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National Consultant to analyze foreign policy in post-covid world

Kyiv

  • Organization: UNDP - United Nations Development Programme
  • Location: Kyiv
  • Grade: Consultancy - National Consultant - Locally recruited Contractors Agreement
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Political Affairs
    • Legal - Broad
    • Ebola
    • Governance and Peacebuilding
    • Malaria, Tuberculosis and other infectious diseases
  • Closing Date: Closed

Background

Millions of people continue experiencing untold misery and suffering, as the COVID-19 pandemic overwhelms health, education, and economic systems and takes human development gains back, for the first time since 1990. While the summer of 2021 brought some relief, and the international pharmaceutical scientific community has worked miracles by offering first COVID-19 vaccines in less than a year for (uneven) rollout worldwide, the pandemic is very far from over, the next wave is expected late 2021. As such, humanity is experiencing only the pandemic's initial impacts, since the consequences of the measures we are taking in response will be far-reaching for years to come. Economies and social ties will face aftershocks for decades, as the world only begins to return to "normalcy" in 2021. The trajectory of that return is obscure, shadowed by slower-than-anticipated vaccine rollout, new virus strains, economic troubles and political turmoil worldwide.

Against this backdrop, Ukraine has benefitted from a holistic UN assistance package from spring to fall of 2020. Yet, with the numbers growing drastically in the autumn-winter season of 2020 – 2021, on some days registering over 16 000 new cases, absence of robust forecasting, the growing threat of new COVID-19 strains (variants), widespread societal fatigue over quarantine measures, uncertainty over vaccination rollout plans, continued macroeconomic challenges and lack of significant progress with resolving the conflict in the east of the country or regaining control over the occupied Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Ukraine is still far from being on the trajectory for surfacing from the country-wide epidemic or stabilizing the environment in which the country's governance machinery currently operates.

The RESURFACE Project is a mix of rapid response to the highly volatile situation and a longer-term resilience-driven transformation of Ukraine's crisis decision-making and adaptation to extraordinary circumstances. The project will be implemented for 12 months starting from March 2021 and has incorporated lessons learned from its predecessor Crisis Coordination and Management in Ukraine (CCMU) Project. Apart from practical results achieved between April and October 2020 under the small-scale and agile CCMU intervention, UNDP has taken note of ideas and proposals mentioned throughout the high-level policy dialogue meeting between the UNDP Administrator, Achim Steiner, and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba. As the CCMU initiative drew to a close, Ukrainian government counterparts reiterated to UNDP Ukraine their satisfaction with results of the smaller engagement and contributed to the design of the RESURFACE Project by proposing activities, areas for collaboration and making sure that the submission is fully aligned with national priorities and needs including those, based on Ukraine's Socio-Economic Impact of COVID-19 Assessment (SEIA) and the resulting national COVID-recovery plans.

Given the above, the proposed RESURFACE Project takes catalytic assistance to Ukraine's government authorities to a new level than CCMU by deploying a mechanism that aims at not only delivering on the urgent needs of today but programming for more resilient Ukraine's governance systems in two aspects (1) coordination and (2) institutional adaptability, as the country starts to emerge from the COVID-related crisis.

In this context, UNDP is recruiting a professional with relevant experience and track record for the position of a National Consultant to analyze foreign policy in post-covid world. The incumbent will promote UNDP’s mandate as a gender-responsive organization with zero tolerance to any kind of discriminatory and abusive behavior, including sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and abuse.

Duties and Responsibilities

 

Main Objectives of the Assignment

The main objective of this assignment is:

  • Analyze foreign policy of at least 4 countries and of the European Union in the Post-Covid World to identified new challenges and new opportunities;
  • Review Ukrainian strategic documents on Covid-19 response and its implications for Ukrainian international relationship;
  • Organize the public event with invitation of all relevant stakeholders to present developed report.

Deliverables

The timeframe and deliverables of the assignment are as follows:

No.

Deliverables

Deadline

Deliverable 1

1. Analyze foreign policy of at least 4 countries and of the European Union in the Post-Covid World to identified new challenges and new opportunities

 

Analysis should cover but not be limited with the next cases:

  • European Union: science diplomacy and open data cloud
  • United States of America: changing geopolitics in the post-Covid World
  • China: masks diplomacy, humanitarian assistance and new investment policies
  • Turkey: Covid-19: challenges and opportunities for a regional power
  • Japan: Global Health Diplomacy and Development Assistance for Health

 

2. Review national strategic documents on Covid-19response and its implications for Ukrainian international relationship

 

Expected result:

Analysis conducted focusing on:

  • European Union: science diplomacy and open data cloud
  • United States of America: changing geopolitics in the post-Covid World
  • China: masks diplomacy, humanitarian assistance and new investment policies
  • Turkey: Covid-19: challenges and opportunities for a regional power
  • Japan: Global Health Diplomacy and Development Assistance for Health
  • Ukrainian strategic documents on Covid-19response reviewed, and recommendations proposed
  • Draft report (not less than 40 pages) based onconducted analysis developed and includesinformation about lessons learned and concrete recommendations

By 30 November 2021

Deliverable 2

  • Organize the public event with invitation of all relevant stakeholders, including government agencies, business associations, civil society organizations, international donors (UNDP will take of the logistical arrangements and will cover the respective conference cost; the responsibility of the incumbent is draft agenda, list of participants, draft invitation, develop presentation and talking points).
  • Present the developed report and recommendations.
  • Adjust the previously developed deliverables based on the feedback of stakeholders.

 

Expected result:

  • The public event is organized and developed
  • Report is presented
  • Report and recommendations based on the discussion and presentation updated

 

By 15 December 2021

Proposed payment schedule:

UNDP will provide payments upon provision of deliverables duly certified by UNDP in accordance with the table above. UNDP will be the ultimate authority to control the quality of work results and assess the Contractor’s performance during the assignment. The satisfactory completion of each of the deliverables shall be subject to the endorsement of the UNDP Project Manager.  Payments are made in three tranches as per the Schedule of payments indicated in the table above.

 

In particular, the payment schedule will be as follows:

Deliverable 1 - 70%

Deliverable 2 - 30%

Monitoring/Reporting Requirements

The consultant will work under overall guidance of UNDP Project Manager of the Democratic Governance team, and in close day-to-day coordination with the other project consultants. Work-progress reporting/monitoring meetings will be held with the Project Manager on a regular basis. UNDP will be the final authority to control the quality and evaluate the work. No reports or documents should be published or distributed to third parties without approval of UNDP.

The Consultant will duly inform UNDP of any problems, issues or delays arising in the course of implementation of assignment and take necessary steps to address them.

All reports and results are to be submitted to the UNDP in electronic form (*.docx, *.xlsx, *.pptx, and *.pdf or other formats accepted by UNDP). All reports and presentations shall be submitted in English. 

Competencies

Corporate competencies

  • Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
  • 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;
  • Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Technical Competencies:

  • Ability to work under the deadline and deliver within the schedule;
  • Ability to work on complex issues under changing environment;
  • Demonstrates diplomacy and tact in dealing with sensitive and complex situations;
  • Strong communication, interpersonal, analysis, and planning skills;
  • Knowledge of legal framework for digital transformation at governmental institutions;
  • Strong communications skills (written and oral).

 

Required Skills and Experience

Experience and qualification requirements

Education

  • Master University degree or equivalent in Political Science, Public Administration, International Relationship or related field

Experience

  • At least 5 years of experience in the field of public policy or foreign relationship.
  • At least 5 authored / co-authored academic studies / analytical reports in the field of public policy, public administration, foreign policy or international relationship.
  • Proven experience in cooperation with the GoU, international donor programs,
  • Experience in analyzing Covid-19 related topics is considered as an asset,
  • Fluency in Ukrainian and working English languages is required.

Documents to be Included when Submitting the Proposals

Required

 

 x

Letter of interest/proposal, explaining why the applicant considers him- or herself the most suitable for the position; description of specific professional experience in the field of public policy or foreign relationship; description of specific professional in cooperation with the GoU, international donor programs, information about 5 academic studies / analytical reports in the field of public policy, foreign policy or international relationship developed by applicant.

 x

Personal CV or P11, including information about past experience in similar projects / assignments and contact details for referees, including clearly stated information about previous projects

 x

Financial proposal

x

At least 5 authored / co-authored analytical reports in the field of public policy, foreign policy or international relationship

The above documents need to be uploaded to the online application as one document. Incomplete applications will not be considered. 

 Financial Proposal

Lump sum contract

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in instalments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including travel, per diems, and a number of anticipated working days).

Travel costs

The travel is not envisaged for this assignment. In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. BSAFE course must be successfully completed before the commencement of travel. Individual Consultant is responsible for ensuring he/she has vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. A consultant is required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under https://dss.un.org/dssweb/

 Evaluation criteria

Criteria A: Education - 10 points max

At least Master University degree or equivalent in in Political Science, Public Administration, International Relationship or related field

{10 pts – PhD degree in the relevant field or higher; 8 pts –Master’s degree in the relevant field};

Criteria B: Work Experience – 55 points max

At least five (5) years of relevant experience in the field of public policy, public administration, foreign policy or international relationship - 25 points max

{ 25 pts – 10 years and more; 23 pts – 8-9 years, 21 pts – 7-5 years);

At least 5 authored / co-authored academic studies / analytical reports in the field of public policy, public administration, foreign policy or international relationship (with indicating his/ her role in the process) - 15  points max 

{15 pts – 10 reports and more, 13  pts - 7 reports , 11 pts – 5 reports };

 Proven experience in cooperation with the GoU, international donor programs, business associations.

 – 10 points max

{10 pts – more than 5 years of experience, 6 pts – 5 years and less};

Experience in analyzing Covid-19 related topics is considered as an asset - 5 points max:

{5 pts – available experience; 0 pts - no experience};

Criteria C:

Language Skills – 5 points max:

{5 points – Fluency in Ukrainian and English; 3 points – Fluency in Ukrainian and working knowledge of English};

Maximum available technical score - 70 points.

EVALUATION METHOD

Cumulative analysis

Contract award shall be made to the incumbent whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) having received the cumulative highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

* Technical Criteria weight: 70%

* Financial Criteria weight: 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% from the maximum available technical score (49 points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal and will equal to 30. All other price proposals will be evaluated and assigned points, as per below formula:

30 points [max points available for financial part] x [lowest of all evaluated offered prices among responsive offers] / [evaluated price].

The proposal obtaining the overall cumulatively highest score after adding the score of the technical proposal and the financial proposal will be considered as the most compliant offer.

This vacancy is now closed.
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