Antecedentes

The EU signed an Association Agreement (AA) with Georgia in June 2014. This aims to deepen political and economic relations and to gradually integrate Georgia into the EU’s internal market. This entails, as one element, creating a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) between the EU and Georgia. Under Article 333 of the Association Agreement (Cooperation between the Parties in the field of agriculture and rural development), there is provision for ‘facilitating the mutual understanding of agricultural and rural development policies. To support Georgia improving rural development, the European Union (EU) launched its European Neighborhood Programme for Agriculture and Rural Development (ENPARD) in Georgia.

Rural development (RD) has an important role to play in the sustainable development of Georgia. Traditionally, RD focused on the exploitation of land-intensive natural resources such as agriculture and forestry. However, changes in global production networks, increased urbanization and dynamic links between rural and urban environments have changed the character of rural areas. Increasingly tourism, other service industries, niche products and recreation have replaced resource extraction and agriculture as dominant sources of income. These subsectors attract the rural population with higher labour productivity reflected in wage above those available in agriculture.

The government of Georgia approved the first ever National Rural Development Strategy and Action Plan in 2017. The goal of the Rural Development Strategy (RDS) for Georgia 2017-2020 is to support Georgia’s economic development through enhanced social-economic activities in rural areas and improved living condition of rural population. It provides the country’s vision for 2017-2020 in key areas of rural development – growth and diversification of local economies, improvement of social and public services, sustainable use of national resources and local engagement in the development process.

Within the framework of the third phase of ENPARD (ENPARD III), UNDP Georgia is implementing the project “Improving Rural Development in Georgia” (IRDG). Its main purpose is to promote inclusive and sustainable growth and development and creating employment and livelihoods in rural Georgia. The IRDG project will contribute to the overall objective of ENPARD III by supporting, among others, rural economic diversification and the improvement of environment, sustainable management of natural resources and climate action. The project’s activities will be carried out at national level, and focus at municipal level on Lagodekhi, Dedoplistskaro, Tetritskaro, Borjomi, Akhalkalaki, Kazbegi, Keda and Khulo municipalities. It will continue until December 2022.

As expected, one of the key non-agricultural sectors with high development potential is tourism. In all municipalities, IRDG will provide matching grants for businesses that want to engage or improve in this sector. As IRDG does however emphasize municipal ownership and a portfolio approach that shall create focused impact, it is important to identify a specific touristic orientation/type (e.g., sports-tourism, eco-tourism), target group (e.g., families, backpackers) and/or a more specific geographic region within each municipality (e.g. a specific valley) onto which the matching grants promotion shall focus.

For the municipality of Borjomi, a comprehensive tourism masterplan is being developed. For the municipality of Keda, a focus is already identified (wider entrance to Mt. Mtirala protected area and corresponding tourism type). For the remaining six municipalities, Lagodekhi, Dedoplistskaro, Tetritskaro, Akhalkalaki, Kazbegi and Khulo, a shorter identification exercise shall be conducted in a first step.

Deberes y responsabilidades

The overall objective of this technical assistance is to support the 6 municipalities (Lagodekhi, Dedoplistskaro, Tetritskaro, Akhalkalaki, Kazbegi and Khulo) to identify the respective type, target group and/or geographic location (short: tourism foci) for tourism development and to create municipal ownership on those. Where possible, existing plans shall be used, and details shall be elaborated. The assignment has thus three major, interrelated components: Identification of specific orientation, assurance of ownership and elaborating of brief strategies.

Specifically, the Consultant for Development of Tourism Strategies for six Municipalities will be expected to conduct in each municipality the following tasks:

1. Identify and review existing tourism related plans (if any) and analyses of each municipality, identify potential foci based on those and form an evidenced opinion on foci with the estimated highest economic potential.
2. Engage with each municipality and key stakeholders to identify and agree on promising tourism foci and reflect those at the previous analysis.
3. Conduct a rapid appraisal in each municipality.
4. Elaborate together with the municipality and key stakeholders foci with the highest potential.
5. In close cooperation with the municipality and the key stakeholders, identify a wider set of options for tourism related businesses (through identification of problems to be solved and/or provision of ideas for solutions).
6. Summarize the results in brief municipal tourism develop strategies.
7. Elaborate for IRDG a summary check-list sufficiently brief and simple that UNDP can quickly check business proposals against the check-list to decide if they are covered by the respective strategy or not.

Notes:

• “Focus” is always understood as type of tourism, target group of tourism, and/or geographic area of tourism.
• One of the key stakeholders are the Local Action Groups (LAGs), who must be included in the process.
• The elaborated list of problems/ideas with potential business solutions might form the base for future requests for proposals for matching-grants.
• The resulting strategy should have created sufficient local buy-in as to be regarded as a guide to direct future investments.

The Consultant for Development of Tourism Strategies for six Municipalities will work together with the Economic Diversification Coordinator under the direct supervision of Project Manager and Technical Leader of the “Improving Rural Development in Georgia” project and in consultation with the UNDP Economic Development Team Leader.

Deliverables, timelines and payment modality:

The Consultant should submit the following deliverables:

• Workplan and conceptual approach presented and approved – due by 12 October 2019; 10% of the consultancy fee
• Tourism plans identified and reviewed, rapid appraisal conducted and broad stakeholder agreement on foci in each municipality achieved (includes tasks 1, 2, 3 and 4) – due by 11 November 2019; 50% of the consultancy fee
• Tourism business options identified, brief strategies elaborated and check-lists and final report delivered and approved (includes tasks 5, 6 and 7) – due by 16 December 2019; 40% of the consultancy fee

The timely and high quality submission of the deliverables is a pre-condition of the payments. The official language of communication for the present contract is English. Strategies and reports are to be delivered in Georgian.

Competencias

Corporate competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN's values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional competencies:

Knowledge management and learning:

• Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.

Development and operational effectiveness:

• Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting;
• Ability to lead formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects, mobilize resources;
• Strong IT skills, particularly with MS Office;
• Excellent written and oral presentation skills.

Management and leadership:

• Focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Leads teams effectively and shows conflict resolution skills;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
• Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors;
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:

• Master’s degree in economics, business administration or other related discipline (minimum requirement: 10 points).

Experience:

• 5 years of work experience in tourism development (minimum requirement: 5 years - 8 points, 1 additional point for every additional 1 year/12 months, but no more than 4 points).
• 3 years of work experience each in rural development or tourism in rural areas (minimum requirement; 3 years - 5 points;1 additional point for every additional 1 year/12 months, but no more than 4 points).
• 3 years of work experience in strategic planning preferably in the tourism sector (minimum requirement: 3 years - 5 points).
• 3 years of work experience with Government and/or international organizations or NGOs (additional asset: 4 points).

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in Georgian and English.

Evaluation:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis against combination of technical and financial criteria. Technical evaluation stage encompasses desk review and interview of applications. Experts not meeting any of minimum technical qualification requirements will be automatically excluded from the list of candidates for further technical evaluation. Maximum obtainable score is 100, out of which the total score for technical criteria equals to 70 points (70%) and for financial criteria 30 (30%). Technical criteria composed of desk review (40 points) and interview (30 points). Offerors who pass 70% of maximum obtainable scores of the desk review (i.e. 40 x 70% = 28 points as a result of a desk review of applications will be invited for the interview. Those offerors who pass 70% of maximum obtainable scores for interviews (i.e. 30 x 70% = 21 points) will be considered as short-listed offerors and included in the roster of qualified consultants. 

Financial Proposal:

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum. Payments are based upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR.  All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel.  In general, UNDP does not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources. In order, to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount.