Antecedentes

In 2011 the Open Government Partnership (OGP) initiative was lunched. Its main scope is to commit governments to promote transparency, citizen engagement and fight corruption through new technologies.  In order to improve their effectiveness, governments around the world engage in new creative approaches to become more transparent, easy accessible and efficient in addressing citizens’ concerns. Increased involvement of the Civil Society Organizations and citizens in the public consultations represents a good indicator of the gradual progress. Steps are continuously made to opening governmental data and new information becomes available on public expenses, revenues and public procurement. 

In the ECIS region Governments have embraced the open government – open data  and innovation agenda also thanks to their participation to the Open Government Partnership; participating countries endorsed a high-level Open Government Declaration, delivered a country action plan developed with public consultation, and committed to independent reporting on their progress going forward. The pace of advancing with the implementation of the action plans differs across the region. The two most popular commitments undertaken by the governments within the OGP framework continue to be ‘open data’ and ‘e- Government’.

The existence of online open data portals does not necessarily indicate their full functionality. The Independent Review Mechanism of the OGP indicates that many of the platforms present gaps as inaccessible links, old data, inexistence of data sets or any contextual information. Except the official statistics on the usage of the portals there is no evidence on the user satisfaction and the demand from CSO, private sector or individuals is ranked as being low. These gaps can be addressed only through a comprehensive strategy engaging and capacitating the public administrations and external stakeholders for the collection, production, delivery and utilization of data. 

The media play an important role in this regard. Therefore, journalists in charge of managing the amount of information should be highly skilled in analyzing the public financial data and be able to deliver this information to the final consumer in an easy and comprehensive way.

UNDP Regional Center for Eastern Europe and the CIS (http://europeandcis.undp.org/) is currently engaged in a number of activities supporting the implementation of the OGP in Eastern Europe.  In 2013 UNDP organized a Data Journalism Camp in cooperation with the E- Governance Center of Moldova. The workshop brought together 25 young journalists from across Europe and CIS region and aimed at developing the right skills needed to extract, analyze and present governmental data in an interactive way and with a high social impact.

In 2014 the UNDP Regional Center for Eastern Europe and the CIS will support two major initiatives in support to open data and data journalism:

1) A workshop/training (to be held in Istanbul in September 2014) will gather practitioners, representatives of the public services engaged on implementing open data and international experts with the aim of analyzing the current status of open data policies in the countries of the region and identifying solution and strategies to enhance the effectiveness of the policies and introducing new ones.

More specifically the workshop will discuss the following topics:

• The benefits of open data in terms of transparency and accountability (how openness becomes accountability?);
• Governance, legislation – regulations needed to promote open data and effectively release relevant datasets;
• Open data policies and strategies at the departmental level; human and financial resources needed for the implementation of the policies;
• Policies and techniques to make the data usable and utilized by the citizens and developing standards for higher data usability. How to create public data flows out to the citizenry and back to the machinery of government for improved policies.

2) A training on Data Journalism, (to be held in Istanbul in November 2014) following up on the Camp organized in Moldova in 2013, engaging young journalists from the region in a series of initiatives for developing their skills in utilization of data for promoting anti corruption- transparency and accountability.

Deberes y responsabilidades

The Consultant will work under the supervision and in collaboration with of the Anti Corruption Specialist, Democratic Governance Practice. The Consultant will cooperate with UNDP staff at the regional centre and in the country offices.

Main Tasks and Responsibilities

Training on open data for Public Officials (Istanbul - September 2014):

• Get acquainted with the open data/ e governance initiatives having an impact on transparency and accountability in Eastern Europe and CIS region and conduct analysis –research to identify training needs for public officials;
• Identify the target groups of civil servants and the type of tailored training required (open data tools, visualization techniques, on-line platforms, data accessibility, e-procurement, disclosure of financial data etc.);
• Research case studies of both success and failures in the area of open data from across the region and beyond to be presented at the workshop;
• Design the workshop/training agenda;
• Indentify and contact speakers for the proposed sessions;
• Support facilitation and workshop / training delivery.

Regional training on open data for anti corruption for young journalists (Istanbul – November 2014):

• Get acquainted with the previously organized data camp (scope, material covered, participants, speakers, lessons learnt etc.);
• Identify the sectors of interest and emerging needs of the media and civil society in working with the open data;
• Develop the training sessions and identify trainers;
• Contact the possible partners/speakers for the training delivery;
• Support the facilitation of the training.

Deliverables:

The Consultant will be expected to deliver the following:

• Agenda for the training of civil servants, including trainers (identified together with UNDP and relevant partners); by end of June 2014;
• Review of case studies from the region to be presented at the training; by end of July 2014;
• Facilitation of the training and report from the training capturing key observations on the results/lessons (support for minute taking will be provided) by end of September 2014;
• Concept and agenda for the open data training for journalists (including identification of partners and trainers) by the end of October 2014;
• Facilitation of the training and brief report of the training, by the end of November 2014.

Payment:

The payment will be performed in 2 installments:

• 1st installment - payable after the successful completion of deliverables 1, 2 and 3  - (lump sum corresponding to approximately 25 days of work);
• 2nd installment - payable after the successful completion of deliverables 4 and 5 ( corresponding to approximately 15 days).
  

Travel: The consultant is expected to travel to Istanbul 2 times (for the two trainings), travel costs will be paid separately by the UNDP.

Competencias

• Strong interpersonal skills and communication skills;
• Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities and communication skills;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines;
• Comprehensive knowledge of and experience in the field of Open data;
• Capacity to work effectively in a multi cultural team;
• Strong results orientation, strategic thinking, flexible and responsive with a client-oriented approach.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Academic Qualifications/Education:

• Master’s Degree in a development related field; e.g., development studies, political science, international affairs, journalism or other related discipline is a requirement.

Experience:

• At least 2 years of proven experience in areas related to governance issues, with focus on transparency, accountability and open government reform ( and particularly open data);
• Proven experience in development and organization of trainings/workshops;
• Knowledge of open data theory and practical applications in public services;
• Knowledge of data journalism theory and practical application.

Language skills:

• English language is required;
• Knowledge of Russian or other regional language is an asset.

Evaluation of Applicants

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal.
The award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Only the highest ranked candidates who would be found qualified for the job will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.
Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max. 35 points:

• Experience in areas related to governance issues, with focus on transparency, accountability and open data: 10 points;
• Experience in development and delivery of training modules targeting public sectors: 10 points;
• Knowledge of open data theory and practical applications in public services: 8 points;
• Knowledge of Russian or other language of the region: 2 points.

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max. 15 points.

Application procedures

Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via this website. The application should contain:

• Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.
• Filled P11 form including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees (blank form can be downloaded from http://europeandcis.undp.org/files/hrforms/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc ); please upload the P11 instead of your CV;
• Financial Proposal* - specifying a total lump sum amount in USD for the tasks specified in this announcement. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (number of anticipated working days, communication, office costs and any other possible costs) except of travel costs. Travel costs related to missions will be paid separately as per UNDP rules and procedures;
• Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials.

*Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant/contractor during the contract period (e.g. fee, health insurance, vaccination and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services). Travel costs must not be included in the financial proposal.

Payments will be made only upon confirmation of UNDP on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner.

Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when traveling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org

General Terms and conditions as well as other related documents can be found under: http://on.undp.org/t7fJs.

Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply.

Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process