UNDP-IC-2021-192 International Senior Empirical Economist

Background

The Government of KP has adopted a multi-year Accelerated Implementation Program (AIP), 2019-2022, to address the key developmental gaps in the Merged Areas (MA), erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). AIP is the first three-year program under the Tribal Decade Strategy (TDS) of the government that seeks to address developmental disparity of the MA and bring these areas at par with other areas of Pakistan.

The TDS, with detailed discussion of the development challenges and issue of the MA is available on the following link:

http://bit.ly/TDSKPMA

The Draft Accelerated Implementation Programme is available on the following link:

http://bit.ly/AIPKPMA

UNDP is implementing its Merged Areas Governance Project (MAGP) as key partner in the process of erstwhile FATA development. MAGP seeks to support AIP implementation through technical assistance in the areas of project formulation, context specific innovations in service delivery systems, results oriented programming, data collection and analysis to contribute to development of locally feasible solutions. Increasingly, the Government 

Duties and Responsibilities

Description of Responsibilities

1. Review the recent literature on program evaluation methods and their application to service delivery (education, health, water and sanitation)
2. Review literate on development issues and microeconomic applications in Merged Areas and KP and study the departmental and sectoral data of KP
3. Carry out review of international development practices in the subject area relevant to developing countries;
4. Carry out discussions with Government and UNDP local teams to finalize area and focus of empirical analysis linked to priority developmental objectives in line with improvements in health, education, social services in the Merged Areas;
5. Develop a preliminary proposal of innovative and problem driven empirical analysis to address the agreed key developmental priorities in the AIP;
6. Participate and assist in detailed design of the empirical analysis with application of program evaluation methods and implementation notes and instructions;
7. Develop an empirical methodology to address key development challenges in service delivery and governance in the Merged Areas;
8. Develop scheme of data collection and periodic reviews;
9. Develop data collection instruments, instruction manual, variable definitions and sample calculations;
10. Carry out data analysis and contribute to empirically viable solutions in the sector through reports/papers on the intervention(s); and
11. Present the analysis and results to stakeholders.

    Deliverables, Scope and Schedule of Payments

     

    Deliverables/ Outputs	Schedule of Payments	Review and Approvals Required
    1. Concept paper for empirical methodology & data collection instrument(s) with detailed methodological notes and instructions	30%	LEA
    2. Working paper on results coming out of data analysis of initial intervention including proposals for scale-up/iteration	40%	LEA
    3. In-person presentation of analysis and results to stakeholders	30%	LEA
    Total	100%

Competencies

Innovation - Ability to make new and useful ideas work.

Level 6: Exercises stakeholder-centered design approaches for office / programme / division.

Leadership - Ability to persuade others to follow.

Level 6: Ensures teams are resourced for success  and empowered to deliver.

People Management - Ability to improve performance and satisfaction.

Level 6: Guides substantive specialists / teams and expands credibility and innovation capacity.

Communication - Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform.

Level 6: Creates confidence among stakeholders by delivering authoritative positions, compelling analysis, and contextual acumen.

Required Skills and Experience

QUALIFICATIONS – EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE AND LANGUAGE:

Academic Qualifications:

• Doctorate degree in economics or a closely related discipline
• Significant published research in applied econometrics and related fields in similar contexts

Experience:

• At least 10 years of relevant experience working in economic research/applied econometrics and other relevant experience working in any of these fields is required

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required;

APPLICATION PROCESS AND SELECTION CRITERIA

The application package containing the following (to be uploaded as one file):

• A cover letter with a brief description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment;
• Personal CV, indicating all past experience from applied econometrics and specifying the relevant work time periods (from/to), as well as the email and telephone contacts of at least three (3) professional references; CV should highlight any active research in the subject area of the assignment.
• Writing Samples in applied econometrics; published papers in leading journals.

  FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

  Shortlisted candidates (ONLY) will be requested to submit a Financial Proposal.

• The financial proposal should specify an all-inclusive daily fee.
• The financial proposal must be all-inclusive and take into account various expenses that will be incurred during the contract, including: the daily professional fee; living allowances at the duty station; communications, utilities and consumables; life, health and any other insurance; risks and inconveniences related to work under hardship and hazardous conditions (e.g., personal security needs, etc.), when applicable; and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services under the contract.
• The consultant should budget for 1 trip to Islamabad of 10 calendar days. Any approved additional travel will be reimbursed as per UNDP travel policy. The current DSA rate for Islamabad (Marriott) is $275.
• In the case of unforeseeable travel requested by UNDP, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UNDP and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. In general, UNDP should 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.
• If the 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 a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=45780.

•  

  In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal should be all-inclusive and include a breakdown.

  TRAVEL

  All envisaged travel cost must be included in the financial proposal as detailed above. In case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel cost including tickets, lodging and terminal expense should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

• EVALUATION PROCESS

  Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis methodology (weighted scoring method), where 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 technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

• Technical Criteria weight: 70%

  Financial Criteria weight:  30%

  Only Consultants obtaining a minimum of 70% on the Technical evaluation will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

   

  Criteria	Weight	Max. Point
  Technical Competencies	70
  Doctorate degree in economics or a closely related discipline	Min. Requirement.
  Significant published research in development economics in similar contexts. At least 3 samples are required.	25
  At least 10 years of relevant experience working in economic development research/development policy/evaluation/innovation or programme design and other relevant experience working in the international development field is required.	20
  Quality of writing samples	25
  Financial (Lower Offer/Offer*100	30
  Total Score	Technical score 70 + 30 Financial

   

• Institutional Arrangement and Duty Station:

• The consultant will be working under the direct supervision of Lead Technical Advisor with close coordination with Lead Economic Advisor. The consultant will be based off-site.