Background

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 local development 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. Thus, the PLGSP will provide a coherent approach to capacity development under the federal system.

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 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 support the implementation of the Programme through Technical Assistance (TA). A key priority of the TA is recruitment of TA staff, 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 provincial 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 Provincial Programme Implementation Unit (PPIU) has been 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 centres, proposed as the Provincial Centre 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 implementation of PLGSP activities. This Terms of Reference (ToR) describes functions, responsibilities and expected results of the  Infrastructure Development Expert to be stationed at PCGGs, as well as qualifications/experience, competencies and selection criteria required of the incumbent.

Duties and Responsibilities

Functions/Key Results Expected

Overall responsibilities of the assignment are to :

1. Provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and other related ministries of the Provincial government on policies, norms, standards and guidelines on infrastructure development, National Building code, building bylaws, environmental codes with focus on sustainability, resilience and disaster risk reduction (DRR);
2. Provide technical inputs and backstopping support to achieve PLGSP Output 7: PCGGs made operational to deliver capacity development service;
3. Support the PCGG in building capacity of provincial and local governments in the area of infrastructure development with emphasis on sustainability, resilience and DRR;
4. Provide technical inputs and support to the Provincial and local governments in preparing inclusive master plan; Transport Master Plan, Periodic Development Plans and in other areas of urban planning;
5. Support mainstreaming of gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) throughout programme implementation; and
6. Perform any other tasks assigned by the concerned authorities.

1. Provide technical assistance to the Ministry of Physical Infrastructure and other related ministries of the Provincial government on policies, norms, standards and guidelines on infrastructure development, National Building code, building bylaws, environmental codes with focus on sustainability, resilience and disaster risk reduction (DRR):

• Provide technical inputs and support to the local governments in preparing comprehensive integrated spatial based local development planning that include transport master plan, risk sensitive landuse plan, environmental management plan, infrastructure development plan and other area urban planning.  Also support other related ministries of the Provincial government in the areas of sustainable infrastructure development, resilience and DRR;
• Support the local government to implement environment friendly local governance framework;
• Provide advice and guidance on strategic and policy issues to strengthen sustainable infrastructure development, resilience and DRR, including preparedness in the province;
• Obtain and disseminate updates from the PCU on the GoN policies, norms, standards and guidelines related to infrastructure development, resilience and DRR;
• Provide technical support to the Province government to enhance quality, sustainability and resilience of its internal physical infrastructure, assets and projects; and
• Provide support to the Province Government in introducing management system of physical infrastructure and assets in the province.

2. Provide technical inputs and backstopping support to achieve PLGSP Output 7: PCGGs made operational to deliver capacity development service:

• Technically backstop to enforce national building code, building bylaws, electronic building permit system (EBPS),  and environmental codes, rural and urban roads standards, technical norms and standards for infrastructure development support to prepare integrated development master plan of provincial headquarter;
• Support the Local Governance Expert and the ED of the PCGG in planning and executing development of new and renovation of existing physical infrastructure and facilities of the PCGG;
• Contribute to the preparation of the PCGG Annual Work Plans (AWPs) and budgets under the framework of PLGSP Annual Strategic Implementation Plan (ASIP);
• Facilitate implementation of agreed AWPs, including regular follow-up, and report on progress to PCGG; and
• Support periodical reviews of overall PLGSP/PCGG progress, including leading the monitoring and reporting of infrastructure development, resilience and DRR activities.

3. Support the PCGG in building capacity of provincial and local governments in the area of infrastructure development with emphasis on sustainability, resilience and DRR:

• Support to build the capacity of local government in urban design, open street mapping, street addressing, managing landfill sites, city centre development, city renovation plan, integrated settlement development plan, housepooling, landpooling etc;
• Prepare training modules in the areas of urban planning, urban design, infrastructure development, autocad, GIS, resensetive land zoning etc;
• Support the identification of capacity development needs of local governments in the area of infrastructure development, with emphasis on sustainability, resilience and DRR;
• Support the development and implementation of curriculum and capacity development initiatives in the area of sustainable and resilient infrastructure development, in coordination with Capacity Development Expert and Curriculum Development Expert of the PCGG;
• Provide technical support to the PCGG in establishing inventory management of physical infrastructure and assets of local governments;
• Provide technical support to the PCGG and province planning/policy commission to prepare periodic, strategic, perspective local level plans by mainstreaming resilience and disaster risk management elements; and
• Support to build capacity of technical staff working with provincial and the local government in the area of infrastructure development.

4. Provide technical inputs and support to the Provincial and local governments in preparing inclusive master plan; Transport Master Plan, Periodic Development Plans and in other areas of urban planning:

• Ensure that the basic principles and standards of urban planning, sustainability, resilience and DRR are included in the preparation of provincial and local governments’ master plan and periodic development plans;
• Facilitate to analysis settlement pattern of the province and local governments and ensure the reflections of analysis into the master/period plan of respective provincial and local governments;
• Provide technical support to province and the local government in identifying the service in the areas of water supply, education, health services, and disaster-prone areas and vulnerability, transportation pattern in course of master/period plan formulation; and
• Provide technical support to provincial planning commissions, OPMCM, local governments to enhance their knowledge on principles and concept of urban planning and facilitate its application in the local level planning and development initiatives.

5. Support mainstreaming of gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) throughout programme implementation:

• Ensure the mainstreaming of GESI in the development and implementation of all PCGG activities related to infrastructure development, resilience and DRR;
• Ensure that physical accessibility to all sections of society is included as a key factor in the planning and development of infrastructure supported by the PCGG;
• Facilitate capacity development sessions for stakeholders in the province on GESI-responsive infrastructure development, resilience and DRR; and
• Support preparation and dissemination of knowledge products and good practices of GESI-responsive infrastructure development, resilience and DRR at provincial and local level.

6. Perform any other tasks assigned by the concerned authorities.

Impact of Results:

• Programme outputs are achieved within the given resources and time with high quality standards; and
• Province and Local Governments and external stakeholders have enhanced capacity in relation to GESI-responsive infrastructure development, sustainable and resilience urban planning.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies: 

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the 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;
• Good 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;
• Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development; 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;
• Experienced 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;
• Demonstrates excellent organizational and administrative skills;
• 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;
• Assesses project performance to identify success factors and incorporates best practices into project work;
• Monitors specific stages of projects/programme implementation;
• Researches linkages across programme activities to identify critical points of integration; and
• Oversees and documents the process of strategy formulation for programmes at Project level.

Technical Competencies:

• Competency to prepare report in Nepal and English language;
• Competency on software applications; autocad, excel based data analysis, eviews/stata/spss;
• Competency on preparing detail project report;
• Competency on GIS; and
• Knowledge and technical skills on urban planning, urban design, building bylaws, urban standards, rural and urban road standards.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree in Urban Planning/Infrastructure Engineering/Urban Development with Bachelors’ degree in Civil /Architech Engineering plus specialization in urban planning. 

Experience:

• At least three years of experience for Master’s Degree and five years for Bachelor’s Degree in the field of urban management and urban planning;
• Demonstrated skills of formulating period/master plan with focus on sustainable, resilient infrastructure development;
• Experience of project management, implementation and monitoring;
• Ability to make high quality graphics, diagrams, maps, and renderings;
• Experience of analyzing, manipulating and generating visual depictions of large data sets;
• Experience in GIS, along with design software and use of databases;
• Demonstrated skills of preparing high quality reports and other knowledge products;
• Experience of working in government will be an added advantage;
• Good understanding of applications for data management and project monitoring;
• Knowledge and skills on autocad and detail project report; and
• Experience in urban design, urban standard.  

Language requirements:

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

Special Skill:

• Must have skills in Autocad.