Individual Consultant

 United Nations Development Programme -UNDP

Individual Consultant – Operations & Procurement Associate
Location :	Bangalore, INDIA, INDIA
Application Deadline :	28-Jan-21 (Midnight New York, USA)
Time left :	15d 0h 46m
Type of Contract :	Individual Contract
Post Level :	National Consultant
Languages Required :	English
Starting Date : (date when the selected candidate is expected to start)	01-Feb-2021
Duration of Initial Contract :	One Year

 

Background

Background: The DAY-NRLM (Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission) is the flagship program of Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India relaunched in 2016 for promoting poverty reduction by building strong institutions of the poor, particularly women. The programme creates and enables community owned institutions of women to empower and make them economically self-reliant by improving their agency to access a range of livelihood and financial services and maximize their resources for creating sustainable livelihood opportunities.  The state governments are mandated to set up dedicated Mission Management Units at the state, district and village/community level for the effective implementation of the NRLM scheme.  The mission provides regular hand-holding support to SHG/federations for a period of 5-7 years.  At the end of a fully implementation cycle the SHGs/federations are well prepared to become resource institutions at the community level for providing evidence and support to other social initiatives.  Karnataka State Rural Livelihood Promotion Society (KSRLPS) The State Government is implementing DAY-NRLM scheme in phases through Karnataka State Rural Livelihood Promotion Society in the name of “Sanjeevini”. The mission statement of KSRLPS is: “To reduce rural poverty by providing gainful wage and self-employment opportunities through community institutions resulting in sustainable improvement in their livelihoods”. Sanjeevini is a community driven and process-oriented programme. The processes include different activities such as awareness building, social mobilization, development of Community Resource persons (CRPs). Formation of CBOs, strengthening SHGs/ CBOs/federations/Livelihood Collectives, establishment of linkages and promotion of livelihoods. The conventional methods of monitoring focuses on physical, financial and logistic aspects of projects, but do not capture the processes of community perception, satisfaction with project services, inclusion and institutional dynamics. As the community processes do not conform to pre-set rules, deadlines, targets or blueprint approaches, a responsive and adaptive implementation is necessary. It is in this context that the State government of Karnataka has partnered with UNDP to implement The National Rural Economic Transformation Project (NRETP) in Karnataka. NRETP proposes to implement higher order economic activities which are cross cutting in nature, for instance, the project design envisages that there will be an organic link between the model Cluster Level Federation (CLFs) and financial inclusion strategies, insurance and pension schemes, producer groups and organisations, product marketing and enterprise development. The financial inclusion strategy will also have a key role in financing of farm and non-farm enterprises. UNDP will be uniquely positioned to quickly transfer the technical know-how gained at the national and state level working across the country.  The state SMMU will be fully synchronized with the National level team working at the centre, important for better alignment of state priorities with those of the national programme while formulating the State specific poverty reduction action plans. Under the scheme, UNDP is looking for an Individual Consultant- Operations & Procurement Associate to undertake the activities as provided below. The incumbent will be based at KSRLPS and will perform duties under the direct supervision of the Mission Director, KSRLPS and the UNDP Focal Point, Karnataka

Duties and Responsibilities

·        Provide support to HR & Procurement team to hire consultants under the project; ·        Support the unit to implement procurement process of services and goods; ·        Assist in administrative tasks like travel arrangements, meetings, conference and workshops for the team; ·        Support the team in processing the salaries of the consultants ·        Provide logistics support to team members in the organization of trainings, workshops, stakeholder consultations, arrangements of study tour, at national and international locations. ·        Manage project files, documents, concept notes, correspondence and various communications as required by the authorities ·        Apart from the above the Project Administrative and Procurement Assistant will also be required to execute other duties and assignments by SMMU team. Any other tasks/responsibilities as assigned by the Mission Director

Competencies

·        Ability to assist the team in financial and physical reporting; ·        Excellent working knowledge of MS Office-Word, Excel, Access, Power Point, Intra-Internet, e-mail applications etc ·        Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in the area of professional discipline and job knowledge, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills ·        Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude; ·        Supports the team in building strong relationships with stakeholders and external actors; ·        Ability to prioritize assignments and requirements, and multitask as needed; ·        Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities; Demonstrates skills to liaise and work with varied stakeholders especially government and technical agencies

Required Skills and Experience

Qualifications: A Master’s degree in Public administration/ Public Policy/Finance/ Economics/Business Economics/ Commerce/ Accounts/Business Administration. Experience: ·        Minimum 3 years of experience in the field of administration and procurement, preferably in development Organization ·        Prior experience of UNDP’s procurement and HR Policy and procedures will be preferable ·        Experience of working on the government funded projects is highly desirable Duration of the Work: The contract will be awarded for one year initially. Working days will be as per the Government / KSRLPS policy. Languages Required: Fluency in English and Kannada– spoken, read and write for all official communication is essential. Official Travel In case of official journey within/outside the state, candidates will be entitled to reimbursement from KSRLPS. All official travel must be authorised and certified in advance by KSRLPS. SCHEDULE OF PAYMENTS Consolidated annual consultancy fees (Remuneration) of INR 7,20,000/-payable in equal monthly instalments of INR 60,000/- upon submission of monthly progress report certified by the reporting officer. INSTITUTIONAL ARRANGEMENT ·        Contract will be administered by UNDP on behalf of the KSRLPS, Government of Karnataka. ·        The consultant should report to the Mission Director, KSRLPS, and the UNDP Focal Point, Karnataka ·        All the logistic support related official travel will be borne by the KSRLPS, Government of Karnataka. ·        Consultant will be entitled for 2 days leave per month (non encashable). The accumulated leaves will be forfeited on the termination/further extension of the contract period. Documentation Required Personal CV indicating all past experiences from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the candidate and atleast 3 professional references. Evaluation Method and criteria Preliminary shortlisting would be done based on the following criteria: ·        Educational Qualification 30 marks. ·        Relevant Experience 40 marks. ·        Interview for 30 marks Those who obtain a minimum 70% of total 70 marks (Educational Qualification & Relevant Experience) will be eligible to appear for the interview.  Interview for the shortlisted candidates would be either conducted face to face in Bangalore or by telephone/over skype. The contract shall be awarded on the merit basis. For more information and online application click here