Community Engagement Expert - SDG16 Hub

Sustainable Development Goal 16 on inclusive, just and peaceful societies is a critical enabling goal for the entire sustainable development agenda. The 2030 Agenda requires action to secure peace, deliver justice, promote inclusive participation in politics and beyond, and consolidate effective, accountable and inclusive institutions if the priorities in the Agenda as a whole are to be realized.Dedicated support is required to enable Member States to better source technical expertise and learn from experience elsewhere to improve implementation of Goal 16. The development of effective platforms for information and knowledge sharing through a partnership-based approach can accelerate achievement of peaceful, just and inclusive societies, as a key component for delivery of the entire 2030 Agenda.

The portal for Goal 16 (the “SDG 16 Hub”) was officially launched in July 2018 and facilitates the capture, analysis and deployment of knowledge amongst Member States and partner organisations, and ensures that learning in one context is available for other countries to consider and adapt if appropriate. This portal is a space for all interested stakeholders to contribute substantially to the Goal 16 discussion and is a one stop knowledge portal for information on peaceful, just and inclusive societies.

The SDG 16 Hub has a curated knowledge section with the three main pillars of WHAT is SDG16, WHO are the main stakeholders working on this goal and HOW to implement this global goal; in addition to having an interactive space to promote engagement and conversations. The Hub focusses on the following:

• Promoting the exchange of knowledge and updates on Goal 16 at the global level.
• Promoting dialogue on UNDP’s work with Member States and stakeholders on the implementation, measurement and reporting on Goal 16.
• Facilitating the exchange of knowledge about tools and strategies on how to tackle the impediments to implement Goal 16
• Strengthening interlinkages between Goal 16 and other goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda
• Fostering learning from each other’s experience – lessons learned and best practices.

Most recently a dedicated COVID-19 and SDG16 page has been set up on the Hub.

Such an external facing online space that coalesces relevant information on COVID-19 and SDG16 has been developed to meet the information needs of the intended audience - in particular SDG16 practitioners working at the country level. This has been recognised as an emerging information and knowledge gap. With multiple practices that are emerging across the globe to respond to the crisis there was an evident need for a space that consolidates information and best practices to meet the information needs of a wide target audience of governance practitioners.

This space contains key resources on SDG 16 in the context of COVID-19, including analytical pieces, links to webinars, and a database with country and community examples of COVID-19 responses linked to SDG16. The management of this space will be an important responsibility of this International Consultant.

A section on SDG16 and COVID-19 will be a major part of the SDG16 Hub. This IC will be expected to identify existing knowledge gaps (and working closely with the OGC Policy Specialist and Junior IC) fill these in due course; particularly where there is a need to work with practitioners to advance dialogue and conversations on this topic on the Hub.

Timeframe

The project will be conducted over a period of 75 days over six (6) months (approx 1 Sep 2020 to 28 Feb 2021), with the possibility of extension based on available funds, the needs of the team and satisfactory performance.

Payment

The payment will be made monthly based on the agreed delivery and the number of days worked.

Reporting

The consultant will be supervised by the Policy Specialist (Knowledge Management), OGC on daily basis. S/he is expected to work closely with the respective task managers in the team and SDG16 colleagues in New York and in the regions as well as key external partners (non – UNDP).

Office and equipment

This is a home-based assignment and the IC will be responsible for meeting his / her own office facilities needed for work.

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):

• Updated P11/CV 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
• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment. Indicate available start date.
• IMPORTANT: Please provide links to any samples of relevant work, including writing samples.

Step 2: Only applicants who pass the technical evaluation will be requested to submit a financial proposal.

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

• Financial proposals must be all inclusive and must be expressed on the basis of "an all-inclusive daily fee” in USD.
• Payment will be made upon submission of a certificate of payment request, indicating outputs achieved and days worked to be verified and cleared for payment by the supervisor.

The term ‘all inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, utilities, consumables, insurance, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are factored into the final daily fee submitted in the proposal.

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:

Through a desk review of applications, a short-listing will be done to identify those candidates who meet the criteria of education and relevant years of experience. The shortlisted candidates will be called for an interview. 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 – where 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 Proposal (70 Points) 70% weight

Technical proposals will be evaluated based on the following criteria:

• Experience with working in the areas of knowledge management, online network management relevant to the scope of work (20 points); 
• Proven ability to drive online conversations in networks and / or communities of practice (20 points);
• Proven ability to collate content from online conversations, do desk research and develop high quality policy relevant documents (15 points)
• Strong familiarity with international development issues, including Agenda 2030 and SDG16 (10 points);
• Knowledge of key actors and networks active on SDG 16 (5 points)

Only indiviuals obtaining a minimum of 70% (49points) of the maximum 70 points in  the  technical evaluation will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

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