The Praia Group on Governance Statistics (the “Praia Group”) was created by the UN Statistical Commission in March 2015, to contribute to establishing international standards and methods for the compilation of statistics on the major dimensions of Governance, and to collaborate with the UN bodies and other organisations concerned with specific aspects of Governance statistics.

The overall objective of the Praia Group is to encourage countries produce Governance statistics based on sound and documented methodologies. The specific objectives of the Praia Group are:

• To provide a forum for national and international statistical organizations, international agencies, as well as academia, research groups and civil society organisations to share and develop expertise in Governance statistics;
• To review, propose and promote the definition and harmonization of Governance indicators, through the development of manuals and methodological guidelines;
• To document sound practices and provide inputs for the development of an indicator framework for the measurement and monitoring of the goals and targets related to Peace and Governance in the post-2015 development agenda and in other global initiatives;
• To assess demand for Governance statistics amongst potential user constituencies and highlight best-practices in their use;
• To advise on ways to enhance processes and standards for the public dissemination of Governance statistics.

The Praia Group is one of the few city groups which being hosted and chaired by a developing country; Cape Verde. The challenge is to ensure sufficient human and financial capacities exist at the national statistics office of Cape Verde, i.e. Institute Nacional de Estatística de Cabo Verde (INECV) fulfil its mandate effectively.

The UNDP including the UNDP Oslo Governance Centre, in view of its long-standing commitment to enhance the quality and impact of governance assessments and to strengthen national capacities for the production of high-quality governance data at country-level, has been appointed by the UN Statistical Commission to provide technical and financial support towards the creation and launch of the Praia Group on Governance Statistics.

Tasks will include, but not be limited to:

The Technical Adviser will provide facilitation support to the Secretariat of the Praia Group on Governance Statistics, with the following:

• Facilitate communication and co-ordination across the membership of the Praia Group and liaise with members and other stakeholders
• Support the facilitation and preparation of meeting/conference documents and other documentation as required
• Provide support to the implementation of the activities agreed in the roadmap
• Provide support to  the development of the handbook on governance statistics to be presented to the Statistical Commission in [2019].

Functional Competencies:

• Strong understanding of the role of statistics in the current development agenda;
• Track record of working with governance statistics;
• Good analytical, research and statistical skills;
• Good organizational and management skills;
• Ability to work diplomatically and sensitively with senior officials;
• Ability to write and communicate in a clear and concise manner.

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP, and partner organizations:
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Excellent understanding of international development issues and knowledge of the UN system.

Education:

• Advanced degree in Economics, Sociology, Statistics, Development Studies, or other relevant field.

Professional Experience:

• Minimum of 5 years international experience in the field of democratic governance or statistics for development;
• Knowledge and experience of national or global processes for the measurement of SDG16
• Knowledge of UNDP Democratic Governance work an advantage;
• Excellent drafting skills.

Language:

• Fluency in English, both written and oral; and
• Fluency in French or Portuguese.

 Institutional arrangement/Reporting relationships   

 The Secretariat of the Praia Group, under the supervision of its Steering Committee, will provide overall supervision of the assignment. The Consultant will also interact regularly with UNDP BPPS and provide weekly updates on progress in the assignment to the Advisor at the UNDP Oslo Governance Centre.

Travel

The consultant is expected to arrange her/his own travel and be responsible for ticketing, visa and accommodation.  .  Travel costs for mission travels will be covered by UNDP if prior approval is obtained.

Application procedure:

The application is a two-step process. Failing to comply with the submission process may result in disqualifying the applications.

Step 1: Submission of technical proposal. That will include providing application via UNDP Job-shop (jobs.undp.org )

Interested candidates should provide the following documents and information:

• Uploading a CV/P11 and a statement of interest indicating all past experience for similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the candidate and at least three (3) professional references (the template can be downloaded from this link: http://sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.doc;
• A mandatory, brief description and justification (approx. 300-500 words) of the approach proposed to conduct the tasks required for this assignment, demonstrating how the applicant’s qualifications and experience will enable him/her to successfully deliver against the requirements of this assignment.

Step 2: Submission of Financial Proposals:

Applicants are required to submit their financial proposals in US Dollars for this consultancy to oslo.governance.centre@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 to oslo.governance.centre@undp.org with the following subject heading: “Financial Proposal Praia” by the application deadline (20 July). Proposals received after the deadline may be rejected. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal should be all-inclusive professional daily fee, and include a detailed breakdown of the cost. The term ‘all-inclusive’ implies that all costs (professional fees, assignment- and mission- related travel expenses as provided above, communications, utilities, consumables, insurance, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the financial proposal. The cost of the assignment shall be linked to the deliverables specified above and reflected in the Section B. of the Financial Proposal template.

Criteria for selection:

Only those candidates who meet the minimum level of education and relevant years of experience requirements will be considered for the technical evaluation. The technical evaluation will include a desk review, and may also include interviews with shortlisted candidates.  The mandatory, brief description and justification will be used and an evaluation tool for shortlisting candidates.

Combined scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted a max of 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a max of 30%.

Method: cumulative analysis method will be used to evaluate proposals.

When using this weighted scoring method, 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 weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical criteria weight: 70 (70% of total obtainable scores).

Financial criteria weight: 30 (30% of total obtainable scores)

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 (70%) points on technical part will be considered for the financial evaluation.

Criteria and scores for technical evaluation (total 70):

• Strong understanding of the role of statistics in the current development agenda (10 points);
• Track record of work with governance statistics (15 points);
• Good analytical, research and statistical skills (10 points);
• Good organizational and management skills (15 points)
• Ability to write and communicate in a clear and concise manner (15 points).
• Ability to work diplomatically and sensitively with senior officials (5 points)

Criteria for financial evaluation (30 points maximum):

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:

The award of contract will be made to the individual consultant who receives the highest combined score out of the weighted technical and financial criteria as specified above.

General Terms and Conditions_Individual Consultant (IC) http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf.

Confidentiality and Proprietary Interests 

The Technical Adviser shall not either during the term or after termination of the assignment, disclose any proprietary or confidential information related  to  the  consultancy  service  without  prior  written  consent. Proprietary interests on all materials and documents prepared by the consultants under the assignment shall become and remain properties of the Praia Group.