Location: Rangamati, Bangladesh
Deadline: Tuesday, 10 September 2013
Description
INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANT - COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT STRATEGY FORMULATION
Location : Rangamati, Bangladesh (travels to other districts in CHT and Dhaka, if required), BANGLADESH
Application Deadline : 10-Sep-13
Additional Category Millennium Development Goals
Type of Contract : Individual Contract
Post Level : International Consultant
Languages Required : English
Expected Duration of Assignment :Total 30 working days (excluding weekends and UN holidays) during two months period.
Background
The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) located in south-eastern corner of Bangladesh, is recognized as one of the most diverse area in the country. CHT is the most culturally diverse region in Bangladesh and with distinct topography and agricultural practices. The region is unique with hilly and remote terrain, poor rural communication infrastructure, scattered settlements on the isolated and remote places. It is home to 11 ethnic indigenous communities and mainstream Bengalees. CHT is known as a 'post conflict' region with a history of insurgency situation for more than two decades, which ended with the signing of CHT Peace Accord in 1997.
CHT has remained more or less outside the mainstream of development exacerbated by geo-physical characteristics. The poor communication network limits the incentives for increasing production, discourages rural growth, limits access to markets and off-farm employment opportunities and limits access to existing social services particularly health and education. Majority of the population lives below the national poverty line with lower standard of living.
UNDP responded to the development needs, with the support of international community and Government of Bangladesh. Since 2003 UNDP has been implementing a development programme titled Promotion of Development and Confidence Building in the CHT under the umbrella of Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Facility (CHTDF). The website of CHTDF is www.chtdf.org and more information can be obtained from here.
The CHT Development Facility, in partnership with the Government of Bangladesh, engages all stakeholders to promote sustainable development and peace for all population guided by the CHT Accord. It is working in all 25 Upazilas and 118 Unions, prioritizing the remote and underserved areas. CHTDF supports CHT institutions to effectively manage and deliver services and communities for self-reliant development where communities take charges of their own development.
The Community Empowerment Programme (CEP), one of the major components of CHTDF, has been being implemented in CHT since 2003 and so far reached out to more than 3000 villages (commonly known as ‘Para') in 20 Upazillas (sub-districts) of three hill districts. The aim of the programme is to empower CHT communities in dealing their own development affairs and to improve livelihood of the community people. Para Development Committees (PDCs) are the main vehicle for running all development activities at para/village level and total 3257 PDCs have been established in different phases since its piloting in 2003. Among those PDCs 1685 Para Nari (Women) Development Groups have been established with targeted interventions to women empowerment.
PDCs are formed with representation from all (if not most) households of a particular para/village and one male and one female are the general members of the PDC. Under the leadership of PDC, the community people identify problems, make plans/proposals aiming at community development with small-scale projects supported by CHTDF from Quick Impact Fund (QIF). Accordingly, funds are transferred to PDCs' bank accounts directly from where they withdraw money to implement development activities – which are mostly related to agricultural practices for income generation. Similarly, PNDGs (para women group – formed with the women from all household) are also supported with grants to implement their own projects with the objectives of addressing strategic needs of the women and engaging them in decision making and managing the resoruces. The grant size varies between BDT 200,000 (or USD 2500) to BDT 1,000,000 (or USD 12500) per PDC based on the nature of projects. The local NGOs are engaged to mobilise the communities and provide necessary capacity building supports to run the PDCs. Further, local support committees are established consists of local government representatives, relevant government line departments and local leaders to provide necessary technical supports and monitoring the project activities. PDCs are trained on leadership, organizational and financial management, participatory monitoring and evaluation, gender, linkage building etc.
Most of the PDCs now have demonstrated good experiences in managing village projects and managing funds properly and ensuring benefits to individual households. Many of these communities have reinvested their project returns and building assets. Moreover, they are accumulating savings, some are in well positioned to access loans, apply for grants, and partnering with private investors to take forward larger projects. Social cohesion has been strengthened among communities and now in many places they are addressing local development needs collectively and promoting self-reliant development. Thus, PDCs have been playing an important role in empowering the communities to eliminate poverty in remote places and they are well recognized as the local community development agent/organisation by Union and Upazila parishads, different line departments, NGOs and different development actors.
Considering good progresses in community empowerment and success of the PDCs, now CHTDF is fielding a mission (combining – 1 international and 1 national consultants) to review current CEP programme and CHT context and suggesting future strategy or way forward for community empowerment in CHT.
Duties and Responsibilities
Main objectives and responsibilities and description of the proposed analytical work
The overall objective of the assignment is to develop appropriate guidance for CHTDF on making PDCs sustainable for taking the community empowerment towards next steps.
Specific objectives are:
- To review current community empowerment strategies and CHT's socio-political contexts through consultation with all relevant stakeholders – including different communities;
- Identify the enabling factors towards sustainability or, in case of negative findings/weaknesses, the constraints that projects face (or may face) for sustaining the PDCs along with potential areas to be strengthened; and
- To help CHTDF better understand PDCs sustainability with specific recommendations and course of actions considering CHT contexts.
Scope of work, responsibilities and description of the proposed analytical work:
Under the direct supervision of the Chief of CEP and with close collaboration with the Cluster Leader/Programme Officer, CEP the international consultant will lead the mission (where a national consultant will be part of the mission).
The International Consultant will be based in Rangamati with required travels to other districts and Dhaka (if required).
Deliverables are linked to the payment as follows:
(Please refer to the IC notice in the link below)
Note:
The report will cover at least the executive summary, background, methodology, review findings with detailed attention to lessons learnt, issues to be addressed with implementation strategies. All the relevant documents (ToR, itinerary, list of documents reviewed, list of people met, tools used and summary of results/tables) will be included as annex.
The below link related to UNDP mission report template and quality standards' could be useful for preparing the mission report: http://web.undp.org/evaluation/handbook/Annex7.html.
Period of Assignment:
Total 30 working days (excluding weekends and UN holidays) during two months period commencing from the date of signing the contract.
Inputs:
- CHTDF will assist with financial support based on the financial proposal. All required budget line will be submitted to the CHTDF accordingly. Only one international return ticket (round trip from current location to Dhaka) can be calculated. The domestic air ticket for Dhaka to Chittagong (one round trip ticket) will be provided by CHTDF separately;
- CHTDF will provide working space in its office;
- All other inputs including the laptop with necessary software packages to carry out the service will have to be borne by the consultant;
- CHTDF will arrange security briefing for the consultants prior to field movement, arrange necessary security clearance and necessary logistics;
- Any travel related to field works will be arranged by CHTDF subject to the approval of the respective programme Chief. If necessary to travel to Dhaka the project will arrange vehicle and air ticket. All other costs related to field visits will be covered by the consultant;
- Workshops/meetings/FGDs etc. will be organized according to work plan and CHTDF will cover necessary costs.
- All inputs to carry out the survey will have to be financed by the consultants.
Competencies
- Excellent interviewing skills covering policy issues;
- Knowledge on Indigenous Peoples issues and working experiences in CHT will the added advantages;
- Strong task management and team leading competencies.
Required Skills and Experience
Academic Qualifications:
- At least a Master's Degree or equivalent level in social sciences or in related field.
Experiences:
- At least 15 years of professional experience in review, evaluation, impact assessment, and sustainability planning /strategy formulation of community based institutions in Bangladesh and/or similar countries.
- Past experience as a team leader in a similar assignment(s).
Language:
- Fluency in written and spoken English.
Documents to be included when submitting the Proposals:
Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:
Proposal:
- Explaining why they are the most suitable for the work;
- Provide a brief methodology, including a timeline, on how they will approach and conduct the work.
Financial proposal (should be submitted in USD).
Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references.
Financial proposal:
Lump sum contracts
The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). 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). The financial proposal should be submitted in US Dollar.
TravelAll envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general, UNDP shall not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the Consultant wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources. In the case of unforeseeable travel not mentioned in the TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.
Evaluation:
Preliminary Evaluation:
Prior to the technical evaluation all proposals will be screened based on the eligibility criteria mentioned in the table below. To be eligible for technical evaluation a proposal must meet both the criteria. Any proposal not meeting either of these criteria will be rejected from the evaluation. There is no scoring in this stage and screening will be done pass/fail basis.
Eligibility Criteria(Yes/No):
- At least a Master's Degree or equivalent level in social sciences or in related field;
- At least 15 years of professional experience in review, evaluation, impact assessment, and sustainability planning /strategy formulation of community based institutions in Bangladesh and/or similar countries.
Technical Evaluation: (Total obtainable score – 70).
All proposals that passed through the preliminary evaluation will be scored out of 70 based on the criteria mentioned in the table below. To qualify in the technical evaluation a proposal must obtain minimum 70% of the total obtainable technical score or at least 49 points. Any proposal obtaining a score less than the minimum required score (49) will be technically disqualified. Proposals achieving 70% or more points in the technical evaluation will be considered for financial evaluation.
Technical Evaluation (70%):
- Appropriateness of the proposed methodology including the timeline;
- Past experience as a team leader in a similar assignment(s);
- Excellent interviewing skills covering policy issues;
- Knowledge on Indigenous Peoples issues.
Applicants may also be invited for a face to face/telephone interview as part of the technical evaluation process. The interview shall not bear any additional score but shall be used to validate the scores given above by assessing the knowledge on the subject matter.
Financial Evaluation: (Total obtainable score – 30)
All technically 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 receive 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.
Final selection
The final selection will be completed through the cumulative calculation of obtained points from Technical and Financial Evaluation. The highest cumulative scorer will be awarded the contract.
Proposal should be submitted at ebidbox-chtdf.bd@undp.org no later than 10th September 2013.
Proposal submitted to any other email address or location or submitted in hard copy shall not be accepted.
Detail IC Procurement Notice along with the TOR and submission guideline also can be found in the following link,
http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=12461.
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.
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