Service Center Page, Jobs

EU4MD/ National Consultant on conceptualization of development of business clusters, including Stakeholder Review, and Cluster Mapping Analysis.

Vacancy Number: Pr20/02115

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	19 Nov 2020, 16:00 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	26 Nov 2020, 16:00 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	27 Nov 2020
Reference to the project:	EU4Moldova: Focal regions
Expected Duration of Assignment:	November 2020 – March 2021, up to 60 working days with possibility of extension
Submission Instructions: Description of the assignment: National Consultant on conceptualization of development of business clusters, including Stakeholder Review, and Cluster Mapping Analysis Project name: EU4Moldova: Focal Regions Programme (EU-funded) Period of assignment/services:  November 2020 – March 2021, up to 60 working days with the possibility of extension   Proposals should be submitted online by pressing the "Apply Now" button no later than 19 November 2020. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: liliana.caterov@undp.org. UNDP will respond by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants.
Supporting Documents: Termeni de referință Terms of Reference Anunț de procurare de consultanță individuală Individual Consultant Procurement Notice Scrisoarea ofertantului catre PNUD confirmind interesul si disponibilitatea OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP CONFIRMING INTEREST AND AVAILABILITY FOR THE INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTOR (IC) ASSIGNMENT UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Ms. Liliana Caterov.

Background

Pentru detalii în limba română, regăsiți Termenii de referință și Anunțul de procurare de consultanță individuală anexate la prezentul anunț (la capitolul "Supporting Documents" mai sus).

Pentru clarificări nu ezitați să ne scrieți la următoarea adresă electronică: liliana.caterov@undp.org

The EU4Moldova: Focal regions Programme (further on referred as Programme) is based on the European Commission Implementing Decision on the Annual Action Programme 2018 in favor of the Republic of Moldova and is funded by the European Union and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme and United Nations Children's Fund.

The overall objective of the five-year Programme is to strengthen the economic, territorial, and social cohesion in the Republic of Moldova through smart, green, inclusive, sustainable, and integrated local socio-economic growth as well as by improving the standards of living of the citizens in the focal regions of Cahul and Ungheni.

To this end, this Programme will address also the urban-rural divide as well as regional disparities, stimulate economic growth and job creation, refurbish and upgrade some social and technical infrastructure in selected areas (smaller towns and villages) while taking into account climate change and a gender perspective in the activities of the Programme.

Specific objectives:

1. To strengthen transparency, accountability of local public authorities, and citizen participation in local governance processes in the focal regions.
2. To improve citizens' access to quality public services and utilities in the focal regions.
3. To create employment opportunities for men and women in the focal-regions and improve the attractiveness of the focal regions for investors and entrepreneurs.
4. To promote the smart specialization of the economy of the focal regions through the development of the clustering and value chain approach in key economic sectors.

The Programme objectives will be achieved through measures targeted at: (i) capacity building to support the implementation and monitoring of local economic development plans; (ii) civil society engagement in local planning, governance processes, and basic social service delivery; (iii) provision of investment funding in support of the creation and/or development of social and technical infrastructure which, combined with the outcomes from interventions (i) and (ii) above, will have an immediate, visible and tangible impact on employment creation, the standard of living of the population in the focal regions.

The activity under the current contract envisages to help the economies of focal regions Ungheni and Cahul to embrace a smart economic specialization development approach and improve the performance of key economic sectors in focal regions Ungheni and Cahul. Each focal region will be supported to improve the competitiveness of its territorial economy through restructuring and strengthening of its major economic sectors into strong and dynamic territorial clusters, oriented towards exporting to EU market and integrated into stable and high-margin value chains. The supported activities and actions will follow the most innovative methodological tools and international experiences related to smart specialization, clustering, and value chain upgrading.

This activity is intended to approach the existing local ‘value chain’ challenges, faced by local economies, specifically:

• geopolitical instability and low-margin of traditional Eastern markets,
• (sophisticated pre-conditions to penetrate to EU market with high-margin, and
• small domestic market to support economic growth

The EU4Moldova: Focal regions Programme already started within its other interventions to support the local stakeholders to elaborate and promote the Joint Economic Growth Agenda in the focal regions there were created and organized local economic groups composed of important stakeholders from local public administration, businesses, local association to start several exercises related to local economic development. These activities provide methodological support in Conduct a joint Participatory Appraisal of Competitive Advantage (PACA) of the focal regions and setting up of the Territorial Economic Development Associations (TEDA) in Cahul and Ungheni municipalities. As the result, the value chains and key economic players are identified.

The scope of the current assignment is to make preparation for stakeholder analyses and further support in conducting an in-depth ‘Cluster Mapping Analysis’, which will envisage a thorough and detailed appraisal of all local firms, businesses and related institutions. The ‘Cluster Mapping Analysis’ will also assess opportunities to enter into new clustering areas and will formulate recommendations for the further advancing of targeted ‘emerging clusters’, aiming to drive the local economies towards sustainable economic growth, jobs creation, and prosperity for the whole focal regions.

Scope of work

To ensure adequate implementation of all planned activities, the Programme is seeking for a National Consultant to provide consistent and comprehensive methodological guidance and developing technical specs in implementing of project activities related to smart economic specialization through clustering and value chain upgrading of the focal regions.

Specific objectives:

• Analyze the findings carried out under activities PACA and setting up of the TEDA in Cahul and Ungheni municipalities of the programme and other related findings at the national level and propose feasible solution for establishment of dynamic business clusters based on the key- economic sectors of local economies. The Programme will provide access to National Consultant to all available materials/preliminary reports developed within PACA and TEDA activities;
• Provide specifications to carry out an initial ‘stakeholder review’ to identify the ‘nucleus–actors’ for each cluster. Come with initial identification of competitive advantage of the cluster and potential to export cluster products to EU market based on the findings of the project, PACA and TEDA exercises;
• Propose methods and technical spec for capacity building for cluster members on increasing added value of the final product;
• Assess and provide practical experience for the institutionalization of a ‘joint development platform’ (e.g. Regional Business Association of Grapes Producers, Processors and Exporters, Regional Tourism and Recreation Association, etc.). Elaborate the stages of the process and Legal requirements. Provide best examples from EU, and other countries of the region.
• Elaboration of technical specifications for “Cluster Mapping Analysis”.

Cluster Mapping Analysis’, is to contain, but not be limited to, the following elements:

• The appraisal of local firms and related businesses and institutions: their activity and further plans, cooperation between them, their suppliers and buyers, existing problems and bottlenecks, development needs and perspectives;
• The existing relative position of the producers from the clusters in the domestic and international value chains: strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities;
• The in-depth analyses of the potential and conditions for EU-market (or other relevant markets) penetration with the goods and services produced by the target clusters: main problems and feasible solutions.

Requirements for experience

Education:

• University degree in economics, international relations, local development or other related field.

Experience:

• At least 10 years of practical experience in the fields related to local economic development (working with public and private actors), smart specialization and value chains analyses;
• At least 7 years of experience in local economic development and working with the relevant multi-stakeholder economic environment in Moldova (evidence: list of relevant institutions the Consultant has been cooperating with, including the topic and year must be presented together with the application package);
• Advanced experience related to cluster initiation/development/capacity building and value chain identification and development (at least 2 projects/assignments and 2 projects/analyses of clusters);
• Experience of working with UN agencies and/or international organizations, and/or European/donor funded development projects/programs will be considered a strong asset.

Competences:

• Good knowledge of local development context in the applied focal regions;
• Knowledge and and skills of MS Office, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint;
• Fluency in Romanian, Russian are required.

Abilities:

• Demonstrated capacity of team-orientation work, excellent planning and organizational skills;
• Good interpersonal skills, solid judgment/decision making, initiative and creativity;
• Ability to analyze, plan, communicate effectively organize and meet expected results;
• Ability to achieve results and deadlines in a timely manner, maintaining a high standard throughout;

The United Nations Development Programme in Moldova is committed to workforce diversity. Women and men, persons with different types of disabilities, LGBT, Roma and other ethnic, linguistic or religious minorities, persons living with HIV, as well as refugees and other non‐citizens legally entitled to work in the Republic of Moldova, are particularly encouraged to apply.

Documents to be included

Interested candidates must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. Latest personal CV, including past experience from similar projects and concrete outputs obtained, and at least 3 reference persons indicated including their contact details (email, telephone and any other contact information);
2. Evidence/list of relevant institutions the candidate has been cooperating with, including the topic and year must be presented together with the application package;
3. Financial proposal incorporated in the duly filled in UNDP Offerors Letter confirming interest and availability (template attached to announcement).

Financial proposal

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). 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 this lump sum amount (including fee per day, travel, per diem, mobile phone costs, number of anticipated working days, etc.).

Travel

This is a home-based assignment with limited visits to Cahul and Ungheni municipalities. On-line/remote communication is preferred. Up to 2 visits per region (4 in total) can be included in the consolidated financial offer, stipulating transport costs. The plan, invites and topics of the visits shall be coordinated by the Program. All the above-listed deliverables shall be endorsed by the Programme Manager within 14 calendar days from their submission.