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National Consultant Senior Advisor on CHT Accord Implementation and Confidence Building |
Procurement Process : | IC - Individual contractor |
Office : | CHTDF, UNDP, Rajbari Road, Rangamati - BANGLADESH |
Deadline : | 01-Aug-14 | Posted on : | 17-Jul-14 |
Development Area : | OTHER |
Reference Number : | 16906 |
Documents :
IC Procurement Notice Annex II_General Terms & Condition Annex III_Confirmation of Interest and Submission of Financial Proposal
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Overview : Twenty five years of protracted conflict in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) have left the majority of its inhabitants in conditions of extreme poverty, and tensions over land tenure, resource access, and ethno-demographics remain challenges to sustainable development. Three quarters of the population live below the national poverty line; 50% of primary-enrolled children drop out in their first few years; and it is estimated that 40% of the CHTs’ workforce is either unemployed or underemployed.
A CHT Peace Accord was signed in December 1997 and was recognized as a significant political achievement for the region which is home to 11 distinctive indigenous groups and Bengalis. It raised high expectations that it would serve as the cornerstone of a successful peace building process and as a means for opening up new opportunities for development. Relevant institutions have been established to support this process although not all subjects as per the CHT Peace Accord have yet been transferred to them, and several parts of the Peace Accord are yet to be implemented.
In partnership with the central and local Government of Bangladesh as well as CHT communities and NGOs, UNDP supports the Promotion of Development and Confidence Building in the Chittagong Hill Tracts through the Chittagong Hill Tracts Development Facility (CHTDF). Following the Preparatory Assistance phase (2003/2004), the initial phase of the Facility ran from December 2005 to September 2009. Building on this initial phase and as agreed in the National Steering Committee of the project conveyed in August 2008, the extended phase runs from October 2009 to September 2013 with an increased emphasis on providing capacity building support to all partner institutions as a prelude to eventual handover of project activities.
“Supporting Local Development in the Chittagong Hill Tracts” project funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by the UNDP CHT Development Facility was signed by the donor (EU) in October 2011 under the umbrella framework of the CHT Development Facility with an implementation timeframe of January 2011 and September 2013. The preliminary set of project activities began in January 2011.
The overall objective of the “Supporting Local Development in the Chittagong Hill Tracts” project is to create an enabling environment for local development, contributing to the achievement of local MDG targets in the CHT.
To reach the goal, the project has 2 (two) specific objectives and 5 (five) expected results.
These are;
Specific Objective 1: CHT Institutions have increased capacity to deliver services and support community development.
Expected Result 1.1: Capacities of local government institutions to advocate on CHT issues strengthened, in particular implementation of the CHT Peace Accord, resulting in enhanced clarity and consensus on CHT issues;
Expected Result 1.2: Capacities of local government institutions in the CHT strengthened, resulting in improved management systems for decentralized service delivery;
Expected Result 1.3: Participatory planning, budgeting, monitoring mechanisms among CHT institutions and stakeholders enhanced to contribute towards achievement of MDGs;
Specific Objective 2: Local organizations and communities empowered and their capacity enhanced to manage their own development
Expected Result 2.1: Communities are empowered to plan and implement small scale community projects;
Expected Result 2.2: Communities have increased access to economic opportunities and local services.
More specifically, through this project, the CHTDF intends to ensure a successful peace building process and improve the development conditions of the Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) peoples through community empowerment, economic development, capacity development of CHT institutions, confidence building, multi-level participatory planning and implementation, health and awareness-raising on gender and other cross cutting issues.
The accord suffers from clear policy standard and objectives and there is perceived lack of information and political commitment towards the implementation. The failures of successive Governments to fully implement the CHT Peace Accord have risks of destabilizing the region again. There is no visible coherent policy for CHT Peace Accord implementation and bringing sustainable peace and stability in the region. Moreover, personal and institutional interests of elites, conflict between different tribal organizations and distrust between Bengali–tribal people are affecting the implementation of the Peace Accord.
This consultancy assignment is to develop institutional arrangement with agreement for hiring a competent individual who has better understanding of the political context, security issues, different approaches to build political will, deep-rooted causes of the impediments to the CHT Peace Accord implementation as well as able to provide the means of political interaction by indigenous peoples with the government establishments. |
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