Background

The collaboration between the insurance industry and the development sector has grown significantly over the last five years. Key initiatives, such as the Insurance Development Forum, InsuResilience Global Partnership and the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance, have evolved into significant policy and standard setting partnerships, bringing together countries, the development sector, and the private and mutual/cooperative sectors of industry. Increasingly, these partnerships are moving beyond policy to programming, with a strong focus on not only delivering insurance and risk financing solutions to countries and communities, but also on long-term transformational change of insurance markets.

Such a transformation is needed for countries like Bangladesh given the increasing complexity of the

looming challenges, from the COVID-19 pandemic to risks associated with climate change and natural disasters, which could hinder the delivery of socio-economic services to the poor and vulnerable as well as the country’s progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Embedding insurance and risk finance into broader risk management frameworks will contribute to resilience-building in Bangladesh, especially as it can allow the government to tap into additional resources and expertise from the private sector, particularly the insurance industry.

As part of UNDP’s growing work in the inclusive insurance and risk finance space, it has been conducting diagnostic exercises in a number of countries to understand the contexts, gaps and opportunities for collaboration and technical assistance. The scope of the diagnostic covers inclusive insurance, sovereign risk financing, insurance investments, natural capital, and can be tailored to a country’s development needs. The same exercise is now planned for implementation in Bangladesh to review the issues relevant to the inclusive insurance and risk finance landscape. The diagnostic will examine supply and demand issues, from the legislative and regulatory environment through to community needs. This exercise will also explore the potentials for synchronizing insurance with relevant national development agendas and frameworks (such as on disaster risk management, climate change, Integrated National Financing Framework). The resulting diagnostic report will not only highlight challenges and opportunities, but will also highlight those areas where UNDP can, together with partners, provide support to improve the enabling environment for inclusive insurance and risk financing, as well as work with partners to develop and deploy specific solutions relevant to the country context.

II. Rationale and Objectives

The general objectives of the country diagnostic include:

• To document and assess the landscape of inclusive insurance and risk finance in Bangladesh;

• To understand how best to integrate insurance/risk finance into development frameworks and

development financing;

• To open up opportunities for dialogues among key stakeholders in strengthening inclusive insurance

and risk finance for Bangladesh; and

• To lay the groundwork for designing insurance solutions that help address the country’s development challenges

Specifically, the diagnostic will explore:

• The underlying conditions for any work in insurance and risk finance, from financial inclusion through to underlying risks;

• The gaps in information, for example, data and information related to insurance, demographics and disaster events and their impacts;

• The needed enabling environment measures to develop more effective insurance and risk financing in the country;

• The status of insurance/risk finance and to what extent it is integrated into development frameworks and development financing, including what protection measures are in place for public assets in the event of a disaster;

• The capacity of government to manage data and analytics;

• The potential areas for exploration with partners to develop new insurance tools, products and

services;

• The levels of understanding, engagement and trust of insurance and risk finance; and

• The linkages between insurance and finance sectors, as well as linkages between government social programmes with commercial insurance.

III. Scope of diagnostic

The diagnostic will cover significant ground across the inter-related areas of insurance and risk finance. It will articulate the evolution of the supply side, develop a picture of the demand side, the gaps and opportunities in the environment (i.e. government attitude and support, existing government insurance schemes, current legal and regulatory environment including relevant public finance allocations, regulators’ capability and passion to develop the market, the financial status of insurance companies in the country, the attitude and approach of insurance companies to develop new opportunities and reach new markets, requirements for inclusive insurance product development, etc.) and complete a country profile that covers information relevant for inclusive insurance such as, providing demographic, socio-economic and sectoral contexts.

Structurally, the diagnostic will cover the following five areas:

1) Underlying Risk and Development Information:

a. Hazard Profile;

b. Crisis and Disaster History (including Geographical mapping);

c. Political Economy;

d. Development Dynamics;

e. Technology;

f. Data Mapping.

2) Market Conditions for Inclusive Insurance:

a. Overview of Current Market;

b. Legislation, Regulation, Institutional Capacity (the enabling environment);

c. Market Demand;

d. Supply, Providers.

3) Market Conditions for Risk Finance:

a. Existing Assessments of Disaster Risk;

b. Fiscal Impact;

c. Existing Legal and Institutional Framework;

d. Existing Disaster Risk Finance Mechanisms and Instruments;

e. Funding gap analysis;

f. Government preconditions for premium subsidies.

4) Insurance/Risk Finance and Development Integration:

a. In Development Frameworks

b. In Development Financing

5) Additional information for the Insurance and Risk Finance Team, specifically in the areas of Investment and Natural Capital.

Background for this assignment:

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a global organization with 17,000 staff working in approximately 170 offices towards supporting governments in developing strong policies, institutions, and partnerships to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals. UNDP's policy work carried out at HQ, Regional and Country Office levels forms a contiguous spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. To streamline its financial and investment engagement, UNDP launched the Finance Sector Hub, a finance and innovation platform, that draws on a critical mass of UNDP expertise, initiatives, and partnerships to support the mobilization and leveraging of resources for the SDGs and lead the implementation of the new UNDP private sector strategy and other initiatives.

1. UNDP’s Work on Insurance and Risk Financing

The collaboration between the insurance industry and the development sector has grown significantly over the last five years. Key initiatives, such as the Insurance Development Forum, InsuResilience Global Partnership and the Ocean Risk and Resilience Action Alliance, have evolved into significant policy and standard setting partnerships, bringing together countries, the development sector, and the private and mutual/cooperative sectors of industry. Increasingly, these partnerships are moving beyond policy to programming, with a strong focus on not only delivering insurance and risk financing solutions to countries and communities, but also on long-term transformational change of insurance markets.

UNDP’s growing work in this space has led to the creation of a flagship initiative on insurance and risk finance, and the creation of a dedicated facility for supporting UNDP Country Offices and country partners worldwide, within the newly created Finance Sector Hub. This work covers a range of critical areas where insurance and risk transfer solutions and collaboration with the industry can add significantly to achieving and delivering on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs.) Covering inclusive insurance, sovereign risk financing, insurance investments, natural capital, health, SME development and more, UNDP will work towards developing and delivering insurance solutions together with countries and communities, as well as collaborating with partners to transform insurance markets through enhancing legislation, regulation and institutional capacity.

Diagnostic report for Inclusive Insurance and Risk Finance

As part of the increasing operationalization of the work of the Facility - in part through the start of the work of the Tripartite Agreement between UNDP, the Insurance Development Forum, and the German government – there is a need to prepare a full diagnostic review of all issues relevant to the Inclusive Insurance and Risk Finance environment in Bangladesh. This diagnostic will examine supply and demand issues, everything from the legislative and regulatory environment through to community needs, the potential for how insurance and other national development priorities and processes can be linked, for inclusive insurance and risk finance, through to insurance investments and natural capital.

2. Objective of the assignment

The main objective of the assignment is to coordinate the conduct of a country diagnostic  on inclusive insurance and risk finance for Bangladesh for which a report is to be co-developed by two National Experts.

Duties and Responsibilities

3. Scope of Work

The assignment will involve the following:

1. Developing a detailed workplan and monitoring its implementation, taking consideration of inputs from the Inclusive Insurance Expert and Risk Finance Expert;
2. Facilitating and coordinating engagements with key stakeholders in country
3. Providing inputs on arranging strategic engagements with key inclusive insurance and risk finance stakeholders, ministries, and local government actors responsible for disaster management, environment, agriculture, health or social programs, Insurance and Microfinance organizations etc.
4. Maintaining liaison with and reporting back to UNDP and IRFF of progress;
5. Facilitating and coordinating the preparation and finalization of full diagnostic report with the Inclusive Insurance and the Risk Finance Experts, provide leadership in arranging inception workshop (after 3 to 4 weeks from beginning of project) and a validation workshop (when report is in draft final version stage) with stakeholders;
6. Coordinating meetings with selected stakeholders i.e. Insurance regulators and supervisors; Insurance Development and Regulatory Authority;
7. Coordinating the overall activities of risk and development Information in country, drawing lessons from existing climate risk insurance initiatives, supporting the evidence-based analysis on market conditions for inclusive insurance and risk finance;
8. Providing inputs to the inception report, draft and final diagnostic reports prior to submission by Experts to UNDP
9. Support the Country Office in the preparation of a country workplan for a 2-3 year implementation to be financed through the Insurance and Risk Finance Facility

4. Expected outputs and Deliverables. (all deliverables to be co-developed with the Risk Finance Expert, Inclusive Insurance Expert, and junior consultants)

a) A high-level inception report, detailing work plan, timeline, a list of national government

institutions with contacts of key persons, private sector, and other stakeholders to be consulted

b) Final diagnostic report with details quantitative and qualitative data analysis on inclusive insurance and risk finance for Bangladesh. This analysis will include recommendations and a baseline for future UNDP engagement with different stakeholders

The assignment will be for a duration of 35 working days within a period of three (3) months.

The following table of deliverables and timelines is indicative and will be finalized in consultation with the UNDP Country Office and IRFF Regional Specialist:

5. Duty Station, Travel and Institutional Arrangement:

• Duty station: Bangladesh
• 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, phone, scanner/printer, etc.) and must have access to reliable internet connection;
• The consultant is expected to be available for consultations and be in reliable email contact for a set number of hours that align with Government/UNDP business hours;
• The consultant will carry out his/her tasks under the overall guidance of the lead focal point;
• Payments will be made based on the agreed financial proposal (contract is based on daily fee) and released upon submission of a certificate of payment request, indicating deliverables achieved and days worked to be verified and cleared for payment by the Deputy Resident Representative.

Competencies

• Ability to maintain effective working relationships with a diversified group of people under trying and stressful conditions;
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate and work well with diverse people; innovative approach in communication with multidisciplinary teams
• Ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure;
• Integrity and modelling of UN corporate values;

Required Skills and Experience

Academic qualifications:

University degree (Minimum Masters or above) in business administration, economics or other relevant disciplines is required

Experience

• Minimum 5 years of professional experiencein inclusive insurance and risk finance with additional knowledge of the broader environmental factors is highly desirable
• Excellent understanding of key relevant areas and stakeholders, such as insurance legislation, regulation and institutions, industry capacity and engagement, consumer awareness et cetera is highly desirable
• Experience of conducting minimum two previous studies for development agencies and in collaborating with international and national experts and institutions is highly desirable
• Ability to convey complex technical details in a concise and understandable manner is an asset
• Excellent analytical skills in research and data collection, as evidence in relevant reports, consulting assignments, or publications.
• Excellent understanding of the relevant sectors and their stakeholders (ie, sectors that can benefit from inclusive insurance and risk finance).
• Excellent written and verbal English language skills with a proven record of report writing

Other Considerations

UNDP may request examples of past publications from applicants as part of the evaluation process.

7. Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer:

Only those candidates that meet the minimum level of education and relevant years of experience

requirements will be considered for the technical evaluation. The technical evaluation will include a desk review to select the shortlisted candidates. The technical evaluation may also include interviews with shortlisted candidate(s) or review of writing samples.

The selection of the best offer from the shortlisted candidates will be based on a Combined Scoring method.

EVALUATION

Evaluation of the Candidates:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology.

Cumulative analysis

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should 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.

* Technical Criteria weight; 70%

* Financial Criteria weight; 30% 

Only candidates obtaining a minimum 70% mark in technical evaluation will be considered eligible for financial evaluation.

Technical Evaluation Criteria (Total 70 marks):

Financial Evaluation (Total 30 marks):

All technical 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 received 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

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

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
2. Personal CV or P11, indicating all experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;

3. Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided   http://www.bd.undp.org/content/dam/bangladesh/docs/Jobs/Interest%20and%20Submission%20of%20Financial%20Proposal-Template%20for%20Confirmation.docx

4. Suppose an organization/company/institution employs an Offeror 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). In this case, the Offeror must indicate this at this point and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated into the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.  

   Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows you to upload a maximum of one document.

   Note: The individual consultant who does not submit the above documents/requirements shall not be considered for further evaluation.

   For any clarification regarding this assignment please write to ebidbox@undp.org.

Note:  that no DSA and travel cost will be paid at the duty station. Also, no DSA cost will be provided for field visits & consultations for data collection purpose. All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. 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. However, if unforeseen travel outside the duty station and field visit & consultation not required by the Terms of Reference is requested by UNDP, and upon prior agreement/approval, such travel shall be UNDP’s expenses and the individual contractor shall receive a per-diem not to exceed United Nations daily subsistence allowance rate in such other location(s).