Background

Three fundamental laws comprise the legal environment to improve Mongolia’s policy formulating, planning and budgeting practices. The Parliament of Mongolia approved the Law on Fiscal Stability in 2010 and Budget Law in 2012. The Government is planning to introduce, the Law on Development Policy and Planning in the 2014 spring session of the Parliament.

The draft Law on Development Policy and Planning aims to i) improve and strengthen development policy formulation, strategic planning and public investment planning practices; ii) make recommendations for preparing various types of planning documents; iii) evaluate public investment plans; iv) ensure smooth coordination among various Government agencies, line ministries and local governments in planning, budgeting and implementation; and v) strengthen monitoring and evaluation of plan implementation.
 
The three laws are complementary and with their enforcement, it is possible to revise and improve Mongolia’s policy formulation, planning, budgeting, implementing, monitoring and evaluating practices. However, some inconsistencies between the Budget Law and the Law on Development Policy and Planning has to be addressed so as to: i) clearly define the functions and the responsibilities of the central administration for financial and fiscal affairs (Ministry of Finance)and the central administration for development policy and planning affairs (Ministry of Economic Development); ii) resolve issues related to determining the cost and expenditure threshold for projects with feasibility studies; and iii) develop a rational order of steps in planning.

Duties and Responsibilities

 Project description

The Government of Mongolia and the United Nations Development Program are implementing the project “Strengthening the Government Capacity for Development Policy and Planning Project.” It aims to assist the Government of Mongolia strengthen its capacity in formulating development policies, strategic planning and monitoring and evaluating policies at national and local levels and preparing various types of policy documents to make national long and medium term planning coherent and coordinated. Improving the legal environment for national development policy and planning and strengthening the capacity to implement development policy and plans are the major components of the project.

Scope of Work

The purpose of the Consultancy service is to draw upon international good practices on plan formulation and implementation so as to improve the overall quality of the draft Law on Development Policy and Planning.

To meet the objective of the assignment, the International Consultant will work with the national consultant to undertake the following tasks:
  • Review the long- and medium-term policy documents to identify main concepts and indicators;
  • Review and make recommendations to improve the draft development policy and planning law in light of experience of similar laws in other countries, and especially in the Asia-Pacific region;
  • Review the draft development policy and planning law for consistency between national and local levels;
  • Review the national institutional structures for planning, budgeting, implementation, monitoring and evaluation in other countries and draw upon international good practices to inform the draft development policy and planning law;
  • Engage in dialogues with multiple stakeholders such as government officers, consultants, academia and representatives of NGOs and international organizations;
  • Make recommendations to publicize the development policy and planning law to get the law approved by Parliament and begin implementation.

The expected outputs and deliverables

The assignment will have below outputs:

  • A strong analytical paper on steps from policy formulation to policy implementation, and monitoring and evaluation that reviews international experience. The paper will contain concrete recommendations for revising and improving the draft development policy and planning law;
  • Presentation of research outcomes at seminars and workshops to inform the national stakeholders and help build consensus on the draft planning and policy law.
Institutional Arrangement

The consultant will report to the National Project Director, State Secretary of Ministry of Economic Development(MED) and the Team leader, HD and MDGs programme of UNDP Mongolia. He/she will work in close cooperation with the concerned staff in MED and Senior Economist of UNDP Mongolia. The consultant will be assisted by the NDPP project in MED, which will provide the consultant with the necessary documentation, assist with the organization of the meetings, preparation of briefs, translations as necessary and any additional support the consultant might require.

All candidates are strongly encouraged

Interested individuals are encouraged to visit UNDP website located at http//mn.undp.org for downloadable templates.

Duration:

Duration of the work is 4 weeks starting from mid April:
Mission: 3 weeks (15 working days);
Desk work: 1 week (5 working days).

Application procedure
  • Application cover letter indicating why the applicant considers him/herself suitable for the assignment;
  • Completed UN application form P11 that can be downloaded from the UNDP website;
  • At least 3 (three) professional references of people familiar with the applicant’s work who can be contacted in case the applicant is short-listed;
  • A technical proposal for your work outlining how the applicant will undertake the assignment to achieve the objective;
  • Financial Proposal with a breakdown of consultancy fee and all travel-related costs that are expected to be incurred. While preparing the financial proposal, kindly note that the standard for all travel authorized by UNDP for individual subscribers is economy class.   
Payment method
 
The UNDP standard method of payment is the output-based lump-sum scheme and the payment will be made in upon satisfactory completion of deliverables.

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer 

Selection criteria is Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted a max. of 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a max of 30%.
 
 For further questions and clarifications, please contact UNDP Mongolia at bids.mn@undp.org.

Competencies

Functional competencies:
  • Strong ability in research and qualitative and quantitative reasoning;
  • Ability to advocate and provide policy advice;
  • Ability to research and analyze national development issues and priorities;
  • Displays a  good understanding of development policy formulation and implementation issues such as planning, budgeting, implementation, monitoring and evaluation processes;
  • In-depth conceptual and practical knowledge of development issues and policies;
  • Strong writing and communications skills in English;
  • Ability to prioritize, plan and deliver task with expected output and results;
  • Ability to cooperate and provide constructive feedback to coworkers.
Corporate competencies:
  • Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
  • Promotes the vision, mission and strategic goals of UNDP;
  • Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity adaptability;
  • Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
  • PhD/Master Degree in Development Economics, International Development, Public Administration and Policy, Political Economy and Government, or a related field.
Experience:
  • Minimum 10 years of related work experience, with a large portion on national planning and/or implementation;
  • Consulting experience in policy-making in various developing countries similar to Mongolia;
  • Publications related to economic, social and public policy, human development and public administration;
  • Experience in drafting development policy related laws and regulations is an advantage.

Language:

  • Fluent in spoken and written English.