Poverty Expert (Africa) - OIC-COMCEC Poverty Study

Background

COMCEC Coordination Office (the Ministry of Development) requested UNDP Turkey to conduct a study entitled “Enhancing Productive Capacity of the Poor in the COMCEC Member Countries through Improving Human Capital” which will be submitted to the Working Group Meeting on Poverty Alleviation. This study will serve as a resource document within the ‘poverty alleviation’ area covering the 57 OIC member countries, and will be linked to capacity development initiatives and programming support by COMCEC. Poverty alleviation is a key concern relating to the economic and social development in many of the COMCEC member countries. Although most of the developing countries experienced significant progress on poverty reduction and achievement of the MDGs, poverty levels are still high for a considerable number of countries. Particularly countries in Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia account for almost half of the total poor in developing countries. The recent global financial and food crises have worsened situation, strengthening the need for efficient poverty reduction policies. This review will focus on key lessons in poverty reduction, particularly from the perspective of improvements in human capital—with a special focus on income generation for poor households, vocational education, social enterprises, and active labour market policies addressing the poor. With respect to the definition of human capital and the broader definition of poverty from a multi-dimensional perspective and welfare, other areas such as health policies that strengthen poor households’ welfare will also be relevant. Similarly, any programme on education sector (formal and informal education) that improves the employability of the poor will also be relevantThe objective of this work is to prepare a comparative analytical study focusing on the experiences of 57 OIC member countries in investing on human capital for strengthened productivity/employability of the poor. This comparative assessment will be used as a reference material during the Working Group Meeting of COMCEC on Poverty Alleviation. As such this study will serve to:  Draw attention to the importance of investments on productive capacity of the poor for poverty alleviation through presenting real experiences of the member countries and sharing lessons learned on this topic. Investigate the latest trends and policies on improving human capital for enhanced productive capacity of the poor, using the data from member countries and global information that could be relevant for the member countries, with recommendations for planning and implementation of such policies in COMCEC countries in general. In this connection, this support will contribute to the COMCEC Strategy (http://www.comcec.org/UserFiles/File/28.isedak/Tum%20dokumanlar/Strategy/STRATEJI%20RAPORU-finallll%207%20kas%EF%BF%BDm.pdf) that aims at increasing the cooperation of member countries. The Strategy is based on three core principles. These principles are: Enhancing Mobility Strengthening Solidarity Improving Governance As such, the findings and recommendations of this study will also link with the above principles to the extent possible. In addition to explicitly linking with the above core principles, the study will also give due consideration to the topics such as inclusive growth, reducing inequalities, sustainable growth and continued prosperity for all, while selecting successful practices and developing recommendations.

Duties and Responsibilities

For this assignment, UNDP Turkey will recruit external consultants and will also engage Country offices in OIC member countries, Regional Bureaus and Bureau for Development Policy to the extent possible to ensure quality control and coherence. UNDP Turkey will coordinate the conduct of this study, with its mandate for strengthening Turkey’s role in international platforms. The comparative study will be prepared by the team composed of the experts, under the overall coordination and supervision of UNDP-Turkey. The poverty expert (Africa), who will be responsible for preparing the sections on the OIC countries in this region. S/he will have detailed knowledge of the African poverty context, a working language of French, and preferably good command of other African languages. S/he will cover the following 17 countries in the Africa Region: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Uganda.S/he will conduct below tasks: Will be responsible for preparing the sections on the OIC countries in the Africa group. S/he will cover the following 17 countries in the Africa Region: Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, Gabon, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Uganda S/he will provide inputs to the questionnaire prepared by the Team Leader to result in the most useful format to receive information on the countries.  S/he will conduct desk review on regional experiences as well as individual country experiences on the topic, i.e. poverty reduction experiences through investment in human capital and capabilities. S/he will collect relevant information on the country facts including poverty rates, unemployment rates and other relevant indicators according to official figures, disaggregated to the extent possible for gender, different population groups, etc. as well as the trends (e.g. 5 years) in such statistics. S/he will collect information on the major policies and projects which present a good example for the rest of the OIC member countries as well as lessons learned. In doing so, s/he will mainly use the official publications, web sites and information sources. S/he will use the prepared questionnaire, to collect country information sharing with relevant contacts including UNDP Country offices and other line ministries/government authorities to collect relevant information. In cases where it proves difficult to access such information, he will inform UNDP Turkey to find a solution. Using the 17 country reports that provide information on the poverty data of the country as well as the prominent policies and programmes that yield results in terms of enhanced capability of the poor to produce; s/he will identify any common trends and patterns in the region, with policy implications S/he will revise the relevant sections of the reports in line with the comments received from UNDP (reflecting various comments from Ministry of Development and relevant contacts in UNDP) S/he will be in direct contact with the Team Leader to provide instant inputs to the relevant sections of the report as needed S/he will deliver the country reports (2-3 pages each) for each country as well as a consolidated assessment of the experiences on human capital investment and poverty reduction in the region.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies: Demonstrates integrity by modeling 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 favoritism; Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment Functional Competencies: Ability to work under pressure and stressful situations, strong adherence to deadlines; Strong analytical skills and ability to synthesize/process information from various sources Familiarity and openness to multicultural values

Required Skills and Experience

Education: Minimum Master Degree in Economics, International Relations, Public Administration or related field. Experience: At least 7 years of proven international consultancy experience in topics including income generation, poverty reduction and research on development cooperation issues.  Good level of knowledge in regional/global trends and understanding of development topics and particularly poverty reduction.  Good level of knowledge and experience in the development challenges and experiences of the 17 countries in the Africa group.  Good level of knowledge on various international and multi-national platforms, particularly active in the Africa Region.  Prior experience with OIC and its member countries is an asset.  Prior experience in policy oriented research is an asset. Language skills: Excellent writing, editing, and oral communication skills in English as well as a working language of French.  Good command of other African languages will be an asset.   Evaluation and Application: The evaluation will be based on cumulative analysis (i.e. technical qualifications and price proposal). The weight of the technical criteria is 70%; the weight of the financial proposal is 30%. The Procurement Notice for the position can be reached at http://www.undp.org.tr/Gozlem2.aspx?WebSayfaNo=4812 . The applications made in accordance with the instructions available at the Procurement Notice will only be considered.   FC: 30071

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.

APPLY