Antecedentes

The global programme, Inclusive and Equitable Local Development (IELD) is jointly implemented by United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), UN Women and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The programme addresses structural impediments that prevent women from entering the labour market through local public and private investments, with a particular emphasis on unlocking domestic capital for women’s economic empowerment and entrepreneurship. The 5 year programme was piloted in three Least Developed Countries (LDCs) in 2017, which include Bangladesh, Tanzania and Uganda. The programme is planned to be expanded to additional countries in 2018.    

IELD uses a unique three-agency partnership by utilizing each agency’s niche and comparative advantage in programming on gender equality and women’s empowerment. The programme supports governments and the private sector at the local level to design, plan, implement and sustain local public and private investments, with a special focus on promoting women’s equal and full participation in the local economy. Its multidimensional approach contributes to the achievement of at least 6 SDGs, specifically SDG 1 (no poverty), SDG 5 (gender equality), SDG 8 (decent work and economic growth), SDG 9 (industry, innovation and infrastructure), SDG 10 (reduced inequalities) and SDG 17 (partnerships for the goals).

Deberes y responsabilidades

Under the direct supervision of the IELD Programme Manager, the consultant Research Analyst (based in UNCDF) is responsible for providing technical assistance and research support for the global programme. Specifically, the Research Analyst is responsible for assisting in project design, developing technical tools, supporting country teams in drafting programme frameworks as well as leading on the development of knowledge tools, advocacy materials, and research that will significantly contribute to the effective implementation of the global programme.

Functions / Key Results Expected

1.    Assist with new country project development and programme implementation  

  • Provide technical input to the country teams in identifying strategic priorities;
  • Assist country teams to ensure quality control during the programme implementation process;
  • Support country teams in developing high quality reporting and monitoring systems.

2.    Provide technical input for developing gender-responsive technical tools:

  • Monitoring, under the supervisions of the Programme Manager, and in collaboration with UNDP and UN Women, the progress of the gender-sensitive Local Economic Assessment tool (LEA) at the local level;
  • Support designing country-specific gender-responsive interventions derived from the LEA with a particular focus on promoting women’s economic empowerment
  • Support the selection and implementation process for the IELD Investment projects by using the WEE Index.  

3.    Knowledge Management:

  • Consolidate lessons learned and best practices from the field;  
  • Support country teams in putting together knowledge products
  • Contribute to new research on WEE financing
  • Support partnership building with research institutions, UN agencies and other relevant organizations to undertake cutting age new research on WEE and local development financing.

4.    Strategic partnerships and implementation of the resource mobilization strategy:

  • Support the Programme manager and LD Practice in the Development of partnerships with the UN Agencies, IFI’s, government institutions, bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors, private sector, civil society in the specific thematic area;
  • Analysis and research of information on donors, preparation of substantive briefs on possible areas of cooperation, identification of opportunities for initiation of new projects, active contribution to the overall office effort in resource mobilization.

Impact of Results

The key results have an impact on the success of IELD global and country programme within specific areas of cooperation among the three partnering agencies: UNCDF, UNDP and UN Women. In particular, the key results have an impact on the design, operation and programming of activities, creation of strategic partnerships as well as reaching resource mobilization targets.

 

Competencias

Functional Competencies

Advocacy/Advancing A Policy-Oriented Agenda

  • Identifies and communicates relevant information for a variety of audiences for advocating local economic development and women’s economic empowerment.

Strategic Partnerships

  • Maintains an established network of contacts for general information sharing and to remain up-to-date on partnership related issues;
  • Analyzes and selects materials for strengthening strategic alliances with partners and stakeholders.

Innovation and Marketing New Approaches

  • Generates new ideas and proposes new, more effective ways of doing things;
  • Documents and analyses innovative strategies/best practices/new approaches.

Resource Mobilization

  • Analyzes information/databases on potential and actual donors;
  • Develops a database of IELD project profiles.  Identifies opportunities for project proposals for presentation to donors.

Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing

  • Generates new ideas and approaches, researches best practices and proposes new, more effective ways of doing things;
  • Documents and analyses innovative strategies and new approaches;
  • Identifies and communicates relevant information for advocacy for local development and women’s economic empowerment;
  • Identifies and takes advantage of opportunities for advocating for UNDP, UN Women, and UNCDF’s mandate.

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise

  • Understands and applies fundamental concepts and principles of a professional discipline or technical specialty relating to the position;
  • Possesses basic knowledge of organizational policies and procedures relating to the position and applies them consistently in work tasks;
  • Strives to keep job knowledge up-to-date through self-directed study and other means of learning;
  • Demonstrates good knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments;
  • Demonstrates in-depth understanding and knowledge of the current guidelines and project management tools and utilizes these regularly in work assignments.

Core Competencies

  • Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity;  
  • Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment;
  • Acting as a team player and facilitating team work;
  • Facilitating and encouraging open communication, communicating effectively with team members and partners;
  • Technical knowledge to contribute to mainstreaming of gender equality and empowerment of women in the programmatic and policy work of UNCDF;
  • Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education

Master’s Degree or equivalent in Economics, International Relations, Social Sciences or related field with a focus on gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.

Experience

  • At least 3 years of relevant experience at the national or international level in research and development policy-related work
  • Experience working on gender equality and women’s economic empowerment and poverty reduction,
  • Experience working on local economic development financing is an asset.
  • Hands-on experience in designing and monitoring development projects.
  • Excellent writing skills in English
  • Experience in drafting donor proposals, communication materials a must.
  • Experience with UNDP procurement and recruitment policies is considered an advantage.
  • Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages and handling of web based management systems.

Language Requirements

  • Fluency and excellent analytical writing skills in English.
  • Second official UN language an asset.

Travel

Regular travel to the field might be required and will be compensated according to UN polices.   

Selection Process

Received applications will be assessed based on technical competency and financial submissions. The weight distribution shall be 70% technical and 30% financial.

Evaluation

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology
Preliminary Evaluation - Step I: Screening
Technical Evaluation Weight - 70% x (Step II: 20 Points + Step III: 80 Points = 100 Points)
Financial Evaluation Weight - 30% = Step IV

Step I: Screening
Applications will be screened and only applicants meeting the following minimum criteria (listed under education and experience) will progress to the pool for shortlisting.

Step II: Shortlisting by Desk Review
UNCDF will conduct a desk review to produce a shortlist of candidates and technically evaluate them.
As applicable, only the first top 3 ranked applicants achieving 70% of the points at this stage shall be invited for an interview.

Step III: Interview
A competency-based Interview shall be conducted for the top 3 shortlisted candidates.
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% on the total of Steps II (20 points) +III (80 points) 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 x 30%.

Award Criteria

The contact shall be awarded to the best applicant whose offer have been evaluated and determined as: responsive/compliant/acceptable and having received the highest combined weight (technical proposal & Interview) 70% + financial 30%= 100%.

Payment

  • Payment will be made on periodical basis in accordance with number of days worked and upon satisfactorily achieved deliverables. All payments are subject to the clearance and approval of the direct supervisor;
  • Final payment shall require a signed performance evaluation of the consultant.

Application Guidelines

Interested candidate should submit the following information as part of the application package:

  • 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;
  • Detailed updated CV including past experience in similar projects or P11 link: http://sas.undp.org/documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc;
  • Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application;
  • Confirmation of availability to take up assignments for the whole period;
  • Three professional references including name, affiliation and email addresses;
  • Financial proposals will be requested only from the shortlisted candidates.

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

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