Background
Modern Parliament for a Modern Armenia (MAP) project is designed to strengthen the National Assembly in its new and fundamentally enhanced role within the governance system in carrying out key functions of law-making, oversight, and representation. With a long-term goal of enhancing the overall effectiveness of the Parliament as a policy-making institution, the project is designed to support the newly elected National Assembly to take the advantage of the modern governance tools and mechanisms that are focusing on improved quality, transparency and inclusiveness of parliamentary operations and enhanced parliamentary capacity for gender-responsive policymaking.
The three components of the project are focused on the areas of Legislative capacity, Legislative transparency, and Legislative responsiveness. To that end, a three-stage strategy will be applied: (i) catalytic stage of needs assessment, strategic agenda-setting, and pilots of the designed approaches, (ii) full-fledged implementation of the strategic agenda, tested approaches and activities, (iii) evaluation of the implementation, policy recommendations, and project closure.
Armenia’s current political landscape clearly reflects the Government’s drive to reform and modernize the governance system. Priority areas of the Government for the upcoming five years cover strengthened protection of human rights, poverty alleviation, development of democratic institutions including strong and independent judiciary, introduction of effective checks and balances between three branches of power, combatting corruption, modernization of education sector, public administration reform including public finance management and mechanisms for enhanced accountability and transparency of public institutions, etc.
One of the components is development of Research and Training Center. There are different models for parliamentary research centres around the world. Moreover, various members of the Parliament and the Staff have different perspectives on the nature of the assistance expected by the Centre to the National Assembly.
A technical working group composed of several Members of the National Assembly, its staff and experts of contributing international organizations will be convened to discuss and define the functions and design of the Centre and to agree on a common vision for the Centre. A short-term international expert will be recruited to work with the group, together with the UNDP MAP Project Team. International partners contributing to the Centre include USAID through members of its consortium of IRI and NDI, GIZ and others.
Duties and Responsibilities
Objective of this assignment is to assist the National Assembly in the development of the content and organisation of the training component within the Research and Training Centre. The consultant will act under the overall supervision of UNDP MAP Project CTA and the Associate Project Coordinator.
Consistent with the above general scope, the Consultant will perform the following duties:
- To work with the Working Group on the Research and Training Center in the National Assembly, as well as other Members and Staff of the National Assembly, to map various perspectives of the functions and other aspects of the Center.
- To work together with the UNDP MAP project team and partners to identify and consolidate the best international practices in relation to parliamentary training centres.
- To lead the work on producing and presenting the first draft of a comprehensive roadmap on the organisation, development and delivery of training programmes at the Centre to UNDP;
- To produce a second draft of the roadmap integrating the feedback received from stakeholders when appropriate.
- To facilitate a workshop or remote consultations of the Working Group aiming at adopting the Final Training Roadmap.
- To facilitate the establishment of network with other national and international training centers, academia, think tanks, universities and expert community.
- To lead the work on implementation of the roadmap, including the development of initial learning materials, knowledge products and training modules (both in-person and online).
- To closely coordinate the activities with those of other international partners aimed at assisting the Research and Training Center, such as USAID, IRI, NDI, and GIZ.
Key activities/deliverables:
Desk research to produce:
- An initial discussion document to assist the Working Group on the Research and Training Centre, covering:
- (a) different models of parliamentary training;
- (b) the key issues that need to be considered when planning a new parliamentary training centre
- Develop questionnaires for deputies and parliamentary staff to gather data with regard to their training needs.
- Conducting an analysis of the data collected from deputies and staff that will be reflected in the training roadmap
- (a) different models of parliamentary training;
- (b) the key issues that need to be considered when planning a new parliamentary training centre
Assist and advise the Working Group on the Research and Training Centre by:
- Providing high level advice and expertise based on the experiences of a wide range of other parliaments.
- Identifying and analyzing the needs for and expectations of a training centre, and any constraints, among deputies, staff of Parliament, and together with international partners and other relevant stakeholders in Armenia.
- Producing a comprehensive roadmap on the training component of the Research and Training Centre, based on appropriate international best practices, which is realistic and feasible, affordable and sustainable, and considers the role and staffing of the current Expertise and Analytical Department.
Making recommendations to facilitate the practical implementation of the roadmap. This may, if appropriate, include (but not be limited to) producing drafts of:
- a service charter;
- a medium-term strategy;
- a business plan;
- job descriptions.
Supporting the initial implementation of the training roadmap, including:
- Development of initial learning materials;
- Drafting of concept papers for drafting of knowledge products;
- Designing an initial set of training modules – both for in-class and online courses
Expected deliverables:
Description of deliverables
Delivery time
01 August 2020
01 September 2020
15 September 2020
01 November 2020
1 December 2020
Payment mode:
Payment will be conducted in the following installments upon completion of the tasks under each output and approval of deliverables by UNDP MAP Project
- Output 1,2 – 40% of total amount
- Output 3,4 – 40% of total amount
- Output 5 – 20% of total amount
If the conditions change and travel to Armenia is feasible, in addition to the consultancy fee the expert will be paid the cost of economy class round trip ticket, terminal and visa (if needed) expenses, as well as DSA during in country missions according to the established UNDP rates and procedures.
Terms and Conditions for provision of services:
- The assignment will be a combination of in country mission and the desk study; Given the current global pandemic, no country visits to Armenia is envisaged. All work, including to conduct interviews, gather first-hand information, present project scope and overall strategy, and provide inputs into discussions around project log-frame and implementation strategy at the concept design stage will done virtually and home-based;
- UNDP reserves a right to terminate the contract at any phase if the requirements as per the TOR are not met.
Preliminary List of Training Topics for the National Assembly of Armenia’s Research & Training Centre
1. Training Topics for Deputies
- Parliamentary skills - to be covered initially in induction programmes for new deputies but also important on a continuing basis. This could be delivered by a mix of senior National Assembly staff, experienced deputies, external experts and NGOs. For example:
- The legislative process
- The work of committees
- Oversight mechanisms
- Ethics and conflicts of interest
- Rules of Procedure
- Gender equality
- Parliamentary diplomacy
- Office essentials, for example:
- Microsoft Office skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)
- Data protection
- Safety and security at work
- Management of staff
- Cyber-security
- Policy Development expertise
- Language skills
- The budget and taxation
- Drafting legislation
- Latest developments in specific public policy issues in Armenia and other countries
- Developments in the European Union
- Finding information on the Internet (especially for assistants and faction staff)
- General research skills (especially for assistants and faction staff)
- Online news sources
- Online legal sources
- Representation and engagement
- Dealing effectively with the media
- Dealing effectively with citizens
- Engaging effectively with other parliaments
- Speech writing
- Using social media effectively
- Personal development, including
- Effective public speaking in a parliamentary context
- Time management
- Conflict management
- The legislative process
- The work of committees
- Oversight mechanisms
- Ethics and conflicts of interest
- Rules of Procedure
- Gender equality
- Parliamentary diplomacy
- Microsoft Office skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)
- Data protection
- Safety and security at work
- Management of staff
- Cyber-security
- Effective public speaking in a parliamentary context
- Time management
- Conflict management
2. Training for National Assembly staff
- Understanding Parliament, including:
- Short courses on different aspects of how parliament works for all newly recruited staff
- Finding parliamentary documentation
- Short courses on different aspects of how parliament works for all newly recruited staff
- Finding parliamentary documentation
- Office essentials, for example:
- Microsoft Office skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)
- Data protection
- Management of staff?
- Microsoft Office skills (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)
- Data protection
- Management of staff?
- Developing expertise
- Language skills (for example advanced and legal English; intermediate French)
- Research skills
- Writing clear reports
- Using and presenting statistics
- Online news sources
- Online legal sources
- Personal Development
- Time management
- Teamwork skills
- Professional development
- Support for professional qualifications (for example accountancy or information science)
- Support for formal qualifications such as Masters’ degrees
- Support for participation in other national and international physical or virtual courses.
- Language skills (for example advanced and legal English; intermediate French)
- Research skills
- Writing clear reports
- Using and presenting statistics
- Online news sources
- Online legal sources
- Time management
- Teamwork skills
- Support for professional qualifications (for example accountancy or information science)
- Support for formal qualifications such as Masters’ degrees
- Support for participation in other national and international physical or virtual courses.
3. Induction programmes for newly-elected deputies
4. Some of this training would lead to the creation of manuals, ‘how to’ guides and the like which themselves
Competencies
- Understanding of the legislative processes and the mechanisms to enhance the law-making and policy-making capacity;
- Understanding of and practical exposure to the institutional and operational framework of the parliament operation in the countries with economies in transition;
- Strong interpersonal skills with ability to establish and maintain effective work relationships with people of different social and cultural backgrounds;
- Strong track record with producing high quality training g programmes and materials;
- Proven knowledge of communication tools, and excellent writing skills;
- Excellent coordination and collaboration skills, with ability to work under time pressure and handle multiple activities and projects concurrently;
- Extensive knowledge and experience with multi-stakeholder consultation tools;
- Ability to balance objectivity with sensitivity and diplomacy when discussing controversial issues;
- Ability to work independently and to participate effectively in a team-based information sharing;
- Good computer literacy, knowledge of MS office software and web-based applications.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
- Advanced University Degree (MSc, MA or PhD) in International Development, Public Administration, Political/Social Sciences, Law or other relevant discipline(s). A relevant university degree in combination with qualifying experience in the establishment of an educational institution, design may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
Experience:
- At least 10 years of proven experience in training & research centers or academia in the area of public sector modernization, parliament modernization is an asset;
- Proven practical experience in parliamentary capacity development; experience in coaching/mentoring/assisting team of consultants;
- Experience in designing and implementing training programmes.
Languages:
- Proficiency in the English language is required.
Evaluation Method and Criteria
Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:
Cumulative analysis
The award of the contract shall 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 set of weighted technical criteria (70%). and financial criteria (30%). Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment.
Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 70 points)
- Criteria 1 (Minimum requirement) Post Graduate qualifications- Max 15 points
- Criteria 2: (Minimum requirement) At least 10 years of experience in the training center development/academia-Max 20 points
- Criteria 3: Proven experience in parliamentary development-Max 20 points
- Criteria 4: Proven experience in developing and implementing training programmes-Max 10 points
- Criteria 5: Fluency in English- Max 5 points
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.
DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE APPLICATION.
- Financial Proposal and Availability form:OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP? (total lump-sum option is applicable for this assignment)
- CV shall include Education/Qualification, Processional Certification, Employment Records /Experience
General Conditions of Contract?is available here: GENERAL CONDITIONS OF CONTRACT
Note: Please note you can upload only one document to this application (scan all documents in one single PDF file to attach).