Background

L&T Public Charitable Trust (LTPCT) has been working in Talasari taluka, in close coordination with government departments, local governments and communities since 2011. It has undertaken several initiatives related to health, education, water, infrastructure development and agriculture in villages across the taluka. In 2017, it forged a partnership with UNDP which would converge, leverage on and build up on existing (and past) initiatives and resources of L&T Public Charitable Trust (LTPCT), UNDP and the Government of Maharashtra (GoM) in the region. The partnership has been envisaged in two phases. Phase 1 was for one-year period to test the model of private sector partnership with UNDP in 3-gram panchayat namely Kochai-Bormal, Zari and Girgaon. Based on the learnings of phase 1, it was agreed that UNDP will develop a scale up proposal to create transformational impact in Talasari. There is extensive presence of UMED (Maharashtra State Rural Livelihood Mission) in the Talasari Taluka. It has formed more than 900 self-help groups across 21-gram panchayats and 18 Village Organisation and is in process of forming cluster level federations in Talasari.

About 85% tribal population is engaged in agriculture either full time as cultivators or agricultural labourers, out of which 70-80% are farmers and the remaining 20-30% are agriculture labourers. Traditional agriculture, the mainstay of the 85% population, is mostly characterized by poor to average soil fertility, low level of inputs, lack of awareness and poor management. Uncertain rains and lack of irrigation facilities lead to poor yields further deteriorating these conditions. Most of the tribal area has a good forest cover (15% to 20%). Lifestyle of tribal community is closely linked with the forest, which takes care of their major needs like food, fuel and fodder for livestock. Thus, most tribal communities are characterised by subsistence agriculture, fast depleting traditional resource base, fast degrading natural resources, poor health, poor reach of services and migration for survival. Against this background, the tribal communities find themselves at the (non) receiving end of a plethora of inadequate development schemes which are difficult to access and have little impact.

The first year of the project created a platform for accessing the self-help groups and village organisation for livelihood and income enhancement. Based on the implementation experience and learnings from first year of the project, the project is being redesigned to achieve the goal of developing Talasari as a model convergence block with 30,000 families with a special focus on poverty reduction of 3,000 families in 3 GP namely Zari, Girgaon, Kochai-Bormal by the end of July 2021.

70% of the household of Talasari has been already covered by UMED (MSRLM). The project has proposed to build on this strength of UMED system in mobilization and work across block. This will give more tangible and faster results. The active partnership with MSRLM - BMMU will further help the result of the project. The project proposed to implement the project in all GPs in the block to ensure convergence benefits all families in the intervention area and taking existing 3 GPs of Uddyam project for very focused and concentrated works.

This change has been proposed mainly due to realisation that a development block is an administrative unit to deliver government services rather than a Gram Panchayat. All the government schemes converge at block level in Maharashtra and then they are delivered either to end beneficiaries or panchayati raj institutions or other institutions at village or gram panchayat level. 3 GPs within a block will not get sufficient attention of officials who facilitate the administrative decisions. This approach will help the project to drive convergence in the 3 focused GP also. This will also give the project leverage to influence UMED & ITDP which are deploying significant resources in Talasari block. The design of this phase has involved extensive discussion with LTPCT, UMED, ITDP and partner NGOs and learnings from other UNDP projects. This approach will help the project to drive convergence in the 3 focused GPs also.

Convergence of resources especially with government departments is an important cornerstone of the entire project. The Project Management Unit (PMU) Talasari will be directly responsible for coordinating with government departments, identifying possible schemes and establishing linkages so that maximum benefits can be transferred to the project beneficiaries.Last year, the project has established following institutional mechanism for convergence and mainstreaming.

1. District Advisory Committee 
2. Block Coordination Committee 
3. GP level Committee (proposed)

Over the period of last one year, these committees have serves/ das a common consultation platform for sharing best practices, community engagement activities and cross sector learnings. The PMU has facilitated submission of proposals worth INR 3.22 Crores by CBOs/groups etc out of which INR 1.08 Crore worth proposal approved by UMED/ITDP. The PMU will build on these activities and strengthen their relationships with block and district department officials to identify possibilities of convergence in the Talasari. In the next three years, these mechanisms will be made more robust and strengthened through the activities mentioned below so that a seamless experience of government schemes delivery can be facilitated for the whole Talasari block.

In the current project, it is proposed to create a state monitoring committee with presence of ITDP, LTPCT & UMED for better coordination and collaboration. The project will work with UMED & ITDP and ensure that annual plans of project Uddyam are incorporated in their plan documents for Talasari. Since it is a convergence project, the reach and target will be increased but the resources from UNDP-LTPCT will be restricted to only the gap areas where technical support essential. The PMU set up for the new phase will work in close collaboration of BMMU of UMED, ITDP and other line departments in block level and get engaged with their planning cycles from the beginning. PMU will act as resource center of ITDP for Talasari. It can be proposed that one team member of PMU can be based with the Project Officer of ITDP at Dahanu. Convergence with specific programmes and schemes will be promoted in the entire block but special focus will be in 3 GPshousehold for income enhancement while considering the asset holdings, educational background and family characteristics of these 3000 HHs in 3 GP. The project will facilitate quality input for better use of resources leveraged under convergence. The project proposes to build capacity in various institutions (SHG, village organisation, farmer producer groups, artisan producer groups, farmer producer companies, artisan producer companies) to write and submit proposals to avail the benefits as per government schemes.

Duration of the Contract
The Long-Term Agreements under the Individual Contract modlity, are expected to have a duration of 3 years. The consultants selected for the LTAs will be awarded one year contracts with an option for renewal in subsequent years upon satisfactory performance and availability of budget. These contracts will be based on a specific requirement (Terms of reference) and corresponding number of days required to complete these tasks. Contract values will be based on the per day fee rates and number of expected days for completion of assignment.

Duties and Responsibilities

Longer term results

The Uddyam partnership between LTPCT and UNDP will demonstrate that how an effective multi-stakeholder partnership - between Government, Private Sector, UN and the Community - can result in an area-based intervention to bring about SDG-aligned social transformation. The long-term vision for the project is to develop Talasari as a model convergence block with special focus on poverty reduction of 3000 families in 3 GP namely Zari, Girgaon, Kochai-Bormal by the end of June 2021 which will be sustainable over a period beyond the project duration of 3 years. This will enable the families and vulnerable tribal communities in Talasari taluka of Maharashtra to experience a transformational impact in their lives. To achieve the vision, the project has four major objectives

The project is expected to create a sustainable ecosystem to sustain enhanced income of families of Talasari. The transformational impact will be seen in terms of:

• Increased incomes and economic well-being of the families
• Improved human development outcomes, with higher levels of productive skills and ways to engage in productive occupations
• Improved access to benefits and programmes of the Government

At the outcome level, it is expected that Uddyam will contribute to micro-level achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly the following:

Project Strategies

As indicated earlier, the Uddyam Project in Talasari will build on the existing work done by LTPCT in the taluka. It will also synergize directly, with interventions of the Government, convergence will be achieved with other government schemes. The Project will also draw upon the technical capabilities of non-governmental organizations with substantial sectoral experience as well as those active in the taluka. It will draw upon the global experience that UNDP brings, to learn from best practices and build a comprehensive management and monitoring system in line with the SDGs. The specific field-level strategies to be adopted by the Project are the following:

• Strengthening the existing SHG, VO & CLF and community cadre as well as government system
• Strengthening technical support cadre at the local level to implement and sustain interventions
• Creating institutions and mechanisms for backward and forward market linkage to strengthen farm and non-farm production systems
• Capacity building of community members, local governments, government departments and agencies and other stakeholders
• Close collaboration with UMED, ITDP, District and Block administration.
• Block as a unit of convergence with 3 focus GP as resource gram panchayats 
• Bottom up planning & visioning exercise with convergence plan and gram panchayat development plan 
• Facilitation from technical expert agency as well as individual experts in respective fields to handhold the CBOs/PRIs & their representatives for income enhancement.
• PMU will act as resource center of ITDP for Talasari 
• Focus on achieving progress towards SDG goals 1,2,3,4,5,8,12,13,17
• Effective documentation and reporting of the processes, results and challenges

The project has created project management and monitoring system that allows for transparent monitoring, convergence among community, local government at GP, Block and District. The project will also build collaborations with the state government, civil society organisations and the UN sister agencies. It will further strengthen the system of knowledge management through local studies required for success of the project and guiding district and block officials regarding planning and execution.The project has already developed a tool to monitor progress on relevant SDG goals for each gram panchayat. The project will further make the tool robust and improve it for accurate capturing of progress towards SDG indicators. The project has proposed six monthly survey to monitor the progress on each indicator of the tool.

Key Activity Areas

To achieve the above results, the Uddyam project in Talasari, will focus on the following four sets of activities.

• Farm interventions
• Strengthening warli art Interventions
• Strengthening the government delivery system for convergence
• Knowledge product development to facilitate evidence-based policy making for local governments at district and block level.

Against this backdrop, UNDP is seeking the services of an experienced consultant to provide strategic inputs in all phase of the project till the target is achieved in strengthening the government delivery system for convergence in Talasari.

Scope of Work

To ensure program’s strategic objectives and results are fully accomplished on time and expected technical quality standards, the Individual consultant must

General Responsibilities:

• Provide technical assistance on various convergence activities to the PMU and technical partners on need basis
• Conduct Quarterly and monthly (as needed) planning sessions to meet project targets
• Build the network of various project stakeholders, facilitating relationship-building
• Provide supportive supervision to project and partner staff, including mentoring for the growth and development of supervisees
• Provide technical oversight and industry best practices in strengthening convergence .
• Support PMU in achieving convergence related objectives.
• Monitoring of milestones set and donor reporting.
• Monitor implementation of initiatives for increasing beneficiary accountability and ensuring gender sensitive programming
• Track progress and ensure robust M&E, intelligent analysis and use of information, strong organizational and sectoral learning.

Specific Responsibilities

Domain Leadership

1. Under the guidance of Project Manager, UNDP, New Delhi, provide support to the PMU in leadership, supervision and oversight of all project activities that seek to improve the performance of convergence related activities in the project, ensuring efficient and effective project implementation including the timely completion of high quality work plans, accurate reports, and other mandated deliverables.
2. Work with the PMU and NGO partners in preparing domain related project work plans with clear objectives and achievable benchmarks, reflecting strategic long term and short term priorities.

Program Quality and Management

1. Collaborate with UNDP PMU team, NGO partner and community cadre to support capacity building training sessions for strengthening convergence.
2. Provide technical leadership to program activities related to convergence under the project leading to expected increase in household income.
3. Review the work of the PMU and of the field team and support PMU in achieving convergence targets.
4. Monitor the quality and appropriateness of activities to achieve the target indicators in a cost effective timely and sustainable manner.
5. Provide accompaniment and handholding support to the implementing partners to link with the potential convergence partners
6. Perform any other task as assigned by Project Manager, Project Uddyam, UNDP New Delhi.

Field Research & Data Collection on convergence related activities:

1. To meet and discuss with UNDP, NGO partners and other relevant agencies to understand convergence in context of Talasari
2. Conduct desk research to identify the interest and work area of potential convergence partners and government agency
3. To visit the respective location and meet identified government departments, SHGs, village development organization and other institutions in the project villages to facilitate convergence

Provide Technical Expertise, Oversight & Capacity Building of PMU & NGO Partner Staff:

1. Assist with the orientation and training of key staff and community cadres to help build a technically strong, well supported motivated team.
2. Provide direction and technical advice through quarterly coaching sessions.
3. Provide oversight function to ensure that the activities being undertaken are in congruence with achievement of domain goal as well as overall goal of the project.
4. Monitor the activities related to convergence to ensure that these are in tune with the overall project objectives.

Documentation & Communication

1. Preparing progress report, briefs and supervision notes as and when required.
2. Providing technical advice and direction in preparation of communication material for internal and external stakeholders
3. Develop a plan for the development and dissemination of lessons learnt.
4. Conduct regular supervisory/technical assistance visits to the field
5. Coordinate with the M&E Coordinator to document success stories

Project Location:

The assignment will be home as well as field based. It will include travel to districts in Maharashtra and may require to UNDP Country Office in New Delhi to meet with project team members. 15-25 days field visit and 15 days of offsite support, per year, is expected for this assignment

Competencies

Corporate competencies:

• Promotes the mission and values of the UN;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
• Ability to work under pressure and stressful situations;
• Effective interpersonal and communication skills

Functional competencies:

• Strong interpersonal and communication skills;
• Strong analytical, research, reporting and writing abilities;
• Ability to plan, organize, implement and report on work;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Positive, constructive attitude to work.

Required Skills and Experience

Required Academic Qualifications and Professional Experience: 

• Bachelor’s degree in technology/Rural Management/ Social Sciences
• 10 years of project implementation and management experience with progressive responsibility
• Experience working in convergence of schemes with various stakeholders is important
• Experience of working with government agency
• Experience managing staff and partner organizations as well as managing relationships and interactions between government officials, university staff, farmers and other stakeholders
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills
• Experience in monitoring and evaluation, especially in software for data management
• Strong computer skills (MS Word, Excel, Outlook and Power Point)

Evaluation Method and Criteria
Proposal will be evaluated based on the Cumulative Evaluation (technical + financial) methodology.

Cumulative analysis:

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

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

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

• Technical Criteria weight - 70%;
• Financial Criteria weight – 30 %

Technical Criteria weight – 70 Marks

Education – 30 Marks

Work Experience and Knowledge – 40 Marks

Financial Criteria weight - 30 Marks.

Documents to be submitted:

Detailed CV with contact details of three references;

Financial proposal specifying per day consultancy fee . Prior approved travel expenses will be reimbursed as per actuals in
line with UNDP rules or would be arranged by UNDP.

Note: Application will not be accepted, if all the above listed documents are not submitted.

For any clarification, please write to ic.india@undp.org