Job: CONSULTANT, PARLIAMENTARY SUPPORT PROJECT

Location : Kabul, AFGHANISTAN

Application Deadline : 01-Oct-13

Additional Category:Democratic Governance

Type of Contract : Individual Contract

Post Level : International Consultant

Languages Required : English

Starting Date : (date when the selected candidate is expected to start) 16-Oct-2013

Duration of Initial Contract : 3 months

Expected Duration of Assignment :3 months

Background

UNDP Global Mission Statement:

UNDP is the UN's global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. We are on the ground in 166 countries, working with national counterparts on their own solutions to global and national development challenges.

UNDP Afghanistan Mission Statement:

UNDP supports stabilization, state-building, and governance and development priorities in Afghanistan. UNDP support, in partnership with the Government, the United Nations system, the donor community and other development stakeholders, has contributed to institutional development efforts leading to positive impact on the lives of Afghan citizens. Over the years UNDP support has spanned such milestone efforts as the adoption of the Constitution; Presidential, Parliamentary and Provincial Council elections; institutional development through capacity-building to the legislative, the judicial and executive arms of the state, and key ministries, Government agencies and commissions at the national and subnational levels. UNDP Programmes in Afghanistan have benefited from the very active support of donors. UNDP Afghanistan is committed to the highest standards of transparency and accountability and works in close coordination with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the UN system as a whole to maximize the impact of its development efforts on the ground.

Project Background:

Years of conflict have damaged Afghanistan's economic, political, physical, social and institutional structures. Reconstruction demands a secure environment in which there is credible leadership and enforced rule of law. Strong, legitimate and effective public administration structures, responsive to the needs of ordinary citizens - including the poor – are a precursor to any sustainable development. To this end, UNDP supports the Afghan parliament so that it can play its vital legislative and oversight role.

UNDP support to the Afghan National Assembly started in 2005 with SEAL 1 (Support to the Establishment of the Afghan Legislature) which was a broad based project supporting all main aspects of the parliament's function. SEAL 1 was succeeded by SEAL 2 (Supporting and Effective Afghan Legislature) in 2008 which ceased in early 2010. Later in 2010, parliament requested support from the UNDP for the induction of the new parliament; strategy formulation for both Houses; and the creation of a full support project to succeed SEAL 2. In the second half of 2013, a third generation project will start.

The objective of the project 'Institutional and Capacity Support to the Parliament of Afghanistan' (ICSPA) will be to assist building the institutional development of parliament; to provide support to the parliamentary Commissions, Women MPs, plenary sessions and procedural review. The project will be strategic and highly targeted in nature.

Amongst the key contexts for this project are:

The creation of an inclusive and legitimate politics strategy, as currently finalized by UNDP. The strategy will help frame the work of those projects comprising the democratic governance ‘cluster' based on the UNDP Country Office, including parliamentary support.

Another contextual aspect is the existence of the parliamentary strategies drafted for the Wolesi and Meshrano Jirgas with the assistance of the UNDP in 2010. These will require to be operationalized.

Finally, support to the Parliament is a strong feature of the current Afghan National Development Strategy (ANDS); and is also reflected in the suite of National Priority Programs (NPPs) which reflect the priorities of the government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and which are presently in process of finalization.

At present, it is envisaged that the project will be for 5 years with a strong presumption of successive future extensions. The situation of Afghanistan is one in which the views on the lengthy period of time required for governance transformation reflected in the 2011 'New Deal for engagement in fragile states' is particularly apt. The new project has adopted a severely realistic and informed approach to the challenges and risks associated with development in the Afghan environment. Consequently the project document has been drafted with a design capable of extension to subsequent generations of project stages with clear cohesion and integrity..

Objective of the Assignment:

The departure of the current CTA at the end of the month, and the departure of the project manager in October, has made imperative the appointment of two consultancies (corresponding to the CTA and PM posts) to ensure that the work completed to date is taken forward vigorously. It is anticipated that the consultancies will be superseded by full time FTA international and SC national posts respectively in the wake of the PD's finalization and funding being in place but those recruitments will take some time.

In addition to project development duties from 1 October, the consultancy will be responsible for initiating specific programme activities from 1 January and in line with the PD RFF, in particular those related to Output 1 and strategy development for the NAA, in addition to managing the international and national programme staff when they are appointed.

Scope of Work:

• Strategic and Policy Advice;
• Act as the key senior policy advisor to the Afghan Parliament management bodies, Speakers of both Houses, Secretary Generals, Deputy Secretary Generals, Chairpersons of Commissions of both Houses, the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and other government ministries, and relevant stakeholders;
• Provide intellectual leadership in the area of parliamentary development, by delivering political, institutional and policy advice on all aspects of parliamentary capacity building, and by guiding the development and implementation of project strategies and implementation modalities;
• Establish links between national development goals, UNDP priorities and existing policy statements of the Afghan Government and the international community;
• Ensure the incorporation of best practices and lessons learned on parliamentary development worldwide;
• Through ongoing analysis of the political, social, security and economic contexts, ensure that the project's support to parliamentary development in Afghanistan remains at all times relevant and timely;
• Maintain a sound understanding of government, parliamentary and political processes in Afghanistan.

Support to Project Design and Implementation:

• Advise the National Project Manager on strategies to prepare and implement the long-term capacity building strategy for the Afghan parliament;
• Ensure that the project's activities are designed and implemented according to best practices in parliamentary development, and are in line with the Annual Work Plans;
• With the assistance of the Project Manager, and in coordination with the Country Office, ensure that systems are in place for monitoring and evaluating the project's delivery of agreed results, and assist in the formulation and updating of the indicators that measure quantitative and qualitative outputs and outcomes of the project;
• Conceptualize, plan, participate and coordinate periodic reviews and assessment of overall project or specific components;
• Where applicable, identify specialized additional technical expertise to support the parliamentary development in Afghanistan;
• Provide advice and recommendations on how UNDP and other UN agencies can further strengthen and cooperate with the parliament project;
• Advise the members of the project team in preparation of the project activities and budgets;
• Monitor the achievements of the capacity development initiatives and ensure follow-up support;
• Assist the National Project Manager and the chair of the Project Management Board in substantive issues related to the meetings of the Board.

Knowledge Building and Sharing:

• Lead the process of knowledge creation and dissemination of national and international know-how in the area of parliamentary development;
• Provide substantial input to the project's handbooks and information materials;
• Provide quality assurance on the knowledge products of the project, in terms of quality of the content, the process and the usage of the knowledge products, and serve as peer reviewer of the main publications;
• Identify knowledge gaps among target groups and design measures to address such gaps;
• Actively support the sharing of project results and products, lessons learned and good practices with other UNDP and UN projects, government agencies, donors, etc.;
• Partner with the practitioners and members of the UNDP global networks and the parliamentary teams at UNDP BDP and BCPR, Regional Centre and Regional Bureaux;

Guidance of Technical Staff:

• Provide management of and direct guidance to national and international technical staff working with the project, including national specialists, international technical advisers and national and international consultants. This will include consultations to ensure technical staff are addressing technical requirements for delivery of outcomes and activities;
• Enable and support professional development opportunities for project staff employed in this project;
• Contribute to courses and seminar activities of the project, as appropriate;
• Oversee and provide quality assurance to regular project and activity reporting.

Support the Partnership development and resource mobilization:

• Consider the most effective and time-efficient way of liaison and coordination with other donor programs working with the Parliament of Afghanistan;
• Network and build credible relations with donor partners, embassies and government interlocutors;
• Prepare proposals for mobilization of human, technical and financial resources from international development organizations, non-governmental organizations and the private sector;
• Assist the UNDP CO in mobilizing resources to support the achievement of project outputs and outcomes.

Duties and Responsibilities

The key results of the consultancy are to:

• Ensure that the project document is fully finalized; that all relevant project TORs are fit for purpose (with current authorial consultant); and that recruitments are initiated expeditiously and concluded successfully (with the PM);
• Take the lead in programmatic international and national recruitments in the first three months of the consultancy so that programme activities can start on 1 January 2014, or as soon as possible thereafter, in line with the PD RRF (with PM);
• Manage the startup of programme activities from January 2014 and the international and national staff responsible under the terms of the PD;
• Ensure that the positive relationship created with the client, and other stakeholders, over the past 12 months is maintained and further developed.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN's values and ethical standards (human rights, peace, understanding between peoples and nations, tolerance, integrity, respect, results orientation (UNDP core ethics) impartiality;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback.

Functional Competencies:

• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills with proven ability in report writing;
• Ability to work both independently and in a team and ability to deliver high quality work on time;
• Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting from a risk management perspective;
• Knowledge of risk management practices of UN agencies in insecure environments is desirable;
• Knowledge of UNDP Project Cycle Management processes and the UNDP management tool ATLAS is desirable.

Behavioural competencies:

• Comfortable in working in dynamic environments that change frequently;
• Able to perform in a high-stress and difficult security environment, with basic accommodation choices;
• Ability to manage relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders and incorporate diverse points of view.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• A post-graduate degree in Political Science/Law;
• a qualification in, or/and substantial experience of development studies/international relations highly desirable.

Experience:

• At least twelve years of relevant work experience in the area of democratic governance with direct experience of working in the parliamentary Experience of UNDP projects and procedures as a staff member or project leader/manager is desirable;
• Understanding of national governance processes is essential; substantial work experience in a government context highly desirable;
• Familiarity with the National Assembly of Afghanistan, the national political background, and general familiarity with Islamic legislative background a distinct asset;
• A keen willingness to work in Afghanistan under current working and security conditions is essential;
• Excellent command of written and spoken English is required.

Skills:

• Ability to listen carefully, to observe and customize his/her approach to individual client needs
• Ability to coordinate a team;
• Enjoy working in a demand-driven environment, motivated by a willingness to respond rapidly and effectively to the needs of many clients;
• Have strong analytical problem-solving abilities;
• Have a good understanding of strategy formulation and governance, and knowledge of parliaments and parliamentary development for a minimum of seven years is required;
• Excellent communication skills (spoken and written);
• Be a team player with strong inter-personal skills and the ability to comfortably communicate at all levels.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required;
• Knowledge of a local language would be an asset.

Facilities Provided by UNDP:

Office space, communication equipment (phone (prepaid)), VHF radio, transportation from/to workplace and relevant line ministries and office. Assets shall be returned to the CO upon completion.

The IC shall be provided accommodation in MOSS cleared premises. The daily rent for a small and the big room including three meals is $90.0 -$170.00. The large room rent does not include any meals. The meals can be purchased as $6.0 for breakfast and $12.0 for lunch or dinner.

Facilities to be provided by the IC: Laptop

Technical Proposal

The IC shall submit a short proposal describing his or her approach and methodology to achieve the deliverables under this assignment.

Financial Proposal:

• The IC shall provide its proposed effective daily rate based on five day working week. The fee rate shall be inclusive of perdiem, fees, food incidental and any other expenses related to execution of the assignment;
• The IC shall also incorporate in his or her price the cost of medical evacuation insurance during the assignment period. This shall either be separately quoted or included in the effective daily rate.

Evaluation Process:

The contract will be awarded to the candidate who received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria: Technical Criteria weight: 70% + Financial Criteria weight: 30%.

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on 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:

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%

Financial Criteria weight: 30%

Criteria Weight Maximum obtainable Points

Technical

Advanced university degree in relevant disciplines (e.g., Democratic Governance ): 10% 10

At least five years' experience working in developing or post-conflict: 30% 30

Extensive work experience in strategy formulation and governance, and knowledge of parliaments and parliamentary development for a minimum of seven years is required: 30% 30

Deep knowledge of the political, cultural, and economic contexts of Afghanistan including prior working experience in the country: 10% 10

Excellent written and spoken English and presentational capacities. Knowledge of local language i.e. Pashto and Dari is preferable but not required: 20% 20

Total Technical Scores: 100% 100

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.

More Info and Application