Senior Advisor – Organizational Capacity Development

UNOPS Operational Hub in Sri Lanka provides technical, operational and administrative support to 5 countries in the South Asia region: Sri Lanka, Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. UNOPS’ work in this region focuses on the construction and operation of high quality sustainable infrastructure and sustainable procurement, project management, timely provision of services, and the use of most relevant technologies. Such projects provide social and economic benefits to vulnerable populations across the country, and contribute to poverty eradication. This includes construction of schools, hospitals, water networks, urban sewerage and drainage facilities, harbours and anchorages, waste management facilities, climate change mitigation, as well as a range of “soft” support in Capacity Building, operations and maintenance of public assets, local governance, etc.

This Terms of Reference outlines UNOPS’ support and collaboration with, Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) within the Ministry of Housing and Public Works of Bangladesh. Initially the focus of this assignment will be centred around the assessment of RAJUK’s role in planning, approval, and certification of factories in the Ready-Made Garment (RMG) sector in Bangladesh and then it will take on a more holistic approach to RAJUK’s role as legislated by the Government of Bangladesh in relation to planning and approval, supervision and approval of private development in Dhaka.

RAJUK, formally the Capital Development Authority, sits within the Ministry of Housing and Public Works of Bangladesh, and is responsible for the planning, development approval, construction inspection, and final certification of private development within the city of Dhaka. Sister organizations exist for other large metropolitan areas in Bangladesh. Dhaka City has well-defined planning schemes and RAJUK is mandated to develop and implement these schemes.

RAJUK and UNOPS have agreed to collaborate to support and expand the capacity of RAJUK. UNOPS and RAJUK will initially target RMG factories, however, the remit will expand into the entire private development sector in Dhaka. Immediate support will come in the form of a Senior Advisor placed to work within RAJUK to provide operational support and guidance to the agency. In the medium term, this initiative will expand into a full-scale project to support RAJUK’s capacity to fully execute its planning, supervision and approval role. The proper implementation of planning schemes and enforcement of regulations specific to all physical infrastructures within RAJUK’s jurisdiction will result in an improvement in the lives of many throughout Dhaka.

Purpose and Scope of Assignment

The overall purpose of the assignment is to enable improved organizational effectiveness at RAJUK to provide strong technical and regulatory services to the building sector in Dhaka.

In order to realize the above, the following objectives shall guide UNOPS’ support. In particular, UNOPS aims to:

• Improve the efficacy of staff through systematic training and capacity building;
• Ensure sound systems and standards are in place to deliver the project;
• Strengthen RAJUK’s support to the RMG sector.

The UNOPS Senior Advisor will be fully integrated at a senior-level within the RAJUK organization. In addition the Advisor will facilitate a needs assessment and mapping exercise of existing functions, practices, and methodologies. These assessments will then be used to develop the best practices, refinement of practices, systems, tools to improve RAJUK’s efficiency and capacity. The Advisor will also be responsible, along with the support of the South Asia Operational Hub and RAJUK to pursue further funding to fully implement this project.

The Senior Advisor will report to the UNOPS Director and Representative of the South Asia Operational Hub based in Sri Lanka. S/he will be responsible for day-to-day operations for the project. The Senior Advisor will be responsible for all aspects of the project life cycle including the following duties and responsibilities:

Mapping and Assessment

• Define the functions which RAJUK is mandated to conduct
• Map the functions that RAJUK currently conducts
• Map the functions that RAJUK traditionally aims to fulfill but fall outside of its official mandate
• Define and assess the gaps within the above three activities
• Identify and document/map existing practices and methodologies followed by RAJUK within their activities, looking at both past and present methodologies and desired but currently unachievable practices

Research

• Research planning codes and contemporary planning schemes in similar large and high-growth urban areas so as to compile a volume of lessons learned and good / bad practices for reference
• Research contemporary and relevant methods and tools that allow similar organisations to technically assess development projects; this will require close examination and knowledge of legislation that outlines RAJUK’s role and a critical review of the expected scope of RAJUK’s role and best practices in other similar areas around the globe
• Research tools and IT based platforms or systems that facilitate tasks that could be suitable or tailored to the organisation needs
• Document this research in such a way that a balanced assessment of the available tools can be made by RAJUK
• Research is to be carried out that may identify “sister” cities that have overcome similar issues and improved capacity in relation to planning, technical assessment, inspection and approval of private development. RAJUK and UNOPS may choose to develop together a sister city relationship, at least in a limited manner that will allow knowledge sharing between these cities with a view to streamlining progress in improving RAJUK’s capacity
• Research and document the activities of other relevant stakeholders in relation to tasks that cross cut into RAJUK’s core roles, and in particular in relation to the RMG sector, this will include the Bangladesh Urban Development Authority (UDD), the Government “Tripartite” efforts in reform of the garment factories facilitated by the International Labour Organization (ILO), both of the efforts backed by international RMG retailers via the “Alliance”* and the “Accord” initiatives. All activities that relate to RAJUK’s core role are to be documented and mapped so they can be fully taken into account in all future work of RAJUK and this ToR. This information will be used further in allowing external parties to be informed where they may be able to better collaborate with RAJUK or modify their efforts to achieve improved overall outcomes
• In conjunction with the above research, particular attention should be paid to complimenting, rather than attempting to substitute, any other technical advisory being provided to RAJUK by external parties so as to reduce or even eliminate any duplication of effort. Moreover, any sharing of RAJUK efforts or activities to other entities that will benefit Bangladesh development overall will be encouraged

*http://www.bangladeshworkersafety.org/

http://bangladeshaccord.org/

Project Planning and Implementation

• Create a project plan that will allow RAJUK to systematically build up their capacity to fulfill the agreed and legislated role taking into account all the information gathered in the research stage and any modifications in base scope of RAJUK’s core functions that has been agreed and approved
• Develop tools and systems and plan activities that are required to fulfill the above project plan. This will most likely include but not be limited to:

i. Planning Code – develop a concise, clearly defined and user-friendly version created for RAJUK staff and the developer/user alike.

ii. Create a system for logging and tracking/mapping all development applications and follow them throughout their lifecycles, in particular RAJUK’s tasks and required actions.

iii. Communications between RAJUK management and staff of intended changes, their progress and future activities will be critical to the project’s success, as will gaining the “buy-in” and confidence of the RAJUK staff. In this light develop a sound and practical change management component for the project.

iv. Provide appropriate training to support RAJUK staff to better adapt to changes in relation to their work and allow them to perform the required functions.

v. Develop informative material for developers that outlines the development cycle in relation to government expectations and process, that will not duplicate the planning code or scheme but supplement it by showing the “roadmap” for a developer so as to be able to take a development from a concept to a fully approved and certified development ready for use.

vi. Create an outreach program that will allow the progress and improvements that RAJUK achieves, to be communicated to the various stakeholders including but not limited to; other Government departments, RMG sector, private developers.

• Assist RAJUK to liaise and coordinate with international initiatives targeting the urban infrastructure environment in Dhaka/ within RAJUKs mandate

Monitoring and Evaluation

• Develop a tool or system that will benchmark existing capacity and performance and be capable to monitor (improved) progress and capacity throughout the lifecycle of the project against agreed benchmarks
• Develop a tool or system that allows RAJUK to monitor its performance against agreed benchmarks into the future, ideally this tool is to be flexible enough to allow RAJUK to modify inputs and benchmarks as they alter in future

How to apply:

For more information and to apply, please visit:https://gprs.unops.org/pages/viewvacancy/VADetails.aspx?id=5916