Capacity Building Expert

Consultant

Contract

This is a International Consultant contract. More about International Consultant contracts.

Background

Cyprus joined the EU in 2004 as a de-facto divided island. On 26 April 2004 the Council of the European Union stated its determination to "put an end to the isolation of the Turkish Cypriot community and to facilitate the reunification of Cyprus by encouraging the economic development of the Turkish Cypriot community". Against this background, the Commission implements an aid programme for the Turkish Cypriot community based on the Aid Regulation (EC No. 389/2006). The programme is managed by the Commission's Structural Reform Support Service. The programme aims to facilitate the reunification of Cyprus by encouraging the economic development of the Turkish Cypriot community.

Based on a long-standing partnership and UNDP previous experience in implementing large and medium-size EU funded urban upgrading and infrastructure projects in the northern part of Cyprus, the European Commission requested UNDP to continue supporting this type of infrastructure projects through the establishment of a new instrument called “Local Infrastructure Facility”.

The Facility will help identify, screen, mature, prepare for tender, and implement local infrastructure investments, targeting the funding on competitive basis to ensure best value for money and providing support also to those communities with a lower technical and administrative capacity. This will in turn result in a greater positive impact on the standard of living of local populations and increase the visibility of EU interventions in the priority areas.

Specifically, the UNDP LIF Project intends under its fifth output to increase the local capacities in administration and engineering.

Capacity Building

In the northern part of Cyprus, there are 28 local communities with different magnitudes of capabilities and capacities. The capacity building component (Output 5) of the LIF programme is aimed at supporting local communities with a lower technical competence to develop their capacities to better identify, propose, develop and implement projects and as such to increase their chances of successful applications for project funding in the future. Moreover, the capacities to operate, maintain & upkeep and manage completed projects should also be addressed.

Within that scope, under the framework of the LIF Call for Proposals, capacity building activities are being implemented since 2020, with the active involvement of local community representatives. The aim of these activities was to support the local communities in developing fully-fledged project proposals within the thematic area(s) specified by LIF, ie. Energy Efficiency in Public Buildings. The women representatives of the local communities have shown great interest and have benefited from the capacity building activities with a significant rate of participation. Hence, for the next phase of the capacity building activities, the objective will be sustaining the benefit on gender equality on a long-term basis in parallel with the capacity building activities.

Duties and Responsibilities

The objective of the assignment is to coordinate and monitor the implementation of a comprehensive capacity building operational plan based on the findings and capacity building recommendations of the capacity needs assessment conducted in 2019.

Under the overall direction of the LIF Project Manager and direct supervision of the LIF Project Assistant, the capacity building coordinator will be responsible for the design of a Capacity Building operational plan, to assist in the selection of service providers, to monitor the performance of the service providers, to coordinate activities with all stakeholders and to build synergies with other Capacity Building programmes implemented by other actors.

More concretely, the Capacity Building Coordinator is expected to achieve the following outputs:

Output 1 - 2022 Capacity Building Operation Plan Developed

Under this output, the Capacity Building coordinator will:

• Organise consultative meetings with all relevant stakeholders to define the priorities of the training programme;
• Identify the sources for the provision of the professional training and coaching services (companies or individuals);
• Draft the operational plan in cooperation with external partners;
• Organise a presentation of the draft plan to all key stakeholders;
• Collect all comments;
• Revise the plan based on the comments; and
• Submit the plan for final approval.
• The incumbent is expected to liaise, interact and collaborate with all 28 local communities of the npC, the parters and stakeholders and any other organization involved in capacity building of institutions in the npC

Output 1 deliverable: Submission of established operational plan (after 1 month)

Output 2 – Technical Expertise Contracted

The Capacity Building coordinator under this output is expected to:

• Prepare draft terms of reference for the selection of service providers (companies or individuals) based on the operational plan;
• Submit the draft ToR to the LIF Project Manager for review;
• Revise the ToR based on the comments and suggestions from the LIF Project Manager;
• Prepare the solicitation documents following the approval of the ToR by the LIF Project Manager;
• Submit the draft solicitation documents for review and further processing to the LIF Project Manager; and
• Participate in the procurement process.

Output 2 deliverable: Professional services as per operational plan sourced (after 2 months)

Output 3 – 2022 Capacity Building Operation Plan successfully implemented

Under this task, the Capacity Building coordinator will:

• Monitor the provision of services by the selected providers in terms of progress and deliverables;
• Assist in the logistics for the individual service provider;
• Control the quality of materials prepared by the service providers;
• Control the quality of training and coaching through feedback from participants;
• Review reports submitted by the service providers and ensure that quality standards are met;
• Ensure a continuous flow of information sharing with other stakeholders involved in Capacity Building;
• Organise regular information sessions with key stakeholders on the progress of the LIF Capacity Building programme; and
• Adapt the Operational Plan when changes to the external environment have happened or when risks mitigation measures need to be put in place.

Output 3 deliverables: 1st bi-monthly progress report (after 4 months)

2nd bi-monthly progress report (after 6 months)

3rd bi-monthly progress report (after 8 months)

Final progress report (after 10 months)

Output 4 – Improved capacities of the UTCM to support local communities in project preparation

The Capacity Building Coordinator should:

• Ensure that all activities are being implemented as a joint endeavour UNDP and its partners;
• Ensure ownership transfer of the Capacity Building programme to partners; and
• Provide advice, training or any type of support needed to ensure that partners are able to take over the responsibility for technical assistance to local communities in the preparation of projects plans.

Output 4 deliverables: Plans developed and submitted (after 3 months)

Final report on support provided to UTCM submitted (after 10 months)

Output 5 – Maturity of project proposals submitted under 2020 and 2021 CfP improved

The Capacity Building Coordinator will:

• Establish policy framework, improve data collection, identify baseline and performance indicators, do regular monitoring and evaluation for continuous improvement;

• Support local communities to further develop their proposals, strengthen data analysis for the previously submitted proposals by local communities under the call for proposals, to identify and map key stakeholders;

• Initiate and institutionalize tools for effective policy coordination among local communities;
• Improve central data collection and management capacity on the policy areas falling under local communities’ competence;
• create new modes of communication and improving.

Output 5 deliverable: at least 4 project proposals re-submitted for consideration (after 5 months)

Output 6 – Contribution to the LIF Gender Action implementation provided

The Capacity Building coordinator will:

• Ensure the equal participation of women and men local community representatives in the relevant CB training and activities;
• Provide support to the gender analysis expert when needed in gathering relevant data and resources;
• Provide advice to the gender analysis expert in the preparation of gender assessment report and during the implementation of the training programme focusing on gender mainstreaming.

Output 6 deliverable: Report on support provided submitted (after 10 months)

Schedules of assignments(tentative)

Output / Deliverable

Submission deadline

Output 1

Submission of established operational plan

1 month

Output 2

Report on professional services as per operational plan sourced

2 months

Output 3

1st bi-monthly progress report

4 months

2nd bi-monthly progress report

6 months

3rd bi-monthly progress report

8 months

Final progress report

10 months

Output 4

Submission of developed plans

3 months

Final report on support provided to UTCM

10 months

Output 5

Re-submission of at least 4 project proposals

5 months

Output 6

Report on support provided to gender action plan

10 months

Deliverables shall be submitted in one digital version.

The Capacity Building Coordinator will be able to make use of the UNDP LIF meeting room for the organisation of meetings. The Capacity Building Coordinator will organise their own logistics when travelling to attend meetings or conducting field visits. He/she will also be responsible for their own IT equipment.

Competencies

F****unctional Competencies:

Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing

• Researches best practices and poses new, more effective ways of doing things;

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise

• Understands the main processes and methods of work regarding to the position;
• Demonstrates good knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments;

Promoting Organizational Development

• Demonstrates ability to identify problems and proposes solutions;

Client Orientation

• Reports to internal and external clients in a timely and appropriate fashion;
• Organizes and prioritizes work schedule to meet client needs and deadlines;
• Establishes, builds and sustains effective relationships within the work unit and with internal and external clients;

Promoting Accountability

• Prepares timely inputs to reports;

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrate cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Have good management skills;
• Good communication (written and spoken) and interpersonal skills;
• Ability to work well under pressure;
• Good understanding of the sensitive and bi-communal work of CMP;
• Acting as a team player and facilitating team work;
• Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others;
• Respond positively to critical feedback.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in public administration, management, business administration, economics or any other related field

Experience:

• At least 10 years of postgraduate professional experience
• At least 5 years of experience involved in capacity building of private or public or parastatal entities
• At least 4 proven experience in leading comprehensive capacity building programmes
• Proven experience in conducting at least 4 training sessions to local authorities
• Experience of the Cyprus context will be an asset

Language Requirements:

• Excellent English skills (both written and verbal)
• Knowledge of Turkish Language is an asset

Application:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• CV: Submission of CV
• References: Contact details of 3 references.
• Financial Proposal: Applicants requested to submit financial proposal for the 6 outputs. The cost per output will and shall cover all expenditures including fees, health insurance, vaccination, international (all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel) or local travel (place of residence to office and office to place of residence), cost of living and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services. Leave benefits (annual, sick, paternity, maternity) are not applicable to Individual Contractor and absent days including weekends and office holidays are not payable.

Output / Deliverable

Price for each Output in Euros****Output 1

Output 2

Output 3

Output 4

Output 5

Output 6

Total of all Outputs

Evaluation / Selection Process: All applicants will be screened against qualifications and the competencies set above. Candidates fully meeting the requirements will be further evaluated based on the criteria below.

Technical Criteria (CV review written test and desk review/interview) – 70% of total evaluation – max. 70 points

CV review: 15 points

• Educational qualification as defined in the ToR (5 points)
• Experience as defined in the ToR (10 points)

Only candidates who obtained at least 70% of points from the CV review (who will score at least 10.5 points) will be eligible to be invited to a written test and desk reviewed/interview.

Written Test: 25 points:

Proposed Methodology, Approach and Implementation Plan:

This section should demonstrate the applicant’s responsiveness to the TOR by identifying the specific components proposed, addressing the requirements, providing a detailed description of the essential performance characteristics proposed and demonstrating how the proposed approach and methodology meets or exceeds the requirements. All important aspects should be addressed briefly.

1. Understanding of the TOR

General reflection and comments on the Terms of Reference. Also, provision of suggestions on the TOR, or additional services that will be rendered beyond the requirements of the TOR, if any.

2. Background information

Detailed relevant background information for the assignment. The consultant should demonstrate that s/he has collected information regarding the area and the services addressed under this assignment.

3. Approach and Methodology

A presentation of the approach and methodology to be applied for this assignment.

4. Tasks

A detailed reflection on the tasks that will include comments and suggestions.

5. Risks

Description of the main risks and how they will be managed.

6. Implementation Plan

Implementation plan indicating the detailed sequence of activities that will be undertaken and their corresponding timing

Desk review/Interview: 30 points

• Proven experience in designing capacity building programmes
• Proven experience in coordinating capacity building activities
• Experience in assisting local communities in identifying and developing project ideas

Only those individual consultants who obtained at least 70% of points from the written test and desk review/interview (38.50 out of 55) will be considered for financial proposal evaluation.

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max. 30 points.

Financial scores will be calculated using the formula [lowest offer / financial offer of the candidate x 30].

UNDP applies the “Best value for money approach” – the final selection will be based on the combination of the applicants’ qualification and financial proposal.

Payment Term: payments shall be made upon completion of each Output submitted to UNDP.

Apply now

Added 2 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: jobs.undp.org