UNDP Jobs - 74565- International expert (global poverty reduction pra

International expert (global poverty reduction practice)

Location :

Beijing, CHINA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

22-Sep-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English Chinese

Expected Duration of Assignment :

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

China is the first developing country in the world to achieve the poverty reduction target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs); namely halving the proportion of people whose income is less than US$1.25 a day ahead of schedule. The most recent top-level development blueprint – China’s 13th Five-Year-Plan (FYP) – has aimed to consign poverty to history in China by 2020 through a ‘targeted poverty alleviation strategy’. During the four years between 2013 and 2016, more than 10 million rural poor were lifted out of poverty each year, resulting in the accumulative total of 55.64 million people. Poverty rates also saw a decrease of 5.7% over this period, from 10.2% in 2012 to 4.5% in 2016. Taking into account this pace of development, China is making clear progress towards its zero-poverty ambition.

China’s remarkable performance has made significant contribution to regional and global poverty alleviation efforts. Extreme poverty rate in Eastern Asia, thanks to China’s outstanding progress, has dropped 57% by 2015 since 1990. Over the past several decades, UN agencies have witnessed this outstanding progress and made proactive contribution to the discourse. The UN has implemented hundreds of development projects across the world, which has not only channeled billions of development assistance funds, but more importantly, conveyed advanced development concept and brought effective solutions and instruments up to scale. The efforts by the UN have helped the world create enabling environment and build solid capacity towards poverty reduction objective through multiple dimensions.

China has entered the ‘last mile’ of poverty reduction. This is a critical point of time not only for China, but also for the world which aims to end extreme poverty by 2030, as championed through the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The world needs to learn from each other to make this happen, not only in terms of country-level programs and policies, but also with regards to how to strengthen multi-stakeholder collaboration through effective partnerships, the UN being included.

Against this backdrop, Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), International Poverty Reduction Center of China (IPRCC) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) plans to jointly produce a number of studies on poverty reduction, including on global poverty reduction practice, as well as China’s own domestic experience. The current ToR is to cover the collection of international poverty reduction experience, and its primary purpose is to provide an overview of international poverty reduction experience, as well as the UN’s work and contribution in this field, including best practices and methodologies.

UNDP China is recruiting an international expert to produce:

A short brochure on global poverty reduction experience to be published by the Global Poverty Forum hosted by the Government of China on 16 October 2017.
A comprehensive book on global poverty reduction experience to be published by the end of 2017.

Organizational context

The international expert will conduct research and drafting under the guidance of UNDP China, in collaboration with UNDP’s partners, including MOFCOM and IPRCC. he research will rely on existing publications, studies and analysis on global poverty experience, putting into a structure and presentation relevant to China’s poverty efforts, and for poverty reduction issues globally. UNDP will oversee the research progress and provide technical inputs, whenever needed. T

Quality assurance and clearance of the final product will subject to collective decisions between MOFCOM, UNDP and IPRCC.

The international expert will be contracted under Individual Contract managed by UNDP.

Research context

(Proposed, to be finalized upon further consultation with MOFCOM DITEA and the international expert upon start.)

The report on global poverty reduction practice will mainly include:

Global poverty reduction progress and achievements (with data and cases)
Global poverty reduction experience and UNs’ contribution

Experience on poverty reduction related programs suggested to be structured along the following three integrated areas (subject to discussion with the expert):
- Universal and nationally appropriate social protection systems, experience at the policy level;
- Responsive public services, adapted to ensure marginalized communities and groups benefit from equal access and quality;
- Targeted measures to boost the capabilities and well-being of marginalized and excluded groups and communities.
Highlighted case studies (e.g., country cases, UN agencies’ work)
Experience on institutional arrangements, methodologies, implementation modalities

Duties and Responsibilities

The International Expert will undertake research and draft the report. The assignment will be specified as the following tasks:

Research framework:

Confirm analytical framework and content outline
Justify an effective and clear angle of the research

Analysis and research:

Collect/ background information for the research, such as existing literature on global poverty reduction, UN agencies’ work supporting poverty reduction globally/in selected countries, etc.
Review policies, programs and institutional set-ups that contribute to poverty reduction globally;
Overview and detailed presentation of UN agencies’ contribution to poverty reduction globally.
Collect cases studies at all relevant levels, including national level case, local cases, and UN project cases.
Collect and process all relevant data.Presentation
The report shall be presented with clear logic flows, coherent key messages and highlighted experiences.
Conclusion and opinions presented in the report shall be supported by proven evidence and data.
Evaluation and assessment should be positioned in the context of global development agenda (e.g., MDGs, SDGs)
Visual presentation of the report will be done by UNDP, not by the expert.

Deliverable:

Full book on global poverty reduction practice in and UN agencies’ contribution. (in Chinese and English, English translation will be arranged by UNDP) that cleared by MOFCOM, UNDP and IPRCC. Estimated length around 100,000-150,000 words including appendix.
UNDP China will provide assistance in collecting needed information through the UN Theme Group on Poverty and Equity.

Timeline

Final production timeline for both knowledge products will be confirmed through consultation with MOFCOM.

Proposed timeline for the book is:

the Week of 25th September Consultation of research framework

1st October Research framework confirmed and drafting starts

5th October Information from UN agencies collected

31 October First draft completed

1st week of November Review and consultation

30 November Chinese draft finalized

10 December English draft finalized

20 December Edited final version ready in formatted layout

End of December Launch of final report

Consultancy fee

The work is expected to take 90-100 full working days during September – December 2017. The international expert will be paid according to UNDP criteria and fee category for national consultant based on experiences and qualification of the incumbent.

Payment Timetable:

20% of the total consultant fees will be paid upon confirmation of the research outline.
30% of the total consultant fees will be paid upon completion of the first draft full report.
30% of the total consultant fees will be paid upon completion of the second draft full report.
20% of the total consultant fees will be paid upon the final report launched.

Competencies

Required Skills and Experience

At least 15 years’ experience in research in the field of poverty reduction, social policies, public administration, inequality, inclusion/exclusion, etc. in renowned national think tank.
Good experience of working on poverty-related issues in cross-cultural context
Good experiences in consultancy work for Chinese government or UN agencies is an asse
Sound experience in research and drafting of thematic report that meets international standards.

Application Procedure:

“Qualified and interested individual consultants are hereby requested to apply and must submit the following documents/information uploaded to their online application":

Documents to be included when submitting application

Please provide Offeror’s Letter and proposal (download the format in below link) together w ith your CV while submitting application;
Please note that the system will not accept the uploading of more than one document so please merge or scan all your documents into one prior to uploading;
In the Offeror’s Letter and proposal, you will be asked to confirm your interest and availability for the assignment, and provide technical and financial proposal.

Offeror’s Letter and proposal Download Link https://pan.baidu.com/s/1geFldw3

Selection criteria:

Technical evaluation - 70%; Financial Evaluation - 30%; The final offer goes to the highest combined score winner.