Background

The Constitution of Nepal turned Nepal into a federal state with three levels of government with the intent of transforming the country from a centralized unitary state into a federal country and to ensure economic equality, prosperity and social justice. The Constitution marks a fundamental paradigm shift in the system, structure and functioning of sub-national governance in Nepal and requires massive reorientation of the institutions, systems, work cultures and styles of functioning.

The Provincial and Local Governance Support Programme (PLGSP) is the national flagship programme of the Government of Nepal (GoN) to build institutional, organizational and individual capacity at all levels of government, with special focus on the provincial and local levels. The ultimate goal of the Programme is to attain functional, sustainable, inclusive and accountable provincial and local governance. The Programme aims to contribute to delivery of quality services at provincial and local levels, promote better local infrastructure and enhance economic prosperity. The Programme will achieve 14 outputs under the following three outcomes:

• Government institutions and inter-governmental mechanisms at all levels are fully functioning in support of federal governance as per the Constitution;
• Provincial and local governments have efficient, effective, inclusive and accountable institutions; and
• Elected representatives and civil servants at provincial and local governments have the capacity and serve citizens to their satisfaction.

The PLGSP serves as an umbrella programme of the Government in providing capacity development support to the provincial and local governments. As such, the Programme will establish a common framework for coordination and coherence of all governance-related programmes at the provincial and local levels and accommodate other donor-funded programmes.

The Ministry of Federal Affairs and General Administration (MoFAGA) is the executive agency of the Programme. The seven provincial governments, the 753 local governments, the restructured Local Development Training Academy (LDTA) and seven provincial-level training centres (Provincial Centres for Good Governance) are the implementing agencies of the Programme. The Programme is supported by four international development partners, namely, the Department for International Development (DfID) of the United Kingdom, the European Union (EU), the Government of Norway, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, and the United Nations.

MOFAGA is partnering with UNDP to receive Technical Assistance (TA) for the implementation of the Programme. As the first step, a key priority of the TA is recruitment of TA personnel , their capacity building and knowledge enhancement, including orientation and continuous backstopping support in coordination with the Programme Management so that they deliver on the intended outputs.

The province governments have a major role to facilitate and implement the Programme, benefitting both province and local governments. All the province governments have entered into the memorandum of understanding (MOU) with MOFAGA to be a part of the Programme implementation. To support the provincial governments in the implementation of the Programme, a Pronvincial Programme Implementation Unit (PPIU) will be established in the Office of the Chief Minister and Council of Ministers (OCMCM). 

Likewise, the Programme envisages that all province governments will establish their training centers, proposed as the Provincial Center for Good Governance (PCGGs) with the role of serving the capacity development needs of the local governments in the province as well as the province government.  In relation to the Programme, PCGGs will function as the capacity development service provider to the provincial and local governments. 

Against this background, a number of technical assistance personnel will be deployed by the Programme to support the PCGGs in discharging their roles. This Terms of Reference (ToR) describes the functions, responsibilities and expected results of the the Curriculum Development Expert of the PCGG as well as qualifications/experience, competencies and selection criteria required of the incumbent. 

Duties and Responsibilities

The overall responsibilities of assignment are to:

1. Directly contribute to the achievement of PLGSP outputs, output seven: PCGGs made operational to deliver capacity development services,  and output fourteen: Local governments representatives and civil servants are empowered and trained for delivering high quality services;
2. Support the planning of the PLGSP activities for PCGGs and support the implementation of approved plans for PCGG capacity development activities;
3. Ensure mainstreaming of Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) in all PCGG capacity development activities;
4. Support the Executive Director (ED) of the PCGG on coordination of the capacity development activities by different actors and partners in making the PLGSP as the framework Programme;
5. Perform any other tasks assigned by the concerned authorities, including the Local Governance Expert and Team Leader fo the PCGG.

1) Directly contribute to the achievement of PLGSP outputs seven: PCGGs made operational to deliver capacity development services and fourteen: Local governments representatives and civil servants are empowered and trained for delivering high quality services:

• Provide technical inputs and advise, in close coordination with the Programme personnel, to the ED to make the PCGG operational in delivering its mandate;
• Develop various menu of services to be delivered by the PCGG to the local governments;
• Identify capacity development needs of local governments in close consultation with the relevant Programme personnel including based on the Local Institutional Self-Assessments (LISA), consultations with local government representatives, civil servants and the Local Government Associations;
• Lead the development of a Capacity Development Plans for the provincial and local governments in the province, in close coordination with the Curriculum Development Expert of the PCGG and other Programme Coordination Unit, Provincial Programme Implementation Unit (PPIU) and PCGG Technical Assistance Project staff;
• Lead the development and implementation of capacity development efforts targeted to the local governments implemented by the PCGG, namely trainings, workshops, mentoring, coaching and peer-to-peer learning, in close coordination with other technical experts of the Programme Coordination Unit (PCU), PPIU and PCGG to ensure high quality, coordination and coherence, and alignment with PLGSP Outcomes and Outputs;
• Coordinate with technical experts of PCU, PPIU and PCGG to ensure consistency and high quality across all capacity development initiatives intended to the local governments and update them on progress, challenges and lessons learned; 
• Provide technical inputs to capacity development guidelines, manuals, template and other relevant documents; and
• Support the Local Governance Expert and Team Leader of the PCGG in the the  preparation of roster of experts and their mobilization.

2) Support the planning of the PLGSP activities for PCGGs and support the implementation of approved plans for PCGG capacity development activities:

• Contribute to the preparation of the PCGG Annual Work Plans (AWP) and budgets under the relevant outputs under the framework of PLGSP Annual Strategic Implementation Plan (ASIP) and the Annual Monitoring & Evaluation Plan (AMEP);
• Support periodical reviews of overall PLGSP/PCGG progress, including leading the monitoring and reporting of capacity development activities;
• Provide inputs to the Monitoring and Reporting Expert in PPIU to prepare provincial level provincial monitoring framework and consolidated PPIU and PCGG progress reports to be forwarded to the PCU;
• Identify and report risks and issues related to capacity development to the PCGG and support discussion on mitigation actions; and
• Identify internal capacity development needs and lead the development and implementation of capacity development activities for the technical specialists, experts and consultants of the PPIU and PCGG in close collaboration with other technical experts of the PCU, PPIU and PCGG.

3) Ensure mainstreaming of Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) in all PCGG capacity development activities:

• Support the PCGG to ensure gender equality and social inclusion, including youth issues are mainstreamed into planning and implementation all PCGG capacity development initiatives;
• Provide regular guidance and support to all Technical Assistance (TA) staff in PCGG, and external stakeholders implementing capacity development activities in the province to facilitate GESI-responsive implementation of all capacity development activities; and
• Support dissemination of information and learning to promote GESI mainstreaming and GESI-responsive capacity development initiatives.

4) Support the ED of the PCGG on coordination of the capacity development activities by different actors and partners in making the PLGSP as the framework Programme:

• Take stock of the programmes/ initiatives on capacity development being implemented by different actors at the province level;
• Ensure that all the Capacity Development  related initiatives of different national and international agencies  are fully in compliance with module and curricula developed by the programme;
• Communicate the major tools, guidelines and methodologies developed by the PLGSP to the relevant capacity development actors and partners at the province level;
• Facilitate frequent meetings/interactions with the partners and actors, as needed, to exchange the lessons learnt, avoid duplications and create synergy; and
• Report to the ED of the PCGG and the Local Governance Expert on the coordination with the partners and actors.

Impact of Results:

• Programme outputs are achieved within the given resources and time with high quality standards;and
• Systems for capacity development of the government counterparts are developed and implemented.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the Government of Nepal (GoN) and UN values and ethical standards;
• Serves and promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of the GoN and UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
• Excellent inter-personal skills;
• Clear and upfront communication skills;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
• Collaborates effectively in a team environment;
• Organized and good with following-up on pending issues; meets deadlines;
• Promotes learning and knowledge management/sharing;
• Focuses on delivering results by taking calculated-risks and problem-solving approach;and
• Fair and transparent decision making; regularly shares information with team members.

Functional Competencies:

• Promotes sharing of knowledge and experience, and actively works towards continued learning and development on personal level as well as for supervisees;
• Good practical knowledge of inter-disciplinary development issues;
• Ability to go beyond established procedures and models, propose new approaches which expand the range of projects;
• Demonstrates strong numerical and analytical skills;
• Has experience working with Monitoring and Evaluation tools;
• Experience in developing business plans for financial institutions including energy enterprises;
• Experience in coordination, technical assistance and advisory support top government and private institutions;
• Experienced in delivering training and other needed capacity/ institutional building support to a wide range of stakeholders including financial institutions;
• Identifies and communicates relevant information for a variety of audiences for advocating GoN and UNDP’s mandate;
• Analyzes and selects materials for strengthening strategic alliances with partners and stakeholders;
• Understands and applies fundamental concepts and principles of a professional discipline or technical specialty relating to the position;
• Possesses basic knowledge of organizational policies and procedures relating to the position and applies them consistently in work tasks;
• Demonstrates good knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments;
• Effectively networks with partners seizing opportunities to build strategic alliances relevant to Government of Nepal and UNDP’s mandate and strategic agenda;and
• Assesses project performance to identify success factors and incorporates best practices into project work.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s Degree in Social Science, Management, Law, Public Administration or any other disciplines. 

Experience:

• At least five years of working experience in development and governance with focus on capacity development and in the area of sub-national governance and capacity development, be this Government (at federal or sub-national level) or with well recognized national institution and/or international agency;
• Sound understanding of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and their implications to the local governance;
• Demonstrated social skills of coordinating with different stakeholders and facilitating discussions;
• Demonstrated skills on preparing quality knowledge products;
• Experience of working in government, UN and/or international agencies will be preferable;
• Good knowledge of computer applications especially MS Office.

Language requirements:

• Fluency in English and Nepali, both written and oral, at professional level is essential;
• Knowledge of any of the local languages will be an added advantage.