Background

UNDP and the City of Skopje implement the regional project: “Increasing Urban Resilience by use of ICT for Mainstreaming Disaster and Climate Risk Reduction in Armenia, FYR Macedonia and Moldova (ICT for urban resilience)”. The main project objective is to build disaster and climate resilience in the three countries by increasing institutional capacity, mobilizing knowledge and transferring appropriate best-practice innovation technologies. Through implementation of the project, the cooperation between the three countries will be enhanced, resulting in the development of a new dimension of international co-operation in the areas of disaster and climate risk reduction.  In particular the project will resulted in strengthening the capacities of the local government to design and implement integrated disaster and climate risk reduction plans and programmes through development of an Integrated Urban Resilience Plan.

The concept of the urban resilience, as well as development and preparation of Integrated Urban Resilience Plans are relatively new concepts. Therefore for the purposes of facilitation for preparation of the mentioned document, in last quarter of 2015, the project implemented the assignment for preparation of the Guidelines on the Content and the Structure of the Integrated Urban Resilience Action Plan. The study contains review of the similar urban resilience planning documents and approaches, reviews of the legislative framework of the plan, defines the key sources of information and data for the plan, and the key entities, as well as recommendations for implementation.

OBJECTIVES

The objective of the assignment is to develop an Integrated Urban Resilience Action Plan (the Plan) for the City of Skopje. The Consultant shall develop the guide for preparation of the Plan, support the update of the risk and hazard assessment of the City of Skopje and harmonization with the national risk and hazard assessment, provide guidance for the selected staff from the City of Skopje, as well as prepare the final version of the Plan.

During the implementation of the consultancy assignment, the Consultant shall closely cooperate with the representatives from the City of Skopje (focal point – environmental department, as well as other relevant departments and units), the Crisis Management Centre, Protection and Rescue Directorate and Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, as well as other relevant institutions.

Taking all of this into consideration, the project seeks to engage a National Consultant (Consultant) that shall support the preparation of an Integrated Urban Resilience Action Plan for the City of Skopje.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager, the Consultant shall be responsible for following:

•  Familiarize with the project document, consultant study on the structure and content of the Plan, relevant climate change documents, study on the ICT platform for urban resilience, as well as other relevant studies and documents with an aim to identify the key elements that need to be included in an Integrated Urban Resilience Plan for the City of Skopje.
•  Review relevant strategic assessments, studies, strategies and plans of the City of Skopje, and the municipalities on its territory , particularly in the areas of climate change, health, air pollution, flood risk, water management, etc.,   with an aim to identify the key elements that need to be included in an Integrated Urban Resilience Plan for the City of Skopje.
•  Review the existing risk and hazard assessments of the City of Skopje, assessments of the municipalities on the territory of the City of Skopje and other risk and hazard assessments, and identify the key elements that need to be included in an Integrated Urban Resilience Plan for the City of Skopje.
•  Conduct 4 (four) consultative workshops for the selected staff of the City of Skopje (including the representatives from the relevant national institutions and the municipalities within the territory of the City of Skopje) for preparation and development of the Plan.
•  Analyze information and data collected, and compile the Plan.
•  Participate in working meetings/presentations if requested by the project manager.

 DURATION OF ASSIGNMENT

The assignment shall be completed in estimated 60 (sixty) working days in period of 5 (five) months starting approx. 10 June 2016 and ending not later than 30 November 2016. The requirements for the implementation of this assignment consider home based desk review with implementation of series of four one day workshops in Skopje, as well as additional working meetings/presentations with relevant stakeholders, as needed. The Assignment shall follow the logical sequences of implementation of activities.

 REPORTING

The Consultant will report to the Project Manager. 

 DELIVERABLES

The main deliverables of the assignment are following:

•  Guide for preparation of the Integrated Urban Resilience Action Plan for the City of Skopje – by 20 July 2016;
•  Delivery of four workshops sessions as required – by 30 September 2016;
•  Draft version of the Integrated Urban Resilience Action Plan for the City of Skopje – 20 October 2016;
•  Final version of the Integrated Urban Resilience Action Plan for the City of Skopje - 10 November 2016.

Competencies

• Demonstrate professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results;
• Excellent communication and documentation skills;
• Strong networking skills;
• Ability to work in multi-stakeholder environment.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• University degree in the thematic areas relevant to the assignment (social sciences, security studies, natural sciences). Advanced university is an asset;

Experience:

•  At least 7 years professional experience in areas relevant for the assignment (disaster risk reduction, risk management, crisis management, strategic planning, security affairs, urban resilience);
•  Previous experience in preparation of urban resilience documents,  risks and hazards assessments, and/or comprehensive reports, and/or strategic plans, and/or, and/or climate change documents, etc.
•  Previous experience in projects from disaster risk reduction/crisis management/urban resilience/climate change areas;
•  Profound knowledge of the Macedonian disaster risk management system;
•  Experience in working with different stakeholders (government bodies, municipalities etc.) including NGOs;
•  Good presentation and communication skills, sense of initiative;
•  Excellent analytical and writing skills;

Language:

•  Full working knowledge of English.

 APPROVAL/PAYMENT TIME

The payment will be done in 3 (three) instalments based on the milestones agreed:

•  30% - after submission and acceptance of the Guidelines for preparation of the Integrated Urban Resilience Action Plan for the City of Skopje – 25 July 2016;
•  30% - after the draft version of the Integrated Urban Resilience Action Plan for the City of Skopje is submitted to and approved by UNDP – 25 October 2016;
•  40% - after the final version of the Integrated Urban Resilience Action Plan for the City of Skopje is submitted to and approved by UNDP – 20 November 2016.

The National Consultant will provide following:

•  CV of the Consultant (United Nations Personnel History form (P-11);
•  Brief methodology and approach on how the assignment will be carried included detailed timetable of the proposed activities (max. 2 pages);
•  Financial offer in MKD expressed as lump sum for the delivery of outputs as per above description. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of the lump sum amount - consultancy fee,  number of anticipated working days and any other possible costs related to assignment. No travel outside Skopje is foreseen as part of the assignment.
•  Reference list of at least 2 similar work/projects and contact details of the clients.

 EVALUATION OF OFFERS

The offers will be evaluated based on the Best value for money principle taking into account a combination of the applicants’ qualification and financial proposal (70% technical and 30 % financial offer). When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) Responsive/compliant/acceptable (scored at least 70% of technical criteria) and
b) Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical (70%) and financial (30%) criteria specific to the solicitation.

Application instructions:

Step 1:

•  Click on the "Apply now" button
•  Input your information in the appropriate Sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume and motivation; You can type in, or paste your short Resume into the last box;
• Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page. On the next page, you will be asked to upload other required documents listed in the step 2;

Step 2:

The system will allow only one attachment. Therefore please upload all documents listed below as one file.

•  CV of the Consultant (United Nations Personnel History form (P-11);
•  Brief methodology and approach on how the assignment will be carried included detailed timetable of the proposed activities (max. 2 pages);
•  Financial offer in MKD expressed as lump sum for the delivery of outputs as per above description. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of the lump sum amount - consultancy fee,  number of anticipated working days and any other possible costs related to assignment. No travel outside Skopje is foreseen as part of the assignment.
•  Reference list of at least 2 similar work/projects and contact details of the clients.

Failing to submit any of these documents may result in disqualification of application.