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Good Practice Collection: Unlocking SDG Financing at the Country Level consultancy

Addis Ababa

  • Organization: UNDP - United Nations Development Programme
  • Location: Addis Ababa
  • Grade: Consultancy - International Consultant - Internationally recruited Contractors Agreement
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Operations and Administrations
    • Development Cooperation and Sustainable Development Goals
    • Environment
  • Closing Date: Closed

Background

The UN Secretary-General’s June 2017 report “Repositioning the UN development system to deliver on the 2030 Agenda – Ensuring a better future for all” emphasizes that the financing needs for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) call for a comprehensive overhaul of the UN development system’s (UNDS) approach to financing. The report notes that governments will need more support to attract, leverage and mobilize investments of all kinds, and that for UN Country Teams (UNCTs) to be able to provide assistance, they need to, inter alia, develop adequate skillsets, better develop and pool the right economic/financial expertise and build effective financing partnerships.

The 2017 UNDAF Guidance elaborates on a shift from “funding to financing” where instead of primarily focusing on mobilising and delivering grant resources, UNCTs should also aim to support the structuring of different financial flows to achieve a common result. To maximize chances of achieving the SDGs, all financing flows – public, private, domestic and international resources – must be aligned towards SDG attainment. The UNDS at country-level therefore needs to support governments to (i) ensure that limited ODA resources are used catalytically to crowd in additional resources, and to (ii) attract, leverage and mobilize investments for their national priorities, and remove barriers to financing flows.

Policy change is increasingly informed by realities and experiences on the ground. To ensure that the overhaul of the UNDS’ approach to financing that the Secretary-General and Member States are calling for takes the right shape, more input from the countries themselves will be needed. The content of this consultancy will inform the design of this renewed approach.

The aim of the consultancy is to identify, document, analyze and share best practices and needs from UNCT’s that are already forging ahead on the path towards a new financing approach and unlocking SDG financing. The expectation is that other countries looking to follow these early adopters will be able to build on best practices and avoid potential pitfalls. It will also be important to understand what the key challenges and bottlenecks were in adopting new approaches, so that, where possible, they can be addressed corporately, potentially through the UNDS financing reform agenda. The UN’s role vis-a vis other development and financial stakeholders will further be important to analyze. The output of the consultancy, in the form of country case studies and a comprehensive report, will also serve as direct input into the 2018 annual publication by the UN Multi-Partner-Trust Fund Office and the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work:

The consultancy will build on a country-based survey on innovative financing conducted by UNDOCO, and on the knowledge and work of an interagency advisory group of experts that will be convened for this project. From an assessment of circa 25 countries that are doing innovative work on financing, the most promising initiatives, covering a range of themes and geographies, will be selected for a deeper analysis. This analysis will mainly be delivered through 3specific country visits.

The aim will be to further assess each country’s context and draw out experiences, challenges and solutions in moving towards a broader SDG financing approach, and the role of the UN in this shift. A short country case study, capturing the specific innovations analyzed during the country visits, will be developed for each country. These lessons learned will then also be shaped into a comprehensive overview report to be prepared by the consultant. This report will include recommendations for the UN, to be proposed by the consultant.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

  • A brief initiation report noting the agreed deliverables of the consultancy with proposed methodology;
  • A country case study for each of the 3 selected countries visited, (approx. 10 pages) targeted at a broader audience, outlining the good practice examples analyzed;
  • A draft report, pulling together the different lessons learned from the country level analyses and outlining the recommendations proposed by the consultant, to be discussed and agreed with the study steering group and the inter-agency expert group; (approx. 30 pages)
  • A final report, incorporating the feedback of the study steering group and inter-agency expert group, well-written and edited (“comprehensive report”); (approx. 30 pages)
  • A de-brief (via video-link) with relevant UN stakeholders, and participation in an outcome workshop.

Draft timeline (target)

November

December

January

Feb

Kick-off meeting

x

Initiation report submitted

x

1- country visits conducted

x

2 countries visited

x

x

Country case studies submitted

x

x

Draft report submitted

x

Final report submitted

x

De-brief with relevant stakeholders

x

Duty Station:

Home- based with mission travel as per below

Travel:

Short missions to 3 selected programme countries of approximately 4-5 days are envisaged for this consultancy.  Travel will be reimbursed to the consultant in accordance with UNDP Rules and Regulations (based on the most direct lowest economy fare, prevailing DSA rates and corresponding terminal expenses).  This will be confirmed and agreed upon with consultant prior to undertaking mission travel and will be reimbursed based on actual travel.  The countries identified include: Kenya, Armenia and one additional country.  Travel may be undertaken consecutively depending on feasibility; actual travel arrangments will be confirmed with supervisor in advance.

Institutional arrangements:

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Joint Funding / Financing for Development Specialist at UNDOCO, with support from the Dag Hammarskjold Foundation and an interagency advisory group of experts. This consultancy will be home based, with 3 missions to selected countries. Regular check-ins and oral briefs with the consultant will take place between the country visits. The consultant is expected to use his or her own computer. UNDOCO reserves the right to rescind this agreement due to unsatisfactory performance by the contractor. 

Payment:

Payments will be made following UNDOCO certification of the satisfactory delivery of the outputs as per the following terms:

  • 50% upon satisfactory delivery of the initiation report, case studies and draft report;
  • Remaining 50% will be payable upon satisfactory delivery of the final report

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

  • Demonstrates integrity and fairness, by modeling UN values and ethical standards;
  • Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of the UN system; and
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:

  • Outstanding writing skills both for the broader public as well as for a more technical audience, demonstrated through track-record of publicly available work (e.g. articles, publications);
  • Sound understanding of and professional experience with the UN development system architecture and related funding questions or similar organization;
  • Practical familiarity with the structures and instruments of development finance (e.g. international financial institutions, UN), particularly with innovative financing mechanisms;
  • Experienced in designing research work, strong analytical and evaluative skills and reference of work on the UN (or the broader multilateral system);
  • Excellent and effective communication skills (both verbal and written) across all levels of hierarchy;
  • Must be able to work independently.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Advanced University Degree (Master’s) in journalism, communication, finance, economics, international relations, development, public administration or other related field;

Experience: 

  • Minimum of ten years of relevant and increasing professional experience in a related field;
  • Government, inter-governmental and other related experience is an advantage.  

Language Requirements:

  • Excellent command of English is essential

Application Requirements:

  • Duly completed Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability which includes a financial proposal based on an “all inclusive” lump sum fee based on the deliverables (please find template here: Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability template link)
  • CV and/or P11 indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the consultant; short-listed candidates will be asked to submit their P11 and at least three (3) professional references;
  • Brief description (cover letter) of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for this assignment, which addresses the required qualifications and evaluation criteria;

(*)“all-inclusive” implies that all costs (excluding mission travel) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal

Incomplete submissions may not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials.

Evaluation:

Individual consultants will be evaluated using the Cumulative Analysis methodology.

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 (100 points):

  • Relevant background in terms of educational and professional experience; (20%)
  • Excellent writing skills demonstrated through samples of previous work; (20%)
  • Experience with and in-depth understanding of the UN (or similar organization) funding modalities globally and at the country level; (20%)
  • Demonstrated knowledge and sound understanding of the multilateral financing landscape and its instruments, particularly of innovative financing mechanisms; (20%)
  • Demonstrated understanding of the thematic content of this assignment; (20%)

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% of 100 points in the Technical Evaluation will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

  • Technical Criteria weight overall: 70%;
  • Financial Criteria weight overall: 30%.

Other:

ANNEX 1- GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS_ INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT (IC)

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf

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.
This vacancy is now closed.
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