Republic of Moldova

OHCHR National Consultant or Team of National Consultants to review national framework on delivery of social services at the local community level in line with Moldova’s human rights commitments

Vacancy Number: Pr16/01349

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	13 Jul 2016, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	01 Aug 2016
Reference to the project:	Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Expected Duration of Assignment:	August – November 2016, with an workload of 60 working days
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted online only, by following the “Apply online” link, no later than 13 July 2016. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: vbalan@ohchr.org. UNDP will respond by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants.
Supporting Documents: Termeni de Referinta Terms of Reference Anunț de achiziție a serviciilor consultanților individuali Individual Consultant Procurement Notice Personal History Form (P11) UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Background

Republic of Moldova, by means of the 2003 Law on Local Public Finances and subsequent amendments thereto, the Law on Regional Development, the National Strategy for Regional Development and the 2012 National Decentralization Strategy, has embarked on a process of decentralization of responsibilities for the establishment and financing of community based social services to the local level. According to the new delimitation and re-distribution of responsibilities among the three levels of Moldovan public authorities the financial responsibility for establishing and maintaining the social protection services based at the community level has been off-loaded from the central budget to the district/rayon level. The decentralization process in the social protection area has led to significant imbalances in fiscal responsibilities across levels of government. The new expenditure mandates have not been matched by adequate local revenues – because of more limited tax bases and weaker administrative capacity, or transfers from the central government. The implementation of these reform initiatives raised serious challenges in terms of securing funding for the establishment and sustainable functioning of the community based social protection services. Local governments have raised serious concerns that starting with 2017, they will be forced to scale-back or stop providing social protection services altogether.

In this context, OHCHR is seeking a team of national consultants to: a)  investigate in more details the current situation related to the decentralization of the financial responsibility for the development and the provision of social protection services with the aim of identifying the issues which require monitoring and policy attention, including the presentation of a comprehensive mapping out the existent social protection services at the local level; and b) designing a policy options to ensure effective delivery of social services at the local community level.

Scope of work

The overall goal of the study on decentralization of social service provision is to delineate the emerging concerns, explore strategic options and provide guidance for rights based and gender responsive decentralizing social services in the Republic of Moldova. A major component of the study will be the mapping out exercise carried out with the aim of identifying the number, type, location and access to social protection services, particularly by women and men representing the most vulnerable groups. The consultant(s) will be responsible for assembling their findings and recommendations in a comprehensive report.

Specific Tasks

More specifically the consultant(s) under this assignment are expected:

1) To map and analyze social services, which need to be delivered at the local community level, as per Moldova’s international and national human rights standards and commitments;

2) To map and analyze the existing policy and legal provisions with regard to such services, particularly in the context of national decentralization framework in place;

3) To assess and analyze the de facto situation with delivery of the necessary local community-level social services;

4) To assess the costs of delivery of the necessary local community-level social services;

5) To develop and propose policy options and relevant legal amendments to ensure effective delivery of the social services, which need to be delivered at the local community level, as per Moldova’s international and national human rights standards and commitments.

The work of the consultant(s) should focus on the following types of services:

1) Community-based services for persons with disabilities, including mental and psycho-social disabilities, necessary in the light of the on-going deinstitutionalization reform, reform of legal capacity legislation (concerning persons with mental and psycho-social disabilities), disability determination reform;

2) Community-based services for Roma people – women and men; children, young and elderly – starting with the Roma community mediators service;

3) Community-based services for elderly;

4) Community-based services for survivors of Gender-Based Violence in alignment with Istanbul Convention.

For detailed information, please refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference.

Requirements for experience

    I.  Academic Qualifications:

• University degree in Law, Public Administration, Social Assistance, Human Rights or other relevant field (Master’s degree in the relevant fields is advantage);

    II. Years and sphere of experience:

• At least 3 years of proven professional experience in policy research and analysis pertaining to the fields of the assignment (law, social services, human rights, local development and decentralization, etc.);

    III. Competencies:

• Proven experience and knowledge of human rights and non-discrimination, including research, analysis and drafting analytical reports in the area of human rights and non-discrimination;
• Knowledge and understanding of international human rights framework and national local development / decentralization framework;
• Knowledge and experience of work with the central public authorities, local public authorities, international organizations, non-governmental organizations and vulnerable groups;
• Effective communication, strong analytical and reporting skills;
• Knowledge of Romanian and Russian, both written and spoken, for the purposes of the assignment; Knowledge of English and/or of other minority languages relevant for Moldova is an advantage.

Documents to be included

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

1. Proposal:

• Explaining why they are the most suitable for the work;
• Provide a brief methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work.

2. Financial proposal (in USD, specifying a total requested amount per working day, including all related costs, e.g. fees, per diems, travel costs, phone calls etc.);

3. Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and the contact details of at least 3 reference persons.

Financial proposal

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables. Payments are paid in equal installments and 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 fees, taxes, mobile phone calls, etc.). 

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 IC 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.

 

 

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