Background
Since 2013, the local government system in Albania has been undergoing a series of structural and institutional reforms. In July 2014, the Parliament approved the law 115/2014 “On the territorial and administrative division of local government units in the Republic of Albania”, therefore mandating the new administrative and territorial division of the country into 61 municipalities, compared to 373 local government units (LGUs).
Following the territorial and administrative reform in Albania, Tirana grew into Albania’s largest municipality in terms of geographical coverage, population size and economic activity. The population has more than tripled and the municipal boundaries and sphere of services has been extended to an area at least 25 folds the size of the Tirana municipality in 2013. The territorial expansion of the Municipality poses significant challenges as well as opportunities, particularly as they relate to improving the efficiency of service delivery at the local level, fostering and supporting local economic development, and reducing inequalities between the local government units that are now part of the larger Municipality.
As the administrative-territorial reform has entered its first phase of enforcement, enhancing local governance efficiency and improving the quality of service delivery to citizens remain significant challenges that need to be addressed.
The vision of the Municipality is to transform Tirana from a city struggling to provide its citizen with basic services to a city that is desirable and accessible to residents and visitors alike. To achieve its vision, the Municipality of Tirana intends to foster strong partnerships between the local government, the private sector, domestic and foreign investors, donors, knowledgeable institutions, and more importantly its residents. Public service reform is high on the political agenda as demonstrated by the effort lead by the Mayor’s office for the modernization and digitization of public services. The latter have resulted in an in-depth review and re-engineering of the 148 services provided by the Municipality of Tirana.
Towards the end of 2015, UNDP Albania partnered with the Municipality of Tirana in conceptualizing and organizing the Tirana Smart City Conference 2016 – 2026, where key concepts like open data transparency and civic engagement were at the core of the conference. Focusing on 5 key themes, Mobility, Economy, Living, Society and Rural Life participants had the opportunity to share knowledge, present visions and highlight opportunities on how Tirana can become an efficient, economically viable, sustainable and more livable city.
Open data and citizen engagement at the local level are particularly important as they can lead to greater transparency and accountability. More importantly, they can foster local government efficiency, better public service delivery and better policy by evidence-based decision-making. This can not only help realise the Sustainable Development Goals and leverage Good Governance, but also save tax money and ensure efficient use of public resources. In addition to these benefits, open government data might un-wheel potentials for innovation, creation of jobs and economic growth.
Tirana’s administration has the necessary political commitment to pursue open data and use the insights for public policy making. Since the new administration, efforts have been made to periodically collect data from subsidiary institutions of the municipality of Tirana, yet concerns about interoperability, timeliness, validity and quality remain. Although high level commitment exists, the concept of open data is relatively new to Albania and there is no coherent understanding about the basic principles around open data.
This project is designed to respond to the identified challenges of ensuring accountability and transparency in municipal service delivery, participation of citizens in the design of municipal services and local decision-making the operationalizing at the local level policies that promote innovation and area based development. Three interventions have been designed, to simultaneously address social, economic and performance at municipal level:
Creating an open data system for the Municipality of Tirana to promote innovative data use by relevant stakeholders, and to foster transparency and accountability of the Municipality;
Supporting the participatory design and testing of solutions to municipal challenges by end-users;
Addressing economic development and employment in rural areas of the Municipality of Tirana through the design and operationalization of a Territorial Employment Pact.
Duties and Responsibilities
Under the overall guidance of the Programme Analyst, the consultant is expected to carry out the following tasks:
Carry out an analysis of current data collection systems in the Municipality of Tirana;
Design concrete solutions to improving data collection system in the Municipality of Tirana in priority areas for the municipality;
Apply world-class research and engineering skills and experience to problems of data discovery, cleansing, summarization and integration;
Research and develop methods, algorithms and infrastructures that transform the usability, utility and value of data for improving the performance of the Municipality of Tirana;
Maintenance of the programme blog website www.aftesi.info
Maintenance of the self-employment website www.aftesi.info/vetepunesimi
Set-up and maintenance of the crowdfunding campaign website www.projekti.parku.social
Post-production of four monthly podcasts
Deliverables
Internal Audit Report inclusive of 1) Analyses of the current data collection system; 2) Recommendations on concrete interventions to improve the usability, utility and value of data collected by the Municipality of Tirana;
The crowdfunding campaign website for people with different abilities www.parku.social, established and functional;
Maintenance of Programme Blog www.aftesi.info and Self-employment website www.aftesi.info/vetepunesimi;
16 podcast episodes of “The Career Podcast” edited and published on aftesi.info
Competencies
Core Values
Integrity:
- Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of the UN in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.
Professionalism:
- Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.
Cultural sensitivity and respect for diversity:
- Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff;
- Additionally, the individual should have an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.
Core Competencies:
Communication:
- Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.
Planning & Organizing:
- Develops clear goals in line with agreed strategies, identifies priorities, foresees risks and makes allowances accordingly.
Organizational Awareness:
- Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.
Teamwork:
- Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.
Accountability:
- Takes ownership of all responsibilities and delivers outputs in accordance with agreed time, cost and quality standards.
Functional Competencies:
- Theoretical and practical familiarity with open data / data analyses;
- Demonstrated capacity and expertise in doing data research;
- Ability to work under pressure;
- Effectively coordinate and advise a research team;
- Meet tight deadlines without compromising on the quality of work, and being flexible;
- Excellent presentation skills;
Required Skills and Experience
Education
Advanced University Degree in Communication, Data Science, Engineering, or a closely related discipline.
Work experience
Substantial technical knowledge on working with data, and more than 5 years of relevant working experience particularly in relation to data;
Prior experience in conducting data audit is desirable;
Previous experience/familiarity with UNDP or other UN agencies in a similar assignment is desirable;
Language
Excellent communication and report-writing skills in English
Evaluation Procedure
UNDP applies a fair and transparent selection process that would take into account both the technical qualification of Individual Consultants as well as their financial proposals. The contract will be awarded to the candidate whose offer:
- Is deemed technically responsive / compliant / acceptable (only technically responsive applications / candidates will be considered for the financial evaluation)
- And has obtained the highest combined technical and financial scores.
Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max points: 70
Criteria A: Theoretical and practical familiarity with open data / data analyses / website development – max points: 40
Criteria B: Educational background– max points: 15
Criteria C: Adequacy of brief proposed methodology – max points: 15
Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max points: 30
UNDP retains the right to contact references directly. Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.
Application Procedure
Qualified and interested candidates are requested to apply by September 30, 2016 midnight.
The application should contain:
Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position and a brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the work (if applicable). Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.
Completed and signed UN Personal History Form (P11) for Service Contracts (SC) and Individual Contracts (IC) – Blank form Download here.
Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability - please complete the attached form...
Financial Proposal - specifying a total lump sum amount (working days, travel, per diems, and any other possible costs) for the tasks specified in this announcement. Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant/contractor during the contract period (e.g. fee, health insurance, vaccination and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of service, etc.).
* Kindly note that Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability and Financial Proposal are two separate documents and should both be part of your application. Incomplete applications will not be considered.
Due to a large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.