Background
Before the Covid 19 pandemic, Cambodia is undergoing many transitions – an emergent Middle-Income Country, with a growing middle class supported by a rapidly growing economy; and deeper level changes given by societal modernization and the twin processes of industrialization and urbanization. Its development transformation from a near-history of conflict and social dislocation is dramatic. With economic growth topping 7% per year and a relatively equitable income distribution, poverty has declined dramatically to just 13.5% in 2014, and is likely to be below 10% today.
The outbreak of the Covid 19 in the world and in country has reversed development trend in Cambodia as the poverty rate has been double and the economic growth has contracted by -3.1% in 2020. The government in cooperation with development partners and various key actors have been working with great endeavor to contain the virus and return to normalcy as well as building back better.
As such, this is a time of opportunity, but also one of turbulence. Two key social policy challenges are the emergence of: (1) a large group of near-poor and vulnerable households, with incomes just above the poverty line; and (2) a remaining group of hard-to-reach extreme poor, often living in remote areas. The Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) has recognized these issues with the launch of the National Social Protection Policy Framework (NSPPF).
With the government’s support, UNDP has been implementing the Graduation Based Social Protection Project in Rovieng District of Preah Vihear Province and Tuek Phos District of Kampong Chang Province. The project is implementing a large operational pilot under which a Cambodian graduation package would be field-tested, and a rigorous Randomized Control Trial (RCT) methodology is applied to measure development impacts (treatment effects). RCT results and operational learnings will be used to enable and inform the adoption of a similar approach by RGC at scale.
UNDP has cooperated with the Ministry of Social Affairs, Veterans and Youth Rehabilitation to transfer cash to project beneficiaries. Capitalizing from the successful experiences of the current cash transfer program, UNDP and MoSVY has innovated a new digital system which enables for both cash transfer and promoting financial inclusion of those poor households at the same time. With the intertwined goals of social assistance and livelihood improvement, the ministry needs to upgrade their capacity to work on this multi-purpose scheme.
Duties and Responsibilities
The main objective of this assignment is to develop a project operation manual which MoSVY can use to implement GBSP project effectively and efficiently in compliance with UNDP’s rules, regulations, and policies. Based on the Harmonized Approach to Cash Transfer (HACT) findings, recommended aspects from improvement are reviewed, addressed, and/or upgraded by keeping, adjusting, or adding existing /new procedures as deemed necessary to align and meet expected standard quality. This manual will include/address only aspects or recommendations raised/suggested in the HACT report such as some key improvement in programme management, procurement, hum resource management (staff recruitment) contract administration etc. Operations manuals developed by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and relevant existing procedures of the MoSVY should be used for this improvement.
Please note that the procedure of each function should be precisely prescribed, short, and concise, and implementable in the context of the MoSVY. In addition, standard formats and forms should be developed and attached in the manual in a good order and accessible by link or click on content. It is important to ensure that each function should embed clear task division, segregation of duties, internal control framework, check and balance, accountability, transparency, performance evaluation and risk monitoring etc. The design concept should focus on users friendly, client based, and meeting acceptable standards. It should consider practices relevant to laws, and regulations of the Royal Government of Cambodia and is in line with relevant international project management and standard practices.
The Technical Consultant will perform roles and duties as the followings:
Consult with UNDP team about the manual, standard requirements, and key working aspects;
Work with MoSVY to develop workflow, concept, and design of the project operations manual;
Collect the government’s existing documents and assess their relevance and standard consistency;
Use or amend existing standard procedure as well as develop new ones as needed
Draft the project operations manual;
Present to UNDP and MoSVY, and address/improve based on comments;
Hand over the project operational manual to MoSVY to review and feedback;
Finalize the project operational manual; and
Provide training to MoSVY, especially assigned staff members
Interested offeror must read the Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice, which can be viewed at https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=85264 for more detail information about term of reference, instructions to offeror, and to download the documents to be submitted in the offer through online.
Competencies
Time management (in managing outputs)
Team management
Professionalism, courtesy, patience
Outstanding inter-cultural communication, networking, and coordination skills.
Ability to work with people from different backgrounds to deliver quality products within short timeframe.
Be flexible and responsive to changes and demands.
Be client oriented and open to feedback.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
Advance university degree (Master´s degree or equivalent) in Business Administration or related field. Having robust project management experience is preferable.
Professional Experience:
Five years experiences on organizational development or institutional building, preferable for government ministries or agencies.
Substantial knowledge on UN’s operation system, preferable UNDP; and the Cambodian government’s operation system, especially project management for development projects.
Previous assignment on the government’s organizational development, project management for development projects.
Language Requirement:
Fluency of English language and Khmer is essential.
Ability to moderate a high-level meeting in English and Khmer.
Please be informed that we don’t accept application submitted via email.
Interested individual offeror must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:
1. Proposal: Letter of explaining why they are most suitable for the work
2. Financial proposal (Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP)
3. Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references
Interested Offerors are required to submit application via UNDP jobsite system as the application screening and evaluation will be done through UNDP jobsite system. Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file. Your on-line applications submission will be acknowledged where an email address has been provided. If you do not receive an e-mail acknowledgement within 24 hours of submission, your application may not have been received. In such cases, please resubmit the application, if necessary. Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.
Any request for clarification/additional information on this procurement notice shall be communicated in writing to UNDP office or send to email chanpisey.ky@undp.org and cc procurement.kh@undp.org . While the Procurement Unit would endeavor to provide information expeditiously, only requests receiving at least 5 working days prior to the submission deadline will be entertained. Any delay in providing such information will not be considered as a reason for extending the submission deadline. The UNDP's response (including an explanation of the query but without identifying the source of inquiry) will be posted in Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice page as provided above. Therefore, all prospective Offerors are advised to visit the page regularly to make obtain update related to this Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice