Background

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been actively supporting the Electoral Administration of Georgia since 2003, including large-scale professional, technical and training assistance. With the project, Developing Capacities of Democratic Institutions for Fair Electoral Processes and Active Civil Participation, UNDP aims to develop long-term capacities for fair and well-organized electoral processes before and after the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections of 2008.
 
The overall outcome of the project is to strengthen institutional, organizational and individual capacities of electoral stakeholders, which will be achieved through the following outputs: 
  1. Enhanced capacity of the electoral administration in holding well-organized elections compliant with the basic democratic principles and electoral standards;
  2. Public better informed on electoral standards and voters motivated to insure inclusiveness and participation in elections and decision making process.
 Four major components of the project support the basis for ensuring free and fair elections by combination of qualified electoral administration, well-informed voters, stable Unified Electoral Code and increased civil participation. Those four components are as follows: 
  • Training and Capacity Building of the Electoral Administration;
  • Voter Education/Information;
  • Sustainability of the Unified Electoral Code;
  • Public Awareness Campaign and Promotion of Civic Participation
UNDP has already provided a large-scale training assistance to the Electoral Administration in the preparation of the Extraordinary Presidential Elections held in January 2008, Parliamentary Elections held in May, 2008 and Ajara Supreme Council Elections and Parliamentary By-elections held in November, 2008. The project also supported the Electoral Administration in improving the pre-election information and communication campaign.
 
UNDP’s strategy is to go beyond the immediate pre-electoral assistance and unfold the longer-term electoral system capacity development activities to promote sustainability of the Electoral Administration and enable electoral stakeholders to work independently and effectively in future. Therefore, the objective is to promote sustainability of the Electoral Administration and ensure that democratic institutions have long-term capacity for effective operation.
 
UNDP set up a project and hired project staff including Project Manager, Training Expert and Administrative Assistant to help out with training of the Election Administration (EA) staff.
 
The internationally recognized BRIDGE curriculum was selected for professional development purposes. BRIDGE is the most comprehensive professional development course available in election administration. To date, it has been conducted in almost 30 countries for 2,000 people. It improves the skills, knowledge, and confidence both of election professionals and of key stakeholders in the electoral process, such as members of the media, political parties, and electoral observers.
 
EA Capacity Development component of the project is focused on the following:
  • Institutional development of the Central and District Electoral Commissions;
  • Needs assessment and a training programme design based on the specialized BRIDGE methodology;
  • BRIDGE training of the permanent members of the Electoral Administration.
 Under this component, international capacity building expert conducted the training needs assessment mission for the Georgian Electoral Administration and came up with the recommendations for the EA training needs. Train the Facilitator (TtF) course is part of the recommendations.
 
Project will identify suitable candidates, to undertake the Facilitator training. These participants will form a group of core trainers to be utilized in the implementation of the 20 DEC BRIDGE trainings. All participants will be required to attend the whole workshop in order to be awarded a BRIDGE certificate of semi-accreditation. This TTF will ensure a national capacity to customize, plan, implement and evaluate BRIDGE workshops for Georgia.
 
UNDP takes overall responsibility for the project implementation, while the implementation of some parts of voter education and the element on active civil participation are delegated to the NGO Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association..
 
The detailed information on the project is available at UNDP web-site www.undp.org.ge

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives and overall scope of work

The mission shall be carried out under the overall supervision of the UNDP Georgia office. However, the duties will be accomplished in close collaboration with the project personnel, particularly the Training Expert and Project Manager. The relevant CEC counterparts should be closely consulted. UNDP will also ensure assigning one translator and a local staff that will help with organizational matters.
 
The specific objective of the mission of the BRIDGE TtF Lead Facilitator will be to prepare and conduct BRIDGE TtF program with a duration of 2 weeks. The Program should be conducted for the selected pool of participants, including former CEC facilitators, CEC training department staff and NGO representatives. The program should include not only facilitators’ technique training but the training modules for further 5 day capacity development program of DEC permanent members. The Lead facilitator is expected to recommend on the content of the TtF agenda and further revision of modules. The TtF Program will have 22 participants.   
 
The mission will last for approximately 3 weeks period, it should commence on the week no later than 2nd of July, 2009. The TtF lead facilitator will have up to one working week for the preparation and evaluation of TtF course and 2 working weeks for conducting the training program. The costs to be covered include: consultancy fees, DSA and travel. The mission will be fully financed by UNDP Georgia.
 
TtF lead facilitator should be ready to arrive to Georgia latest on the 2nd of July, and run the two week program beginning from the 6th of July.
 
Technical Evaluation criteria:
 
The short listing of the candidates will be based on the following evaluation criteria. Short listed candidates will be contacted and requested to provide the price quotation for the above mentioned assignment. 
  1. Fully accredited, first level BRIDGE facilitator (40%);
  2. 5 to 10 years of in-depth knowledge of BRIDGE project (25%);
  3. Experience of capacity building and training activities, particluraly in conducting the TtF with international experience (covering Caucasus Region (25%);
  4. Fluency in English (10%).
Deliverables
  • BRIDGE Train the Facilitator program with a duration of 2 weeks performed;
  • Recommendations on the BRIDGE module content for the DEC training provided;

Competencies

  • Experience and knowledge of culture, laws and procedures of the country or region would be an asset.
  • Experience of capacity building and training activities particluraly in conducting the TtF with international experience (covering Caucasus region);

Required Skills and Experience

  • Be fully accredited, first level BRIDGE facilitator;
  • Possess in-depth knowledge of BRIDGE project (for 5 to 10 years)
  • Fluency in English is a must;