National Expert to develop the curriculum and advise on production of a digital learning course “Public Policy: Introduction to Contemporary Approaches and Practical Tools” for the Osvita.diia.gov.ua Portal 88 views

The project builds on extensive UNDP experience in two areas: administrative service reform and reengineering and digitalising public administration processes with broad citizen and expert engagement. As part of the project, UNDP will help the government partners – primarily MDT – select several service clusters in use by citizens representing vulnerable groups. Services will be packaged to accommodate everyday needs and transposed into a fully digital format. Alternatively, sections of the service business-process will be digitally transformed.

The Government will partner with UNDP to ensure that authorities (civil servants) and the Parliament gain a deeper understanding of the ‘Human Rights Based Approach’ in the context of e-services, in particular by working more closely with the Secretariat of the Human Rights Commissioner and national human rights institutions of other countries. The project will also actively engage the population (citizen-clients) to build digital literacy, cyber hygiene, and nurture confidence in new solutions.

At the global level, the digitalisation of customer-oriented services and the development of mobile technologies that involve citizens in creating new solutions while leaving no one behind meet several Sustainable Development Goals at once. The creation of digital services – particularly mobile-based – contributes to an improvement in the quality of public administration and a reduction in corruption.

This, in turn, promotes the development of effective, accountable and inclusive public institutions capable of responding to the needs of women and men belonging to different groups, in line with Goal 16 to ‘Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.’ For example, when applied in the access to justice sector, such services contribute to supporting the rule of law, so that no citizen is left behind.

Goal 9 to ‘Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialisation and foster innovation’ aims to improve access to information and communication technologies. In the Ukrainian context, this means expanding access to digital/mobile-based services outside large cities and in localities that have not yet benefitted from the latest generation of telecommunications technologies (at least 3G Internet).

Another aspect related to creating more accessible and inclusive electronic or mobile services is in line with Goal 4 to ‘Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.’

The implementation of digital solutions will also contribute to Goal 5 to “Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.” Gender mainstreaming can positively impact equal opportunities of women and men, especially in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The ‘Your State in Your Smartphone’ initiative launched in Ukraine, will only succeed if appealing and accessible civic digital education is developed and widely implemented to help close digital gaps in knowledge and skills, and bridge the digital divide between generations and groups of Ukrainians with different social backgrounds.

No less important for proper project implementation is the increased awareness and capacity of the civil servants at large to understand the concepts of human-centred policy design and creation of inclusive policy options. As such, amongst its many objectives, the project envisages that MDT employees, Chief Digital Transformation Officers in state agencies, as well as specialists working in line-ministries or the Parliament will learn more about the Human Rights Based Approach to crafting services for citizen-clients and about digital transformation of public services in general.

As a first step on this path, UNDP is cooperating with MDT to design and produce an entry-level interactive course for mid-level civil servants to be placed on the Osvita.diia.gov.ua Portal. As such, UNDP is seeking a highly qualified adult educator and training expert to help develop the materials underlying the course. This expert is also expected to adapt the materials to the formats used on the Osvita.diia.gov.ua Portal and to develop a knowledge verification toolkit to make sure that sufficient knowledge was obtained by the course users.

The main objective of the assignment is to design and produce a comprehensive curriculum for the “Public Policy: Introduction to Contemporary Approaches and Practical Tools” course (the exact name of the course may be altered) in such a way, that it may be presented in an engaging format of the Osvita.diia.gov.ua Portal.

3. Scope of services

It is expected that the Expert will engage in the following types of activities:

1. Participate in working meetings of MDT, UNDP or other stakeholders to finalize the number of themes to be covered in the course, their sequence and depth of coverage;
2. Based on the result of those meetings, the draft detailed course outline (curriculum) for approval by all stakeholders of the course production process;
3. Study materials already developed by UNDP Ukraine or by other country offices in the region to see if synergies may be found and to make sure that overall messages are compatible;
4. Develop course materials and other relevant materials for production phase;
5. Design a testing system to validate that the users have obtained the required knowledge, and that UNDP is able to collect the metrics it needs for its monitoring and evaluation system;
6. Act as a lector and deliver course. Video capturing and editing is not a part of this ToR.
7. Assist MDT with integration of the resulting video, text and interactive materials Osvita.diia.gov.ua Portal.

While the ultimate configuration of the course is to be discussed and agreed upon by all relevant stakeholders, the approximate contents and thematic blocks could be summarized as follows. The course is created and administered in Ukrainian:

• Module ? 1: What is public policy and how is it formed?
  • The   specifics of public policy and its difference from the “struggle for power”, “rights” and “governance”
  • Analysis as a rational procedure for shaping public policy
  • Public policy as a sphere of realization of human rights and solution of social problems. Cyclical structure of public policy
  • Public policy as a scene of balancing public interests
• Module ? 2: The problem of public policy
  • Problem situation and policy problem. Human rights violations and specific gender restrictions as a basis for policy initiation
  • Analysis of the problem of public policy. Types of causes of policy problems
  • Indicators that describe the problem of public policy
  • Getting the problem on the “government agenda”
• Module ? 3: Interest as the basis of policy
  • Who are the stakeholders and why work with them in the policy-making process?
  • Interest as an unrealized human right. Types of interests in public policy
  • Identification and classification of “interested parties”. Men and women as different stakeholders
  • Forms of participation and inclusion of ” interested parties ” in public policy
• Module number 4: “Variants of state policy ”  
  • Public policy option: goals, tools, forecasting and measurement
  • Limitations, risks, dependencies and uncertainties of public policy
  • Criteria for evaluating policy options. Realization of human rights and equal opportunities for men and women as a filter for the selection of public policy options
  • Choosing optimal option for public policy
• Module ? 5: Influence as the essence of public policy
  • Evaluation and monitoring of public policy
  • The structure of influence and criteria for its evaluation.
  • Types of public policy evaluation and revision
  • Specifics of gender policy analysis

4. Measurable outputs of the work assignment/deliverables:

5. Management arrangements

The Expert will be primarily responsible for achieving the objectives of the assignment. The Expert will report to the Project Manager and will work closely with representatives of the Democratic Governance Portfolio of UNDP in Ukraine.

The Expert will be responsible for all personal administrative expenses associated with the assignment, which include printing costs, stationery, telephone, and electronic communication. In case any public events are planned jointly by the Expert and UNDP as part of the present assignment, the Expert will not be responsible for logistics of events. UNDP will cover the conference costs (including possible printing, food, accommodation and etc.) on its own.

6. Monitoring requirements / Terms of payment

The Expert will work under the overall supervision of the Project Manager. The Expert will interact with UNDP to receive any clarifications and guidance that may be needed. The Expert will duly inform UNDP of any problems, issues or delays arising in the course of implementation of assignment and take necessary steps to address them.

UNDP will be the final authority to control the quality and evaluate the work. The satisfactory completion of each of the deliverables shall be subject to the endorsement of the Project Manager. Each deliverable will be delivered in a draft for comments and feedback before finalisation. No reports or documents should be published or distributed to third parties without the approval of UNDP.

All reports and results are to be submitted to the UNDP in electronic form (*.docx, *.xlsx, *.pptx, and *.pdf or other formats accepted by UNDP). The language of the materials and reports is Ukrainian.

UNDP will provide payment upon provision of each deliverable duly certified by UNDP in accordance with the schedule below:

Deliverable 1.   30%

Deliverable 2.      70%

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favouritism;
• Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment

• Advanced university degree (Specialist) or equivalent in Public Policy, Public Administration, social sciences (political science, philosophy, sociology) or related field;
• At least 5 (five) years of experience in public policy, public administration, results-based management;
• At least 3 (three) years of experience in developing adult learning materials (university courses, interactive online courses, training courses for civil servants or other similar activities);
• Experience with training civil servants on issues related to human rights, gender equality, inclusiveness of the policy process;
• Experience in developing public policy documents in the Government of Ukraine;
• Native / fluent Ukrainian. At least working-level knowledge of English.

9. Documents to be included when submitting the proposal

10. Financial Proposal

Lump sum contract

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (please, refer to Section 4 Measurable outputs of the work assignment/deliverables). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of Cost by Components.

11. Evaluation Criteria

•  Educational background – 10 pts max
  • 10 pts – PhD or similar in Public Policy, Public Administration, social sciences (political science, philosophy, sociology) or related field;
  • 8 pts –Specialist’s degree or equivalent in Public Policy, Public Administration, social sciences (political science, philosophy, sociology) or related field.

• Experience in public policy, public administration, results-based management – 15 pts max
  • 15 pts – 8 and more years of relevant experience;
  • 12 pts – from 6 to 7 years of relevant experience;
  • 10 pts – at least 5 years of relevant experience;

• Experience in developing adult learning materials (university courses, interactive online courses, training courses for civil servants or other similar activities) – 15 pts max
  • 15 pts – 6 or more years of demonstrated experience;
  • 12 pts – from 4 to 5 years of demonstrated experience;
  • 10 pts – at least 3 years of demonstrated experience;

• Experience with training civil servants on issues related to human rights, gender equality, inclusiveness of the policy process – 5 pts max
  • 5 pts – practical experience of training in all listed areas;
  • 3 pts – practical experience of training in at least one of the listed areas;

• Experience developing public policy documents in the Government of Ukraine – 10 pts max
  • 10 pts – experience in developing public policy documents at the KMU level;
  • 7 pts – experience in developing public policy documents at the level of a separate ministry;

• Quality of the methodology proposed (no more than 5 pages, Times New Roman, 12 font, single-space) – 10 points max
  • 10 pts – the proposed methodology outline is clear, concise but rich in content, and is fully in alignment with the TOR’s tasks; it touches upon all three elements required – (a) intended approach to the design, (b) sources, (c) approach to integrating HRBA and gender equality; proposed presentation of the material is relevant and shows Expert’s understanding of the ultimate need of the exercise.
  • 7 pts – the proposed methodology is wordy, has some irrelevant or inapplicable pieces of information, and shows general understanding of the TOR and the tasks to be undertaken. The language is either verbose or not precise enough; one or more elements required is either missing altogether or is mentioned in passing. The text requires some re-working and clarification;

• Language Skills – 5 pts max
  • 5 pts – Native / fluent Ukrainian combined with fluent English;
  • 4 pts – Native / fluent Ukrainian. At least working-level knowledge of English;

Maximum available technical score – 70 points

Evaluation method:

Cumulative analysis

Contract award shall be made to the incumbent whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

b) having received the cumulative highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

* Technical Criteria weight: 70%

* Financial Criteria weight: 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum 70% from the maximum available technical score (49 points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation

The maximum number of points assigned to the financial proposal is allocated to the lowest price proposal and will equal to 30. All other price proposals will be evaluated and assigned points, as per below formula:

30 points [max points available for financial part] x [lowest of all evaluated offered prices among responsive offers] / [evaluated price].

The proposal obtaining the overall cumulatively highest score after adding the score of the technical proposal and the financial proposal will be considered as the most compliant offer and will be awarded a contract.