International Individual Consultancy Services to Establish a Basket Fund for the Informal Sector Development and Resilience

ORGANIZATIONAL CONTEXT

Madagascar has been placed under the state of health emergency since the detection of the first case of coronavirus in the country on March 20, 2020. The Decree N°2020-359 of March 21, 2020 established the state of emergency and took restrictive measures on the movement of people and goods. To contain the propagation of Covid-19, a partial lockdown has been enacted implying the shutdown of all economic and public service activities except for health and related services, public security, justice, water and electricity supply. The economic costs of those measures are high for a country where the poverty rate is at 71.4% and more than 8 out of 10 people work in the informal sector whose daily subsistence depends on their daily earnings.

The informal sector suffered the most detrimental economic consequences of Covid-19 pandemic disease: downturn of income, job loss, uncertainty, etc. Referring to the survey conducted by the National Statistics Institute INSTAT (June, 2020), four sectors are severely hit by the crisis; these are catering and accommodation (61%), transportation (38%), processing and manufacturing (13.8%), and trade (12.8%). Individual entrepreneurs and very small SMEs/SMIs are vulnerable to the crisis and not able to withstand the closure of their business.

UNDP Madagascar has developed a specific program aimed at supporting informal sector economic recovery through their repositioning in the ecologically sound exploitation of the natural wealth for the development of green and blue innovative businesses. 

In the Output 1 “A basket fund is set up to pool resources from technical and financial partners, private sectors, IFIs and DFIs aiming to support informal sector”, in which sits the activity 1.1 “Creation of the basket fund (Basket fund Prodoc, governance of the fund, selecting Board member, working plan, SOPs, partnership strategy)”, the creation of a Basket Fund is envisaged.

The objective of the basket fund is to be a one-stop-shop to contribute in the funding of working capital and seed-funding, existing “Innovation labs” and green and blue economy business start-ups. The basket fund will work towards a scale-up phase while generating financial resources through an endowment and moving towards financial sustainability and will be able to finance itself its coordination mechanism after the project.

Therefore, the project will recruit an International Consultant in Public Fund Establishment to set up the institutional, legal, strategic and operational framework of the Fund.

1. Overall objective of the mission

The main mandate of the international expert is to support the design and structuration of the basket funds and determine the fund’s financial mechanisms and governance.

2. Scope of Work
The international consultant will be mainly responsible of:
– Detailing the workplan and implementation schedule as agreed upon with the UNDP team;
– Drafting, detailing and planning the fundamental steps for setting up the Fund: scope of intervention, governance, management strategy, operational modalities, timeframe, financial and technical resources required;
– Drafting initial instruments and key documents that come into play in the establishment and/or operationalization of the Basket Fund; which includes, but not limited to Basket Fund Document Project, governing instrument, working plan, Standard operation procedure, partnership strategy, etc. 
– Drafting a document outlining the necessary legal framework to support the fund implementation;
– Developing a communication and advocacy strategy for the fund implementation, participate in high-level meetings (virtual or otherwise) with government officials and key actors in the financial sector to advance the Basket Fund initiative;
– Providing technical Support to the Project Development Team in coordinating validation workshops for the development of the Basket Fund and participation in meetings to set up and operationalize the basket fund

3. Methodology
Given the current pandemic context, the international expert will work remotely with international and national consultants to be recruited by the UNDP. The selected individual consultant will work with a multi-disciplinary team composed of members from UNDP and will report weekly via email and calls to this team. He/she will work under the supervision of UNDP Madagascar Country Office Deputy Resident Representative.
The Consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for the execution of tasks under this assignment and will be responsible for providing her/his own working station (i.e. laptop, internet, phone, scanner/printer, etc.) and must have access to reliable internet connection.

4. Deliverables
– Work plan and implementation schedule should be submitted 3 days after signing the contract;
– A strategy document for the implementation of the Basket Fund
– Initial instruments and key documents (Basket Fund Document Project, governing instrument, working plan, Standard operation procedure, partnership strategy, etc.);
– A document outlining the necessary legal framework to support the fund implementation;
– A communication and advocacy strategy for the fund implementation

Corporate Competencies
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 favouritism. 
– Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment. 
Technical Competencies: 
– Excellent oral and written communication skills, with analytic capacity and demonstrated ability to synthesize complex information in high quality papers/reports and in effective presentations to different audiences; 
–  Skills in facilitating meetings effectively and efficiently; 
– Ability to develop and maintain partnerships/relationships, including with clients, focusing on results for the client/partner and responding positively to feedback.
Professionalism: 
– Excellent analytical and organizational skills; 
– Exercise the highest level of responsibility and be able to handle confidential and politically sensitive issues in a responsible and mature manner.
Communication: 
– Active listening and dialogue (acknowledge and respond constructively to the points of view of others);
– Excellent writing and verbal communication skills; 
– Communicate effectively in writing and verbally to a varied and broad audience in a simple and concise ?manner.
Teamwork: 
– Projects a positive image and is ready to take on a wide range of tasks; 
– Focuses on results for the client; 
– Welcomes constructive feedback. 
– Good interpersonal and networking skills, ability to establish and maintain effective working relations, supports and encourages open communication in the team, and facilitates teamwork

Education
o Master’s degree in one of the following areas: International Development, International Finance, Business Administration, Political Sciences and/or other related sector;
o 
Experience
o 10 years of work experience – with a minimum of 5 years in works similar to the assignment – of relevant   experience   at   the   international   level   in   managing   and/or providing management advisory services for the design, establishment, and/or evaluation of basket funds;
o Practical experience in operationalizing public funds including drafting funds’ legal, operational and strategic documents;
o Experience in the development of Project documents related to development financing;
o Experience working with UNDP and UN agencies is an asset;
o Good understanding of the multilateral and bilateral development system;
o Experience working with a variety of stakeholders, including government departments, Private Sector, IFIs, DFIs;

Language skills
o Excellent speaking and writing skills in French. Proficiency in English.

How to apply
Qualified and interested candidates are hereby requested to apply. The application should contain the following:  
a technical and financial proposal : The technical proposal should include: A brief presentation of the methodological approach and organization of the
mission, a note of understanding of the TORs, a curriculum vitae indicating education background/professional qualifications, all experience from similar
projects and at least three (3) professional references;

 
– Financial proposal that indicates all-inclusive fixed total contract price supported by a breakdown of costs (including professional fee, and specified other costs if applicable, but excluding travel costs and DSA).

Technical Criteria weight 70%?
Financial Criteria weight 30%?
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% of the total technical points (49 points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Offers shloud be sent via :[email protected]

Note:
The information in the breakdown of the offered lump sum amount provided by the offer or will be used as the ?basis for determining best value for money, and as reference for any amendments of the contract. ?
The agreed contract amount will remain fixed regardless of any factors causing an increase in the cost of any ?of the components in the breakdown that are not directly attributable to UNDP.
Please note that applications will only be considered if they include ALL of the items listed above. ?