UNDP Jobs - 52855- International Consultant

International Consultant - Project formulation mission for Activating Village Courts in Bangladesh (AVCB) Project Phase II (2016 - 2020)

Location :

Dhaka with field visits within the country, BANGLADESH

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

18-Jan-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

30 Working days over a period of 2 Months

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

In partnership with the European Union and the Local Government Division, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives (MoLGRD&C), UNDP established a village courts pilot project (Activating Village Courts in Bangladesh AVCB) in 2009. The 350 union parishad-the pilot areas- received support to provide the fabric for village court justice and focused on a number of key spheres that work to build capacity of the village courts’ human resources and infrastructure. Located in local government outlets and drawing on their facilities the aim of the village courts is to resolve relatively minor cases in a simple, transparent and affordable manner and quickly.

One of the drivers for the AVCB initiative has been that Bangladesh seriously lags behind in dispensation of justice through its formal justice institutions. One of the major challenges facing the formal justice is the timely delivery of justice where, at an average it takes five years for a case to be decided. A number of issues can be associated with this delayed justice, these include, out dated laws, inadequate staff, low standards of quality for judges and court staff, ineffective law enforcement authority, corruption, gender discrimination, lack of awareness of general population of their rights and accessing and understanding legal recourse, under resourced judicial institutions and distances that the common man has to cover to reach these institutions. Delayed justice keeps on piling the case backlogs that presently stands at about two and half million cases. The access to justice keeps on getting beyond the access of the common people and more so for the vulnerable and marginalized. In this context, the Government of Bangladesh passed the Village Court Act in 2006 and amended the Act in 2013. The law empowers the Union Parishads (UP) to resolve petty disputes at the local level.

The implementation of the law requires infrastructure, specific forms and stationery, skilled human resources at Union Parishads, awareness of beneficiaries of their rights to access justice in the village courts, monitoring, etc. The AVCB initiatives assist in catering for these shortcomings and provide the Government Institutions with expertise to take on the responsibilities beyond project interventions.

The pilot project has exceeded expectations in terms of performance and innovation and has developed strong community and national ownership. Performance indicators and appraisals have all highlighted both the positive impact and potentials on a national level scaling up for village courts to further strengthen access to justice in Bangladesh reaching out particularly to the most vulnerable groups in society that are excluded from formal justice avenues. The average time it takes to resolve a complaint is only 28 days compared to 5 years in the formal legal sector and the cost to the individuals submitting a case is 2 (€0.02) takas for a criminal case and this rises to 4 taka for a civil offence- a fraction of what it costs to file a case in the law courts.

ince the village courts opened in 351 union parishad a total of 64,000 cases have been reported to the courts by October 2014 and 78 percent of these have been resolved in line with the provisions of the Village Courts Act. In total this has meant over 128,000 people, particularly those from vulnerable communities have been extended direct access to effective local justice. Critically users also trust village courts and the majority of people, 80 percent, in a dispute abide by its decisions. An independent survey of users concluded that 68 percent of those directly involved with a village court case were satisfied or very satisfied with the manner in which the village courts dealt with the case they were involved in. The courts also have wider positive externalities and have led, according to the communities that use them, to a reduction of social problems and petty crimes in local communities in the pilot areas.

The successful piloting phase ends in 2015 and UNDP and the European Union are initiating a process to scale up the village court model to a national level. The pilots have become rooted in the local communities as well as resonating at the highest government level that have led to changes in legislation and policy to extend both the scope of village courts and the range of cases they have jurisdiction in and their reach into the community. With a commitment by the government to scale up the village courts and expand this reach nationwide that is currently 7 million people in the next phase of growth the government aims to increase this catchment area to 20 million Bangladeshis. The goal in the end is to ensure there are village courts in all of the 4,571 local councils across 64 districts. The first phase covered approximately 8 percent of the rural area of the country and the second phase intends to reach 21 percent providing for a significant expansion of access to local justice through the village courts.

Against this backdrop, UNDP and EU intend to initiate a joint formulation mission for the proposed larger scale second phase of the project.

Objective of the formulation mission

The formulation mission, in light of the experiences gained in the pilot project and ground realities, will formulate the Second Phase of the project. Using the UNDP standard project design formats the consultants will provide a project document together with log frame and detailed outputs and activities with respective budgeted figures.

Modality of the Formulation Mission

For this assignment of the joint formulation of the project, UNDP would recruit two consultants, one International and one national while EU would deploy two consultants in the team. The members of the mission will work together towards formulation of the deliverables and will brief LGD, EU and UNDP at the various stages of the formulation process. The formulation team would be required to review background information and documents, meeting with various stakeholders, visit different field locations within Bangladesh, incorporate stakeholders’ comments and come up with the end products.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work

Review different documents including Prodoc, TPP, Logical framework of the current phase, strategy document of EU and UNDP, various studies and evaluation reports related to local justice system, different knowledge products, Laws and Rules, other background materials, etc.;
Consult with relevant stakeholders including Government, EU, UNDP, other donors and civil society organisations, lawyers, lawmakers etc.;
Brief the Project Steering Committee of the AVCB on Phase II of the project.
Meet the functionaries, supervisory authorities and beneficiaries of VC at the local level.
Review existing implementation strategy, project activities, achievement, challenges and lessons learnt;
Analyze the scope for potential synergies for the proposed project with other current interventions/projects/programmes and also analyze economies of scale;
Explore options to establish legal referral services hub at the Union Parishad level;
Review gender aspects of village courts;
Analyze and come up with a unit cost required to activate one village court;
Conduct objective hierarchy assessment for the next phase and determine overall objective, specific objectives, outputs, activities and inputs;
Carry out feasibility analysis of the project, using tools like SWOT, PESTLE
Carry out a risk analysis for the village courts intervention;

Composition of the Formulation Mission Team

The overall guidance to the mission will be provided by UNDP and EU. The formulation mission will consist of 4 experts. UNDP will recruit 2 experts: one international (team leader) and one national expert. EU will also recruit two consultants. Mission members (EU and UNDP) would undertake their analytical and field work jointly and produce deliverables in coordinating with each other. The team leader of UNDP will have an overall responsibility for the delivery of the products as per ToR.

Time frame of the assignment

Thirty (30) Working days including:

Desk review;
Meetings and consultations to be held in Dhaka and outside Dhaka, Bangladesh;
Preparation of a mission report and project document according to EU and UNDP requirements (Prodoc, Description of the project, Logical framework, Budget).

Outputs/Deliverables

It is anticipated that the contracted team will provide the following deliverables:

Debriefing and submission of an aide-memoire for the mission to the senior management of UNDP, EU and LGD jointly with EU team;
Organization of a workshop with external and internal stakeholders to outline the main outputs and conclusions of the mission jointly with EU team;
Preparation and submission of draft project document with UNDP template (Prodoc, Budget, Logical framework, risk log, etc)
Risk Analysis with mitigation plan;
Indicative multiyear work plan;
Review comments on drafts of the project document and integrate these into the submission of a final project document;
submission of the project document UNDP’s standard practices.

Note that all of the above deliverables should have consistency with the deliverables of EU’s formulation mission. So both teams (EU and UNDP) should coordinate their works as closely as possible.

The tentative requirements, timing and phasing of payments is set out below:

Inception Report & Assignment Plan: Reviewing background Documents, understanding of mission, plan and scheduling & key issues - 5 days (remote location);
Field work and drafting required Documents - 20 days (Dhaka);
Submission of Project Document with Annexes - (5 days Dhaka or remote location).

Remuneration

The consultants would be required to submit a financial proposal, the proposal should consist of a lump sum figure, which will include the consultant’s total fee, travel expenses to and from Dhaka, and per diem while on mission. Any travel costs outside Dhaka, but within Bangladesh, will be borne by UNDP. In case of unforeseen travel, payment of travel costs, including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UNDP and the consultant, prior to travel.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Good understanding of contemporary thinking on development practices and justice and human rights issues;
Knowledge on high quality project scoping and/or formulation documents especially in the field of local justice and human rights.
Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards (human rights, peace, understanding between peoples and nations, tolerance, integrity, respect, results orientation (UNDP core ethics) impartiality;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge on Informal or quasi—formal justice system;
Proven justice sector Programme/project evaluation capacity;
Proven research capacities;
Proven ability to write very high quality reports (in the English language);
Excellent communication skills (written and oral);
Fluency in written and spoken English.

Required Skills and Experience

Team leader (international expert)

The position of team leader (international expert) must meet the following requirements and criteria:

Education:

Minimum Master’s in law/political science/international development/Economics or relevant field.

Experience:

At least 15 years of experience in the area of justice and human rights;
At least 5 years working experience in international development organizations/ major donors or UN agencies in justice and rule of law.

Language:

Fluent in English.

Evaluation of the Candidate:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis

The candidates will be evaluated through Cumulative Analysis method. When using the weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has 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.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum 70% mark in technical evaluation will be considered eligible for financial evaluation.

Technical Evaluation Critera (Total 70 Marks):

Technical (based on CV, Proposal and Interview)

Educational background and work experience (CV) - 10 Marks;
Understanding of scope of work and methodology (from proposal) - 30 Marks;
Consultant competencies (including examples of previous work of similar nature) - 30 Marks.

Finalcial Evaluation Criteria (Total 30 marks):

All technically qualified proposals will be scored out of 30 based on the formula as provided below. The maximum points (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal. All other proposals received points according to
the following formula:

p = y (µ/z)

Where:

p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated;
y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal;
µ = price of the lowest priced proposal;
z = price of the proposal being evaluated

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals

Applicants should submit the following documents/information:

A technical proposal (i) explaining their understanding of the work and (ii) provide a brief methodology on how they will conduct the work (500 words max);
Curriculum Vitae indicating relevant experience in similar field and at least 3 references.

A detailed CV entailing comprehensive work / assignment details will suffice for technical proposal.

Financial Milestone

UNDP shall effect payments, by bank transfer to the successful bidder’s bank account, upon acceptance by UNDP (in consultation with LGD) of the deliverables as specified in the ToR. Payments will be made in tranches based on the following percentages and milestones.

1st Payment: 10% of the Total Contract amount will be paid after submission of Inception Report & Assignment Plan: Reviewing background Documents, understanding of mission, plan and scheduling & key issues;
2nd Payment: 30% of the Total Contract amount will be paid after completion od Field work and drafting required Documents;
Final Payment: 60% of the Total Contract amount will be paid after submission of Project Document with Annexes.

Reporting

The project formulation mission will consult and provide regular updates to the Programme Analyst, DG Cluster, UNDP. In addition, overall supervision and guidance will be provided by the Assistant Country Director, DG Cluster, UNDP Bangladesh.

Background documents

The following documents would be provided to the consultant by UNDP/AVCB Project in order to perform the contract:

Legal documents related to VC;
Village Courts Act 2006;
Village Courts (amendment) Act 2013;
Village Courts Rules 1976;
Local Government (UP) Act 2009.

Policy documents

Review National Plans (6th five year plan, perspective plan, etc.);
United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF);
Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP);
Country Programme document (CPD);
Review Report on Governance Cluster Programme;
EU Multiyear Indication Plan (MIP).

Project-related documents

Approved Revised Technical Project Proposal (RTPP);
Baseline Survey Report;
Mid-term Review report;
EC ROM Reports 2009, 2010, 2011;
Impact Baseline Survey Report;
Report on Review of Village Courts Performance at Beneficiaries End;
Report on Knowledge, Attitude and skill of UP representatives on VC;
Report on the Review of Social Barrier and Limitations of Village Courts;
Report on the Institutional Assessment of MIE Wing, LGD and Decentralization Guidelines;
M&E plan including tools and Indicator framework;
Progress Reports (Quarterly and Annual Progress Reports);
PSC and PIC meeting minutes;
Concept Note on AVCB Project Phase II;
Identification Fiche and Action Fiche of EU for the proposed Phase II;
Different knowledge products produced under the project intervention.