Republic of Moldova

Re-Advertisement of National Consultant to support the development of the Baseline Study for the promotion of innovations in business start-up and development in line with the provisions of the National Strategy on Innovations (2013-2020)

Vacancy Number: Pr14/00739

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	10 Dec 2014, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	01 Jan 2015
Reference to the project:	Innovative Business for Local Development
Expected Duration of Assignment:	36 working days
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted online by pressing the "Apply Now" button no later than 10th of December, 2014. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: dumitru.vasilescu@undp.org. UNDP will respond by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants.
Supporting Documents: Terms of Reference Individual Consultant Procurement Notice Personal History Form (P11) UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Contacts:

Mr. Dumitru Vasilescu.

Background

Human development in Moldova: snapshot

According to 2014 GHDR, Moldova’s HDI value for 2013 was 0.663[1] - - positioning the country in the medium human development category at 114 out of 187 countries and territories. Between 1990 and 2013, Moldova’s HDI value increased from 0.645 to 0.663, an increase of 2.8 percent or an average annual increase of about 0.12 percent. The country may have achieved higher HDI, but mainly due to the income component of the HDI, the progress made is insufficient, particularly compared to other CIS countries. When discounting Moldova HDI for inequality, the HDI falls to 0.582, a loss of 12.2 percent due to inequality in the distribution of the dimension indices. Poverty, decent jobs, rural vs. urban divide in terms of development, uneven access to some social services, social exclusion of certain groups of population and their structural vulnerability, all negatively affect some positive MDG-related achievements. Although poverty decreased steadily in the recent years, around 84% of all poor reside in rural areas and the situation has in fact been worsening. Rural households are still much dependent on remittances and incomes from traditional agriculture, thus extremely vulnerable to external factors and climate shocks. The recent economic growth was largely jobless, as shown by the rather stagnating number of new jobs available on the local labour market in Chisinau and almost inexistent new jobs in the regions. The development of the labour market is to a large extent slow, vast majority of available jobs being concentrated in Chisinau, while the offer in the regions is poor or inexistent.

Strategic setting and links to UNPF, Moldova 2020 and other sector strategies

People’s resilience in face of multiple vulnerabilities can be improved through pro-active public policies as well as by investing in capabilities of the people and enlarging their choices. In Moldova, as the post-2015 national consultations showed, many people see high energy and food prices, climate-related threats, emigration and ageing of populations, as major challenges in the future[2]. Taken into account all of the above, the current UNPF rightly points three pillars for joint UN interventions to support the democratic governance and justice, human development and social inclusion and environment, climate change and disaster risk management. Under Pillar 2, sustained interventions should aim at more access to people to sustainable regional development, economic opportunities, including through innovation and in agriculture, and decent work. Such interventions shall tackle in a comprehensive way the reasons for such high concentration of poverty in rural areas, while at same time take into consideration the existing urban poverty and key constraints for sustainable job creation and innovation in broader sense in both areas. As identified in UNPF, key reasons for rural poverty are low employment opportunities, high job insecurity, limited access and opportunities for inclusive economic development at local level, poor management of migration flows, savings and remittances, low-productivity agriculture sector with outdated technologies and knowledge, but also very limited capacities of the LPAs to promote entrepreneurship, deliver high-quality services to citizens, including some basis public services, among others. Urban poverty represents an under-researched domain and UNDP will conduct a thorough analysis to identify key drivers and solutions to overcome the current negative trend. The current Project will be connected to such analytical endeavors, so that to maximize positive effects of the activities to be implemented.

Scope of work

The project will contract an National Consultant to support the development of the Baseline Study for the promotion of innovations in business start-up and development in line with the provisions of the National Strategy on Innovations (2013-2020) and in the framework of the preparatory activities conducted for the implementation of the Innovative Business Development for Local Sustainable Economic Growth Project of UNDP Moldova.

The expert will provide support to the team leader for preparing the mapping exercises, develop questionnaires and other instruments for collecting data and plan for consultative process (4 w/d); Provide support, including logistics, to the mapping and detailed analysis of the key partners and projects (5 w/d); Support the mapping of private sector/SMEs to identify existing/perceived cross-cutting contraints and bottlenecks in promoting innovations in OECD terms and modern business conduct (7 w/d); provide analytical inputs for the development and consultation of the detailed concepts for the Business Innovations Lab, Business Matching Forum and Grants schemeș provide support for organizing consultative meetings (10 w/d); provide analytical inputs and support for the development and consultation of the M&E framework for the current project (5 w/d); provide support for the team leader for consultation of the Baseline study (2 w/d); provide organizational support for the public presentation of the Baseline study in front of key stakeholders on the Advisory Board (2 w/d) . 

Requirements for experience

Academic Qualification

• Master degree in Economics, Social Science or other relevant fields;

Experience

• At least 5 years of proven analytical skills and previous experience in policy analysis, development of comprehensive analytical reports in socio-economic field; previous extensive experience in drafting regulatory acts and laws, experience in conducting extensive national level consultations for validation of draft legislative documents would be an advantage;
• In-depth knowledge of the national innovations system in the Republic of Moldova; knowledge of the regional best practices and relevant similar projects is an advantage;
• Knowledge of the EU regulations, including institutional, legal and policy frameworks, in the area of innovation and technological transfer is an advantage;

Competencies

• Strong analytical and drafting skills.
• Ability to analyse, plan, communicate effectively with stakeholders and present ideas clearly and effectively.
• Excellent communication and teamwork skills.
• Demonstrated interpersonal and diplomatic skills.
• Ability to enter new environments, adapt quickly and produce immediate results.
• Computer literacy - competent user of Microsoft Office programs.

Language requirements

• Fluency in written and spoken English. Knowledge of Romanian or Russian would be an asset.

Documents to be included

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• Proposal: explaining why they are the most suitable for the work;

• Financial proposal; in (USD, specifying a total lump sum amount and the number of anticipated working days); 

• Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references.

 

Financial proposal

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR.  In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals the financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including fee, taxes, travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days).

Travel

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel.  In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

 

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