Location : home-based (literature review, desk work), no travel expected
Application Deadline : 30-Sep-13
Type of Contract : Individual Contract
Post Level : International Consultant
Languages Required : English
Duration of Initial Contract :estimated 20 October - 1 December 2013
Expected Duration of Assignment : approximately 30 working days
Background
Investments in social protection can yield large payoffs. In addition to contributing to human dignity, equity, and social justice, social protection systems can strengthen competitive advantages on markets abroad while promoting social inclusion at home. By guaranteeing access to minimum incomes and basic social services, social protection systems reduce poverty, social exclusion, and human insecurity. In times of crisis, social protection systems can reduce incentives to pursue counter-productive household coping strategies (e.g., selling off assets) that reduce productive capacities, incomes, and living standards over the longer term. By reducing the impact of economic downturns on workers and their families, social protection systems can also support aggregate demand and facilitate recovery—as well as contributing to social stability. In these ways, social protection systems reduce social insecurity while also helping the vulnerable and excluded to acquire the capabilities needed to fully participate in socio-economic life.
Until recently, social protection has primarily been associated with:
- Social insurance (e.g., pension, medical insurance) that protects households and individuals against unforeseen risks and smooths consumption over the life cycle;
- Social assistance that provides short-term support to households living below a certain minimum income level; and
- Temporary employment programmes such as public works.
However, as perceptions of threats to socio-economic security have broadened, so too have social protection responses. As can be seen for example in the Outcome Document from the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development ('Rio+20'), social protection is increasingly defined in terms of access to minimum levels of goods and services, and in terms of measures to boost household resilience to socio-economic shocks or natural disasters.
The best known example of this approach is the UN social protection floor initiative, launched by ILO and WHO in 2009; a number of other UN agencies (including UNDP) have since subscribed to this initiative. In addition to providing more holistic approaches to household and individual security, such platforms can help governments align social assistance and insurance programmes with related policies concerning labour markets, social service provision, and disaster risk management. Moreover, such measures have been found to be eminently affordable, even in developing countries.
This is apparent in the examples of India's National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Brazil's Bolsa Família, and Mexico's Oportunidades—social protection programmes that embody the integrative logic of the social protection floor, and which have helped these countries reduce poverty and inequality. By combining social assistance with stronger incentives for labour market participation and sustainable natural resource management, as well as better access to social services and disaster and climate risk management, these programmes help align short-term income support for vulnerable households with the longer-term logic of sustainable development.
Seen in this context, social protection systems in Central Asia (1) are works in progress. Unfortunately, the absence of comparable data on poverty, inequality, and social policies across the region complicates the task of drawing broad conclusions. Still, it is clear that—despite a decade (or more) of rapid economic growth for most of the region, and despite the fact that it now consists primarily of middle- (rather than low- ) income countries:
- Large population groups remain outside the reach of national social protection systems;
- Access to basic social services remains an issue for many households, particularly in rural areas;
- The social assistance that is paid out is often too small to keep beneficiaries out of poverty; and
- Current global experience with broadening the focus of social protection, and aligning it with labour market, rural development and/or economic restructuring programmes, social service provision, disaster prevention, and other related policies, have yet to have a real impact in the region.
These problems are compounded by the fact that familiarity in Central Asia with recent successful social policy reforms in other developing countries is not particularly strong. This is apparent, for example, in the absence of inter-sectoral approaches to social protection, in which social assistance is combined/aligned with policies promoting food security, sustainable resource management, disaster risk reduction, rural development, or the extension of basic services. It is also apparent in the paucity of the conditional cash transfer schemes that feature prominently in many of the most successful social policy reform experiences from other regions (e.g., Bolsa Família, Oportunidades).
UNICEF (2), UNDP (3), the World Bank (4), the Asian Development Bank (5), and other development partners are engaged in research and programming to strengthen social protection systems in Central Asia. However, these efforts are hampered by the absence of instruments and mechanisms that can facilitate knowledge sharing and other forms of cooperation. UNDP is therefore creating a web-based 'social protection dashboard', to serve as a platform for the user-friendly collection and dissemination of knowledge—data, policies, programming and project documents, etc.—concerning social protection in Central Asia.
In addition to helping to improve cohesion and coordination among international partners on social protection issues in Central Asia, the dashboard will identify areas within social protection where UNDP's contribution would be most feasible, appropriate and valuable. Only individuals are eligible to apply. However, for researchers who are also employees of a company/institution, UNDP can contract the company/institution which makes available the individual's services, to deliver time-bound, quantified outputs.
- Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan;
- UNICEF's emerging programme for social protection reform in Central Asia—being more pronounced in the work in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan—will be the main source to inform the background preparations for the paper;
- See also UNICEF's draft 2013 Social Monitor: Social Protection for Child Rights and Wellbeing in CEE/CIS;
- The research on Central Asia is now being completed under the regional allocation from UNDP's Poverty Thematic Trust Fund (PTTF), which reviews relevant social protection literature and explores possible options for expanded UNDP social protection programming in Central Asia at large and in Uzbekistan in particular;
- The World Bank supports the government of Kazakhstan in mainstreaming effectiveness and assessing the impact of the current social protection system. In Tajikistan, it has supported the introduction of proxy-means testing targeted social assistance, focusing on links between social protection, energy sector reforms, and household energy security;
- ADB's social protection index and its application to Central Asia; UNDP/ADB joint work on poverty assessment for Kazakhstan.
Duties and Responsibilities
UNDP's Regional Centre for Europe and Central Asia is looking to engage a consultant to produce a web-based 'social protection dashboard' for Central Asia.
The successful applicant will:
- Create the dashboard as a web-based framework/platform for capturing, codifying, and disseminating important data, analytical work, and other information about social protection policies and programming in the region; and
- populate this framework with content, particularly in terms of:
- National (and, where relevant, sub-national) social protection data; and
- Documents on social protection policies and programming by governments, and the international community in Central Asia.
In addition, the dashboard will be linked to other web-based tools that can be used to strengthen national social protection frameworks (e.g., the UNICEF-ILO Social Protection Floor Tool, and the EUROMOD tax-benefit micro-simulation model).
Activities (1) and (2) are to serve as instruments for improving coordination and cohesion among international development agencies active in social protection in Central Asia and their national partners, both in social protection directly and in related areas (e.g., poverty/vulnerability data and indicators, including on migration and remittances). This work will be completed by the end of the year (2013).
In designing the dashboard, the consultant will:
- Survey the relevant social protection literatures, data sources, and programming conducted by international; development agencies in Central Asia—including via field work in Central Asia; (7) and
- Apply other experiences with the use of web-based 'dashboards'/instruments to promote evidence-based policies, donor coordination, and knowledge management.
Only individuals are eligible to apply. However, for researchers who are also employees of a company/institution, UNDP can contract the company/institution which makes available the individual's services, to deliver time-bound, quantified outputs.
These instruments can generate quantified indicators/measures of fiscal space/fiscal sustainability and labour-market dependency risks, respectively, which may be associated with social protection programmes and policies.This field work will be conducted together with UNDP staff working in Central Asia.Deliverables and timeline:The consultancy will deliver by estimated:10 November 2013—A background paper/mock-up of the social protection dashboard, complete with a:
- Draft literature review/overview of social protection in Central Asia;
- Detailed explanation of the dashboard structure, content, data sources;
- 'Beta version' of the dashboard/web platform; and
- Template for questions to be addressed to UNDP country offices, international partners, and (where appropriate) government agencies, to collect/elicit content for the dashboard.
20 November 2013—A fully functional dashboard/web-based platform that is:
- Largely populated with content—data, analytical work, policy and programming documents; and
- Accompanied by a draft business plan describing and costing the business and IT processes necessary for the platform's upkeep.
1 December 2013—the final version of the dashboard, with accompanying:
- Business plan describing and costing the business and IT processes necessary for its upkeep; and
- Specific recommendations for how the dashboard could be used to improve coordination and cohesion among the international agencies working on social protection in Central Asia.
Management arrangements:
The consultant engaged for this assignment will:
- Report to UNDP's Central Asia economist, and the team leader of the UNDP regional poverty reduction practice for Europe and Central Asia; and
- work closely with the UNDP country offices in Central Asia.
The payment schedule will be:
- 25% upon submission of the deliverables due estimated 10 November 2013;
- 25% upon submission of the deliverables due estimated 20 November 2013; and
- 50% upon submission/validation of the final deliverables, in good quality English, due estimated 1 December 2013.
Competencies
Corporate competencies:
- Demonstrate integrity by modelling the UN's values and ethical standards;
- Promote the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
- Display cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
- Treat all people fairly without favouritism; and
- Fulfill all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.
Functional competencies:
- Have strong interpersonal, communications, and diplomatic skills,
- Be able to work in a team;
- Be open to change and able to receive/integrate feedback;
- Be able to work under pressure and stressful situations;
- Have strong analytical, reporting, and writing abilities; and
- Have excellent public speaking and presentation skills.
Required Skills and Experience
Education Background:
- An advanced university degree (preferably in economics or development studies);
Experience:
- A proven research record on social protection and development issues;
- Minimum 7 years of experience working in the former Soviet Union, ideally in Central Asia;
- In-depth understanding of the human development paradigm; and
- A proven ability to deliver quality research in a timely fashion.
Languages:
- Excellent English-language written communications skills.
Evaluation of applicants:
Applicants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis of their technical qualifications and financial proposal. The award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and assessed as:
- Responsive, compliant, and acceptable; and
- Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.
Only the highest ranked candidates who are found to be technically qualified for the job will be considered for the financial evaluation.
Technical criteria (70% of the total evaluation, maximum—35 points):
- Expertise on social protection and development issues (maximum—10 points);
- Experience working on transition economies in general and Central Asia in particular (maximum—10 points);
- A demonstrated ability to deliver high-quality well-written (in English) research in a timely fashion (maximum—10 points);
- Familiarity with the human development paradigm, particularly as concerns, poverty, gender, and other vulnerability criteria (maximum—5 points).
Financial criteria: these will be 30% of the total evaluation (maximum—15 points)
Application procedures:Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via this website. The application should contain:
- A cover letter, describing:a) The applicant's qualifications, previous experience, background, relevant expertise, and comparative advantages in performing this work; and b) A brief methodological overview that would guide how the work would be performed and managed. (Please paste the letter into the 'resume and motivation' section of the electronic application);
- A completed P11 form that describes past experience on similar projects and contains contact details of referees (this form can be downloaded from http://europeandcis.undp.org/files/hrforms;/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc); please upload the P11 instead of your CV;
- A recent sample of the applicant's relevant research;
- A financial proposal:* a) Specifying the total lump sum amount for the work to be done (as specified above); and b); Breaking this lump sum down into number of anticipated working days and any other possible costs.
The financial proposal should be all-inclusive, taking into account various expenses incurred by the consultant during the contract period (e.g., fee, health insurance, and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of the services).
General Terms and conditions as well as other related documents can be found under: http://europeandcis.undp.org/home/jobsQualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply.Incomplete applications will not be considered. Due to large numbers of applications, UNDP regrets that it is only able to inform successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.FC: 04220
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.
0 comments:
Post a Comment