Consultancy: Advancement and Deepening of UNDP’s Partnerships with UN Entities

Contract

This is a International Consultant contract. More about International Consultant contracts.

Background

The Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy (BERA) is responsible for UNDP’s external relations and advocacy functions. The Bureau leads and supports the organization in cultivating, building, and nurturing strategic relationships and alliances that are essential for advancing and successfully achieving the mission of UNDP. These relationships encompass a wide range of key constituencies and development partners, especially those related to resource mobilization and donor relations, intergovernmental affairs with Member States (e.g., programme countries, existing and prospective donor countries/emerging economies), multilateral institutions (e.g., IFIs, the European Commission), civil society, the private sector, foundations, academia and think tanks, the UN system, etc. BERA also leads the Organization’s communication functions, establishing UNDP branding and interface with global, regional and national media. The bureau coordinates and acts as a facilitator of information exchange, knowledge management, network building and dissemination of best practices throughout UNDP in resource mobilization, intergovernmental and inter-agency affairs and communications.

Within BERA, the UN System Affairs Team (UNSAT) is responsible for managing UNDP’s relations with the UN system, inter-agency, and inter-governmental bodies, including the General Assembly, ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies, the Chief Executives Board [CEB] and its subsidiary bodies, the UN Sustainable Development Group [UNSDG], etc. UNSAT supports the leadership of UNDP by positioning and promoting UNDP within inter-agency and inter-governmental affairs, oversees scanning and anticipating trends that influence UNDP policy, and prepares strategy options for coherent multi-stakeholder engagement.

Within the context of its new Strategic Plan 2022-2025, UNSAT would like to support the expansion and strengthening of UNDP partnership opportunities with the UN entities. First, there is a need to have a repository of ongoing partnerships and collaborations (MOU, agreements, etc.) and a mapping of initiatives that allows teams at all levels (HQ, regional and country) to access information on UNDP’s partnerships with UN entities. Such a repository should be kept updated and linked to existing platforms that cover wider UN partnerships and other interagency engagements. Recommendations on building such a maintenance mechanism are sought. Building on the latter, and within the framework of the new Strategic Plan priorities, UNSAT would like to identify opportunities to strengthen UNDP partnerships with UN entities around key SP focus areas.

Objective: The overall objective is to support UNSAT with the development of a repository that will allow easy access to information on the ongoing and emerging UNDP partnership with UN entities, as well as the provision of recommendations of the new partnership opportunities within the framework of the new Strategic Plan 2022-2025.

Duties and Responsibilities

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will be responsible on the following tasks and assignments:

1. Develop a repository of UNDP’s ongoing UN agency collaborations/partnerships initiated at HQ to get the first ever comprehensive overview of UNDP engagements) and provide recommendations on its regular update and maintenance.
2. Conduct an analytical mapping of UN agencies, funds and programmes for priority engagements in support of the UNDP Strategic Plan implementation.

Expected Deliverables

Deliverable 1: Repository of the ongoing UN agency collaborations/partnerships initiated at HQ.1]

• Develop an institutional knowledge platform of UNDP’s ongoing UN inter-agency collaborations at the headquarters level, with recommendations on its maintenance and regular update

• Undertake a mapping of linkages between the existing platforms covering wider UNDP partnerships (managed by UNDP) and broader inter-agency engagements (managed by DCO), which will also contribute to the revamping of UNDP’s Intranet (to also include updated information on guidelines, legal frameworks and programming documents).

  Deliverable 2: An analytical mapping of the UN agencies, funds and programmes for priority engagements

• Provide a set of concrete recommendations inter-agency engagements to be prioritized for the implementation of the new Strategic Plan 2022-25, i.e., programme areas where collaboration with relevant UN agencies will contribute to the attainment of greater impact.

For both deliverables the consultant will need to engage in bilateral and/or group meetings with various in-house colleagues and teams.

Deliverables and Timeline

Deliverables

Timeline

1. Present a draft outline/layout of the institutional knowledge platform of inter-agency collaborations, including content development and materials.

Week 1

1. Draft concept of the Knowledge platform with proposed content.(Feedback will be provided after presenting draft report).

Week 3

1. Draft report of prioritized inter-agency engagement with other UN Agencies within the framework of the Strategic Plan.(Feedback will be provided after presenting draft report)

Week 3

1. Final draft of deliverables 1 and 2.

Week 5

[1] The consultant will be provided with background information compiled for this deliverable.

Competencies

Core values and guiding principles:

• Commitment to UNDP mission, vision and values.
• Demonstrates integrity by modeling 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.
• Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Functional competencies:

• Strong interpersonal skills, communication and diplomatic skills, ability to work in a team.
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback.
• Ability to work under pressure and stressful situations.
• Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities.
• Excellent drafting and presentation skills.

Required Skills and Experience

• Education: University degree, preferably a master’s degree, in the areas of development, international affairs, public policy, social science or related field.
• Experience:
  • Minimum of 7 years’ professional experience working in inter-agency coordination, partnerships, multi-stakeholder engagements, and resource mobilization, preferably in the context of the UN system
  • Demonstrated writing skills in producing clear and succinct reports with inputs from multiple stakeholders and synthesizing and communicating information for various audiences.
  • Substantive knowledge and experience in programme and project management and analysis, such as development of process improvement tools.
• Language Requirement: Fluency in written and spoken English is required.

Evaluation of Applicants

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal (70%-30%).

The award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical (CV desk reviews and interviews) and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Application procedures

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

Step 1: Interested candidates must include the following documents when submitting the applications (Please group all your documents into one (1) single PDF attachment as the system only allows upload of one document):

• Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.
• A brief concept note presenting the approach for conducting the analysis / work as specified in the TORs (max. 1 page.)
• Filled CV form including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees;
• One writing sample relevant to the position for the application

Step 2: Submission of Financial Proposal - Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and requested to provide a financial offer.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max. 70 points:

• Criteria A (Desk review – Experience) – Relevance of experience working in the UN system and /or other development organization, particularly focusing on inter-agency /inter-institutional partnerships and coordination (max points: 25 points)
• Criteria B (Desk review – experience) - Knowledge and experience in programme and project management with special emphasis on development of knowledge management tools or organizational improvement tools (max points: 25)
• Criteria C (Desk review - one sample of previous report writing) - Proven experience in writing clear and succinct reports with inputs from multiple stakeholders, and synthesizing and communicating information for various audiences (max points: 20 points)

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max. 30 points.

• Only the top 3 shortlisted candidates will be invited to submit a financial proposal.

• The financial proposal should specify a lumpsum per deliverable.

• 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; cost of travel from the home base to the duty station and vice versa, if required; 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.

• 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.

Institutional Arrangement:

Specific workplan will be agreed with the Team Leader of the UN System Affairs Team, as the certifying officer, at the beginning of the consultancy. Payments will be made against the receipt of the final report of each of the two deliverables and their satisfactory acceptance by the Supervisor/Certifying Officer.

The Consultant will report to the Team Leader of the UN System Affairs Team, and his/her performance will be assessed against the deliverables. The Consultant will also interact with relevant UNDP staff across the various bureaux on a regular basis, and meet with senior managers and key line staff, as required.

Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also be required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org.

Due to large number of applications we receive, we will be able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.

Annexes (click on the hyperlink to access the documents)******:

• Annex 1 - UNDP P11 Form for ICs
• Annex 2 - IC Contract Template
• Annex 3 – IC General Terms and Conditions
• Annex 4 – RLA Template

Any request for clarification must be sent by email to [email protected]