TERMS OF REFERENCE

1. ORGANIZATION CONTEXT AND BACKGROUND INFORMATION

UNCDF makes public and private finance work for the poor in the world’s 47 least developed countries. With its capital
mandate and instruments, UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially
at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development. UNCDF’s financing models work
through two channels: financial inclusion that expands the opportunities for individuals, households, and small
businesses to participate in the local economy, providing them with the tools they need to climb out of poverty and
manage their financial lives; and by showing how localized investments — through fiscal decentralization, innovative
municipal finance, and structured project finance — can drive public and private funding that underpins local economic
expansion and sustainable development. By strengthening how finance works for poor people at the household, small
enterprise, and local infrastructure levels, UNCDF contributes to SDG 1 on eradicating poverty and SDG 17 on the means
of implementation. By identifying those market segments where innovative financing models can have transformational
impact in helping to reach the last mile and address exclusion and inequalities of access, UNCDF contributes to number
of different SDGs.

Since 2008, UNCDF has been supporting digital finance with significant success which has led UNCDF to make digital
finance the largest part of its inclusive finance portfolio. UNCDF is also host to the Secretariat of the Better than Cash
Alliance. For several years UNCDF’s work in digital finance has led it to support new digital solutions linked to finance,
to further drive financial inclusion and to achieve the SDGs. This includes projects linked to on an off-grid energy,
agriculture, employment, health and transport. With 60 professionals with strong digital finance experience across the
globe and with close to several hundred projects in digital completed or on-going, UNCDF is one of the leading
development agencies in digital finance with a mission and expertise to reach very low-income customers in some of
the world’s most difficult markets.

Other UN agencies are also leveraging a range of digital finance technologies to support development outcomes. UNEP
is working with private digital finance companies to advance green digital finance solutions. A number of UN agencies
are experimenting with blockchain technology. For example, WFP has developed an innovation lab and is using
blockchain as a secure accounting basis for moving food at scale. UNICEF is testing blockchain-based smart contracts as
new ways to transact in a decentralized, more efficient and transparent manner. UNDP has established a Crowd-funding
Academy and an Alternative Finance Lab.

With an aim to address this, the United Nations Secretary General has established a Task Force on Digital Financing of
the Sustainable Development Goals to identify how best to harness the potential of digital in achieving and financing
the 2030 Agenda.
The Task Force has members consisting of CEOs, Heads of Organizations and senior government officials, who will advise
the United Nations on how digitalization of finance can help achieve the SDGs on a global scale and provide a series of
recommendations and priorities by July 2019. UNCDF, as the Secretariat, is engaged to set up and the Task Force and
work with them to get their recommendations. This is done in close partnership with UNDP’s Project Catalyst.
2. SCOPE OF ACTIVITIES AND EXPECTED DELIVERABLES

The Task Force Secretariat requires a consultant to support the administrative functions in order to help meet the
expectations of the Task Force members: The assignment entails:

Management and Administrative Functions

 Build project, administrative, and operations capacity of the Task Force Secretariat.
 Manage the requests for international and strategic procurement, as approved by the Secretariat Director
 Ensure that all files and reports are in order for the project
 Ensure all financial and project documents are in order for the project

Deliverables
 Updated project reports, including financial and administrative. Formatted: Indent: Left: 0.56"
 Support the Task Force Secretariat in travel arrangements
 Updated project reports from Jan 2019 – Dec 2019

Assist the Task Force conferences and events:

 Build capacity, admin and operations for planning and organizing conferences and events;
 Support the Task Force Secretariat in outreach and scheduling

Deliverables:
 Satisfactory support provided for organizing conferences and events

Support the Task Force Secretariat Stakeholders

 Liaise with the schedulers of Task Force members, technical reference group members, and other internal and
external stakeholders to assess any operational needs specific to the efforts of the Task Force Secretariat and
support them;
 Manage any international procurement requests for any effort related to the Task Force Secretariat, as
approved by the Secretariat Director

Deliverables:
 Satisfactory support extended to all internal and external stakeholders
 Manage all procurement requests

3. Recruitment qualifications

Education
 University degree, or sSecondary Education , preferably with specialized certification in Management,
Accounting or related field.

Experience

 Minimum of ten (10) years of progressively responsible administrative experience is required at the national or
international level.
 At least five (5) 5 years of experience working with senior executives and high level management within the
international organizations, UN organization/agency track record is desirable
 Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and advance
knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, experience in handling of web-based management systems
is required.
  Experience in the use of Enterprise Resource Planning Software (i.e. ATLAS, Oracle or similar) is required.
 At least three (3) years of eExperience with international public procurement and finance procedures is
required.
 Experience in corporate training and capacity building is desirable.

Language requirements

 Fluency in English, including writing skills in English

 Working knowledge of French is desirable but not necessary

Competencies
 Strong ability to communicate and function effectively in local/international/multicultural environment;
 Expertise in managing senior level engagements with both public and private sector stakeholders
 Fundamental knowledge of public procurement processes, methods and procedures;
 Data gathering and implementation of management systems;
 Maintains effective client relationships

Timeline, duration of assignment, duty station and expected places of travel:

 Timeline: 12 months starting 7 Jan 2019 – 06 Jan 2020
 Location(s): New York, NY – the consultant will have to report to the UNCDF office as a norm, but depending
on the stage and demands of the project, there will be days when the consultant may be allowed to work
from home
 Total Number of Working Days for Assignment: Maximum of 220 days over a period of one (1) year
 The project has a finite timeline and there is no expectation of extension of the contract, unless the project
circumstances require.

Provision of Monitoring, Progress Controls & Payments:

 The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Task Force Secretariat Director
 Payments will be made on periodicala monthly billing basis in accordance with actual number of days worked
evidenced by a time sheet, and upon satisfactorily achieved deliverables. All payments are subject to the
clearance and approval of the Secretariat Director.
 Final payment shall require a signed performance evaluation of the consultant.

Application:

Applications will be rated on both technical and financial submissions. The best proposal that will be awarded the
contract shall be selected through the following method:

Highest rated proposal using the combined scoring method, which assigns the weight distribution between the
technical and financial proposals as set out in the RFP. The weight distribution shall be 70% technical and 30%
financial.

All applications must contain the following information:

 Cover letter with a summary statement of competencies in relation to the TOR;

 Earliest availability and proposed schedule for consultancy;
  Curriculum Vitae;
 Completed and signed P11 - Personal History Form with names and current contacts of 3 referees (available
from http://sas.undp.org/documents/p11_personal_history_form.doc);

Signed financial proposal for the full months assignment outlining:

 Total professional fee

 Other professional expenses (such as insurance, taxes, etc.);

The financial proposal form is available at http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=29916)

Evaluation:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

 Preliminary Evaluation - Step I: Screening

 Technical Evaluation Weight - 70% x (Step II: Shortlisting (20 points), Step III: Interview (80 points) = 100
Points)
 Financial Evaluation Weight - 30% = Step IV.

Step I: Screening:

Applications will be screened and only applicants meeting the following minimum criteria (listed under education and
experience) will progress to the pool for shortlisting.

Step II: Shortlisting by Desk Review/interview:

UNCDF will conduct a desk review to produce a shortlist of candidates and technically evaluate them.

As applicable, only the first top 4 ranked applicants achieving 70% of the points at this stage shall be invited for an
interview.

Step III: Interview:

A competency-based interview shall be conducted for the candidates. The maximum score for the interview is 80
points.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% on the total of Step II (20 points) + Step III (80 points) will be considered
as technically qualified and will be reviewed further for financial evaluation.

Step IV: Financial Evaluation:

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

Lowest priced proposal/price of the proposal being evaluated x 30%.

Award Criteria:
The contact shall be awarded to the best applicant whose offer have been evaluated and determined as:
responsive/compliant/acceptable and having received the highest combined weight (technical proposal & Interview)
70% + financial 30%= 100%.

Please note that UNCDF cannot guarantee residence permits or visa´s for consultants. Consultants are responsible for
securing their work documentation. In the case of national consultants, applicants that are not nationals of the duty
station requested will have to prove their residence status.

Any individual employed by a company or institution who would like to submit an offer in response to a Procurement
Notice for IC must do so in their individual capacity (providing a CV so that their qualifications may be judged
accordingly). Please not that in such case the company institution will be asked to issue an
RLA http://www.undp.org/content/dam/vietnam/docs/Legalframework/Reimbursable%20Loan%20Agreement.doc.

Women candidates or women-owned businesses are strongly encouraged to apply.

(Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA): A legal instrument between UNCDF and a Company/institution, according to
which, the latter makes available the services of an individual delivering time-bound and quantifiable outputs that are
directly linked to payments. An RLA is governed by the provisions of this policy.)