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Consultant - Team leader Local Development Planning (MDG acceleration)

5:32:00 PM

Background

Twenty five years of protracted conflict in the Chittagong Hill Tracts have left the majority of its inhabitants in conditions of extreme poverty, and tensions over land tenure, resource access, and ethno-demographics remain challenges to sustainable development. Three quarters of the population live below the national poverty line; 50% of primary-enrolled children drop out in their first few years; and it is estimated that 40% of the CHTs’ workforce is either unemployed or underemployed.
 A CHT Peace Accord was signed in December 1997 and was recognized as a significant political achievement for the region which is home to 11 distinctive indigenous groups and Bengalis. It raised high expectations that it would serve as the cornerstone of a successful peace building process and as a means for opening up new opportunities for development. Relevant institutions have been established to support this process although not all subjects as per the CHT Peace Accord have yet been transferred to them, and several parts of the Peace Accord are yet to be implemented.

In partnership with the Government, CHT communities and NGOs, UNDP supports the Promotion of Development and Confidence Building in the Chittagong Hill Tracts through the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Facility. The CHT Development Facility plays a very important role ensuring a successful peace building process and improving the development conditions of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) people. The support is focused on:
  • CHT governance institutions functioning and national systems developed in support of Peace Accord implementation;
  • Confidence is built to solve long-standing problems critical to sustainable development and peace in CHT;
  •  Economic development opportunities enhanced for CHT;
  • Literacy increased through an education scheme adapted to local context;
  •  Access to quality preventive and curative health services at the community level;
  •  Local organizations and communities empowered and their capacities enhanced to manage their own development;
With an annual budget of USD 25 million and 200 staff in five offices, the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Facility (CHTDF) is one of UNDP’s large interventions spanning across governance, peace-building and multiple sectors within one facility.
In addition to UNDP’s own resources, funds have been made available by the European Union, Canada (CIDA), Denmark (DANIDA), USA (USAID), Norway, Australia (AusAID) and the Embassy of Japan since the inception. The Facility manages the respective donor agreements within one programmatic framework.
The CHT Development Facility is led by a Director and a Senior Management Team consisting in addition of four Chiefs leading programme sections and one Chief Operations.
Expected outcome of CHTDF’s interventions with the CHT Institutions is increased capacity of these institutions to deliver services and support community development. Expected outputs are (a) Capacities of local government institutions to advocate on CHT issues strengthened, in particular implementation of the CHT Peace Accord, resulting in enhanced clarity and consensus on CHT issues, (b) Capacities of Local Government Institutions in the CHT strengthened, resulting in improved management systems for decentralized service delivery and (c) Participatory planning, budgeting, monitoring mechanisms among CHT institutions enhanced to contribute towards achievement of MDGs. 
MDG acceleration is managed by CHTDF’s Capacity Development cluster, it is an approach that leads to identification of high-impact and feasible solutions for prioritized bottlenecks, that are preventing ongoing interventions to achieve MDG targets. Outcome of MDG acceleration is direct action by all development partners, to help realize the solutions.
Local Government institutions at district (HDCs) and sub-district level (Upazila parishad) are taking the lead in the acceleration process, members of respectively District and Upazila Development Coordination Committees are participating. Members and organized in thematic task forces formed around the MDGs.
UNDP’s MDG Acceleration Framework (MAF) will be used in the MDG acceleration planning exercise, with the aim to identify high-impact and feasible solutions for prioritized bottlenecks, that are preventing ongoing interventions to achieve MDG targets. Outcome of MDG acceleration is direct action by all development partners, to help realize the solutions.
The MDG acceleration planning exercise will be conducted by a team consisting of 1 international consultant and 3 national consultants (roughly 1 consultant per district, however consultants will need to support in other districts as well).

Duties and Responsibilities

MAIN OBJECTIVES, RESPONSIBILITIES AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED ANALYTICAL WORK:
The consultancy is expected to result in the development of 3 master district MDG acceleration plans, to address the selected MDGs that rally the efforts of national and sub-national governments, and their development partners, on providing the investments and services needed to overcome identified constraints.
SCOPE OF WORK, RESPONSIBILITIES AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED ANALYTICAL WORK:
The International Consultant is based at UNDP-CHTDF Rangamati office for preparatory works, with travel to the other 2 districts for conducting workshops. Assignment does not require presence of international consultant full time. Under direct supervision of the Chief Implementation and in close coordination with Capacity Development Cluster, the International Consultant will perform the following tasks:
  • Coordinate with 3 national consultants.
  • Support to 3 expert core groups to finalize report on (1) trends/historical overview in MDG achievements, and (2) major issues on impact of ongoing services/projects
  • Preparations for 3 district workshops on “identification and prioritization bottlenecks” (includes agenda, PowerPoint presentations, notes for facilitators, but not restricted to)
  • Main facilitator of 3 district workshops on “identification and prioritizing bottlenecks”.
  • Preparations for 25 upazila workshops on “identification and prioritization bottlenecks and identification of solutions” (includes agenda, power point presentations, notes for facilitators, but not restricted to)
  • Guide 3 national consultants to facilitate 25 upazila workshops on “identification and prioritization bottlenecks and identification of solutions”
  • Ensure support to expert core group in compiling outputs of upazila workshops and preparations of final district workshops
  • Preparations for 3 district workshops on “identification of solutions and agreement on master district MDG acceleration plan’ (includes agenda, power point presentations, notes for facilitators, but not restricted to)
  • Main facilitator of 3 district workshops on “identification of solutions and agreement on master district MDG acceleration plan’
  • Final drafts of 3 master district MDG acceleration plans
  • Final report describing process, challenges and recommendations  
Deliverables/Outputs of the assignment/service:
  • 3 District workshops on “identification and prioritization of bottlenecks”. Including preparations, conducted by international consultant.
  • Preparations for 25 Upazila workshops on “identification and prioritization of bottlenecks, and identification of solutions”, including drafting of presentations. Guidance to national consultants for conducting/facilitating these workshops.
  • 3 District workshops on “identification of solutions and agreement on master district MDG acceleration plan”. Including preparations, conducted by international consultant.
  •  3 master district MDG acceleration plans.
  •  Final report.
Tentative Payment Schedule: 
(Please refer to the IC notice in the link below)
Period of Assignment:
The assignment is expected to take a maximum of 4 working weeks in overall period of 10 weeks.
 
Inputs:
From CHTDF:
  • CHTDF will provide office space and necessary logistics for the consultant.
  • CHTDF will make arrangements (vehicle, security clearance) for official travel
  • Planning, logistic arrangements for workshops /meetings/trainings
From the consultant:
  • All deliverables mentioned in this TOR as per work plan will be achieved by time specified.
  • Bring own laptop computer.

Competencies

Technical:
  • Good knowledge and understanding of the MDGs, human development and the international development agenda.
  • Good knowledge and understanding on development planning processes
  • Knowledge of and exposure to a range of cross-sectoral and cross-cutting issues (such as women empowerment, gender equality, special approaches for addressing the circumstances of marginalized groups), that can be expected in to accelerate progress in achieving MDGs

Functional:
  • Excellent speaking and writing skills in English are necessary
  • Excellent analytical skills ;
  • Strong IT skills, including ability to work regularly with MS Word, MS Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint ;
  • Uses information and internet technology applications effectively as tool and resource.
  • Proven cross-cultural communication ;
  • Ability to travel regularly to the project areas.

Corporate:
  • Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modeling UN values and ethical standards ;
  • Displays cultural and gender sensitivity and adaptability ;
  • Treats all persons fairly without favoritism ;

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualification:
  • Advanced university degree preferably in development studies, economics, political science, public policy and/or relevant field of social sciences;  
Experiences:
  • A minimum of 10 (ten) years of progressively responsible and relevant experience in the field of development
  • Experience with development planning processes at sub-national level desirable
  • Experience in different development sectors desirable;  
DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS.
Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:
Proposal:
  • Explaining why they are the most suitable for the work
  • Provide a brief methodology, including a timeline, on how they will approach and conduct the work
Financial proposal
Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references
 
FINANCIAL PROPOSAL:
 
Lump sum contracts:
The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days). The financial proposal should be submitted in US Dollar.
Travel:
All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general, UNDP shall not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the Consultant wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources. In the case of unforeseeable travel not mentioned in the TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.
EVALUATION:
Proposal of Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:
Preliminary Evaluation:
Prior to the technical evaluation all proposals will be screened based on the eligibility criteria mentioned in the table below. To be eligible for technical evaluation a proposal must meet both the criteria. Any proposal not meeting either of these criteria will be rejected from the evaluation. There is no scoring in this stage and screening will be done pass/fail basis.
 
Eligibility Criteria (Yes/No):
  • Advanced university degree preferably in development studies, economics, political science, public policy and/or relevant field of social sciences;
  • A minimum of 10 (ten) years of progressively responsible and relevant experience in the field of development  
Technical Evaluation: (Total obtainable score – 70)
All proposals that passed through the preliminary evaluation will be scored out of 70 based on the criteria mentioned in the table below. To qualify in the technical evaluation a proposal must obtain minimum 70% of the total obtainable technical score or at least 49 points. Any proposal obtaining a score less than the minimum required score (49) will be technically disqualified. Proposals achieving 70% or more points in the technical evaluation will be considered for financial evaluation.
Technical Evaluation Criteria (70%) 
  • Appropriateness of the proposed methodology including the timeline.
  • Experience with development planning processes at sub-national level desirable
  • Knowledge of and exposure to a range of cross-sectoral and cross-cutting issues (such as women empowerment, gender equality, special approaches for addressing the circumstances of marginalized groups), that can be expected in to accelerate progress in achieving MDGs.
  •  Good knowledge and understanding of the MDGs, human development and the international development agenda  
Applicants may also be invited for a face to face/telephone interview as part of the technical evaluation process. The interview shall not bear any additional score but shall be used to validate the scores given above by assessing the knowledge on the subject matter.
Financial Evaluation: (Total obtainable score – 30)
All technically qualified proposals will be scored out 30 based on the formula provided below. The maximum points (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal. All other proposals receive points according to the following formula:
p = y (μ/z)                                                                  
Where:
p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal
μ = price of the lowest priced proposal
z = price of the proposal being evaluated
Final Selection:
The final selection will be completed through the cumulative calculation of obtained points from Technical and Financial Evaluation. The highest cumulative scorer will be awarded the contract.
Good knowledge and understanding of the MDGs, human development and the international development agenda
Proposal should be submitted at ebidbox-chtdf.bd@undp.org  no later than 25th February 2013.
Proposal submitted to any other email address or location or submitted in hard copy shall not be accepted.
Detail IC Procurement Notice along with the TOR and submission guideline can be found in the following link,
 

FC: 30007
UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

http://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=35711

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