Writer SDG16+ Report for HLPF 2019

Background

The 2019 High Level Political Forum (HLPF) provides a unique opportunity to promote understanding of and support for SDG 16 and SDG 16+: what it is; why it matters for inclusive development; how to implement it; where progress is being made and what it takes to create measurable improvements in peace, justice, and inclusive institutions that deliver on all Goals for all people. 

In July 2018, one year ahead of the HLPF 2019, a coalition of SDG 16+ initiatives that includes the Global Alliance for Reporting Progress on Peaceful, Just, and Inclusive Societies, the 16+ Forum and the Pathfinders launched a campaign to promote more effective advocacy and action on SDG 16+. All three initiatives include global, diverse networks of actors—from governments, civil society and private sector. The co-facilitators of the Global Alliance are: UNESCO, UNDP, UNHCR, UNODC, UN Women, UN Global Compact. 

SDG16+ Report for HLPF 2019

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) holds Expert Group Meetings (EGMs) on each SDG under thematic review for the HLPF of that year. The EGM for SDG16+ will take place in late March or early April 2019.  To inform this meeting, and the HLPF 2019 Thematic Review, the Global Alliance -with support from UNDP and in partnership with the SDG16+ coalition - will:  

• Organize Technical Consultations on SDG and related targets in other goals (‘SDG 16+) in different parts of the world and contribute to other relevant exchanges. The Technical Consultations convene government, civil society and private sector representatives to share their good practices, lessons learned, trends and innovations for advancing aspects of SDG16+.
• Launch an Online Consultation via the  www.sdg16hub.org to enable a wide range of stakeholders and be hosted on the SDG16+ Hub to feed into the technical consultations.  www.sdg16hub.org will enable a broader global constituency to define key messages, discuss stories and practices, and share case studies of what has worked and what has not in the implementation of SDG16+.
• Publish and disseminate an SDG 16 Report: The SDG 16+ Report will complement the UN’s mandated reports (the Secretary General’s Annual Report and the Global Sustainable Development Report) in at least three ways: It will focus on SDG 16+ specifically; it will ensure that the work and perspectives of multiple stakeholders active on 16+ are collated; and it will reflect country-level experiences. The priority target audience is member states and policy-makers in particular: By identifying good practices in adapting, implementing, monitoring and reporting of SDG 16+, as well as gaps that must be addressed to achieve SDG 16+, the report will support national partners in delivering on SDG 16+. It may also help to strengthen country programming by different actors.  The report will be written in an engaging, journalistic, story-driven style which makes it accessible to an even broader audience. The Report seeks to:
  • Show that measuring SDG 16 is possible - examples of this can be derived from the work Member States have already achieved;
  • Illustrate how progress on SDG 16 enables progress on other goals and vice versa (SDG 16 interlinkages).

The Report will draw on the Technical Consultations and the Online Consultation. It will also include country case studies from United Nations Country Teams across regions, to be drafted with government, civil society and private sector stakeholders.  

The Report will inform the UN DESA Expert Group Meeting (EGM) in March/April 2019 through an initial draft. The Report will be finalized in May 2019.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Consultant will be responsible for:

• Producing a workplan for delivering a quality report in the required timeframe;
• Collating information on global and regional progress and action on SDG 16, including from the Technical Consultations, UN organisations (including the UN Statistics Division), regional organisations (including the UN regional economic commissions), global civil society active on SDG 16 and other stakeholders;
• Collating national experiences on adapting, implementing and monitoring & reporting on SDG 16, in particular from the Technical Consultations, from Voluntary National Reviews (VNRs) and by reviewing and editing country case studies that will be submitted in draft form by selected UN Country Teams in collaboration with their national partners (which may require conducting follow-up interviews with UN Country Teams and national partners);
• Identifying key messages and recommendations derived from the base material;
• Ensuring that issues, concerns, success stories and challenges related to groups that are traditionally left behind (e.g. women and other groups facing complex forms of intersecting inequalities) are adequately reflected in the report;
• Producing (or drafting instructions for the production of) infographics that illustrate key findings, messages and recommendations;
• Drafting the SDG 16+ Report on the basis of the collated information;
• Preparing and guiding the peer review of the draft Report;
• Preparing presentation of the Report at the UN DESA EGM on SDG 16 in late March / early April 2019;
• Finalizing the Report by integrating feedback from the review process and the EGM;
• Participating in four of the SDG 16+ Technical Consultations, spending approx. 2 days plus travel time in each of the four locations (details see section 5).
• Liaising on an on-going basis with UN staff and other consultants to integrate a background paper on SDG 16 interlinkages with other Goals into the Report and, in turn, to feed emerging findings from the report into related processes such as the Technical Consultations and the Online Consultation and wider SDG 16 awareness raising activities ahead of HLPF 2019;
• Prepare a separate executive summary or short version for a broader audienc

Outputs / Deliverables	Target Due Date	Payment schedule
Agreed workplan	18 Jan 2019
Zero draft section on global progress, regional action, national experiences - the latter based on VNRs and first two Technical Consultations	15 Feb 2019
First full draft section on global progress, regional action, national experiences – including 10 case studies	15 March 2019
Deliverable: First full draft of all sections, including key messages and recommendations	29 March 2019	50%
Summary of feedback from e-consultation / peer review and EGM	10 Apr 2019
Deliverable: Final report	24 May 2019	40%
Deliverable: Executive summary	15 June 2019	10%

The timeframe above includes time to review documents, liaise with stakeholders, conduct interviews and a consultation/peer review, solicit and incorporate feedback on drafts, participate in Editors’ Group meeting and country-level meetings.

The consultant will be home-based under the supervision of the Policy Advisor at the UNDP Oslo Governance Centre. S/he will be expected to engage with the Report’s Editors’ Group for bi-weekly meetings to review progress against the agreed timeline and outputs.

Duration: 14 January – 30 June 2019

Duty Station: Home based

Expected travel: The consultant is expected to participate in four of the SDG 16+ global Technical Consultations, spending 2 days plus travel time in each of the four locations. The locations are expected to be: one country in the Arab States region (likely Tunisia), one country in the Latin America and Caribbean region (likely Panama), one country in Asia (likely Mongolia) and one country in Europe (likely The Netherlands). 

Payment terms: The consultant will be paid a lump sum per milestone as stipulated in the deliverables schedule:

1. First draft of paper (50%)
2. Final draft of paper (40%)
3. Executive summary (10%)

Consultance precence required on duty station/UNDP premises: Not required

Competencies

• Strong understanding of issues addressed by SDG16 (either one issue in-depth or strong understanding of several issues) and sustainable development; solid understanding of mainstreaming human rights and gender equality is an advantage;
• Proven ability to write engaging high-quality reports, articles, communications materials on issues addressed by SDG 16;
• Proven ability to communicate issues effectively and with cultural and political sensitivity, both orally and in writing;
• Outstanding organizational and planning skills;
• Ability to manage large amounts of data and information and to be able to synthesize key lessons learned, best practices and recommendations.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree in Law, Human Rights, International Development, Political Science, International Relations, Journalism or another relevant field.

Experience:

• Minimum 10 years of experience of research or analysis in the areas of governance, peacebuilding, rule of law, human rights or other issues addressed by SDG 16.
• Extensive writing experience (e.g. digital and traditional media forms; UN and INGO policy documents and reports; other substantive publications on issues addressed by SDG 16), journalistic experience is an advantage.
• Experience in mainstreaming human rights and gender equality in research, analysis and reporting is an advantage.
• Experience working collaboratively in a team structure in a multicultural environment.
• Experience working under minimum supervision and tight deadlines.
• Prior experience with UN agencies, other multilateral or bilateral agencies or INGOs.
• Computer literate (being able to use MS Windows, office applications, Internet search), experience with producing info graphics is an advantage.

Languages: Fluency in spoken and written English is a must. Knowledge of other UN Languages is an advantage.

APPLICATION PROCESS                                                                                                                                                                                   The application is a two-step process. Failing to comply with the submission process may result in disqualifying the applications:

Step 1: Interested individual consultants must include the following documents when submitting the applications in UNDP job shop (Please note that only 1 (one) file can be uploaded therefore please include all documents in one file):

• Personal History Form (P11), indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the candidate and at least three (3) professional references, www.sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc).
• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment. Indicate available start date.
• Two writing samples (e.g. reports, policy briefs, etc.) on a topic addressed by SDG 16), to be submitted separately by email to: oslo.governance.centre@undp.org

Step 2: Financial Proposal. Note that only applicants who attain a score of 70% and above on the technical evaluation will be contacted and requested to submit a financial proposal.

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

The financial proposal should state the all-inclusive, fixed total contract price in USD, supported by a breakdown of costs. The term ‘all inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, utilities, consumables, insurance, travel as per ToR etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal. The Financial Proposal should be submitted by email  to : oslo.governance.centre@undp.org. The form can be found here: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=45780.

If an 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 Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the offeror must indicate this at in the Financial Proposal, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.   The consultant will be paid only after approving authority confirms the successful completion of each deliverable as stipulated under chapter 3.

In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses will be agreed upon, between UNDP and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. In general, UNDP will 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.

Criteria for selection of individual consultant for award of contract:

Only those candidates who 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 and interviews with shortlisted candidates. With weight of 50% desk review and 50% interview of the total technical score.

The combine scoring method will be used to evaluate proposals:

Combined scoring method – the qualifications will be weighted a maximum of 70% and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a maximum of 30%.

Technical criteria weight: 70 (70% of total obtainable scores). Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 (70%) points on technical part will be considered for the financial evaluation.

Financial criteria weight: 30 (30% of total obtainable scores)

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:

• 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 Evaluation (70 Points) 70% weight

Technical evaluations will be conducted based on the following criteria:

• Strong understanding of issues addressed by SDG16 (either one issue in-depth or strong understanding of several issues) and sustainable development; solid understanding of mainstreaming human rights and gender equality is an advantage (15 points)
• Proven ability to write engaging high-quality reports, articles, communications materials on issues addressed by SDG 16 (15 points)
• Proven ability to communicate issues effectively and with cultural and political sensitivity, both orally and in writing (10 points)
• Outstanding organizational and planning skills (10 points)
• Ability to manage large amounts of data and information and to be able to synthesize key lessons learned, best practices and recommendations (20 points)

Only Individual Consultants obtaining a minimum of 49 of the obtainable points of 70 points (70%) in technical evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Financial Evaluation. The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

p = y (µ/z), wherep = 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

REQUIRED DOCUMENTS                                                                                                             

• Personal History Form.
• Two writing samples.
• Financial proposal.