15244 RSC 2018 - Research and Partnership Assistant (2nd Call)

UNDP requires a service Consultant to be responsible for supporting the Project Coordinator in the successful project implementation and coordination with partners, organization of regional activities, and systematization of project lessons.

We kindly invite you to submit your offer for a Research and Partnership Assistant, as detailed in Annex 1 of the Individual Contract Procurement Notice. When preparing your offer, please be guided by the form attached as Annex 2.

Documents to be included when submitting proposals

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents (in PDF format) duly signed to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. Proposal (in English): Brief description of why you consider yourself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a methodology, if applicable, on how you will approach and complete the assignment.
2. Financial proposal (mandatory): The standard Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability supported by a breakdown of costs, which you must complete, sign and submit to UNDP. Please refer to Annex 2. 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 installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR.
3. P11 form: Including experience in similar projects and at least (3) professional references (e-mail, phone number).
4. Beneficiary: Personal information as name, address, ID, phone number of a beneficiary in case of death during the consultancy. Documents to certify this info will be required in case you were selected for the consultancy.
5. CV (optional)

Take note: e-mail size should not exceed 4 MB.

Background

Within the European Commission’s Disaster Preparedness Programme (DIPECHO), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) — working in collaboration and coordination with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarians Affairs (OCHA), International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) — DIPECHO partners and national counterparts will strengthen integrated and cohesive preparedness capacity at a regional, national and community level in the Caribbean through “Strengthen integrated and cohesive preparedness capacity at a regional, national and community level in the Caribbean” project.

The project is based on the previous DIPECHO 2017-2018 project called “Strengthen integrated early warning systems for more effective disaster risk reduction in the Caribbean through knowledge and tool transfer” and will focus again on Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) through the strengthening of CDEMA's Regional Response Mechanism (RRM) and effective scaling up of concrete mitigation actions for early warning systems (EWS); Cuba's knowledge, tools and technical assistance will be leveraged to support the application of concrete actions.

With the aim of building a more robust and integrated system of preparedness based on the previous experiences, predominately the 2017 hurricane season, the project proposes four (4) expected results:

• R1: Regional preparedness is strengthened through operational response readiness and harmonized approach to MHEWS; this result will be led by OCHA and CDEMA who will coordinate the following activities:
  • Lead a series of workshops related to increasing coordination and information management skills at the regional level.
  • Conduct a preparedness workshop for the 2019 hurricane season.
  • Develop a model national MHEWS Policy, with gender and community considerations integrated.
  • Establish a regional alliance and coordination mechanism to articulate regional services and standards for EWS.
• ​R2: Appropriate actions and solutions taken to increase EWS integration and effectiveness at the national level; project partners will strengthen national systems for preparedness though effective implementation of concrete activities such as updating the national communication networks, improve targeted messaging and conduct national simulation exercises to validate and test the systems in terms of community protection.
• R3: Increased effectiveness of preparedness at community level through concrete priority actions; IFRC will lead activities to increase EWS effectiveness, ensuring knowledge transfer, documentation, communication and sustainability of the actions. The activities at the community level include capacity assessments, EWS assessments and trainings. They will be evaluated through simulation exercises, which will be conducted together with national simulations exercises (linked with result 2).
• R4: Leverage existing best practices, and support for sustainable actions; this result involves a series of activities aimed at sharing of best practices in response and preparedness through south-south cooperation, case studies and regional workshops.

​The project will be implemented in complementary coordination with other DIPECHO partners, covering the EWS components of the DRR in the Caribbean, and undertaking joint regional planning and communication, visibility and documentation of handover processes.

CDEMA, OCHA and IFRC will be UNDP’s implementing partners, being responsible of some specific actions throughout the project, while UNDP will lead the implementation of the project. The DRR Unit of the Regional Hub for Latin America and the Caribbean will coordinate the project execution and implementation mechanisms, monitoring and reporting of the initiative. To do this, the Regional Hub requires the hiring of a consultant that will support overall project coordination with partners, and implementation of project activities at both regional and national level in the Caribbean and in the project target countries. 

General objective

The Research and Partnership Assistant will be responsible for supporting the Project Coordinator in the successful project implementation and coordination with partners, organization of regional activities, and systematization of project lessons. 

Specific objectives

1. Support the implementation of annual workplans and monitoring of activities, as outlined in the project document.
2. Support the documentation, agreements and reporting related to partner engagement (IFRC, CDEMA and OCHA).
3. Support the documentation, agreements and reporting related to UNDP Country Office level activity implementation (working with Cuba, Dominican Republic, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda).
4. Support the final and interim narrative and financial report writing for DIPECHO 2017 and 2018 projects, in English and Spanish.
5. Support the development and dissemination of communication materials related to the project.
6. Support the revision of technical documents and products developed by the project partners and consultants.
7. Support the linkages between project partners and respective activities.
8. Support the Project Coordinator with development of Terms of Reference, contracting process and revision of consultants’ products.
9. Support the preparation of materials for project meetings and Project Boards.
10. Provide support for translations and rapporteur documentation.
11. Support on the compilation and organization of project products and information, including the systematization and documentation of lessons learned.
12. Support in the organization of workshops, missions and conferences.
13. Support follow-up resource mobilization in disaster risk reduction and preparedness in the Caribbean.
14. Provide ongoing support to the Project Coordinator and the broader DRR unit in the exercise of his/her functions. 

Expected results

1. Support the closure of the DIPECHO I project.
2. Achievement of the results of the DIPECHO II projects specified in the project document.
3. Effective monitoring and support to project partners and country offices.
4. Development of alliances with strategic actors.
5. Support to Resource Mobilization in DRR in the Caribbean.
6. Support DRR unit in DRR efforts in the Caribbean region.

Travel and DSA

Travel expenses will be covered by the project budget and must not be included in the economic proposal.

Education

University degree in environmental studies, development studies, or relevant area of social sciences. A Master’s degree is considered an asset.

Experience

• At least 5 years of professional experience in general project planning, support, implementation and monitoring. Experience with the United Nations System or UNDP is valued.
• At least 2-years’ experience in disaster reduction/preparedness; familiarity with donor (experience with ECHO is an asset) funded development projects.
• At least 1-years’ experience with the development and dissemination of communication products (audiovisual, print and/or social media).
• At least 1 years’ experience supporting partnership or multi-stakeholder coordination.
• Excellent organizational skills; strong analytical, writing and communication skills.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills; commitment to team work and to working across disciplines; able to work and build teams at a distance.
• Able to work independently with no supervision. 

Language requirements

Excellent working level of English and Spanish, both verbally or written.