UNCDF at the time the LTA contract is signed.

Objectives of the Assignment

Monitoring & Evaluation Consultant for the Clean Energy Finance portfolio.

The Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Consultant will be responsible for the program’s monitoring and evaluation and impact action research towards the further achievement of UNCDF CleanStart’s 2020 goals to enable 2.5 million people to access clean energy solutions. This role includes creating and/or maintaining M&E systems, analyzing portfolio data from CleanStart challenge funds’ applicants and grantees, conducting sector wide market scoping, mapping partner companies’ progress towards reaching Key Performance Indicators, supporting donor reporting. Additionally, the consultant will coordinate and directly support action research activities including lean data collection projects, impact research, sector wide market data collection, identify other new research areas and conduct beneficiary interviews. Finally, the M&E consultant will support activities agreed by the overall CleanStart program to enhance visibility and knowledge sharing of CleanStart results, impact and replicability of business models, and CleanStart’s contribution to market development in the clean energy sector.

The M&E consultant will primarily work under the CleanStart program. Additional support for similar assignments for the SHIFT ASEAN, SAARC and UNCDF Digital programs could be required.  

Specific areas of work include:    

• Theme 1: Creating and/or maintaining M&E systems, analyzing portfolio data from CleanStart challenge funds applicants and grantees (30%).
• Theme 2: Coordination and direct support to action research activities including lean data collection projects, impact research, sector wide market data collection and identification of other new research areas, conducting beneficiary interviews (30%).
• Theme 3: Offering technical assistance, conducting trainings and technical support to Financial Service Providers and Energy Service Providers in product development, data treatment, analytics and usage, monitoring (20%).
• Theme 4: Supporting Knowledge Management, Program Learning, and measuring UNCDF’s contribution to market development (20%).

Purpose of the Framework Agreement

UNCDF would like to enter into a non-exclusive Framework Agreement, also known as Long-Term Agreement (LTA), with the consultant who will perform the services described below on a need-basis.  In UNCDF, an LTA is a framework agreement by and between UNCDF and a company or individual where the latter may, at any time within the duration of the LTA, be required to render the agreed services at the agreed and fixed unit prices for a minimum period of 12 months, with potential extension for up to two (2) additional years, depending on satisfactory performance.

Under an LTA, UNCDF does not guarantee that any specific quantity of services shall be purchased during the term of this agreement.  The LTA does not form a financial obligation or commitment from UNCDF at the time the LTA contract is signed and that such an agreement is non-exclusive.   

Where a request for service arises, UNCDF can engage the individual on LTA through a “call-off” of the LTA.   Every call-off shall have specific tasks, scope of services and outputs to be delivered within a specific period.   For this work, the call-off shall be formalized through the issuance of a Purchase Order, attaching thereto the TOR, and any other document relevant to the call-off.  Financial commitments will only be established each time a Purchase Order for the specific services/TOR for Individual Contractor is committed.

The LTA shall have a cumulative ceiling amount that may accrue to the individual contractor during the life of the LTA, but said amount shall remain as an upper limit, and must not and cannot be interpreted nor understood as neither a financial commitment nor guarantee of business volume.

Devoirs et responsabilités

The M&E Consultant will be responsible for undertaking and delivering the following actions and outputs, respectively:

** Delivery times may vary according to work load and priority of activities as well externalities. Above table should not be taken as a strict disbursement schedule.

Duration, Duty Station and Travel

Contract duration: The Framework Agreement shall be signed for 12 months, from 1 August 2019 – 1 August 2020 with possible extension for two (2) more additional years, based on continued project need, funding availability and satisfactory performance assessment.

Number of working days: up to 175 person days per year

Duty station: Kampala, Uganda with occasional travel to countries in Asia and Africa, where UNCDF and CleanStart are active.  

Travel:  Travel costs associated with the assignment will be paid on reimbursable basis and following the UNDP/UNCDF rules and regulations which states that consultants shall only be paid the most direct and most economical ticket, as will be quoted by the official UN travel agency.  Any amount in excess of the said quotation, such as class and airline preference of the consultant, shall be borne by the consultant and any daily living allowance quoted by the consultant will be only in amounts not exceeding the UN DSA Rate.  

Monitoring and Progress Control

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Energy Access Coordinator in Uganda and the Data Management Specialist based in Thailand, under the overall guidance of CleanStart Program Manager in Thailand. The consultant will also work day to day with the country-based Portfolio Managers.

The consultant will have weekly communication with the Regional Office in Bangkok and Uganda country office via email and skype, for coordination and guidance purposes, ensuring consultants’ output quality and targets.  

The Consultant is responsible for providing his/her own laptop during the course of his/her engagement with UNCDF.

This contract is under a Framework Agreement that will work with a call-off mechanism. The consultant will be ‘called’ upon to deliver a specific set of deliverables under a TOR and a purchasing order, indicating the total number of days required to complete the services. The contractor shall submit the invoices specifying the outputs delivered and the Certificate of Payment form for the approval of UNCDF.

Payment terms shall be defined in the specific POs that will be issued when calling off the services of the individual.  Payment of financial obligations on the PO issued shall l be made upon satisfactory achieved deliverables under each assignment and submission of time sheet in accordance with number of days worked to deliver the required outputs. All payments are subject to the clearance and approval of the direct supervisor. Final payment shall require a signed performance evaluation of the consultant.

Compétences

Functional Competencies

• Ability to coordinate teams and assume a leadership role;
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment;
• Ability to establish priorities, plan, coordinate and monitor own work;
• General knowledge of development issues, specifically on clean energy and financial inclusion  

Corporate Competencies

• Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UNCDF;
• Demonstrate integrity by modelling the UN's values and ethical standards;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education

• Master’s Degree or PhD in Development Studies, Development Economics, Environmental or Clean Energy Studies, Development Finance and Business Administration, or similar studies.

Experience

• At least 2 years of working experience in monitoring and evaluation, qualitative and quantitative research for clean energy and/or financial inclusion sectors.
• Demonstrated experience in social and environmental performance assessment, impact measurement.  
• 2 years of work experience in either financial inclusion and clean energy sectors.  
• Preference is given to candidates with 2 years of work experience in both financial inclusion and clean energy sectors and with work experience in countries where CleanStart is active.

Languages

• Fluency in English is required.
• Working knowledge of French is highly desirable.

Desired Skills / Attributes

• Ability to coordinate and offer technical support to energy and financial service providers and to develop joint action research, case studies and monitoring.
• Demonstrated experience in using computer and software packages including Power BI, Tableau, Nvivo, and advanced skills in Excel;

Evaluation

Applications will be rated on both technical and financial submissions. The following selection method will be used: Highest rated proposal using the combined scoring method, which assigns the weight distribution between the technical and financial proposals. The overall combined score will be 100 points, where weight distribution shall be 70% technical (30% desk review + 40% interview) and 30% financial.

 Step I: Screening/Longlisting

Applications will be screened and only applicants meeting the following minimum criteria will progress to the pool for shortlisting.

• Master’s Degree or PhD in Development Studies, Development Economics, Environmental or Clean Energy Studies, Development Finance and Business Administration, or similar studies
• At least 2 years of working experience in Monitoring and Evaluation, qualitative and quantitative research, for clean energy sectors and financial inclusion
• At least total of 2 years of work experience in either financial inclusion or clean energy sectors.  

Step II: Shortlisting by Desk Review

UNCDF will conduct a desk review to produce a shortlist of candidates by evaluating the following criteria with the corresponding points (100 points)

• Preference for candidate with 2 years of work experience in both financial inclusion and clean energy sectors and in countries where CleanStart is active (40 Points).
• Demonstrated experience in social and environmental performance assessment, monitoring and impact measurement (15 Points).
• Demonstrated ability to coordinate with and offer technical support to energy and financial service providers and to develop joint action research, case studies and monitoring (15 Points).
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages ; strong skills in Power BI, Tableau, Nvivo, and advanced skills in Excel in particular are required ( 30 Points).

As applicable, only the first top 3 ranked applicants achieving 70% of the points at this stage shall be invited for a skype interview.

Step III: Interview

A competency-based Interview shall be conducted for the top 3 shortlisted candidates, who will be asked on the following:

• Relevant experience.
• Sector Knowledge.
• Communication Skills.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% on the total of Steps II (Desk Review) and Step III (Interview) will be considered as technically qualified and will be reviewed further for financial evaluation.

Step IV: Financial Evaluation

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:
Lowest priced proposal/price of the proposal being evaluated (30%)

Application

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications.
Failure to submit all the below mentioned documents may result in rejection of the application.

• When applying for this consultancy position, please apply with your official name as shown in the government issued identification document (e.g. passport and/or driver license). Contract award is subject to this verification;
• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references; link to P11: http://sas.undp.org/documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc;
• Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position as well as stating the earliest availability. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application;
• Confirmation of Interest and Financial proposal: https://popp.undp.org/_layouts/15/WopiFrame.aspx?sourcedoc=/UNDP_POPP_DOCUMENT_LIBRARY/Public/PSU_%20Individual%20Contract_Offerors%20Letter%20to%20UNDP%20Confirming%20Interest%20and%20Availability.docx&action=default . Signed Financial proposals must be part of the application submitted before the stipulated deadline of the consultancy announcement.  
• State the earliest availability.

Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when traveling 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
Both individual consultants and individuals 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. UNCDF is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

Please include all documents into one file while submitting your application.

References

UNDP’s Individual Consultant’s General Terms and Conditions are provided here:
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf