Senior Expert on Local Self-Government and Municipal Sectoral Services

Contract

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

Background

The “Women and Youth for Innovative Local Development” project (the Project) is part of four-year strategic partnership framework between GIZ, UNDP and CoE within “Improvement of the local self-governance system in Armenia” programme, which has a goal to improve the accountability, effectiveness and inclusiveness of local self-government in Armenia in regionally and socially balanced manner. The Project is implemented in partnership with RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure and is the continuation of earlier “Women in Local Democracy 2” project. It supports the enlarged municipalities with coherent and interrelated programmatic intervention, which contributes to the further democratization and development of communities. The project will be implemented in 52 enlarged municipalities of Armenia.

UNDP’s project (i) pilots three innovative municipal services which will be co-designed and monitored by citizens, including vulnerable/marginalized groups; (ii) further advances youth leadership; and (iii) continues to empower women at the local level through building on and upscaling the results achieved during the past years.

The municipal service component aims at supporting the Territorial and Administrative Reform in Armenia and the delivery of quality, fair and effective services by the communities to local citizens, companies and non-formal groups, also contributing to stronger economic development at the local level. User-centric and design thinking approaches will be applied by UNDP for the public service design and delivery at local level, in particular through youth empowerment and engagement. The initiative will include design and pilot of adapted innovative models of selected public services (including incentive schemes for collaboration of citizens and key stakeholders) in enlarged municipalities based on UNDP extensive experience of citizen-driven, user-centric approaches of community engagement and participation at local level. In addition, UNDP will develop and pilot new mechanisms for community monitoring of service delivery and quality, as well as citizen feedback loops on satisfaction with public services. The major activities to be implemented under that component include:

1. Access the resources, capacities and needs in the sector of public services in the target communities.
2. Design innovative models adapted for selected service delivery, including incentive schemes for collaboration of citizens and key stakeholders
3. Pilot selected innovative service delivery models, including through establishment of management systems and respective infrastructure
4. Develop and pilot new mechanisms for community monitoring of service delivery and quality, as well as citizen feedback loops on satisfaction with public services

To ensure successful implementation of the municipal service component, UNDP seeks a qualified for the position of Senior Expert on Local Self-Government and Municipal Sectoral Services (the Expert) who will be responsibility to provide top-notch advice and guidance for the effective implementation of the component.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the UNDP Socio-Economic Development Portfolio Manager, direct supervision of the Technical Task Leader and in close cooperation of the Project Expert on municipal sectoral services, the incumbent is responsible for providing top-notch technical advice and guidance for effective delivery of the inputs and outputs of Component 1 on municipal services.

To support the implementation of the Project outputs the Expert will:

• Provide thought leadership and technical advice to the Project team, implementing partners and beneficiaries on:

• methodologies, tools, and good practices related to municipal sectoral services and citizen engagement

• localization of generic methodological instruments;
• most effective practices of identification and engagement of beneficiaries into the Project activities;
• modalities, content, and priority topics for the capacity building activities of the Project in sectoral municipal services and citizen engagement;

• development and application of sustainable exit strategies and institutionalization of results.

• Draft technical documentation including Terms of References, specifications for procurement of services.

• Review and provide comments to documents received from the Project Expert on Municipal Sectoral Services and third parties for quality assurance and verification of achieved milestones.
• Propose possible solutions in case there are bottlenecks and challenges in the implementation of the component. Ensure proactive stance and follow up for the successful delivery of the Project outputs.
• Contribute in codification of the Project’s results into the knowledge products.
• Together with the Project Technical Task Leader develop methodology and roadmap for the component.
• Serve as a facilitator and one of the key resource persons at the Project’s events, roundtables, and workshops. If need be, contribute to capacity development of the Project team and knowledge transfer in particular areas of expertise.
• Draft recommendations to RA Ministry of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure on improvement of legislation to ensure successful implementation of innovative municipal sectoral services if needed.

General deliverables:

1. Expert support provided to
   • the researchers’ teams at the stage of the needs’ assessment and economic analysis phase
   • the institutions/organizations and individuals engaged in the design and/or delivery of conference and other type of thematic initiatives
   • design and implement co-design forums
   • identify the municipality needs for successful implementation of innovative municipal sectoral services
2. Developed of the methodological guides based on the piloted sectoral municipal services.
3. Supported the Technical Task Leader with the preparation of the roadmaps, reports, etc.

*Payment Term***s**

Payments will be conducted monthly based on the actual number of days worked per month and submission of a respective report on completed works/outputs at the end of each month.

Competencies

• Excellent knowledge of sectoral municipal services, social innovation and citizen engagement, respective frameworks and targets especially at local development level
• Good knowledge of local-self-government system in Armenia, current local development processes and local context.
• Knowledge of main principles of capacity development.
• Ability to analyse problems, make recommendations and present proposals for improvement or change in policies and procedures.
• Excellent communication skills, ability to express ideas clearly and consistently both orally and in writing.
• Capacity to analyze problems, make recommendations and present proposals for improvement or change in policies and procedures.
• Demonstrated initiative, tact and high sense of responsibility and discretion.
• Result oriented, ability to work under pressure.
• Excellent networking and partnering competencies. Demonstrated good negotiating skills and teamwork approach.
• Understanding of the UNDP rules and regulations is a strong asset.
• Computer literacy and proficiency in MS Office (MS Word, Excel, etc.) and in handling of web-based management systems.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Advanced University Degree in political or social sciences, economics, public administration, law or other relevant fields.

Experience:

• At least 7 years of cross-cutting experience at the national or international level in providing technical/advisory services on such areas as local self-government, participatory policies, innovative services and the related fields.
• Proven record of development of methodologies and approaches for improvement and institutionalization of local self-government processes and procedures.
• Proven record of experience in facilitation and delivery of trainings.
• Proven record of public presentation skills.
• Hands-on experience in design, monitoring and evaluation of development projects is an asset.
• Experience in negotiating with government bodies, international donors, and professional organizations is an asset.

Languages:

Proficiency in written and spoken Armenian and English, Russian is a strong asset.

INDIVIDUAL CANDIDATES WILL BE EVALUATED BASED ON THE FOLLOWING METHODOLOGY:

Candidates will be evaluated using a cumulative analysis method taking into consideration the combination of the applicants' technical qualifications, experience and financial proposal.The contract will be awarded to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as technically responsive/compliant/acceptable to the requirements of the ToR and received the highest cumulative (technical and financial) score out of below defined technical and financial criteria.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the technical evaluation would be considered for financial evaluation.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation - max. 70 points

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

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE APPLICATION.

• Financial Proposal and Availability form: OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP (all-inclusive daily fee option is applicable for this assignment)
• CV shall include Education/Qualification, Processional Certification, Employment Records /Experience

General Conditions of Contract is available here: GENERAL CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT

Note: Please note you can upload only one document to this application (scan all documents in one single PDF file to attach).