Background
There is broad consensus that local and regional governments (LRGs) and, in general, local governance stakeholders must be involved in the process of implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the new 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This involvement will only be possible if local governance stakeholders and in particular LRG representatives are fully aware of the Agenda, its goals and its targets. Furthermore, they need to understand why and how the Agenda must be localized.
As highlighted in the GTF-UCLG/UNDP/UN-HABITAT Roadmap for localizing the SDGs, localization means putting the territories and their peoples’ priorities, needs and resources at the center of sustainable development on the road towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda. It refers particularly to:
- Raise awareness amongst the population: make the Agenda known amongst the citizenship and actors operating at local level (CSOs, private sector, academia etc.)
- Establish and/or strengthen participatory mechanisms and structures to ensure the alignment of sustainable development plans to the needs and priorities of citizens, especially vulnerable groups,
- Advocate for national and regional strategies to include the interests, needs and aspirations of LRGs and the territorial stakeholders.
- Align both strategic and sectoral development plans with the new Agenda,
- Identify, formulate and implement integrated cross sectoral project and policies,
- Monitor the implementation of the Agenda in the different territories through indicators that are aligned with the SDG indicators,
- Report on the progress of the different territories towards the achievement of the SDGs and include it into national reporting processes.
GTF-UCLG/UNDP/UN-HABITAT have embarked on developing a series of training modules geared at building the capacities of LRGs and LG stakeholders on the new agenda. Training Module 1, recently elaborated, is an introductory module aiming to raise awareness on key issues around the localization of the SDGs. It intends to bring the Agenda and its localization closer to the LRG representatives. This first module will be complemented and followed by several additional modules that will dig deeper into some of the key issues of the localization process.
Duties and Responsibilities
Overall objective:
This consultancy seeks to develop Training Module 2 on potential impact and opportunities that arise with the new agenda for local development planning processes. In other words, the training module will aim to allow LRGs to improve their planning processes in line with the SDGs and the related targets.
- Alignment and integrated development planning
A major aspiration of the new agenda is “Ensuring that no one is left behind” and the 2030 Agenda states that all countries and all stakeholders, acting in collaborative partnership, will implement this plan. The module aims at inspiring LRGs to lead a review of existing strategies and plans and to identify areas for change: to scan and detail the landscape of existing strategies and plans at the sub-national and local levels and then compare against the global and national SDGs and targets to identify gaps and areas for change. The tool should not only allow to read, anchor and support the SDGs in sub-national and local contexts, but also allow to review and strengthen the institutional arrangements, processes and methodologies that are underpinning a solid planning exercise as well as an eventual implementation of the plans. The module will highlight the “implementability” aspects of the SDGs plans and look at implementation mechanisms.
In line with the UNDG recommendations on mainstreaming the SDGs, this capacity building Module 2 shall particularly provide insights and examples on how to improve sub national and local development planning processes to promote some of the key principles of the new agenda:
Leaving no one behind – make the planning processes as inclusive as possible
Creating horizontal policy coherence - breaking the silos of sectorial planning and promote integrated cross sectorial processes and plans
Creating vertical policy coherence - aligning all different levels of planning
Promoting local ownership of the agenda – strengthen accountability and inclusiveness through truly multi stakeholder and participatory planning processes.
Module 2 is of instrumental nature as it will offer the LRG representatives in charge of governance and development planning, urban planning and environment or any other department, at political or at technical level, practical tools and examples that will help them include the SDG in their strategic and sectoral development plans. It will also provide guidance, concrete examples and tools to allow the participants to reflect on their usual planning processes and learn from each other and the provided examples. It should finally lead to more inclusive, integrated and effective planning processes, as well as plans that are aligned with the SDGs and implementable.
The following elements shall be included in the various capacity building sessions (others might well be added):
- Institutional arrangements for cross sectorial planning
Sub national and local development plans need to take the SDGs seriously as time-bound, quantitative objectives and articulate the major shifts in policy, programs, and investments required to achieve each goal. The integrated nature of the SDGs requires corresponding institutional arrangements, within and across national and sub national and local governments, involving multiple ministries, departments, and government institutions. This level of cross-sectoral cooperation requires innovative planning instruments that use frameworks and incentives to coordinate cross-ministerial/departmental activity. Cross-sectoral sub national and local planning asks LRGs to improve the capacity of departments to collaborate effectively in areas including information sharing, human resources, technology, strategy design, and monitoring and evaluation. Module 2 shall provide examples on existing institutional arrangements and stimulate discussions between the participants on how the institutional arrangements as well as planning processes could be revised to become more intersectoral and integrated in nature. The exercises and cases will also encourage participants to identify the existing institutional mechanisms and instruments in place (to reform or to introduce) that will lead them to the implementation phase of the plan.
- A truly multi actor approach to planning
Developing SDG based strategies and plans should be a multi-stakeholder process, engaging national and local government representatives, local communities, civil society, businesses, faith-based groups, representatives from academia and science, development partners, as well as UN country teams. Different actors will need clearly defined roles and responsibilities to make the planning process work.
Quick stocktaking and stakeholder mapping exercises will be crucial to ensure that all stakeholders come to the table with a sense of their respective contributions towards the SDG agenda, as well as an informed opinion on priority concerns for the country, region, city, or sector. But to achieve goals as complex as the SDGs, societies will certainly need plans, with local and regional governments taking the lead and supported by the active engagement of business, academia, and civil society.
Module 2 shall contain exercises and examples on how to assess and improve existing planning processes so that LRGs will get initial ideas and examples on how to lead and design a truly multi stakeholder planning process that will allow all different stakeholders of a city or region to engage in the planning process, commit to the plan implementation and contribute towards the realisation of the new agenda.
- How to make plans more inclusive and participatory
Leave no one behind is probably the most challenging principle of the new agenda; and sub national and local development planning can play a crucial role in promoting this important paradigm. Home to half of the world’s people and three quarters of its economic output, cities are a critical frontline of implementing the sustainable development agenda. LRGs are the closest government to the people and truly inclusive and participatory planning processes can help to assure that excluded (e.g. women, youth) and marginalised segments of the population get a voice with regards to the development of their territories and lives. Well-designed participatory planning processes will allow civil society groups play a pivotal role for SDG-based planning in two main ways. First, many represent the needs of underrepresented communities and regions. This makes them critical partners in ensuring that SDG strategies target the needs of all segments of society and ensuring accountability for SDG implementation. Second, they have extensive experience in delivering services to the poor and can recommend appropriate interventions in different parts of the territories. They therefore need to be represented in multi-stakeholder bodies and thematic working groups for public consultations on important issues for SDG planning. Particularly, they can take part in the prioritization exercise to be conducted jointly with the LRGs.
Module 2 shall take stock of best participatory planning processes and link them in a meaningful way to the SDGs and its major underlying principles. The aim is not to promote new methods of planning but rather to stimulate discussions and initiate thinking processes that might help LRGs and other LG stakeholders to make their own planning more inclusive and participatory.
- How to make plans implementable and funded
The module will make sure to stress to participants that a local/regional SDG plan is not an end per se. By linking these participatory planning exercises to well-designed monitoring and reporting systems, the accountability of local development processes will be considerably strengthened. Eventually, module 2 will also include a component on the financing aspects. The participants will be sensitized to the fact that alignment process goes hand in hand with budgeting and resource allocation.
Target groups of the training module: This module is aimed primarily at LRGs and their associations, and to other relevant local governance stakeholders, when appropriate, with a trainer of trainer logic. This module will be tested in the framework of regional or international events with the aim to enrich it with the inputs of these sessions and adapt it to the users’ real needs.
Expected outputs and deliverables:
Key deliverable will be a Training Module that shall include:
- A Trainer’s Guide with pedagogical resources, icons, group activity proposals, games, success stories, practical tools etc. The Guide will define different itineraries, one for each of the groups identified above;
- Guide’s power point presentations, visually accessible and evidence-rich;
- Handouts with infographics and activities illustrating key findings;
- Case studies/scenario-based learning activities;
- Pit stops to review understanding upon completion of the modules;
The consultant shall have access to the first module already nearly finalized to follow a similar structure and approach. It is not necessary to follow very rigidly the structure of module 1, but it is foreseen to develop several modules that make up a coherent body of learning modules.
Duration of the module: This module shall be a 6-8h session that will allow for the interaction with the participants through group activities, dialogues, games, etc.
General features of the training module:
Three scenarios shall be defined based on following groups:
Group 1: small and middle-sized cities
Group 2: metropolitan cities and their peripheries
Group 3: regions
In accordance with the specific realities of these three groups, the module shall be structured around the review of three development plans, whether real or imaginary, based on:
- One middle-sized city
- One metropolitan area
- One region.
Competencies
The training module shall be conducted by a team composed of a Local Governance/SDG localization expert, who will bear the overall responsibility for the assignment and ensure its strategic focus, relevance and coherence as well as the quality of all outputs, with the support of a learning expert/specialist. The Team is expected to work based on the agreed methodology and work-plan in strict coordination with the ART Initiative Team as well as the focal points from UCLG and UN-HABITAT. UNDP, UCLG and UN-HABITAT will also provide relevant documentation to the team and link them to LRGs that are currently reviewing their planning processes in order to receive feedback and guidance from practitioners.
Particularly, the Local Governance/SDG localization expert must comply with the following requirements:
Corporate competences:
- Demonstrates integrity by modeling 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.
Functional competences:
- Professional in social, political, economicoradministrativesciences; urban planning
- Proven vast experience in evaluating complex international cooperation and development Programs;
- Solid knowledge and experience in decentralized cooperation;
- Solid knowledge and experience in local governance and local development;
- Solid knowledge of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and SDGs implementation frameworks at different levels;
- Knowledge and experience in capacity strengthening;
- Capacity to work in multidisciplinary teams;
- Openness to change and ability to receive / integrate feedback;
- Ability to work under pressure and stressful situations;
- Excellent communication and writing skills;
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Advanced Degree (or equivalent degree/experience) in Political Science, Development Studies, Development Cooperation, International Relations, Urban Planning or a related field.
Experience:
- Minimum 10 years of relevant work experience.
Language:
- Excellent spoken and writing skills in English and fluency in Spanish are required.
Application Submission Process:
The application submission is a two-step process. Failing to comply with the submission process may result in disqualifying the applications:
Step 1: Interested individual consultants must include the following documents when submitting the applications in UNDP job shop (Please note that only 1 (one) file can be uploaded therefore please include all documents in a single file).
- Personal History Form (P11), indicating all past experience of similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional referees (the template can be downloaded from this link: http://sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc
- An updated curriculum vitae.
- Sample of a report or similar product drafted by the candidate.
Step 2: Submission of Financial Proposal
Applicants are instructed to submit their financial proposals in US Dollars for this consultancy to procurement.be@undp.org using the financial proposal template available here: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_file.cfm?doc_id=45780. The proposals should be sent via email with the following subject heading: “Financial Proposal/ART Initiative SDGs training module-deadline 23rd June 2017. Proposals received after the deadline will be rejected. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal should be all-inclusive and include a breakdown. The term ‘all-inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, communications, utilities, consumables, insurance, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the financial proposal. No travel expenses will be involved as this is a home-based assignment.
Application Evaluation Process:
Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis methodology (weighted scoring method), where the award of the contract will 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 technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.
Technical Criteria weight: [70%]
Financial Criteria weight: [30%]
Only Individual Consultants obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70%) on the Technical evaluation will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.
Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max. 100 points:
- Candidate demonstrates full understanding of ToR - 20 points
- Candidate has relevant experience in creating training modules – 30 points
- Candidate has relevant experience in communicating for development – 20 points
- Candidate’s portfolio and samples works delivered for similar products - 30 points
Financial Criteria – 30% of total evaluation – maximum 30 points:
The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:
p = y (µ/z), where
p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal
µ = price of the lowest priced proposal
z = price of the proposal being evaluated
UNDP will apply a fair and transparent selection process that will take into account both the technical qualification of Individual Consultants as well as their price proposals. The contract will be awarded to the candidate obtaining the highest combined technical and financial scores. Please go the following link for the General Conditions of Individual Contracts:
UNDP retains the right to contact references directly.
Payments will be made only upon confirmation by UNDP that contract obligations have been delivered in a satisfactory manner.
Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling 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.
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.