A.     Project Description  

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) is a UN organization with a capital mandate (unique in the UN System) focused on reducing poverty and inequality first and foremost in the least developed countries (“LDC”s).   

UNCDF’s financing models work through three channels: (1) inclusive digital economies, which connects individuals, households, and small businesses with financial eco-systems that catalyze participation in  the local economy and provide tools to climb out of poverty and manage financial lives; (2) local development finance, which capacitates localities through fiscal decentralization, innovative municipal finance, and structured project finance to drive local economic expansion and sustainable development; and (3) investment finance, which provides catalytic financial structuring, de-risking, and capital deployment to drive SDG impact and domestic resource mobilization. 

The UNITLIFE programme is an innovative financing instrument hosted by the UNCDF dedicated to the fight against chronic childhood malnutrition in two priority areas: (a) reducing child stunting and other immediate effects of malnutrition; and (b) closing the gender gap in climate-smart agriculture. UNITLIFE has an innovative financing approach and instruments including, but not limited to developing a voluntary micro-donations platforms for payment transactions, leveraging sports events and star power to drive social giving, and devising creative donation matching and revenue sharing schemes with private partners. This is the underlying concept behind the application of innovative finance for UNITLIFE — shaving small amounts off targeted transactions and channel them towards development actions that respond to chronic malnutrition needs in developing countries. The funds raised through these instruments will be directly channelled to funding in high impact projects addressing the immediate effects and root causes of chronic malnutrition.  

B.     Scope of Work

The UNITLIFE Secretariat is seeking the services of a Junior Consultant in Partnerships building with a focus on the Middle-East region.  

The Consultant will build on previous work of the UNITLIFE Secretariat and develop further based on specific deliverables, UNITLIFE portfolio of partners in the region. In particular, the consultant will be asked to support the design of innovative finance mechanisms with private sector partners, develop the network of High Net Worth Individuals committed to supporting the UNITLIFE fund, and support the mission organization of UNITLIFE leadership in the region. 

In order to perform the assessment, the Consultant will have full access to the partners already secured in the region, the strategy documents developed, as well as in general,  all available literature. 

C.     Expected Outputs and Deliverables 

The deliverables for this assignment have been set-up as follows: 

D.     Institutional Arrangement

The Consultant will work under the direct supervision of UNITLIFE Partnerships Specialist based in Paris and in close collaboration with other relevant colleagues, experts and/or institutions designated by the of UNITLIFE Partnerships Specialist.

The consultant will have weekly communication with the UNITLIFE Secretariat and also UNITLIFE Programme Manager via email and skype, for coordination and guidance purposes, ensuring consultants’ output quality and targets. 

The Consultant is expected to attend UNITLIFE Partnerships weekly meetings (once a week) and update the team on the progress made regarding the deliverables. 

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

E.     Duration of the Assignment, Duty Station and Expected Places of Travel

Contract duration: The duration of the assignment is 12 months. 

The targeted start date is 15 June 2022

Duty Station and expected places of travel: This is a home-based assignment.

Travel: If any travel is requested by the program, all the subsequent travel costs associated to 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 the daily living allowance will be paid as per UN Rate. 

F.     Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

Price proposal should be made in a Lump Sum Amount covering all cost elements to complete the work and deliver the outputs.The contract price is fixed regardless of changes in the cost components and timelines to complete the deliverables.

Payment is linked with deliverables and will be made within 30 days upon full and successful completion of the requested outputs and as per certification and evaluation of the direct supervisor. Final payment shall require a signed performance evaluation of the consultrant.

The following supporting documents will serve as conditions for disbursement: 

• Submission of an invoice and Certificate of Payment (COP);
• Review, approval and written acceptance of each deliverable/report by the UNITLIFE Programme Manager.

1. Leadership: ability to work in an autonomous way and take the lead on the assignment 
2. Communication: ability to listen, adapt, challenge information and identify solution 
3. Analysis: act as a Strategic Advisor to quickly capture operating model, governance, high level process and decision-making flow and identify optimum scenarios
4. Delivery: ability to get things done in a timely manner 

G.  Professional Qualifications of the Successful Individual Expert

• Education:
  • The minimum level of education acceptable for this assignment is Master’s degree. Fields acceptable are in international development, international finance, social sciences, sciences and engineering, law or economics. Profiles with Masters degree in technical innovation-related topic (big data, etc) is of particular interest.
• Experience
  • Candidate must have a thematic experience (of 2 years minimum) in women economic empowerment, food security and/or nutrition.
  • Candidate must have a proven experience of working for UN projects partnerships building (fundraising), with demonstrated experience in securing partnerships / mobilizing resources from private sector partners in the Middle-East region.

• Language:
  • Fluency in English, French and Arabic is required (written and spoken)

H.    Application Process

Interested individuals should 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:

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
2. 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;
3. Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a methodology, if applicable, on how they will approach and complete the assignment. A methodology is recommended for intellectual services, but may be omitted for support services  
4. Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price including professional fees and other professional expenses, such as insurance, taxes, etc.) , supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided. Available at http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=29916).

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. 

I.  Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

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

1. The minimum level of education acceptable for this assignment is Master’s degree. Fields acceptable are in international development, international finance, social sciences, sciences and engineering , law or economics. Profiles with Masters degree in technical innovation-related topic (big data…) is of particular interest.
2. Candidates must have a thematic experience (of 2 years minimum) in women economic empowerment, food security and/or nutrition.
3. Fluency in English, French and Arabic is required (written and spoken).

Step II: Shortlisting by Desk Review (100 points x 30%).

A desk review will be conducted to produce a shortlist of applicants according to the criteria below. 

Evaluation Criteria for Desk Review:

Step III: Technical Interviews (100 points x 40%):

A competency-based Interview shall be conducted with the top three or four candidates who score the highest in Step II (minimum of 70 points). Candidates will be tested on the same key work areas, in greater depth, with the same weighting, namely: 

• Relevant experience
• Sector Technical Knowledge
• Understanding of the mission 

Step IV: Financial Evaluation.

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

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal: 

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

Step V: Award Criteria

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

• Responsive/compliant/ acceptable;
• Having received the highest the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical (70%) and financial (30%) criteria. 

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. 

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. If the consultant is over 65 years old, UNCDF reserves the right to require full medical certification and clearance from the consultant’s physician prior to commencing the travel. 

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

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