Background

Signing of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord in 1997 was a major political achievement marking the end of a protracted low intensity conflict in the region. Progress on establishing local institutions outlined in the Peace Accord, the creation of an improved environment for dialogue between communities and an increase in social services have built important foundations for longer term stability and social inclusion in the region. Despite these efforts, the Chittagong Hill Tracts still experiences relatively low levels of development with economic and social progress being held back resulting in increased pressures on scarce resources including land, continued extreme poverty below the national average and a lack of economic development and opportunity in the region. In the Seventh Five Year Plan (FY 2016-20), it has been stated that “CHT is one of the most disadvantaged and vulnerable regions in the country in terms of almost all major development indicators, such as income, employment, poverty, health, water, sanitation, education, women employment, access to infrastructure and national building institutions, inter-community confidence, etc.” (The Seventh five-year plan FY2016-FY2020. Accelerating growth, empowering citizens, pg. 637-638. Government of Bangladesh. 2015). In virtually all social and economic indicators the region is disadvantaged with limited access to education, an absence of clear linkages between the capabilities and needs of communities and state institutions as well as a lack of understanding of key challenges (7th FYP page 680). One of the key government strategies outlined in the 7th Five-Year Plan for tackling these challenges is to fully implement the provisions of the Peace Accord.  The government also aims at implementing accelerated development activities in the region.

The Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs (MOCHTA), in collaboration with UNDP and other Development Partners has implemented several projects in three Hill Districts during the last decade. The interventions of these projects mainly strengthened community stability and supported communities build resilience and collective actions. Conducive environment is achieved for long-term stability in the region by empowering communities to be more involved in decisions that affect their lives in a framework for economic and social development. In line with the provisions of the Peace Accord these actions worked towards protecting the diversity of the region and its distinct characteristics by supporting the increased implementation of Peace Accord objectives, building capacity of devolved Regional and Hill District Councils to deliver the subjects transferred from national level and supporting confidence building and social capital strengthening in communities.

Various CHT institutions established as per the CHT Accord are functional for regional administrative systems and ensuring the socio-economic development of CHT communities. National level financial institutions and commercial banks including state owned banks are also operating in CHT like other parts of Bangladesh. In relation to the continuation of progress of the development interventions in CHT, MoCHTA recommends initiating to establish a specialized bank dedicatedly for CHT with functional support from relevant stakeholders that will work for the socio- economic development of region and wellbeing of CHT communities. The CHT Development Bank will be the central financial hub for all types of development assistance for the region and it will function considering regional economic context by fulfilling the local needs. The proposed CHT Development Bank only work in CHT following the existing CHT rules and regulations in keeping close relationship with the major CHT institutions.

OBJECTIVES:

The overall objective of hiring the national consultant (Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Bank) is to provide technical support to Ministry of Chittagong Hill Tracts Affairs (MoCHTA) for establishing the CHT Development Bank in consultation with all respective stakeholders. The consultant will also help developing a roadmap/ project implementation plan with clear guideline for accelerating the execution processes of establishing the CHT development Bank for the greater benefit of the people of the CHT region.

Duties and Responsibilities

SCOPE OF WORK:

The individual Senior National Consultant (CHT Development Bank) will be directly supervised by the National Project Manager, SID-CHT, UNDP and, s/he will work closely with senior management of MoCHTA. The National Consultant (CHT Development Bank) will perform a range of assignments that contribute in establishing a functional CHT Development Bank for the region. Key activities of the National Consultant are given below:

• Carry out primary discussions with all relevant stakeholders such as Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Planning, Bangladesh Bank, Prime Minister’s Office, CHT institutions (I.e. CHTRC, CHTDB and HDCs)  etc. for establishing the proposed CHT Development Bank as per guidance of MoCHTA and SID-CHT management;
• Develop an authentic roadmap/ implementation plan with clear guidelines for establishing the proposed CHT Development Bank
• Provide technical support and policy guidance (especially on legal and bank licensing procedures) to MoCHTA for the persuasion of necessary processes of establishing CHT Development Bank;
• Prepare assignment completion report.
• Prepare complete proposal for establishing CHT Development Bank.

The above-mentioned tasks will include reviewing of all relevant documents, study reports, CHT related rules & laws, other regional bank’s information i.e. RAKUB (Rajshai Krishi Unnayan Bank) and a measurable roadmap for establishing the CHT Development Bank and facilitate meetings with relevant CHTIs.

SUPERVISION AND PERFORMANCE EVALUATION:

The IC National Consultant for technical support to the Ministry of CHT Affairs (MoCHTA) to accelerate the processes for establishing the CHT Development Bank will work closely with the senior management of SID-CHT and MoCHTA and relevant high government officials in ministry and he/she will directly report to National Project Manager (NPM) of SID-CHT.

TIMEFRAME AND DEADLINES:

The assignment is for a total of 30 days over a period of 3 months from 01 April - 30 June 2019.

DOCUMENTS:

The Consultant will prepare and submit the above-mentioned documents during the assignment period. The format should be agreed on at the beginning of the assignment and cleared by the SID-CHT project management. Further work or revision of the documents may be required if it is considered that the documents do not meet the ToR, errors of fact or the documents are incomplete or not of an acceptable standard.

INPUTS:

UNDP will provide office space for the consultant. UNDP also pay living allowances as per Policy if any Filed Visit Travel occurs outside Dhaka during the assignment. The Consultant will arrange meetings, consultations and interviews necessary for the assignment but the cost will be borne by project.

From SID-CHT, CHTDF:

The consultant will be provided with office space for work. For official travels transport and allowance as per UNDP rules and regulations will be provided.

From the Consultant:

All other inputs to complete the deliverables will be taken care of by the consultant.

Duration of the Work: Not more than 30 days over the period of 03 (Three) months.

Duty Station: The National consultant will be based in Ministry of CHT Affairs, Dhaka, Bangladesh with necessary field travel to three hill districts (Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban).

Competencies

• Computer literacy, in particular Word and Excel is required.
• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards (human rights, peace,
• understanding between peoples and nations, tolerance, integrity, respect, and impartiality;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
• Demonstrates openness to change, flexibility, and ability to manage complexities;
• Proven strong written, analytical and communication skills.
• Demonstrates openness to change, flexibility, and ability to manage complexities;
• Proven strong written, analytical and communication skills.
• Computer literacy, in particular Word and Excel are required.

Required Skills and Experience

ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS:

• Post Graduate Degree preferably in Finance, Economics or Business Administration or related fields.

EXPERIENCE: 

• At least 12 years of experiences in the financial sector with assessment for banking, commercial investment, drafting financial policy papers or similar for government institutions;
• 5 years of experience of dealing with financial policies, laws and rules and regulations for banking sector of Bangladesh/South Asian countries;
• Experience and familiarity with financial systems and banking practices in similar environments;
• Proven expereinces on CHT development and governance system
• Experience of working with CHT government institutions.

Cumulative analysis-

The award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant up on Cumulative Analysis/evaluation and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• 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 marks.Only candidates obtaining a minimum 49% mark in technical evaluation will be considered eligible for financial evaluation.

Technical Evaluation Criteria (Total 70 marks):

Financial Evaluation (Total 30 marks)

All technical qualified proposals will be scored out 30 based on the formula provided below.

The maximum points (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal. All other proposals received points according to the following formula:

p = y (µ/z)

Where:

• p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated;
• y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal;
• µ = price of the lowest priced proposal;
• z = price of the proposal being evaluated.

Financial Milestone:

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Proposers who shall not submit below mentioned documents will not be considered for further evaluation.

1. Technical Proposal/Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment and a workplan on how he/she will approach and complete the assignment.
2. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
3. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references; P11 can be downloaded from the link below: http://www.bd.undp.org/content/bangladesh/en/home/operations/jobs/ 
4. Financial Proposal: Financial Proposal has to be submitted through a standard interest and availability template which can be downloaded from the link below:

 http://www.bd.undp.org/content/dam/bangladesh/docs/Jobs/Interest%20and%20Submission%20of%20Financial%20Proposal-Template%20for%20Confirmation.docx

Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.