Background

Albania has made important steps towards establishing a democratic state, functioning market economy, maintaining a stable economic growth, and achieving human development. Nevertheless, the implementation of social policies for the inclusion of vulnerable groups, including persons with disabilities, remains problematic. In order to support improved social inclusion, UN Agencies have engaged in implementing “Leave No-One Behind” (LNB) Project, which pursues the following goal: Vulnerable persons and groups are empowered to have equal access to public services and opportunities and to have a voice in public decision-making affecting their lives. The project’s first phase (2017-2021) is designed to:

•  strengthen the vulnerable population to request and receive adequate social services from local authorities that support their social inclusion,
• help municipalities to effectively manage the provision of social services and promote social inclusion, and
• support national institutions to implement their policy framework for providing social services and adequately fund social services. Governance and gender equality will be the project’s cross-cutting issues that are mainstreamed throughout outcomes under a human rights perspective.

The project’s target groups who will indirectly and directly benefit from improved social services, are the marginalized populations of Albania, with children and women often being the most vulnerable, and especially persons with disabilities, Roma and Egyptians. The improvement of their social inclusion will be supported by interventions at macro level (central authorities and services such as the Albanian Institute of Statistics), at meso level (municipalities and civil society organizations) and at micro level, actively involving the project’s target groups into the project’s implementation. The project will cover all of Albania, by improving social service provision in all 61 municipalities; specific geographic foci will be targeted by reacting to specific needs and challenges in selected municipalities.

The project’s implementation is the responsibility of the four UN agencies UNDP, UNICEF, UN Women and UNFPA, who will cooperate with state actors from central and local level, with civil society organizations and directly with target groups.

Duties and Responsibilities

The LNB programme supports the central government authorities and institutions to implement and monitor the implementation of the existing national policies, strategies and legislation promoting social inclusion, including those related to social care service provision.

In this framework, the programme has planned to provide technical assistance to the Albanian State Social Service (SSS) - a dependent national institution of the Ministry of Health and Social Protection (MHSP) – to compile and launch the Needs Assessment Report for Social Care Services in Albania.

The responsibility of the SSS to annually assess and report on the needs for social care services and the capacity of public and non-public service providers is defined in the Law on Social Care Services (article 33, law no. 121/2016). The SSS structures in charge to collect and analyze data with a view to assess and report on the needs for social care services in the country, consist of the Social Service Department functioning within the SSS General Directorate, and the Regional Social Service Directorates (RSSD) in place in the twelve regions.

To comply with this law requirement, in 2018 the SSS engaged through the RSSDs in collecting data for assessing and reporting on the needs for social care services in Albania.  The gathered data provide evidence on the existing social care services at regional level, be them delivered by public or non-public service providers, be them residence, daily, community, or home-based provided, be them received from children/youth, domestic violence survivors, victims of human trafficking, persons with disabilities, ethnic minorities (Roma & Egyptian communities), orphans, elderly or other vulnerable people.

The goal of this undertaking is to:

• support the MHSP to guide the national and local policies and actions with relation to social care services by identifying the gaps for such services at municipal, regional and national level
• contribute to the establishment and/or the widening of social care services for vulnerable people, hence to the promotion of their social inclusion  

To this end, the LNB programme is seeking the services of a national consultant to support SSS with technical expertise through carrying out the tasks and responsibilities described below.

The LNB Programme team and the SSS General Directorate will work closely with the consultant to assist with the existing data and information and provide guidance and support during the desk review process as well as feedback on the draft report. LNB Programme will be responsible for the logistics and all other necessary arrangements for accomplishment of this intervention.

The national consultant will work under the direction of UNDP Programme Specialist for Social Inclusion, the close supervision of LNB Programme Coordinator, and the overall guidance of the SSS, to perform the following tasks:

• Become acquainted with the law on social care services; become acquainted with the existing data and information collected through internal and cross-agency reporting systems.
• Prepare an outline of the Needs Assessment methodology and of the report, suggested work plan and timeline, all to be discussed and agreed with UNDP LNB team.  
• Using the data sources agreed in the methodology, identify and cluster the information to be assessed for further processing.
• Analyze and identify the gaps in social care provision/needs for services countrywide 
• Draft a report containing sections on analysis, discussion of findings, conclusions and recommendations. The report should provide the latest sector insights through tables, figures and much more.
• Discuss the draft report with SSS staff and finalize it after incorporating the reviewers’ feedback and comments. The report should be written in Albanian language except for the Executive Summary which should also be in English language. 
• Prepare the presentation and discussion of the final report during a National Conference to be organized by the SSS (with the LNB support).
• Prepare an end assignment report (in English) including a summary of the services delivered, lessons learned and recommendations for follow-up.

Deliverables:  

• Initial draft of the Report, including annexes (if appropriate)
• Revised and improved draft Report, reflecting as needed the reviewers’ comments and feedback gathered during its discussion with SSS structures
• Finalized Report for Social Care Services

All outputs will be agreed with and approved by UNDP/LNB team.

Competencies

Corporate and Core Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling 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.
• 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:

• Demonstrates professional competence and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results;
• Excellent understanding of vulnerabilities, human rights and social services;
• Excellent understanding of social economy, public finance, planning and prognosis;
• Excellent analytical thinking and research, writing and presentation skills;
• Flexibility to adapt to a broad range of Government stakeholders;
• Strong inter-personal and communication skills;
• Ability to work and adapt to a dynamic working environment.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic qualifications:

• Advanced university degree in social sciences or closely related field of studies;

Relevant Experience:

• At least 10 years of progressive experience working on social and economic policies and not less than five years of direct experience of working on social care and social protection programmes;
• Technical expertise in data analysis for needs assessment purposes, demonstrated through engagement in research and studies related to socio-economic affairs, preferably with relevance to social care services;
• Experience working with UN Agencies or other international organizations is preferable.

Language

• Fluency in written and spoken English

Evaluation Procedure

UNDP applies a fair and transparent selection process that would consider 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: Experience of working on social policies and programmes:  max points: 20

Criteria B: Strong analytical and reporting skills proved by engagement in previous similar studies– max points: 20

Criteria C: Relevance of Educational Background – max points: 10

Criteria D: Excellent writing and presentation skills – max points: 20

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max points: 30

Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (49 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (70 points) shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

Contract Award

Candidate obtaining the highest combined scores in the combined score of Technical and Financial evaluation will be considered technically qualified and will be offered to enter into contract with UNDP.

Application Procedure

Interested applicants are advised to carefully study all sections of this ToRs and ensure that they meet the general requirements as well as specific qualifications described. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials.

The application should contain:

• Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.
• Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability-please fill in the attached form... Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability.  
• Latest personal CV, including past experience from similar projects or completed and signed UN Personal History Form (P11) for Service Contracts (SC) and Individual Contracts (IC) – Blank form Download here.
• Financial Proposal in ALL - specifying a total lump sum in Albanian Lek ( The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable -qualitative and quantitative- deliverables . Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR.  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-including travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days).http://www.un.org.al/doc/Financial%20Offer%20template.doc
• Copy of Diplomas and copy of Passport.

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. 

How to Submit the Application:

To submit your application online, please follow the steps below:

• Merge your CV or P11, Financial Proposal Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability and cover letter into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded;
• Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement);
• Click “Apply Now” button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click “Submit Application;”
• Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above);
• You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system.

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

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.