Historique

This consultancy assignement is open for both national and international consultants.

Project Title: TARABOT: Supporting Transformative Resilience in Area C, Gaza and East Jerusalem

Project Description:

The TARABOT programme: Supporting Transformative Resilience in Area C, Gaza and East Jerusalem aims to address the developmental and resilience needs for the most marginalized communities in the State of Palestine. The Programme is currently under implementation by the United Nations Development Programme/Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People (UNDP/PAPP).

Recognizing that development gaps are growing across the State of Palestine, where communities in East Jerusalem, Area C and Gaza are falling behind owing to structural constraints to development, this programme addresses the following priorities in the targeted areas to strengthen Palestinian resilience in line with the two-state solution:

• Strengthening national ownership and leadership in the sustainable development for East Jerusalem, Area C, Seam Zones, H2 and Gaza
• Moving beyond relief to building the blocks to self-reliance
• Strengthening social cohesion and Palestinian identity

The programme aims to contribute to the resilience of Palestinian society. This will be achieved by combining multi-sectoral interventions focused on improving socioeconomic conditions targeting individuals, households, and/or communities with governance functions and processes from the local-national level. The programme will employ a strategic approach in addressing key drivers of vulnerability, including locational and socio-cultural – such as patriarchal norms. Access to quality services continues to be a challenge amidst uneven service delivery by different service providers, and economic opportunities are limited as labor demand is weak and supply does not meet market needs. The fragmentation of the State of Palestine has produced locational drivers of vulnerability. Within each location, the challenges to access and utilization of socio-economic services differ considering different market conditions, authorities, and levels of access to natural resources. Recognizing the immense structural barriers to socioeconomic development in these areas therefore means the strategy for investment should aim to not only increase access to opportunities but also increase the capabilities of people to access opportunities when and if they are available.

The programme aims to achieve the following outcome and outputs:

Outcome: Improved responsiveness of national and local decision-makers and service providers and enhanced access of the most vulnerable to quality socio-economic services in East Jerusalem, Area C, Seam Zones, H2, and Gaza

Output 1: Enhanced capacities of service providers to deliver relevant and high quality social/basic and economic services

Under this output, the programme aims to support the capacity of local actors to strengthen the responsiveness and effectiveness of local service delivery and socio-economic activities for households and communities in and around Area C, East Jerusalem and Gaza. As for economic activities, the programme aims to address key challenges faced by youth, women, small farmers, economic establishments and other vulnerable groups across the three geographic areas, including the structural barriers faced, capacity issues to effectively participate in the economy, lack of access to finance, exclusion from productive value chains, and inequalities with respect to employment. When relevant, the programme will promote livelihood creation through local economic development and solutions to attract private sector investment in line with the government cluster development approach.

Output 2: Strengthened national and local government role in coordination, policy, and planning

Strengthening the government’s leadership is a fundamental essence of the programme to establish national models of transformative resilience which recognize the importance of the national ownership, self-reliance and preserving identity, within the complicated geo-political settings and the fragile socioeconomic conditions. Thus, part of the programme results is to translate these aspirations into concrete actions and implementation mechanisms to further improve the leadership and the capacity of the government and its institutions, alongside revamping the role of local actors. Through this output, the programme will also support the PMO in strengthening coordination and planning for programming in East Jerusalem, Area C and Gaza in line with national policy and ongoing planning efforts. In acknowledgement of the PMO achievements in the multi-stakeholder engagement and development of the cluster development plans, institutional support and technical assistance essential to ensure quality oversight by the government, including guidance, policy improvement, strengthened coordination and monitoring the planning and implementation of national agenda. To this regard, the programme seeks to assist the government, and mainly the PMO and line ministries, in providing the necessary capacities in the areas deemed significant, notably, coordination, policy guidance and planning. Under Output 2 a key component is to operationalize the government’s cluster development plans.

To this regard, UNDP is looking to bring on board a Cluster/Regional Development Consultant, as per the Output 2 activities, to support the Palestinian Government in operationalizing and monitoring the cluster development approach and plans. This will contribute to the improvement of the quality of socioeconomic services in the targeted areas and ensure TARABOT programme interventions are responsive and aligned with the cluster-based approach. 

Scope of Work:

In light of the significant structural barriers to Palestine’s economic development and the stalled development model, in 2019 the Palestinian government endorsed the cluster development model as a means to even out development imbalances between different regions in Palestine. The goal of this approach is to build off the economic comparative advantages of each region and support the transition from a factor-driven economy to an innovation-driven economy to reduce dependency and unleash economic opportunities towards self-reliance.

Through a comprehensive process engaging local government, non-government and private sector stakeholders the government has launched a number of cluster development plans to provide the overall framework to guideline ministries and relevant cluster stakeholders to operationalise the regional economic clusters. Furthermore, irrespective of the financial conditions of the government, it has invested public resources to this regard, particularly in the agriculture cluster initiatives.  As such, some initiatives are more advanced than others.

Clusters development initiatives are as follows:

The consultant will provide guidance to the TARABOT programme in line with objectives under output 2. The roles and responsibilities of the consultant thus will include the provision of technical and advisory assistance to the Palestinian Government and cluster stakeholders in effectively proposing realistic and meaningful actions for operationalising and monitoring the respective cluster initiatives. The consultant will be provided with needed translation services to support the understanding of the cluster plans and engagement with necessary stakeholders.

Devoirs et responsabilités

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

The consultant will be tasked to provide the following deliverables as listed in the table. Below the table there is further explanation on what exactly is expected under each deliverable.

a) Scoping and Literature Review

The scoping and literature review should provide an understanding of the existing cluster plans and their alignment with the cluster development standards/ regional development within the overarching strategic vision of the Palestinian Government. The literature review should also be elaborated on based on discussions with the Prime Minister’s Office as the government lead of the cluster initiatives alongside government entities and the relevant stakeholders, and therefore include the overall contextual background of cluster/regional development in Palestine including progress made at the planning, policy, and implementation with emphasis on opportunities and challenges.

b) Work with the PMO to conduct cluster-mapping to determine types of clusters present in Palestine, particularly clusters that fall within the sectors identified under the government’s cluster initiatives

For this purpose, a cluster is defined as a geographical agglomeration of enterprises in the same value chain, whereas a cluster initiative is the government-led identification and policy on cluster development as highlighted above. As such, this activity is to align top-down and bottom-up approach through cross referencing the government cluster development plans with actual clusters operating in specified geographical locations. The cluster-mapping should also include an in-depth analysis of the cluster members, including at the enterprise level, looking at existing problems, bottlenecks, development needs and perspectives. This should include consideration of the number of enterprises in the different clusters to determine the scope of the cluster in terms of how much it is inclusive of or represents all businesses in the targeted area in the value chain. A part of this process therefore should include collating relevant and existing data around clusters to evaluate the clusters’ maturity and economic impact and potential. The cluster mapping will therefore utilise the data and evidence collected to inform recommendations and identify potential entry points for investments and interventions to focus on to further advance the prioritised cluster initiatives.

c) Work with the PMO and the Gender Consultant to conduct a stakeholder’s engagement analysis from a gender lens for the clusters with the view to develop an understanding of the socioeconomic and institutional environment for each cluster and to detect potential leverage points for supported interventions

The consultant should conduct a stakeholder engagement analysis looking at the institutional set up and the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of the cluster initiative/ regional development plans. In doing so, the goal of this activity is to identify potential leverage points for interventions to focus on to improve the operationalisation of the cluster initiative. This should also include identifying potential data from different data sources and stakeholders to measure progress and results in line with the previous activity to assess the progress of the cluster plan. Consideration should also be given to existing or potential regional and global stakeholders that support or could support the different clusters in Palestine. At this stage, it will be important to look at the Capital Cluster as it is currently going under review and consultation.

d) Work with the PMO to develop a policy paper to guide the operationalization of the cluster-based approach

This activity aims to ensure that the Palestinian Government represented by the PMO can benefit from other experiences with the implementation of the cluster-based approach/regional development globally. This will include guiding a study tour for the PMO to locations that have successfully adopted this model. The consultant will be engaged to design the intended study tour for enhancing the national capacity through international exposure on similar successful models. The consultant will also lead the study tour for the PMO and other intended government staff to showcase similar models. As a result of this engagement, a policy paper will be developed to provide policy recommendations by the Palestinian Government to take on in the operationalization of the cluster-based approach.

e) Work with the PMO to formulate an operational plan to support the Palestinian Government in carrying out the objectives of the cluster-based approach

Following the literature review, cluster mapping, and the stakeholder engagement analysis, the consultant should produce an operational plan that is meant to support the Palestinian Government with the operationalisation of the cluster plans/ regional development. In this context, the consultant should work directly with various governmental bodies to identify the steps and tasks needed to effectively implement the cluster plans. The operational plan should clearly identify the implementation strategy including budgetary implications and indicators to measure progress. The operational plan should also identify and focus on institutional capacity needed to fulfil this objective and ensure solid management and monitoring of the implementation of the cluster plans. This will strengthen the government’s ability in successfully defining, coordinating, implementing, and monitoring the institutional and legal framework for cluster development. Results should be discussed with the initiative stakeholders and recommendations will be disseminated as a foundation for the way forward towards the operationalisation of the cluster-development/ regional development plans.

f) Conduct workshops to coach and mentor government staff on the operationalisation of the cluster-based approach:

At this stage the consultant workshops include recommendations/methodologies on how to operationalize the cluster-based approach including institutional structural needs such as recruitment and human resources needed (short term experts, studies) etc.

g) Bi-Monthly reporting to UNDP and PMO on achievements, challenges, recommendations, and opportunities:

Throughout the assignment the consultant is expected to work very closely with the PMO, including PMO Head of Aid Coordination and other identified team members. In addition, the consultant will report on progress, opportunities, and challenges on a bi-monthly basis to ensure progress is on track and challenges are properly tackled.

h) Final report:

At this stage, the consultant should provide an overview of the outcomes of the deliverables, outline lessons learned and recommendations.

i) Conduct workshop with the programme steering committee:

At this stage the consultant will provide an overview on the process and recommendations to the steering committee.

Institutional Arrangement

The Cluster Development/ Regional Development Consultant will be awarded a contract with UNDP for the delivery of services applied for and work under the guidance of the UNDP Programme Portfolio Manager, the Advisor to the Prime Minister. The Cluster Development Consultant will fall under the direct supervision of the programme Project Manager and the PMO Head of Aid Coordination. The Cluster Development Consultant will report to the Project Manager and the PMO Head of Aid Coordination through weekly meetings to review progress, challenges, and any required modifications to next steps forward.

The Project Manager and PMO Head of Coordination will provide all available relative documentation, facilitate first contacts and communication with stakeholders. It is expected the Cluster Development Consultant will work closely with the PMO and interact with other government partners, including ministries, alongside business support organisations, donors in economic development, UN agencies, relevant civil society organisations, professional and higher education institutions

Duration of the Work

12 months

Duty Station

Home-based, with 5 missions to country and a study tour

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR: 

Compétences

Corporate competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling 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;
• Treats all people fairly without favouritism.

Functional competencies:

Knowledge management and learning:

• Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.

Development and operational effectiveness:

• Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting;
• Ability to lead formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects, mobilize resources;
• Strong IT skills, particularly with MS Office;
• Excellent written and oral presentation skills.

Management and leadership:

• Focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Leads teams effectively and shows conflict resolution skills;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
• Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors;
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities

Qualifications et expériences requises

Skills and Experience (Pass/fail criteria)

• Minimum master’s degree in economics, Business, Political Science or a related field
• At least 7 years of experience in cluster-development/ regional development plans
• At least 7 years of experience in governance or development planning
• At least 4 years of experience in business development, support to MSMEs, and/or economic analyses
• At least 4 years of experience in conflict and post-conflict context
• Previous knowledge of the development context of Palestine is an asset
• Previous experience in accommodating gender and environmental analysis in cluster/regional planning is an asset?.

Documents comprising the Technical and Financial Proposals

Interested individual consultant must submit the following documents/information, which comprises the Technical & Financial Proposals:

• Provide Curriculum vitae including experience in similar projects and contact details of three referees.
• Proposed methodology to achieve the tasks included in the TOR (not more than 5 pages) 
• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for this role.
• Copy of university degrees and certifications.
• Completed financial proposal form, found under Annex III: the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall consider various expenses incurred by the consultant while fulfilling its mission (e.g. transportation cost…). 
• Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
• Two recommendation letters

Evaluation

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following method

Lowest price and technically compliant offer method: the award of a contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as both:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) offering the lowest price/cost (In this case the all-inclusive daily fee)

“responsive/compliant/acceptable” is defined as fully meeting the TOR provided, including fulfilling/meeting all requirements in section 7. Qualifications/expertise required

Note: Final selection is subject to a successful interview with the recommended candidate

The procuring UNDP entity reserves the right to accept or reject any Proposal, and to annul the solicitation process and reject all Proposals at any time prior to award of contract, without incurring any liability to the affected applicant or any obligation to inform the affected applicant or applicants of the ground for the UNDP’s action.

Payments will be paid-out in accordance with the payments terms as described in the TOR.

Submissions should be made via jobs.undp.org where applicants shall ensure the submission of their financial proposals (as per the pricing table shown above) along with all other required documents.

Any submission of the financial proposal via any other mean will cause the whole application from the candidate to be rejected and disregarded.

Annex V - INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Available on

https://www.undp.org/procurement/business/how-we-buy