International Consultant to Develop a research paper on

Location : Home-based

Application Deadline : 19-Jul-21 (Midnight New York, USA)

Time left : 0d 13h 53m

Type of Contract : Individual Contract

Post Level : International Consultant

Languages Required :
English

Starting Date :
(date when the selected candidate is expected to start) 01-Aug-2021

Duration of Initial Contract : Estimated 1 August -15 September 2021

Expected Duration of Assignment : Approximately 20 working days

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.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The last 16 months have dramatically changed our societies. The Covid-19 pandemic, however, is far from over. It continues to have a negative influence on both the private and public sectors. In the vast majority of ECIS countries state apparatuses have been unprepared to face the pandemic, thus leaving loopholes for corruption due to the absence of transparency.

The current pandemic is not only a public health emergency, but it equally constitutes a governance systems crisis induced by diminishing trust of the citizenry towards governmental institutions. Emergency public procurements, uneven distribution of economic stimulus packages and loosening of state’s public financial control mechanisms has led to increased levels of corruption across much of the world. With lockdowns and stay home orders, it has also become increasingly difficult to receive quality public services in a timely manner.

The Coronavirus pandemic has weakened the government’s core functions in two particular ways. Firstly, it has challenged a proper functioning of the state machinery and the delivery of public services; such as the need for new human resources policies in order to manage civil servants working remotely. Secondly, the pandemic has made public administration even more vulnerable to corruption. Digitalization of public institutions and their operations has become the modus operandi in many countries around the globe. According to the data released by Microsoft, the pandemic has led to 2 years’ worth of digital transformation taking place in just 2 months[1]. However, these figures highlight the need for governments to invest more in e-governance development and security going forward.

The pandemic hit the public health sector hardest by overstretching hospital capacities. At the same time, due to emergency procurement of health commodities including PPEs, oxygen masks, vaccines, medicines and other essential products, the public health sector has become vulnerable to corruption risks.

In the Eastern Europe and Central Asia region, UNDP has assisted national governments and civil society organizations to quickly set-up various digital platforms ranging from COVID-19 related public expenditure transparency portals, e-learning websites for civil servants, COVID-19 hackathons (“Coronathons”), mobile one-stop-shops, chat-bots for responding to citizens’ requests, doctor-whistleblower channels, empowering civil society, including young women, to build regional youth networks, supporting anti-corruption investigations, and many others[2]. For example, in Kazakhstan UNDP supported external analysis of corruption risks in health sector organizations to prevent fraud and the unfair distribution of health supplies, conducted sociological research with Transparency Kazakhstan on corruption perceptions, and studied public perception during the pandemic. In Moldova, UNDP supported the Office of the Ombudsman to set up an online system where whistleblowers can submit reports on the irregularities affecting the public interest in the health system related to COVID-19. In Montenegro, the Ministry of Health in coordination with UNDP developed a web-based centralized ERP system for monitoring the movement/distribution of consumables and equipment throughout health care facilities with reporting utillizing AI components. Just in terms of sheers volumes of COVID-19 necessities, Serbia UNDP Country office flew in 15 cargo planes with 720 tons of ventilators, protective equipment and COVID-19 tests. UNDP Ukraine supported the establishment of a digital stock management system for medicines and medical products for efficient forecasting, planning at the national and local levels.

[1] https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/blog/2020/04/30/2-years-digital-transformation-2-months/

[2] https://www.eurasia.undp.org/content/rbec/en/home/library/democratic_governance/accountability-public-service-delivery-covid19-europe-central-asia.html

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope and objective of the assignment:
Against this background, UNDP is looking for an international consultant to research and develop a study – “Strengthening integrity of health sector during and post-COVID-19 pandemic in the ECIS region” – and organize a linked virtual conference. The study is aimed at collecting best practices on how to strengthen integrity in the health sector in the ECIS region and drawing recommendations for how to improve our public health systems even further. The study will assist public officials, healthcare system professionals, and non-governmental organizations, as well as academia and UN agencies, to enrich their knowledge on the correlation between the COVID-19 pandemic, the health care sector, and corruption. Although the study will focus on the ECIS region, the international consultant will not be restricted from including best practice examples from countries beyond the ECIS region. The study shall be performed in the English language.

The consultant will also be required to assist in organizing a virtual conference related to integrity in the health sector, where UNDP will officially launch the abovementioned study. This will involve, under UNDP’s guidance, identification of potential participants, drafting an agenda, the concept note, and a conference report.

Tasks and Deliverables

The International Consultant will work under the supervision and overall guidance of the UNDP IRH Governance and Peace Building and HIV, Health and Development teams. The following specific deliverables should be covered by the Consultant:

Deliverable

Number of Days

Timeframe

Developed detailed workplan and methodology for implementation of the consultancy

2 days

1 week after signing contract

Conducted research and developed Report assessing the situation in the region with concrete recommendations on how to improve the situation

12 days

1 month after signing contract

Responses to reviews/comments from UNDP and partners

2.5 days

1.5 months after signing contract

Organized virtual conference to present the findings and recommendations of the research and developed consequent conference report

3.5 days

1,5 months after signing contract

Total: 20 days

Institutional arrangements:
The consultant will work from home;

The Consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment;

The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own work-station (i.e. laptop, internet, phone, scanner/printer, etc.) and must have access to reliable internet connection;

Given the virtual conference to be undertaken during this assignment, the consultant is expected to be reasonably flexible with his/her availability for such taking into consideration different time zones;

Payments will be made upon submission of a certification of payment form, and acceptance and confirmation by the Supervisor on deliverables/outputs delivered.

Travel:
In case if any travel is requested by UNDP for the delivery of this assignment, it will be reimbursed separately with the following conditions:

Any necessary mission travel must be approved in advance and writing by the Supervisor;

The BSAFE course must be completed before the commencement of travel;

Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when traveling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director;

Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under https://dss.un.org/dssweb/;

All travel expenses related to mission travels will be supported by the project travel fund and will be facilitated as per UNDP rules and regulations for consultants. Costs for mission airfares, terminal expenses, and living allowances should not be included in financial proposal.

Competencies

Corporate:
Demonstrates integrity by modelling 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 favoritisms.

Technical:
Technical knowledge on health governance, transparency and integrity and anti-corruption mechanisms in the health sector

Experience public policy, law, public health management or a related field

Experienced in organizing virtual multi-stakeholder consultations

Extensive experience in working with government, civil society and international organizations;

Functional:
Communications

Able to communicate effectively in writing to a varied and broad audience in a simple and concise manner.

Professionalism

Capable of working in a high- pressure environment with sharp and frequent deadlines, managing many tasks simultaneously;

Excellent analytical and organizational skills;

Exercises the highest level of responsibility and be able to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner.

Teamwork

Works well in a team;

Projects a positive image and is ready to take on a wide range of tasks;

Focuses on results for the client;

Welcomes constructive feedback.

Required Skills and Experience

Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in law, public administration, public health management, political and social sciences or a related discipline is required (20%)

A minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible professional work experience in public policy, law, public health management or a related field (30%)

Experience in organizing conferences (including online) and familiarity with Zoom and other related platforms (20%)

The candidate should also attach a proposed directions, outline or prospectus for the above study as well as their previous related paper(s) or links to such resources (30%)

Languages:
Fluency in English, both written and oral is required. Fluency in Russian is an asset.

Evaluation Method:
Only those applications which are responsive and compliant will be evaluated. Incomplete applications will not be considered;

Offers will be evaluated according to the Combined Scoring method – where the technical criteria will be weighted at 70% and the financial offer will be weighted at 30%;

The technical criteria (education, experience, language [max. 70 points] and interview [max. 30 points]) will be based on a maximum 100 points;

Only the top 3 candidates that have achieved a minimum of 70 percent (min 49 points) from the review of education, experience and language will be considered for the interview;

Candidates obtaining 21 points or higher in the interview will deemed technically qualified and considered for financial evaluation;

The financial proposal shall specify an all-inclusive daily fee and be structured according to the Deliverables outlined in Section III. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal must additionally include a breakdown of this daily fee (including all foreseeable expenses to carry out the assignment);

Applicant receiving the Highest Combined Score and has accepted UNDP’s General Terms and Conditions will be awarded the contract.

Documentation to be submitted:
Applicants must submit a duly completed and signed UNDP Personal History form (P11) and/or CV including Education/Qualification, Professional Certification, Employment Records /Experience, references/samples of previous works relevant to the assignment;

Applicants must reply to the mandatory questions asked by the system when submitting the application.

Applicants must submit a duly completed and signed Annex II Offeror´s letter to UNDP confirming interest and availability for the Individual Contractor (IC) assignment to be downloaded from the UNDP procurement site;

The candidate should also attach proposed direction, outline or prospectus for the above study as well as their previous related paper(s) or links to such resources.

Kindly note you can upload only ONE document to this application (scan all documents in one single PDF file to attach).

UNDP Personal History form (P11) required of all applicants:
http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/Careers/P11_Personal_history_form.doc.

General Conditions of Contract for the ICs:
https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=254184

Annex II Offeror´s letter to UNDP confirming interest and availability for the Individual Contractor (IC) assignment: