Call for Applications: National Consultant (ROSTER), Resilience and Inclusive growth

Background

UNDP Bangladesh is supporting the Government of Bangladesh through four broad programme areas: Democratic Governance, Crisis Prevention and Recovery, Poverty Reduction, and Energy, Environment & Climate Change. It administrates around 30 projects of varying sizes, with a combined annual delivery of approximately USD 80 million. UNDP has been working with its development partners and the Government of Bangladesh in these areas to support in achieving the country’s development objectives.

The Resilience and Inclusive growth cluster of UNDP Bangladesh supports the Government of Bangladesh to address national challenges related to sustainable economic growth ensuring resilience, environmental sustainability, environmental management, access to low carbon energy, reducing risk to disaster and climate change impacts, responding to disaster, and/or strengthening climate change governance. Many Professional Expertise are required for the stable implementation of all the required actions in order to address these challenges.

In this context, UNDP Bangladesh is going to hire multiple specialists who have professional lineage to provide dedicated technical and specific support to UNDP Bangladesh’s Climate Change & Environmental Disaster Cluster

Under the understanding of registering for the Individual Consultant Roster, the selected candidates will be contacted to see if they are available to work when needed under supervision of the Assistant Country Director, Policy, Innovation and Communication Cluster in close collaboration with the programme clusters and projects.

General Conditions of the Recruitment to the Individual Consultant Roster are provided as Annex 1 to this Terms of Reference.

Objective:

The overall objective of this assignment, is to place qualified Individual Consultants in a Roster, for the next 3 years in order to expedite hiring processes for, high standard communication materials to reach the government, policy makers, donors, partners and general public as when needed.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work

The applicant may look into all areas of expertise indicated below and then choose their relevant field as appropriate to submit the application. Individuals may apply for more than one area if they have the required qualifications and professional skills.

Areas are –

• Disaster Management;
• Nature Resource Management;
• Environmental Management;
• Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency;
• Biodiversity Conservation;
• Climate Finance,

The applicants will be considered for the Roster based on their relevant expertise after the completion of the evaluation process.  The individual if contracted under this Roster, will have to work to achieve the following as appropriate after his/her engagement:

Report writing.

• Collect and study relevant documents. Depending on the project and type of report, this may include: project document (including revisions), annual work plans, annual reports, mid-term reports, donor-specific reports, and others.
• Discuss with project manager, M&E specialist and CCED team to get a thorough understanding of UNDP report requirements.
• Interact with project staff and partners to gain additional input.

Research

• Research topics relevant to the project he/she will be supporting.
• Produce comprehensive reports and advice to be used by the project to decide direction and way forward for the project.
• Coordinate with other staff and consultants to share information and up-to-date findings.

Technical advice

• An assessment of the current status of technical aspects within the project, and its effect on project implementation.
• Advice UNDP on appropriate technical solutions to identified problems.
• Develop, upon request, plans for implementation of technical solutions.

Proposal writing

• Organize and conduct meetings with CCED staff in charge of potential project – and, if relevant any co-applicants – in order to define project objectives, results, and activities.
• Collect data necessary for completing project application documents.
• Write project proposal, including completing project application forms, completing project budget forms, and any additional forms required for project application.
• Compile all necessary documentation (original and copies) to be compounded with project proposal.
• Support CCED in submitting the project proposal by mail and/or e-mail.
• Regularly consult with CCED at every stage of the project’s development.

Policy Analysis

• Identify and analyse national and international policies and regulations relevant to a specific project of the CCED cluster, to identify specific areas for dialogue, advocacy, or cooperation.
• Provide case studies on how to support the creation and implementation of national policies pertaining to the project goals.
• Produce a report of findings for CCED and UNDP to utilize the results of the analysis for action in the current and future projects.
• Make suggestions to enhance the quality and value of CCED the project as necessary.

Monitoring & Evaluation

• Develop, implement and (as needed) maintain the M&E system for a specific CCED project.
• Establish routine monitoring and evaluation procedures and systems to enable timely progress review and reporting.
• Collect, enter, and analyze all data connected to the specific project.
• Prepare results-based monitoring and evaluation reports on project activities
• Prepare and deliver a set of outreach materials.
• Prepare and deliver easily understandable media and communicating materials to a list of key journalists and other individuals as prime target groups to ensure wide and targeted distribution of information
• Develop effective communication trails with project stakeholders to successfully complete lessons learnt-sharing dialogue/workshops and/or seminars.
• Responding to requests for information from donors, the media, government, and general public by providing documents and/or facilitating their access to relevant information sources

Expected outputs / deliverables:

It is expected that the consultant will produce:

Report Writing

• A set of up-to-date outreach materials for the specific project, containing agree-upon products such as brochures, news-letters, infographic reports, powerpoint presentations and case studies.
• A set of agreed-upon dissemination activities, targeting both external actors, partners/donors, and relevant government agencies.
• Distribution of relevant information about the projects to all requests for information received during the contract period.
• A comprehensive report on research findings relevant to the project she/he is supporting, containing:
  • A study of the current situation, made with the most up-to-date statistics.
  • A review of the importance of the current situation, and possible trends that could alter the current situation, or play a crucial role in advancement of the current situation.
  • Recommendations for the UNDP on how to positively advance the current situation through its project.
  • Possibly a first-hand study on the current situation or project.

Technical Expert

• A brief report indicating accomplished tasks and recommended steps forward.
• If requested, a plan for implementation of technical solutions.

Proposal Writing

• At least 3 formal meetings with CCED staff in charge of potential project.
• A complete project proposal, including: completed project application form, completed project budget forms, completed additional forms (when necessary).
• Submitted project proposal before deadline.

Policy Analysis

• A report outlining findings on the current national policy situation, following a format of:
  • Introduction and background
  • Current policy situation
  • Relevancy of current policies to the CCED project.
  • Opportunities and ways forward for CCED’s project.
• An agreed number of case studies from other countries on how to support the creation and implementation of national policies pertaining to the goals of the specific project in question.

Monitoring & Evaluation

• A monitoring and evaluation plan for the project.
• Periodic results-based monitoring and evaluation reports on project activities.
• A set of up-to-date outreach materials for the specific project, containing agree-upon products such as brochures, news-letters, infographic reports, powerpoint presentations and case studies.
• A set of agreed-upon dissemination activities, targeting both external actors, partners/donors, and relevant government agencies.
• Distribution of relevant information about the projects to all requests for information received during the contract period.

Supervision and Performance Evaluation

Under the day to day supervision of the Assistant Country Director, Climate Change & Environmental Disaster Cluster, when a request for services arises, the UNDP Bangladesh Climate Change & Environmental Disaster Cluster shall directly engage the consultants without the need for further selection process. A specific Terms of Reference (ToR) outlining the outputs and detailed arrangement for each assignment shall be provided and an Individual Contract (IC) or Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), whichever is applicable, will be issued to the consultant, detailing the time frame.

Copyrights

The works produced under this agreement will be copyrighted to UNDP Bangladesh and any violation of copyright law will be pursued appropriately.

Timeframe and deadlines:

The Individual Consultant Roster, is expected to be maintained for a period of 3 years and will be reviewed and updated yearly based on performance & UNDP needs.

Travel

The consultant may be required to travel for specific tasks and UNDP will arrange and cover the cost of the official travels in accordance to UN rules and procedures. This may include travel inside of Dhaka and any other project sites in Bangladesh.

The fare will always be "most direct, most economical" and any different with the preferred route will be paid for by the consultant.

Competencies

• Excellent communication skills
• Plans, prioritizes, and delivers tasks on time and produces quality results to meet established goals
• Creative and innovative in producing the desired outputs
• Ability to work with a multicultural environment and a multidisciplinary team
• Willingness to travel to project sites
• Flexible to adaptable circumstances while in the field

 Language Requirements

• Fluency in English is required

Corporate Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standard;
•  Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
•  Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality, and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism. Functional Competencies
• Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
•  Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.

Required Skills and Experience

• Support: Bachelor’s Degree in relevant field with minimum 3 years of relevant work experience, or Secondary Certificate / Diploma with minimum of 6 years of relevant work experience.
• Analyst: Master’s Degree in relevant field with minimum 5 years of relevant work experience, or Bachelor’s Degree with minimum of 7 years of relevant work experience.
• Specialist: Master’s Degree in relevant field with minimum 8 years of relevant work experience, or Bachelor’s Degree with minimum of 10 years of relevant work experience.
• Advisor: PhD Degree in relevant field with minimum 15 years of relevant work experience, or Master’s Degree with minimum of 20 years of relevant work experience.

How to Apply

Interested candidates should follow UNDP Standard online application procedure and send

• An updated detailed CV with a portfolio of last three works with UN or any other development organization

N.B: The intention of this advertisement is for inclusion in a Roster (i.e., no immediate opportunity for an assignment/IC issuance)