Background

Northern Bahr el Ghazal is a state in South Sudan. It has an area of 30,543 km² and is part of the Bahr el Ghazal region. It borders Eastern Darfur State of Sudan to the north, Western Bahr el Ghazal State to the west and south, and Warrap and Abyei to the east. The state had population of 720,898 (2008 census) and a projection of 1,133,147 people (586,837 women) by 2020 . The main ethnic groups inhabiting the state are Dinka Malual and Jurchol who are mainly agro-pastoralists. Other groups in the state include Fur and Rezeigat traders from Eastern Darfur state of Sudan who have settled in business centres including Aweil and Nyamlel; Misseriya traders from Western Kordofan state of Sudan are common in Wanyjok and Warawar Towns of Aweil East County; Falata nomads from Chad settled in Aroyo and Awada Payams of Aweil Centre County.

Although the state has been relatively peaceful compared with others in South Sudan since 2013, common incidents occur over access to natural resources (water, grazing areas, land and forests) within and along Sudan-South Sudan border including Aweil East, Aweil North, Aweil Centre and Aweil West Counties; cases of cattle theft resulting from the on-going economic hardships and high unemployment among the youth; tensions over sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls have been reported in most counties within the state.

In response to the conflicts, UNDP’s PaCC project supports communities to reduce communal violence by strengthening local peace structures such as joint border peace committees, the Council of Traditional Authority Leaders (COTAL), women and youth to rebuild broken relations and foster social cohesion. PaCC works in collaboration with other peace actors including FAO, UNMISS-CAD, Saferworld, the South Sudan Peace and Reconciliation Commission, Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation Commission, State Ministry of Peace Building  and local civil society organizations to facilitate local communities to engage in peace building, by promoting dialogue, mediation and community interdependency initiatives; supporting women and youth participation in local peace and governance processes and strengthening communities’ socio-economic and cultural ties that support community relationships and build peace.

In the state, cattle migration in dry season is regulated by pre and post migration conferences which are community initiatives. Resolutions of the conferences are implemented by the communities and monitored by the Joint Border Peace Committee. This committee comprises Dinka and Jurchol elders, Misseriya and Rezeigat nomads trained by UNDP and provided with phones, bicycles and raincoats to facilitate conflict early warning and response. This involves documenting and reporting incidents and conducting dialogues to resolve the issues.

To respond to the request from the Northern Bahr el Ghazal state government, UNDP (PaCC project) seeks to recruit an experienced national consultant to lead the development of a local policy, including a plan/ strategy for its implementation, on seasonal cattle migration for Northern Bahr el Ghazal state., The consultant will work under the guidance of the Democratic Governance and Stabilization Unit Programme Team Leader and PaCC project Manager/Advisor and coordinates his/her work with the UNDP project staff, the Northern Bahr el Ghazal state government and its partners.

Duties and Responsibilities

Purpose of the Consultancy

  • The purpose of the consultancy is to provide a policy platform for the state level authorities towards addressing conflicts triggered or associated with seasonal movement of cattle. This is aimed at conflict prevention and enhancing social cohesion at the community.

Objective of the Consultancy

  • To support development of a policy including its implementation plan on cattle migration, for Northern Bahr el Ghazal state.

Duties and Responsibilities

  • Conduct desk research on seasonal cattle migration, in areas along Sudan-South Sudan border, especially in areas bordering Northern Bahr el Ghazal state of Sudan and develop a background paper.
  • Analyze reports on community consultative and advocacy workshops conducted by CSO partners in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state and use the CSO reports to improve on the background paper that will feed into the development of the policy on seasonal cattle migration.
  • Facilitate consultations and interviews to solicit input from stakeholders to prepare first draft policy on seasonal cattle migration for Northern Bahr el Ghazal state.
  • Present the first draft policy in a validation workshop to be organized by UNDP (PaCC project) with participation of the state secretariat, state ministries of peace building, Local Government and Law Enforcement Agencies, Animal Resources and Fisheries, Agriculture, Trade and Industry; conflict resolution and reconciliation commission, South Sudan Peace and Reconciliation Commission and other partners including FAO, UNMISS-CAD, CSOs and Joint border peace committees, youth and women.
  • Integrate stakeholders’ feedback and submit second draft policy to the state secretariat for discussion and approval at the State Council of Ministers in Aweil, Northern Bahr el Ghazal State.
  • Prepare and submit final state level policy and a plan for its implementation to the State Secretariat, state ministry of peace building, South Sudan Peace and Reconciliation Commission and UNDP (PaCC project).

Methodology

  • The consultant shall adopt a combination of participatory tools and methodologies like desk research; report analysis, Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) analysis; key stakeholder analysis, consultations and interview with key stakeholders and group facilitation techniques to promote participation and buy-in.
  • The consultant will work closely with UNDP Peace and Community Cohesion project throughout the entire consultancy process as well as with partners and government counterparts at the state level.

Time Frame and deliverables

  • Inception Report with clear methodology, detailed work plan, stakeholder mapping and the background paper. 4 days
  • Facilitate consultations and interviews with the state and develop a draft policy and implementation plan. First draft of the policy. 16 days
  • Facilitate the validation workshop and update the draft policy. Second draft of the policy. 5 days
  • Present the final draft policy and the implementation plan. Final draft policy. 5 days

Competencies

Corporate Competencies

  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality, and age sensitivity and adaptability
  • Demonstrates diplomacy and tact in dealing with sensitive and complex situations
  • Strong communication, team building, interpersonal, analysis, and planning skills

Professionalism

  • Demonstrates professional competence and mastery of the subject matter
  • Demonstrates experience in subject matter
  • Demonstrates ability to negotiate and apply good judgment
  • Shows pride in work and in achievements
  • Is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines, and achieving results

Planning & Organizing

  • Organizes and accurately completes multiple tasks by establishing priorities while taking into consideration special assignments, frequent interruptions, deadlines, available resources, and multiple reporting relationships
  • Plans, coordinates, and organizes workload while remaining aware of changing priorities and competing deadlines
  • Establishes, builds, and maintains effective working relationships with staff, partners, and beneficiaries to achieve the planned results

Communicating Information and Ideas

  • Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively.
  • Delivers verbal/written information in a timely, clear, organised and easily understood manner.
  • Strong communication skills and the ability to listen and take direction and leadership from others.

Self-Management & Emotional Intelligence

  • Creating synergies through self-control, and tolerates conditions of stress, uncertainty or ambiguity and continues to maintain a positive outlook to work productively.

Other Corporate competencies

  • Ability to establish effective working relations in a multicultural team environment.
  • Excellent supervisory, team building, diplomatic and interpersonal skills.
  • Resourcefulness, initiative and maturity of judgement.
  • Strong communication and advocacy skills.
  • Ability to work in a complex environment requiring liaison and collaboration with multiple factors.
  • Ability to demonstrate sensitivity, tact and diplomacy.
  • Excellent analytical, organizational and negotiation skills, especially resource management systems.
  • Excellent networking skills.

Required Skills and Experience

 

Education

  • Advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) in Peace/ Conflict Studies, Governance, Law, Political Science, Sociology, International Development, and/or related Social Science fields.

 Experience

  • 5-10 years’ experience in designing, planning, developing and analyzing public sector policies and implementation plans and its implementation by sub-national government in “in-conflict” and post-conflict context and/or countries in transition
  • 5 years’ experience and knowledge on livestock migration, and peace building and conflict prevention/ resolution approaches preferably in “in-conflict” and post -conflict environments.
  • In-depth knowledge of gender, women and youth issues in policy development and experience in engaging with sub-national counterparts using participatory and consultative approaches and ability to manage diversity of views in different cultural contexts.
  • Familiarity with the local political, economic, social, and local governance system in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state and South Sudan
  • Experience with using a range of quantitative and qualitative data gathering and analysis techniques related to policy and plan development and experience in facilitating consultation workshops with good presentation and IT skills.
  • Excellent written and spoken communication skills in English and good report writing skills.

Language

  • Fluency in spoken and written English.
  • Knowledge of Arabic is an advantage.

Institutional arrangements

  • The consultant will be based at the UNDP offices in South Sudan in Juba, South Sudan. The consultant can also make use of the UNDP offices in South Sudan, where necessary and is expected to use their own computer/laptop and cell phone.
  • The consultant will be contracted for 30 full-time working days.
  • The consultant will report to the UNDP Project Manager of the Peace and Community Cohesion Project who will review and approve delivery of outputs.

Payment Schedule

  • 1st Payment •Inception Report with clear methodology, detailed work plan, stakeholder mapping and the background paper. 20%
  • 2nd Payment •First draft of the policy. 50%
  • 3rd Payment •Second and final draft of the policy. 30%

How to Apply
All organizations or persons interested in submitting their proposals may do so through UNDP jobs website:

The available starting date and fees of the assignment which is subject to negotiation should be clearly stated in the Letter of Interest. Applications should be received no later than 2 November 2021.

Technical proposal comprising of the following:

  • Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP.
  • Personal CV or P11, indicating all prior experience with similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and three (3) professional references.
  • Brief description (max. 1 page) of why you consider yourself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a methodology (max. 1 page) for how you will approach and complete the assignment.

Financial proposal: Indicating the all-inclusive, fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs.

Consultancy Evaluation Criteria

Offers received will be evaluated using a Combined Scoring method, where the qualifications and proposed methodology will be weighted 70%, and combined with the price offer, which will be weighted 30%.

Criteria to be used for rating the qualifications and methodology:

Technical evaluation criteria (total 70 points)

  • 5-10 years’ experience in designing, planning, developing, and analyzing public sector policies and implementation plans and in supporting its implementation by sub-national government in “in-conflict” and post-conflict context and/or countries in transition [20 marks].
  • 5 years’ experience and knowledge on livestock migration, and peace building and conflict prevention/ resolution approaches preferably in “in-conflict” and post -conflict environments. [15 marks].
  • In-depth knowledge of gender, women and youth issues in policy development and experience in engaging with sub-national counterparts using participatory and consultative approaches and ability to manage diversity of views in different cultural contexts. [15 marks].
  • Familiarity with the local political, economic, social, and local governance system in Northern Bahr el Ghazal state and South Sudan [5 marks].
  • Experience with using a range of quantitative and qualitative data gathering and analysis techniques related to policy and plan development and experience in facilitating consultation workshops with good presentation and IT skills. [5 marks].
  • Excellent written and spoken communication skills in English and good report writing skills. [5 marks].
  • Relevant Academic Background and language proficiency [5 marks].

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the Technical Evaluation will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Financial evaluation (total 30 points)

All technically qualified proposals will be scored out of 30 based on the formula provided below. The maximum points (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal. All other proposals receive points according to the following formula: p = y (x/z)
Where:

  • p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
  • y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal  
  • x = price of the lowest priced proposal
  • z = price of the proposal being evaluated.

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.