Guided by the UNDP’s Strategic Plan as well as SDGs/Agenda 2030 and the African Union Agenda 2063, the Inclusive Growth Team (IGT) of the UNDP Regional Service Centre for Africa (RSCA) supports 46 countries across sub-Saharan Africa and works with the regional partners as they formulate and implement national development plans for the achievement of SDGs.

Within its Inclusive Growth portfolio, the Team focuses on eradication of poverty, reduction of inequalities, building resilience to crises and shocks, socio-economic empowerment of marginalized groups and communities as well as accelerating economic structural transformation through extension of social protection, improving productivity, diversifying production, and taking advantage of domestic and regional trade (including via The African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA)). These objectives are articulated in the Regional Programme for Africa (2018-2021) and The Africa Bureau Strategic Offer for Africa (2021).

We offer an integrated package of solutions in response to complex developmental issues spanning economic, social, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. Our services include policy and technical advisory, knowledge production and brokerage, resource mobilization and advocacy.  

To enhance our ability to deliver on the above objectives, UNDP RBA  invites candidates to send their applications for inclusion in a Vetted Roster of external experts. The process of including candidates in the Expert Roster is described in the later sections of this advertisement.

To be considered for inclusion in the roster, applications would need to demonstrate expertise in one or more of the following thematic areas of work:

Expertise Area 1: UN Sustainable Development Goals and AUC Agenda 2063:

• Experience and in-depth knowledge in supporting Member States with integrated development planning and management at national and sub-national level, including designing and management of the entire process;
• Experience and in-depth knowledge in supporting the Member States on mainstreaming of the 2030 agenda for sustainable development and the 2063 Agenda for the Africa we want in development plans, budgets, and statistical systems across “whole of society”;
• Experience and in-depth knowledge in undertaking analytics in SDG investment and policy trade-offs, identifying synergies and facilitating related dialogues to inform SDG acceleration;
• Experience and in-depth knowledge in curating data and knowledge to inform development planning and management;
• Experience and in-depth knowledge in support Member States in SDG reporting, including SDG Indicator Reports, SDG Budget Reports, Voluntary National Review etc.;
• Experience and in-depth knowledge in supporting Member States with capacities to communicate the value add of SDGs in the management of a country's development and as a vehicle for citizen's voice in the management of global development.

Expertise Area 2: Social Protection:

• Expertise in social protection (discourse and practice), social and economic policy, social inclusion, poverty, and vulnerability dynamics in the sub-Saharan African countries;
• Knowledge of the role of the non-state actors (such as community-based organizations, cooperatives, remittances) in the delivery of social protection (‘informal social protection’); 
• Experience in support of social protection strategies to achieve structural transformation and economic empowerment in rural and urban contexts;
• Experience in support of social protection strategies and solutions to achieve social inclusion and empowerment of marginalized groups;
• Experience in support of shock-responsive social protection strategies;
• Experience in adaptive social protection or social protection to address climate change;
• Expertise in digital solutions for social protection (e.g., design of social registries, application of big data for programme design and delivery; mobile technology for targeting and disbursements, etc.);
• Expertise in compilation and analysis of quantitative social protection data;
• Expertise in compilation and analysis of qualitative social protection data.

Expertise Area 3: Area-based Development approaches with a focus on local economic and community-centered development: 

• Have strong knowledge of area-based development approaches including local economic development (LED) and community-centered development both in theory and practice;
• Knowledge of systems and integrated approaches to addressing the multidimensional challenges and opportunities to promote local development that is prosperous, inclusive, sustainable, and resilient; 
• Some experience in designing areas-based development or local economic development or community-based development programmes or approaches in Africa, and particularly from a portfolio and systems perspective;
• Good understanding of micro-macro links for scaling-up proven area/local based development approaches;
• Proven experience with Decentralized Cooperation and other partnership cooperation modalities.

Expertise Area 4: Design of development strategies, plans and policies:

• Strong knowledge in areas related to development economics, with particular emphasis on poverty and inequality reduction, inclusive growth;
• Expertise in the formulation of policies for the structural transformation of economies;
• Experience in formulating emergence plans and industrial policies;
• Experience and knowledge in private sector development and engagement in Africa;
• Understanding and knowledge of Inclusive Business, Value Chains Development, Value Chain Greening, SME Development, Inclusive Finance, Impact Investment, Trade, and Investment;
• Innovative approaches/experience on global development issues, such as regional trade and supply chain promotion;
• Strong skills in research, analytical and conceptual thinking; ability to synthesize complex concepts and material into clear and concise thoughts;
• Experience in and knowledge of Public Private Dialogue (PPD) mechanisms and multi-stakeholder partnerships and platforms in developing countries, including experience in the design, facilitation, and operation of PPDs, multi-partnerships and platforms;
• Experience in and knowledge of economic recovery from impact of crisis and shocks;
• Practical experience in conducting research, mappings, collecting and analyzing data;
• Proven experience in developing knowledge products and presenting data and information;
• Knowledge of and practical experience in the use of data and technologies for private sector engagement.

Expertise Area 5: African Continental Free Trade Agreement:

• Experience in developing innovative competitive export trade offers for the benefit of women and youth owned businesses promoting youth empowerment, gender equality and inclusion of women and youth in implementation of the AfCFTA;
• Capacity to develop a trade - related AfCFTA tool kit in support for trade competitiveness enhancement with a focus on SMEs that are Women and Youth-owned;
• Experience in working with private sector entities, Chambers of Commerce, export promotion agencies and sub regional Business Councils to build networks for promotion of value chains for AfCFTA utilization;
• Good experience in partnership building and resource mobilization;
• Capacity to Identify and monitor market trends in the AfCFTA and identify new and dynamic opportunities, especially for Women and Youth - owned enterprises of relevance to exporters;
• Experience in engaging exporter groups on market and industry-specific insights to obtain intelligence on priorities and challenges – and ensure feedback loops for exporter associations;
• Knowledge of the networks of Pan-African export and competitiveness institutions and ability to create with them entry points and collaborative platforms on market research and business intelligence in support of the use of AfCFTA.

Expertise Area 6: The Informal Economy:

• Knowledge of the diverse development constraints and challenges related to the informal economy in Africa;
• Solid experience in (innovative) development-oriented research as related to the informal economy in different country contexts in Africa;
• Sound knowledge and experience of developing integrated approaches to address the diverse development constraints and challenges related to the informal economy in Africa;
• Capacity to communicate fluently with different stakeholders (civil society, government authorities, local communities, UN staff);
• Capacity to work in multicultural settings and engage with a diverse set of partners and stakeholders including Government, development, and community and business organizations and associations;
• Hands-on research and practical experience working with civil society, local communities and/or vulnerable groups on the theme of the informal economy is an asset.

Interested candidates are advised to carefully review this advertisement, the procurement notice, and ToR attached here and ensure that they meet the requirements and qualifications required.

Applications should include:

• A cover letter, clearly identifying the “Areas of Expertise and Sub-Expertise” as mentioned in the background section above.
• Updated Personal CV and Personal Information Form (PIF) , including past experience from similar projects, and email, telephone, and any other contact details for references.
• Daily professional Fee. This can be indicated on the cover letter 

Additional Information::

• This call for experts is not linked to other UNDP rosters or to a specific UNDP recruitment opportunity.
• The purpose of this call for experts is to add additional experts to the UNDP RBA Experts Roster. As a result, Candidates who have previously been vetted and maintained in UNDP RBA Roster/s are not required to apply.
• Due to the large number of applications we receive, we are only able to inform the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.
• Interested individual consultants can submit the above documents (Cover letter,CV and the PIF from ) in one of the following two addresses;
  • UNDP Jobs site/ UNDP Jobs / ; OR ;
  • procurement.rsca@undp.org

For any clarifications please write to Mr. Getachew Araya at:- rsca.icroster@undp.org

For detailed information, please refer to Annex 1- Terms of Reference.