Historique

Introduction – UNCDF

UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s 47 Least Developed Countries (LDC). UNCDF uses its capital mandate to support LDCs pursue inclusive growth. UNCDF promotes financial inclusion, also through digital financial services (DFS), as a key enabler of poverty reduction and inclusive growth; and it demonstrates how localizing finance outside the capital cities can accelerate growth in local economies, promote sustainable and climate-resilient infrastructure development, and empower local communities. Using capital grants, loans and credit enhancements, UNCDF tests financial models in inclusive finance and local development finance; ‘de-risks’ the local investment space; and provides proofs of concept, paving the way for larger investors.

UNCDF’s objective is to develop inclusive financial systems in which a range of financial products are available to all segments of society, at a reasonable cost, and on a sustainable basis. UNCDF supports a wide range of providers (e.g. microfinance institutions, banks, cooperatives, money transfer companies) and a variety of financial products and services (e.g. savings, credit, insurance, pension, payments, and remittances).

Introduction:  Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme 

Pacific Island countries are highly vulnerable to natural hazards like cyclones, floods, earthquakes, and droughts. Such events cause economic losses running into millions of dollars. As climate change increases the frequency and severity of naturally induced disasters, economic losses worsen. With limited insurance protection options in the region, many Pacific Islanders affected by disasters are left with nothing or are dependent on government assistance. These payments can take weeks, pushing vulnerable populations into poverty and economic hardship.

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), through a joint programme with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS), and in close collaboration with key stakeholders from the government, public, private sector and other development partners, aims to address the challenge through the workstreams envisaged in the Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme (PICAP). The Programme is aligned to the United Nations Pacific Strategy, UNCDF global strategies and the respective country national development plans. The Programme will specifically target women, youth and MSME segments to work across agriculture, fisheries, and tourism sectors.

The overall program objective is to improve the financial preparedness of “Pacific households, communities, small businesses, organisations and governments towards climate change and natural hazards” through a combination of stakeholder engagement, co-creation of solutions, awareness and capacity building, innovative financing options and digital linkages – with a robust interface to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.

Devoirs et responsabilités

The consultant will support the Programme across the thematic areas of inclusion, resilience and consumer empowerment are mainstreamed across the following three programmatic pathways and workstreams:   

1. Enabling Policy and Regulation: Increasing risk awareness and understanding, preparing the enabling environment for the introduction of CDRFI tools, including parametric (index based) insurance, and the creation of CDRFI strategies;
2. Digitally enabled Inclusive Innovation:  Using digital linkages for products and payment delivery; developing and deploying inclusive market-based insurance and other climate disaster risk instruments for the micro and meso levels using mobile and digital technologies; and
3.  Empowered Customers: Educating individuals and consumers on the benefits of using insurance and other risk financing tools as part of a DRM strategy.

S/he will be responsible to work closely with UNCDF partners at regional and national level to achieve the programme outcomes by providing regular technical assistance and facilitating partnerships related to inclusion, resilience and consumer empowerment.

Scope of Work

The consultant will provide technical advice to the Programme across the thematic areas below:

• Gender and Social Inclusion: Provide technical advice to programme activities across all workstreams to ensure that women, youth, MSMEs & vulnerable groups (welfare recipients & persons with disabilities) are meaningfully included in implementation to ‘leave no one behind in the digital era’
• Consumer empowerment: Provide technical advice to Programme activities across all workstreams (particularly the Empowered Customers workstream) to ensure adequate consumer protection policies and regulation, product & service design and capacity-building of consumers to understand the need for financial resilience and disaster risk financing, in particularly target beneficiary segments (women, youth, MSMEs & vulnerable groups).

Expected outputs and Deliverables

?The table below outlines the list of key deliverables and estimated date of completion:

Duty Station: The consultant will be home based

Travel: At this point, no travel is anticipated and if the restrictions are removed or eased, then limited travel within Fiji may be required.  All this travel will be requested by UNCDF management on a need basis and will be compensated on a reimbursable basis and following the UNDP/UNCDF rules and regulations that state 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 the daily living allowance will be paid in amounts not exceeding the UN established rate.

Provision of Monitoring and Progress Control

• The consultant will be part of the PICAP Regional team and will work closely with other UNCDF initiatives in the Pacific and other regions as required  
• The consultant will report to the Programme Manager-Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme or his designate
• The consultant is responsible for providing his/her own laptop during the course of his/her engagement with UNCDF.

The consultant will be required to provide a short weekly update by email with the Programme Manager highlighting any significant challenges faced in delivery.

Payments

• Payment will be made on deliverable basis based on specific outputs completed. All payments are subject to the clearance and approval of the direct supervisor, Programme Manager, Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme

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

The following supporting documents will serve as conditions for disbursement:

• submission of an Invoice and Certificate of Payment (COP).
• submission of all deliverables with relevant supporting documentation; and
• review, approval and written acceptance of each deliverable by the Programme Manager, Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme or designate.  

Compétences

• Open to work with challenging projects in challenging environment;
• Ability to plan, organize, implement and report on work;
• Strong networking, interpersonal, communication and facilitation skills;
• Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities skills;
• Experience in managing clients and partners—from early stage companies to mature organizations;
• Solution-focused and medium-agnostic, willing to step out of your core skill set or discipline to find the correct solution to a challenge;
• Results-driven, problem-solver with structuring and analytic capabilities;
• Strong ability to plan and act strategically, even in situations of ambiguity, to develop tangible solutions;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Educational Qualifications

• Master’s degree in in Business/Commerce, Finance, Public Administration, Social Sciences or related discipline is mandatory
• Qualifications in human centric design or any discipline related to digital financial services would be an advantage

Experience

• Minimum 5 years of experience working in progressively more responsible positions in the banking, finance, microfinance, insurance, financial inclusion especially in the areas of community based interventions, financial literacy, consumer protection, resilience and livelihoods   mandatory.
• Working experience and knowledge of socio-economic issues, which results in the exclusion of various groups, in particular women, youth, MSME’s and other vulnerable groups and ability to generate strategies to address those issues is required
• Demonstrated project management experience with private and public sector and regulators is required
• Demonstrated broad knowledge of development issues, especially in the areas of poverty alleviation, women’s economic empowerment and local development in the Pacific would be an advantage
• Experience engaging diverse set of public and private sector stakeholders, regulators, government departments, industry associations would be an advantage.

Language requirements

• Excellent speaking and writing skills in English is required.

Application Process And Evaluation

Interested applicants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document:

• Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template at: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=29916.
• Personal CV or P11 indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the applicant and the names of at least three (3) professional references (e-mail addresses, telephone numbers);
• A detailed methodology for the assignment including a brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
• Signed Financial proposal that indicates all-inclusive fixed total contract price supported by a breakdown of costs, as per above 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 UNCDF 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 UNCDF.

Selection process:

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%, where weight distribution shall be 70% technical (desk review) and 30% financial.

The Technical Evaluation will entail two key steps, as follows:

Step I: Screening

Applications will be screened and only applicants meeting the following mandatory criteria (listed under education and experience) will progress to the pool for shortlisting.

• Master’s degree in in Business/Commerce, Finance, Public Administration, Social Sciences or related discipline
• Minimum 5 years of experience working in progressively more responsible positions in the banking, finance, microfinance, insurance, financial inclusion or development sector 

Step II: Technical Desk Review (100% out of technical assessment)

UNCDF will conduct a screening as per Step 1 above to produce a shortlist of candidates and technically evaluate the candidates. Only candidates that obtained 70% of the points at this stage shall be invited for the next step.

Shortlisting scoring:

Education (10 points):

• Master’s degree in in Business/Commerce, Finance, Public Administration, Social Sciences or related discipline – 7 points
• Qualifications in human centric design or any discipline related to digital financial services - 3 points

Experience and Language skills (90 points):

• Minimum 5 years of experience working in progressively more responsible positions in the banking, finance, microfinance, insurance, financial inclusion or development sector, additional experience of working with community-based initiatives, financial literacy, resilience and livelihoods - 30 points
• Working experience and knowledge of socio-economic issues, which results in the exclusion of various groups, in particular women, youth, MSME’s and other vulnerable groups and ability to generate strategies to address those issues - 15 points
• Demonstrated project management, engagement with private and public sector and regulators - 15 points
• Demonstrated broad knowledge of development issues, especially in the areas of poverty alleviation, women’s economic empowerment and local development in the Pacific – 10 points
• Experience engaging diverse set of public and private sector stakeholders, regulators, government departments, industry associations – 10 points
• Excellent speaking and writing skills in English language – 10 points

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

Step III: Financial Evaluation

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

Lowest priced proposal/price of the proposal being evaluated x 30.

Step IV: Award Criteria

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

a) Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and

b) Having received the highest score out of set of weighted technical criteria (70%) and financial criteria (30%).

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.

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.

Subject to satisfactory performance by the consultant, UNCDF may rehire the consultant through other modalities as relevant and applicable.

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