UNDP Jobs - 52243- International Consultant for Transition Management

International Consultant for Transition Management Plan

Location :

Kathmandu, NEPAL

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

05-Jan-2015

Application Deadline :

21-Dec-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

25 days to be spread over 3 months (January 2015 - March 2015), on an intermittent basis

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

25 days to be spread over 3 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

Nepal has already entered into the post-conflict environment following the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2006 between the then Seven Party Alliance of the mainstream political parties and the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), ending of the 10-years long armed conflict. The current Constitution Assembly (CA) is in the process of drafting a full-fledged new Constitution.

Once the constitution is declared, Nepal will enter into another phase of transition, that is, to start implementing the constitution with new administrative arrangements. And, Nepal's transition into federal form of government is going to be very challenging for various reasons. First, currently Nepal has central and local governments only and new provinces are going to be created between them, requiring every system and infrastructure be created at that level. Second, the government (central) will have to decentralize/devolve many of the powers and responsibilities to the provincial and local governments (LGs). Third, local governments (LGs) are also going to be restructured and the current two levels of LGs are likely to be reduced with potential reduction of the number of the LGs. Consequently, the basic public services are likely to be disrupted tremendously affecting many people, particularly the vulnerable groups, negatively if transition is not managed properly.

The civil service leadership will have to technically take lead in drafting laws and policies, reorganize the public administration and manage staff at different levels in the initial years in response to the constitutional provisions and political decisions to be made For this, the civil service and relevant government institutions need to be prepared to manage transition and hence reduce the fragility to be caused in the post constitutional period. In that regard, the technical support to develop a comprehensive transition management plan for ensuring smooth service delivery fulfilling people’s needs, particularly the vulnerable groups at the most, is critically important at this stage for the Government of Nepal.

The Ministry of General Administration (MOGA), Government of Nepal, has been executing a project titled Project to Prepare the Public Administration for State Reform (PREPARE) since March 2013 with the technical support of UNDP. The Project, implemented initially for two years to help relevant government institutions to get prepared for administrative reforms in the context of wider state reform processes, has been extending various types of technical support to the Government of Nepal in preparing itself with strategies, policies, programs and action plans for smooth transition to the federal governing system from the existing unitary system. Such a transition has been a serious concern for all stakeholders as it is likely to involve a variety of risks and emergent issues, which include disruptions in delivery of public services among others due to shift in service functions and government staff from level to another and the need for administrative re-arrangements. Therefore, there is a need for minimizing the disruptions to ensure smooth transition of service functions and staff and delivery of services to people and addressing other pertinent administrative issues through a proper transition management plan.

This Project intends to support the Government of Nepal in developing a transition plan, with focus on ensuring smooth service delivery function of government in the federal structure of the state. As a departure point to move ahead for transition planning, it is important that all government officials concerned with the process of transition management planning for ensuring smooth service delivery are not only sensitized and oriented on the process and components of transition management planning and its prerequisite analyses, but also engaged in charting out the basic components of such plan and initiating prerequisite analyses.

Development of a generic form of comprehensive transition management framework (by including different components and dimensions of federalization/ transition management plan) on the basis of analyses of context, risk and other administrative and sensitivity issues (e.g., conflict) would be necessary as an important initial step. This framework shall constitute a basis for all concerned public organizations for preparing their respective organizational or sectoral transition plan to ensure smooth delivery of public services during the federalization of government functions and structures.

This ToR is prepared to seek consulting services from an International Consultant who will extend technical support on the basis of international practices and experiences to the National Consultant-cum-Team Leader for developing conceptual framework with methodological approach, undertaking activities of orienting and interacting with stakeholders and preparing a transition management plan for delivery of public services during federalization of administration.

Duties and Responsibilities

Major tasks and scope of the consulting assignment will be as follows:

Review reports and other relevant documents on federalization/decentralization and administrative restructuring in Nepal;
Provide technical inputs to the national consultant-cum- team leader, to design and conduct a workshop to orient the concerned government officials of major government organizations responsible public service delivery on the possible framework of transition planning, including required methodology and analyses, and development of comprehensive transition management plan addressing pertinent administrative issues, with international best practices and experience sharing;
Provide technical inputs to the national consultant-cum- team leader to design methodology and action plan with a conceptual framework for undertaking requisite analyses and developing transition management plan;
Provide technical inputs to the national consultant-cum- team leader to undertake required analyses including risk analysis in relation to disruptions of services delivery of public services in the process of federalization of government functions and structure;
Collaborate, where needed, with national consultant-cum- team leader in holding consultations with different stakeholders including political CA members/parliamentarians, political parties, business leaders, civil society organizations, development partners, and other stakeholders;
Provide technical inputs to the national consultant-cum- team leader to develop a comprehensive framework and roadmap of transition management plan covering all aspects and dimensions of transition into federal Nepal, including fiscal and administrative ones.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Self-development, initiative-taking;
Acting as a team lead and facilitating team work;
Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively;
Creating synergies through self-control;
Managing conflict;
Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others. Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member;
Informed and transparent decision making.
Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Corporate competences:

Commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values;
Sensitivity to cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age differences;
Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment;
Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

At least a Master’s Degree in public administration, economics, political science, public policy, management or any other related areas;

Experience:

At least 10 years of experience in state restructuring or public administration reform, particularly transition from unitary form of government to federal one;
Previous experience of working in Nepal in relevant field will be an added advantage.

Language:

Proficiency in spoken and written English is required.

Application:

Interested candidates can download the Procurement Notice with detailed Terms of Reference (Annex 1), General Condition of Contract for the services of Individual Contractors (Annex II), P11 Form (Annex III) and Offeror's Letter to UNDP (Annex IV) from the UNDP website: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=19791.

Please submit your application at the following email address if you face problem applying online: procurement.np@undp.org.