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EU4MD/ One (1) Local Business Development Consultant for Cahul region.

Vacancy Number: Pr21/02233

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	31 May 2021, 16:00 (GMT+3:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	29 Jun 2021
Reference to the project:	EU4Moldova: Focal regions
Expected Duration of Assignment:	June 2021 – December 2023 (estimated workload: up to 230 working days per business consultant)
Submission Instructions: Description of the assignment:    One (1) Local Business Development Consultant for Cahul region   Project name: EU4Moldova: Focal Regions Programme (EU-funded)   Period of assignment/services: June 2021 – December 2023 (estimated workload: up to 230 working days per consultant) Proposals should be submitted online by pressing the "Apply Now" button no later than 31 May 2021. Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: victoria.josan@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 referinta Terms of Reference Anunț de procurare de consultanță individuală Individual Consultant Procurement Notice OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP CONFIRMING INTEREST AND AVAILABILITY FOR THE INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTOR (IC) ASSIGNMENT Scrisoarea ofertantului catre PNUD confirmind interesul si disponibilitatea UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Ms. Victoria Josan.

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).

În cazul unor divergențe între versiuni lingvistice, prevalează textul în limba engleză. 

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

The EU4Moldova: Focal regions Programme (further Programme) is based on the European Commission Implementing Decision on the Annual Action Program 2018 in favour of the Republic of Moldova and is funded by the European Union and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme.

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 socio-economic development as well as improving the standards of living of the citizens in the focal regions: Cahul and Ungheni.

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

Specific objectives:

1. To strengthen transparency, accountability of local public authorities and people’s participation in local governance processes in the focal regions.
2. To improve citizens' access to quality public services and utilities in the pilot focal regions.
3. To create employment opportunities for men and women in the focal regions and improve the attractiveness of the pilot 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 Program 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.

Specific context

Focal regions of Cahul and Ungheni will receive support to become more attractive for investment, job creation and entrepreneurship. Each focal region will be supported to rise above their current status of ‘declining economic periphery’ and implement a consistent package of ‘economic turnaround’ measures, aiming to improve their domestic and international image as ‘emerging regional growth poles’ with conducive business environment and amplified investment and entrepreneurship activities. The supported activities and actions will follow the most innovative methodological tools and international experiences related to enabling of tangible and intangible business environment factors, place branding, attraction of external investors, expansion of existing firms and start-ups interventions, as well as pro-growth urban revitalization.

The business development components of the programme will focus on attracting new business to appear and exiting companies to flourish. The activities of the programme will aim to support and improve business and a number of Start-ups created and stabilized, as well as existing companies stimulated for expansion and growing, as well as new entrants to look the regions investment. Also, a special attention will be drawn to social entrepreneurs’ pilots to address social needs and improve local economic environment. The initiatives will be also focused to boost the efficient use of resources by moving to a clean, circular economy and to restore biodiversity and cut pollution.

Along the above, each focal region will be supported to develop and promote a local brand with an ambitious communication campaign to improve the domestic and international perceptions of Cahul and Ungheni focal regions – as one the most dynamic Moldovan regions in promoting development and economic growth.

Scope of work

The overall objective of the consultancy is to support EU4MOLDOVA: Focal regions Programme in its efforts to provide business development assistance and build capacities of private sector in Cahul region. The main activity will be related to small and medium enterprises (SME) support mechanism paired with promotion of the regional brand and attraction of national and international investments in the focal regions. It will also ensure synergy between the program and local public authorities, business actors, local business incubation facilities and other stakeholders responsible for economic development of the regions.

To ensure adequate achievement of the specific objectives and implementation of all planned activities, the Programme is seeking for one (1) qualified and experienced Local Business Development Consultant to perform the assignment in Cahul focal region.

For detailed information, please refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference.

Requirements for experience

Academic Qualifications:

• University Degree in economics, business administration, public administration, financial management or other relevant related area.

Years of experience:

• At least 5 years of work experience in providing services to business environment, local business capacity development, investment attraction (working with public/private actors);
• Experience in implementation of business/economic/social development projects, at least 2;
• Experience collaborating with the relevant multi-stakeholder economic environment in the targeted focal region, including Business Associations and/or Business support organizations. Such experience in the targeted focal region would be an advantage (evidence: list of relevant institutions the Consultant has been cooperating with, including the topic and year must be presented together with the application package);
• Experience in providing logistical arrangements for events: including identification of participants, concept note development, agenda of the events (evidence: list of events, including the topic and year must be presented together with the application package);
• Experience in evaluating and monitoring projects/activities would be an advantage;
• Capacity to process, arrange data in spreadsheet forms, statistical analyses would be an advantage (evidence: an Excel spreadsheet with data developed by the candidate must be presented together with the application package);
• Experience in facilitating/coaching/mentoring/delivering trainings in the fields of local economic/business/social development would be an advantage;
• Experience in communication/marketing/promotion of activities would be an advantage;
• Experience of working with UN agencies and/or international organizations, and/or European/donor funded development projects/programmes will be considered a strong asset.

Competencies:

• Computer proficiency, including knowledge of MS Office products (Word, Power Point) as well as e-mails literacy;

• High level of responsibility and organization capacities, creative approach to solving issues;
• Excellent communication and reporting skills;
• Ability to meet deadlines and prioritize multiple tasks;
• Ability to maintain the confidentiality of information obtained on a business basis and to protect the interests of the employer (in this case UNDP);
• Excellent command of written and spoken Romanian and Russian are required. Knowledge of English is an asset.

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 individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. Proposal explaining how applicant responds to each of the qualification requirements and why he/she is the most suitable for the work.
2. CV including records on past experience in similar projects/assignments and concrete outputs obtained.
3. Referring to experience requirement indicated in point 3 above (scored in point 6 below) the following evidence must be presented together with the application package:
4. list of relevant multi-stakeholder economic environment institutions/organizations the Consultant has been cooperating with, including the topic and year;
5. list of events, including the topic and year, proving experience in providing logistical arrangements for events;
6. an Excel spreadsheet with data developed by the candidate.
7. Financial proposal - in USD, specifying a total lump sum amount and the number of anticipated working days, incorporated in the Offeror’s Letter to UNDP confirming interest and availability for the Individual Contractor (IC) assignment.

Financial proposal

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount. The payment for services will be made post factum on a lump-sum deliverables basis, as per contract, after the work has been accepted by the Programme Manager. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of offers, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including fee per day, mobile phone costs, transportation costs, number of anticipated working days, etc.).

Travel

The Consultant is encouraged to be located or make frequent visits in the Cahul region, so that they may easily intervene for urgent issues and report daily on works from sites.

All the transportation costs to and from the location of the contract (Cahul) are the responsibility of the consultant, so transport costs must be included in the consolidated financial offer (at least 130 days of presence in the territory).