UNDP Jobs - 49424- Consultancy to Professionalise Standards in Social

Consultancy to Professionalise Standards in Social Work Field in Mauritius

Location :

Port Louis, MAURITIUS

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

06-Oct-2014

Application Deadline :

26-Sep-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

5 working days in October 2014 with start date of contract on the first week of October 2014.

Languages Required :

English French

Expected Duration of Assignment :

5 working days in October 2014 with start date of contract on the first week of October 2014.

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

Project Title

Professionalize standards in Social Work field in Mauritius

Project Description

Social work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and subjective well-being of individuals, groups, and communities through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, crisis intervention, and teaching for the benefit of those affected by social disadvantages such as poverty, mental and physical illness or disability, and social injustice, including violations of their civil liberties and human rights.

A person who practices social work is called a social worker. In the UK, the title Social Worker is protected by law and only those who have undergone approved training at university either through a Bachelor or Master’s degree in Social Work and are registered with the appropriate regulatory body (the Health and Care Professions Council in England, the Scottish Social Services Council, the Care Council for Wales, or the Northern Ireland Social Care Council) may practice social work and be called a social worker.

Project Rational/Background

In Mauritius, there is a tradition for Mauritians to help each other by engaging in some sort of voluntary work and commonly referred to as social work practice. However, no professional accreditation exists, at any level, although some institutions provide forms of training, up to Ph. D. in the field. Hence, there is a need to define duties, functions and educational as well as experience requirements for different levels of performance.

This accreditation will assist in giving some quality assurance to donors. Furthermore, the definition of social work itself needs precision, in particular as it relates to community organization functions. Finally, such definition, and its different level of practice, will give a target for long term planning with regards to training and other human resources management elements. This initiative will set the scene for the professionalization of social work.

Since last year, UNDP along with other partners have been assisting the Mauritius Qualification Authority (MQA) in generating unit standards in social work practice. It is worthwhile to note that the MQA is mandated to generate and register national standards for any occupation and to recognize and validate competencies for the purpose of certification obtained outside formal education and training system.

Given the complexities of these standards at high level, the services of a consultant are solicited for the next stages.

Duties and Responsibilities

The objective of this consultancy is to lead to formulation of a set of validated qualifications standard for social work and community organizations, building on already developed qualification being the national certificate level 2 in social work practice (Annex 1).
International experience in social work will contribute to definition of standards and the different level of qualifications required in the field for quality practice. These standards will also be used to certify potential candidates through the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) as set by the MQA.

Scope of Work

The tasks related to the assignment of the Consultant will be the following:

Assist in the generation of unit standards in the field of social work practice up to Level 6 of the National Qualifications Framework;
Conduct a 2 days’ workshop for RPL Facilitators;
Conduct a 2 days’ workshop for the RPL assessors.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

Deliverables/ Outputs: 4 days’ Workshop and generation of unit standards;
Estimated Duration to Complete: 5 working days;
Target Due Dates: October 2014;
Review and Approvals Required: MQA/UNDP.

Deliverables/ Outputs: Report on validation of level 2 elements;
Estimated Duration to Complete:
Target Due Dates: October 2014;
Review and Approvals Required: MQA/UNDP.

Institutional Arrangement:

The Consultant will report directly to the Director, MQA and Acting Senior Programme Manager, UNDP.

All reports are to be written in English. The Consultant will provide an electronic version of all the required deliverables.
The Consultant is expected to liaise/interact/collaborate/meet with the staff of MQA, UNDP and various stakeholders.

Duty Station:

The Consultant will be required to be present in Mauritius.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies

Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Competencies:

Advocacy, Networking and Alliance Building skills (Civil Society Organization Resources);
Institutional Strengthening Standards (Capacity Building Links);
Knowledge Management skills;
Project Management skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Recognised university degree preferably at post graduate level in Social Science or related field.

Experience:

More than 10 years relevant work experience in Social Work Practice;
Knowledge of assessment and evaluation in learning and qualification processes;
Significant programme experience at national and international level in Recognition of Prior Learning process and Qualification Framework in Social Work Practice;
Current knowledge of system implementation ability to conceptualize, plan, innovate and execute new forms of learning;
Knowledge of unit standards development and credit transfer in Social Work Practice.

Language:

Fluency in French and English is required;
Written English is essential.

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments Financial Proposal:

A financial proposal has to be submitted by offerors which specifies:

The Daily fee must be “all-inclusive”.The term “All inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consummables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal;
an IC Time Sheet must be submitted by the Contractor, duly approved by the Individual Contractor’s supervisor, which shall serve as the basis for the payment of fees.

Schedule of Payments

Payments of fees would be effected by UNDP as follows:

20% payment to be released upon signature of contract - 5th October 2014;
50% payment upon workshop facilitation - 12th October 2014;
30% payment to be released upon submission of report on validation of level 2 elements - 30th October 2014.

Recommended Presentation of Offer:

The following documents are requested:

Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a methodology, on how the candidate will approach and complete the assignment;
Financial Proposal that indicates the contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided. If the Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer:

The award of the contract will be made to the Individual Consultant whose offer has been evaluated using the “Combined Scoring Method” and determined as:

Responsive/compliant/acceptable;
Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specified below (Technical Criteria weight (0.7), Financial Criteria weight (0.3).

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points out of 70 would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Criteria (Technical): Recognised university degree preferably at post graduate level in Social Science or related field;
Weight (%): 10.

Criteria (Technical): More than 10 years relevant work experience in Social Work Practice;
Weight (%): 10.

Criteria (Technical): Knowledge of assessment and evaluation in learning and qualification processes;
Weight (%): 10.

Criteria (Technical): Significant programme experience at national and international level in Recognition of Prior Learning process and Qualification Framework in Social Work Practice;
Weight (%): 20.

Criteria (Technical): Current knowledge of system implementation ability to conceptualize, plan, innovate and execute new forms of learning;
Weight (%): 10.

Criteria (Technical): Knowledge of unit standards development and credit transfer in Social Work Practice;
Weight (%): 5.

Criteria (Technical): Fluency in French and English is required. Written English is essential;
Weight (%): 5.

Criteria (Financial)
Weight (%): 30.

Total point obtainable
Weight (%): 100.

Indicators to evaluate the consultant’s performance will be as follows:

All the outputs should meet the satisfaction of MQA as assessed by a joint committee comprising representatives of the MQA and UNDP, according to the following indicators:

Technical competence;
Inputs/documents to support workshop discussions;
Facilitation of workshop discussions;
Quality and timeliness of the workshop report.

Annex to the TOR:

Annex 1 to the TOR provides further details about the assignment.

Important note:

Interested offeror is strongly advised to view the general terms and conditions of IC and templates to be included when submitting offer from the CO website at http://www.mu.undp.org/content/mauritius_and_seychelles/en/home/operations/procurement/;
Interested offerors above the age of 62: UNDP regulations require, at their own cost, to undergo a full medical examination including x-rays. Medical evaluation documentation does not need to be submitted with the other requested documents listed above, but will be requested should the candidate be chosen;
Interested offeror is required to submit application via UNDP jobsite system, because the application screening and evaluation will be done through UNDP jobsite system;
Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file. Your on-line applications submission will be acknowledged where an email address has been provided. If you do not receive an e-mail acknowledgement within 24 hours of submission, your application may not have been received. In such cases, please resubmit the application, if necessary.