UNDP and the Government of Ukraine have partnered in implementing initiatives and reforms in many different areas for the achievement of SDGs. Over the last two decades UNDP built long-lasting partnerships with national, regional and local authorities throughout the country, non-governmental development actors and local communities. Through a permanent local presence in each Ukrainian oblast and the quality of its partnerships, UNDP has been able to introduce and promote best practices of sustainable development at regional and local levels. For more than 10 years, UNDP has a long-standing partnership with Kherson Oblast State Administration and the Kherson Oblast Council, renewed in 2020 with the purpose of fostering local sustainable development and SDGs acceleration at the sub-national level.

Strengthening the Community Resilience in Kherson oblast Project aims to increase community resilience and citizens trust towards authorities by building respective capacities to provide high quality public services and creating enabling conditions for socio-economic development.

Specifically, the Project will contribute to achieving the following strategic objectives: (a) to build the resilience of communities in Kherson oblast in the face of multi-factor crises and (b) to improve the level of trust in local, regional and national authorities and social cohesion among the citizens of Ukraine, including those living in Crimea, by maintaining and strengthening cross-border connections. The results that align with these overarching ambitions will be attained through a set of interventions targeting vulnerable populations, local communities and authorities, focusing on enhancing the access of the most vulnerable population to quality public service delivery.

It is envisaged that effective and inclusive public service delivery that meets community needs will make communities more resilient to the crisis and improve public perceptions towards the authorities. The following positive changes will result from the project implementation:

• improved access to administrative, healthcare and educational services for the population of Kherson oblast, hosted IDPs and citizens of Ukraine from other regions visiting Kherson oblast, including the citizens of Ukraine living in Crimea (as result of implemented mobile and digital/virtual solutions for services provision, improved capacity for provision of certain types of services, etc.);
• strengthened capacity of local administrations to provide high-quality public services in gender-sensitive manner (as result of specialized training to the heads of territorial communities and deputies of the local councils); and
• improved awareness of the population in Kherson oblast of the advantages of vaccination and new opportunities for receiving improved healthcare services.

2. SCOPE OF WORK

The major task of the National Consultant is to support in participatory and inclusive manner a capacity building programme for the leadership of the local communities, including the heads of ATCs, deputies of local councils and relevant representatives of local authorities, to ensure delivery of high quality public services in their local communities and effective communication with the population.

More specifically, under the overall supervision of the Regional Development Programme Manager, the National Consultant will be responsible for accomplishing the following tasks:

1. Analyse the major gaps and capacity building needs of the local authorities in Kherson region and propose a list of topics for the capacity building programme, in order to improve local government capacities for effective provision of public services in communities and effective communication with the population;
2. Develop a detailed structure of the capacity building programme;
3. Develop a programme of training sessions/interactions for targeted participants;
4. Develop supporting materials for the capacity building program, including learning materials, handouts and recommended readings and online courses;
5. Identify topic-specific experts/speakers to delivered or facilitate workshops/seminars within the capacity building programme;
6. Present the programme and training materials package for finalization to the Supervisor;
7. Plan and deliver the capacity building (training) programme for at least 50 participants from the local authorities of Kherson oblast;
8. Propose the criteria for selection of the capacity building programme participants and support the selection process;
9. Closely coordinate her/his work with other members of the Project implementation team, consult and provide regular updates to Supervisor;
10. Collect and analyse the feedback from the participants; formulate the recommendations on further improvement of the capacity building (training) programme for future replication.
11. Prepare and submit reports on the accomplished tasks in a timely manner.

Expected scope of the capacity building (training) programme:

1. The capacity building programme will consist of a set of online and offline training activities (seminars, workshops, etc.) tailored for local community leaders, including the heads of territorial communities, deputies of local councils, representatives of relevant departments of regional administrations and staff responsible for public services provision as planning and implementation of COVID-19 socio-economic response and recovery.
2. Gender-responsive COVID-19 response and recovery planning, implementation, and monitoring will need to be mainstreamed across all the training activities.
3. No less than 50 participants representing at least 50% of the territorial communities of the target region will be selected based on transparent eligibility criteria. They will access training and benefit from relevant mentoring following completion of the training.
4. Online training will be delivered through the digital platform “The School of Resilient Communities”, developed and launched by UN RPP to boost the effectiveness of local governance and to promote community prosperity.
5. The capacity building programme will build on additional achievements and successfully tested approaches applied by UNDP in Eastern regions of Ukraine, including the certified programmes "Territorial communities’ development in decentralisation context", “School of Local Economic Development”, “Responsible local government: openness, transparency, innovation, partnership”.

The training course should consist of at least 6 thematic one-day seminars/workshops for at least 50 selected representatives of local authorities in Kherson oblast. The participants of the training programme will be selected by the Project based on expression of interest and eligibility criteria. The training programme foresees the online/offline training modality, taking into consideration the risks imposed by COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictive measures. The developed programme should be adaptive and allow flexible change of training sessions modality depending on the situation.

The National Consultant can involve the third parties (qualified trainers) for the practical implementation of the training programme, though this should not influence he scope of work and the timeframes. All additional speakers/trainers involved must be approved by the Supervisor in advance.   

The information materials and presentations should address the needs of the target audience and include quality visualization and graphics and be user-friendly. All materials should contain proper branding requirements of UNDP and the donor.

The training materials should be submitted in Ukrainian language, while the training programme should be submitted in both Ukrainian and English languages.

3. DELIVERABLES

Details of the expected deliverables and schedule is given below:

4. PAYMENT SCHEDULE

UNDP will pay the negotiated amount in four tranches according to the following payment schedule:

• the first payment (25% of the contract amount) upon successful completion of the Deliverable 1 and approval of the Interim Report #1;
• the second payment (25% of the contract amount) upon successful completion of the Deliverable 2 and approval of the Interim Report #2;
• the third payment (25% of the contract amount) upon successful completion of the Deliverable 3 and approval of the Interim Report #3;
• the fourth payment (25% of the contract amount) upon successful completion of the Deliverable 4 and approval of the Final Report.

5. MONITORING/REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

The Consultant will work under general leadership and supervision of UNDP Regional Development Programme Manager (the Supervisor). He/she will receive necessary guidance, clarification, information/materials that may be needed for this task. He/she will duly inform the Supervisor of any problems, issues or delays arising in the course of implementation of assignment and take necessary steps to address them.

The Consultant will report to the Supervisor on the progress of the work performance according to the developed time schedule. 

All the materials and interim reports will be in Ukrainian language. The Final Report will be in English and to be accepted by the Supervisor at the end of the assignment. UNDP will be the final authority to control the quality and evaluate the work. No reports, documents, communications should be published or distributed to third parties without prior approval of UNDP.

Should any travel be needed for the assignment, the incumbent should include this cost in his/her financial proposal.

• Demonstrate/safeguard ethics and integrity;  
• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment;
• Self-development, initiative-taking;
• Act as a team player;
• Encourage and participate in open communication in the team, communicate effectively;
• Create synergies through self-control;
• Manage conflict;
• Informed and transparent decision-making

6. EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS REQUIREMENTS

7. DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS

Applicants shall submit the following documents:

8. FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

? Lump sum contract

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 instalments 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.

9. TRAVEL COST

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal (6 two-day business trips to Kherson are expected). UNDP shall not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket.

10. EVALUATION CRITERIA

Evaluation Criteria

UNDP will use a two-stage procedure for evaluating applications with an evaluation of the technical proposal being completed prior to any price proposals are compared. The technical part will be evaluated on the basis of its relevance to the Terms of Reference. The following criteria will be rated as indicated below:

1. Relevant higher education (Specialist/Master’s degree or higher) – 5 points max

2. Proven relevant experience in the area of regional/local development and/or strategic planning, programme and project development gender mainstreaming or related fields – 15 points max

• 3 years of relevant experience – 12 points
• More than 3 years of relevant experience – 15 points

3. Proven experience of developing capacity building (training) programmes in relevant areas – 30 points max

• Examples of 2 high quality cases provided – 18 points
• Examples of 3 high quality cases provided –22 points 
• Examples of 4 high quality cases provided – 26 points
• Examples of 5 or more high quality cases are provided – 30 points 

4. Experience in serving as a trainer providing trainings for public servants – 15 points max 

• Examples of 2 cases provided – 10 points
• Examples of more than 2 cases provided – 15 points

5. Language Skills – 10 points max

• Fluent Ukrainian language and working knowledge of English –8 points
• Fluent Ukrainian language and working knowledge of English and Russian languages – 10 points

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal and will equal to 25. All other price proposals will be evaluated and assigned points, as per below formula:

25 points [max points available for financial part] x [lowest of all evaluated offered prices among responsive offers] / [evaluated price].

11. EVALUATION METHOD

? Cumulative analysis

Contract award shall be made to the incumbent whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) having received the cumulative highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

• Technical Criteria weight: 75%
• Financial Criteria weight: 25%

Only candidates meeting the minimum requirements and obtaining a minimum 70% from the maximum available technical score (i.e. at least 53 points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.