Illicit Economy – Reporting Expert

Civil-society activists have an important role to play in bringing delinked communities into national political discussions. This entails both engaging communities more actively in relation to the local costs of elite rent-seeking behaviour (for example, the denuding of local forests through the sale of permits at national level) and the wider documentation of elite predation on national development (and its implications, for example, for the health or education sectors).
Civil-society institutions in Guinea-Bissau, however, remain weakly developed and underfunded. Nevertheless, academia, community organizations and the media are important elements in the debate about the future of the country. One critical challenge is to ensure that institutions of civil society are not entirely pulled into the discourse of political parties and that a core neutral body of analysis shapes the discussion, including around the nature of the economy and the role of the political elite themselves.
Longer-term political stability must also include countering populist rhetoric, which has become increasingly manifested in attempts to exploit religious and ethnic differences in a society that has otherwise long shown an impressive degree of multicultural unity, the result of historical factors, including the struggle against colonial rule.
While organized crime and criminal government are a feature of both developed and developing economies, it is arguably in the least developed countries (LDCs) that the implications are most serious. The presence of the state and its institutions are limited, and the resilience of communities are rendered vulnerable by a range of threats. Both of these realities are amplified and exacerbated by the predatory illicit economies.
The particular structural conditions of the illicit economy in Guinea-Bissau will benefit from a drive to achieve greater openness and debate on the factors underlying the illicit economy, in parallel with any attempt to reinforce state institutional and regulatory responses. To achieve this, the civil-society observatory of the illicit economy in Guinea-Bissau will seek to link local communities and the proponents of political reform, by providing objective research and analysis, sourced from community and civil-society networks, which focuses on the nature and damaging impact of the illicit economy in Guinea-Bissau.
UNDP project is pioneering the development of regular reporting on organised crime and illicit market trends in Guinea-Bissau. The project experience in regular reporting and analysis allows us to influence decision makers about the nature, extent and priorities in the organised crime debate. It also allows key stakeholders and field networks and analysts to remain on top of unfolding developments, shaping the writing of more targeted and better analysed longer-term reports.
High quality analysis and reporting which is sourced from Guinea-Bissau is therefore a crucial addition to the current regional debate, providing new insights into developments.
Phase II of the Observatory would expand the current system of regular reporting and civil society engagement from Guinea-Bissau, into key areas of Senegal, The Gambia, and Guinea. It would also incorporate a renewed focus on the impacts of trafficking dynamics on stability across the countries of focus. The need for this expanded scope was identified through the phase I developed work of the Observatory, and through close monitoring of unfolding developments in the region.

Objective of the assignment

The purpose of this consultancy is to contribute to high quality analysis and reporting, providing new insights into developments.

The project would like to contract one local expert to provide the following services, which will assist UNDP Governance Cluster and Project Manager to complete their activities in the field:

•  Providing monthly briefings

The expert would need to provide one monthly briefing written report during the hiring period (July 2021 – December 2021).

•  Providing contextual understanding of political developments and illegal markets trade

This would primarily concern Bissau-Guinean and West Africa political developments, judicial system specificities, human rights violations, drug trafficking, corruption but, as necessary, may also include general context on other related areas with illegal markets.
This includes:

•  Major developments on political crisis in the country and/or the region;
•  Major geographical movements of illegal trades – information on the types of services providers, businesses, or networks involved in transport and the known/assumed transit destinations and ports of entry;
•  The dynamics of illegal markets.

 Assistance on organizing and writing of several products on the country crisis situation, illicit markets, regional involvement, human rights violations (e.g. freedom of press violations) namely community resilience dialogues in key regions (Bissau, Bafatá, Bijagós and Gabu)

The project is responsible for the events´ logistics. The expert is expected to support in collecting and sharing relevant contacts of potential participants and/or speakers, collaboration in drafting concept notes, speaking points and providing inputs for different deliverables.

•  Close follow-up of project civil society grants provided to local organizations

The project has a grant facility for CSOs to contribute more effectively to the prevention and combating of organized crime and illicit markets and to promote integrity and accountability. At the moment six grants were distributed and 2 more are expected to start in the upcoming 6 months.
Experts are expected to do a close follow-up of the grants implementation in close cooperation with the grantees.
As well as assist in the expansion and strengthening of civil society anti-transnational organized crime and anti- illicit markets networks.

 Deliverables
High quality analysis and reporting sourced from Guinea-Bissau is a crucial addition to the projects deliverables, so the consultant is expected to provide insights into local and regional developments. In order to achieve this, daily contributions to the described outputs are expected:

• Assess and map current and potential anti-TOC stakeholders;
•  Provide capacity- building and work towards the development and expansion of the grants scheme based on existing experience with CSO grants;
•  Support the conduction of, at least, 3 community resilience dialogues; A resilience dialogue is an event or series of events that are shaped like a community conversation, knowledge sharing experience, capacity building activity, between civil society actors and other stakeholders, to enhance resilience capacities in vulnerable contexts commonly affected by organized crime or violence. The process begins with the identification of the key individuals activating these responses within their communities.
•  Contributions for any seminar written report, with main conclusions and recommendations.
•  Share contacts of important stakeholders, informants, activists, academics, politicians and any others that might be pertinent for the implementation of the designated tasks.

 Duration of the assignment
The assignment must be conducted within 6 months, from the day the contract is signed.

PROFESSIONALISM: Sound knowledge of and exposure to a range of development assistance issues, including on development programmes design and management for borderland areas; is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; shows pride in work and in achievements; demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns; shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; remains calm in stressful situations; takes responsibility for incorporating gender perspectives and ensuring the equal participation of women and men in all areas of work.

COMMUNICATION: Speaks and writes clearly and effectively; listens to others, correctly interprets messages from others and responds appropriately; asks questions to clarify and exhibits interest in having two-way communication; tailors language, tone, style and format to match audience; demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.

PLANNING & ORGANIZING: Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required; allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work; foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning; monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; uses time efficiently.

TEAMWORK: Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; solicits input by genuinely valuing others’ ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others; places team agenda before personal agenda; supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position; shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings.

Education:

• Advanced University degree in Development Studies, Law, Journalism, Political Science, Sociology or other related fields.

Experience:

•  Experience in the production of reports, like policy briefings, risk bulletins and snapshots and podcasts is desirable;
•  Some professional/academic experience with development programmes. Specialization on programmes on Guinea-Bissau is desirable.
•  Prior professional experience with International Organizations in multi-cultural settings and multi-stakeholder processes, preferably in the region is desirable;

Languages:

•  Proficiency in Portuguese, basic knowledge in English and computer literacy.
•  Knowledge of Creole language is an advantage.

GUIDELINES FOR APPLICATION:
Required documents:

•  A cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for this assignment;
• A brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the tasks, describing the tools and workplan proposed for this assignment. The methodology should be relevant to the Project objectives and aligned with the current Project Results Framework (attached to the Tor);
• A financial proposal;
•  A personal CV including past experiences in similar projects and at least 3 professional references.

Lump sum contracts: 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 travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days).

Travel: All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the Individual Consultant wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.
In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Evaluation: Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:
Cumulative analysis

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

•  Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation;
•  Technical Criteria weight – 70 points;
•  Financial Criteria weight – 30 points.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70 points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.
Evaluation criteria:

•  Education background – 10 points;
•  Experience as defined in the ToR – 15 points;
•  Competences as defined in the ToR – 10 points;
•  Understating of the ToR – 15 points;
•  Methodology and overall approach – 30 points;
•  Overall quality of the proposal (comprehensiveness, structure, language and clarity) – 20 points.