Republic of Moldova

3 (three) National Consultants to peer review and monitor community mobilization and empowerment within JILDP programme interventions at the local level (Joint Integrated Local Development Program / UN Women)

Vacancy Number: Pr13/00405

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	07 Nov 2013, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	25 Nov 2013
Reference to the project:	Joint Integrated Local Development Programme
Expected Duration of Assignment:	24 months
Submission Instructions: Technical proposal and financial proposal should be submitted on-line, by pressing the “Apply online” link below, no later than 07 November 2013. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail veaceslav.balan@unwomen.org. Please notice that this address is for information requests only, please do not send or copy your application package to this address. UN Women staff will respond in writing or 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 consultants.
Supporting Documents: Terms of Reference Individual Consultant Procurement Notice UN Women General Conditions of Individual Contract UN Women Personal History Form (P11)

Background

Since 2010 the Government of Moldova (State Chancellery) in partnership with the UNDP and UN Women has been implementing the “Joint Integrated Local Development Programme” (JILDP), funded by the Government of Sweden, and lately by the Government of Denmark. The JILDP was designed to support the Government in improving the policy and legal framework as mandated by the National Decentralization Strategy to ensure local autonomy, availability of resources, and more effective local management for better and equitable service provision, as well as to improving the capacity of Local Public Authorities (LPAs) to deliver efficient, equitable and accessible local public services, to facilitate sustainable development and foster social inclusion. It also assists in building the capacity of LPAs to plan, implement and monitor their strategic plans and improve local public service delivery, engaging women and men from local community groups, including most vulnerable. The programme is applying Human Rights Based Approach, Gender Mainstreaming and Women’s Empowerment as guiding conceptual approaches and instruments to its work and interventions, seeking to ensure positive and measurable change in the areas of human rights, gender equality and social inclusion.

Starting with 2013, a new phase of JILDP is being implemented with the financial support from the Danish Government. One of the major interventions at the local level will aim at developing 20 models of operational local governments - ‘champions of change’ – as well as in developing 10 inter-community cooperation projects in 10 clusters of localities, by providing support to implement improvements in the operation and structure of local governments in line with the changes brought by the National Decentralization Strategy. JILDP will assist LPAs in improving their capacity and operations, will support target communities and local authorities to provide quality and equitable public services to achieve sustainable human-centred and gender-responsive economic and social development in the main areas affected by the Decentralization Strategy. Within the JILDP UN Women plays a key role in ensuring gender mainstreaming of the policy and planning documents developed with Programme’s support at central and local levels, and in facilitating women’s empowerment.

To facilitate effective implementation of the above-mentioned interventions in the 20 target localities and other 10 inter-community cooperation clusters of localities, JILDP hired 5 teams of national consultants (12 community facilitators) to perform community facilitation in the above-mentioned communities. Within each team there are at least two consultants: one hired by UNDP, with specific tasks to focus on capacity building of duty-bearers (LPAs), and one hired by UN Women, assigned to focus on community mobilization and empowerment of rights-holders, in the same community to achieve common results.

Under the current ToR JILDP is seeking 3 peer review and monitoring national consultants to provide the community facilitators with expert trainings and peer feedback on the process, to ensure regular  tracking of progress in implementation of the JILDP community interventions, and thus to improve the quality of the local interventions of the programme.

Scope of work

Under direct supervision and guidance of UN Women JILDP Programme Analyst and in close collaboration with the JILDP programme staff, the three national peer review and monitoring consultants will ensure regular tracking of progress in implementation of the JILDP community interventions, and provide the community facilitators with an expert peer feedback on the process, including via practical trainings/workshops, as per the Community Mobilization for Empowerment Guide methodology.

The ultimate goal of the assignment is to contribute to improvement of the quality and accessibility of local governance and public service delivery, to develop and empower the target communities in terms of their pro-active engagement into local decision-making and local development, and to advance the local human rights and gender equality situation with focus on women and vulnerable groups.

Requirements for experience

Education:

• At least a University degree in Development Studies, Public Administration, Public Policy, Law, Social Protection/Assistance, Economics, or other relevant fields;

Experience: 

• At least 2 years of proven experience of community development work, in cooperation with local public authorities and local community groups, or women and men from vulnerable groups;
• At least 1 year of proven experience in monitoring, evaluation and/or peer review activities;
• Previous experience in development assistance or related work for an international and/or donor organization, preferably a UN entity.

Competencies:

• Sound understanding of Moldovan development context, specifically with regard to Local Public Administration / decentralization / local finance reforms;
• Sound understanding of human rights and gender equality concepts/approach to development, knowledge of major human rights and gender equality concerns, particularly at the local level;
• Advanced communication, presentation and training skills, particularly with regard to difficult or challenging human rights / gender equality issues.

Languages:

• Fluency in written and oral Romanian, Russian and English. Working knowledge of one or more minority languages relevant for Moldova, including Bulgarian, Gagauzian, Romani, Ukrainian or sign language is an asset.

For Lot 1: Advanced knowledge of and practical experience of work on Advanced Community Mobilization, Transparency, Participation and Inclusion, Community Monitoring & Accountability at the Local Level; experience in delivering trainings and/or workshops on these subjects is a strong advantage.

For Lot 2: Advanced knowledge of and practical experience of work on Gender Equality, Vulnerable Groups and Empowerment, implementing Human Rights Based Approach and Gender Mainstreaming in Development of Local Strategies, Programs, Projects and Budgets (gender-responsive budgeting), Women Economic Empowerment at the Local Level; experience in delivering trainings and/or workshops on these subjects is a strong advantage.

For Lot 3: Understanding of and exposure to the Inter-Municipal/Inter-Community Cooperation experiences and/or is models a strong advantage.

Documents to be included

1. Letter of Intent with 1-2 pages brief technical proposal describing actions to undertake the assignment (justification of being the most suitable for the work, most relevant previous experiences, vision and the proposed working approach);
2. Duly filled Personal History Form (PHF11)/CV, including records on past experience in similar projects/assignments and specific outputs obtained;
3. Financial proposal (in MDL) - specifying a lump sum amount and the number of anticipated working days. The financial offer should include all costs related to completion of the task under the current Terms of Reference.

Financial proposal

The financial proposal shall be structured around the specific tasks and key deliverables described in the Terms of Reference. Interested individual consultants must specify a total lump sum amount for each task and deliverable, which are to be completed by the deadlines specified in the ToR.

Payments shall be made based on delivery of the services specified in the ToR and in accordance with the procedures described in the Remuneration section of the ToR.

In order to assist UN Women Moldova Programme in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount.

 

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