Hiring National Consultant: Senior Social Protection Governance Advisor

Country: Bangladesh

Description of the Assignment:  

In the area of improved governance, the UNDP and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT, Australia) are partnering with the Government of Bangladesh in significant ways, particularly in enhancing institutional development in social protection and aid effectiveness. Specifically, Social Protection Policy Support (SPPS) Programme, through expert, evidence-based support, is working with the government to reconfigure the current social security system so that economic growth is achieved more inclusively, with economic opportunities reaching the rural and urban poor and the protection of vulnerable groups including persons with disabilities (PwDs), ethnic minorities against shocks through a gender lens. The programme will assist the government in two key areas: governance of social protection and strengthening systems. This work includes enacting a national Single Registry Management Information System to improve social protection delivery, improving upon the country’s Grievance Redress System to ensure accountability and transparency, developing holistic Monitoring & Evaluation approaches to measuring social protection outcomes, strengthening Government to Person (G2P) delivery of social protection cash benefits, and identifying knowledge gaps and conducting research to fill such gaps to inform evidence-based policy decision-making. The SPPS Programme is centered on supporting the government in implementing the National Social Security Strategy (NSSS).

Objective:

The initial objectives of this assignment are to:

• The objective of the "Senior Social Protection Governance Advisor" role is to participate in the review dialogues of the national social protection programmes and identify the strengths and weaknesses of the current NSSS programmes at the grassroots level. This entails coordinating with relevant stakeholders both at the national and local levels to ensure that efficient information and data are collected and scoping for and design the future social protection interventions and a user-friendly Monitoring & Evaluation at place for piloting; national dialogues, symposium well documented; dialogues on key issues related to social insurance roadmap development including social protection programming for the migrant workers are well captured in policy briefs; scoping for better fitting the UNDP social protection portfolio within the government mechanism; and matching exercise between UNDP’s Country Office portfolio in social development in relation to the Government’s Annual Development Programme, and its implementation synergy and identify the best possible collaborative areas to support in national social development.  

Scope of work:

Under this assignment, the consultant will provide deliverable work to achieve the following tasks:

1. Attend social protection dialogues, seminars, symposiums, field visits, and interactions in local-level dialogues, and identify the gaps with existing social protection policy and plans.
2. Interact with local-level public officials and others in the dialogues and consultations, and pinpoint the improvement areas in terms of programme implementation, and user-friendly monitoring and evaluation of programmes.
3. As a team member, actively participate in the consultative dialogues and group exercises in the review of the NSIS implementation road map, and develop a proposal on the Institutionalization of NSIS in Bangladesh.
4. Engage with key ministries, collect and ensure MIS data inclusion in the M&E dashboard, and submit progress reports.
5. Compile and submit reports on outcomes from the Social Protection Conference and Knowledge Fair.
6. Access the existing digital infrastructure of NIS, NSIS, MIS, and iBAS++, ADP, and project-level data to develop a synergetic social development portfolio, identify gaps, and design a collaborative framework of cost-effective social programming and implementation in Bangladesh. Monitor and submit reports on field-based social protection programs.

Period of assignment/services: 60 working days over a period of 4 months

The proposal should be submitted directly to the portal no later than the indicated deadline.

Any request for clarification must be sent in writing via the portals messaging functionality. UNDP will respond in writing, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of the inquiry.

Please indicate whether you intend to submit a bid by creating a draft response without submitting it directly in the system. This will enable the system to send notifications in case of amendments of the tender requirements. Should you require further clarifications, kindly communicate using the messaging functionality in the system. Offers must be submitted directly in the system following this link: http://supplier.quantum.partneragencies.org  using the profile you may have in the portal. In case you have never registered before, you can register a profile using the registration link shared via the procurement notice and following the instructions in the guides available on the UNDP website: https://www.undp.org/procurement/business/resources-for-bidders.  Do not create a new profile if you already have one. Use the forgotten password feature in case you do not remember the password or the username from the previous registration.

Regards

UNDP BD

Procurement Unit