INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL CONSULTANT TO: REVIEW, EDIT, PROVIDE ESTIMATE COSTING AND GIVE PRESENTATIONS AT THE NPoA HARMONISATION WORKSHOP IN THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE

REQUEST FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST

REOI/APRM/TR/NPOA/01/06/2021

TERMS OF REFERENCE

INDIVIDUAL NATIONAL CONSULTANT TO: REVIEW, EDIT, PROVIDE ESTIMATE COSTING AND GIVE PRESENTATIONS AT THE NPoA HARMONISATION WORKSHOP IN THE REPUBLIC OF SIERRA LEONE

1)BACKGROUND

The African Peer Review Mechanism was established in 2003 by the African Union Heads of State and Government with the primary purpose of fostering practices that lead to political stability, high economic growth, sustainable and inclusive development, as well as accelerated regional and continental integration. It seeks to rectify underlying deficiencies in governance and socioeconomic development processes among member states of the African Union. The APRM covers four thematic areas: (i) Democracy and political governance; (ii) Economic management and governance; (iii) Corporate governance; and (iv) Socio-economic development. Participating countries go through detailed review processes (including consultations with government, the private sector, civil society and other stakeholders), culminating in a peer review exercise at the level of Heads of State and Government.

A key feature of the APRM is that it is home grown. This, as well as its voluntary nature, are important in buttressing and consolidating Africa’s ownership of its development agenda. As an assessment and monitoring tool, the APRM can also help to track progress towards meeting regional and international development aspirations and commitments including AU’s Agenda 2063 and the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The African Union and the Heads of State are cognizant of this and in January 2017 expanded the mandate of the Mechanism from the core reviews to monitoring and evaluation role for the African Union Agenda 2063 and the SDGs. This is a reflection of the confidence reposed in the Mechanism and will contribute to the universalization of the APRM where all AU member states will become members of the APRM.

2)DESCRIPTION OF THE PROJECT

In the context of the implementation of the APRM Project, the APRM intends to recruit one (1) experienced Individual National Consultant to review, edit, provide estimate costing to the draft NPoA and give presentations at the NPoA Harmonization Workshop in the Republic of Sierra Leone for the Mechanism, for which these Terms of Reference (TORs) are prepared. In this regard, the project is expected to support the refinement of the APRM Methodology and Processes, including the revision of the questionnaire and development of indicators for the expanded mandate and reinforcement of modalities for ensuring the implementation of the National Programs of Action (NPoAs) that emerge from the reviews and tracking progress over time through a well-articulated M& E Framework.

The ultimate end-product of the core mandate of the APRM is a comprehensive NPoA developed to address the governance challenges identified in the country. The NPoA embodies clearly articulated priorities and actions needed to accelerate the effective delivery of development results in the country. Following this, is a progress report which the country submits to the APRM Continental Secretariat after thorough harmonization of the NPoA with the existing National Development Strategies. Nevertheless, some key challenges identified in the harmonization process are considered for technical redress. These include: (i) weak content coherence, (ii) costing discrepancies (iii) centralization of designing and costing, (iv) funding gap and (v) low absorptive capacity of funds. To this end, a training manual was developed with the aim of guiding and mobilizing the APRM-participating country’s efforts in implementing necessary changes to improve its state of governance and accelerate its socio-economic development through proper integration of the NPoA into the National Development Plan (NDP).

In light of the above and in the context of the implementation of the APRM Institutional Support Project, the APRM intends to recruit one (1) experienced national consultant to review, edit, provide estimate costing to the draft NPoA and give presentations at the NPoA Harmonization Workshop for members of the National Governing Council (NGC), relevant Government Departments, Civil Societies and APRM Staff, for which these Terms of Reference (TORs) are prepared. This consultancy is necessary because it is known that the NPoA is the key input delivered by any APRM-participating country, reflecting upstream governance catalytic actions which, if well addressed, would lead to more effective implementation of the envisaged downstream activities.

3)OBJECTIVES

The APRM intends to organize a workshop for the launch of the ‘Targeted Review Report on Health Governance and Response to Covid-19 for the Republic of Sierra Leone as well as of the NPoA. The workshop will target among other members of the NGC, Officials from various Government Departments, Civil Societies and APRM Continental Secretariat Staff, Key persons from the five AU regions and the UN agencies on the integration of the NPoA into the national development plans of the Republic of Sierra Leone.  The main objective is to strengthen the capacity of members of the government to assist countries synchronize the national plan cycle with the APRM-NPoA cycle to ensure the most efficient use of available resources.

The specific learning objectives of the workshop include the following:

• to increase participants’ understanding of the general and emerging challenges of the NPoA
• enhance the capacity of the participants to link contents of the NPoA onto the existing national development strategies such as the NDP
• to increase participants’ understanding of the costing and financing challenges and how to overcome them during the preparation and harmonization process.
• enhance the capacity of participants to ensure that activities in the NPoA are implemented and maintain a record of progress made in achieving the envisaged milestones.
• to enable the country produce progress reports showcasing the implementation of the NPoA.

By the end of the workshop, the participants should be able to:

1. ensure coherency of the content of the NPoA and the existing NDP
2. ensure coherency in costing of the NPoA and NDP

• Identify funding gap between the NPoA and the existing NDP and propose remedies

1. Identify smart indicators and ensure that it is implemented in the NDP
2. Ensure the country is ready to produce progress reports indicating the implementation of the NPoA

4.0 SCOPE OF SERVICES

The scope of the work covers the responsibility of the Consultant to review and edit the draft NPoA and give presentations at the workshop covering the topics outlined below under 4.1.

4.1) Proposed Workshop Program with consultancy sections

1^st Session – Overview of the Sierra Leone National Development Plan and how the National Plan of Action (NPoA) could support these National Plans:

1. Discussion session

2^nd Session – Cost and financing/budgeting of the NPoA

1. Funding sources, NPoA financing, resource mobilization and disbursement
2. Discussion session

3^rd Session- Presentation of a Roadmap for NPoA implementation including performance indicators and production of progress reports

1. Discussion

5) REPORTING

The consultant shall report directly to the Targeted Review Coordination Unit and will submit all deliverables as per the TOR.

6)DELIVERABLES

6.1. The consultant shall review, edit, align the estimate cost to the draft NPoA and with track changes as well as a clean version to the Targeted Review Coordination Unit.

6.2 Prepare a PowerPoint Presentation to be presented at the NPoA Harmonization Workshop in the Republic of Sierra Leone.

6.3 Prepare a PowerPoint to be presented on the Roadmap for NPoA implementation including performance indicators and production of progress reports.

7. QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE

7.1. Qualifications

1. A PhD in Results Based Management, Monitoring and Evaluation, Development Economics, Development Studies, or related social science fields will be an added advantage. Or
2. Minimum of master’s degree in Results Based Management, Monitoring and Evaluation, Development Economics, Development Studies, or related social science fields.

7.2. Experience, Skills and Competences

1. Responsiveness to the Terms of Reference, Adequacy of the methodology and work plan for performing and understanding of the assignment.
2. Proven experience (minimum of 10 years) in result-based management or monitoring and evaluation of projects with recognised international organization(s)
3. Demonstrate proven experience in the monitoring and evaluation of similar projects with at least two recognized international organization (s)
4. Demonstrate skills on Knowledge transfer / Capacity Building.
5. Ability to outline a training plan and a brief on the training content.
6. Ability to outline the training methodology
7. Demonstrated ability to train on M&E.
8. Demonstrated ability to train on the production of progress reports to showcase the implementation of NPoA
9. Familiarity with APRM Processes and Methodology or any AU Organ

8) FACILITIES AND SERVICES TO BE PROVIDED BY THE CLIENT

The APRM Secretariat shall:

1. Provide access to all information and stakeholders necessary for the consultant to carry out the assignment adequately; and
2. To the extent a meeting may be necessary between the consultant and the staff of the APRM facilitate travel and pay other related expenses from APRM resources.

9) PERIOD OF THE ASSIGNMENT AND PAYMENT

1. The assignment shall be from 01^st July 2021.
2. The Consultant shall be paid 50% of the consultancy fee upon submission and acceptance of the following:

• A reviewed, edited, aligned estimate cost to the draft NPoA with track changes.
• Prepare a PowerPoint Presentation to be presented at the NPoA Harmonisation Workshop in the Republic of Sierra Leone.
• Prepare a PowerPoint to be presented on the Roadmap for NPoA implementation including performance indicators and production of progress reports.
  • The outstanding 50% of the consultancy fee shall be paid after completion of the workshop.

10) LOCATION AND GENERAL INFORMATION

The NPoA workshop will be held physically in the Republic of Sierra Leone. Thus, the consultant will carry out the assignment in the indicated country. All consultancies will be advertised on an equal opportunity basis. The performance criteria to be used to assess the consultant shall be based on the deliverables and scope of work defined in this TOR.

11) CO-ORDINATION

The coordinator shall assign tasks, including geographic areas of coverage, to the Consultant in line with the Terms of Reference. Performance will be assessed based on deliverables outlined in Section 6 above.

12)LANGUAGE OF ASSIGNMENT

The consultant must be in position to conduct the workshop in Sierra Leone’s official language, which is English and submit all documents in the English language. Knowledge of other recognized official AU language may be an added advantage.

13)RESERVATIONS AND CONFIDENTIALITY

APRM reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/output is incomplete, not delivered, or for failure to meet deadlines. In the event of the producer ending the contract prior to delivering all agreed upon products, a portion of the payments shall be returned to the APRM.

The consultant undertakes to maintain confidentiality on all information that is not the public domain and shall not be involved in another assignment that represents a conflict of interest to the prevailing assignment. The Consultant shall undertake to refrain from promoting any political or religious beliefs in the documentary movie which is the subject of this contract.

14)EVALUATION CRITERIA

The selection will be done based on the following criteria.

Only Candidate/Consultants who obtain a technical score of 70% and above shall be considered for financial evaluation.

A financial proposal shall be submitted alongside the technical proposal and shall be a fixed sum /lumpsum contract.  The financial proposal should indicate a breakdown that is, (Training fee in USD)

Proposal MUST be submitted by email:  [email protected] or physically to the address below on or 15^th July 2021 INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT: INTEGRATING APRM’s NATIONAL PROGRAMME OF ACTION (NPoA) INTO NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN TRAINING CONSULTANCY SERVICES and addressed to:

Project Coordinator

African Peer Review Mechanism

Private Bag x09, Halfway House, 1685

Physical Address: 230 15^th Street, Randjies Park, 1^st Floor

Midrand, South Africa

Tel: +27 11 256 3400/01/29

Fax: +2711 256 3456

E-mail : [email protected]