The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in partnerships with the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and with the financial support from European Union (EU) has designed a four-year (2022-2025) project to unlock the potential of informal economy for inclusive growth. The informal economy is a dominant feature of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of (ACP countries), representing a significant share of the economy and employment in the respective countries. Despite providing employment and income opportunities for many, informal economy employment is generally characterized by low productivity, low income, and high levels of poverty.

The project will be implemented in partnerships with different key stakeholders including International Labor Organization (ILO).  It adopts various innovative approaches such as an ecosystem development approach at various levels. At the national level, it will develop and support implementation of favorable regulatory conditions and relevant incentives for businesses to formalize;  address non-regulatory bottlenecks at the level of informal firms, themselves, among which issues pertaining to lack of awareness and capacity in terms of business skills, financial and digital literacy to adopt available tools to improve productivity and enhance access to finance and to markets; and  intervene at the level of key intermediaries in the informal sector ecosystem, in particular aggregators (cooperatives and incubators) and financial intermediaries to create these favorable conditions.

The informal economy ecosystem is composed of different inter-connected and interdependent stakeholders whose actions eventually influence informal enterprises’ ability to operate: the existence of gaps within the functioning of the ecosystem hinders this ability. At the sectoral level, the project shall support the establishment of collective action platform in the agriculture Sector with particular focus on the cocoa sub-sector in the Solomon Islands to identify and address systemic gaps at a localized level to augment the overall project interventions for increased impact.

Key to the platform’s activities is the establishment of a collective action plan which will be built on the basis of the information produced in the Baseline Assessment sectoral case study. The action plan will aim at structuring collective action from stakeholders, and mobilise their collective resources, including their expertise, and where possible in-kind or financial resources, to address the critical ecosystem gaps identified. The project will also support the workplan implementation with complementary resources actions aimed at addressing identified gaps on a selective basis through the implementation of the Ecosystem Award. Aggregators and other relevant technical institutions (research institutions, technical agencies) will be called to submit proposals on approaches and interventions to address the ecosystem gaps identified, the implementation of selected solutions will be facilitated with the provision of Ecosystem Grants.

UNDP Solomon Islands is looking for the services of a national Collective Action Platform Analyst to support the functioning of the Cocoa Sub-Sector Collective Action Platform. The Platform Analyst will be responsible for coordination of stakeholders including governments, financial institutions, Civil society organizations (CSOs), the private sector (informal enterprises, research institutions, academia and producer organizations, associations to improve and support implementation of activities of the platform including implementation, monitoring of the platform action plan, and mobilizing additional resources. S/he is expected to be knowledgeable about multi-stakeholder coordination, have a good understanding of the country’s agriculture sector with focus on the cocoa sub-sector landscape and experiences in dealing with key public and private stakeholders and have technical knowledge on private sector development and engagement.

Under the overall guidance of the UNDP Solomon Islands Country Manager/Deputy Resident Representative and the direct supervision of the National Project Coordinator and platform stakeholders, the Platform Analyst will be responsible for facilitating the collective action platform activities, provide secretariat services, support partnerships and resources mobilization with the following key tasks:

Coordination / Partnership Management

• Undertake platform secretariat activities to operationalize (planning, implementation, partnership management, document management) the platform and ensure that the platform is operational/ functioning including the governance structure, partnership agreements, vision, and collaborative action plan.
• Promote and advocate for the development / strengthening platform; and act as a first point of contact for platform stakeholders.
• In consultation with stakeholders organize, coordinate, and facilitate platform meetings.
• Establishes, promotes, and build effective partnerships through regular interactions with project stakeholders and share information transparently across the whole network, including by updating the platform website as well as the stakeholder mapping and database.
• Ensure engagement of platform stakeholders in the planning and implementation of platform activities; with a view to strengthening and implementing recommended sector strengthening approaches.
• To manage the project output in accordance with project documents, work plans and budgets and ensure that work is consistent with UNDP output 4 implementation strategy.
• Develop concept notes for platform activities, and Terms of Reference (ToRs) for consultants as may be required.
• Proactively engage with regulators and key stakeholders to improve the enabling environment to deliver platform development and expansion opportunities.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting

• Monitor the work of the platform against the collaborative action plan, follow up to ensure successful implementation of platform activities, and hold platform members accountable for the delivery of work plan’s outputs.
• Develop platform technical reporting mechanisms and prepare platform progress reports.
• Organize annual reviews of the performance of the platform based on the agreed-upon interventions
• Identify and support development and dissemination of knowledge products, best practices and lessons learnt from the platform and platform activities.
• In collaboration with stakeholder contribute to the Learning outcomes as per the donor requirements.
• Monitor the implementation of decisions made by the platform stakeholders.

Facilitate Capacity Building Initiatives

• Facilitate appropriate platform capacity development interventions including trainings, mentorship and coaching programs for different stakeholder.
• Support key stakeholders to contribute to state-wide and national policy development in relation to the platform that should contribute to business growth and international competitiveness and transformation of informal actors to formal sector.
• Building the visibility and profile of the platform by promoting its role within and across the sector in the transformation of the informal economy.
• Identifying key strategic pathways (directions and relationships) to leverage initiatives and resources to maximise the impact of the platform’s role to support transformation of the informal economy and increase stakeholder competitiveness in the sector.
• Proactively engage with regulators and key stakeholders to improve the enabling environment to deliver platform development and expansion opportunities.

Provision of effective administrative support to achieve the following in close consultation with the National Project Coordinator:

• Implementation of the project annual workplan.
• Facilitate travel and logistical arrangements for workshops, trainings, visiting missions and field visits.
• Timely provision of support to procure goods and services required by the project, in liaison with relevant staff of UNDP.
• Review of financial reports, vendor’s approval in Quantum, preparation of non-PO invoices.
• Maintain the internal expenditures control system to ensure that invoices processed are matched and completed, transactions are correctly recorded and posted in Quantum.
• Make timely corrective actions on unposted invoices, including the invoices with budget check errors, match exceptions, unapproved invoices.
• Creation of requisitions in Quantum for projects, registration of goods receipt in Quantum.
• Making budget check for requisitions, Purchase Orders and invoices.