UNDP cần tuyển Tư vấn. Hạn chót nộp hồ sơ: 17/03/2008. Thông tin chi tiết như sau:
TERMS OF REFERENCE: Consultant for Review of Local Planning Processes
CONTRACT SPECIFICATIONS
Duration: estimate 40 days between March 1 to June 30th Deliverables: An: (1) inception report, (2) a ?report? (spreadsheet is likely format) taking stock of past work relevant to local planning (and budgeting) in Vietnam; (3) compilation and literature review of for past and current programs addressing local planning; and (4) research questions identified and collaborative field research strategies designed to further knowledge on local planning processes.
International consultant: 1 person.
Reporting official: Policy Advisor?Local Governance
Budget line: 20,000
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
Helping the government to develop and use quality information throughout the spectrum of public administration is consistent with donor and government commitments in the Ha Noi Core statement. Helping build a Public Administration committed to evidential decision making is a opportunity for the UNDP. Government commitment to decentralization highlights the need for information on practice below the provincial level. Lack of such threatens financial and economic governance at provincial level and below. Donor commitments to directly fund sub?provincial poverty reduction programs (P135, NTP) raise the ris ks of inefficient investment associated with poor data. Donors have contributed to creating and using evidence within public administration at the local level through such projects as RIDEF (UNDP), VDP (GTZ), and the currently running Chia Se (SIDA) and CBRIP (WB). Too, there are projects directly focused on improving local planning processes (SLGP?UNDP; PPR?BTC, etc.). Government and donors will benefit, now and in future planning, from a review of this past work done in planning and budgeting processes.1
1 Recommendations from the PAR Forum, Jan 2008; Ha Noi: UNDP
2 A multi?year multi?phase program of research that addresses this issues begins with a stock?taking of past and current work, continues with field research, and concludes with a third phase of results dissemination. These ToRs describe the first Phase: (1) a stock taking of past and current donor projects relevant to the local governance process; along with,(2) a literature review of existing information relevant to the major projects; and, (3) a research design(s) for field work to be conducted collaboratively with Vietnamese researchers.
OBJECTIVE OF THE CONSULTANCY
To provide a stock?taking of past work in local planning (and budgeting) processes, and compile preliminary information on up?take and use, by the Government of Vietnam, of strategies and recommendations. This work will generate hypotheses and strategies for field research, to be undertaken collaboratively with Vietnamese researchers.
SCOPE OF THE ASSIGNMENT (METHOD)
– A compilation and desk review of project documents for the major donor?assisted projects relevant to local level planning.
– Interviews with relevant parties: donor staff and also government counterparts (or former counterparts if the projects are closed).
– Regular and close consultation with the UNDP Policy Advisor on scope and progress of work. This should begin with an inception report providing (1) preliminary assessment of documentation available, (2) some indication of what can be readily gathered, and (3) a plan of work. A second review meeting will be scheduled to frame the writing of the two reports (outlined below).
DELIVERABLES AND OUTPUTS:
The detailed desk review is to be approached in steps:
1. Inception: A preliminary survey of the overall domain of work, survey of what documentation is available and proposal for efficient strategies to undertake the work. Deliverable: an inception report. This report will provide a list of the donor projects involving substantial planning and budgeting elements. It will provide the consultant and UNDP with an assessment of the universe of information possible and an idea of what is available and can be gathered. It will then propose the consultants work strategy and set realistic expectations for the outcomes. Importantly, the inception report should address, though it need not establish, the capacity?building possibilities for working with Vietnamese researcher organizations.
2. Stock?taking: A collection of all material to be submitted to desk review. An overview and construction of a database to capture the relevant important
3 dimensions of the projects. The data base detail to be worked out in collaboration with the UNDP policy advisor. Deliverable: A report taking ?stock? of work that was planned and implemented. This report is to review the breadth of work done at local level: those projects directly involved in economic governance (ie.: RIDEF (UNDP), CBRIP (WB), P135 (GoV), the VDP (GTZ), and Chia Se (SIDA)) and rural development projects with significant components of capacity development in planning and budgeting?(ie.: RUDEP (AusAID), IFAD, and CIDA projects). A spreadsheet of inf ormation will capture the overall data survey. The report will also document the actual strategies and approaches of the large project interventions as well as the issues these strategies addressed.
3. Desk Review:
This focuses the stock?taking on selected high impact large scale projects that can offer the best information about local planni ng and budgeting practices and strategies for their improvement. Deliverable: A second report will review past project progress on planning reform and project strategy adoption through review and analysis of existing implementation documentation (MTRs, concept notes, training materials, Final reviews, etc.). It is likely to require interviews and may require preliminary travel to gather such information.
4. Proposal for Field Research and Capacity Building: The final output for this consultancy will be a report on research options with high benefit options selected and research protocols proposed and budgeted. The desk review phase will produce various research ideas, study issues, and hypotheses. These are to be compiled and subjected, in consultation with the UNDP policy advisor, to cost?benefit review for information and capacity building value. While this will likely be done on as a rolling process, this final stage of the consultancy is to ensure these are collected, compiled and presented on a similar format so that t hey can be compared, the decision criteria for selection clearly identified, the research strategy outlined, and the field research costs. Because it is expected that fi eld research will be conducted with Vietnamese partners this may require a stock?taking of the identified organization?s capacity for research.
Deliverable: Research designs, with identified partners, level of effort and budgets. The identified and selected research strategies should include locations and the potential local contacts that will help ensure success. Where it includes capacity building efforts it should also have built in ?redundancies? sufficient to ensure that the overall objectives of the program are not threatened by poor performance of (any particular) research team developing its capacity.
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE OF CONSULTANT
Education: ? A PhD in a social science discipline with qualitative and quantitative research skills.
– Fluent in Vietnamese and English.
Work Experience:
– Extensive knowledge of the issues in local governance developed through extensive (10 years) experience in consultation to relevant (planning, budgeting, and rural development) projects in Vietnam.
Key Competencies of the assignment:
– A network of relevant contacts in the area of local planning and budgeting. ? The consultant to the current work may be invited to lead and manage the field research PHASE (Phase II of the multi?year program). Ability to lead and mentor development of social science research skills is highly desirable. ?
Excellent communication, interpersonal skills and team building ability and the ability to work effectively in an international environment.
– Good organisation, conceptualisation and analytical skills, initiative and sound judgement; the candidate should have the ability to work with minimum supervision.
– Full command of Vietnamese and English, good writing skills, good computer and presentation skills.
