Resilience and Social Safety Net Program Coordinator

Contract

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

Background

Becoming the world’s youngest state in 2011, South Sudan has been continually faced with a multitude of challenges in achieving stability, peace and development. While many areas in the country are still in dire need of humanitarian support, there are regions that are ready to move from humanitarian and emergency support to for recovery and development interventions. Like most countries in Africa, the bulk of the population in South Sudan is comprised of youth (73.7% of population is below 30) . In as much as the country has such an energetic and rigorous group, the potential of the youth however has not been harnessed to contribute towards the development of the country but instead has been and continue to be used to fuel conflict. Youth unemployment; estimated at 40 percent (UNDP, 2012) is on the rise as the prolonged war/conflict posed huge economic challenges in the country. Youth destitution and lack of empowerment, especially the widespread absence of productive capacities and income generation opportunities, are among the principal factors sustaining the ongoing conflict in South Sudan. Young females in South Sudan remain severely marginalized with lower education levels and fewer opportunities for work as compared to their male peers. Rural women and girls of reproductive age (13-49 years) have few or no assets and who survive of less than $1.25 per day. About 95 percent of the country's population depend on farming, fishing or herding to meet their food and income needs. A thriving agriculture sector therefore plays an essential role in addressing both youth unemployment and food insecurity in South Sudan. Provision of short and long-term employment opportunities for youth heads of vulnerable households are increasingly becoming key to enhancing their resilience and food security. In this direction, UNDP has mobilized resources for the “Enhancing social protection and agriculture value chain through Stabilization and Resilience-Building (STAR) Project with the project targeting about 3500 Youth households and enhancing agricultural production and productivity. Recognizing the need to strengthen the humanitarian-development nexus in Aweil, UNDP and other development and humanitarian partners started a recovery and stabilization project aiming to build community resilience, enhance protection mechanisms particularly for women and children and improve access to basic services providing social safety nets to reduce vulnerabilities. This initial joint programming in Aweil on social safety nets and stabilization provided an adaptable blueprint for similar initiatives in South Sudan on recovery and resilience. The framework coordinated by UNDP recognized the needs, brought partners, the state leadership and the community together to cushion communities from shocks through the Partnership for Recovery and Resilience (PfRR). The PfRR Framework aimed at harnessing synergies between humanitarian and development interventions. These include interventions targeting food security as well sustainable and resilient livelihoods; enhancing of capacities of local institutions and communities to recover, absorb and withstand economic shocks; strengthening local and national mechanisms for peacebuilding, reconciliation and social cohesion as well as restoring community trust. In this regard, while Aweil is geographically positioned to benefit from cross-border trade and other economic activities associated from being a border town, COVID-19 puts to peril the gains accomplished in resilience building with the general slowing down of economic activities. Furthermore, while it has huge potential for agriculture production due to its natural topographic features, flooding is a constant threat. Other shocks include any instability northwards toward Sudan with which it has had close cultural and economic ties as well as threats to peace and order on neighboring states spilling over to its bomas and payams. Nonetheless, the reverting of the country back to the ten states following the formation of the Revitalized Transitional Government of National Unity (RToNU) where Aweil is considered the capital of Northern Bahr el Gazal, presents both heightened need to ensure that gains in providing social safety nets and protection through resilience programming are not lost but sustained and an opportunity to further the PfRR framework in the new state for more efficient, transparent and effective programming reflective of the people’s aspirations.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work Under the overall guidance of the Senior Programme Adviser and the Team Leader/STARR, the Coordinator shall be required to perform the following tasks:

Productive Social Safety Net Programme

• Lead and manage implementation of resilience and social safety net programs as guided by the resilience framework in Aweil
• Ensure relevance of resilience and social safety net to the evolving needs of the target beneficiaries
• Ensure compliance with project documents and contractual obligations
• In collaboration with M&E appointed colleagues from the Country Office, contribute to and coordinate to necessary data collection and program reporting
• Consolidate and develop simple but comprehensive/informative reports and projects documents on the results achieved

Resilience and Recovery Partnership

• Provide technical advisory and policy guidance to state leaders and partners in advancing PfRR framework including leading and facilitating strategic partnership discussions
• Act as liaison between the state, development partners and other PfRR stakeholders
• Foster and strengthen cooperation between the state and development partners under the PfRR framework by enhancing dialog among partners on resilience building built on collaboration, colocation, commitment and coordination
• Regularly monitor and track PfRR achievements and lessons learned
• In coordination with the relevant partners, keep track of resilience building and development programmes in the state
• Develop simple, accurate and comprehensive reports of PfRR achievements, gains, and processes
• Contribute to the development of PfRR process documentation and knowledge products
• Maintain an updated database of recovery and resilience partners

Deliverables

• Implementation of productive social safety net project and entrepreneurial and skills training programs for livelihood and employment creation
• Partnerships with government, NGOs and other partners on PfRR, employment creation and capacity building of youths
• Coordination of PfRR partners
• Regular monitoring reports of PfRR accomplishment and achievements
• PfRR outreach and advocacy implementation plan
• Regularly update and maintain comprehensive database of recovery and resilience partners and programmes in NBEG
• Document of PfRR partnership building blocks achievement.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent critical reasoning and problem-solving skills.
• Excellent skills in the use of computer software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.)

Development and Operational Effectiveness;

• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
• Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors;
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
• High degree of self-motivation and initiative;
• Willingness to learn and apply new analytical approaches.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Master’s degree or higher in a relevant field, such development studies, pubic administration, management, social sciences, agriculture or other relevant disciplines

Experience

• Minimum five (5) years of relevant experience three of which in an international organization
• Experience in humanitarian, recovery and resilience programming in fragile contexts
• Excellent communication skills, both oral and written
• Experience in community engagement and development
• Extensive knowledge of documenting social and institutional processes
• Experience on M&E and management of joint programmes is desirable

Language requirements

• Excellent writing and oral communication skills in English and excellent oral communication skills in Arabic is required.
• Working knowledge of the local language is an added advantage.

Institutional arrangements

• The consultants will be contracted for 365 Calendar days (12 Months).
• The consultants will report to the Team Leader, HDIG, who will review and approve delivery of outputs.
• The consultant shall provide his/her personal laptop for the assignment.

Payment Schedule

• A fixed all inclusive monthly fee payable upon certification of the stated deliverables.

Technical proposal comprising of the following:

• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP
• Personal CV or P11, indicating all prior experience with similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and three (3) professional references
• Brief description (max. 1 page) of why you consider yourself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a methodology (max. 1 page) for how you will approach and complete the assignment.

Consultancy Evaluation Criteria Offers received will be evaluated using a Combined Scoring method, where the qualifications and proposed methodology will be weighted 70%, and combined with the price offer, which will be weighted 30%.

Criteria to be used for rating the qualifications:

Technical evaluation criteria

• Relevant Educational Experience (30points)
• Relevant Work Experience as per TOR Requirements (40points)
• Competencies, Skills & language (30points)

NOTE: Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (49 points) in the Technical Evaluation will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Financial evaluation (total 30 points) All technically qualified proposals will be scored out 30 based on the formula provided below. The maximum points (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal. All other proposals receive points according to the following formula: p y (/z)

Where: p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal price of the lowest priced proposal z = price of the proposal being evaluated.

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.