Antecedentes

A. Background:

The United Nations in Bangladesh is supporting the Government of Bangladesh to find innovative solutions to its development challenges through the broad framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), aligning activities with the government’s various national policies including but not limited to the 7th / 8th five-year plan and Perspective Plan 2041 and 2071. From the United Nations system, UNDP takes a lead in the organizations work on environment, climate change, green and renewable energy, rule of law, electoral reform, access to justice, human rights and human security, public administration, Innovation for SDGs, private sector engagement for SDGs, strategic direction to country’s frontier challenges like unemployment, blue economy, local governance and capacity development of democratic institutions, like the Election Commission, the Judiciary, the National Human Rights Commission, the Bangladesh Police and the Parliament, etc. UNDPs two programming clusters take lead in advocating for policy reforms to capacity development, from implementation of national policies to awareness raising at the grassroots level and so forth.

UNDP Bangladesh is exploring avenues to redefine its strategy in the development context of Bangladesh. Bangladesh will soon graduate to a lower middle-income country and UNDP Bangladesh will continue to engage with the Government during this transitional phase. The changing nature of engagement with donors and partners requires that UNDP continuously demonstrates its value. In this context, UNDP is working on its strategic positioning in Bangladesh and how it organizes itself to be “fit for purpose” and able to support the alleviation of poverty and the reduction of inequality and vulnerability in a relevant, efficient and effective manner.

B. Objectives:

The main purpose of this assignment is to provide high-level strategic and technical advice to the UNDP Senior Management on policy and programme interventions with a special focus on political economy issues for addressing implementation gaps and enhancing results effectiveness.  The prime focus of the UNDP Bangladesh in 2021 will be the implementation of the UN Framework for the Immediate Socio-Economic Response to COVID-19 and the formulation of the next Country Programme 2022-2025.

The immediate Socio-Economic Response Plan (ISERP) consists of the five pillars of work – an integrated support package offered by the UNDS to protect the needs and rights of people affected by the pandemic, with particular focus on the most vulnerable areas, groups, and people who risk being left behind and to bring the country back on track to deliver Agenda 2030. To that end, the Senior Advisor is expected to analyze trends based on the 2030 agenda, help navigate the political economy amongst different sectors and agencies and provide high-level strategic advice. 

Deberes y responsabilidades

C. Scope of work and expected outputs/deliverables:

This position requires sound knowledge and demonstrable work experience on development policies and priorities and specialized knowledge of governance and socio-economic issues in the Bangladeshi context. Details on the duties and responsibilities include:

1. Strategic advice on implementing the UN Immediate Socio-Economic Response Plan on COVID-19 (UN ISERP).

• Strategic advice on implementing UN socio-economic recovery management system to ensure full alignment with the GoB. strategies and program.
• Provide strategic guidance in engaging government agencies in the implementation of UNISERP.
• Guidance to ensure well-synergized implementation of the UN ISERP is in line with government plans and priorities.?

2. Strategic guidance on the implementation of UNDP’s key interventions in line with national priorities.

• Strategic guidance on Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and climate change to target disaster-affected/vulnerable communities/households in areas of social protection and livelihood adaptation.
• Strategic support to the Accelerator Lab to address youth and women’s unemployment in the private and informal sectors, and guide UNDP programs to support improved access to basic/public services in urban and rural areas and alternative livelihood strategies.
• Advance level guidance on promoting local risk information updating systems and mainstreaming of business Continuity planning for the private sector and Disaster Impact Assessment Tools for public investments.
• Strategic advice and technical support to form a Higher-level Coordination Committee for feedback management (responding to different queries/questions/issues raised by the MPs), finalization/endorsement and of the data management framework for My Constituency data platform following appropriate procedures, and functioning of the data management framework as a policy guideline for regular data flow.
• Policy advocacy for the finalization and publication of the Data Management Framework as a policy document (like SDGs M&E Framework) to ensure regular, timely, and quality data flow in My Constituency Data Platform

3. Advised to analyze implementation trends of SDGs and design program interventions to accelerate the country's progress in achieving SDGs.

• Advisory support to plan and facilitate evidence-based SDG analysis in the SDG Tracker in support of sustainable development trends, challenges, and opportunities. Advice on the formation of an SDG Cell at Parliament for the implementation, coordination, and ownership of the platform and sustainability.
• Provide substantive advice to both UNDP and national counterparts on approaches to accelerate SDG localization, including through district development planning.?

4. Strategic guidance for stakeholder engagement – both government and private sector, and networking at a national and international level as well as enriching UNDP’s knowledge repository.

• Strategic advice on enhancing effectiveness and sustainability of the Private Sector Platform for enhanced private sector contribution to Agenda 2030 and COVID-19 response & socio-economic recovery, especially on public-private partnerships, improving ease of doing business and in the context of the Integrated National Financing Framework for Agenda 2030.

D. Supervision and Performance Evaluation.

The National Consultant –Senior Strategic Advisor will be working with UNDP under the direct supervision of the Resident Representative of UNDP Bangladesh who will be responsible for reviewing the performance and approval of the deliverables of the incumbent.

E. Timeframes and deadlines:

The assignment will be for 50 working days over 12 months.

F. Reports:

The incumbent will be paid on a deliverables basis. The incumbent will be paid in 5 installments, after completing each of the periodic advisory support and reports.

G. Duty Station: The consultant shall be stationed in Dhaka with field visits as and when required for the assignment. Any such field missions will be arranged by the UNDP country office and based on prior discussion and planning.

Competencias

H. Competencies:

Corporate Competencies:

1. Promotes UN’s Values and ethical standards (tolerance, integrity, respect, results in orientation, impartiality).
2. Displays culture, gender, religion, race, nationality, and sensitivity and adaptability.
3. Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN's values and ethical standards (human rights, peace, understanding between people and nations, tolerance, integrity, respect, results in orientation, UNDP core ethics, impartiality.
4. senior’s policy-level work experience will be an added advantage

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge Management and Learning

1. Promotes knowledge management and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example, excellent knowledge of capacity building theory and the application of the methodology, good understanding of capacity assessment methodologies, excellent ability to identify significant capacity-building opportunities, ability to get capacity building, excellent ability to demonstrate national capacities building (mastery of the tools and their application).
2. Excellent communication skills (written and oral) in English.
3. Display understanding of the relevant contemporary ICT tools and continuously act towards personal capacity building.
4. Ability to provide top quality policy advice services on economic issues.
5. Established a track record of delivering strong analytical products with policy relevance.
6. In-depth practical knowledge of inter-disciplinary development issues.

Development and Operational Effectiveness

1. Ability to engage with high-ranking UNDP Managers, Government Officials, and the international donor community and provide policy advisory support services.
2. Ability to identify opportunities, conceptualize, and develop project reports.
3. Ability to effectively support in strategic planning, results-based management, and reporting.
4. Ability to implement new systems and affect staff behavioral/attitude change.
5. Ability to undertake result-based management and reporting.

Management and Leadership

1. Consistent approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
2. Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and results for the client, and responds positively to feedback and timely responses to queries
3. Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills
4. Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities
5. Demonstrates strong administrative skills and result-oriented approach to work
6. Provides inspiration and leadership to project staff as well as all partners.

Communications and Networking

1. Has excellent oral communication skills in English and conflict resolution, competency to manage inter-group dynamics and mediate conflicting interests of varied actors.
2. Has excellent written communication skills in English, with analytic capacity and ability to synthesize project outputs and relevant findings for the preparation of quality project reports.
3. Maturity and confidence in dealing with senior and high-ranking members of national and international institutions, government and non-government.

Language Required: Fluency in speaking and writing in English and Bengali

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

I. Qualifications:

a) Academic Qualifications:

       Master’s degree in public administration/international relations/law/political science/international development, Social Sciences, or a related field.

b) Experience:

• Minimum 20 years of work experience in the field of poverty alleviation, environment, climate change, local and democratic governance, policy support, administration, and civil service reform.
• Minimum 5 years of proven experience in policy reform applicable in the context of development interventions and specifically in governance.
• Prior experience in development planning and policy guidance matters at the national level.
• Minimum 5-year experience in a senior government position with NGOs/INGO/Research Organization/UN agencies.

J. Financial Proposal

Total lump sum:

The financial proposal shall specify the total lump sum amount and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e., whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the finance proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including travel, per diems, and the number of anticipated working days).

Tentative Payment Schedule:

The incumbent will be paid on a deliverable basis

K. Travel

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel to a higher class, he/she should do so using their own resources.

In case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs, including tickets, lodging, and terminal expenses, should be agreed upon between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

L. Technical Criteria: 

M. Financial Evaluation: (Total obtainable score – 30)

All technically qualified proposals will be scored out 30 based on the formula provided below. The maximum points (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal. All other proposals receive points according to the following formula:

p = y (µ/z)

Where:

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated

y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal

µ = price of the lowest priced proposal

z = price of the proposal being evaluated Recommended Presentation of Offer

N. Recommended Presentation of Offer

• Interested individuals must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications.

• Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
• 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.

• http://www.bd.undp.org/content/bangladesh/en/home/operations/jobs/

• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment and a methodology on how they will approach and complete the assignment.
• Financial Proposal: Financial Proposal has to be submitted through a standard interest and availability template which can be downloaded from the link below:

• http://www.bd.undp.org/content/dam/bangladesh/docs/Jobs/Interest%20and%20Submission%20of%20Financial%20Proposal-Template%20for%20Confirmation.docx