UNDP Jobs - 97304- Local Consultant for Assessment of Roma Returnees

Local Consultant for Assessment of Roma Returnees Inclusive Growth

Location :

Tirana, ALBANIA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

11-Mar-21 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

10 days during a period of 2 consecutive months

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

UNDP is implementing a sub-regional Project “Strengthen national and local systems to support the effective socio-economic integration of returnees in the Western Balkans”. The Projectis part of the IPA II Multi-Country Action “EU support to Fundamental Rights of Roma Community and Reintegration of Returnees”, which has been entrusted for implementation to UNDP, the World Bank and the Council of Europe and targets Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia.

The project promotes holistic approach in responding to the the immediate needs of vulnerable returnees as well as in tackling the structural challenges, which propel unregulated migration of men and women from the Western Balkans to EU. The comprehensive mix of technical assistance, capacity building and direct support to vulnerable men and women aims to demonstrate innovative solutions that will underpin transformational change in the models of governance of reintegration services and socio-economic empowerment programmes, with an objective of ensuring sustainable reintegration of the vulnerable returnees and social cohesion.

In each country, the project will support establishment of local reintegration platforms in 3 municipalities, with a purpose of mobilizing public service providers, business community and civil society in co-designing and implementation of local strategies for reintegration of returnees. Local strategies will propose a a set of context specific innovative solutions for improving the livelihoods and social wellbeing of returnees and the broader community. Moreover, local strategies will tackle the local governance issues, individual and institutional bottlenecks and gaps, which hinder the effective service provision.

To ensure efective targeting of municipalities, during the inception phase the project will carry-out a rapid assessment of selected number of municipalities in each country, with a main purpose to assess the magnitude and propensity for outward migration and re-migratiion of the local population as well as to assess the economic potentials and capacities for service provision, which are critical for sustainable reintegration of returnees.

Duties and Responsibilities

The individual consultant will be engaged to conduct a rapid assessment of 6 municipalities (Devoll, Berat, Fier, Lushnje, Peqin and Rrogozhina) which will provide an evidence base for selection of 3 municipalities.

The assessment will include the following set of parametars:

number of returnees in the municipality;
share of Roma in the total population;
propensity to outward migration by the local population;
capacities of local administration to coordinate and/or implement designated competences regarding the reintegration agenda;
local entities with capacities to support the reintegration agenda (e.g. local socio-economic councils, local migration councils, migration one-stop-shops etc);
availability and capacities of public facilities for service provision, available care services (kindergartens, day care centres and home care) etc;
availability and capacities of NGOs for provision of social services;
administrative capacities and commitment of local authorities to manage reintegration agenda
presence and other ongoing projects supported by ther international organizations.

Considering that access to decent employment has been underscored by the returnees as their main concern for successful reintegration in local communities, the rapid assessment will also include an overview of the socio-economic potentials of municipalities from the perspective of:

the size and structure of the private sector;
the possibility for building local value chains or other forms of business partnerships with established companies;
presence of business development support services and other support structures etc;
available training and vocational education centres;

The assessment will also reflect on the impact of COVID-19 on the local economy, the capacities and challenges of public service providers to cope with the pressure to deliver accessible and safe services to citizens and economic agents caused by the pandemic etc.

The methodology of the analysis will mainly rely on secondary data and where necessary indepth interviews with representatives from relevant central and local level institutions, CSOs and business community. The assessment will also utilize the available information and data collected by CoE from their early work with local authorities in the context of the Romacted project.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

Results of the analysis will be sumamrized in a stock-taking report for 6 municiaplities per country which will provide:

most recent evidences of Roma Returness Inclusive Grouth;
rapid assessment of the main social and economic vulnerabilities;
rapid assessment of the economic potentials of municipalities and mapping out the prospective value chains;
rapid assessment of institutional gaps and weaknesses in the delivery of public services of relevance for the socio-economic integration of returnees;
local stakeholders analysis and the potential role they can have in the implementation of returnees reintegration agenda;
recommendations for capacity improvement of local stakeholders;

Competencies

Core Competencies

Innovation Ability to make new and useful ideas work
Leadership Ability to persuade others to follow
People Management Ability to improve performance and satisfaction
Communication Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform
Delivery Ability to get things done

Functional Competencies

Minimum 7 years’ of progressively responsible, professional-level experience related to socio-economic assessment, program assessment, monitoring, and evaluation, with a particular linkage to returnees, Roma and Egyptian minorities and social inclusion themes.
Familiarity with the social protection administrative service planning and administration.
Analytical, communication and presentation skills
Strong report writing and editing in English
In-depth knowledge on development issues
Attitude and approach Positive, constructive attitude and consistently approaches work with energy
Computer proficiency MS Office

Required Skills and Experience

Recruitment Qualifications

Master’s degree in social studies, economics, social statistics or related field (i.e., social work, psychology, statistics, business, economics, and public policy) is required.
Minimum 7 years’ of progressively responsible, professional-level experience related to socio-economic assessment, program assessment, monitoring, and evaluation, with a particular linkage to returnees, Roma and Egyptian minorities and social inclusion themes.
Fluency in English and Albanian is required.

Evaluation Procedure

UNDP applies a fair and transparent selection process that would consider both the technical qualification of Individual Consultants as well as their financial proposals. The contract will be awarded to the candidate whose offer:

Is deemed technically responsive / compliant / acceptable (only technically responsive applications / candidates will be considered for the financial evaluation)
And has obtained the highest combined technical and financial scores.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max points: 700

Criteria A: Experience working minimum 7 years’ of progressively responsible, professional-level experience related to socio-economic assessment, program assessment, monitoring, and evaluation, with a particular linkage to returnees, Roma and Egyptian minorities and social inclusion themes – max points: 350

Criteria B: Familiarity with the social protection administrative service planning and administration – max points: 200

Criteria C: Educational background– max points: 150

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max points: 300

Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (490 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (700 points) shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

Contract Award

Candidate obtaining the highest combined scores in the combined score of Technical and Financial evaluation will be considered technically qualified and will be offered to enter into contract with UNDP.

Payment modality

Payment to the Individual Contractor will be made based on the actual number of days worked, deliverables accepted and upon certification of satisfactory completion by the project manager.

Application Procedure

Interested applicants are advised to carefully study all sections of this ToRs and ensure that they meet the general requirements as well as specific qualifications described. Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials.

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. Download Here (kindly use FireFox Browser)
Filled P11 form including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees, please upload the P11 instead of your CV. Download Here (kindly use FireFox Browser)

Financial Proposal in ALL*- specifying a total lump sum in Albanian Lek for the tasks specified in this announcement. The attached template may be used - Download Here (kindly use FireFox Browser) Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant during the contract period (e.g. fee and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services).

Copy of Diplomas and copy of Passport.
Technical proposal – specifying the methodology which the consultant will employ to conduct this assignment.

*Kindly note that Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability and Financial Proposal are two separate documents and should be both part of your application.

How to Submit the Application:

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

Download and complete the UN Personal History Form (P11) for Service Contracts (SCs) and Individual Contracts (ICs);
Merge your UN Personal History Form (P11) for Service Contracts (SCs) and Individual Contracts (ICs), 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 large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.