Antecedentes

National Consultative Forum (NCF) for political parties is a platform for dialogue and exchange of ideas among political parties in the country. NCF is a constitutional body of the Republic of Uganda and operationalized under Section 20(4) of the Political Parties and Organizations Act No.18 of 2005. Forum is currently comprised of thirty eight member political party/organizations with Secretariat as hosted within Electoral Commission. Secretary of Electoral Commission also acts as Secretary of the National Consultative Forum. NCF is chaired by a party with majority in Parliament and deputized by an opposition party with the largest membership in Parliament. Currently the ruling party, the National Resistance Movement is chairing the National Consultative Forum while the Forum for Democratic Change, opposition party deputizes.

As per the legal mandate/framework of the PPOA 18 (2005), as amended, NCF performs the following functions:

• Liaising with the Electoral Commission on matters pertaining to political parties and organizations;
• Ensuring that political parties and organizations comply with the code of conduct prescribed under Section 19;
• Communicating the complaints and grievances of political parties and organizations to the Electoral Commission;
• Representing political parties and organizations in any case where the parties and organizations have to give a common position;
• The resolution of disputes among political parties and organizations;
• Making recommendations to the Minister on any matter under the Act; and
• Such other functions as may be prescribed by the Minister with the approval of the Parliament.

In 2013 and part of 2014, focus of NCF has been on institutionalizing the operations of the NCF building on its recognized role and constitutional mandate; generating/developing proposals on electoral reforms/amendments using consensus building processes within the NCF; developing Draft Code of Conduct for Political Parties and Organizations, and developing capacities for its membership focusing on dialogue and consensus building. A combination of these interventions have led to NCF positioning itself as a forum for dialogue on political reform within the country. However the Forum is in its nascent stages of operations and requires further consolidation of its operations.

In 2013-2014, NCF developed an Action Plan to guide its operations and lay foundations for delivering its constitutional role. NCF in early part of 2013 undertook a phased consultative process of engaging all the members within the NCF from different political parties and agreed on the following.

NCF should be:

• Seen as a credible and independent convener and facilitator;
• Able to function within the parameters of its membership, which is political parties and representation from Electoral Commission, but also have the capacities that will allow it serve as an intermediary between these actors when necessary;
• Presented to the country as a vital national capacity organ mandated to build dialogue and consensus, which are especially necessary for sustaining both peace and development.

The following emerged as the core roles of the NCF building on its functions as provided within the legal frameworks

Intermediary/ consensus builder: An honest broker and intermediary between the Electoral Commission and Political Parties and Organizations (PPO) on issues or points of contention that might be raised by either side, and also issues where it is mandated to play a role, including electoral reform and the development and implementation of the Code of Conduct for Political Parties and Organizations.

Analyst/ Monitor: Monitoring political behavior and political trends, including the implementation of the Code of Conduct for Political Parties and Organizations, and making recommendations to PPOs, Electoral Commission, and Ministry of Justice, and also preparing and providing reports, including to the public;

Facilitator/ Conflict Resolver: Resolving conflicts and disputes through dialogue and facilitation.

Convener

Convening conversations among PPOs on issues of crucial importance identified by the NCF membership, and where sustained dialogue is required, e.g. funding mechanisms for PPOs; what constitutes a “political party,” and how it contributes to political life, and so on.

In 2012/2013, effort of NCF has been in building its role as an intermediary/consensus builder. As highlighted above effort of NCF concentrated in developing constitutive documents and has to initiate steps that consolidate on these initial beginnings. Three key documents were prepared by NCF and these include: Electoral Reform Proposals/ Amendments, NCF Action Plan, Code of Conduct for Political Parties and Organizations. Building on this initial work, and within the context of further strengthening NCF operations, a needs assessment of the key capacities that can be built for the effective operations of the forum vis-à-vis its constitutional role and mandate is considered.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Scope of assignment

Broader scope of the exercise is to provide a quick assessment of the capacity needs of the forum and develop strategies to address the same vis-à-vis its constitutional role and mandate. This also involves analyzing the institutional environment that supports the operations of the Forum as well as intended results from its operations.

There are 3 facets to the assignment:

• Undertake an assessment of the current institutional environment guiding the operations of the forum and provide strategies for strengthening of the same;
• In close conjunction with the Business Committee members and other members of the forum undertake an assessment of the current capacities and capacity gaps of the forum for its effective operations – focus is on operations of the forum as a group;
• On the basis of the capacity gaps assessment, suggest strategies for building the capacity of the forum with specific focus on issues of political dialogue, mediation and negotiation;
• In undertaking institutional analysis and capacity gaps assessment, role and mandate provided for in the constitution will be baseline for this assignment.

Deliverables

Following are the key deliverables expected of the assignment:

• Inception Report;
• Institutional analysis report;
• Capacity gaps assessment report;
• Strategy for strengthening capacity of the forum on issues of political dialogue, mediation and negotiation.

As part of the inception report, consultant is expected to provide a methodology that will be applied for undertaking assignment. This methodology is expected to be cleared by the leadership of the NCF prior to the roll out of assignment.

Management Arrangements

Given the nature of assignment and the need to ensure effective participation by the key national leadership in the process, a sub-committee of National Consultative Forum will be formed to oversee the work of the consultant and provide inputs as required. This sub-committee will be receiving the work of the consultant and provide strategic leadership for the assignment. Consultant is expected to adopt a strong participatory process and as part of the inception report a detailed methodology and approach of the consultant is expected to be provided.

Validation workshops involving Forum members will be organized at key stages of consultancy to receive work of the consultant.

Timeline

Total number of workdays for which contract will be issued is 22 workdays, spread over total of 30 days, which will be the total number of days that the consultant is expected to be available under the contract. Please note that this is a full time requirement spread over the period above.

Note:

Consultant is expected to bring together high-level expertise in following areas: capacity assessment and institutional analysis, political contextualization and acumen in understanding political scenarios and developments; in-depth expertise in legal frameworks of the country; and expertise of developing institutional mechanisms within state and non-state domains.

To undertake the assignment, services of 1 national consultant who is well versed with country’s political context is required.

Competencias

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
• Mature judgment and initiative.

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to think out-of-the-box;
• Ability to present complex issues in simple and clear manner; Demonstrates integrity and ethical standards;
• Ability to work under pressure and deliver high quality results on time;
• Initiative and independence;
• Analytic capacity and demonstrated ability to process analyse and synthesise complex, technical information from different disciplines;
• Analytic capacity and demonstrated ability to process analyse and synthesise complex, technical information from different disciplines;
• Proven ability to support the development of high quality knowledge and training materials, as well as audio-visual communications product.
• Ability to innovate, combining methodological approaches and data from various levels and disciplines.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

• Have a minimum academic qualification of a Master’s Degree, preferably in Social Sciences and Humanities.

Experience:

• At least 07 years of experience working on capacity and institutional assessments, peace-building, conflict transformation efforts at policy level with proven experience of working with political institutions, non-state institutions;
• Proven program expertise in drafting position papers/statements, legal and policy documents, strategic action plans and undertaking strategic capacity assessments;
• In-depth understanding of the current political and development environment of the country;
• Proven experience in undertaking stocktaking exercises;
• Experience in undertaking political and conflict sensitive analysis.

Language:

• English.

Additional Information:

• This is a full time assignment and hence consultant is expected to provide full time for the number of days as mentioned in the ToR;
• Consultant is expected to be flexible to adjust to the different schedules of the key interlocutors;
• Consultant is expected to be impartial and neutral in the discussions with the different stakeholders.

Price Proposal and Schedule of payments

Payment shall be by the lump sum modality in the following 4 installments.

These shall be all inclusive and the contract price is fixed regardless of changes in the cost components:

• Upon submission of an acceptable inception report: 10%;
• Presentation of acceptable Institutional Analysis Report: 30%;
• Acceptable Capacity Assessment Report: 30%;
• Strategy for strengthening capacity of the forum on issues of political dialogue, mediation and negotiation: 30%.

Evaluation Method and Criteria

Cumulative analysis
The award of contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable;
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation;
• Technical Criteria: 70 points and Financial Criteria: 30 points.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of total technical inputs) would be considered for financial evaluation.

Technical Criteria for award of 70 points:

• Relevant Education: 10 points;
• Relevant Experience: 30 points;
• Description of methodology and approach for assignment: 30 points.

Documents to be included when submitting proposals

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document.

The consultant is required to submit an online application through the UNDP Jobs website - http://jobs.undp.org and include following documents/information in a single document (preferably in PDF format)

• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability;
• CV 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.

Technical proposal:

• Description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
• Detailed methodology for assignment to address requirements as outlined above. Submission of a clear methodology will be a key requirement of the technical proposal;
• Timelines and deliverables matrix.

Financial proposal:

• All-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided.

For further details, Annexes and a complete set of terms of reference, please send an email to justine.naiga-bagonza@undp.org and copy diana.nabbanja@undp.org requesting for further information to enable you complete and submit your online application.

Please note that you will be required to:

•    Read and understand Annex I: Individual Contractor General Terms and Conditions;
•    Complete and submit Annex II: Template to Confirmation of Interest and Availability and Submit the Financial Proposal.

UNDP is committed to achieving a 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 strict confidence.