Background

The UNDP Strategic Plan 2018-2021 embraces the complexity of development and commits the organization to helping countries find faster, more durable solutions to achieve Agenda 2030. Important development trends like urbanization, climate change, and inequality pose significant challenges on our path to achieve the 2030 agenda of achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

UNDP has begun incubating a number of strategic initiatives aimed at ensuring UNDP is ‘fit for purpose’ to deliver a new generation of solutions in line with the challenges the world faces. One such key strategic initiatives is the Accelerator Lab Network. The initiative is a recognition that increasingly interrelated development challenges require going beyond business as usual and single point, linear and silver bullet responses in development. Instead, they call for an interdisciplinary approaches and non-linear solutions that crowd in the collective efforts of variety of partners and tap into local insights and the knowledge of people closest to the problem and the solutions.

We are building the largest and fastest learning network of Accelerator Labs with 91 labs covering 114 countries embedded within UNDP’s global architecture. The new offering builds on the latest thinking from the fields of complexity science, lead user innovation and collective intelligence to accelerate development impact. This suíte of methods allows us to mobilize different actors – creating partnerships at all levels (national, regional, international) in areas such as research, entrepreneurship, identify and tap into local solutions, harness the potential of real-time data, learn quickly by understanding what works and what doesn't through hypothesis formulation and testing. 

We onboarded a first cohort of 60 labs in 2019 and a second cohort of 31 labs in 2020. The presence of two cohorts is a critical configuration and momentum in several ways, on the one hand it allows for the integration, lessons learned and learning experiences of the first cohort to benefit the second, on the other hand there is a challenge in terms of alignment, and most importantly, for all cohorts, the opportunity to effectively contribute to one of the major goals of the labs, namely to learn quickly about emerging problem spaces and their potential solutions and opportunities.

The network is currently “firing on all cylinders” and we have set out an ambitious learning strategy. Yet we see a need and opportunity to facilities and strengthen lateral and vertical knowledge flows across the network (lab teams, cohorts, regions), UNDP as an organization, our partners and broader development ecosystem in order to accelerate toward Agenda 2030. The Accelerator Lab Global Team is looking for a Learning and Community Manager Specialist to help us further build the community of labs, solidify relations, strengthen its network and organizational learning capacity, enabling collaboration, new partnerships and collective learning.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will play a pivotal role in implementing the Accelerator Lab network learning strategy. In this capacity, the consultant will support and develop  collective learning activities, build and manage a “learning community” and adjacent partnerships, develop knowledge outputs that helps us socialize our learnings and make it actionable.

For the purposes of this assignment, it will be important to have:

• A comprehensive understanding of the mission of the Accelerator Lab Network, including its methods and protocols
• State of the art knowledge as well as hands on experience with organizational and network learning (e.g. collective intelligence, sensemaking, knowledge brokering) and community management.
• Strong soft skills and able to perform in fast moving, dynamic and culturally diverse environment – being comfortable with ambiguity and operate in “uncharted territory”.

Against the above background, the Consultant will perform the following Learning and Community Management tasks:

• Developing, testing and improving programmes of collective learning activities that enable and accelerate network learning.
• Convening Accelerator Lab teams and other stakeholders, both internal and external, around specific development challenges (e.g. informality, climate resilience). Facilitate such convenings with the intent to elicit (tacit) knowledge, instigate knowledge flows and enable the network to learn as a collective.
• Produce knowledge products – think beyond reports – that consolidates a body of knowledge on a specific subject as well as developing creative ways to socializes this knowledge in order to inspire action, inform decision making and help us learn faster as a collective.
• Develop  guides, toolkits for design and facilitation of the “collective learning sessions”.

Expected outputs and deliverables:

The Consultant may be expected to participate in one or more workshops with representatives from the UNDP Accelerator Lab global events, and other relevant partner organizations.

Competencies

• Can lead and set out a programme of activities in a dynamic and fast paced environment with continuously shifting priorities.
• Can mobilize a diverse group of stakeholders and enable/empower them to work towards a common goal.
• Is able to stimulate and enable collective knowledge creation (around a specific development challenge). Note, we’re not looking for traditional “knowledge managers”, but instead, we’re looking for someone who can bring tacit and explicit knowledge to life and let it “flow” across a global network and beyond.
• Can design and facilitate (face to face and remote) workshops, sessions and conversations that deal with a diverse group of participants (backgrounds, culture, expertise) create a safe space for collective learning and reflection.
• Has experience with innovation methods – that operate in the space of complexity and collective learning, sensemaking, reflection and action (e.g. systems thinking, collective intelligence, learning design, co-creation).
• Can produce compelling knowledge outputs/products (think beyond the usual reports) that helps to socialize knowledge/insights beyond the network, and inspires action, mobilizes talent and people, communicate strategic opportunities in a compelling way,
• Can codify an emerging practice, method or way of working.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic qualifications:

• Master's Degree in communication, social or organisational sciences, information/communication design, innovation management, international affairs and development or related areas, Required

Experience:

• At least 5 years of relevant experience in supporting learning activities, community and network management, and practice related to sustainable development. Required
• At least 5 years of experience and expertise on leveraging network learnings and its translation into knowledge products and their socialization. Desirable
• At least 5 years of experience and in-depth knowledge of communities of practice, networks, and their management. Desirable

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required.
• Working knowledge of another UN language would be an asset

Application Procedure

The application package containing the following (to be uploaded as one file):

• A cover letter with a brief description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment.
• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects and specifying the relevant assignment period (from/to), as well as the email and telephone contacts of at least three (3) professional references.

Note: The above documents need to be scanned in one file and uploaded to the online application as one document.

Shortlisted candidates (ONLY) will be requested to submit a Financial Proposal.

• The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around the specific and measurable deliverables of the TOR. Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR, and deliverables accepted and certified by the technical manager. 
• The financial proposal must be all-inclusive and take into account various expenses that will be incurred during the contract, including: the daily professional fee; (excluding mission travel); living allowances at the duty station; communications, utilities and consumables; life, health and any other insurance; risks and inconveniences related to work under hardship and hazardous conditions (e.g., personal security needs, etc.), when applicable; and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services under the contract.
• This consultancy is a home-based assignment, therefore, there is no envisaged travel cost to join duty station/repatriation travel. 
• In the case of unforeseeable travel requested by UNDP, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UNDP and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.
• If the 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 a 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.

The Financial Proposal is to be emailed as per the instruction in the separate email that will be sent to shortlisted candidates.

Evaluation process

Applicants are reviewed based on Required Skills and Experience stated above and based on the technical evaluation criteria outlined below.  Applicants will be evaluated based on cumulative scoring.  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:

• Being 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 where technical criteria weighs 70% and Financial criteria/ Proposal weighs 30%.

Technical evaluation - Total 70% (70 points):

• Criteria 1. Relevance of the educational background to the specific assignment. Weight = 10%; Maximum Points: 10;
• Criteria 2.  Experience and expertise on leveraging network learnings and its translation into knowledge products and their socialization. Weight = 15 %; Maximum Points:15;
• Criteria 3. Experience and in-depth knowledge of communities of practice, networks, and their management. Weight = 15 %; Maximum Points: 15;
• Criteria 4. Written test: Weight = 15%; Maximum Point 15
• Criteria 5. Interview: Weight = 15%; Maximum Points: 15.

Having reviewed applications received, UNDP will invite the top three shortlisted candidates for a written test and interview. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (49 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (70 points) shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

Financial evaluation - Total 30% (30 points)

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

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

Contract Award

Candidate obtaining the highest combined scores in the combined score of Technical and Financial evaluation will be considered technically qualified and will be offered to enter into contract with UNDP.

Institutional arrangement

The consultant will report for 50% of her/his time to the Accelerator Labs Lead Learning Designer based in Istanbul and 50% to the Regional Advisor for Africa. In addition, the consultant will report on the progress of the assignment to the UNDP Accelerator Lab Team Leader.

Payment modality

• Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified above and deliverables accepted and upon certification of satisfactory completion by the manager. 

The work week will be based on 35 hours, i.e. on a 7 hour working day, with core hours being between 9h00 and 18h00 daily.

Annexes (click on the hyperlink to access the documents):

Annex 1 - UNDP P-11 Form for ICs

Annex 2 - IC Contract Template

Annex 3 – IC General Terms and Conditions

Annex 4 – RLA Template

Any request for clarification must be sent by email to cpu.bids@undp.org 

The UNDP Central Procurement Unit will respond by email and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants.