Background

NOTE: Signed Offeror’s Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability - http://www.ba.undp.org/content/dam/bosnia_and_herzegovina/docs/Operations/Jobs/Offerors%20Letter%20to%20UNDP%20Confirming%20Interest%20and%20Availability.docx Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability.docx - to be sent to e-mail ba.shared.hr@undp.org with Subject: Job ID 90229.

The consultancy is planned within the Economic Governance for Growth (EGG) Project (2018-2021). The project is primarily funded by the Government of the Kingdom of Norway and co-funded and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). As part of the Rural and Regional Development Sector, the EGG Project will contribute to the economic development of BiH and help create employment opportunities in promising industrial sectors. Project components include 1) tailored support to high-value start-ups; 2) assessment of current and emerging needs in select forward facing industries; 3) upgrades to the education system in order to better equip it to respond to emerging workforce needs; 4) support to employment in future-facing sectors such as IT and automotive; 6) rightsizing of public expenditures to better fund development interventions; and 7) restructuring of economic development incentive programs for better effect. The Project will be implemented across three cantons and 10 local governments (LGs).

The purpose of the consultancy is to contribute to the development of a more effective, strategy-based and results-oriented model for disbursement of public funding in support of economic development and employment targets across 10 local governments.

The main objective of the consultancy is to help improve economic development programs in partner local governments through ensuring i) their linkage with up-to-date strategic priorities and promising industry sector needs; ii) their ability to actively and effectively influence economic and employment prospects in the LG; and iii) the measurability of their impact in the community. This objective will be pursued through a comprehensive review of the current economic incentive system, support to effective grant scheme development, and the creation of a mechanism to measure the grants’ tangible impact. In this regard, an Economic Development Consultant (hereinafter the Consultant) will be engaged to work across the assigned local authorities.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Consultant will be expected to review the existing grant programs across participating local governments over a back-period of three years (current fiscal year included) in order to establish linkages with development strategy priorities as well as other policy and planning frameworks that govern this area. 

With selected local governments grouped together in geographical clusters, the Consultant for this assignment is allocated the following four local governments to work with: Banja Luka, Doboj, Gradiška and Modrica.

While the Consultant will perform the review process for his/her cluster only, he/she will be asked to work alongside another colleague assigned a different geographical cluster, exchanging information and providing feedback to each other throughout the process.

Once the review has been completed, a report will be drafted assessing the effectiveness of programs reviewed with recommendations for future programming. The Consultant will also lead the design of a grant scheme that will help responsible employees develop their capacities to design future economic incentive programs. This task will be based on the existing guidelines for the design of publicly funded grant schemes.[1] Finally, the Consultant will help develop a guide for the verification, monitoring and evaluation of projects funded through the economic incentive programs.

The expected timeframe for the service is March - end of June2020.

Key Tasks and Deliverables

Task 1: Conduct review of grant programs implemented and assess their effectiveness

As a first step, the Consultant will have a discussion with the UNDP project team in order to agree on a timeline for the process. The LGs will provide all the relevant documentation for the review process as well as any information needed not available in document form.

The Consultant will screen all of the grant programs delivered over the past three years, focusing on those with the largest monetary value supporting entrepreneurship, private sector development and job creation, assessing their relevance to LG targets and their effectiveness in reaching their stated goals. A methodology for the review process will be discussed with the project team and endorsed as part of the workplan for the overall assignment, to be approved before the start of activities.

Once the review has been completed, the Consultant will prepare a brief report outlining findings on relevance and effectiveness of grant schemes as well as recommendations for future programming that will set out critical priorities as well as suggested methods on how to implement them. The report will be sent to the UNDP project team and local government representatives for approval.

Task 2: Help design economic incentive grant program

Within this task, the Consultant is expected to help local governments develop a single grant scheme that will be based on their economic development priorities in line with their local development strategies and other relevant policy documents.

The design of the grant scheme will be preceded by the familiarization of both the Consultant and the local government employees with the existing guidelines and best practices for design of publicly funded grant schemes. In delivering this task, the Consultant will engage the LG employees throughout the main stages and steps of the grant scheme design process, offering technical assistance and training to contribute to upgrading of their capacities. Having in mind their comprehensiveness, the Consultant will use the guidelines to prepare a checklist for the responsible local government team, enabling transfer of experience and standardized approach to design of other grant schemes.

Task 3: Design guide for verification, monitoring and evaluation of grant funded projects

Finally, the Consultant will deliver a short guide for the verification, monitoring and evaluation of projects funded through the grant programs. The guide will take the form of a checklist that will be able to identify measurable, tangible outcomes based on grant design principles developed under the previous task. The guide will be no longer than 10 pages. As part of this task, the Consultant will provide a one-day training to the local government team with focus on monitoring and evaluation of grant scheme support.

Deliverables/outputs

[1] “Design of Public Grant Schemes: A Functional Manual for Practitioners” developed within the Integrated Local Development Project, a joint Project of the Government of Switzerland and UNDP in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Competencies

Corporate 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 favouritism;
• Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment;

Functional competencies:

• Strong interpersonal skills, communication and diplomatic skills, ability to work in a team;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Ability to work under pressure and stressful situations;
• Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities;
• Excellent public speaking and presentation skills;

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications/Education:

• University degree in economics, public administration or a relevant field.
• Master’s degree will be considered an asset.

Experience:

• At least 10 years of extensive experience in economic development or delivery of technical assistance to government authorities;
• Extensive knowledge of and previous experience in the domain of public policy management;
• Previous experience and knowledge of the public administration in Bosnia and Herzegovina;
• Excellent drafting and writing skills.

Languages Requirements:

• Excellent writing and oral communication skills in in the official languages in Bosnia and Herzegovina and a working knowledge of English.

Other Requirements:

• Excellent computer skills (MS Office applications) and ability to use information technologies as a tool and resource.

Longlisting/Shortlisting Criteria

Qualifications as stated in the ToR

Technical Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:
a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
b) 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%
• * Financial Criteria weight- 30%

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references;
• Proposal:
  • Provide a brief methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work; or sample of previous document/strategy/paper done by the consultant;
  •  Explaining why they are the most suitable for the work;

Please scan all above mentioned documents and upload as one attachment only online through this website.

Note:

• For an assignment requiring travel, consultants of 65 years or more require full medical examination and statement of fitness to work to engage in the consultancy.
• Due to large number of potential applicants, only competitively selected candidates will be contacted for remaining steps of the service procurement process.