National Consultant, (Legal Expert to draft a package of sub-regulations for Municipalities ) UNDP-LOGO Project

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 better lives. 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, 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 Afghan National 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 has played a key role in the management of the Law and Order Trust Fund, which supports the Government in developing and maintaining the national police force and in efforts to stabilize the internal security environment. Major demobilization, disarmament and rehabilitation and area-based livelihoods and reconstruction programmes have taken place nationwide. 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 to maximize the impact of its development efforts on the ground.

Organizational context:

The Local Governance Project – Afghanistan (LoGo-Afghanistan), is a multi-year, multi-donor project funded by the European Union (EU), Italy, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The project which was initiated in October 2015, builds on the lessons learned from a previous project, the Afghanistan Sub-National Governance Programme (ASGP) and aims to improve service delivery by enhancing the accountability and transparency of the local government. LoGo-Afghanistan provides support to the Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG), 13 Provincial Governors Offices (PGOs)

and Provincial Councils (PCs), 22 Provincial and District Municipalities and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in 17 provinces. The revised output results are:

• Output 1: Capacities of PGOs and Provincial Councils improved for inclusive, accountable and transparent service delivery;

• Output 2: Municipalities are able to generate more revenues and deliver improved services in a transparent, accountable and participatory manner;

• Output 3: Civil Society and citizens have improved oversight capacity of local governance;

• Output 4: IDLG is able to develop and implement policies to improve local government accountability and service delivery.

The new policy for Subnational Reform from May 2018, is committed to improving the legal framework on the subnational entities, including municipalities. The reform package includes revisions to the Local Administrative Law, Local Council Law, as well as implementation of on the new Municipal Law.

The new Municipal Law is an organic law which codifies the responsibilities of the municipalities, establishing them as the only subnational entities that can borrow and collect revenues from the citizens. The new law introduced changes in the municipal governance structures, planning, land use, financing mechanisms and service delivery mechanisms.

In addition, the new municipal legislation places a strong effort in enforcing transparency and accountability mechanisms for the executive municipal structures, requiring IDLG/DMM to closely regulate and enforce transparent provisions on conducting oversight, introducing a code of conduct and proscribe disciplinary measures.

In order to implement this comprehensive legal framework for the municipalities, a significant number of sub-laws in the form regulations, procedures and guidelines have to be developed and adopted by the IDLG/DMM in order to streamline the implementation of the law. This set of sub-rules will provide clear guidance and rights and obligations for the municipalities in the enforcement of the provisions of the new Municipal Law, as well as enable the ILDG/DMM to set standards for improved rule of law and legal certainty.

The UNDP LoGo Afghanistan will support the IDLG/DMM in developing the corpus of the sub-laws and regulations deriving from the new Municipal Law.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work and Deliverables:

Objective of the Assignment

IDLG/DMM intends to develop the cluster of the by-laws for the municipalities pertaining to the administrative functions of the mayor, oversight, accountability, conducting of meetings of the administration and the disciplinary measures.

Therefore, the consultant will be tasked to develop the following procedures for the IDLG/DMM:

• Procedure on oversight and accountability of mayors;

• Procedure on holding municipal administration meetings;

• Code of conduct for mayors;

• Procedure on disciplinary measures for mayors in case of violation of the laws.

  The detailed tasks will include the following activities:   

Task 1: Conduct desk research on the laws, regulations, policies and strategies pertaining to municipalities, the role of IDLG/DMM, including Kabul municipality. The desk research will also include taking stock of the

current regulations, procedures and guidelines pertaining to regulating of the administrative and executive functions of the mayors as per the new Municipality Law. In addition, the desk research will look into the administrative roles and responsibilities of the IDLG/DMM in conducting oversight and enforcing disciplinary measures over the municipal executive. 

Task 2: Conduct research on the current practices in the municipalities in relation to the code of conduct, IDLG/DMM and external/municipal advisory boards oversight of the performance of the mayors, current practises in conducting administrative meetings and similar activities. The research on the current practices will include visit to the Kabul municipality, Kabul Nahias, and may include visit to one neighbouring municipality. The research will include research on the international best practices on oversight and accountability, code of conduct and disciplinary measures for the executive pillar of the local government.

Task 3: Conduct consultative meetings with the relevant officials of the IDLG/DMM, Kabul municipality, the Nahias, Ministry of Justice (if required by the IDLG/DMM) civil society, representatives from the expert community and similar, in order to obtain relevant inputs for the drafting of the above-mentioned procedures.

Task 4: Produce a draft version of the procedures in line with the Afghan laws and practises and ensuring that the proposed procedures are not in violation or collision with the other laws in effect. The consultant may be required to conduct a consultative workshop if so requested by the IDLG/DMM, in order to present the draft procedures and obtain feedback.

Task 5: Draft the final version of the procedures and present them to the IDLG/DMM through UNDP LoGo.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables; Estimated duration to complete and payment percentage:

First Deliverable: 30 working days, 75%

• Desk research on laws and policies conducted, meetings and field visits carried out, draft version of the procedures submitted to the IDLG/DMM through UNDP LoGo for comments.

Second Deliverable: 10 working days, 25%

• Consultative workshop to discuss the draft procedures conducted;

• Final version of the procedures submitted to the IDLG/DMM through LoGo.

Payment Modality: 

Payments under the contract shall be delivery based and be made on receipt of the specific milestones indicated above and including a timesheet according to UNDP procurement formats for individual contractors. These shall be as indicated above and shall be made upon certification of IDLG, verification of LoGo-Municipal Component Lead and approval by the LoGo-Afghanistan Project Manager.

Working Arrangements

Institutional Arrangements:

The national consultant will work under the supervision of the LoGo-Afghanistan Municipalities Component Lead, and overall guidance of IDLG/DMM and LoGo-Afghanistan Project Manager.

Duration of the Work:

The contract duration will be for a total of 40 working days. The contract may be extended based on results, performance, and changes in deliverables, and subject to approval from the LoGo-Afghanistan Project Manager.

Duty Station

The duty station for the consultant is Kabul, Afghanistan for the entire duration of the contract. One field trip to a Kabul neighboring municipality if required by the ILDG/DMM. The consultant will be required to report regularly and be present at the premises of IDLG/DMM during the official working hours. The consultant will follow the working hours and weekends as applicable to IDLG/DMM. The consultant’s movements for meetings and consultations shall be coordinated by LoGo-Afghanistan Project Office. The consultant is always required to adhere to and observe UNDP’s Security Rules and Regulations

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favouritism.

Functional Competencies:

• Knowledge Management and Learning;

• In-depth practical knowledge of inter-disciplinary development issues;

• Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside of UNDP.

Management and Leadership:

• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
• Ability to lead effectively, mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
• Remains calm, in control and good humoured even under pressure;
• Proven networking, team-building, organizational and communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in law, Public Policy, Political Sciences, Public Administration or Sociology with 5 years of relevant working experience or a Bachelor’s degree with 7 years of relevant working experience.

Years of experience:

• Practical experience in local governance , legal drafting, legal or social/political research;
• Experience in working with a think tank, non-governmental or governmental institution in the field of research, provision of consulting services, advocacy, legal reform, policy analysis or similar;
• Previous experience in similar assignments for UNDP or other UN agency is an advantage.

Other requirements:

• Excellent time management and organizational skills;
• Accuracy and attention to details;
• An understanding of the state-citizen and democratic governance on sub-national levels in Afghanistan;
• Professional approach to time, costs and deadlines.

Language Proficiency:

The consultant must be proficient in Pashto and/or Dari languages. S/he should also have a working knowledge of written and spoken English language.

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

The contractor shall submit a price proposal as below:

• Daily Fee – The contractor shall propose a daily fee, which should be inclusive of the consultant’s professional fee, local communication and transportation costs. The number of working days for which the daily fee shall be payable under the contract is 40 working days;

The total professional fee, shall be converted into a lump-sum contract and payments under the contract shall be made on submission and acceptance of deliverables under the contract in accordance with the schedule of payment linked with deliverables.

Evaluation Method and Criteria:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis

The award of the contract shall 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%

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

Technical Criteria 70 points

Technical Proposal (30 marks)

• Technical Approach & Methodology (20 marks) – This explain the understanding of the objectives of the assignment, approach to the services, methodology for carrying out the activities and obtaining the expected output, and the degree of detail of such output. The Applicant should also explain the methodologies proposed to adopt and highlight the compatibility of those methodologies with the proposed approach;

• Work Plan (10 marks) – The Applicant should propose the main activities of the assignment, their content and duration, phasing and interrelations, milestones (including interim approvals by the Client), and delivery dates. The proposed work plan should be consistent with the technical approach and methodology, showing understanding of the TOR and ability to translate them into a feasible working plan.

Qualification and Experience (40 marks) [evaluation of CV, shortlisting]

• Relevant education (15 marks);

• Experience relevant to the assignment (25 marks).

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

Interested national consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document:

• Duly accomplished Confirmation of Interest and Submission of Financial Proposal Template using the template provided by UNDP (Annex II); contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.

• Personal CV

Technical Proposal:

• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;

• A methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment and work plan as indicated above;

• Comprehensive work plan for entire consultancy period.

Incomplete application will not be consider, it will be disqualified automatically.