Antecedentes
In recent decades, biodiversity finance tools and solutions have demonstrated their importance for achieving biodiversity goals and broader sustainable development objectives. Improved choice, design and implementation of effective, well-tailored finance solutions will strengthen countries’ chances of achieving national and global biodiversity targets.
The Biodiversity Finance Initiative – BIOFIN – was developed to provide a comprehensive methodology for governments to: 1) review the existing policy context, 2) measure expenditure levels for biodiversity, 3) calculate future financial needs and 4) design strategic plans to deploy the right mix of finance solutions, tailored to the country context. The methodology has been conducted in 30 countries to date, with many now having reached the implementation stage.
BIOFIN’s first phase (2012-2018) enabled full assessments and initial implementation of finance plan elements in target countries. Based on lessons learned, a new and comprehensive version of the BIOFIN Methodology was developed. Significant scaling up of finance solutions is required in all countries to address the biodiversity finance challenge. BIOFIN’s second phase will mainly focus on the implementation of prioritised finance solutions while also allowing additional countries to undertake the initial assessments and create the finance plan. See www.biodiversityfinance.org for further information.
BIOFIN is part of UNDP’s Global Environmental Finance (UNDP-GEF), hosted by the Ecosystems and Biodiversity (EBD) cluster under UNDP’s Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS).
UNDP-GEF is seeking two Senior Advisors on Environmental Finance to BIOFIN to provide technical services and support to BIOFIN core countries in the roll out of the national level BIOFIN process, for both the remaining implementation period of BIOFIN Phase I and Phase II. The Advisors will be part of the Global BIOFIN Team.
The ultimate purpose of this assignment is to support national BIOFIN teams and government counterparts to scope, design, develop and implement the prioritised finance solutions identified through the BIOFIN process, to achieve finance results in the country.
Deberes y responsabilidades
The Individual Consultants will be primarily home-based and work under the supervision of the BIOFIN Project Manager. The Consultants will work with the global BIOFIN Team, national BIOFIN Teams, UNDP Country Offices, core and donor country governments, other international/multi-lateral organizations, and contractors. The scope of work will vary depending on the specific assignment, but would include one or various of the below tasks:
Implementation of the BIOFIN Methodology:
- Provide technical support and undertake reviews and impact monitoring of BIOFIN methodological outputs and processes in core countries, such as: workplans, quarterly reports, inception reports, Policy and Institutional Reviews, Biodiversity Expenditure Reviews, Financial Needs Assessments, and Biodiversity Finance Plans;
- Travel to BIOFIN core countries as needed to support the implementation and dissemination of the BIOFIN Methodology.
Implementing finance solutions:
- Support National BIOFIN teams and government counterparts in identifying, developing and implementing the right mix of finance solutions, tailored to the country context;
- Support the design and review of finance solution proposals developed by national BIOFIN teams following the BIOFIN Proposal template;
- Provide feedback for the development of terms of reference, country workplans, quarterly reports, inception reports, final reports and other relevant documents;
- Provide feedback on technical documents related to finance solutions, such as feasibility studies, concept notes, policies, laws, regulations, by-laws, organisational charts/HR Plans, resource mobilisation plans, enforcement strategies, economic valuations, advocacy plans, or any other technical reports that are required;
- Travel to BIOFIN core countries as needed to support the design and implementation of finance solutions and engage with key stakeholders to develop opportunities of collaborations for finance solution implementation;
- Develop tailored guidance materials or other knowledge products on selected finance solutions, and provide inputs into project proposals for resource mobilisation as required;
- Guide national BIOFIN Teams to relevant experts, knowledge platforms, tools and other guidance material related to the prioritised finance solutions/mechanisms;
- Support national BIOFIN teams to identify opportunities to promote gender equality and sustainable livelihoods when designing biodiversity finance solutions.
Capacity development:
- Engage in capacity assessments and capacity development of national stakeholders as required, helping to build up a large pool of experts in each country that possess the basic skills to implement the BIOFIN tools;
- Strengthen the capacity of a wider group of national stakeholders on prioritised finance solutions to beginner/intermediate level (as relevant), and support the process of institutionalisation with national training institutes and universities;
- Support and provide inputs to global, regional, and national technical workshops, regional conference calls, technical webinars, and website discussions as requested by the global BIOFIN team.
Knowledge management:
- Write up articles, case studies, and other materials emerging from the BIOFIN process, summarizing key experiences and lessons from core countries, including delivering at least one case study or scientific article per year on finance solution implementation in a core country;
- Support the continuous improvement of the BIOFIN, methodology and specific tools and other materials provided to core and non-core countries as part of BIOFIN’s methodology development objectives. Develop guidance documents and training materials to enhance the BIOFIN methodological toolkit and implementation packages;
- Deliver high quality inputs for bi-annual donor reports on progress and impact in BIOFIN countries within given deadlines, and provide other inputs as required for briefing notes, case studies, knowledge management products, press releases, and other media products develop by the global BIOFIN Team.
Specific Outputs:
An indicative list of tasks includes:
- Peer review document for national outputs prepared by BIOFIN Country Teams - Policy and Institutional Review, Biodiversity Expenditure Review, Financial Needs Assessment and Biodiversity Finance Plan;
- Secondary peer review of national outputs from other countries;
- Review of proposals for the design and implementation of biodiversity finance solutions;
- Review of feasibility studies, national policies/laws, by laws, regulations, organisational charts, enforcement and advocacy strategies and other technical reports required to develop and implement to prioritised finance solutions;
- Mission reports;
- Session design and presentation for regional and global workshops and webinar recordings;
- Specific knowledge management products such as case studies, scientific articles, news stories and inputs into donor reporting.
Information on Working Arrangements:
- The overall objective of these Framework Agreements is to facilitate and expedite the process by which UNDP can hire the services of Technical Advisors on Environmental Finance for the Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) for the Latin American and Caribbean region and Pacific and Lusophone countries, once there are specific assignments over the next 3 years;
- Estimated level of effort: approximately 180 days each year per consultant. Maximum working days over the 3-year period would be 540 (per consultant);
- UNDP does not guarantee that any quantity of services will be purchased during the term of the Framework Agreement as this will depend on forthcoming needs;
- The initial contract would be for one year (April 2018 - April 2019) with an option for annual renewal in subsequent years dependent on demand for services and satisfactory performance evaluations;
- The Framework Agreements will be for a fixed all-inclusive daily fee;
- Once the Framework Agreements are signed, if there is a specific assignment, the focal person at BIOFIN would contact the Consultant by email informing of the specific deliverables required, and timeline for delivery;
- The consultant must advise within 48 hours whether s/he is available to deliver the requested service;
- Thereafter a Purchase Order will be raised. Financial commitments will only be established each time the services are requested within the scope of the Framework Agreement through the transmitted email and purchase order;
- IC as a Framework Agreement is non-exclusive (i.e. it does not prohibit UNDP from entering into another such framework agreement with other individuals or entities);
- Given the global consultations to be undertaken during this assignment, the consultant is expected to be reasonably flexible with his/her availability for such consultations taking into consideration different time zones where applicable;
- The Consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment;
- The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own working station (i.e. laptop, internet, phone, scanner/printer, relevant software, etc.) and shall have access to a stable, secure and reliable internet connection;
- Payments will be made upon submission of a detailed time sheet and certification of payment form, and acceptance and confirmation by the Supervisor on days worked (with a “day” calculated as 8 hours of work) and outputs delivered.
Travel:
- Approximately 10-12 international mission travels (per consultant) per year will be required to core countries and relevant methodological and coordination meetings. It is expected that the total number of missions will not exceed 36 for the duration of the Framework Agreement;
- Any necessary missions must be approved in advance and in writing by the BIOFIN Project Manager;
- The Advanced and Basic Security in the Field II courses must be successfully completed prior to commencement of travel;
- Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director;
- Consultants are responsible for obtaining any visas needed in connection with travel with the necessary support from UNDP;
- The Consultant is required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under https://dss.un.org/dssweb/
- The consultant will be responsible for making his/her own mission travel arrangements in line with UNDP travel policies;
- All related travel expenses will be supported by the project travel fund and will be reimbursed as per UNDP rules and regulations for consultants. Costs for airfares, terminal expenses, and living allowances should not be included in financial proposal.
Competencias
Corporate:
- Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
- Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
- Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
- Treats all people fairly without favouritism;
- Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.
Technical:
- Analytic capacity and demonstrated ability to process, analyse and synthesise complex, technical information from different disciplines;
- Ability to innovate, combining methodological approaches and data from various levels and disciplines including economics, finance, development and conservation;
- Proven ability to support the development of high quality knowledge and training materials, and to train technical teams;
- Proven experience in the developing country context and working in different cultural settings.
Functional:
Communication
- Able to communicate effectively to a varied and broad audience in a simple and concise manner.
Professionalism
- Capable of working in a high-pressure environment with sharp and frequent deadlines, managing many tasks simultaneously;
- Excellent analytical and organizational skills;
- Exercises the highest level of responsibility and able to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner.
Teamwork
- Works well in a team to advance the priorities of BIOFIN and UNDP as a whole;
- Projects a positive image and is ready to take on a wide range of tasks;
- Focuses on results for the client;
- Welcomes constructive feedback.
Habilidades y experiencia requeridas
Education:
- Master’s degree or higher in economics, environmental economics, public administration, financial management, natural/environmental sciences, social sciences with a specialization in environmental finance and development, or other closely related field (max. 10 points).
Experience:
- At least 10 years’ demonstrated expertise in public or private sector finance, sustainable development/environmental finance, resource mobilisation, biodiversity conservation, natural resource management, or a related field; (max. 15 points)
- Prior experience in designing, reviewing and implementing biodiversity finance solutions/mechanisms, proposals and policies; (max. 15 points)
- Significant international and developing country experience; (max. 10 points)
- Prior experience in resource mobilisation methodologies and in the development of knowledge and exchange materials and platforms would be an advantage; (max. 10 points)
- Expertise in planning and conducting exchange workshops and technical trainings on financial assessments at the international level; (max. 5 points)
- Experience with UNDP policies, procedures and practices particularly in relation to project development and implementation and/or working experience in an international organization is an advantage; (max. 5 points)
Language:
- Excellent oral and written communication skills in English; (max. 5 points)
For candidates applying for the Latin American and Caribbean region:
- Good command of oral and written Spanish (max. 5 points).
For candidates applying for the Pacific and Lusophone countries:
- Good command of oral and written Portuguese (max. 5 points).
Evaluation Method:
- Only those applications which are responsive and compliant will be evaluated;
- Offers will be evaluated according to the Combined Scoring method – where the technical criteria will be weighted at 70% and the financial offer will be weighted at 30%;
- The technical criteria (education, experience, language [max. 80 points] and interview [max.50 points]) will be based on a maximum 130 points;
- Only the top 6 candidates scoring 56 points or higher from the review of the education, experience and languages will be considered for the interview;
- Candidates obtaining 35 points or higher in the interview will be deemed technically qualified and considered for financial evaluation;
- The financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal of those technically qualified;
- The financial proposal shall specify an all-inclusive daily fee. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal must additionally include a breakdown of this daily fee (including all foreseeable expenses to carry out the assignment);
- The top 2 Applicants receiving the Highest Combined Score and who have accepted UNDP’s General Terms and Conditions may be awarded the contract.
Documentation to be submitted:
Kindly note you can upload only ONE document to this application. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
- Applicants must submit a duly completed and signed UNDP Personal History form (P11) to be downloaded from the link below;
- Applicants must reply to the mandatory questions asked by the system when submitting the application;
- Applicants must submit a duly completed and signed Annex II Offeror´s letter to UNDP confirming interest and availability for the Individual Contractor (IC) assignment to be downloaded from the UNDP procurement site.
UNDP Personal History form (P11) required of all applicants
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/Careers/P11_Personal_history_form.doc.
General Conditions of Contract for the ICs
Annex II Offeror´s letter to UNDP confirming interest and availability for the Individual Contractor (IC) assignment
http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=44989