Background

Launched in 2005 and currently active in over 20 countries, the UNDP ART Global Initiative (Articulation of Territorial and Thematic Networks for Human Development) is an entry point for all international cooperation actors interested in harmonizing their respective actions in support of national policies for sustainable and local human development. Within an evolving development landscape, ART capitalizes on the complementarities of actors at the local level and puts in place multi-level governance systems for sustainable human development. It does so by promoting a programmatic, operational and administrative framework for coordination and institution building. ART’s objective is to enhance the capacities of national and local institutions and actors working in a complementary way at the local level, thereby achieving the Millennium Development Goals and attaining inclusive, resilient and sustainable development.

The European Union is a crucial and natural partner helping UNDP fulfilling its mission. Concretized in 2004 through the Strategic Agreement, in the last five years of work, the partnership supported 115 countries through more than 440 contracts signed between the two institutions. The EU is an influential political and economic actor within the international arena, a drive of reform and renovation encouraging adherence to international standards. While the UNDP benefits form this EU’s international position, the EU takes advantage of UNDP’s extended presence on the ground built upon a large network of national partnerships, of its global specialized expertise, and of its recognized impartiality, neutrality and legitimacy. In synthesis, by working together, the two partners are able to achieve more on the ground than if they act alone.

In this framework, the territorial approach to development, promoted by the ART Initiative in the last decade, has been increasingly adopted by other important development actors, including the EU, which has made important strides in developing an integrated territorial development strategy in order to work with Local Authorities and their associations. The new “Thematic Programme for civil society and local authorities 2014 -2020” of the EU recognizes the key role of Local and Regional Governments in development and their added value as the public authorities closest to population. The strategy also foresees new financing mechanisms for development cooperation. Hence, there is a great potential to build upon a similar vision and programmatic complementarities between the EU and UNDP.

As part of UNDP’s efforts aimed at strengthening the principles of development cooperation effectiveness at the local level, UNDP intends to produce a set of training modules and presentation material focused on the potential synergies between the strategies on local governance and local development of the UNDP and the EU,  in order to explore the opportunities offered to UNDP Country Offices and to Local Authorities by the EU financial instruments, with particular attention to initiatives related to local development.

Duties and Responsibilities

Overall objective

The main objective of the consultancy is to develop training modules and presentations, as part of the UNDP ART Initiative knowledge and expertise-sharing capacities. The final product, in synergy with the EU’s Thematic Programme for Civil Society and Local Authorities 2014 -2020, will serve as an information and dissemination tool for the territorial development approach and will be embedded in the overall training process promoted by the UNDP Representation Office in Brussels.

Expected outputs and deliverables

The contractor will undertake the following specific tasks:

Half a day Training Module:

• Training Module for COs

Objective: Conceptualize and develop a training module in English, which presents the possibilities to collaborate with and benefit from the EU financial instruments, according to its strategy for local authorities and civil society and other relevant programmes related to local development.

Target: UNDP Country Offices and UNDP Staff.

Content guidelines: The module should ideally include three main components:

• A first technical section on the relevant EU instruments – how they work and how to effectively engage with them;
• A second practical section, dedicated to the potential entry points for concrete engagement with EU delegations on the ground, as well as with local and regional authorities and civil society organizations;
• A final section for factual explanation of the corporate UNDP Local Governance and Local Development (LG/LD) Strategy, with particular attention to the territorial approach, and of how to translate it into concrete initiatives at the local level, through direct reference to the LG/LD programmes promoted by UNDP COs.

Technical Guideline: The overall training module should last no more than half a day. The report’s content, format and presentation will be developed under the overall guidance of and in collaboration with the ART Initiative team.

• Spin-Off Presentation for Local Authorities and Local Actors

Objective: Conceptualize a summarized version of the training module, as described in the point 1.a., for distribution to COs and LAs. The final product will support the partnership between COs and Local Authorities that will be able to understand EU financial instruments’ concreate mechanisms of engagement as well as the broader international LG/LD process, with a specific appreciation of UNDP’s corporate approach to local development.

Target: Local authorities and local actors.

Content guidelines: the presentation will be ideally composed by three sections.

• A first section for accurate explanation on how LAs can engage with and take advantage of relevant EU instruments.
• A second section providing concrete information about UNDP work with regards to local governance in order to highlight the opportunities to further develop and expand the cooperation.
• A final information section on the state of the international processes related to LG/LD, with particular attention to the dialogues on Localizing the Post-2015 Agenda, as well as to the potential challenges for the future implementation of the SDGs.

Technical Guideline: The presentation should last no more than half a day. The report’s content, format and presentation will be developed under the overall guidance of and in collaboration with the ART Initiative team.

• Estimated working days for the above-mentioned deliverables: up to 11 day

Training Module for Inclusion in UNDP’s General Trainings

• Training module for COs:

Objective: Based on the training module developed as described in the point 1.a, produce a short version of the training for inclusion in other comprehensive UNDP trainings on the potential cooperation with the EU.

Target: UNDP Country Offices and UNDP Staff.

Content Guidelines: The module should summarize UNDP’s global approach to LG/LD, while highlighting the mechanisms available to foster synergies with the EU. The module’s composition and substance should reflect the content guidelines described in the point 1.a. of the present document.

Technical Guidelines: The training should not be longer than one hour and a half, while the report’s content and presentation will be developed under the overall guidance of the ART Initiative Team.

• Spin-off Presentation for Local Authorities and Local Actors

Objective: Conceptualize a summarized version of the training module, as described in the point 1.a., for distribution to COs and LAs. The overall objective of the product reflects the considerations developed in the point 1.b of the present document.

Target: Local authorities and local actors

Content guidelines: The presentation should include the main content of the training module, as described in the point 1.b.

Technical Guideline: The presentation should not exceed one hour and a half. The report’s content, format and presentation will be developed under the overall guidance of and in collaboration with the ART Initiative team.

•  Estimated working days for the above-mentioned deliverables: up to 11 days.

 Deliverables:

• Training Module for a half a day presentation on “Possibilities of collaboration and financial mechanisms provided by the European Union for local actors' in English;
• Spin-off presentation of the half a day Training Module targeting local stakeholders;
• Training module for a one hour and a half presentation to be included in UNDP’s General Trainings on “Possibilities of collaboration and financial mechanisms provided by the European Union for local actors” in English;
• Spin-off presentation of the Training Module targeting local authorities.

Competencies

Corporate competences:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Functional competences:

• Ability to structure a task in terms of the analytic/investigative process and to produce a well-structured output;
• In-depth practical knowledge of inter-disciplinary development issues including gender equality and empowerment issues, as well as a good knowledge of the inter linkages between the social, economic, environmental and cultural dimensions of sustainable development;
• Openness to change and ability to receive / integrate feedback;
• Ability to work under pressure and stressful situations;
• Excellent communication and writing skills;
• Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside of UNDP;
• Good knowledge of UNDP programming modalities;
• Good knowledge of EU financing mechanisms;
• Good understanding of local development challenges of developing countries and the decentralize cooperation actors;
• Ability to compile information from a variety of sources and synthesize it in a coherent structure;
• Ability to conceptualize issues and analyze data;
• Knowledge of the ART methodology and approach.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced Degree in Development Studies, Development Cooperation or International Relations, or a related field.

Experience:

• Minimum ten (10) years of experience in drafting professional communication.

Language:

• Excellent spoken and writing skills in English.

Application Submission Process:

The application is a two-step process. Failing to comply with the submission process may result in disqualifying the applications:

Step 1: Interested individual consultants must include the following documents when submitting the applications in UNDP job shop (Please note that only 1 (one) file can be uploaded therefore please include all docs in one file):

• Personal History Form (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 (the template can be downloaded from this link: http://europeandcis.undp.org/files/hrforms/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc).
• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment.

Step 2: Submission of Financial Proposal

Applicants are instructed to submit their financial proposals in US Dollars for this consultancy to meric.tasan@undp.org using the Offeror’s letter template available here: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=20828. The proposals should be sent via email with the following subject heading: “International Consultants-developer of training modules" by the deadline for this vacancy. Proposals to be received after the deadline will be rejected. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal should be all-inclusive and include a breakdown. The term ‘all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel related expenses, communications, utilities, consumables, insurance, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the financial proposal.

Application Evaluation Process

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis methodology (weighted scoring method), where 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 technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical Criteria weight: [70%]

Financial Criteria weight:  [30%]

Only Individual Consultants obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70%) on the Technical evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

UNDP retains the right to contact references directly.

Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.