Background

The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) is located in the southeast of Bangladesh and consists of 3 Hill Districts: Bandarban, Khagrachari and Rangamati. The region is home to 11 different ethnic groups, in addition to the Bengali community, and has a population of 1.6 million. Each ethnic group retains a distinct language, culture, and tradition. Furthermore, the Hill Tracts are geographically distinct from most parts of the plain land of Bangladesh, characterized by very steep, rugged mountainous terrain and dense jungle in many areas.

CHT communities are increasingly experiencing the impact of environmental and climate changes on their livelihoods: deforestation, seasonal water scarcity, soil erosion, and flash-flood during monsoon as well as political instability. Signing of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) Peace Accord in 1997 was a major political achievement marking the end of a protracted low-intensity conflict in the region. Progress on establishing local institutions outlined in the Peace Accord, the creation of an improved environment for dialogue between communities and an increase in social services have built important foundations for longer-term stability and social inclusion in the region. Despite these efforts, the Chittagong Hill Tracts still experiences relatively low levels of development with economic and social progress being held back resulting in increased pressures on scarce resources including land, continued extreme poverty below the national average and a lack of economic development and opportunity in the region. All social and economic indicators depict that the people of the region are disadvantaged with limited access to education, an absence of clear linkages between the capabilities and needs of communities and state institutions as well as a lack of understanding of key challenges (7th Five-Year Plan). One of the key government strategies outlined in the 7th Five-Year Plan for tackling these challenges is to fully implement the provisions of the Peace Accord. The government also aims at implementing accelerated development activities in order to improve their socio-economic status in the region.

In collaboration with UNDP and other Development Partners, the Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs (MoCHTA) has implemented several projects in three Hill Districts during the last decade. The interventions of these projects mainly strengthened community stability and supported communities to build resilience and collective actions.

This joint development effort has officially been accelerated through an approved Pro-doc: Strengthening Inclusive Development in CHT (2016-20121). The main outcome of this project is “Citizen expectations for voice, development and accountability are met by strengthened institutions to progressively deliver universal access to basic services”. This outcome will be achieved through three outputs below:

Output 1-strengthened community land, resource and livelihood management

Output 2-increased participation and influence to shape decision-making

Output 3- democratic governance strengthened with responsive institutions and effective services

Duties and Responsibilities

The international consultant will lead the assignment and work closely with the National Project Manager. A few selected team members of SID-CHT/UNDP will also work with the consultant to support the Pro-doc revision process and will render their technical expertise. This work will primarily entail the production of a revised Project Document (Pro-doc). The major tasks of this assignment will be the following:??

• Review the current Pro-doc and other key project documents relevant to this assignment;
• Conduct meeting with Resilience and Inclusive Growth Cluster of UNDP, MoCHTA, key GoB ministries, vital development partners and SID-CHT project team members in order to utilize and understand the contextual issues related to the project and its future operational modalities;
• Link-up ongoing projects, those are not currently aligned under the current Pro-doc, with the revised and updated Pro-doc;??
• Review and explore the current and future thematic areas considering the new country strategies of renowned development partners and the 7th and 8th Five Year Plans of Bangladesh;
• Update the key outputs against the principal objective considering urban resilience or local economic development;? ?
• Identify potential partners and new pitch for resource mobilization to support the project. The consultant should approach and recommend possible partnerships with key partners and potential financiers as a way to fast-track resource mobilization for the implementation of the revised Pro-doc;
• Revise the Theory of Change (ToC) aligning with the Country Programme Document (CPD)’s ToC and UNDP’s Strategic Plan by stating how the project will contribute to the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and SDG outcomes;
• Ensure integration of the key cross-cutting themes into the revised Pro-doc including gender, youth, climate change, technical skills of adolescent girls, host community and inclusion of poor rural and urban people with disability; ?
• Prepare the Pro-doc based on the standard format of UNDP including revised results framework and its targets, indicators, data collection method, monitoring and evaluation plan, multi-year work plan, etc;???
• Organize a validation workshop to present and discuss the draft Pro-doc through critical peer review and open discussion;
• Incorporate all the feedback that emerged from the validation workshop and submit the final version of Pro-doc to SID-CHT project.

Deliverables, Timeline and payment schedule

The assignment is expected to be accomplished within 25 working days effective between January 2020- February 2020.

A tentative timeline for deliverables and payment schedule is as follows:

Competencies

Core competencies

• 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;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism;

Technical Competencies:

• Demonstrated ability to coordinate processes to collate information and facilitate discussion and analysis of material;
• Technical competencies in undertaking complex evaluations which involve a variety of stakeholders;
• Demonstrated strong research and analytical skills. Strong facilitation and collaborative skills;
• Strong report writing and communication skills;

Functional competencies

• Strong analytical skills, including the identification of key issues and how they relate;
• Strong writing skills including the development of a results framework and project conceptualization;
• Ability to conceptualize problems and generate innovative, practical solutions;
• Ability to plan for and produce quality results in meeting established goal;
• Ability to deliver high-quality products within the set timelines;

Required Skills and Experience

Educational Qualifications:

Master’s degree in Economics /Finance and Banking or Development Studies from a recognized International University.

Experience

• At least 15 years of proven experience in project design, proposal writing, and evaluation;
• Demonstrated expertise on UNDP’s diversified project proposal writing ranging from local government, social community-driven development, women and girl empowerment, social cohesion and local economic development;?
• Proven track record on project implementation on Early Recovery and Peace Building;?
• Good working knowledge on the local governance system of Bangladesh, especially on hilly areas;
• Knowledge of/experience with UNDP monitoring and evaluation policies and procedures;
• Ability to work under minimum supervision to meet short deadlines;
• Commitment and drive to achieve challenging goals and problem-solving attitude.

Language requirements

•??? Excellent command of written and spoken in English

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

Consultant must send a Lump Sum Amount for this assignment based on the ground reality and expertise considering the context. ??The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, travel costs, living allowance (if any work is to be done outside the IC´s duty station) and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment. The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables/outputs and as per below percentages:

Travel;

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel.? In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on 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

Evaluation Method and Criteria

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology…

1. Cumulative analysis

The award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) 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%]

* Financial Criteria weight; [30%]

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 point or 70% would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment.

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points)

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

[Add this paragraph only if expected amount (including all costs) is above US$100,000]. Shortlisted candidates shall be called for an interview which will be used to confirm and/or adjust the technical scores awarded based on documentation submitted.

Documentation Required

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document: Maximum size per email is 7 MB.

• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided in Annex II.
• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.
• Technical proposal, including a) a brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment; and b) a methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment. [Only request b) If applicable. A methodology is recommended for intellectual services, but may be omitted for more support services]
• Financial proposal, as per template provided in Annex II. Note: Senior National consultants must quote prices in BDT.

Incomplete proposals may not be considered.

Please find attached the relevant documents:

Annexes

Template-Confirmation of Interest and Availability with Financial Offer
Personal History Foirm or P11 for the IC Hiring
General Terms and Conditions of Hiring an IC