Reconciliation in Western Balkans has stalled and is being superseded by mounting ethnic divisions and polarization in the region, pointing specifically to denial of the past inflammatory discourse and ethnic segregation in education. Assuming that the (re)establishment of economic and social ties would suffice for the (re)building of relationships between formerly conflicted parties in the post-Yugoslav space is mistaken. With the recent history of massive and widespread human rights violations, it will only be the proper outcomes of the transitional justice mechanisms coupled with peace and dialogue that can substantially contribute to progress in reconciliation.

The UN supports the improved social cohesion and reconciliation across the Western Balkans. The project aims to achieve this goal through providing support to RYCO, as a mechanism, which is endorsed by governments and citizens alike. The project will support RYCO to work in partnership with civil society, education systems and schools, grass roots, youth institutions and youth in general for the consolidation of RYCO as a regionally owned mechanism with the capacity to promote reconciliation, mobility, diversity, democratic values, participation, active citizenship and intercultural learning. The expected outcome of this project is: Social Cohesion and Reconciliation – as measured by increasing embracing of diversity, attitudes of tolerance and reduced prejudice and discrimination by youth – is enhanced across the Western Balkans.

To achieve its outcome, the project will target youth[1], youth organizations and schools in WB as well as RYCO and will be achieved through the implementation of diverse activities along three main outputs:

Output 1: Capacities of schools to access and use RYCOs resources to undertake intercultural dialogue in the WB6 will be strengthened. The project will contribute towards enhancing the regional cooperation among youth institutions (mainly schools) and increase the introduction and use of topics on intercultural learning such as peace building and conflict resolution. The project will enable sharing of best practices on inclusive education and peace building transformative pedagogies, facilitates school exchanges and increase the capacities of schools to embrace the above principles.

Output 2: Capacities of youth groups and grassroots organizations to access and use RYCOs resources to engage in peacebuilding and social cohesion activities in the WB6 will be strengthened. Also, RYCO will be supported to increase its reach out to grassroots organizations and youth in the region, and to ensure that young people with fewest opportunities have access and participate in reconciliation processes and benefit from opportunities provided by RYCO. Empowerment of young girls will have a special focus in the activities under this component.  The long effects of sexual and gender-based violence, during and after the conflict can have lasting and harmful effects. It can dissuade young girls from attending schools and not participate fully in the life of the communities. The project will enhance the important role that young women should adopt in the peacebuilding process including empowering young girls to equally participate in peace building and become decision makers and actors in all areas. The project activities will also sensitize young male actors in accepting girls as equal partners in peacekeeping and peacebuilding processes. Mainstreaming gender in trainings conducted by the project will include among other topics, codes of conduct and response to Gender Biased Violence. Promoting tolerance and understanding within and out of marginalized groups through communication channels will help address the conflict-related issues that these groups face as a result of the tensions in society, which add up to their unfavorable discriminatory situation. It will also contribute to increasing tolerance towards groups/ethnicities seen as different further away, and thereby, contribute to peace and reconciliation.

Output 3: RYCOs capacities to enhance sustainable regional cooperation, peacebuilding and reconciliation amongst youth, through its small grants’ facility will be strengthened. Being a new institution and operating in a volatile environment, RYCO will be supported to strengthen its internal capacities and systems and will be enabled to achieve its mission. Considering that one of RYCO’s main tools to achieve its mission is through financial support to regional projects and initiatives, its grant facility system will be upgraded and strengthened through a tailor-made approach. RYCO will be equipped with effective tools to Monitoring and Evaluation, making it possible for it to measure the impact of its interventions. Finally, RYCO will be supported with an increase of human resources, especially in view of its Monitoring and Evaluation.

Output 4: Opportunities for youth from diverse backgrounds to identify common peace and security priorities and enter in constructive dialogue with their peers across divides will be created, confidence in and dialogue with decision-makers will be enhanced, and youth capacities to become actors for change will be strengthened. Under this heading, the project will conduct youth-led action research and make available regionally comparable, youth-focused conflict analysis and evidence base on youth perceptions on sustaining peace, as well as trainings on peacebuilding, leadership and advocacy and national and regional policy consultations. Moreover, RYCO, PBF projects and other peacebuilding actors’ evidence-base to engage young women and young men from diverse backgrounds to advocate for peace and social cohesion and participate in policy dialogues will be enhanced.  

[1] Defined for the purposes of this intervention within the scope of adolescents (14-18 y/a) and  youth (18-30 y/a), in accordance with UNICEF standards and official youth strategies of the participating countries.

Objectives and scope of the assignment

The overall project is implemented with the joint participation of three UN Organizations of UNDP, UNICEF and UNFPA and in close partnership with RYCO, with UNDP the leading UN Organisation for the overall implementation and coordination of the joint project.

RYCO, the main implementing partner of the joint UN project, is a new entity established four years ago. RYCO Head Office (HO) is located in Tirana, while the organization has six Local Branch Offices (LBO) located in Albania, Kosovo*[1], Montenegro, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Hercegovina, and Serbia.

Since becoming operational in 2017, RYCO has considerably grown, with higher budgets and an increasing number of projects. In 2019, RYCO’s staffing has tripled: today the organisation employs 40 people that are internationally or locally recruited. Overall, 30 people are based in Tirana while other staff are based in the LBOs. At the moment, RYCO counts 19 core staff positions and 21 project staff positions.

To become  a model of institutional and organizational excellence (as outlined in its  2019-2021 Strategic Plan), RYCO is investing in its  organizational strengthening. To support this ambition, UNDP is looking to engage an international expert who will support RYCO in developing a Human Resources policy in line with RYCO structure, mission and international responsibilities. 

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of UNDP Project Coordinator and in close cooperation with RYCO’s Director of Operations and RYCO Project Leader. In close cooperation with RYCO, the consultant will also be responsible to align his/her products with products of other consultants, whose scope of work interrelate with the scope of this specific consultancy work. The consultant is under the obligation of confidentiality. Information, data, database, knowledge resources in the forms of briefings, reports, proceedings, articles, essays, etc. issued by and for the RYCO will be RYCO’s property and require permission for use and disclosure.

In more specific terms, the HR policy should be comprehensive, and in particular should enable RYCO to:

• Develop integral HR policy which includes chapters below and is aligned with RYCO’s  Management by Objectives  system[2]

Integral HR policy should include all relevant procedures and processes required by an intergovernmental organization, with a special attention to chapters outlined below, The policy should integrate existing procedures with the ones which are being developed through this consultancy and should follow international best practices of comparable organizations.

• Develop a competitive salary scheme

The salary scale should indicate criteria for the establishment of salaries and the ranges to be respected for each post and category of post (in line with RYCO’s Organigramme and job descriptions). The salary scale should take into account both the current labour market in RYCO’s field and region, and the budgetary constraints of the organisation. The scale should strive for salary nivelation including compensation and benefits (between RYCO salaries and that of comparable organisations; and between equivalent positions within RYCO)

• Build strong anti-fraud and anti-corruption provisions

The policy should be aligned with RYCO Antifraud and anti-corruption policy and ensure its ability to prevent fraud and corruption and to deal effectively with any occurrence of it. The HR policy should have a mechanism to protect whistleblowers built in.

• Build strong anti-discrimination provisions

The anti-discrimination provisions of the HR policy shall reflect standard antidiscrimination procedures based on the national/WB6 legal framework on antidiscrimination and International Standards employed by inter-governmental agencies. The policy shall also include parenthood rights and may include staff partner’s/spouse/family rights. The policy shall also consider the prevention of abuse, exploitation and harassment in the workplace, prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse, abuse of authority in the workplace, child protection policy for staff working with children under 18, ethics and integrity in the workplace.

The development of the HR policy shall take into account:

• the institutional specificities of RYCO and the legal framework framing the work of its Head Office (HO) and its six Local Branch Offices (LBOs)[3]
• RYCO existing internal regulations and contractual framework (including but not limited to: RYCO’s Statute and Host Country Agreement, RYCO staff regulations, project staff regulations, contractual templates, contracts with donors)
• Relevant parallel institutional processes that RYCO is engaged in (including the upcoming development of a Management by Objectives performance review system)
• RYCO’s financial capacities and operational constraints

To meet the above-mentioned objectives, the HR expert is expected to:

• Review RYCO’s staff and project staff regulations and RYCO’s overall HR practice, and interview key staff with the view to outline gaps, key questions and areas for improvement – in line with applicable legal frameworks and best practices of comparable organisations. On this basis: deliver an inception report outlining a) preliminary findings and recommendations; b) the suggested format and table of contents of the HR policy (including decision on keeping two staff regulations or their merger into one), c) the expert’s final workplan
• Provide a first full draft of the HR policy – based on RYCO’s feedback on the inception report
• Provide a final draft of the HR policy, including recommendations for its implementation – based on RYCO’s feedback on the draft HR policy
• Provide RYCO with training/mentoring required to ensure the swift implementation of the policy - contingent upon RYCO Governing Board’s approval of the policy

Deliverables, timeline and payment schedule

Specific tasks include the following with the timelines indicated:

• Deliverable 1 (15% of total amount); Review of RYCO’s policies and context, interview with key staff and development of the inception report as outlined above (by 30 May 2020);
• Deliverable 2 (35% of the total amount) - after analyzing the context in which RYCO operates and the HR practices exercised by RYCO until currently, design the draft HR policy for RYCO office in close consultation with RYCO responsible staff members (by 30 June 2020)
• Deliverable 3 (40% of total amount) – revise the draft HR policy based on the inputs, comments and suggestions of RYCO responsible staff and submit the final HR policy document, indicating the methodology/recommendations for RYCO on how to implement the policy (by 30 July 2020).
• Deliverable 4 (10% of total amount) – Upon HR policy approval by GB, coaching/ Mentoring/training support to key RYCO staff to enable smooth implementation and ownership of the policy (by 30 September 2020);

The consultancy will involve two working missions in Albania (10 days each). In the Cover Letter, the applicants should explain the approach how the assignment should be undertaken. The application package also should include documents that demonstrate the success of the similar assignments undertaken in the past, accompanied with reference letters of contractors for previous similar assignments.

[1] * For the UN, all references to Kosovo shall be understood in the context of Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999).?

For RYCO, this designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with Security Council Resolution 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence.

[2] RYCO performance review system which includes onboarding and recruitment and talent retention policy and which will be in place by July 2020

[3] The privileges and immunities of the organizations are defined by the Host Country Agreement. The Local Branch Offices are not registered as separate legal entities neither in the Host Contracting Party of Head Office nor in respective Contracting Parties where they are located.

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling 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 favouritism;
• Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment;

Functional Competencies:

• Strong interpersonal skills, communication and diplomatic skills, ability to work in team;
• Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities;
• Strong organisational, coordination and time management skills;
• Ability to organise tasks independently and assume responsibility;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines;
• Ability to adapt solutions and proposals to specificities of client organizations.

Education: 

• Master’s degree in Business Administration/Management, Public Administration, Human Resources, Law or similar.

Experience: 

• At least 10 years of work and advisory experience required in designing, implementing and monitoring Human Resource policies for international organisations or NGOs
• At least five years of have experience with non-profits and demonstrated familiarity with donor-funded projects, donor policies and demonstrated ability to adapt the framework/policy to possible implications of contractual requirements of donor-funded projects
• Demonstrated knowledge of the legislation applicable in Albania and in the rest of the WB6 for the employment and management of personnel based in the region;
• Demonstrated experience capacity-development; demonstrated ability to design and providing HR mentoring/training support;
• Demonstrated knowledge and previous working experience in the Western Balkan region will be considered as an asset;

Language skills:

• Excellent oral and written proficiency in English required. Knowledge of other official languages of the Western Balkan region would be preferable.

Evaluation of Applicants 

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal. 

The shortlist will consist of candidates whose offers have 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 (P11 desk reviews) and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.  

Only the highest ranked candidates who would be found qualified for the job will be considered for the Financial Evaluation. Interviews with the shortlisted candidates may be considered, before taking a final decision for the candidate who will be granted the contract.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation: 

Criteria A (Master’s degree in Business Administration/Management, Public Administration, Human Resources, Law or similar) – max points: 5%

Criteria B (At least ten years of work and advisory  experience required in designing, implementing and monitoring Human Resource policies in comparable organisations) – max points: 20 %;  

Criteria C (Demonstrated knowledge and familiarity with relevant frameworks– max points: 15%

Criteria D (Demonstrated experience in developing training materials and providing HR training) – max points: 7.5 %

Criteria D (Excellent oral and written proficiency in English required. Knowledge of other official languages of the Western Balkan region would be preferable) – max points: 7.5% 

Criteria E (Demonstrated experience in the region and familiarity with applicable legislative frameworks) – max points: 15%; 

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation 

Application Procedure

The application should contain:

• Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.
• Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability-please fill in the attached form... www.un.org.al/sites/default/files/IC_Offerors%20Letter%20to%20UNDP%20Confirming%20Interest%20and%20Availability.docx
• Latest personal CV, including past experience from similar projects or completed and signed UN Personal History Form (P11) for Service Contracts (SC) and Individual Contracts (IC) – Blank form Download here.
• Financial Proposal - specifying a total lump sum amount in USD for completion of the tasks specified in this announcement. The financial proposal should indicate an all-inclusive fixed total contract price and all other travel related costs (such as flight ticket, per diem, etc), supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template attached to the Letter of Confirmation of Interest template.  If an applicant is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the applicant must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP. http://www.un.org.al/doc/Financial%20Offer%20template.doc 
• Copy of Diplomas and copy of Passport.

How to Submit the Application:

To submit your application online, please follow the steps below:

• Merge your CV or P11, Financial Proposal Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability and cover letter into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded;
• Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement);
• Click “Apply Now” button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click “Submit Application;”
• Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above);
• You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system.

Due to a large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.