UNDP Jobs - 95257- Local Consultant for Elaboration of an Autodidacti

Local Consultant for Elaboration of an Autodidactic Business Problem Identification Tool

Location :

Tbilisi, with travel to Target Municipalities, GEORGIA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

25-Nov-20 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

Up to 30 consultancy days during December 2020 – January 2021, with 12 days on mission

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. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The EU signed an Association Agreement (AA) with Georgia in June 2014. This aims to deepen political and economic relations between the parties and to gradually integrate Georgia into the EU’s internal market. This entails, as one element, creating a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) between the EU and Georgia. Under Article 333 of the Association Agreement (Cooperation between the Parties in the field of agriculture and rural development), there is provision for ‘facilitating the mutual understanding of agricultural and rural development policies. This was the basis for the formulation of a the Ajara Rural Development Strategy (2016-2020) which benefits from funding under the European Neighborhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD).

Within the framework of the third phase of ENPARD (ENPARD III), UNDP Georgia is implementing the project “Improving Rural Development in Georgia” (IRDG), lasting until December 2022. Its main purpose is to promote economic diversification for achieving inclusive and sustainable growth and development and creating employment and livelihoods in rural Georgia.

In its eight target municipalities - Akhalkalaki, Borjomi, Dedoplistskaro, Kazbegi, Keda Khulo, Lagodekhi and Tetritskaro- IRDG attempts to instill a process from exogenous on the path to endogenous municipal development, among others, by emphasizing its principle of portfolio-based interventions and identifying seedbeds of regional growth poles or clusters, among others. Innovative ideas and business model innovations are included in the selection. To achieve this objective, direct financial support (matching grants) and incentives is provided through the Rural Development Management Agency (RDA) of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture (MEPA) and through other channels.

COVID-19 is imposing serious problems onto rural businesses in all directions: demand, supply, support-services and internal operations. Furthermore, the post-COVID worldwide economic landscape will be considerably changed, requiring businesses to adjust fast and early to be positioned well. IRDG is therefore implementing a series of interventions to help rural businesses cope with this situation. But most of these interventions can only reach a comparatively small target group: the minimal requirement is that business owners accept outside assistance. Studies show, however, that up 60% of business owners can be regarded as skeptical towards accepting outside advice. Nevertheless, those people would benefit from some assistance.

Originating in a business development project of the early 2000s, a “Circle of Change” has been elaborated and successfully implemented in various countries. It is an autodidactic instrument that allows business owners to easily identify prime problems in their business, and first steps towards solving those. It consists of usually 5 concentric organized circles, each of which is containing an increasing number of fields (with the innermost circle the least). The owner first identifies a field in this innermost circle, wherein he/she assumes that his/her business might have a shortcoming. By selecting adjacent fields in the circle next to the innermost, the owner can further specify the assumed problem until he/she succeeds in pinpointing a rather specific problem. While advancing through the Circle, the owner may also be redirected to another field of the Circle which is likely to be closer to the core problem (simple example: many owners identify as problem that they don’t have enough money, while the problem is that they don’t sell enough, which may be caused by problems in the production or the management).

The overall objective of this assignment is therefore to elaborate a “Circle of Change” for rural businesses affected by COVID-19 and facing a distinct post-COVID world. The most relevant sector will be rural tourism, which is likely to be negatively affected for some years to come. It can safely be assumed that both, higher value tourism and digitalization will help rural tourism businesses to survive and position themselves adequately for the post-COVID world.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will work with the Economic Diversification Coordinator under the direct supervision of National Project Manager and the Project Technical Leader of the “Improving Rural Development in Georgia” and in consultation with the UNDP Economic Development Team Leader.

The corresponding tasks are:

Familiarisation with IRDG, its studies and objectives, and with the economic problems and prospects of rural tourism in Georgia in the COVID and post-COVID world. Familiarisation with EU responses and policies related to rural development, COVID-19 and rural tourism. Various samples of Circles of Change will be provided.
Identification of typical problems and envisaged feasible solutions of rural tourism businesses. This requires field visits (or, in case of impossibility due to COVID-19, virtual meetings) to at least 3 of the IRDG municipalities/municipal regions (wherein Keda/Khulo and Dedoplistskaro/Lagodheki each count as 1 municipal region) and individual or focus group discussions with at least 10 tourism businesses per municipality/municipal region. Additionally, discussions must be held with informed stakeholders such as the Tourism Authority and tourism development projects. When elaborating solutions, be strongly guided by the expected post-COVID changes in rural tourism (e.g., up-grading and digitalisation) and the EU priorities of B2B, diversification and job maintenance.
Aggregation of those identified typical problems and solutions by tourism sub-sector (e.g., accommodation, restaurants, services, transport). If problems and solutions are too distinct, recommendation of the largest possible combination of sub-sectors to IRDG and obtaining agreement.
Drafting of a problem-identification tree with 5 or 6 branches (including the first one) which guides the business owners/managers from problems to hints to potential solutions. This may be done in any suitable software (e.g., Excel, Word).
After revision by IRDG, up to 2 rounds of re-drafting and improvement of the problem-identification tree.
Testing of the result of the problem identification tree (autodidactic) with at least 10 business owners of the applicable sub-sector (virtual of physical). Identification of problems and areas for improvement including joint solutions.
According improvement of the problem-identification tree. If the required revision was substantial (to be determined in co-operation with IRDG), then re-testing of the problem-identification tree again with at least 10 representative business owners (distinct from the first group). According improvement of the problem-identification tree.
Short, user-friendly reasoning of the move from each cell of the tree to an adjacent sub-cell. This may be achieved through a few short sentences, bullet points, a table or similar.
Final report containing all elements mentioned in the sections 4-8 and a section with lessons learned.

Deliverables and payment:

Report on typical problems and solutions and, if applicable, reasoning for choice of tourism sub-sector (equivalent to tasks 1, 2 and 3): due by 23 Dec 2020, 30% of the consultancy fee
Final revised draft problem-tree, ready for testing; Final report containing final problem-tree, reasoning of moves, and lessons learned: due by 28 Jan 2021, 70% of the consultancy fee

Note: up to 3 travel cost to the municipalities for problem identification, and up to 2 travel cost to a selected municipality for testing, as well as potential room/catering cost of those meetings will be separately paid for by IRDG.

Language of all reports to UNDP: English. Language of testing and final product: Georgian

Competencies

Core competencies

Demonstrated commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values.
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
Highest standards of integrity, discretion and loyalty.

Functional competencies

Knowledge Management and Learning:

Shares knowledge and experience.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

Ability to undertake analytical work and prepare narrative parts of working papers, reports and studies.
Strong communication skills.
Advanced computer skills including Microsoft Office and web-based applications.
Proven ability to deliver quality output working under tight deadlines.
Excellent communication and facilitation skills.
Strong and proven research and analytical skills.

Leadership and Self-Management:

Focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
Leads teams effectively and shows conflict resolution skills;
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors;
Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Bachelors’ degree in business, communication or community development, or related fields (minimum requirement: 5 points).

Experience:

Minimum 5 years of business development experience as business development service provider, internal business developer or similar (minimum requirement: 9 points).
Minimum 1 year experience in the tourism sector (minimum requirement: 7 points).
Explicit experience in problem solving methodologies, problem solving tools or the application/development of autodidactic methodologies (minimum requirement: 7 points).
Personal experience as owner or manager of a rural tourism enterprise will be an asset (12 points).

Language requirements:

Fluency in English and Georgian (both written and oral).

Evaluation:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the Cumulative analysis, against combination of technical and financial criteria. Technical evaluation stage encompasses desk review and interview of applications. Experts not meeting any of minimum technical qualification requirements will be automatically excluded from the list of candidates for further technical evaluation. Maximum obtainable score is 100, out of which the total score for technical criteria equals to 70 points (70%) and for financial criteria 30 (30%). Technical criteria composed of desk review (40 points) and interview (30 points). Offerors who pass 70% of maximum obtainable scores of the desk review (i.e. 40 x 70% = 28 points because of a desk review of applications will be invited for the interview. Those offerors who pass 70% of maximum obtainable scores for interviews of (i.e. 30x 70% = 21 points) will be considered as short-listed offerors and requested to provide financail proposals.

Financial Proposal:

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum supported by the respective breakdown of the total fee. Payments are based upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR.