Procurement Notices

Project Title: SDG Localization - An Assessment of the MDG Family-Based Actions for Children and their Environs in the Slums Project (MDG FACES) Program

Background:

Localization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has been instrumental to the attainment of the eight (8) goals embodied under the Millennium Declaration signed by UN member-states in 2000. In an effort to localize MDGs, the Department of the Interior and Local Government through the Local Government Academy (DILG-LGA) in partnership with League of Cities of the Philippines and with support from UNDP and UN Habitat has launched and implemented the MDG Family-based Actions for Children and their Environs in the Slums (MDG FACES) Program in 2008 initially in 15 cities and has been expanded to cover 127 cities as of 2015. The program is an innovative platform of governance which recognized the need to empower local government units to be a dynamic partner of national government in responding to the challenges of the MDGs and engages the participation of families living in urban poor communities.

The program was designed to enhance capacities of urban poor women/mothers to identify issues, articulate their needs and set targets for their families, especially those of their children, make strategic choices and actions, and monitor their children’s progress to meet the MDGs with the Family MDG Covenant; develop and establish Quick Response Mechanisms at the household, city, and national levels to ensure that concrete actions are facilitated to provide solutions in addressing MDG issues affecting children in the slums, including the mobilization of national and local governments and other key sectors for policy, program, financial, and capacity-building support; and demonstrate models on rights-based actions and solutions tested by the community to address MDG deficits in basic services (education, health, food) and environment that directly impact on the quality of life of children in the slums.

Since its inception in 2008, the program has generated key results in terms of covering around 7,360 families, completing 6,700 Family Quick Action Guides, and implementing 60 Quick Response Mechanisms and demonstration projects in 127 cities that led to improved lives of families especially women with enhanced capacities and children enjoying their basic rights.

With the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in September 2015, challenges continue in terms of achieving a far more ambitious 17 goals as opposed to the previous 8 MDGs, and no less than 169 targets, as opposed to the previous 21 MDG targets. Goal 16 which is on governance (peace and justice and strong institutions) are central to UNDP’s current work and long-term plans. UNDP will support countries in three different ways, through the MAPS approach: mainstreaming, acceleration and policy support, making the UN’s policy expertise on sustainable development and governance available to governments at all stages of implementation. Localization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) remains an important process to ensure that multi-sectoral collaboration and empowerment of key stakeholders especially marginalized citizens are in placed at the local level.

As the country transitions from MDGs to SDGs, it is important to take stock of the knowledge, experiences, and good practices developed from MDG implementation, especially LGU investments that help transformed the lives of poor families, and build on the successful implementation of the MDG FACES program.

Objectives/Scope of Work

Using a Rapid Appraisal approach, this initiative will focus on conducting a study that will assess the impact of the MDG FACES program in enhancing not only the quality of governance at the local level but also the quality of lives of families and children beneficiaries of this program and identify entry points for scaling-up MDG FACES to SDG localization initiatives.

Specific objectives are as follows:

1) Select five (5) LGU/Cities study sites from the following eligible MDG-FACES cities (preferred cities are in italics):

Pasay City
Urdaneta City
Meycauayan City
Science City of Muñoz
San Jose City
Bacoor City
Calapan City
Naga City
Sagay City
Cadiz City
Cagayan de Oro City
Tagum City
Davao City
Panabo City
Tacurong City

2) Collect and analyze existing MDG-FACES data and information of families and children through the Child Monthly Report Card and Family MDG Covenant[1] that are available in five (5) LGUs/cities covered by the MDG-FACES project. The analysis will cover:

• Profiles of selected target families and children;
• A description of how the lives of the children and their families have been changed by MDG-FACES supported with evidences and references;
• A description of the interventions (activities, projects, programmes) implemented by the City governments that directly contributed to changed lives of children and their families

3) Map out and describe LGU (5) interventions from 2008 to 2015 such as budget and investments, local policies and ordinances, tools and mechanisms utilized in the implementation of MDG-FACES and describe the contribution of the MDG FACES in enhancing the governance system of the LGU;
4) Identify gaps and challenges that must be addressed to improved MDG FACES as a strategy for localizing the SDGs;
Map out good practices that can be replicated for scaling-up and future programming initiatives in localizing the SDGs;
5) Identify recommendations to improve the MDG-FACES tools for the localization of the SDGs;
Present the findings of the rapid assessment in an SDG Localization Workshop.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

It is expected that the Consultant will produce an Assessment Study that includes the following:

1. Profiles of selected target families and children from five (5) MDG-FACES project sites;
2. A description of how the lives of the children and their families have been changed by MDG-FACES supported with evidences and references;
3. A description of the interventions (activities, projects, programmes) implemented by the City governments that directly contributed to changed lives of children and their families;
4. A description of LGU interventions from 2008 to 2015 such as budget and investments, local policies and ordinances, tools and mechanisms utilized in the implementation of MDG-FACES and the overall contribution of the MDG FACES in enhancing the governance system of the LGU;
5. Gaps and challenges that must be addressed to improved MDG FACES as a strategy for localizing the SDGs;
6. Good practices that can be replicated for scaling-up and future programming initiatives in localizing the SDGs;
7. Recommendations to improve the MDG-FACES tools for the localization of the SDGs.

The assessment shall be carried out in five (5) selected cities covered under MDG FACES to be determined and agreed upon with LGA and UNDP.

• 20% -upon signing of contract and submission of inception report with strategy and work plan (5 days after signing of contract)
• 40% -upon submission and acceptance of draft assessment study (20 days after acceptance of inception report)
• 40% - upon submission and acceptance of final assessment study (15 days after acceptance of draft assessment)

Institutional Arrangement:

The Consultant shall work in collaboration with UNDP Democratic Governance Team and LGA. The UNDP CO and LGA shall directly supervise the Consultant and his/her output shall be approved and accepted by both the UNDP Democratic Governance Team and LGA. The LGA shall provide administrative and logistical support to the Consultant particularly in convening meetings/round table discussions/focus group discussions and/or in visiting sites, if necessary.

Duration of the Work:

The expected duration of engagement is f1.5 months. The Consultant will be requested to include weekends within the period of engagement as work days and will be required to travel, as the need arises.

Duty Station:

This engagement is output-based. The Consultant is not expected to report on a daily basis to UNDP. S/he shall be notified within a reasonable period of time of pertinent meetings where his/her presence is necessary. All consultation venues will be chosen according to accessibility, availability of appropriate facilities and peace and order.

Qualifications of the Successful Individual Expert

Theassessment requires demonstrated qualification, capacity and experience in local governance, decentralization, and community development. In particular, the consultant is expected to have the following skills and expertise:

Education:

• Must have advanced university degree/Masteral degree on public administration, public management, community development, development studies, and other social development courses;

Work Experience:

• Must have at least 5 years experience in conducting assessment of programs and initiatives in the areas of local governance, decentralization, public administration, and community development
• In-depth knowledge of local issues and challenges
• Must have a capacity to network and engage different partners and stakeholders both at the national and local levels;
• Excellent track record in producing quality reports, researches and publications
• Excellent facilitation skills with experience in leading multi-stakeholder discussions

Langauge:

• Knowledge about the UN system and process an advantage
• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English.

Applicants are requested to submit/upload in one file the following documents:

1. Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability that indicates professional fee only, as per template provided; If an Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, 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), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP;
2. Personal CV or P11, 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; 

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

The offers that will be received shall be evaluated based on the Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted a max of 70%, and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a max of 30%.

Application requirements may be emailed to procurement.ph@undp.org on or before 19 April 2017, Midnight New York, USA time.

[1] This Covenant is a document that contains the desired MDG targets and proposed actions each family is committed to achieve and act on. It helps in tracking the progress of every child’s MDGs by empowering women to manage the whole process of setting, meeting, and tracking the progress of the MDG targets as well as mitigating effects of external threats.

In view of the volume of applications UNDP receives, only shortlisted offerors will be notified.