UNDP-IC-2020-398 International Lead Researcher- Stakeholder Analysis

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Contract

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

Background

Country: Pakistan

Duty Station: Home-based

Description of the assignment/Job Title: Lead Researcher- Stakeholder Analysis

Reporting to: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Manager with quality assurance from Chief Technical Specialist

Project name: Merged Areas Governance Project (MAGP)

Period of assignment/services: 20 Working Days spread over 5 months

Background:

  • Over the last decade, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa’s Merged Areas (MAs) have experienced security challenges and large-scale population displacements. Since 2014, a combination of military operations and political reform process culminated in the merger of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas into neighboring Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The merger, one of the most significant political reforms in Pakistan’s 70-year history, is an unprecedented extension of constitutional rights and governance structures to 5 million of the poorest people in Pakistan.
  • In its broadest sense, the reform process involves the rolling out of constitutional rights to these districts, which includes elections for local governments, the extension of rule of law institutions, and empowered legislature, with the potential to fundamentally change the relationship between the citizen and the state and create the conditions for longer-term stability. However, this path by no ways certain. Recent research undertaken through this project has underlined some of the risks, and the danger of seeing reforms as a merely technical and mechanistic process.
  • While the reform process is aimed at stabilizing the region, it is highly contested. The integration agenda includes new projects which may have the potential to introduce a new conflict or exacerbate existing tensions between the state and ex-FATA residents, if not implemented with care and caution. The tribal decade strategy and accelerated implementation plan which underpin the reform process include extraction of minerals, land settlement and the roll out of rule of law systems. While these may be essential aspects for economic, legal and cultural integration, researchers have associated similar initiatives with conflict elsewhere. Ideally, these reform areas would be opportunities for building a sustainable peace in the newly merged districts, including through the inclusion and participation of the people in the decisions that will affect them. There is, however, a risk that these reforms could contribute to further instability in the region if poorly handled.
  • UNDP with support from FCDO is recruiting a lead researcher to research stability implications of resource extraction in the merged areas. A field researcher based in Pakistan and contracted through a third-party will support the lead researcher, as well as an internal UNDP project team.

Duties and Responsibilities

Research Project 1: Resource Extraction

Objective

  • Provide UNDP, FCDO and wider international community, where appropriate, with the means to better assess how to target their support to build towards a developmental and sustainable peace in the Merged Areas.
  • This strand of analysis seeks to better understand the potential contribution of increased and prioritized extractive development to peace and (in)stability in the Newly Merged Districts, and how its impact might vary between districts. In particular:
  • The risks that increased mineral extraction could contribute to instability and conflict in the Merged Districts based on the basis of current trajectory and approach, and the threat posed by those risks;
  • Potential opportunities to nudge expansion/development of the sector in a manner that will contribute to peacebuilding and longer-term stability based on the application of global lesson learning.
  • Recommendations and options for risk mitigation measures, disaggregated by district.

Scope & Methodology

  • Building on analytical approaches from elsewhere, as well as wider global lesson learning and evidence on the political economy of the extractive industry and its links to instability and conflict (positive & negative), the supplier is expected to design a methodological approach for this research that is adapted to the context of Pakistan and, in particular, the Newly Merged Districts.
  • The methodology, and analysis[1], should ensure that it can respond to the following areas in terms of their potential relationship with conflict dynamics and the wider political economy as a means for supporting an assessment of risk and opportunity:
  1. Sector organization and the award of contracts and licences;
  2. Regulation and monitoring of operations;
  3. Collection of taxes and royalties;
  4. Revenue distribution and public investment management;
  5. Implementation of sustainable development policies;
  6. Consistency or divergence in sector practices across Provinces for the purposes of comparison;
  7. Relationships between actors: including between different levels of the state.
  8. The level of externalities (e.g. landscape transformation, impact on labour etc.), the politics of recognition (national and subnational), the extent of rents in question, the nature of the international commodity market and credit markets in terms of the resources in question.
  • We would want the Political Economy Analysis Expert to design the methodology and help further refine the research questions.
    1. We need to understand the current mining practices and the existing value chain for the three main minerals being extracted currently in the MAs – coal, copper and marble.
    2. We want to understand what mitigation measures to put in place and which policy responses might be best to take. This could be informed by a rapid evidence assessment of interventions and approaches from other similar contexts that have improved peace-related outcomes, and/or worked to reduce the risk of instability and conflict relating to development of the sector.
  • Limitations to the research should be identified at the outset.
  • The report should summarise findings ensuring that all the areas above are covered and should make recommendations on potential mitigation measures or policy responses, potential risks and assumptions to be monitored, and to which part of the value chain the recommendations apply. There should be general, and mineral-specific recommendations focused on coal, copper and marble, where required. Recommendations should be framed in terms of actor responsible – e.g. Government of KP, private industry and investors, and the international community.

Outputs

  1. Inception report including detailed research design and workplan.
  2. Draft structure for final report
  3. Final report – to be no longer than 30 pages.
  4. 2 page policy brief or executive summary.

Duties and Responsibilities

The lead researcher shall be the primary author of the report with the field researcher(s) in support as well as providing overall guidance, quality assurance, and critical analysis. The lead researcher is responsible for designing the methodology for the research, drawing on support from local researchers for context. This will be done off-site through the exchange of documents and daily communication with the project team and the field researcher.

  1. Deliverables, Scope, and Schedule of Payments

Deliverables/ Outputs

Schedule of Payments

Level of Effort

Review and Approvals Required

Deliverable 1

Approved inception report including research design

17%

5 days

MEL Manager

Chief Technical Specialist

Deliverable 2

Submission of draft report.

50%

10 days

MEL Manager

Chief Technical Specialist

Deliverable 3

Final report.

33%

5 days

MEL Manager

Chief Technical Specialist

[1]

Copyright

The above assignment will have UNDP or Government sole ownership and copyright.

  • Institutional Arrangement and Duty Station:

The Consultant will be working under the direct supervision of the Chief Technical Specialist with close coordination with the field researcher. The consultant will be based off-site.

The lead researcher will be responsible for organizing sufficient access to academic publications and research.

  • DURATION OF WORK

The expected duration of work will be 20 working days.

Competencies

Competencies

Building Strategic Partnerships

  • Makes effective use of UNDP’s resources and comparative advantage to strengthen partnerships
  • Creates networks and promotes initiatives with partner organizations

Innovation and New Approaches

  • Creates an environment that fosters innovation and innovative thinking, especially for Fata reforms contexts
  • Conceptualizes more effective approaches to program development and implementation

Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing

  • Participating in the development of policies and innovative approaches and promoting their application throughout the organization
  • Promotes UNDP as a learning/knowledge sharing organization, with a focus on Fata reforms

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise

  • Possesses expert knowledge of advanced concepts in primary discipline, a broad knowledge of related disciplines, as well as an in-depth knowledge of relevant organizational policies and procedures, with expertise in reforms contexts
  • Keeps abreast of new developments in area of professional discipline and job knowledge and seeks to develop him/herself personally
  • Demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments

Client Orientation

  • Anticipates constraints in the delivery of services and identifies solutions
  • Proactively identifies, develops and discusses solutions for clients

Core Competencies

  • Promoting ethics and integrity, creating organizational precedents
  • Staff competence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation
  • Promoting effective teams
  • Very good communication skills. Ability to express clearly and concisely in both written and oral forms
  • Transparent decision making; calculated risk-taking
  • Ability to be flexible and react to changing circumstances, e.g. security situation

Weight per Technical Competence

Weak: Below 70%

The individual consultant/contractor has demonstrated a WEAK capacity for the analyzed competence

Satisfactory: 70-75%

The individual consultant/contractor has demonstrated a SATISFACTORY capacity for the analyzed competence

Good: 76-85%

The individual consultant/contractor has demonstrated a GOOD capacity for the analyzed competence

Very Good: 86-95%

The individual consultant/contractor has demonstrated a VERY GOOD capacity for the analyzed competence

Outstanding: 96-100%

The individual consultant/contractor has demonstrated an OUTSTANDING capacity for the analyzed competence

Note: 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.

Required Skills and Experience

  • QUALIFICATIONS – EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE AND LANGUAGE:

    1. Minimum 7 years’ of relevant experience in related field such as economics, conflict studies, economics of extractive industries.
    2. Significant peer-reviewed published work related to the task.
    3. Active research in the field is an asset. Expertise in south Asia is an asset.
    4. Excellent communication skills, flawless writing, and editing in English.
  • APPLICATION PROCESS AND SELECTION CRITERIA

The following documents must be submitted by interested persons to become an eligible candidate. Failing to comply with the requirements will result in disqualifying the applicant. Due to the large number of applications we receive, only the successful candidate will be informed about the outcome or status of the selection process.

Interested individual consultants must include the following documents when submitting the applications:

  • CV indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references - UNDP retains the right to contact references directly

  • One or more analytical pieces demonstrating expertise (may be linked in CV or annexed)

  • Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability and Financial Proposal, Applicants are instructed to submit their financial proposals in US Dollars for this consultancy using the annex to the Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability template available here: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=45780.
  • FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount and payment terms around specific and measurable deliverable. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal should include only the daily fee and number of days. Nothing else will be reimbursed.

  • TRAVEL

All travel costs shall be born directly be the consultant and should be included in the financial proposal. Any unexpected approval travel would be reimbursed by UNDP in accordance with policies and procedures.

  • 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. Points

Technical Competencies

70

Minimum 7 years of relevant experience in related field such as economics, conflict studies, economics of extractive industries. Active research in the field, and any expertise in south Asia

30

Quality of written submission (published policy work related to the task (one or more articles, reports or books) - Good analysis, research, recommendations.

30

Excellent communication skills, flawless writing, and editing in English

10

Financial (Lower Offer/Offer*100

30

Total Score

Technical score 70 + 30 Financial

Added 3 years ago - Updated 3 years ago - Source: jobs.undp.org