Antecedentes

The Arab region particularly susceptible to climate change, with temperatures rising faster than the global average. Moreover, it is also one of the most-water scarce and food-import dependent region in the world. In catalyzing greater levels of water insecurity, reduced agricultural productivity, and fragility of land and ecosystem services, climate change is now increasing social vulnerability, exacerbating conflict and triggering displacement in the region. Growing risks to food, water and ecosystem services in the natural sphere (drought, ground water scarcity, land degradation) and in the social sphere (poverty, social instability, displacement) are being exacerbated by rising temperatures and increased climate variability. The current and ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is likely to put additional burdens on the ability of the state, host communities of internally displaced people (IDPs) and refugee communities to cope with the fall-out from this global crisis. Without effective preventive solutions or responses, displaced communities face challenges in re-establishing livelihoods and other aspects of human security.

Countries in the region face a wide range of risks, shocks and crises, ranging from localized, short-term events like rapid onset of climatic hazards, to protracted crises from multi-year droughts. Failing to address multi-dimensional risk and take integrated approaches to these converging stressors is having adverse impacts on poverty and social cohesion, reversing development gains in some cases, and calling into question the ability of the region to recover from crisis and resume a positive development pathways towards the SDGs 2030 targets.

Against this background, multiple UN agencies (UNDP, UNEP-FI, WFP, UN-Habitat, UNDRR) together with the League of Arab States and the Arab Water Council have initiated a new regional project (the SDG-Climate Facility Project) that aims to enhance the capacity of regional and national institutions to address climate change in a way that brings benefits across multiple goals, while also reducing the impacts of conflict and crises. Through joint action, the project will: a) promote integrated solutions for climate action that brings benefits across the SDGs, and crisis and recovery efforts; and b) scale up local partnerships and finance towards those efforts.       

The programme was launched in January 2019 and will end in December 2022. The programme addresses the need to mainstream climate risk into development and crisis prevention/recovery strategies, thereby helping to generate integrated solutions. This includes ways to take integrated approaches and facilitate cross-thematic synergies to achieve the aims of existing regional strategies, which are often implemented in silo or sectoral approaches, including strategies for poverty, water, food, land, environment, urban development and other issues. The vision for integrated solutions promoted by the 2030 Agenda calls on regional entities and international partners to go beyond conventional siloed approaches and take a nexus approach to development interventions, thinking through connections and looking for synergies and/or dividends across areas of work. Achieving the SDGs in an era of climate disruption will be impossible unless countries and communities are able to address risks from a range of factors and with systems that are able to anticipate and adapt to challenges facing the region.

With the spread of COVID-19 and its associated negative impacts – economic and social - women in the Arab States, in particular those who also identify as refugees/IDPs are likely to face a disproportionate burden as a consequence of the pandemic. Their ability to cope with not only the health impacts, but equally other consequences – access to livelihood opportunities, food security, access to health care and other longer-term effects need to be assessed and understood to ensure that recovery processes are inclusive. At the same time, the crisis creates an opportunity to foster low emission and climate resilient, and gender sensitive solutions to increase the resilience and sustainability of the recovery processes while tackling inequality.

The SDG-Climate Facility Project is looking to bring on board a Gender Expert to investigate the impact of COVID-19 on women, and provide recommendations for inclusive recovery opportunities, with a particular emphasis on climate solutions that can instill short and longer-term resilience

Deberes y responsabilidades

The objective of this assignment is to identify climate-change related solutions to address the specific soci-economic challenges faced by women who are IDP/Refugees in the aftermath of COVID-19.                                                     The recommendations are expected to lead to the design of potential projects to be supported through the SDG-Climate Facility as an integral part of broader climate-security projects in select recipient countries in the region, and/or be presented to potential donors for funding.

Expected Outputs:

1. Assessment of the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 on women in the Arab States, with a focus on women who are Internally Displaced Persons and Refugees;
2. Identify entry points to address the new socio-economic challenges faced by women IDP/Refugees in the aftermath of COVID-19, and specify recommendations to integrated climate-change related solutions that can lead to specific project ideas/initiatives. 

EXPECTED OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES

Competencias

Corporate

• Demonstrates integrity and fairness, by modeling the UN/UNDP’s values and ethical standards;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional

• Time management and organizational skills, with the ability to undertake multiple tasks and deliver under pressure;
• Strong analytical and synthesis skills;
• Ability to work independently and achieve quality results with limited supervision and within tight schedules;
• Experience in reports production;
• Ability to write in a clear and concise manner;
• Good teamwork and interpersonal skills;
• Flexibility and ability to handle multiple tasks and work under pressure;
• Excellent computer skills especially Word, Excel and Power Point

Leadership

• Demonstrated ability to think strategically and to provide credible leadership;
• Demonstrated flexibility in leadership by performing and/or overseeing the analysis/resolution of complex issues;
• Ability to conceptualize and convey strategic vision from the spectrum of development experience.

Managing Relationships

• Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain strategic partnerships;
• Demonstrated well developed people management and organizational management skills;
• Excellent negotiating and networking skills with strong partnerships in academia, technical organizations and as a recognized expert in the practice area.

Managing Complexity

• Ability to address global development issues;
• Demonstrated substantive leadership and ability to integrate knowledge with broader strategic, policy and operational objectives.

Knowledge Management and Learning

• Ability to strongly promote and build knowledge products;
• Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example;
• Seeks and applies knowledge, information and best practices from within and outside of UNDP;
• Demonstrates a strong capacity for innovation and creativity in providing strategic policy advice and direction.

Judgment/Decision-Making

• Mature judgment and initiative;
• Proven ability to provide strategic direction to the project implementation process;
• Independent judgment and discretion in advising on handling major policy issues and challenges, uses diplomacy and tact to achieve result.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

• Masters’ Degree/ in Gender and Development, Gender and Climate Change, Gender and Crisis, Sustainable development or other relevant fields.  

Work experience:

• At least 10 years of proven experience in developing innovative initiatives/ projects that relate directly to women and sustainable development, in particular in crisis contexts;
• At least 5 years of proven experience of working on gender and climate-change related issues in both adaptation and mitigation;
• Good knowledge of the Arab States region and its development related challenges, including climate change, and crisis/conflict dimensions;
• At least 2 years of professional experience working on IDPs/refugees communities;
• At least 2 years of proven experience of working on gender-focused initiatives. Such experiences in the Arab States region and/or conflicted affected contexts are an advantage.
• Previous working experience with the United Nations (UN) is an advantage;

Language Requirements:

• Language proficiency in both written and oral English is required. Knowledge of any other UN language, particularly Arabic, is an asset;

INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT

• The individual is required to exhibit his or her full-time commitment with UNDP Regional Bureau for Arab States (RBAS);
• S/He shall perform tasks under the general guidance and direct supervision of the SDG Climate Facility Chief Technical Advisor.
• The supervision will include approvals/acceptance of the outputs and deliverables as identified in the previous section;
• The individual is expected to liaise and collaborate in the course of performing the work with other consultants, suppliers and UN colleagues;
• The individual is required to provide periodical progress reports on regular and needed basis throughout the assignment to monitor progress;
• The individual is required to maintain close communication with UNDP-RBAS on regular and needed basis at any period throughout the assignment in order to monitor progress. In the event of any delay, S/he will inform UNDP promptly so that decisions and remedial action may be taken accordingly;
• Should UNDP deem it necessary, it reserves the right to commission additional inputs, reviews or revisions, as needed to ensure the quality and relevance of the work.

DURATION OF THE WOR the expected duration of the assignment is expected to be up to thirty (30) working days over a period of two (02) calendar months from the contract signature date.

DUTY STATION

Home Based Assignment.

TRAVEL PLAN (OPTIONAL)

If any unforeseen travel outside the consultant home based city is requested by UNDP and not required by the Terms of References (ToR), such travel shall be covered by UNDP in line with applicable rules and regulations and upon prior written agreement. In such cases, the consultant shall receive living allowances not exceeding the United Nations (UN) Daily Subsistence Allowance (DSA) rate for such other location(s).

SCOPE OF PRICE PROPOSAL AND SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS

Interested candidates should provide lump sum fees for requested services with detailed breakdown. This amount must be “all-inclusive”. Please note that the terms “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal. Also, please note that the contract price will be Deliverables/Outputs based - not fixed - subject to change in the cost components.

The contractor will be paid an all-inclusive Deliverables/Outputs based lump sum amounts over the assignment period, subject to the submission of Certification of Payment (CoP) duly certified or an invoice and confirmation of satisfactory performance of achieved work (deliverables/outputs) in line with the schedule of payments table hereunder:

RECOMMENDED PRESENTATION OF OFFER

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Candidates that fail to submit the required information will not be considered.

1. 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;
2. Brief Description of why you consider yourself as the most suitable candidate for this assignment;
3. One sample of work that shows the candidate’s competence to undertake this assignment;
4. Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive Deliverables/Outputs based total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided. The terms “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consumables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal. 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.

All necessary information including: Complete Procurement Notice, the Selection Criteria, and Annexes are found on the following link under Procurement http://procurement-notices.undp.org/

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications to Job advertisement website (https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_jobs.cfm) and should submit their proposal by e-mail to the following address: proc.contract.rscjo@undp.org not later than 25 May 2020. Candidates that fail to submit the required information on or before the set deadline (25 May 2020) will not be considered.

Please do not submit financial proposal in this stage. Financial proposal shall be requested from Candidates who are considered technically responsive

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF THE BEST OFFERS

This selection criteria will follow the Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted a max. of 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a max of 30%; using the following evaluation criteria

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

Step I: Screening and desk review:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology.Applications will be first screened and only candidates meeting the following minimum requirements will progress to the pool for shortlisting:

• Criteria A: Masters’ Degree in Gender and Development, Gender and Climate Change, Gender and Crisis, Sustainable development or other relevant fields;
• Criteria B: At least 10 years of proven experience in developing innovative initiatives/ projects that relate directly to women and sustainable development, in particular in crisis contexts;
• Criteria I: Language proficiency in both written and oral English is required;

Shortlisted candidates will be invited for virtual consultation, then assessed and scored against the following evaluation criteria:

Step II : Technical Review

Shortlisted candidates will undergo a technical evaluation which will include an interview, and a submission of    a proposal to tackle the assignment.

Interviews will be conducted by the technical evaluation committee remotely. Submission of a proposal to tackle the assignment will be shared with shortlisted candidates.  

Technical evaluation Criteria max 100 points (Weighted 70):

• Criteria A: Masters’ Degree/Advanced Degree in Gender and Development, Gender and Climate Change, Gender and Crisis, Sustainable development or other relevant fields (10 points);
• Criteria B: At least 10 years of proven experience in developing innovative initiatives/ projects that relate directly to women and sustainable development, in particular in crisis contexts (20 points);
• Criteria C: At least 5 years of proven experience of working on gender and climate-change related issues in both adaptation and mitigation (20 points);
• Criteria D: Good knowledge of the Arab States region and its development related challenges, including climate change, and crisis/conflict dimensions (10 points);
• Criteria E: At least 2 years of professional experience working on IDPs/refugees communities (15 points);
• Criteria F: At least 2 years of proven experience of working on gender-focused initiatives (10 points);
• Criteria G: Technical Interview (10 points); and
• Criteria H: Sample of Work (05 points).

Shortlisted candidates will be invited for virtual consultation, then assessed and scored against the following evaluation criteria:

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation

For those offers considered in the financial evaluation, the lowest price offer will receive 30 points. The other offers will receive points in relation to the lowest offer, based on the following formula: (PI / Pn) * 30 where Pn is the financial offer being evaluated and Pl is the lowest financial offer received.

Step II: Final evaluation

The final evaluation will combine the scores of the desk review and the financial proposal with the following weights assigned to each:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis methodology (weighted scoring method), where 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 technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical Criteria weight: [70%]

Financial Criteria weight: [30%]

Only Individual Consultants obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70%) on the Technical evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.