International Individual Consultant to deliver training for the civil society organizations in impact assessment of COVID-19 pandemic

Consultant Elections & Governance

Contract

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

Background

The European Union (EU) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) value a dynamic civil society environment, which fosters pluralism and contributes towards sustainable development and inclusive growth. To support active engagement of the civil society in the national development, the EU and UNDP have launched a 3-year project “Developing innovation-driven and sustainable civil society in Azerbaijan”. The initiative aims to build a strong and influential Civil Society Sector by fostering meaningful participation of the CSOs in policy formulation and policy debate, and enable them to better represent and voice the interests and concerns of their constituencies.

In order to contribute to the set overall goal, the project envisages a capacity enhancement programme, with the main objective being to increase the capacity of the CSOs representative in a number of key areas by offering them new knowledge of the contemporary methodologies and techniques as well as the opportunity for exchange and practical experience. These key capacity areas the project focuses on include:

• Policy research and preparation of policy papers
• Communication and visibility
• Advocacy for policy change
• Alliance building and networking for policy influence

COVID-19

The project comes at a time when the SDGs commitments are compromised by an unprecedented crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic that has further aggravated situation of the disadvantaged communities. CSOs in Azerbaijan play a critical role in understanding, promoting and meeting the needs of the vulnerable communities, and their function has become even more essential since the outbreak of COVID-19 and the accompanying emergency measures. While necessary for reducing the speed of transmission of the disease, these measures have entailed interruption of essential public services and risk having negative mid- and long-term impacts on the livelihoods and resilience of the communities.

Against this background, identifying the needs and priorities of the communities that are the most vulnerable to the COVID-19 crisis is essential to develop adequate policy responses. CSOs are well- positioned to reach out to the affected communities, collect data and develop evidence-based policy recommendations for the national COVID response.

Duties and Responsibilities

Bearing the above in mind, the assignment pursues the objective to build capacities of the CSOs in conducting impact assessment of the COVID pandemic and formulating a response strategy.

The scope of work of the selected Consultant will be around the following main tasks:

• Design agenda and content of the training programme on COVID impact assessment; the training programme should cover assessment of COVID-19 impact on various sectors including COVID-19 impact at the communities, private sector, employment, women and GBV, mental health and others;
• Develop a toolkit with essentials of impact methodology including application of various data collection methods and data analysis;
• Deliver 2 training workshops providing practical, easy-to-digest guidance to conduct impact assessment; each training workshop should last no less than 12 hours;
• Conduct pre- and post-training evaluation;
• Produce training report with key findings and recommendations for follow-up.

The main target audience of the training programme will be national and local civil society organizations working with a diverse population groups including but not limited to youth, women, people with disabilities, internally displaced populations, small entrepreneurs and others. The main sectors of their activity include:

• Gender equality and women empowerment
• Youth development
• Social and economic studies
• Education
• Health
• Support to people with special needs
• Regional development

Majority of the CSOs were exposed to the training in the basics of policy analysis and policy research.

The trainings should reach out to around 50 CSOs and should be delivered remotely using Zoom platform. Given high number of participants, the training should be delivered in a series of two (2) training workshops, each accommodating up to 25 participants.

Each training is expected to take place remotely and last for 1.5 full days (in 3 half-day/4-hour sessions) using a mix of training methodologies including lectures, power point presentations, guided discussions, group work, practical exercises, case-study analysis and other. Relevant essential documents for the training, and instructions for trainees shall be shared prior or during the trainings.

Final training contents, methodology and agenda should be designed and finalized in consultation with UNDP.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

- 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;

- Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Functional Competencies:

- Strong leadership, communication and interpersonal skills;

- Excellent organizational and time management skills;

- Strong oral and written communication skills - use of simple and clear language;

- Demonstrated ability to work in a team (strong task management and team leading competencies);

- Ability to work under pressure and in a politically sensitive environment;

- Demonstrated cultural sensitiveness and sound judgment;

- Sound knowledge and understanding of gender sensitivity and social inclusion in middle income countries.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• University degree in development economics, social science, or a related field and relevant experiences in the area

Experinece:

• At least 5 years’ international experience in policy research, data collection, analysis and evidence-based policy making;
• Experience in designing and conducting impact assessment of COVID-19 pandemic;

• Previous experience of engaging with the civil society organizations;

• At least 3 years’ experience in designing and delivering audience-focused training;

• Experience working in the Central and Eastern Europe and CIS countries;

Language:

• Excellent spoken and written English required

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Combined Scoring Method

Combined Scoring Method principle considers a combination of the applicants’ qualification and financial proposal (70% technical and 30% financial offer). When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the 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 and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Out of the maximum score of 100 points, the score for technical criteria equals 70% - maximum 70 points, and for financial criteria 30% - maximum 30 points.

Only the highest ranked candidates who would be found qualified for the job will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Technical evaluation:

Evaluation of technical criteria consists of two stages: desk review and interview.

Desk review stage:

I. Academic Qualifications:

• University degree in development economics, social science, or a related field and relevant experiences in the area Maximum 5 points;

II. Years of Experience:

• At least 5 years’ international experience in policy research, data collection, analysis and evidence-based policy making - Maximum 20 points;

- Experience in designing and conducting impact assessment of COVID-19 pandemic - Maximum 20 points;

- Previous experience of engaging with the civil society organizations - Maximum 5 points;

- At least 3 years’ experience in designing and delivering audience-focused training - Maximum 5 points;

- Experience working in the Central and Eastern Europe and CIS countries - Maximum 5 points;

III. Language requirements

- Excellent spoken and written English required; Maximum 5 po****ints

IV. Approach to work, methodology and indicative implementation plan

- Adequacy of the approach to work, methodology and implementation plan to the assignment - Maximum 15 points

Interview stage:

- Specific experience of the Consultant relevant to the assignment – Maximum 20 points

The candidate should score at least 56 points to qualify for interview.

Financial evaluation:

Only those who obtains at least 70 points at the technical stage will be allowed to financial evaluation stage.

Financial Criteria – (30% of total evaluation – maximum 30 points):

The offer with the lowest price will receive the maximum of 30 points.

Other offers with higher prices will receive their respective scores according the following formula:

Lowest Bid

------------------- x 100 x 30%

Proposed Bid

The contract will be awarded to the candidate that will obtain the highest aggregate score based on the technical and financial evaluation.

Individual Consultants are required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org

Note: Maximum possible score is 100 points. To be eligible, the candidate has to score at least 70 points (70% of maximum possible score)

Financial proposal:

Financial offer “all inclusive” – specifying a total lump sum in USD for the deliverables specified in the TOR. The financial offer shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (number of anticipated working days, professional fee).

The financial proposal is only accepted in the form of Offeror’s letter and Annex 2 to it (please see the link in the list of documents to be included when submitting a proposal). Please include the professional fee under heading Personnel Costs/Professional Fees in the Annex 2 to Offeror’s letter.

Note: The total input is estimated at around 18-20 working days within a span of 2 months. The candidates are free to propose the time input they consider feasible for implementation of the assignment; however, they should note that the total price is one of the factors of evaluation.

Travel:

No travel is expected. The candidate is expected to work remotely from his home office.

Payment will be done in four installments upon completion of deliverables:

1st installment – 15% will be paid upon satisfactory completion of the deliverable 1 and acceptance (not merely receipt) of the Deliverables 1 by authorised UNDP personnel

2nd installment – 40% will be paid upon satisfactory completion of the deliverables 2 and 3 and acceptance (not merely receipt) of the Deliverables 2 and 3 by authorised UNDP personnel

3rd installment – 45% will be paid upon satisfactory completion of the deliverables 4 and acceptance (not merely receipt) of the Deliverables 4 by authorised UNDP personnel

1. APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Step 1:

• Click on the "Apply now" button

• Input your information in the appropriate Sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume and motivation; You can type in, or paste your short Resume into the last box;

• Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page. On the next page, you will be asked to upload other required documents listed in the step 2;

Step 2:

The system will allow only one attachment. Therefore, please upload all documents listed below as one file.

• CV of the Consultant or United Nations Personnel History form (P-11) that reflects the experience needed for the assignment

• Approach to work, methodology and indicative implementation plan, which should clearly respond to the requirements from ToR

• Conducted Impact assessment report of COVID-19 pandemic

• Offeror’s Letter to UNDP confirming Interest and Availability for The Individual Contractor (Ic)

Offeror’s Letter to UNDP confirming Interest and Availability For The Individual Contractor (Ic) Assignment and its Annex 2 can be downloaded here (please follow link below and scroll down to Hiring Consultants / Individual contract application forms section): https://www.az.undp.org/content/azerbaijan/en/home/procurement.html

Failing to submit any of the above listed documents will result in disqualifying the application.

Apply now

Added 2 years ago - Updated 2 years ago - Source: jobs.undp.org