UNDP Jobs - 66143- International Consultant to Support Development of

International Consultant to Support Development of the Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for Implementation of the National Action Plans in the Area of Human Rights

Location :

Home based with 1 Mission to ASHGABAT, TURKMENISTAN

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

31-May-2016

Application Deadline :

19-May-16 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

May - July (tbc)

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

25 working days

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 National Institute of Democracy and Human Rights under the President of Turkmenistan and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are implementing a project entitled “Assistance in implementation of the National Human Rights Action Plan 2016-2020”. The project is focused on supporting the Government of Turkmenistan in its duty and capacity to comply with its international human rights obligations and implementing recommendations of human rights treaty bodies, including the recommendations of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). Turkmen National Institute for Democracy and Human Rights under the President of Turkmenistan (TNIDHR) is the main implementing partner of the project and coordinating agency for the implementation of the National Human Rights Action Plan (NHRAP).

NIDHR chairs the work of the Interdepartmental Commission for monitoring the implementation of international human rights instruments (IC) that was established on the basis of a Presidential Decree in 2007. The mandate of the Interdepartmental Commission (IC), that includes the representatives of around 20 national ministries and agencies, is to coordinate the Government’s efforts aimed at implementing international legal obligations of Turkmenistan in the area of human rights, including implementation, monitoring and reporting under any international human rights instrument signed by Turkmenistan.

In January 2016, the National Human Rights Action Plan (NHRAP) for the period of 2016-2020 was approved by a Decree of the President of Turkmenistan. The NHRAP is a result of collaboration between the Government of Turkmenistan and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and is largely based on the recommendations that Turkmenistan received as a result of the Universal Periodic Review in 2012, as well as recommendations of the other UN human rights Treaty Bodies.

The Government, in particular the NIDHR, have called for a unified monitoring system to measure the progress of the implementation of the Human Rights Action Plan, the recommendations of the Convection on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD), Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Convention against Torture (UNCAT), recommendations made as the result of the Universal Periodic Review, and concluding observations of other treaty bodies. The United Nations Country Team (UNCT) have agreed to support developing a unified system to ensure an effective integrated approach towards implementation of the interrelated human rights related plans and to provide for a joint support by the UNCT of human rights monitoring efforts.

In light of this, this assignment seeks to support development of this unified system, which shall be designed on the premise that in the future it might cover the monitoring of any other new action plan in the area of human rights that Turkmenistan decides to adopt.

The monitoring mechanism needs to contain indicators, targets, deadlines for implementation, and identify parties responsible for implementation of its parts.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main purpose of this assignment is to support the Government of Turkmenistan in designing the Monitoring and Evaluation Framework for the NHRAP, the plan to implement recommendations of the Convection on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD), Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD), Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Convention against Torture (UNCAT), recommendations made as the result of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), and concluding observations of other treaty bodies.

UNDP is looking for a consultant to provide high-level technical expertise for this assignment. The Consultant will closely interact with the National Institute of Democracy and Human Rights under the President of Turkmenistan, Working Group of the Inter-ministerial Commission on Treaty Bodies and International Humanitarian Law, as well United Nation Agencies working in Turkmenistan.

Specific Activities that the consultant would carry out are as follows:

Review concluding observations to Turkmenistan under CRC, CRPD, CERD, ICCPR, ICESCR, UNCAT, recommendations made as the result of the UPR, and concluding observations of other human rights treaty bodies;
Read the National Human Rights Action Plan, National Action Plan on Gender Equality and the available information about the other plans as well as relevant reports related to the NHRAP and M&E prepared recently for the NIDHR on the matter in 2015;
Conduct a mission to Turkmenistan and prepare and hold a half-day roundtable with the Inter-ministerial Commission on importance of M&E Framework in implementation of the NHRAP and achieving the set goals in the NHRAP;
Hold two-day technical consultations with the Human Rights inter- ministerial Working Group on development of the overall M&E Framework;
Together with members of the Working Group, design the monitoring system for the NHRAP with a provision that the system allows all other HR action plans mentioned above to be incorporated into the system to ensure a unified system, when and as appropriate;
The system will define measurable indicators, baselines, targets, timeline for implementation, and responsible parties’ lines of reporting and specific responsibilities for NHRAP. However , the system must accommodate other measurable indicators, baselines, targets, for other HR action as they emerge;
The monitoring system should include:

a) The detailed M& E framework with a proposed methodology for data collection and analyses for NHRAP. The methodology will need to provide detailed steps of each action together with suggested tools to be used for each action;

b) Tools for progress tracking and resilience capacity analysis and monitoring, including for real time tracking of coping mechanisms and tracking of outcome indicators;

In consultation with the Working Group, develop the Terms of References (TOR) with scope of work, the composition of representatives and level of expertise required for the National Monitoring Group on the implementation of the NHRAP;
An analysis of the potential challenges and risks of such a system for the M&E Group;
A set of broad recommendations on approaches to address the described challenges and risks that the Group will face during the implementation of the NHRAP;
Define activities to strengthen monitoring knowledge and skills of the M&E Group;
Consult with the UN agencies on the design of the M&E system;
Hold a consultation meeting with the UN Human Rights, Youth and Gender Group to brief its members on the M&E Framework development process;
Hold a briefing session on design of the M&E Framework to UN Coordination Team;
Provide a detailed report that includes all actions lists in this Scope of Work.

Key outputs and deliverables expected:

In accordance with the above mentioned objective of the project and under the supervision of the Project manager and the Portfolio Manager, the International Consultant will work together with TNIDHR and another international consultant to produce the following Outputs:

Deliverables:

Draft of the M&E system to be recommended to the Commission to adopt based on and reflecting the consultations with the national partners and UN agencies;
Submission of the initial M&E Framework design, receiving comments and addressing them to revise the Framework accordingly.

Location: Turkmenistan and home-based (desk work).

Timeframe: 25 working days.

Payment conditions:

This is an installment-based contract that should cover the costs of consultancy required to produce the above deliverables. The final schedule of payments will be agreed upon in the beginning of consultancy. Payment will be released in two installments: 40% (deliverable 1), and 60% (for deliverable 2) upon timely submission of respective deliverables and their acceptance by UNDP Turkmenistan.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Proven commitment to the core values of the United Nations, in particular, respecting differences of culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, language;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Functional Competencies:

Good knowledge of and experience working with UN human rights mechanisms;
Excellent training, facilitation and communication skills;
Results driven, ability to work under pressure and to meet required deadlines;
Good understanding and practice of capacity development;
Diplomatic skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced university degree in political science, monitoring and evaluation, public policy and administration, human rights law, development studies;
Additional qualifications in Monitoring and Evaluation.

Experience:

Progressive international experience of at least 7 years of relevant experience in setting up complex evidence based M&E systems, analytical work, and development of implementation action plans in the area of human rights;
Proven expertise on programming and evaluation in the area of human rights;
At least 5 years of proven experience in data analysis, reporting;
Previous experience working in international organizations in the CIS or Central Asia is an advantage;
Good knowledge of the UN mandate in the area of democratic governance is an asset.

Language requirements:

Excellent written and spoken English; fluent Russian is highly desirable.

Submission of applications:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

Methodology: All applicants shall submit a detailed methodology indicating phases, tasks, methods, techniques, time, resources, accessibility and tools to be applied for successful completion of assignment;
Financial proposal for implementation of the assignment in a form of the Offeror's letter to UNDP confirming interest and availability. Template of the form can be found at: http://www.tm.undp.org/content/turkmenistan/en/home/operations/jobs . All applicants shall submit a detailed, carefully considered and justified financial statement based on a lump sum, which should include: a consultancy fee, administrative expenses (if applicable), travel expenses (if applicable), and/or any other expenses the applicants deem necessary to incur during assignment;
Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references;
Completed P11 form, which would include a description of previous experience of the candidate in similar projects, and contact information of individuals who are ready to make appropriate recommendations (form P11 can be downloaded from the website at http://europeandcis.undp.org/files/hrforms/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc.

Evaluation criteria:

Individual Consultants will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis methodology:

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

Responsive/ compliant, and
Having received the highest score

Out of the maximum score, the score for technical criteria equals 70% - maximum 70 points, and for financial criteria 30% - maximum 30 points.

The technical evaluation will take into account the following as per the scoring provided:

Education in the area of public management, political science, business administration, or other relevant field – 20 pts;
The experience in monitoring and evaluation especially in relation to human rights systems and mechanisms, in particular National Human Rights Plans – 25 pts;
Methodology – 10 pt;
Relevant working experience – 15 pts;
Good knowledge of the UN mandate in the area of democratic governance – 5 pts;
Knowledge and experience of work in the CIS or Central Asia – 10 pts;
Fliuency in Russian – 5 pts;
Fluency in English – 10 pts.

Financial proposal – 30% of total evaluation - max 30 pts

Only the highest ranked candidates who would be found qualified for the job will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Additional requirements for recommended contractor:

Recommended contractors aged 62 and older, and if the travel is required, shall undergo a full medical examination including x-ray, and obtain medical clearance from the UN-approved doctor prior to taking up their assignment. The medical examination is to be cleared by the UN physicians, and shall be paid by the consultant.