Antecedentes

Access of poor households to sufficient and appropriate housing is one of the important indicators of development in any country. There are a range of housing schemes implemented in India by the national government, state governments and other public and private institutions to support homeless and poor households. In addition to the Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana-Gramin of the Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India (MoRD), various State Government also implement their own rural housing programmes for different marginalized groups. The Housing for All programme announced recently by the Government of India aims to provide 20 million houses to the urban poor and 30 million houses to the rural poor by the end of the year 2022. This ambitious target translates into annual targets for construction of around five million houses every year in rural areas. This will require much more diversity of materials, technology, financing mechanisms and capacities compared to the limited, current focus on conventional materials such as bricks, cement and tin sheets. This will help ensure provision of quality and functional houses for the rural poor.

The Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD)-UNDP partnership on ‘Governance and Accelerated Livelihoods Support’ helps strengthen the effectiveness of key Ministry programmes by providing (a) technical assistance to the state government and NGOs in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Odisha to improve sustainable livelihoods with linkages to Panchayati Raj Institutions for governance in left wing extremism affected areas (b) policy advice and technical assistance to the Ministry and the state governments to help improve the efficiency, accountability and inclusiveness of National Rural Livelihoods Mission and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Scheme and (c) policy advice and technical assistance to the Ministry and state governments to help “green” select schemes.

Post 20th November, the launch of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna – Gramin, the objective of providing 1 cr homes to households living in kutcha-dilapidated homes from 2016-2017 has been made a mandate. The package for housing through the new revamped housing scheme aims to provide not only houses that are made of bricks and cement but also encourages the use of local technologies and perhaps more rightly, appropriate technologies that produces livelihood and lessens the burden on the people and allows them to opt for what is near their respective localities. Further, to ensure completion of houses and to complete the functionalities of a house, adopting a habitat approach through convergence is also proposed. With the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna – Gramin launched, the allocation for unit assistance has been enhanced to Rs. 1.20 Lakh in the plains and Rs. 1.30 lakh in the hilly states. It is thus clear that the effective implementation will depend on choice and availability of appropriate building materials as also the development of relevant skills locally to support poor households in construction of quality houses.

As it is certain that, for the effective implementation of the massive initiative, designs based on community, appropriateness, study of local building practices are required, UNDP in partnership with MoRD has carried out an extensive study across thirteen states and proposed more than 130 designs and realized the release of a concise book of these designs and technologies named ‘PAHAL’, also launched on the day of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna – Gramin on the 20th November 2016, released by the Honorable Prime Minister.

The proposed designs have now been vetted by CBRI and in the pipeline for demonstration across various states.  However, the demonstration of such houses using innovated local techniques will prove feasible with a visualization and setting up of a range of activities from capacity building, community engagement for awareness and learning and exchange, material resource centers through private sectors through beneficiaries, etc.  

In addition, to the above there is a need to develop strategies to address diverse construction and maintenance challenges at the regional level, such as poor accessibility to markets in large parts of North Eastern India and many tribal areas of the country; high density population areas in the Gangetic plains; and areas affected frequently by natural disasters such as floods, cyclones and earthquakes.

UNDP aims to support the scale up by:

• Supporting the respective state departments in production of unique training modules for the designs based on appropriate technology for the respective 13 states in alignment with the requirements of the skills council;
• Strengthen public delivery mechanisms in 13 focus states and development of new mechanisms for effective outreach of services related to rural housing;
• Facilitating engagement of community in setting up of information centres for rural areas with respect to the housing scheme of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna- Gramin and the benefits of all the convergence schemes;
• Providing handholding support to the state government in setting up demonstration homes and facilitate a study to strengthen public delivery mechanism, collection of data and provide handholding support for each demonstration houses constructed;
• Develop partnerships between the private sector, public sector and rural housing programmes for the poor; 
• Develop mechanism to influence construction of houses through appropriate technology, through awareness campaigns and development of IEC materials on building materials and training.

To further strengthen its engagement on rural housing, UNDP seeks the support of an experienced rural housing practitioner with significant expertise in policy advocacy, technical aspects, and programme delivery related to large-scale rural housing programmes. Based on his/her own expertize and global/national good practices in rural housing, the Senior Advisor (Housing) will support development of strategy, technical enhancement and partnership development to achieve UNDP’s objectives on rural housing. Services of a suitably qualified Technical expert are sought for the same.  

Deberes y responsabilidades

Focus areas of the role

More specifically, the Senior Advisor (Housing) is expected to:

• Advise UNDP to strategize on key areas for engagement with national government, various state governments, private sector, NGOs and community institutions;
• Provide technical advice on ongoing and future programmatic interventions for promotion of appropriate, affordable rural housing, capacity building of implementing agencies, and systems strengthening for upscaling;
• Identify and crystallize learning from existing, global and national good practices on rural housing for strengthening of UNDP, national and state government programmes;
• Support UNDP to identify and develop partnerships with a wide range of stakeholders including government, bilateral and multilateral agencies, construction firms, building material manufacturers, supply chain agencies, technical research organizations, NGOs, financial institutions, and various innovators in the field of low-cost housing;
• Support UNDP in analyzing and roll out of training modules developed by the skill council and strengthening them to enable adoption of appropriate construction technologies;
• Support in developing viable business models for production and supply of rural housing models.

Scope of work

• On the basis of opportunities and gaps in terms of the local endowments and needs, provide regular strategic and tactical inputs for effective UNDP engagement with government and other agencies for upscaling of rural housing programmes in the country;
• Provide strategic guidance and support on processes and outputs to strengthen various ongoing UNDP engagements on rural housing with national and state governments, especially initiatives for upscaling of the MoRD-UNDP initiatives on appropriate, affordable rural housing in various parts of the country through the Indira Awas Yojana/National Rural Housing Programme;
• Advise UNDP on design and strategic selection of future activities to support upscaling and achievement of ambitious targets set by the national and various state governments on rural housing for the poor;
• Identify good practices globally and in India, relevant to housing for the rural poor. Support in contextualization of this learning for strengthening of UNDP as well as government initiatives on rural housing;
• Identify and inform UNDP on programmes, global innovative ideas on appropriate and affordable rural housing, including on housing design, building materials, construction technology, and delivery systems;
• Support strengthening of synergies between UNDP and existing partners on its rural housing programme, such as MoRD, various state governments, CSDCI, CBRI, etc.
• Identify and support in development of new partnerships of UNDP with various stakeholders already engaged in or potentially important to rural housing in the country, especially new partners in the private sector;
• Advise UNDP on initiating engagement on a similar programme on housing for the urban poor;  
• Support UNDP in assessment of training modules developed by the skill council and strengthening them to suit the construction appropriate technologies and support on initiating delivery of such state-level training programmes;
• Support UNDP in strategizing awareness programs for sensitizing the need for construction using appropriate materials.

Key Deliverables

• Support establishment of minimum 10 enterprises related to rural housing;
• Construction of atleast 5000 demonstration houses in 10 focus states of UNDP;
• Development of mechanisms for making materials available based on identified modular building materials;
• Development of training modules specific to appropriate rural housing designs;
• Development of ten proposals for resource mobilization related to UNDP engagement on rural housing in India;
• Submission of quarterly report on an ongoing basis;
• Support training of minimum of 2000 rural masons.

Competencias

Functional Competencies:

• Excellent writing and oral skills in English.  Working knowledge of Hindi and relevant state language/s would be an advantage;
• Good research and analytical skills including skills in data analysis and report writing;
• Excellent communication/presentation skills;
• Ability to explain the objectives of the assignment in a focused and strategic manner to a varied audience;
• Consultative and collaborative capacities.

Core Competencies  

• Acts as a team player, facilitates team work and shares knowledge with others; 
• Excellent linkages with a range of government, non-government, technical and academic agencies, globally and nationally;
• Approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Generates new ideas and approaches, researches and documents best practices and proposes new, more effective ways of doing things;
• Responds positively to critical feedback and differing points of view;
• Demonstrates comprehensive knowledge of non-conventional and cost-effective construction and applies it in work assignments.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Academic 

• Degree in Architecture, Civil Engineering or related fields is essential, Phd in related subject will be highly preferred.

Professional Experience 

• Minimum 15 years of demonstrated experience at the national or international levels on aspects related to appropriate and cost-effective construction in large-scale, rural housing programmes.

Duration of contract

• The assignment under this Long-Term Agreement (On call) Contract, is expected to have a duration of 2 years, extendable up to 1 year. The initial contract would be issued for one year with an option for renewal in subsequent years upon satisfactory performance evaluation. 

Payment Schedule

• Payment would be done as per criteria agreed each time on the issuance of contract.

Documents to be submitted.

• Financial Proposal- Consultant shall specify his/her all-inclusive  per day consultancy rate; any travel with prior UNDP approval will be handled separately as per rules.
• Updated CV with contact details of three referees

Evaluation Criteria:

Cumulative analysis:

The award of the contract shall be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive; 
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation;

Technical Criteria weight - 70%;

Financial Criteria weight - 30%.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Criteria for Technical Evaluation would be as under: 

• Degree in Architecture, Civil Engineering or related fields is essential + Phd in related subject- 15 Marks
• Minimum 15 years of demonstrated experience at the national or international levels on aspects related to appropriate and cost-effective construction in large-scale, rural housing programmes-10 Marks
• Experience with working in the related fields with similar international organisations, working in the development sector-45 Marks 

Notes:

• Any kind of miscellaneous charges i.e. internet, phone etc. would not be reimbursed; Tickets will be issued considering the most direct and economical option and Consultants are not eligible for DSA;
• Individuals working with institutions may also apply, contract would be issued in the name of institution for the specific services of individual;
• Please note proposals without financial proposal will not be considered.

For any clarification please write to sandeep.sharma@undp.org