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Tender Details
- Country: Albania
- Summary: Consultant to Develop a Resource Mobilization Strategy 2017-2021
- ALT Ref No: 30864471
- Deadline: 05 Mar 2019
- Competition: ICB
- Financier: United Nations Secretariat
- Purchaser Ownership: -
- Tender Value: Refer Document
- Notice Type: Tender
- Document Ref. No.:
- Purchaser's Detail :
- Description :
- Tenders are invited for Consultant to Develop a Resource Mobilization Strategy 2017-2021 for the United Nations in Albania. Background The joint Government- UN development assistance framework called Programme of Cooperation for Sustainable Development (UNDAF) 2017-2021 is currently under implementation. This strategic framework presents how the UN in Albania would respond to national development priorities, including European Union integration, in line with Albania-s National Strategy for Development and Integration 2015-2020 and Agenda2030. The PoCSD implementation until 2021 requires an estimated total budget of USD 109 million broken down into core funds USD 15 million (14%), secured non-core resources USD 22.5 million (21%), and resources to be mobilized (funding gap) USD 71 million (65%)[1]. Rolling biennial Outcome-level joint work plans operationalize the PoCSD, underpinned by both core resources from UN agencies as well as mobilized resources (individually and jointly through the UN Albania One Fund - Coherence Fund) also identifying the annual funding gap. However, non-core resources make up almost 70-80% of UN Albania-s available annual budget, which highlights the importance of resource mobilization for successful PoCSD implementation. The current trend (2017-2018 data) shows higher resources (core and non-core) mobilized towards Outcome 2- Social Cohesion covering 47% of the initially estimated 5-year total UNDAF budget for this outcome, while resources for the other outcomes cover between 30% to 38% of the relevant 5-year initially estimated total outcome budget. (see Annex 1 for the 5-year initial estimation of UN agencies resources towards the implementation of the UNDAF 2017-2021 as well as the 2017 actual budget and expenditures). The UN Albania One Fund established in 2007, and re-branded in 2018 as the Albania SDG Acceleration Fund[2], has been an important source of funding, amounting annually to approximately 15% of the total non-core resources. Since 2007 total receipts by the Fund amount to USD $ 39 million. In the early years this fund received multiple unearmarked contributions from the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, EU, United Kingdom and other donors as well as global funding from the Delivering Results Together Fund. Since 2015, however, funding has declined and averaged only USD 2 million per year in tightly earmarked investments. Currently, the Government of Sweden[3] and the Government of Switzerland are contributing to the Fund as a vehicle for supporting joint UN action in line with the PoCSD, earmarked for gender equality and social inclusion programmes respectively.[4] On the government side, financial support has been slowly growing, and they were in 2017 the fifth largest non-core[5] contributor (USD$ 1,779,178) to UN programmes in country. However, although real GDP growth is projected to be a relatively strong 3.6% in 2018/2019 and although Albania has been classified officially as an upper-middle income country since 2012, Government cost-sharing is significantly lower than other countries in the sub-region, of approximately 9.3% of the total 2017 PoCSD budget . A high level of debt constrains the government-s financial flexibility. Nevertheless, Government has committed to contribute in the SDG Accelerator Fund, starting with USD $500,000 in 2018, and the UN is advocating for matching contributions from development partners in support of SDGs in the country. To date, the private sector has not contributed significantly to financial resource mobilization in Albania, although some efforts at crowd-funding have been made by individual agencies. In light of the above, UN in Albania is taking action to mobilize require funds and to build the necessary partnerships in order to collectively provide timely assistance in a wide range of issues. Justification In light of the above background, the UNCT is seeking to develop a resource mobilization strategy to take into account the following: - lessons from past and current resource mobilization efforts - a changing donor landscape in Albania as well as globally - a changing environment focused on Agenda2030 and SDGs in the country in synergy with the EU accession process - a desire to diversify funding sources beyond the limited number of traditional donors - the current workplanning process for the PoCSD (i.e. how to use the cycle of Outcome workplanning, activity pipeline, prioritization and gap analysis to help raise the required resources) - synergies and/or complementariness between the priority areas of the PoCSD with NSDI 2015-2020 and EU integration agenda to identify potential contributors and associated strategies for engaging them - UN comparative advantage in the country as a multilateral partner to Government with access to global expertise - UN Development System reform, in particular its emphasis on SDGs, pooled funding, encouragement to establish local SDG funds, links to the Global SDG Fund, the 'funding compact' associated with UN reform, and evolving accountability frameworks /processes within and between the RC and UNCT - opportunities arising from non-traditional sources of funding including blended finance/relevant alternative financing sources in the country. Because the financing gap in achieving the SDGs is estimated to be in the trillions, the development community has been focusing on innovative finance for the past several years. What are possible models for Albania and UN to consider: Some options could be included but not limited to the following: - Blended Finance and Public Private Partnerships Blended finance refers to a strategic combination of public, private, and charitable funds, where limited public or philanthropic resources attract and mobilize private capital to sectors or areas with high development impacts. Evidence shows that investments by the public sector or multilaterals can give private sector investors- confidence to fund otherwise risky ventures. Because blended approaches allow projects to have an expanded financial base, they allow for substantial additional investment that would not have otherwise been realized. A World Economic Forum survey of 74 blended finance instruments found that “every dollar of public money invested typically attracts a further $1-20 in private investment.” - Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are a sub-set of blended finance instruments. PPPs bring all relevant players on a complex issue together in one fora, to create a shared vision and commit to investing or otherwise intervening in coordinated ways. For one example of a Public-Private Partnerships gone right, see Rockefeller Foundation President Judith Rodin-s talk (minute 13:45 for the overview and minute 33:34 for the example of rural electrification in India). - New financing instruments: As pointed out by the OECD-s Angel Gurria, moving global development finance “from billions to trillions” requires developing the right instruments to access private capital. Sukuk or other Islamic Financial Sukuk, the sharia- compliant bond designed for Islamic banks is an option for Islamic countries. Any such options available for Albania context. Addressing the above, the UN in Albania seeks a qualified international consultant to develop a Resource Mobilization[6] Strategy to accompany the PoCSD 2017-2021, responsive to UN Albania-s strategic vision, objectives, and results-orientation as embodied in the PoCSD 2017-2021 and in line with NSDI 2015-2020, EU accession objectives, Agenda2030 and SDGs. It will serve to reduce competition among United Nations bodies for resources, while improving cooperation on the basis of comparative advantages in resource mobilization. Equally important, this strategy will feed into the preparation of the upcoming UNDAF 2022-2026 for Albania. It should also feed into the Government's preparatory thinking for the development of its next national development plan as well as the EU's preparations for IPA 3. [1] PoCSD 2017-2021 https://www.un.org.al/publications/programme-cooperation-sustainable-development-un-sustainable-development-framework-2017 [2] http://www.un.org.al/news/government-albania-and-un-launch-sustainable-development-goals-acceleration-fund [3] For an independent evaluation by Sida of the use of the One Fund for its programming in Albania on gender equality, see http://www.un.org.al/publications/evaluation-swedish-support-one-un-albania-gender-equality-work-2012-2017 [4] For details on One Fund / SDG Acceleration Fund, see Chapter 3 in 2017 Annual Progress Report http://www.un.org.al/publications/2017-progress-report [5] The largest six donors contributing to the PoCSD in 2017 were EU, the governments of Switzerland and Sweden, GEF, and the governments of Albania and Italy. [6] The documents will be aligned to UNDG Guidance note on Resource Mobilization https://undg.org/document/undg-guide-to-joint-resource-mobilization/ Duties and Responsibilities The ultimate aim of this consultancy is to effectively develop a Resource Mobilization Strategy 2017-2021 to ensure the UN in Albania has the necessary resources required to jointly achieve results and meet the funding targets of the PoCSD 2017-2021, in support of NSDI/EU integration and contribution to Agenda2030 and SDGs. The Resource Mobilization and Partnership Strategy will be an operational tool that speaks directly to the unfunded portion of the PoCSD 2017-2021, as well as to possible Albania emerging priorities that request for joint UN support. Given the current aid/growth context in Albania and perceptions by partners of the comparative advantage of the UN, it will provide an assessment of how much can realistically be mobilized, what sources should be pursued, and how
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Purchaser : UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
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