UNDP National Consultants for Enactment of Legal Provisons for Social Services at Local Level 169 views

UNDP is the development arm of the United Nations system, with offices in 180 countries. Globally, the organization employs 17,000 people and manages a budget of USD 5 billion each year.

The UNDP office in Skopje employs a team of 65 and currently manages a portfolio of projects in environmental protection, good governance and social inclusion worth USD 15 million per year.

UNDP is seeking for a National consultant specialized in legal aspects of the social policies and services in the country that shall provide support towards harmonization and advancement of the current implementation of the Community Works Programme (CWP) in line with the newly adopted national legislation, mainly in the area of Social Protection. National consultant is expected to support the operationalization process of the Municipal Social Protection Council, as a new body envisaged in the Law on Social Protection, providing recommendations for its scope of work, roles and responsibilities.

The country’s decentralized system of local government aims to improve the quality, efficiency and inclusiveness of public services by bringing local governments closer to the people. However, many municipalities struggle to fulfill their responsibilities for social protection, education and healthcare. The 2012 saw the introduction of an innovative programme challenging social exclusion on two fronts at once. The Community Works Programme (CWP) was designed to tackle social exclusion by offering unemployed people the opportunity to gain valuable working skills while providing services to those who are most at risk of social exclusion. Piloted in 4 municipalities, by Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (MLSP), Employment Service Agency (ESA) and UNDP, the programme very soon gain in popularity among municipalities. In its eight cycle of implementation in 2019 it covered 64 municipalities including City of Skopje that have built their capacities through CWP how to plan, design and deliver social services at local level in co-operation with the local units of the MLSP and ESA. Nowadays it is an integral part of the country’s employment strategy and is one of the active labour market measures stated in the Operational Employment Plan of the Government.

The MLSP, ESA and UNDP continue to join forces to build an innovative approach, which will support social services provision at local level and encourage gradual inclusion of the most vulnerable citizens in the labour market. The specific activities eligible under CWP primarily target the elderly people; pre-school children, children and people with disabilities; citizens of rural areas and elderly.

Moreover, a new four-year project funded by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation, to be implemented by UNDP, in one of the main objectives shall work to generate innovative policy and programming solutions to help Roma and persons with disabilities to access the labour market while delivering services for broader social inclusion.

UNDP believe that with the modernization of services provided through CWP will secure additional benefit of all the members of the community and contribute to promote the welfare of the society in general.

Objective of the Assignment

The overall aim of this consultancy is to support the UNDP in upgrading the system for development and implementation of social services at local level in line with the with the new legislation, piloting the transfer of ownership over the implementation structure of CWP. Assignment will be focused in development of capacities within municipalities, as the main implementing partner, i.e. Municipal Social Protection Council (MSPC) as an advisory instrument of Municipal Council their role and responsibilities for prompt response to citizens’ needs, providing participatory involvement of all local actors in the field of social services, and by using a different mechanisms of service delivery ensure service sustainability.

In order to broaden the discussion with other relevant stakeholders on social services and opportunities enabled with the new Law on Social Protection, UNDP will organize, through regular activities of CWP 2020, a info meetings with key actors at local level in order to familiarize municipalities with a new legislation, to portray the process and empathize the needs for local partnerships, underlining future potentials in the social sphere. The consultant is expected to be a part of facilitation of the above-mentioned meetings. In addition, the consultant is expected to provide a mentorship of the new processes envisaged in the Law on Social Protection in pre-selected pilot municipalities and give the recommendations to be included in the CWP 2021.

Scope of Work

The methodology of work will consist of desk review of relevant project documentation and direct consultations with the project team and other key local stakeholders involved during the assignment. Guidance material will be provided by UNDP and will include, but not be limited to the following:

• Operational Guidelines for Community Works Programme
• Success stories “Community Works Programme”

Moreover, consultant is expected to:

• bring closer a new legislation on social protection to municipalities and other relevant local actors, during the information meetings to be organized with municipalities interested to participate in CWP 2020
• to explain a role of newly established bodies – Municipal Social Protection Council (MSPC) as an advisory instrument of Municipal Council, an obligation imposed by the newly adopted Law on Social Protection
• to train members of Municipal Social Protection Council (MSPC) on their role and scope of action concerning the strategic planning in social protection
• to lead, advise, mentor and prepare 2 pilot municipalities in order to implemented CWP in accordance with new legislation
• to provide recommendations on the content of the CWP in the 2021 Operational Plan and harmonization of the CWP Operational Guidelines with the legislative changes and solutions adopted

Expected outputs and deliverables:

The consultancy is expected to deliver the following outputs:

Institutional arrangment

The consultant will work under direct supervision by the UNDP Social Inclusion Unit Staff. He/ She will be in regular communication with the supervisor through e-mail and will provide regular progress reports on bi-weekly basis. All communication and reports will need to be prepared in English language. UNDP Social Inclusion Unit Staff estimated lead time to review outputs, give comments, certify approval/acceptance of outputs, etc. shall be within 5 working days.

In course of performing the job, the consultant will need to organize meetings with the Ministry of Labour and Social Policy and the Employment Service Agency in the country. The UNDP office will assist with scheduling these meetings.

Duration of the work

The assignment shall commence on 1st of June 2020 and the tasks should be completed latest by 30th of January 2021.

Duty station and travel

This assignment covers period between June 2020-January 2021, in the country as following:

• At least ten days for participating and facilitating the information meetings to be organized with municipalities interested to participate in CWP 2020 where Brief Guidelines concerning establishment, role and responsibilities of the Municipal Social Protection Council as per the Law on Social Protection shall be presented. The estimated days encompass development of a Brief Guidelines concerning establishment, role and responsibilities of the Municipal Social Protection Council
• At least twenty days for preparation and provision of eight one-day trainings in all 8-planning region with relevant local actors, including days for preparation of a Guidelines for the work of the Municipal Social Protection Councils
• At least fourteen days for field work in pilot municipalities (at least two days per month per municipality in period of June – December 2020)
• At least six days for development of recommendation to be reflected in the content of the CWP in the 2021 Operational Plan, including harmonization of the CWP Operational Guidelines with the legislative changes

If unforeseen travel is requested by UNDP and not required by the Terms of References (ToR), such travel shall be covered by UNDP in line with applicable rules and regulations and upon prior written agreement.

The selected candidate shall possess:

• Advanced university degree in Law, Social Sciences or related disciplines, where specialization in social welfare systems, social protection, labor market inequalities and sustainable growth shall be considered as an asset
• Minimum 10 years of progressively responsible relevant experience in social welfare systems, social protection, where experience in legal aspects related to social protection labor shall be considered as an asset
• Record of at least 3 assignments related to the regulatory framework or/and legal revisions focused on social welfare systems
• Record of at least 2 developed manuals, policy papers, assessment reports, in a role of an author or co-author, where focus on legal social welfare aspects shall be considered as an asset
• Excellent writing and oral communication skills in English

Criteria for selection of best offer

The award of the contract shall be made to the offeror whose offer has been evaluated and determined using Cumulative analysis methodology. When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) Being responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) Having received the highest score based on the following weight of technical and financial criteria for solicitation as per the schedule below:

* Technical criteria weight: 70%

* Financial criteria weight: 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70%) in the technical evaluation shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

For the considered offers in the financial evaluation only, the lowest price offer will receive 30 points. The other offers will receive points in relation to the lowest offer, based on the following formula: (Pn / Pl) * 30 where Pn is the financial offer being evaluated and Pl is the lowest financial offer received.

Technical Criteria:

Documents to be submitted

Interested offerors, are invited to submit the following documents/information to be considered:

1. Offeror’s letter, as per the following form LINK
2. Most updated CV with focus on required qualification as well as the contact details of at least three (3) professional references;
3. Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment
4. List of relevant assignment as per the section criteria
5. Financial Proposal The financial proposal must be expressed in the form of a lumpsum all-inclusive cost*, supported by breakdown of costs as per template provided in MK Denars for this consultancy as per deliverables (The term “All inclusive” implies that all costs (professional fees, travel costs, living allowances, communications, consummables, etc.) that could possibly be incurred by the Contractor are already factored into the final amounts submitted in the proposal).

Failure to submit complete set of all four required documents will result in disqualification from the process.

Payments will be made only upon confirmation from UNDP on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner.

Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE

Step 1

1. Click on the “Apply now” button

2. Input your information in the appropriate sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume, and motivation (cover letter). You can type in or paste your short Resume into the last box.

3. Upon completion of the first page, please hit “submit application” tab at the end of the page. On the next page, you will be asked to upload other required documents listed in the step 2.

Step 2

Interested individual consultants must submit the documents/information listed in the “Documents to submit section” above.

The system will allow only one attachment. Therefore, please upload all required documents as one file.

Failing to submit any of these documents may result in disqualification of the application.

Please note that shortlisted candidates might be interviewed.

If the deliverables are not produced and delivered by the consultant to the satisfaction of UNDP as approved by the responsible Portfolio Manager, no payment will be made even if the consultant has invested man/days to produce and deliver such deliverables.