UN WOMEN Jobs - 71353- National Consultant- Assessment of access to Gover

National Consultant- Assessment of access to Government Public Procurement Opportunities for women, youth and persons with disabilities

Advertised on behalf of

UN WOMEN

Location :

Nairobi, KENYA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

17-Apr-2017

Application Deadline :

30-Mar-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

30 working days

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The Access to Public Procurement Opportunities (AGPO) initiative for women, youth and persons living with disabilities has its genesis to the previous administration that operationalized the Public Procurement and Disposal Act 2005 to assist these groups by gazetting the Public Procurement and Disposal (Preference and Reservations) Regulations, 2011 vide Legal Notice No 58 dated 8th June, 2011. The purpose of the regulations was to promote local, national and regional industry and support socio-economic development by defining: (a) the target group and eligibility requirements for benefitting from the preference and reservations schemes; (b) the percentage margin of the preference, where applicable; (c) the goods, works and services set aside or reserved forspecified target groups;(d) the regions within which to apply the scheme, and (e) the means of measuring its effectiveness in achieving the objectives."

In 2013, when the Jubilee Government came to power under His Excellency President Uhuru Kenyatta, the government went further in ensuring that the disadvantaged groups gain from the public funds spend on public procurement contracts. The Cabinet Secretary, National Treasury, issued an amendment to the Public Procurement and Disposal Act, (No. 3 of 2005) under Legal Notice No. 114 dated 18th June, 2013 and enacted the Public Procurement and Disposal (Preference and Reservations) Amendment Regulations, 2013. Regulation (31) (1) provided that a procuring entity shall allocate at least thirty percent of its procurement spend for the purposes procuring goods, works and services from micro and small enterprises owned by youth, women and persons with disability. In addition, Regulation (31) (2) for the purpose of paragraph (1) provided that, a procuring entity shall implement the requirement through its budgets, procurement plans, tender notices, contract awards and submit quarterly reports to the Authority. This was to ensure that the disadvantaged groups were not to compete with the well-established firms.

In 2016, Kenya passed a new Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act. This was a major milestone under the ongoing procurement reforms. The law is particularly important in terms of the implementation of the Preference and Reservation Scheme because it fully spells out the application of the scheme; clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of key players in the sector (the National Treasury; the public procurement and Regulatory Authority (PPRA) and the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPARB); it provides for enforcement of the scheme while giving immense powers to the Regulator to enforce implementation and provides sanctions for non- compliance. The law provides a major shift from the past situation whereby the Preference and Reservations Scheme 2011 scheme existed, but implementation was through regulations and periodic circulars issued by the Finance Minister. Now, the Preference and Reservations Scheme is anchored in an Act of Parliament which does not allow room for non- compliance. Subsequently, the process of developing Regulations for Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act PPADA (2015) commenced. A task force was constituted by the National Treasury and charged with the mandate of developing the PPADA (2015) regulations. Members of the public and key stakeholders were asked to submit input into the draft regulations.

According to available data from the National Government, over 6,000 Youth, Women and Persons with Disabilities enterprises have done business worth over Ksh.10 Billion with the Government since inception of the programme. However, information on the effectiveness of the initiative is not readily available including statistics on the uptake and level of awareness of AGPO programme by Youth, Women and PWDs has been scarce. There are numerous anecdotal reports of the various challenges that have hindered the target group from benefiting from AGPO.

UN Women Kenya Country Office in 2016 commissioned a rapid assessment on AGPO. The assessment aimed at supporting the goverment in obtaining information on the level of awareness of AGPO programme by women, youth and PWDs and to document the available business developmen services that support implementation of the programme at the county level. The study adopted a filed survey approach and five target counties were sampled based on a number of factors. Turkana and Uasin Gishu counties were selected based on past intervention activities for the target group, by the UN Women in these counties. Kilifi, Kiambu and Kisumu were selected to represent regions under the prevous provincial administration structures. Additionally, economic activities and budgetary allocation to these counties was considered.

The key findings of the study were that special groups were not participating fully in government tenders. In Turkana for example, none of the potential participant had registered and obtained AGPO certificate. Whereas in Uasin Gishu the AGPO target beneficiaries had applied and obtained AGPO certificates as follows; women (1,000); youth (495) and PWDs (20); Kilifi had special groups who had AGPO certificates - women(285), youth(565), and PWDs(13). The figures for Kiambu were as follows; - women(77), youth (89), and PWDSs (9) and Kisumu - women(46), youth(126) and PWDSs(12). Further, in Turkana it was observed that women were not keen to participate in government contracts while in Uasin Gishu women were very keen to participate in government contracting. UN Women has in the recent past had intervention programmes on uptake of 30% public procurement opportunities by the special groups in Turkana and Uasin Gishu Counties.

The study revealed that though the government has put structures and set Trust Funds for the AGPO target benefeciaries groups, the uptake of the 30% of the procurement business opportunities was slow for varied reasons. Chief among the reason is the inability of majority of the groups to meet the requirements of business registration processes, complex bid documents and securing loans to participate in government tendering. The study recommened the following; more training and capacity buillding programmes for both procurement professionals and the target group on uptake and implementation of preference and reservations in counties, government to consider simple bidding documents for ease of understanding by the target group, county governments to consider facilitating access to financing by the target group, and UN Womenand other development partners to consider organising and facilitating more capacity building initiatives at the counties on preferences and reservation.

Rationale/Justification:

The UN Women Kenya Country Office commissioned rapid assessment on AGPO in 2015 had various limitations namely:

The scope- The study focussed mainly on target beneficiaries and procuring entities in selected counties. There was minimum participation of the key instutitutions at the national level responsible for implementation of AGPO namely the National Treasury, Public Procurement Regulatory Authority and State Department for Gender Affairs;
Sample size- Out of 47 counties in Kenya, the study was only done in 5 counties. This sample size cannot be referenced as a true reflection of the status of AGPO across the country;
The study methodology utilised mostly qualitative research methods and less of quantatitive.

Building on this assessment UN Women in partnership with African Development Bank (AfDB) proposes to carry out a detailed study on the effectiveness of the AGPO in Kenya with the aim of establishing the potential interventions to support the program.

Objective:

The overall objective of this assignment is to assess the effectiveness of the AGPO initiative, and make recommendations on how support the initiative. The specific objectives include;

The extent of participation of women in access to government procurement opportunities in terms of volume of government tenders awarded to women;
Identify existing barriers/challenges that prevent Youth, Women and PWDs from utilizing AGPO opportunities fully including assessing the level of awareness among AGPO target groups;
Identify barriers/ challenges for procuring entities in implementing AGPO and make recommendation of how to strengthen the existing AGPO monitoring and tracking systems at Public Procurement Regulatory Authority and at the AGPO Secretariat at the National Treasury to address the lack of available data on the uptake of AGPO;
Provide recommendations to the relevant stakeholders including the policy makers, UN Women and AfDB on how to support the initiative achieve its objectives in compliance with the law.

Duties and Responsibilities

Specific Tasks:

The methodology of the assignment must be participatory, evidence based, output oriented, and practical. The assignment will apply both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The assignment is seeking for practical recommendation that can be applied in programming and NOT a theoretical process. The recommendation must make meaning to all the relevant stakeholders including the Government of Kenya (national, county and oversight institutions), non-state actors and development partners.

Scope:

The consultancy service is expected to conduct its research at national and county level covering a representative number of Counties.

Expected Outputs:

Inception report interpreting the ToRs, methodology, work-plan and schedule (including list of proposed interviewees/contributors);
Draft report including the draft recommendations for the various stakeholders and policy makers;
Facilitate a validation workshop with key stakeholders on analysis findings and draft recommendations;
Minutes and/or reports for all technical team meetings;
Final report;
Policy briefs for the various stakeholder synthesizing final recommendations.

Reporting:

The consultant will work with the technical team comprising of UN Women and the AfDB.

Competencies

Core values:

Integrity- Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;
Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity- Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its workforce; demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity;
Professionalism - Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Core Competencies:

Ethics and Values- Demonstrate and promote ethics and integrity by creating organizational precedents;
Organizational Awareness- Build support for the organization and ensure political acumen;
Development and Innovation- Support staff competence development, and contribute to an environment of creativity and innovation;
Teamwork - Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds;
Conflict Management- Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution;
Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making-Ensure fair and transparent decision making processes and manage risk.

Functional Competencies:

Strong knowledge of research methodologies and methods;
Knowledge of governmental agencies in Kenya at the national and county with proven ability to offer advisory service at the highest level;
Familiarity with UN Women procedures, particularly with regard to knowledge building and management;
Excellent interpersonal and diplomacy skills;
Ability to use critical thinking, conceptualize ideas, and articulate relevant subject matter in a clear and concise way;
Ability to communicate effectively with and relate to people of different cultures, demonstrating an ability to see issues from other perspectives;
Proven ability to deliver tasks timely in a multi stakeholder environment with consultations;
Use of modern Information, Communication Technologies.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Post graduate degree in public financial management, public sector management with a bias or combination in economics, Gender, human rights, law or social sciences.

Experience:

Demonstrable experience of not less than 10 years in undertaking similar research work and evidence based policy development.

Language:

Fluent in English.