Antecedentes

UNDP is the development arm of the United Nations system, with presence in over 170 countries. In the Europe and the CIS countries, UNDP is represented with 18 offices and the Istanbul Regional Hub (IRH). IRH is an advisory hub for the region, which provides policy and advisory support as well as implements regional-level projects with a wide range of partners.

UNDP office in Skopje employs a team of 65 and currently manages a portfolio of development projects in area of social inclusion, environmental protection and good governance with annual budget of over USD 15 million. The consultancy services are required under the Inclusive Prosperity Portfolio in UNDP North Macedonia, for implementation of the country component of the EU-funded sub-regional Strengthen national and local systems to support the effective socio-economic integration of returnees in the Western Balkans project, which targets, Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia.

This sub-regional project is part of the IPA II Multi-Country Action, EU support to Fundamental Rights

of Roma Community, and Reintegration of Returnees, entrusted to UNDP, the World Bank and the CoE, with an overall objective to support effective reintegration of vulnerable returnees from the EU with particular attention to Roma. This multifaceted project aims to enhance systemic capacities of the Western Balkan authorities at central and local level to effectively address multi-dimensional vulnerabilities of returnees as well as to provide bespoke support to immediate and long-term needs of the returnees . This will be achieved through a mix of technical assistance, strategic advisory and institutional development support. Bearing in mind that Roma population constitutes a large proportion of irregular migrants, project results will contribute to implementation of the broader Roma inclusion agenda. Moreover, the Project will contribute to the socio-economic recovery of project beneficiaries from devastating consequences of COVID-19 pandemic.

In each of the target countries, 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 define the mutually agreed priorities and  a set of context specific innovative solutions for improving the livelihoods and social wellbeing of returnees and the broader community. Moreover, the strategies will tackle the local priorities related to governance of returnees’ agenda, individual and institutional bottlenecks and gaps, which continue to hinder the effective service provision.

To ensure effective targeting, during the inception phase, in a selected number of municipalities, the

project carried-out several assessments related to the scale and propensity for outward migration and re- migration of the local population; the economic potentials of local ecosystem for jobs creation; and capabilities gaps of institutions and individuals for provision of quality and accessible services to returnees.

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the structural deficiencies of current social protection systems and limited capacities of institutions to effectively respond to sudden shocks. The first set of government support programmes and response measures to COVID-19 crisis make no reference to migrants and returnees as a specific group, which is being affected by the pandemic. The lack of personal identification documents, fragmented information systems and weak coordination keeps the returnees and their family members invisible for the broader social protection system. Due to missing documents, returnees have difficulties to access social assistance; while due to missing school certificates children from return families are often placed in lower grades in schools, thus causing demotivation, dissociation and frequent drop-out from the education system. Long procedures for accessing social protection support, unaffordable fees for obtaining or retrofitting civil documents, health cards, nostrification and apostilles of school certificates etc., are among the most frequently reported problem of returnees and their family members in the interaction with institutions and private sector providers.

The project will work on the capacity building of NGOs that currently work on the administrative procedures for solution of returnees’ problems with obtaining certain documents from the countries they have returned. The project aims to develop and test the methodologies and procedures for introduction of social contracting as a future model for engagement of local NGOs as service providers and innovative solutions for reaching out to vulnerable people.

The main objective of this assignment is to prepare methodology on outsourcing public service provision to NGOs as well as methods for setting up costs of services and performance based payment. 

Deberes y responsabilidades

Objective of the Assignment

The consultancy services should aim at:

1. Development of a methodology for introducing models for outsourcing and financing of NGOs as local service providers.
2. Development of methodologies to determine the costs per services and KPIs for performance based payment.
3. Development of a methodology, guidelines, standard forms and protocols for the assessment of multi-dimensional vulnerabilities and case management for returnees for use of public service providers and NGOs.
4. Capacity Building of selected NGOs and CSOs. Trainings will be instrumental for the development of their capabilities for coaching and mentoring of unemployed returnees and for a strengthened collaboration with public service providers. In addition, UNDP team will provide a day-to-day guidance to local NGOs, which is expected to further empower the NGOs in applying the obtained skills in practice and prepare them to become a competent partner to public service providers in the service delivery. Local NGOs will be trained in the identification and encouragement of the returnees to participate in the formal labour market.

Scope of Work

The goal of this assignment is to provide basis for further strengthening the inclusion of local NGOs into programmes for social service delivery, with an ultimate objective to increase access and quality of provided support. As NGOs play an essential role in the outreach and in the delivery of social services to vulnerable returnees, capacities of local NGOs will further be strengthened to become an effective partner of public service providers and local businesses. In addition, models for engagement of NGOs in the service delivery will be developed and proposed for institutionalization by the policy makers.

The key objectives of this consultancy include:

• To prepare methodology for the model of social contracting that will allow for the possibility of local NGOs to receive funding from public sources for a continued provision of services, which are of interest to returnees. Social contracting is a process by which government resources are used to fund entities which are not part of government structure, such as civil society organizations and NGOs to provide services which the government has a responsibility to provide. This model can be instrumental to support public sector providers in the development of alternative forms of service provision, particularly now when Covid-19 poses significant challenges to existing social protection systems.
• To determine the costs per services, KPIs for performance based payment including a) List the inventory of services that returnees usually need as administrative procedure in obtaining certain documentation from the countries they return or other type of administrative procedure (effective programmes for supporting returnees on issues pertaining personal IDs, school certificates, recognition of informal education, access to health care and social services, information dissemination etc) and b) Pricelist for each service from the list that needs administrative procedure in obtaining certain documentation from the countries they return or other type of administrative procedure;
• To prepare a methodology, guidelines, standard forms and protocols for the assessment of multi-dimensional vulnerabilities and case management for returnees for use of public service providers and NGOs and execute capacity building of selected NGOs and CSOs.

The methodology of work will consist of desk review of relevant documents and reports and in-depth interviews with NGOs currently pursuing administrative procedures voluntarily in the name of returnees.

EXPECTED OUTPUTS AND DELIVERABLES:

The consultancy is expected to deliver the following outputs:

Institutional arrangment

The consultant will work under direct supervision by the UNDP Inclusive Prosperity Unit Staff and ensured quality assurance from Regional Manager/Istanbul Regional Hub. They will be in regular communication with the supervisor through e-mail and will provide regular progress reports on bi-weekly basis. UNDP Inclusive Prosperity Unit Staff estimated lead time to review outputs, give comments, certify approval/acceptance of outputs, etc. shall be within 5 working days.

In the course, of performing their job, the consultancy entity will need to organize meetings in the country with stakeholders deemed important for the task. The UNDP office will assist with scheduling these meetings.

Duty station and travel

Total estimated time for this assignment is 30 working days home based and field work (2 missions).

If unforeseen travel is requested by UNDP and not required by the Terms of References (ToR), such travel shall be covered by UNDP in line with applicable rules and regulations and upon prior written agreement.

Competencias

• Excellent communications and facilitation skills;
• Excellent analytical and negotiation skills.
• Excellent public speaking and presentation skills.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

The selected candidates shall possess:

• Advanced university degree in Economy, Development studies, Social Studies etc.;
• Minimum 5 years of progressively responsible relevant experience in employability and activation of hard-to-employ people on the labor market, Roma inclusion, services offered to returnees and related areas;
• Record of and experience in inclusive programmes of marginalized group and/or Roma and/or returnees;
• Record of participation in at least 3 assignments of similar size and degree of complexity, where participation in outsourcing models of public services to NGOs will be considered as an asset;
• Experience in developing and implementing projects/ programmes/activities in the area of delivering social services and models of social contracting shall be considered as an asset;
• Excellent writing and oral communication skills in English.

CRITERIA FOR SELECTION OF BEST OFFEr

The award of the contract shall be made to the offeror whose offer has been evaluated and determined using Cumulative analysis methodology. When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) Being responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) Having received the highest score based on the following weight of technical and financial criteria for solicitation as per the schedule below:

* Technical criteria weight: 70%

* Financial criteria weight: 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70%) in the technical evaluation shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

For the considered offers in the financial evaluation only, the lowest price offer will receive 30 points. The other offers will receive points in relation to the lowest offer, based on the following formula: For the considered offers in the financial evaluation only, the lowest price offer will receive 30 points. The other offers will receive points in relation to the lowest offer, based on the following formula: 

              Lowest Bid

             ------------------- x 30

            Proposed Bid

The contract will be awarded to the candidate that will obtain the highest aggregate score based on the technical and financial evaluation.

Technical Criteria:

DOCUMENTS TO BE SUBMITTED

Interested offerors are invited to submit the following documents/information to be considered:

1. Offeror’s letter with your name, as per the following form:

Offerors Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability

Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment

Financial Proposal The financial proposal must be expressed in the form of a lumpsum all-inclusive cost in USD* per DELIVERABLES, supported by breakdown of costs as per template provided for this consultancy.

1. Most updated CV with focus on required qualification as well as the contact details of at least three (3) professional references;
2. List of relevant assignment as per the section criteria

Failure to submit complete set of all four required documents will result in disqualification from the process.

Payments will be made only upon confirmation from UNDP on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner.

Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Step 1

1. Click on the "Apply now" button

2. Input your information in the appropriate sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume, and motivation (cover letter). You can type in or paste your short Resume into the last box.

3. Upon completion of the first page, please hit "submit application" tab at the end of the page. On the next page, you will be asked to upload other required documents listed in the step 2.

Step 2

Interested individual consultants must submit the documents/information listed in the “Documents to submit section” above.

The system will allow only one attachment. Therefore, please upload all required documents as one file.

Failing to submit any of these documents may result in disqualification of the application.

Please note that shortlisted candidates might be interviewed.

If the deliverables are not produced and delivered by the consultant to the satisfaction of UNDP as approved by the responsible Portfolio Manager, no payment will be made even if the consultant has invested man/days to produce and deliver such deliverables.