New Job Opportunities at UNDP Tanzania, 2021
Digital & Financial Education Consultant (must
be eligible to work in Tanzania)
Advertised on behalf of : UNCDF
Location : home base and, TANZANIA
Type of Contract : Individual Contract
Post Level : National Consultant
Languages Required : English
Starting Date : (date when the selected candidate is
expected to start) 01-Mar-2021
Duration of Initial Contract : A maximum of 100
working days over 14 months
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
About UNCDF
The United Nations Capital Development Fund (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.
Access to Finance in Tanzania
In line with the UNCDF global strategy of Leaving
No-One Behind in the Digital Era and countries’ UN Development Assistance Plan,
UNCDF is supporting inclusive economies to help smallholder farmers and other
vulnerable populations thrive. This includes contributing to refugee response
initiatives and considering the consequences of the COVID-19 health pandemic in
terms of food security, food systems, livelihoods, financial inclusion and last
but not least, social cohesion. This programme uses a market development
approach that is rooted on five decades of fostering financial inclusion and
local development, digital economies and partnerships for the SDGs, digital and
financial literacy, as well as reaching the most underserved populations by
promoting community-based frugal innovation as well as strengthening savings
and production groups.
Duties and Responsibilities
To ensure effective implementation of above
activities, UNCDF is seeking an individual contractor who will support the
implementation of these activities and who will help in the conceptualization,
management, coordination, and implementation of financial/literacy
interventions in Tanzania. The Digital & Financial Education Consultant is
a national individual consultancy. The National Consultant is expected to work
under the supervision and guidance of the Country Lead for Tanzania or her
assignee, and in close collaboration with in-country partners.
The broad objectives of this assignment are to:
Provide technical assistance to UNCDF partners in
the delivery of UNCDF financial and digital education
Oversee the monitoring and evaluation of outputs and
outcomes of partners’ financial and digital education activities
Use human-centered design approach to assess current
inventory of fin-ed tools and improve and/or adapt them to beneficiary needs.
Assist the country office in the design and roll-out
of new and/or adapted materials (digital tools and platforms included) to build
financial and digital literacy amongst project beneficiaries
Create promotional materials (blog posts, conference
presentations) as necessary
More specific objectives follow:
Provide technical guidance and technical assistance
and feedback to contractors that will develop and test digital and financial
literacy programmes using innovative, technology-based delivery channels for
refugees, host communities and smallholder farmers;
Provide technical guidance and technical assistance
to local partner organizations and institutions, such as non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs, who will provide
digital and financial literacy directly to beneficiaries) to deploy and track
access & usage of digital- and financial-literacy products and services;
Use human-centered design approach to assess
appropriateness of fin-ed tools and provide recommendations to improve and/or
adapt them to beneficiary needs;
Create training materials and conduct
trainings/workshops where necessary for partners and for the wider stakeholder
community supported by UNCDF in Tanzania;
Support Tanzania programme leadership and staff
where necessary to include financial and digital literacy into country-wide
programmes;
Support UNCDF Tanzania in planning and delivering
workshops using participatory methodologies on an as-needed basis, workshop
content and objectives to be determined;
Draft documents, communications and
knowledge-sharing materials to establish UNCDF as a thought-leader in digital
and financial capability and behaviour change.
Some of the activities outlined above require alignment
with partners working with savings groups, formal financial services (including
digital financial services), and potentially other types of digital or
technological tools.
Scope of the Work
At the end of the contract period, the consultant
will be expected to attain the following results:
Adoption and adaptation of UNCDF-funded financial
and digital literacy outputs and capabilities by programme stakeholders in
Tanzania;
Design and development of comic magazines and
podcast/radio campaigns for edutainment and below-the-line marketing of
UNCDF-funded projects;
A field-tested survey with priority financial
literacy indicators that can be applied as a pre-, mid- and post-test in any
UNCDF programme, and;
Results measurement and knowledge-sharing products to
be determined with UNCDF Tanzania, Rwanda, IDE Global and NY headquarters that
will contribute to UNCDF visibility in the wider stakeholder community.
Maximum number of working days: Up to 100 working
days during March 2021-April 2022.
Expected Duration of Assignment: fourteen (14)
months.
The tables below outline the activities,
deliverables, and indicative timeline and payment structure:
Note the sequence and timelines for the delivery of
the below outputs may vary within the duration of the contract and can be
subject to externalities.
Duty station: The consultant will be home-based with
intermittent office presence in Tanzania UNCDF office, frequent travel to
project sites in Tanzania and possible travels to other sites regionally, where
UNCDF operates. The schedule of travel will be negotiated with the
consultant(s) according to the requirements of each programme.
Travel: Travel to project locations as agreed with
the Country Lead or her assignee.
Provision of quality, monitoring and progress
controls
The following supporting documents will serve as
conditions for disbursement: (i) monthly submission of an invoice and
Certificate of Payment (COP) duly approved by the Country Lead; (ii) review,
approval and written acceptance of each deliverable project by the Country Lead
and/or her designate; and (iii) an authorization of payment disbursement from a
direct supervisor.
The consultant will work under the direct
supervision of the Country Lead for Tanzania and Rwanda and in close collaboration
with other relevant colleagues, experts and/or institutions designated by the
country Teams. The Country Lead or her assignee will provide overall
supervision of the consultancy and approve key deliverables.
The consultant is responsible for providing his/her
own laptop.
Payment to an Individual Contractor will be made
upon review and approval of each deliverable by the Country Lead and/or her
designate.
If the consultant fails to meet performance
requirements detailed above, (s)he will receive in first instance, a
communication requesting an improvement in performance. Continued failure to
meet performance requirements may result in termination and non-utilization of
the contract.
Standard Travel Costs and Daily Supplemental
Allowance (DSA)
UNCDF does not accept travel costs exceeding those
of an economy class ticket. Should the Consultant wish to travel on a higher
class he/she is required to do so using his/her own resources.
Travel:
If the travel is to perform work or deliver outputs
that are OUTSIDE the work/deliverables agreed in the contract, the unit
supervising the consultant will fully justify in a note to file why the
consultant is being asked to undertake such travel. The said justification
should be provided along with the supporting documents uploaded in the T&E
module and in line with UNDP/UNCDF Travel Policy rules. The contractor will
conduct briefings to the UNCDF team prior to and following field visits to
projects via meetings and back to office reports (BTORs) and all supporting
documentation for F10 within two weeks.
In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of
travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed
upon in writing between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant
prior to travel and will be reimbursed.
Competencies
Core Competencies:
Demonstrates ethics and integrity;
Team player;
Demonstrates political acumen and calculated risk
taking;
Builds own and staff competence, creating an
environment of creativity and innovation;
Builds and promotes effective teams and
partnerships;
Creates and promotes open communication;
Remains calm, in control and good humored even under
pressure;
Conducts fair and transparent decision making;
Displays cultural and gender sensitivity and
adaptability;
Shows strong corporate commitment.
Functional Competencies:
Proven ability to manage and effectively lead
participatory and human-centered design and development of digital- and
financial-education tools;
Distill and articulate ideas clearly and coherently
and ability to translate technical terms for non-technical audiences. i.e.
beneficiaries and implementing partners;
Quick learner with the ability to act quickly to
develop new skill-development initiatives;
Conceptualizes more effective approaches to research
and knowledge, development and implementation;
Anticipates constraints in the delivery of services
and identifies solutions or alternatives;
Makes effective use of UNCDF resources and
comparative advantage to strengthen knowledge partnerships;
Creates an environment that fosters innovation and
innovative thinking;
Creates networks and promotes knowledge exchange
initiatives between member organizations;
Promotes collaborative test-and-learn approaches as
critical to the success of moving towards digital and financial inclusion;
Proactively identifies, develops and discusses
solutions for partners, beneficiaries and UNCDF, and persuades management to
undertake new projects or services.
Technical:
Understanding of key issues and international good
practice relating to skill development in the areas of digital and financial
literacy, digital financial inclusion and savings groups in rural areas;
Excellent presentation and representation skills in
multicultural contexts;
Ability to translate complex technical ideas to a
non-technical audience in both verbally and in writing.
Excellent analytical and writing skills
demonstrating fluency in English and Kiswahili;
Previous publications in the field of financial
capability (curricula, communication) is an asset.
The consultant must provide evidence of the
technical capacity to undertake this assignment. This includes capacity to
deliver the results in the timeframe provided as well as indication of prior
experience (relevant financial inclusion/capabilities and experience, training,
programme development).
Required Skills and Experience
Education
Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Finance, Banking,
Development, Education, International Development or related fields is
mandatory;
Experience:
At least five (5) years of relevant and demonstrated
experience in financial/digital literacy content design and implementation is
mandatory;
At least five (5) years of relevant experience in
international development is mandatory;
Demonstrated experience working in the field with
rural and/or low-income communities, related to financial/digital education is
mandatory;
Demonstrated experience managing or conducting
participatory research, particularly related to assessing needs for financial
capability or monitoring financial education programmes and tools in rural or
low-income communities is preferable;
Extensive experience training staff of NGOs and
financial services providers is preferable;
Familiarity with the development, modification and
roll out of financial services for low-income communities is preferred is
preferable;
Familiarity working in refugee settlement camps is a
plus;
Language:
Written and oral communication skills in English and
Kiswahili is required.
Application:
Interested individuals must submit the documents
mentioned below as proposals in order to demonstrate their qualifications
(Note: the system does not allow multiple uploads of documents. Applicants must
make sure to upload all documents in one PDF file).
The following documents are requested:
Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest
and Availability;
Personal 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;
Brief description of why the individual considers
him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a methodology, if
applicable, on how they will approach the assignment. It should indicate also
accessible previous publications in the field of financial capability
(curricula, communication), if possible;
Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive
Daily Fee price. If an Offeror is employed by an
organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge
a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNCDF under
Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and
ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal
submitted to UNCDF.
Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer
Individual consultants will be evaluated based on
the following methodology:
Preliminary Evaluation - Step I: Screening
Technical Evaluation Weight - 70% x (Step II: 40
Points + Step III: 60 Points = 100 Points);
Financial Evaluation Weight - 30% = Step IV.
Step I: Screening
Applications will be screened and only applicants
meeting the mandatory criteria will progress to the pool for shortlisting.
Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Finance, Banking,
Development, Education, International Development or related fields;
At least five (5) years of relevant and demonstrated
experience in financial/digital literacy content design and implementation;
Fluency in English and Kiswahili;
Step II: Shortlisting by Desk Review – 60% out of
technical assessment
UNCDF will conduct a desk review to produce a
shortlist of candidates and technically evaluate the candidates. Only
candidates that obtained 80% of the points at this stage shall be invited for
the next step.
Shortlisting scoring:
50%- Mandatory Experience
At least five (5) years of relevant experience in
international development: 15 points
Demonstrated experience working in the field with
rural and/or low-income communities, related to financial/digital education: 35
points
30%- Preferred Experience
Demonstrated experience managing or conducting
participatory research, particularly related to assessing needs for financial
capability or monitoring financial education programmes and tools in rural or
low-income communities: 10 points
Familiarity with the development, modification and
roll out of financial services for low-income communities is preferred.
Familiarity working in refugee settlement camps is a plus: 10 points
Extensive experience training staff of NGOs and
financial services providers: 10 points
20%- Language skills and research skills
Excellent analytical and writing skills
demonstrating fluency in English and Kiswahili. Demonstrated written and oral
communication skills in English is required (applicants can share open source
links of their works or sample of their works in the application docs): 10
points
Previous publications in the field of financial
capability (curricula, communication) is an asset: 10 points
Step IV: Interview – 40% out of technical assessment
A competency-based interview shall be conducted for
all the candidates who obtained 80% of the points at the desk review.
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% on the
total of Steps II (40 points) + III (60 points) will be considered as
technically qualified and will be reviewed further for financial evaluation.
Step V: Financial Evaluation
The following formula will be used to evaluate
financial proposal:
Lowest priced proposal/price of the proposal being
evaluated x 30.
Both individual consultants and individual employed
by a company or institution are welcome to apply.
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). Women candidates or women-owned
businesses are strongly encouraged to apply.
Application Deadline : 22-Jan-21 (Midnight New York,
USA)