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International Consultants to provide training(s) to national SMEs on promotion of innovations in business start-up and development (SUPPORT TO SME BUSINESS START-UP AND DEVELOPMENT TRAINING)Vacancy Number: Pr15/00948
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. The project Innovation among business start- up and SMEs in post- incubation phase is aligned to the current strategic outlook of/for UNDP at global and national level. It will consistently contribute, through the promotion of innovations and focus on sustainable impacts, towards the achievement of the Outcome (a) Growth and development are inclusive and sustainable, incorporating productive capacities that create employment and livelihoods for the poor and excluded, through adherence to the main principles of national ownership and capacity building, sustainable human development, gender equality, participation and voice, among others. Project partners identified a series of specific constraints to more entrepreneurial activity in the regions, including lack of local consultative support for promotion of innovations[2] in start-ups and business development in post-incubation phase; lack of financial instruments to match-up existing local resources in private sector for development of innovative businesses, including those graduating existing business incubators; lack of local partnerships between private and public sectors to promote investment in small and mid-sized innovative social projects, as extensions to existing innovative businesses and weak capacities of LPAs to promote innovations for business. Particularly as it regards the regions of Moldova, innovative entrepreneurship and business development is a feasible solution to address the above outlined reasons and perceived constraints so that to enhance competitiveness and increase corporate profits that can be further re-invested, create new and more sustainable jobs at community level, increase capacity of households to cope with increasing food prices through increased incomes, and minimize emigration and brain drain. Several economic sectors have untapped potential where new interventions may bring about positive results and more resilient local communities and people, in particular, HVA and green agriculture, waste management and renewable energy, IT and tourism business. Innovations’ state of play in Moldova SMEs in Moldova have rather limited access to innovations, including finance to innovate, knowledge-sharing networks, among others. This stems from underdeveloped legislative framework, inefficient usage of available resources, lack of coordination among various actors, wide spread of responsibilities between different entities, lack of comprehensive M&E framework to monitor and evaluate progress in promotion of innovations. Above all, the concept of “innovations” is yet not fully understood and interpreted in a very narrow sense, merely only in terms of patented technological improvements or scientific discoveries. The new Strategy on innovations, elaborated by the Government and supported by UNDP, brings important changes to the current set-up and the proposed policy measures are fully aligned and will support the implementation of the Moldova 2020 Strategy. Given the above, as well as a clear lack of statistical evidence on promotion of innovations up until now, it is very difficult to set specific baselines. The Strategy contains a summary of the perceived needs and identified problems, which is the main source for the baselines set in the Project’s RRF. [1] http://hdr.undp.org/en/countries/profiles/MDA [2] As understood in the National Strategy on Innovations (2013-2020) Scope of work
The main objective of the assignment is to implement the first training program for innovative SMEs on ways to promote innovations in OECD terms in SMEs by bringing-in advanced international and regional expertise. The International consultants shall support the Project management in the organisation of the first training for SMEs by providing training(s) on one of the compartments, hereafter LOT(s), and topics. The consultants shall participate in full to the entire training program as per the agenda. The training shall establish a knowledge platform for small and medium enterprises to acquire knowledge on innovation-related fields and techniques, share best-practices, engage in an open discussion on ways to spur innovations in SMEs and learn about the opportunities to be offered by the Project in co-financing innovative projects led by private sector, in line with the provisions of the Innovation Strategy. The first training programme shall be structured and include the following compartments, hereafter LOT(s), and specific topics to be tackled: LOT 1 - Insights into the innovation process and innovation promotion in SMEs. LOT 2 - From idea and prototype to market. LOT 3 – Parallel interactive workshop on Business strategies for innovations LOT 4 – Parallel interactive workshop on Managing technological challenges LOT 5 - Parallel interactive workshop on Management Issues LOT 6 - Intellectual property rights management LOT 7 - Funding for promoting innovations in SMEs LOT 8 - Internationalization strategies LOT 9 – Parallel interactive workshop on Good Practices: Entrepreneur’s View LOT 10 - Parallel interactive workshop on Good Practices: Investor’s View LOT 11 - Parallel interactive workshop on Good Practices: Government’s View Important note: International consultants shall clearly indicate the LOT(s) and specific topics they are applying for and would cover during the training. Potential candidates can consider applying to several LOTs, except for those that suggest the organization of parallel workshops! For detailed information, please refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference. Requirements for experience
I. Education:
II. Years of experience:
Competencies
Language requirements
Documents to be included
Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:
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. Recommended Structure of the Financial Offer
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Republic of Moldova 
