Antecedentes

UNCDF is the UN’s capital investment agency for the world’s 47 least developed countries (LDCs). 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 Local Development Finance Practice (LDFP) promotes and supports transformative investments through local governments and domestic banks in LDCs by piloting and scaling up innovative financing mechanisms and policies in the public and private sectors. Specifically, LDFP works with LDC governments to: mobilize additional capital for local development including from the domestic public and private sectors (for example, by promoting fiscal decentralization, increasing own revenue of local authorities and stimulating investment finance by domestic banks); design appropriate allocation mechanisms for this capital (intergovernmental fiscal transfers, public-private partnerships, structured project finance, municipal debt instruments); support local investments that provide a demonstration effect and lead to upscaling and mainstreaming of these mechanisms (including supporting UNCDF’s pipeline of investible projects); secure these investments within an accountable institutional environment that sustains and promotes local development (legal, political, administrative, social).

UNCDF’s approach to Local Development Finance acknowledges the challenges for LDCs in enhancing local basic services, promoting local economic development and increasing local resilience to shocks in an increasingly uncertain world. The approach recognizes that LDC economies have reached levels of domestic capital (public and private) significantly greater than a decade ago. Yet underinvestment at the local level remains a feature of LDCs that is holding back structural transformation. In addition to external sources of development finance, there is an additional need to find ways of channeling domestic resources for local development – including in rapidly growing urban areas.

Post context 

The Municipal Finance Consultant (MFC) will support the development and management of the global Municipal Investment Finance (MIF) programme, which has the objective of supporting towns, cities and urban areas in LDCs in order to secure the capital and recurrent financing required for their growing infrastructure and service needs.

The aim of the MIF Programme is to increase the ability of local governments and other sub-sovereign entities to address key urbanization challenges through access to sustainable sources of capital financing. The Programme will improve resilience and quality of life in LDC cities in Africa and Asia, especially for the poor. Specific objectives include (i) improving access to capital for investment in critical urban infrastructure and services in LDC cities targeted by the program, (ii) creating or strengthening financial markets and market intermediaries so that they can facilitate capital access for cities, and (iii) Supporting local governments to establish policies, standards, and practices that improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the capital financing process in beneficiary countries.

Reporting to the MIF Programme Manager, the MFC will support the provision of technical assistance to local governments (urban and rural) and local banks as partners of choice and builds on the platform and reputation of UNCDF’s support to LDCs. This includes piloting and testing improved mechanisms, instruments and tools for: fiscal transfers from central to local government institutions; improvements in local taxation and fees; debt instruments (borrowing, special purpose project vehicles and bonds) for Municipal Finance; and supporting the formation of UNCDF’s International Municipal Investment Fund.

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.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Working under the supervision of the MIF Programme Manager, the MFC will have the following deliverables and responsibilities:
Summary of key Deliverables:

1. Provide technical support and policy advice in municipal finance, local public finance and local private finance, particularly in relation to infrastructure and service provision, local economic development and the strengthening of municipal capacity in LDCs;
2. Support the development and implementation of UNCDF’s municipal investment instruments including grants, reimbursable grants, loans, guarantees, creation of third-party funds and bond purchases.
3. Help develop and launch pilot initiatives with key municipalities on a range of investment instruments, especially the issuance of municipal bonds.
4. Provide technical expertise in applying business development strategies, tools and intelligence, to build and maintain technical partnerships, capitalize on business opportunities and enhance resource mobilization for the MIF program;

These deliverables will directly support the work of the MIF Programme Manager and will include access to privileged business information on investment tools and about individual transactions. The consultant will be requested to sign a non-disclosure agreement with regard to relevant materials.

Responsibilities

The responsibilities of the MFC include but are not limited to:

1. Support the MIF Manager in coordinating and maintaining close working relationships and high levels of trust and support with central and local government stakeholders in relevant LDCs, based on UNCDF’s mandate and a client-based approach – led by country demand;
2. Technical support to the MIF program manager in developing and implementing strategies for the rollout of the MIF program worldwide in accordance with the project document;
3. Provide technical inputs to the MIF program manager on overall project implementation and strategic direction, including advise on project quality control and implementation progress in programme countries – contributing to the achievement of corporate and project objectives;
4. Support the UNCDF country teams in the development of national policies in the areas of municipal finance, drawing on the latest research and ideas, lessons of policy pilots and substantive dialogue with key practitioners and major international institutions;
5. Provide technical guidance to UNCDF country teams on engagement with government, with UNDP and the UN Country Team, and with other stakeholders;
6. Develop and apply UNCDF’s local development finance diagnostic tools, investment instruments and approaches to constructively inform and contribute to these strategies and policies, in a way that leverages UNCDF support to promote the interventions and finance of others;
7. Support strategic partnership and resource mobilization for the MIF Program;
8. Provide substantive inputs into the LDFP Annual Work Plan, LDFP Business Plan and the Results-Oriented Annual Report;
9. Participate in relevant meetings, conferences, seminars and teleconferences as needed.

Impact of Results

The MFC will have a major impact on the overall effectiveness and growth of UNCDF’s support to urban development finance in MIF programme countries. The MFC will enhance UNCDF programming in municipal investment, generating concrete opportunities for municipalities to develop and launch key investment instruments.

The MFC will contribute to achieving LDFP Business Plan objectives, which include policy impact, leveraging of additional resources for local development and positive impact of the projects themselves. The performance of the MFC will have a major impact on the reputation of UNCDF as partner to LDCs and as a center of excellence for local government finance and local economic development finance. Success in engaging key actors, in strategic partnerships and in joint programming of local development and public finance projects will contribute to the development goals of partner countries. Results will also have a significant impact on resource mobilization for UNCDF and its capacity to expand coverage to other LDCs.
 

Competencias

Advocacy

•  Build consensus concerning UNCDF’s strategic agenda with partners on joint initiatives;
• Dialogue with national counterparts and other stakeholders to strengthen advocacy efforts, incorporating country, regional and global perspectives.

Partnership Building

• Make effective use of UNCDF’s resources and comparative advantage to strengthen partnerships;
• Create networks and promotes initiatives with partner organizations.

Innovation and Communication

• Possess expert knowledge of advanced concepts in primary discipline, a broad knowledge of related disciplines, as well as an in-depth knowledge of relevant organizational policies and procedures;
• Apply a broad knowledge of best management practices; defines objectives and work flows, positions reporting relationships in such a way as to obtain optimum effectiveness for the unit/branch;
• Keep abreast of new developments in area of professional discipline and job knowledge and seeks to develop him/herself personally;
• Excellent organizational, inter-personal, communication and administrative skills;
• Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments;
• Demonstrate expert knowledge of the current programme guidelines and project management tools and manages the use of these regularly in work assignments.

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrate integrity by modeling the UN values and ethical standards;
• Promote the vision, mission and strategic goals of UNCDF;
• Build support and political acumen;
• Build and promoting effective teams;
• Create and promote enabling an environment for open communication, creativity and innovation;
• Create an emotionally intelligent organization;
• Share knowledge across the organization and building a culture of knowledge sharing and learning;
• Fair and transparent decision-making; calculated risk-taking;
• Ability to address gender equality and empowerment of women considerations in strategic and operational activities of UNCDF.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

•  Master’s degree in Economics, Business, Public Finance, Public Administration, Urban Development, Law, or related field.

Experience:

• Minimum of 10 years relevant, practical working experience in the field of local development finance, preferably in developing countries and LDCs including proven experience in the Municipal Finance and experience in infrastructure financing projects. Preferably this experience be at a managerial level or above.
• Deep technical knowledge of local development planning and capital investment programming in urban areas;
• Experience with a range of municipal investment instruments including grants, reimbursable grants, loans, guarantees and bond issuance from a municipality
• Experience in developing project documents and start-up of new projects;
• Experience with new product development, testing, roll-out;
• Proven resource mobilization experience and record of success in building partnerships, negotiating financing, reporting to and managing grants from development partners;
• Strong programme and project management experience including budget and financial management, staff supervision, teambuilding;
• Results based management experience including monitoring, evaluation and incorporating lessons learned;
• Strong financial analysis and business project appraisal skills.

Language Requirements:

• Spoken and written fluency in English

Evaluation

• Only shortlisted candidates will be considered for the Technical Evaluation. The shortlisting will be based on respective educational background and minimal requirements for work experience. The Individual consultant will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative Analysis:

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% or above on the scoring of the technical aspect of their proposal will be considered for financial evaluation.

• Criteria A:  Master’s degree in Economics, Business, Public Finance, Public Administration, Urban Development, Law, or related field; 20 points.
• Criteria B:  Minimum of 10 years relevant, practical working experience in the field of local development finance, preferably in developing countries and LDCs; 20 points.
• Criteria C:  Proven experience in the design and application of municipal finance instruments and experience in infrastructure financing projects, experience working for local governments and / or development banks financing local governments is an asset; 40 points.
• Criteria D:  Proven ability to motivate staff, share knowledge and build effective teams to implement municipal finance initiatives; 20 points.

Application Process

Interested individuals must submit the following as proposals in order to demonstrate their qualifications: (NOTE: THE SYSTEM DOES NOT ALLOW MULTIPLE UPLOADS OF DOCUMENTS THEREFORE APPLICANTS MUST MAKE SURE TO UPLOAD ALL REQUIRED DOCUMENTS IN ONE FILE). Proposers who shall not submit below mentioned documents will not be considered for further evaluation.

• 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.
• CV or P11, indicating all past experiences from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email, telephone, skype) of the Candidate with at least three (3) professional references. Link to P11: http://sas.undp.org/documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc
• A cover letter responding to competency criteria indicating why the candidate considers himself/herself suitable for the required consultancy as well as stating earliest availability.  Please paste this letter into the “Resume and Motivation” section of the electronic application.
• Confirmation of interest and Financial proposal using the template. The Confirmation Letter can be downloaded from: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=53304