Background

The ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine has had a direct and highly negative impact on social cohesion, resilience, livelihoods, community security, and the rule of law. Recognizing the need to urgently address reconstruction, economic recovery and peacebuilding needs in areas affected both directly and indirectly by the conflict, in late 2014 the Government of Ukraine requested technical assistance and financial support from the international community to assess priority recovery needs. In late 2014, the United Nations (UN), the World Bank (WB) and the European Union (EU) conducted a Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessment, which was endorsed by the Cabinet of Ministers in mid-2015.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been active and present in eastern Ukraine for the past decade, prior to the conflict, with a focus on community development, civil society development, and environmental protection. Work on addressing the specific conflict-related development challenges discussed above built on this earlier engagement, established partnerships, and started in 2015 through the Recovery and Peacebuilding Programme (RPP). The RPP is a multi-donor funded framework programme formulated and led by the UNDP in collaboration with the Government of Ukraine and in cooperation with a number of partnering UN agencies (UN Women, FAO, UNFPA).

The RPP was designed to respond to, and mitigate, the causes and effects of the conflict. It is based on findings of the Recovery and Peacebuilding Assessment (RPA) and is aligned to the State Target Programme for Recovery as well as to the two oblast development strategies up to 2020. It takes into account, the opportunities that have arisen from the Minsk Protocol of September 2014 and the renewal of its cease-fire provisions (the latest cease-fire having been agreed upon in March of 2018) and is also fully adjusted to the humanitarian-development nexus. It is an integral component of the UNDP Country Programme and is, therefore, fully aligned with the United Nations Partnership Framework (UNPF). It is closely interlinked with the Democratic Governance and Reform Programme, operating nationally and in all of Ukraine’s regions, and is consistent with the SDGs, in particular SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong institutions).

The Programme’s interventions are grouped under the following key Programme components, which reflect the region’s priority needs:

Component 1: Economic Recovery and Restoration of Critical Infrastructure

Component 2: Local Governance and Decentralization Reform

Component 3: Community Security and Social Cohesion.

The Programme, which operates on the basis of a pooled funding arrangement, follows a multi-sectoral programme-based approach and is implemented using an area-based methodology. It is a unifying interventions framework for 16 projects funded by 10 international partners and is worth about 52 million USD.

In October 2018, four UN agencies (UNDP, UN Women, FAO and the UNFPA) have countersigned a new joint project document, funded by the EU. The overall objective of the project is to restore effective governance and promote reconciliation in the crisis-affected communities of Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, thereby enhancing the credibility and legitimacy of local governments in the government-controlled areas (GCAs) of the regions. It will contribute to peace building and prevent further escalation of conflict in Ukraine through effective and accountable decentralization, gender-responsive recovery planning and equal access to services, as well as enhanced community security and social cohesion.

This endeavour will be achieved through the pursuit of the following specific objectives

1. To enhance local capacity for gender-responsive decentralisation and administrative reforms to improve governance, local development and the delivery of services.
2. To stimulate employment and economic growth by providing assistance to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise (MSME) development through demand-driven business development services and professional skills training.
3. To enhance social cohesion and reconciliation through the promotion of civic initiatives.
4. To support sector reforms and structural adjustments in health, education and critical public infrastructure to mitigate direct impacts of the conflict.

One of the priority of the objective 4 is to enhance local capacity for gender responsive decentralization and administrative reforms to improve governance, local development and the delivery of services. Regarding health reform, on 19 of October, 2017, Ukraine’s Parliament approved the draft law No. 6327 “On state financial guarantees for the provision of medical services and medicines,” which gave a start to an important and long-awaited health reform in Ukraine. The law introduces changes to the entire financing model of the healthcare system, switching to payments for services provided by individual doctors or medical facilities and replacing the old, input-based financing system (for infrastructure, number of beds etc.). It also aims at the provision of higher quality care for patients, with a stronger emphasis on prevention and primary care, rather than specialized treatment.

Duties and Responsibilities

With respect to the aforementioned, UNDP is looking to contract an International Consultant on strategic planning and good governance in the healthcare sector.

The Consultant will lead in two main areas:

1) Develop a training guide on the best international practices. The guide should be tailored as two modules (two days for each module) and specifically tailored for health care managers and members of hospital districts’ rada (representatives of local administrations within HD’s service area). The guideline must adopt the best international approaches, be practically oriented, and be accompanied with various assessment and M&E tools.

2) Basing on the guide developed under task 1) the consultant should support development of hospital districts’ action plans for the upcoming 5 years for Pokrovskyi and Kramatorskyi (Donetsk), and Pivnicniy and Lysychanskiy (Luhansk) HDs. The plan must absorb the best international approaches on strategic planning, health goods/consumables and services procurement, staffing, stock management, resource mobilisation and other related issues.

UNDP RPP will contract a team of national consultants: one position for the assignment 1) and two positions for the assignment 2).

The International Consultant will be team leader supervising two sequential tasks 1) manage of work of national consultant on training guide on strategic planning and good governance in the healthcare sector development and then 2) manage of work of two national consultants on hospital districts action plan development.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct cooperation with Health Governance Specialists in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts the International Consultant will be responsible for the following key tasks:

For the area 1) strategic planning and good governance training guide development:

• Develop a work plan which includes division of tasks between international and national consultant, manage national consultant performance, and communicate regularly to coordinate the work. Coordination call/meeting minutes shall be provided;
• Draft an English version of the desk review report on internationally applied modalities on strategic planning and good governance in health care provision, advantages and disadvantages of each modality, and submit the draft to Health Governance Specialists for clearance;
• Develop a timeframe of the training guideline development and acquire approval from Health Governance Specialists;
• Draft a step-by-step guideline for trainers, with all respective annexes, handouts, assessment forms, lists of equipment, pre- and post-assessment forms, and trainers’ report template/s are attached;
• Attach to trainers’ guide a tools of the hospital rada managers strategic planning capacity assessment and tracking the progress after the training in 6 and 12 months;
• Draft a training guideline and working materials for participants. The guideline should adopt the tools for assessment of strategic planning capacity and M&E allowing to track the progress at the facility level;
• The participants training guideline should show how strategic planning will help to achieve national SDGs targets, and health indicators and outcomes (i.e. SDG Goal 3) at national and hospital district level;
• Electronic versions of all the materials, drafts, annexes, tools, and guidelines must be attached;
• The International Consultant shall prepare English version of PPT presentation of trainers’ and participants’ guidelines to the Health Task Force groups and other experts, who UNDP will invite, for feedbacks, and manage that all required updates to the guidelines is done. UNDP will cover presentation arrangement costs only;
• Prepare report about the process of guidelines development, its successes and challenges the team faced with, bottle necks, and lessons learned;
• Submit updated version of the guidelines and the report to the Health Governance Specialists for approval.

For the area 2) support of hospital districts’ action plans development:

• Work reciprocally with national consultants for Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, being a team leader.
• Develop a work plan including communication modality and schedules, agree it with the supervisor.
• Guide national consultants through the development of a desk review protocol to collect information for action plan development.
• Compose the report on already existing and employed international modalities/methods, software solutions on health care systems/hospital districts (HDs) strategic development/action plans development, describe any advantages or disadvantages of the modalities/methods analysed. Upon the analysis, advise to UNDP on the method/modality which might be applied.
• Together with the national consultants and authorities of the respective HDs, the International Consultant will set an outline and timeframe of the action plans’ development and coordinate with Health Governance Specialists.
• Guide national consultants and local HDs specialists through action plan development.
• Supervise and contribute to the drafting of the plans. Pay close attention to setting up a health indicators and outcomes for the next 5 years with respect to national and international tendencies (i.e. SDG Goal 3), health goods/consumables and services procurement, staffing, cash low prognosis, stock management, resource mobilisation, etc.
• Contribute to drafting of any additional annexes describing/explaining reasons and goals of activities.
• Prepare recommendations to UNDP’s RPP on sustainability of the strategy for the next 5 years as a chapter of the action plan.
• Mutually with representatives from the HDs, and national consultants, the International Consultant shall conduct presentations the action plans to respective oblasts Health Task Force Groups for feedback and contribute to the updating of plans, respectively. UNDP will cover presentation arrangements costs only.
• Mutually with national consultants prepare a report on the process in both oblasts, its successes and challenges, bottle necks, lessons learned, etc.
• Submit the report to Health Governance Specialists for approval.

The Consultant is responsible for assurance that all versions of the guidelines and reports are drafted in Ukrainian and English.

Deliverables

In view of the above, the Consultant’s responsibilities will be to provide the following deliverables:

For the area 1)

For the area 2)

MONITORING/REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

Responsibility for Managing People and the Work Plan

The Consultant will work under overall guidance of the Programme Coordinator and direct supervision of the Health Governance Specialists in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. The Consultant will directly report to UNDP Specialists and to Programme Coordinator on a monthly basis through written report.

PROPOSED PAYMENT SCHEDULE

For the area 1) and area 2)

20% - upon submission and approval of report according to Deliverable 1 for the areas 1 and 2

30% - upon submission and approval of report according to Deliverables 2 and 3 for the areas 1 and 2

10% - upon submission and approval of report according to Deliverable 4 for the area 1

10% - upon submission and approval of report according to Deliverables 5- 6 for the area 1

20% - upon submission and approval of report according to Deliverable 4 for the area 2

10% - upon submission and approval of report according to Deliverable 5- 6 for the area 2

The payments will be paid out upon the full completion and acceptance of deliverables in accordance with certificate of payments provided by Health Governance Specialists.

Competencies

• Ability to perform analytical and research work,
• Deliver outputs in a timely manner;
• Good interpersonal communication skills;
• Sound judgment and maturity to foster a positive work environment;
• Ability to work effectively as part of a team;
• Demonstrated strong analytical, coordination and facilitation skills;
• Strong user of office software packages.

Required Skills and Experience

• At least Specialists/Masters’ degree or equivalent in health management, medicine, international health, public health management, strategic planning, public administration or another relevant field;
• At least 8 years of relevant experience in the field of training provision, training guideline development, public health policy analysis, policy development and implementation, local and national governance, health care management, social policy, or similar fields;
• Proven experience of strategic planning and action plan development;
• Experience in carrying out of trainings, analytical work, research, guidelines development, reporting and contributing to reports;
• Teaching/tutoring experience;
• Fluency in English is required; Working knowledge of Ukrainian/Russian will be considered as an advantage

Applicants shall submit the following documents:

FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

 Lump sum contract

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount.

The Expert will be responsible for all personal administrative expenses associated with undertaking this assignment including office accommodation, printing, stationary, telephone and electronic communications, and report copying.

Travel costs

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general, UNDP shall not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel in a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources. In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials.

Evaluation of Applicants

• At least Masters’ degree or equivalent in health management, medicine, international health, public health management, strategic planning, public administration or another relevant field, etc. – Masters’ degree -10 points, PhD and more – 15 points;
• At least 8 years of relevant experience in the field of training provision, training guideline development, public health policy analysis, policy development and implementation, local and national governance, health care management, social policy, or similar fields – 8 years - 10 points, 9-11 years –  12points, 12-14 years – 10 points, 15 and more years – 15 points;
• Proven experience of strategic planning and action plan development – 1 example - 9 points, 2-3 – 10 points, over 3 examples – 15 points;
• Teaching/tutoring experience – less than 3 years – 8 points, 4-6 years – 9 points, over 7 years – 10 points.
• Experience in carrying out of trainings, analytical work, research, guidelines development, reporting and contributing to reports: 1 example - 8 points, 2-3 – 9 points, over 3 examples – 10 points;
• Knowledge of English – 4 points, Ukrainian/Russian & English – 5 points.

 EVALUATION METHOD

Cumulative analysis

Contract award shall be made to the incumbent whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) having received the cumulative highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

* Technical Criteria weight: 70%

* Financial Criteria weight: 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum 70% from the maximum available technical score (49 points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal and will equal to 30. All other price proposals will be evaluated and assigned points, as per below formula:

30 points [max points available for financial part] x [lowest of all evaluated offered prices among responsive offers] / [evaluated price].

The proposal obtaining the overall cumulatively highest score after adding the score of the technical proposal and the financial proposal will be considered as the most compliant offer and will be awarded a contract.

Maximum available technical score - 70 points.