BACKGROUND The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) is the United Nations’ flagship catalytic financing entity for the world’s 45 least developed countries (LDCs). With its unique capital mandate and focus on the LDCs, UNCDF works to invest and catalyse capital to support these countries in achieving the sustainable growth and inclusiveness envisioned by the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Doha Programme of Action for the least developed countries, 2022–2031. UNCDF builds partnerships with other UN organizations, as well as private and public sector actors, to achieve greater impact in development, specifically by unlocking additional resources and strengthening financing mechanisms and systems contributing to transformation pathways, focusing on such development themes as green economy, digitalization, urbanization, inclusive economies, gender equality, and women’s economic empowerment. A hybrid development finance institution and development agency, UNCDF uses a combination of capital instruments (deployment, financial and business advisory and catalysation) and development instruments (technical assistance, capacity development, policy advice, advocacy, thought leadership, and market analysis and scoping), which are applied across five priority areas (inclusive digital economies, local transformative finance, women’s economic empowerment, climate, energy, and biodiversity finance, and sustainable food systems finance). More information on UNCDF may be found in this link : https://www.uncdf.org/ PROJECT CONTEXT The EU-Ghana Pact for Skills is a comprehensive programme financed by the European Union (EU). This programme has four Specific Objectives (S.O.):  S.O. 1: Enhanced sustainable financing of TVET and policy coherence across skills-development programmes and environmental policies.  S.O. 2: Increased relevance and availability of competency-based training (CBT) programmes to respond to labour market needs, including for digital and green transitions, and notably in regions of origin of migration.   S.O. 3: Better transition of students in tertiary education into the job market, mainly in green and digital sectors, and notably in regions of origin of migration.  S.O. 4: Increased effectiveness of employment services to facilitate a smoother transition into the job market in Ghana and abroad, notably for potential and returning migrants.  The UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) will implement S.O.3: Better transition of students in tertiary education into the job market, mainly in green and digital sectors, and notably in regions of origin of migration. The outputs of the project for S.O. 3 are:  Output 1 Strengthened coordination mechanisms for tertiary education institutions with the private sector and increased policy dialogue;  Output 2 Increased training packages on digital skills and availability of modern workplace and employability services;  Output 3 Enhanced acceleration and incubation services within Academic Centre of excellence[1].   In this context, UNCDF is seeking to hire a consultant to provide strategic guidance and expertise to the project in line with best practice and international standards. Scope of Services This opportunity is for International Consultant. S/he will be responsible to deliver the following outputs: RELATED TO OUTPUT 1 (Strengthen coordination mechanisms for tertiary education institutions with the private sector and increase policy dialogue): Facilitating the collaboration between TEIs, private sector and the government to inform planning and programme design; Facilitating the collaboration between TEIs and the private sector; Facilitating the collaboration between TEIs and global tech platforms. RELATED TO OUTPUT 2 (Increased training packages and availability of modern workplace (Employment stream):       Supporting the design and implementation of training programmes for selected priority occupations; Supporting TEI to improve their workplace and employability services. To ensure the delivery of the above mentioned outputs, the consultant is required to carry out desk review, one to one or group consultations as well as coordination with relevant stakeholders. Expected outputs / deliverables and payments terms Please see attached Terms of Reference for details on the deliverables and percentages. Institutional Arrangements The Consultant will work under the operational guidance and supervision of the Technical Specialist/Project Manager for EU-Ghana Pact for Skills. S/he will perform the tasks above in coordination/cooperation with the EU-Ghana Pact for Skills team. The deliverables will be approved by the Technical Specialist/Project Manager for EU-Ghana Pact for Skills.   The consultant will engage with the stakeholders based on a detailed workplan to be submitted at the inception phase and agree on the frequency for updating and reporting. Duration of work The consultancy is expected to be for 180 working days (from the date of starting the assignment) spread over the period between January until December 2025. Duty station This assignment is  home-based. If project requires on site visit, UNCDF will take care of the travel costs. Qualifications of the Successful Individual Consultant Education Master’s Degree or equivalent in education, economics or public administration, public policy or related field or Bachelor Degree in the above mentioned areas with additional 2 years of experience in lieu of Masters  Experience: Minimum 10 years of experience in school to work transition and employability at international level Minimum 10 years of experience in providing technical assistance and oversight to higher education institutions within multi-stakeholder programmes Experience in projects focused on facilitating multi actor working groups including government, private sector and academia with implementation of clear action plans  Exposure to Ghanaian tertiary education system   Experience in documenting lessons learned for wider dissemination Core Competencies: Compliance with UN Core Values Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards; Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNCDF; Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability. Treats all people fairly without favoritism. Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment. The interested offeror must read the Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice, which can be viewed athttps://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_negotiation.cfm?nego_id=6784 for more detailed information about terms of references, instructions for the offeror, and to download the documents to be submitted in the offer online. Language Requirement: Full fluency in written and spoken English is required. Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments The consultant must send a financial offer based on the list of deliverables The financial proposal must make use of the standard template for Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability as attached to this Terms of Reference. The consultant shall quote an “all- inclusive” Daily Fee for the contract period. The term “all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, consumables, etc.) that could be incurred in completing the assignment are already factored into the daily fee submitted in the proposal. Payments will be made based on the agreed financial proposal (contract is deliverable based) and released upon submission of a certificate of payment request, indicating deliverables achieved and days worked to be verified and cleared for payment by the supervisor. The consultant shall receive his/her lump sum service fees upon certification of the completed tasks satisfactorily, as per the attached Terms of Reference. The target due dates for payments are fixed and any need for change or extension must be initiated by the consultant, justified and be subjected to mutual agreement by SGAC and the ASEAN Secretariat. The contract price is fixed regardless of changes in the cost components. Recommended presentation of offer To be considered, the consultant must send the following documents: CV or P11 for ICs, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references; Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template, which also contains the financial proposal of the consultant; Brief description of why the consultant considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a methodology on how s/he will approach and complete the assignment; Financial proposal. The financial proposal shall specify a lump sum amount that is inclusive of  professional fees and other incidentals that the consultant expects to incur during the performance of the work. For this purpose, please complete and submit the Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability, which should be sent separately to [email protected]  Criteria for selection of the best offer Step I: Screening: Applications will be screened and only applicants meeting the mandatory criteria will progress to the pool for shortlisting. Mandatory criteria: Master’s Degree or equivalent in education, economics or public administration, public policy or related field or Bachelor Degree in the above mentioned areas with additional 2 years of experience in lieu of Masters  At least 10 years of experience in school to work transition and employability at international level  Step II: Shortlisting by desk review (70% of technical assessment) A desk review will be conducted to produce a shortlist of applicants according to the criteria listed below. Only applicants who obtain over 70% in this stage shall be invited for the next step. Technical Evaluation Criteria Obtainable Score Experience in school to work transition and employability at international level (30) Experience in providing technical assistance and oversight to higher education institutions within multi-stakeholder programmes (25) Experience in projects focused on facilitating multi actor working groups including government, private sector and academia with implementation of clear action plans (20) Exposure to Ghanaian tertiary education system (15) Experience in documenting lessons learned for wider dissemination (10) TOTAL (100) Step III: Financial Evaluation (30 points). Only applicants who obtain a minimum of 70% at the desk review will be considered as technically qualified and will be reviewed further for financial evaluation. The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal: lowest priced proposal/price of the proposal being evaluated x 30%. Award Criteria The contact shall be awarded to the applicant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as: Responsive/ compliant/ acceptable. Having received the highest combined weight (technical scores) 70% + financial 30%= 100%. Please see attached the Terms of Reference for a full descriptions of the requirements.