UNDP Jobs - 50226- International Consultant to Support the Elaboratio

International Consultant to Support the Elaboration of the National Strategy on Development of Statistics in the Republic of Moldova

Location :

Chisinau, MOLDOVA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

03-Nov-2014

Application Deadline :

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

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

November 2014 - February 2015

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

up to 40 full 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

By far and large there are two strategic documents defining Moldova’s policy framework. Firstly, it is the National Development Strategy „Moldova 2020” , which serves as a platform for the management and coordination of reforms and foreign aid in seven priority areas along with sector strategic documents. Another key document is the recently signed EU-Republic of Moldova Association Agreement and Agenda which aim to deepen political and economic relations between Moldova and the EU. Among the 28 key sector policy areas there are public administration reform and statistics fields which combine to ensure the development of a well-functioning public administration sector and to approximate the legislation in the Republic of Moldova to EU norms and requirements in the field of statistics.

The implementation of the Central Public Administration Reform (CPAR) during 2005-2013 aimed at building professional civil service oriented to providing high quality services. Being a continuous process of institutional development such a reform is to be further carried out by the Government in a broader manner, having a more structured and synergetic approach to the identified thematic pillars and being guided by a comprehensive Roadmap. One of such CPAR pillars would be Policy Development focused on strategic and operational planning, policy analysis and consultations, policy coordination, monitoring and evaluation. It is valid for the statistical sector as for any other field of Government’s activity, being a public service aiming to provide reliable and timely statistical information to the governance, civil society and population.

As a development partner, UN in Moldova, under the United Nations-Moldova Partnership Framework “Towards Unity in Action”, is to assist the Government of Moldova in promotion of its reforms, supporting the implementation of the new Association Agreement with the European Union, fulfilling the administrative capacity requirements that Moldova must meet.

Currently, a Joint UN Project on Strengthening the National Statistical System of RM is implemented by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) of the Republic of Moldova, in partnership with 5 UN agencies (UNDP, UN Women, UNFPA, UNICEF, ILO), and aims at improving data collection, production, dissemination and use of statistical information with particular attention to national needs and official statistics overall conformity with international, in particular EU, standards. In the above context, the Project seeks to support the statistical public service of the country to gradually align to the international and EU standards and requirements in the field, as well as to build its administrative and strategic capacities needed to effectively implement the national reforms.

For more info on the context of assignment please see the Terms of References and Individual Consultant Procurement Notice on http://www.undp.md/jobs/current_jobs/.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of Consultancy

The Joint UN Project on Strengthening the National Statistical System is to hire an international consultant (to be supported by one national consultant) with relevant experience who will assist the Government of Moldova in drafting a new strategy on development of national statistics to support the implementation of national policies and the Republic of Moldova - EU Association Agreement and pertinent documents.

The International Consultant is expected provide strategic advice to the National Bureau of Statistics in the elaboration of the document on further strengthening of the national statistical system, considering the country’s European integration agenda, as well as the national policy and reforms context. Him/she will ensure the methodological guidance and necessary tools for successful accomplishment of assignment, based on international and EU best practices, as well as will coach and provide trainings to senior staff on strategic planning. The consultancy being provided by the International Consultant will represent a knowledge transfer and experience sharing about the development of strategic development documents in other countries, preferably in the statistical field.

The National Consultant is to assist the International Expert in achievement of the assignment’s objective with own expertise in strategic planning, reforms’ implementation, knowledge about the national policy framework and experience of work with Government institutions, ensuring the participatory manner of strategy’s development at the appropriate level and inclusive participation of the NBS staff.

The assignment will be built on the previous and on-going activities undertaken by the National Bureau of Statistics, State Chancellery, Project partners, as well as other resources available (national and sector legislative and normative framework, international regulations, printed and electronic publications, conferences/events results, reports, etc.).

Scope of Work

The overall scope of assignment is to carry out a thorough assessment of achieved results and lessons learned so far, as well as gaps and needs for further progress, and on the basis of which to develop a strategic document, either on longer term (2015-2020) with a shorter term action plan (2015-2017) or being a medium term document (to be decided at the inception phase of assignment), that should include a complex approach and have a focus on the improvement of the whole statistical sector, not only the institutional development of NBS.

The sought international consultant will perform the whole assignment in cooperation with another national consultant. Job vacancy announcement for the respective experts can be found on http://www.undp.md/jobs/current_jobs/.

Main Tasks to be performed

To achieve the envisaged objectives, in collaboration with the National Bureau of Statistics and the State Chancellery, under the overall supervision of the Project, the consultant will have the following major responsibilities and perform the following activities:

Undertake desk review - done remotely and completed during mission 1, a list of reference docs can be found in Terms of References;
Formulate own approach and working methodology - drafted remotely, finalized during mission 1 - International Consultant responsible for the task with the support and participation/inputs of National Consultant;
Provide trainings on strategic planning - during mission 1 - International Consultant responsible for the task with the support of National Consultant;
Carry out extensive consultation with relevant counterparts and stakeholders - during missions 1&2 and remotely - National Consultant responsible for the technical accomplishment of task, under conceptual guidance and leadership of International Consultant;
Undertake situational analysis of national statistics development and functioning aiming to prioritise the core issues and goals to be addressed by the future strategy of statistical sector - drafted remotely and completed during missions 1 - International Consultant responsible for the task with the support of National Consultant;
Develop and agree a draft strategy on development of national statistics - drafted remotely and completed during mission 2 - International Consultant responsible for the task with participation/inputs from the National consultant.

Other activities: Tasks for both experts, throughout the assignment:

Facilitate a peer-review of the strategy and action plan from the high level international experts in the field of statistics and integrate their recommendations in these documents;
Establish and maintain a dialogue with national counterparts and stakeholder, consultants, Project staff;
Advocate for the delivered results and contribute to the increase of awareness and understanding of partner institutions;
Support the organisation and undertake public presentation of results with the participation of concerned partners (national stakeholders and concerned institutions, think-tanks, academia, CSOs, international community), gather and consider their feedback;
Mainstream gender equality principles throughout the process of strategy formulation and ensure that the new document represents a gender-sensitive policy document;
Develop an activity report on consultancy undertaken, including stages passed, resources used, results obtained versus expected, impact of obtained results, risks overcome, problems faced, lessons learned, conclusions and next stage recommendations.

The International Consultant, who will be responsible for coordination and consistency of produced reports and additional to the above mentioned tasks, would have to:

process the inputs provided by the National Consultant and Project’s Coordination Team and set up a common work plan and the methodology;
distribute the tasks among the working team members and observe their execution;
ensure a common/harmonized approach to the topics and tasks of assignment;
provide guidance to the working groups’ members throughout the stages of assignment on actions, structure & content of reports to be developed;
coordinate the process of consultation with the Project’s key partners and relevant stakeholders to validate the key findings of produced reports, to collect and consider their feedback and recommendations for improvement;
develop, with the contribution of working groups’ members, the synthesis report on the main expected outputs.

For detailed information on specific tasks of the International Consultant, objectives, modality of work, activities and expected outputs, please refer to the Terms of Reference and Procurement Notice, available on: http://www.undp.md/jobs/current_jobs/.

Competencies

Strong knowledge and understanding of functioning of official and/or administrative statistics (concepts, regulatory framework, EU/UN standards, best practices) and its interaction with other public sectors;
Ability to analyze, plan, communicate effectively orally and in writing, draft reports, solve problems, organize and meet expected results, adapt to different environments (cultural, economic, political and social);
Good interpersonal skills, solid judgment/decision making, initiative and creativity;
Ability to be independent, impartial and credible in a challenging environment;
Availability to work with UN and Project’s national stakeholders during the indicated/approved period;
Adherence to UN’s values and ethical standards;
Cultural and gender sensitivity.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced degree in economics, statistics, public administration, international development and/or other related science;
Other formal education relevant for the assignment.

Experience:

At least 7 years of relevant professional experience in strategic planning and institutional development of public administration, in particular statistical sector, with a substantial proportion in EU or candidate countries;
Experience including substantial participation in analytical works (functional /thematic analysis, strategic development plans, assessments, evaluations, reviews, policy advisory, or research work) aiming at strategic planning at sector level, institutional development (in particular of statistical offices), evidence-based monitoring in EU or candidate countries;
Experience in policy-making processes and results-based management through provision and use of evidences for planning, M&E of public policies in EU countries and (as asset) in Moldova;
Experience in participatory team-works, joint researches, national/local level consultations, trainings in strategic planning;
Experience of collaboration with Government/s, in particular Governments of EU countries and (as asset) in Moldova;
Experience of work with development partners, in particular UN/UNDP, EU, etc. (in international projects managed/funded by EU institutions, in particular in statistics).

Language:

Language proficiency - excellent English, knowledge of Romanian and/or Russian is an asset.

Evaluation:

Initially, consultants will be short-listed based on the following minimum qualification criteria:

Advanced degree in Economics, statistics, public administration, international development and/or other related science;
At least 7 years of relevant professional experience in strategic planning and institutional development of public administration, in particular statistical sector, with a substantial proportion in EU or candidate countries.

The short-listed individuals will be further evaluated, based on the following methodology of Cumulative analysis.

Technical Evaluation Criteria:

Advanced degree in economics, public administration, statistics, international development and/or other related science (Bachelor’s – 20 pts, Master’s – 25 pts, PhD – 30 pts);
Other formal education relevant for the assignment (certified) (Any relevant for area of expertise – 10 pts);
At least 7 years of relevant professional experience in strategic planning and institutional development of public administration, in particular statistical sector with a substantial proportion in EU or candidate countries (7 years –30 pts, 8-10 years – 31-35 pts; >11 years – 36-40 pts);
Experience of analytical works in strategic planning at sector level, institutional development (in particular of statistical offices), evidence-based monitoring in EU or candidate countries (Large (>10 pieces) – 20-30 pts, to some extent (1-9 pieces) – 1-19 pts, No-0 pts);
Experience in policy-making processes and results-based management through provision and use of evidences for planning, M&E of public policies in EU countries and (as asset) in Moldova, (Large– 10-15 pts, to some extent – 1-9 pts, No-0 pts);
Experience in participatory team-works, joint researches,national/local level consultations trainings (coordination, leading, coaching, moderation of such activities), in particular on strategic planning (Large – 15-20 pts, to some extent – 1-14 pts, No-0 pts);
Experience of collaboration with Government/s, in particular Governments of EU countries and (as asset) in Moldova (Large – 20-30 pts, to some extent – 1-19 pts, No-0 pts);
Experience of work with development partners, in particular UN/UNDP, EU (in international projects managed/funded by EU institutions, in particular in statistics) (Large – 15-20 pts, to some extent –5-14 pts, No-0 pts);
Strong knowledge and understanding of functioning of official and/or administrative statistics (concepts, regulatory framework, EU/UN standards, best practices) and its interaction with other public sectors (Large – 15-20 pts, to some extent –5-14 pts, No-0 pts);
Ability to analyse, plan, communicate effectively orally and in writing, draft reports, solve problems, organize and meet expected results, adapt to different environments (cultural, economic, political and social) (Large – 10 pts, to some extent –5-9 pts, No-0 pts);
Languages proficiency - excellent English, knowledge of Romanian and/or Russian is an asset (English – 5 pts, Romanian/ (or Russian for IC) – 5 pts);
Relevant technical proposal (justification of being most suitable for the work vision and working approach), (Fully relevant – 30-50pts, at some extent – 1-29 pts, irrelevant – 0 pts);

The award of the contracts shall be made to the individual consultants whose offers have been evaluated and determined as:

Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical Criteria weight – 60% (300 pts); * Financial Criteria weight – 40% (200 pts).

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 210 points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

The winning candidates will be those who accumulated the highest aggregated score (technical scoring + financial scoring).

For detailed information on application procedure and evaluation standards to be followed, please refer to the Procurement Notice, available on: http://www.undp.md/jobs/current_jobs/.

Application procedure

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

Technical Proposal including: (i) brief explanation of how the Applicant responds to each of the qualification requirements and why he/she is the most suitable for the work; (ii) own vision and working approach in undertaking the assignment, including the justification of field work; (iii) 1-2 samples of similar work undertaken previously (or link to access them online);
Personal information (as a detailed CV or as a Personal History Form /P11) including records on past experience in similar projects/assignments and concrete outputs obtained;
Financial proposal (in USD, specifying a total lump sum amount and the number of anticipated working days).

Additional Information: In the case of engagement of Civil servants under Individual Contract modality, (i) A “No-objection” letter in respect of the individual is requested from the Government employing him/her, and; (ii) The individual must provide an official documentation from his/her employer formally certifying his or her status as being on “official leave without pay” for the duration of the Individual Contract.

Applications can be submitted by 27th October, 2014, 23:59 (GMT+2:00) ONLINE un undp.org, un.md or undp.md under "Jobs" section. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: aurelia.spataru@undp.org.

Financial Proposal:

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments 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 all related costs e.g. fees, phone calls etc.) and the number of anticipated working days. The consultant shall bare costs for all supplies needed for data collection and data processing including possession of his own personal computer.

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.

Two missions to Chisinau are envisaged for the International Consultant, 20 days of field work are suggested and to be confirmed if properly justified by the applicant.

In the case of other 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.