Background
Since the outbreak of the civil war in December 2013, recurring violence and conflict have continued to affect the South Sudanese people. The country continues to face significant economic challenges as well as inadequate basic service delivery, unemployment, high levels of gender-based violence and increased criminality. Cattle raiding and land disputes between pastoralists and farmers are also causes of conflict in many parts of the country. Pressing safety and security challenges include ineffective law enforcement and justice delivery at state and local levels; the spread of small arms and light weapons; land and border disputes; extensive gender-based violence; limited gender equality and a tendency towards the breakdown of social cohesion. Since signing of the 2018 R-ARCSS, significant progress towards sustaining peace has been made with considerable reduction in political-related violence in most parts of the country. The transitional government of national unity has been formed and has embarked on implementing general commitments made by the peace agreement in the six (6) substantive chapters namely, (i) governance, (ii) security, (iii) humanitarian assistance and reconstruction, (iv) resources, economic and financial management, (v) transitional justice, accountability, reconciliation, and healing, and (vi) permanent constitution making. In May 2021, the UN Secretary-General renewed the eligibility of South Sudan to the Peacebuilding Fund for a period of five years. During this period, in line with the request of the Government of South Sudan and in support of the implementation of the R-ARCSS, PBF support will focus on supporting three main priorities: i) strengthening national democratization, justice and accountability processes; ii) addressing conflict resulting from and around displacement and iii) reducing the impact of localized conflict by strengthening local peace mechanisms and local conflict prevention. The UNCT works closely with the newly founded Ministry of Peacebuilding on capacity building and technical assistance, a key national partner for peacebuilding. The UNCT has been aiding the Ministry’s Technical Secretariat to support the process of developing a One South Sudan Peacebuilding Strategic Framework and Policy Documents. Institutional capacity building of the new ministry is urgently required to enhance political commitment and leadership for implementation. The PBF portfolio in South Sudan currently has an active portfolio of $ 13,845,897. The portfolio is aligned with the overarching policy frameworks for South Sudan, including the National Development Strategy (NDS 2018-2021), the UN Cooperation Framework (UNCF 2019-202), and the PBF Strategic Results Framework. The NDS was a requirement by the 2015 peace agreement and its key focus was to consolidate peace and stabilize the economy. The UN-Wide Peacebuilding Plan (2018-2021) was developed fully in line with the UN Cooperation Framework (2019-2021) to guide peacebuilding activities in South Sudan. The NDS 2018-2021 is currently under review as required by Chapter IV of the 2018 R-ARCSS, to better align with the new political, economic, and institutional context. |
Duties and Responsibilities
The PBF Coordination Specialist will be directly supervised by the Head of the RCO with overall supervision by the DSRSG/RC/HC, to whom he/she will directly report on PBF related tasks. The PBF Coordination Specialist will also have a matrixed reporting line directly to the Peacebuilding Support Office (PBSO), through the programme officer working on South Sudan.
The PBF Coordination Specialist will also support the UNCT and PMT to identify, develop and implement PBF projects, to support the DSRSG/RC/HC’s role as Joint Steering Committee Co-chair and to support the functioning of the Joint Steering Committee.
UNDP will oversee the administrative and contractual management of the PBF Coordination Specialist. The PBF Coordination Specialist will also indirectly report to PBSO on the PBF portfolio strategy in the country and PBF projects performance. She/he will work in close collaboration with the Joint Steering Committee and RCO team.
Key deliverable: Consult and contribute to the design and development of new PBF project and programme proposals. Prepare a 6-month review and update on the PBF Strategic Results Framework.
Key deliverable: 6-month status update and implementation report on the PBF Projects in South Sudan.
Key deliverable: Coordinate application process for recipient organizations UN (RUNOs) and non-UN (NUNOs) to appeals of Gender and Youth Promotion Initiatives (GYPI).
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Competencies
Professionalism:
Planning and Organizing:
Accountability:
Vision:
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Required Skills and Experience
Academic Qualifications:
- Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in social sciences, development, economics, international relations, business or public administration or related area. Candidates with first degree but have substantive peace building programming and coordination in conflict context can be considered.
Experience:
- A minimum of seven years of progressively responsible experience in the field of political, civil or humanitarian affairs, post-conflict recovery and/or development, programme management, or a related field is required;
- A minimum of two years of field work coordinating interdisciplinary and multidimensional programmes and projects in a post-conflict context, involving government, CSO and UN Mission is required;
- Specific programmatic experience in one or more of the following areas: reintegration of conflict-affected populations, income generation/livelihood, national dialogue, and/or confidence-building/reconciliation; and direct experience in partnership building, coordination and managing projects in a United Nations common system field operation (inclusive of peacekeeping, political missions and UN agencies, funds, and programmes) - or similar international organization or non-governmental organization in a field based environment is desirable;
- Field experience in the country and region is desirable;
- Experience in providing strategic support to development of external relations, resource mobilization or fund raising in the context of development cooperation or related area is desirable;
- Experience with inter-agency or inter-organizational collaboration/coordination in the development sector is desirable.
Language:
- Fluency in written and spoken English is required.
Academic Qualifications:
- Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in social sciences, development, economics, international relations, business or public administration or related area. Candidates with first degree but have substantive peace building programming and coordination in conflict context can be considered.
Experience:
- A minimum of seven years of progressively responsible experience in the field of political, civil or humanitarian affairs, post-conflict recovery and/or development, programme management, or a related field is required;
- A minimum of two years of field work coordinating interdisciplinary and multidimensional programmes and projects in a post-conflict context, involving government, CSO and UN Mission is required;
- Specific programmatic experience in one or more of the following areas: reintegration of conflict-affected populations, income generation/livelihood, national dialogue, and/or confidence-building/reconciliation; and direct experience in partnership building, coordination and managing projects in a United Nations common system field operation (inclusive of peacekeeping, political missions and UN agencies, funds, and programmes) - or similar international organization or non-governmental organization in a field based environment is desirable;
- Field experience in the country and region is desirable;
- Experience in providing strategic support to development of external relations, resource mobilization or fund raising in the context of development cooperation or related area is desirable;
- Experience with inter-agency or inter-organizational collaboration/coordination in the development sector is desirable.
Language:
- Fluency in written and spoken English is required.
Academic Qualifications:
- Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in social sciences, development, economics, international relations, business or public administration or related area. Candidates with first degree but have substantive peace building programming and coordination in conflict context can be considered.
Experience:
- A minimum of seven years of progressively responsible experience in the field of political, civil or humanitarian affairs, post-conflict recovery and/or development, programme management, or a related field is required;
- A minimum of two years of field work coordinating interdisciplinary and multidimensional programmes and projects in a post-conflict context, involving government, CSO and UN Mission is required;
- Specific programmatic experience in one or more of the following areas: reintegration of conflict-affected populations, income generation/livelihood, national dialogue, and/or confidence-building/reconciliation; and direct experience in partnership building, coordination and managing projects in a United Nations common system field operation (inclusive of peacekeeping, political missions and UN agencies, funds, and programmes) - or similar international organization or non-governmental organization in a field based environment is desirable;
- Field experience in the country and region is desirable;
- Experience in providing strategic support to development of external relations, resource mobilization or fund raising in the context of development cooperation or related area is desirable;
- Experience with inter-agency or inter-organizational collaboration/coordination in the development sector is desirable.
Language:
- Fluency in written and spoken English is required.
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, 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 should specify an all-inclusive daily fee (based on a 7-hours working day - lunch time is not included - and estimated 21.75 days per month).
- 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.
- 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: Professional working experience in relevant fields related to political, civil or humanitarian affairs, post-conflict recovery and/or development, programme management, or a related field, particularly within the UN: Weight = 25%; Maximum Points: 25;
- Criteria 2: Proven technical experience of field work coordinating interdisciplinary and multidimensional programmes and projects in a post-conflict context: Weight = 15%; Maximum Points: 15;
- Criteria 3: Interview: Weight = 30%; Maximum Points: 30.
Having reviewed applications received, UNDP will invite the top three - four shortlisted candidates for 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 work under the guidance and direct supervision of the Policy Specialist, Community and Network Management and will be responsible for the fulfilment of the deliverables as specified above.
The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own laptop.
Payment Modality:
- Payment to the Individual Contractor will be made based on the actual number of days worked, 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-hours working day, with core hours being between 9h00 and 18h00 daily.