CALL FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE COMPETITION “ASSESSING THE STATE INSTITUTIONS ON THE LEVEL OF THEIR COOPERATION WITH PUBLIC/CIVIL SOCIETY”

Details

30.01.2019

Call for participation

1. Background

1.1 About the Programme

During 2015-2018, despite the armed conflict and economic obstacles, Ukraine went through a period of unprecedented reforms. In that context, the post-Maidan reform governments made of the fight against corruption, civil service reform and decentralization the main tasks of their agenda. Civil society was the first to mobilize around the knowledge and expertise: in March 2014 the so-called Reanimation Reform Package (RPR) gathering more than 100 experts from think-tanks and CSOs was formed to work on key reforms, including the reform of public administration. With the support of international partners, CSOs and external experts, the civil service reform started after approval by Verkhovna Rada’s new Law of Ukraine “On civil service” and is ongoing.

The project “Supporting Civil Service Reform by Enhancing Civil Society-Government Cooperation in Ukraine” (September 2018 – August 2019) funded by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and implemented by UNDP Ukraine is part of UNDP’s broader support to democratic governance reforms. The main goal of the project is to support the public administration and civil service reform in Ukraine by promoting stronger cooperation between state executive authorities and the public, enhancing key national state institutions’ practices in good governance , and institutionalizing capacity development of civil servants on efficient modes of civil society-government cooperation.

To achieve these goals, the project “Supporting Civil Service Reform by Enhancing Civil Society-Government Cooperation in Ukraine” aims to support the civil service reform in Ukraine by promoting stronger cooperation between the state executive authorities and the public; enhancing good governance practices of key national state institutions; and institutionalizing capacity development of civil servants based on efficient modes of civil society-government cooperation. It will contribute to the transformation of 13 key central executive authorities into competent analytical centres for an improved state policy development displaying efficient cooperation with the public and the stakeholders.

1.2 General information

This call is aimed at identifying the civil society organisation which will receive UNDP support for the facilitation and administration of the assessment of 13 state institutions regarding their cooperation level with the public/civil society and additionally for the provision of civil society advocacy for the implementation of the assessments’ recommendations.

The proposal from the applying civil society organization shall contain:

-       activities aimed at coordinating the assessment of 13 state institutions on the level of their cooperation with public/civil society following the methodology developed earlier by the experts of CCC with the engagement of the Cabinet of Ministers under UNDP support, and later reviewed and institutionalized by the National Agency of Ukraine on Civil Service (i.e. selection of 20 civic experts through an open call; training of the experts; mentoring and guidance to their work on conducting the assessments; quality assurance of their reports; providing support to the civil society organizations in advocating for the implementation of the above-mentioned recommendations). Please see the approximate project timeline in the Attachment 1;

-       expenditures related to the administration of the project.

The total budget of the competition is 1 400 000 UAH.

The maximum timeframe for the project implementation is 6 months.

The selected organization will benefit from the grant to achieve the goals defined above by implementing it jointly with other CSOs through re-granting facility.

The submission deadline is 15 February 2019.

2. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Organizations eligible to receive funding through this Call for Proposals must meet the following basic criteria:

• General:

o   A formally registered civil society organization (as per the State Registry of Non-Governmental Organizations with 0036 and 0032 codes);

o   A minimum of 3 years of proven track-record in democratization, human rights, or civil service reform including developing and managing specific projects in those areas;

o   Proven experience on administering re-granting facilities with financial support of international donor organisations;

• Technical capacity:

o   A team of at least 3 core specialists who are qualified in the main areas covered by the organization strategy, including specialists in project management, capacity development and monitoring & evaluation;

o   All necessary re-granting rules and regulations corresponding with international donors’ requirements are in place.

• Financial management capacity:

o   Availability of a qualified financial manager to manage the administrative financial aspects;

o   Demonstrated positive financial history and experience of administering donor supported grants of at least 50’000 USD.

• Geographic location:

o   UNDP will accept applications from civil society organisations that are registered in Ukraine.

• Submission of a copy of the latest audit report to testify to the capacities for due financial management will be considered an asset.

3. APPLICATION PROCESS

In order to be accepted for review process, the application must include the full package of documents as stated this Call for Proposals (CfP) and be submitted in the form and on the time described further in the CfP. UNDP will determine the eligibility of applications and will prepare the eligible applications for review and evaluation by the Selection Committee that will be formed by UNDP.

The CfP will be advertised on UNDP Ukraine’s web site (www.undp.org.ua), praxis portal (http://dhrp.org.ua).

Applications must be submitted in Ukrainian according to this CfP and the Application Form.

The application package shall consist of:

1. Duly filled out project proposal form with relevant attachments: (filled out electronically and sent in Microsoft Word format):

- project implementation plan;

- proposed budget (not higher than 15% for administration expenses; with 13 sub-grantees with no higher budget than 70’000 USD for the assessment and advocacy/citizen outreach campaign);  

2. Copy of the organization’s statute (PDF);

3. Copy of the organization’s registration certificate (PDF);

4. Resumes of the three key employees and head accountant (PDF, Word);

5. Copy of the organization’s latest audit report (if available) (PDF, Word).

The document package shall be archived as *.zip or *.rar and not be password protected; it shall not be larger than 10Mb in total. The package need to be sent to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. , indicating “Assessing the state institutions on the level of their cooperation with public/civil society” in the subject line.

Applications that are sent in paper format or violating the requirements set for electronic copies, which are mentioned above, shall not be considered. All applications must arrive to UNDP no later than 23:59 on 10th  February 2019. Applications which come in after the indicated deadline shall not be considered.

4. SELECTION PROCESS

4.1. Assessment procedures

After the deadline for expressions of interest has passed, UNDP specialists will assess the proposals against the abovementioned criteria. At this stage, the Programme can request additional information from the applicants at its own discretion.

To ensure full transparency and equity of the process, UNDP forms a Selection Committee (SC) that will appraise the proposals that have made it through the first stage. SC is a temporary authorized body that is responsible for considering, selecting and recommending the project proposal for funding or rejection of project proposal.

SC members invited by UNDP may be leaders of renowned CSOs and recognized experts in the subject area. The Selection Committee may decide to request additional independent expert opinion during the selection process.

The organization that is selected as competition winner will receive the grant for the implementation of the project proposal and will administer the regranting facility for the 13 CSOs that will implement the tasks included in the project proposal.

4.2. Criteria for written proposal assessment

The proposals shall be assessed by the SC in accordance with the following criteria:

• Demonstrated capacity in the programmatic areas identified in the article 1.2 of this CfP;
• Demonstrated experience on administering re-granting facilities with financial support of the international donor organisations;
• The quality of financial management systems and processes (e.g. budgeting, monitoring, accounting and reporting, internal control systems, procurement, anti-corruption measures); consistency in bookkeeping practices and high quality of financial records;
• Overall quality of the applicant’s proposal.

5. REPORTING, MONITORING AND EVALUATION

5.1. Monitoring and evaluation, frameworks for OD plan implementation

The organization, which is to receive financial support under this call and regranting facility, shall be responsible for monitoring achievements of all CSOs engaged in the implementation of the proposed project. UNDP shall conduct monitoring through recurring reports, meetings with representatives of the supported organization, through participation in project activities and other mechanisms. A more detailed list of monitoring instruments and their application shall be additionally discussed and agreed upon with the selected organization.