UNDP Jobs - 47137- Re-advertisement - Consultant Services for Organiz

Re-advertisement - Consultant Services for Organizational Performance Assessment

Location :

Lilongwe, MALAWI

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

02-Oct-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

30 working days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

30 working days

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Candidates who previously applied need not apply again.

The public service delivery system in Malawi has been faced with poor implementation of policies, programmes and projects. In this regard, Government established the Programmes and Projects Implementation, Monitoring and Evaluation unit (PPIMED) in the Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) and introduced the Organisational Performance Assessment (OPAs) system for tracking organizational performance of ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs). The MDAs are required to define their core business in terms of key results areas, objectives, outcomes, outputs, indicators and targets to be implemented within the framework of the national development strategy (Malawi Growth and Development Strategy, MGDS) and ministry strategic and annual work plans. These plans are consolidated into an organizational performance agreement (OPA), which is signed between the Controlling Officer on behalf of the institution and Chief Secretary to the Government on behalf of Government.

Every quarter, MDAs produce progress reports that are assessed based on the agreed performance criteria. The OPA and OPA report assessments are conducted by an Independent Performance Appraisal Committee (IAC). The Committee is comprised of academicians, retired officers in the public sector and Chief Executives, and ex-officio members from Government, bringing in a sense of independence and credibility to the evaluation. These are complemented by a Technical Committee with representations from the Ministries of Local Government and Rural Development (LGRD), Economic Planning and Development (EPD), Finance (F), Public Sector Reform Management Unit (PSRMU), Office of the President and Cabinet (OPC) and the Department of Human Resource and Management (DHRMD). The Secretariat is provided by PPIMED.

International experience shows that performance agreements in the public sector can improve results if they are supported by other organisational processes of promoting accountability. With support from the United Nations System, Government is implementing the Development Effectiveness and Accountability Programme (DEAP) whose interventions include institutionalizing Results Based Management (RBM) in the public sector. Consistent with international best practices, the RBM approach seeks to incorporate a strategic planning, performance measurement, and budgeting process that emphasizes use of resources to achieve measurable results, accountability, efficiency, and continuous improvement in Government programs. Completing the RBM cycle is a systematic monitoring system which measures the extent to which the anticipated results have been achieved and allows for analytical review of the applicability of the implementation strategy over time. In addition, Government is piloting Programme Based Budgeting (PBB) as a new approach to budgeting over the medium term. PBB is a structured approach to budget preparation which links inputs to results within a program. Budget programmes are aligned with core result areas and strategic objectives outlined in ministry strategic plans. Two teams are already formed for guiding the PBB and RBM programmes of work and comprise officers from MoF Budget Division, MEPD, MLGRD, DHRMD, and PPIMED. A Consultant is currently supporting the two teams in piloting the PBB in 6 pilot ministries and departments and in preparing an integrated results-based planning and budgeting manual. Service Charters and Code of Conduct and Ethics guide the behavior of the public service and are also promoting critical values in results-oriented management culture.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main objective of the assignment is to assist PPIMED to develop an operational manual for OPA and performance evaluation guidelines with a view of enhancing an understanding of the programme evaluation steps. Main areas of emphasis will include issues of the OPA development process, progress report, MDA performance evaluation and communication of OPA performance evaluation results to all stakeholders.

The consultant’s duties and tasks will include the following:

The consultancy will support PPIMED to develop an operational manual /handbook for OPA and guidelines for the evaluation process. The manual will be synchronized with the other processes in government, including the PBB and RBM programmes of work. More specifically the consultant will:

Analyze various literature on M&E frameworks, delivery systems and OPAs;
Review the format and requirements of the OPA system to ensure that these are simplified and integrated with other processes, where necessary;
Identify MDAs with OPA that are suitable for sampling and undertake consultations and data collection in the scope of the assignment;
Outline the current and future benefits of OPAs, what role they play in the management process, and how they can be used to improve delivery of public sector projects, programmes and policies;
Map the OPAs process defining clear and easy to follow steps;
Synchronize and define Terms used in the OPAs process, taking into account other processes in government, especially RBM, strategic planning, PBB, and monitoring and evaluation;
Develop guidelines for the evaluation criteria to be used in OPAs and define clear and easy to follow steps for the evaluation;
Define the roles and functions of the Independent Performance Appraisal Committee and the Technical Committee;
Formulate proposals for enhancing the Excel based OPA evaluation tool that already exists, on the basis of the evaluation criteria guidelines;
Define the format for the OPAs reporting taking into account other reporting frameworks, e.g. MGDS, sector strategic plans, PBB;
Highlight reporting systems and platforms for disseminating results;
Highlight challenges, lessons learned and recommendations for future work.

Competencies

The specialist is expected to have core competencies allowing him/her to support the PM:

Promoting Ethics and Integrity/Creating Organizational Precedents;
Building support and political acumen;
Building staff competence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation;
Building and promoting effective teams;
Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication;
Creating an emotionally intelligent organization;
Leveraging conflict in the interests of UNDP & setting standards;
Sharing knowledge across the organization and building a culture of knowledge sharing and learning;
Fair and transparent decision making;
Calculated risk-taking;
Excellent drafting ability in English;
Ability to work cooperatively and constructively with counterparts.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

At least a Master’s degree in Economics, Business Administration, Public Administration, Political Science, Law or any other related social science discipline.

Experience:

A minimum of ten years demonstrated experience in the development and implementation of Performance Management, Planning and M&E frameworks in government and their linkage to delivery systems in the public sector;
Previous experience in organizational performance management in low, middle-income or transition countries and good knowledge of Results Based Management (RBM) principles;
Previous public sector management, planning and or monitoring and evaluation work experience or consultancy in an African country (s) will be an added advantage.

Language:

Fluency in spoken and written English.

Timeframe:

The assignment is for a maximum of 30 working days from the date the contract is signed. The assignment is expected to be carried out in October, 2014

Methodology:

The Individual Contractor (IC) will determine the most appropriate methodology.

Report Requirements:

Before each payment, the IC will produce a progress report on his/her work;
Before the final payment, the IC will produce a final report compiling all his/her deliverables.

Deliverables:

Inception report that clearly outlines approaches to the consultancy and expected results;
Draft manual for OPA guidelines highlighting any challenges and lessons learned from the OPAs process in Malawi and examples from other countries such as Kenya, and recommendations for an effective OPA;
A workshop with the core teams for RBM and PBB and other key stakeholders to present and approve the manual, guidelines and the report;
Final operational manual/handbook for OPA development and performance evaluation guidelines.

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications by 2 October 2014 to the following email address: procurement.mw@undp.org or apply online www.jobs.undp.org .

Technical Proposal

Explaining why they are the most suitable for the work;

Provide a brief methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work;

Financial Proposal;

Personal CV or P11 Form including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references;

Proposals must include all three documents. Proposals not meeting this requirement will be rejected.

Financial Proposal

The financial proposal will specify the daily fee, travel expenses and per diems quoted in separate line items, and payments are made to the Individual Contractor based on the number of days worked;
All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station in Lilongwe /repatriation travel.