National Consultant for mapping and analysis of CSOs and other actors working on peacebuilding field in Guinea-Bissau

Contract

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

Background

Background and rationale:

Since its independence in 1973, the country has been marred by political and military conflict which deeply affected state building. The worst incident happened twenty years ago. The 11-months armed conflict of 1998-1999 that pitted different factions of the political-military elite of the country against one another and had serious human, social, economic and political consequences setting the country further back in the development processes. The armed conflict made clear the direct participation of the military in the political sphere, as part of a patron-client dynamics that have been consolidating their rule over the access to, and redistribution of, (scarce) state resources to the benefit mainly the Bissau-based elite.

Guinea-Bissau remains an incomplete State with little presence beyond Bissau, unable to provide basic services (access to justice, health, education, housing, etc.) to its population, who rely on traditional authorities and mechanisms for subsistence and conflict-resolution.

In the capital, a stronger civil society has taken root in the aftermath of the 1998 war in an effort to pacify the population. Through the expert use of the media, civil society manages to defend the interests of local populations, environment protection and human rights and curtail the worst abuses of politicians when they attempt to sew division. Younger and educated urban populations are contributing to public debates on governance and political issues, demanding a greater participation in the political life and the need to provide better services and jobs to the population. In recent years, these groups were also able to mobilize larger sectors of the population into demonstrations for stability and respect for their rights and the rule of law.

The UN Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) is the organization’s financial instrument of first resort to sustain peace in countries or situations at risk or affected by violent conflict. The PBF invest with UN entities, governments, regional organizations, multilateral banks, national multi-donor trust funds or civil society organizations. Guinea-Bissau is one of the five countries on the agenda of the Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) and, to date, approximately USD 51.5 million have been allocated to the country since 2008.

As part of the PBC, Guinea-Bissau is eligible to receive annual allocations to invest on activities aimed to fill critical peacebuilding gaps as identified in the annual strategic report by the UN RC in consultation with UNCT and other revelants stakeholders.

The PBF Secretariat is seeking to engage a consultant to carry out an in-depth mapping and analysis of all the main peacebuilding stakeholders in the country, to facilitate the identification of potential implementing partners and other stakeholders to design and implement peacebuilding projects and assess their institutional and operational capacity, seeking to increase their knowledge and skills to access to the PBF funds and their participation on PBF funded initiatives.

Objective of the assignment:

The purpose behind the mapping of CSOs and other actors is to improve their ability to better engage with other partners, e.g. UN Agencies, Funds and Programme, in identification, design and implementation of PBF funded project.

The objective of this consultancy is to map civil society, Non-Government Organisations and other formal and informal actors, especially women and youth led structures that are active, and potentially able to directly or indirectly support peacebuilding initiatives. For instance, those who work on conflict-related Early Warning mechanisms, Democracy and Political Governance, Human Rights and the Rule of Law, Media, Natural Resource Governance, Cross-Border Initiatives, Women, Peace and Security, Youth Empowerment, Peace Education, Mediation and dialogue for conflict resolution, Human and Drug Trafficking.

This consultancy will assist the PBF Secretariat and the UN RCO in setting-up a database of civil society actors, international and national NGOs and other informal actors working on peacebuilding in Guinea-Bissau., that may be potential partners of the PBF fund in the future, and provide an in-depth analysis of such stakeholders, mainly assessing their institutional capacity needs and viable actions to promote their engagement with the PBF fund.

Duties and Responsibilities

Duties and responsibilities:

The National Consultant, under the supervision of the National PBF Secretariat Coordinator, is expected to perform the following activities:

• Map CSOs, NGOs and other informal actors based in all the regions of Guinea-Bissau, implementing activities or with the capacity to work on these issues;
• Map where the different stakeholders’ activities are located geographically and, when possible, explore the relashionships between different stakeholders operating in the same geographic area;
• Develop institutional profiles of these CSOs and NGOs, including their technical capacity and also their governance, financial and administrative capacity;
• Identify key capacity constraints/gaps, demands and bottlenecks for CSOs to access funding from the PBF; identify specific, prioritized institutional capacity development needs of CSOs to be addressed in order to increase access to PBF funding, opportunities, programmes, and identify actions and products that will enhance the ability of CSOs to develop projects aligned PBF requirements;
• Design and deliver/populate a functional searchable database and related Geographic Information System (GIS) that allows for viewing information related to CSOs geographic location;
• Develop, design and submit high quality stakeholder mapping and analysis report.

This exercise should be participatory, consultative and should recognize the multiple dimensions of capacity and include individual capacity (relevant skills and abilities, especially those of women and youth) and organizational capacity (governance, structures, processes, etc.). Particular attention should be given to identify women and youth that are or can be considered a peacebuilder.

It is expected that the assessment will involve broad consultation with CSOs to help collect and validate information.

Expected deliverables:

The following products/outputs are expected:

Deliverable 1. Inception Report that covers at a minimum:

• Work plan
• Brief strategy for the mapping and analysis exercise, including the approach proposed;

Deliverable 2. Mapping and analysis exercise: Conduct the activity to be organized in collaboration with the PBF Secretariat (logistical organizations are not a responsibility of the Consultant);

Deliverable 3. Mapping and analysis report:

A consolidated consultancy report comprising of the mapping study, the capacity needs assessment and capacity development strategy and action plan including the following:

• Stakeholder Mapping and Analysis Study: overview and background; process and methodology; findings and main results; limitations and constraints of the assignment; conclusion and recommendations;
• Capacity challenges at the organizational levels in relation to accessing PBF funds;
• Specific capacity needs and priorities at the organizational level in relation to implementing peacebuilding activities and accessing PBF funds;
• Recommendations for the most suitable, effective, and efficient improvements and strategies of capacity development to meet the identified needs;

• Means for measuring changes of capacity in the CSOs to access PBF funds.

  Duration of the assignment

The assignment should be conducted within 40 working days, in a scope of 2 months.

• Inception phase and planning, Inception report, including a methodology, a workplan and a roadmap for the deliverables and activities of the consultancy within 5 working days.
• Desk research, desk review of available and related analyses within 5 working days
• Mapped profile of CSOs , mapping and profile of CSOs, as described in the objective within 20 working days plus presentation of the draft report in 5 working days thereafter.
• Presentation of the final report

Competencies

Competencies:

• Work experience relating to stakeholder engagement and analysis, organizational analysis, or other related fields;
• Proven impartiality, cultural and human rights sensitivity;
• Ability to build strong relations with local actors using inter-personal skills to network effectively;
• Ability to meet deadlines and show a high degree of flexibility and tolerance;
• Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.
• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Bachelor degree in the areas in social sciences, development studies, or other relevant area; or
• 7 years of relevant professional experience can be considered instead.

Experience:

• At least 5 years of professional experience area of development, governance, peacebuilding or human rights;
• Proved experience working on or with CSO;
• Proved knowledge in mapping or survey exercises;
• Experience working in Guinea-Bissau and good knowledge of Guinea-Bissau’s general country context is strongly desirable.

Language:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in Portuguese is required.
• Working knowledge of English is an asset.

Deadline for Application

The application including all the required documentation should be submitted by October 3rd, 2021.

Guidelines for Application

Required documents:

A cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for this assignment;

A brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the tasks, describing the tools and workplan proposed of this assignment;

• A financial proposal;
• A CV including past experiences and at least 3 professional references.

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 instalments 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).

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 should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the Individual Consultant wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

In the case of unforeseeable travel, 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: Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

Cumulative analysis

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation;
• Technical Criteria weight – 70 points;
• Financial Criteria weight – 30 points.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70 points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Evaluation criteria:

• Education background - 10 points;
• Experience as defined in the ToR - 20 points;
• Competences as defined in the ToR - 10 points;
• Understanding of the ToR - 15 points;
• Methodology and overall approach - 25 points;
• Overall quality of the proposal (comprehensiveness, structure, language and clarity) - 20 points.