National Consultant - District Facilitator - AVCB-II (# of Post 3)

Background

Project Title

Activating Village Courts in Bangladesh Phase II Project (hereinafter AVCB)

Background

With financial and technical support of Bangladesh Government, the European Union and UNDP Bangladesh, Local Government Division is implementing Activating Village Courts in Bangladesh Phase II Project in 1,080 unions of 128 upazilas under 27 districts of 8 divisions. Recently, the project activities have been expanded in 121 UP of 26 upazilas covering 3 districts in Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) region. The project is supporting to make Village Courts, operating under union parishads more active and functional for resolving disputes at the local level in an expeditious, transparent and affordable manner.

The overall objective of the project is to improve access to justice for disadvantaged and marginalized groups in Bangladesh. The expected output of the project is the Village Courts in selected UPs are activated, functioning and responsive to the needs of the local justice seekers. Programmes are targeted to build capacity and create awareness of the community members, service providers and other relevant stakeholders about village courts and its functions through several capacity building, awareness-raising and community mobilization initiatives. Besides, the project  focused on an outreach strategy to build coherence among the awareness raising interventions, facilitate synergy among similar/social development actors/NGOs in the project areas, responds to the differing needs and information sources for different segments of the population and initiate policy advocacy on particular agenda.

Objectives of the Assignment

The IC-National (District Facilitator -DF) will work under the technical guidance of the Project Manager and in close coordination with Project Coordination and Capacity Development Unit. DF’s role will be very much to guide and facilitate the planned activities designed under the leadership and management of respective DDLG and UNO at local level. Thus, the DF position will work being attached with district official as designated by the DDLG for performing those activities timely and effectively.

This position will be responsible for organizing, and facilitating different trainings, orientations, meetings, workshops, etc with different stakeholders as targeted by the project to be held at district and upazila level for achieving the objectives of the project in coordinate with the local administration.

To conduct frequent field visit at the union level under the assigned district(s) and monitor the progress of Village Courts performance by AACOs/Secretary to provide the technical support for qualitative documentation as well as PMIS data entry.     

Scope of Work:

• Work as a focal person for number of Districts of AVCB Phase II project for ensuring effective and timely implementation of different actions designed under Programme Coordination, Capacity Development, Monitoring and Evaluation component of the project. Perform those activities in coordination with Project Management Team and local administration (DCs, DDLGs and UNOs), UP Chairmen & members and other relevant key stakeholders;
• Assist Local Government Divisions in planning, implementation, management of each task for their output and ownership. Most importantly VC performance monitoring under the project area for their technical input and guidance for maintaining qualitative services and VC sustainability;
• Generally working in coordination with the local administration personnel in planning, implementation and oversight of Village Courts performance under the leadership of DDLG;
• Ensure and collect village court performance quarterly report of UP, Upazila and district level in specified formats under project area engaging support from local administration and follow-up the UPs based on performance for assigned districts;
• Ensure and collect village court performance monthly report where AACOs are onboard for assigned districts and submit to PMU;
• Arrange and facilitate different capacity building activities/events and awareness raising workshop/meeting for the UP representatives & officials and other relevant key stakeholders in consultation with Sr. Capacity Develpmenet Officer/Project Coordination Officers/M&E Officer for more sensitization and knowledge transfer on required procedure, documentation, qualitative services as well as monitoring reporting ;
• Assist and provide necessary inputs to local administration to organize District VCMC meeting conveyed by designated GOB officials for activating village courts;
• Conduct and facilitate Upazila Level bi-monthly coordination meeting with AACO/UP Secretary through online application under the guidance of UNO for their guidance on village court performance, documentation, monthly and quarterly report preparation, capacity building on particular issue and troubleshoot;
• Organize quarterly Coordination meeting for sustainability of VC by ensuring qualitative VC services for local people in participation of DC, DDLG and AACO/UP Secretary through online application (zoom) and in person focusing performance;
• Keep close contact with PMU at Dhaka for data and information sharing following prescribed format for completing timely report for Donor and GOB and Project documentation;
• Facilitate the concern GOB staff to prepare bill voucher following the guidance and to share with PMU for maintaining the standard as applicable; 
• Ensure proper distribution and usages of IEC materials following the guidelines given by PMU;
• Any other duties as assigned by the Project Manager.

Duties and Responsibilities

Expected output and Deliverables

Institutional Arrangements

• Individual Consultant (IC) will be supervised and monitored by Project Coordination Officer for regular communication, trouble shooting and way forward.
• IC will regularly follow-up, coordinate and communicate with local administration, beneficiaries, stakeholders etc. following guidance from the project and keep the team updated on relevant information by information and learning sharing.   
• Need to complete entire deliverables independently through desk works and field visits following instruction and guidance from the project. 
• Must submit monthly completion report for each deliverable for processing payment on regular basis as per given contract.

Inputs

• Project will not provide basic logistic supports like office set-up, laptop, modem, mobile SIM to carry forward the assigned tasks.  No Motor cycle except the local conveyance bill will be provided for field movement.

Duration of the Work

• Contract period is altogether for 60 working days over the period of 03 (three) calendar months with possible starting from 16 March to 15 June 2022 or 3 months from the starting day. 

Duty Station

• Duty station will be any of assigned district within the project area and required field visit as per deliverables and completion of the task.

Payment Modality

Payment will be made on monthly basis following contract provision based on set deliverables to be reviewed and certified  by Contract Administrator. For smooth payment, on time delivery completion of the deliverables is must unless any specific or meaning reasons (e.g. political unrest, disaster) hinder the deadline for a shortest period.

Timeframe and Deadlines

This contract is for a period of 60 working days over the period of 3 (three) calendar months. The deliverables should be provided as per the following schedule:

Competencies

Professional Competencies

• Strong leadership to manage and facilitate a team for achieving the goal;
• Ability to work in a team and interpersonal skills for facilitating and troubleshooting;
• Skill on report writing, data collection, communication and presentation skills are added value;
• The incumbent should also be competent and knowledgeable as regards justice issues, specially creating justice opportunities for the rural people by engaging local resources;
• The incumbent must be able to travel alone in remote areas for periods of several days;

Required Skills and Experience

Educational Qualifications:

Master’s ’s degree in public administration/Statistics/Social Science/Political Science, Law, Management and other related subjects. Master’s degree in the said discipline will be given preference.

Minimum Experience

• At least 5 years working experiences in Governance, local justice, community mobilization. Specially working with local Administration, Union Parishad in providing programme support at field level;

• At least 3 Years working experiences in any international organizations or national governments /legislatures for facilitation with different stakeholders at local level;
• Sound knowledge of local government in general;
• Able and willing to use local vehicle and public transport; 
• Experience in programme implementation working with UN/UNDP or international donor supported programmes would be an advantage;
• Experience with computers and office software packages and date entry experience is essential.
• Working with UN organization more that 2-3 years will be added value.
• Working experience on Village Court will be added value.  
• Must have experience on computer operation with MS Office software packages including Bangla composing.

Language requirements

• S/he must have excellent skills in written and spoken English and capacity to provide high-quality analytical inputs in a professional manner.
• Fluency of English and Bangla language is required.

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

The financial/price proposal should consist of lump sum figure all-inclusive, where the consultant will include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the ToR. The lump sum proposal will include professional remuneration/ fee, costs for local travel from residence to office within assignment location and back at home, petty expenses in connection with logistics/stationeries, communication purpose like internet bill and mobile etc. as per template provided and must quote in BDT.

The payment will be made on monthly basis upon submission of Invoice along with set deliverables report approved by the contract administrator. The Project Manager (Interim) will act his role as contract administrator for this contract.  

Travel and Per diem:

Travel costs must be at actual and this includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation and field travel. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket for this IC as DF. No air travel will be allowed. Field visit within the district and inter district incumbents has to be used public vehicle/transport. If the IC wish to travel on a higher class, he/she should do so using their own resources. Per-diem rate would be as per UNDP policy and compliance as applicable.  Expense for field visit will be addressed by the project upon submission of actual bill voucher following UNDP policy and procedures. 

The filed visit might be held by the District Facilitators in the Districts mentioned below (One District Facilitator might visit 5-7 Districts.):

Evaluation Method and Criteria

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology…

Cumulative Analysis

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%]

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 point or 70% would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points)

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 evaluatedy = maximum number of points for the financial proposalµ = price of the lowest priced proposal

z = price of the proposal being evaluated

Incomplete proposals may not be considered.

Recommended Presentation of Offer

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document: Maximum size per email is 7 MB.

Interested individuals must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications.

a) Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;

b) Personal CV, 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.

c)  Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided

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

d) Suppose an organization/company/institution employs an Offeror and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA). In this case, the Offeror must indicate this at this point and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated into the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.  

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

Note: The individual consultant who does not submit the above documents/requirements shall not be considered for further evaluation.

For any clarification regarding this assignment please write to ebidbox@undp.org