Provision of professional services in relation to the report of the Secretary-General to the Sec ...

In PRST/2022/6 dated 31 August 2022 on capacity building in Africa, the Security Council requested that the Secretary-General provide a report, no later than 30 April 2023 on predictable, sustainable, and flexible resources for African Union-led peace support operations (AU PSOs). The report of the Secretary-General is expected to inform recommendations to and decisions by the relevant UN intergovernmental bodies on the future AU PSOs. Drafting the report will require attention to a number of key issues, including support provided to past and present African PSOs, normative and doctrinal considerations, financing, capacity and capabilities gaps in the African Union and T/PCCs, compliance framework and accountability as well as safety and security. The report will further provide an opportunity to review mechanisms used to date to finance and support AU PSOs, taking into account the evolving security context; examine the benefits, limitations and modalities of possible new options to finance and support AU PSOs and develop options for more systematic burden-sharing between the AU and UN for different types of peace and security challenges affecting the continent. In response to similar requests from the Security Council (through presidential statement PRST/2015/22 and resolution 2320 (2016)), the African Union and the United Nations conducted joint reviews in 2016 and 2017 on available mechanisms to finance and support African Union peace operations authorized by the Security Council (A/71/410-S/2016/809 and S/2017/454). The forthcoming report has the potential to revitilize dialogue that would inform member States decision-making on outstanding issues related to the financing of African Union-led peace support operations. It also offers an opportunity for the African Union to advance discussions on the financing of its peace and security activities and provide an update on the operationalization of the Peace Fund and the development of frameworks that support accountability, transparency, and compliance. DPPA-DPO is seeking a vendor to draft the requested report of the Secretary-General, which will not exceed 8,500 words in length. The vendor is expected to have relevant qualififcation and experience with the 2016 and 2017 joint reviews, in-depth and direct experience in the areas of United Nations-African Union partnership, mission support and financing of African Union-led PSOs, and associated United Nations intergovernmental processes; familiarity with qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection; the ability to independently design and manage multi-stakeholder consultations; and a track record of excellent drafting and analytical capacities, as well as an ability to undertake travel on official mission for high-level consultations. The vendor will ensure that the joint report reflects the perspectives and contributions of all relevant UN entities within the Secretariat as well as key field offices; that the relevant entities within the African Union Commission are consulted in order to present a balanced assessment of the status of implementation of resolutions 2320 (2016) and 2379 (2017) and to generate the most timely and relevant observations and recommendations for consideration by the Security Council.