National Expert in Good Governance

Project Title Area (C) Resilience Development initiative Project (ARD), Reference NEAR-TS/2017/392-844.

Proposed Position National Expert in Good Governance.

Activity name and description Development of BoD and General Assembly Governance Guide that included clear policies, procedures, guidelines, rules, and regulations for the Association of Palestinian Local Authorities’ (APLA). APLA,10 Jabra Al-Anqar Street- 2nd Floor- Safad Building- Al-Masion- Ramallah- Palestine.

Background of the Country Programme and expected results

The Association of Palestinian Local Authorities- APLA in partnership with The Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) is implementing (Area "C" Resilience Development Initiative) – ARD Project. The project is co-financed largely by the European Union which aims at enhancing Palestinian Local Authorities contribution to governance and development processes in Area C, and partially funded by IDEAL- Palestine Programme, which is funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Palestine. 

With regards to APLA, ARD project aims at strengthening the institutional and operational capacities of APLA to enable it to better advocate for and lobby on issues related to Area C on behalf of its members (Local Authorities) LAs.

Context for current Terms of Reference

APLA’s Strategic Plan 2019 - 2022 contains specific and realistic activities that taking into account APLA’s internal and external constraints and its operating environment. APLA’s Strategic Plan covers a four-year period, in order to be aligned with the National Policy Agenda NPA timeframe, and is composed of three strategic objectives:

SO1: Strengthen the institutional and operational capacities of APLA.

SO2: Enhance the capacity of LAs to provide better services to citizens.

SO3: Lobby, and advocate for the interests and needs of LAs, locally and internationally.

Currently, APLA’s strategic plan and internal bylaws serve as guiding documents for APLA’s leadership, members and partners for implementing key policy interventions and provide support to APLA to become a strong and viable institution that advocates for the interests and priorities of LAs and provides valuable support to LAs in Palestine. 

Based on the above strategic context and in line with the current vision and mission of APLA, strengthening and enhancing accountability and transparency is key to enable APLA to deliver effective and efficient services to its members LAs.

Therefore, APLA is planning to develop a governance guide for its BoD and General Assembly in accordance with good governance principles.

Aim of this assignment

The aim of this assignment is to develop Board of Directories and General Assembly Governance Guide for APLA.

Activities to be performed

In realization of the aim of the assignment, the expert shall perform the following activities:

• Conduct governance analyses that take into consideration the political, economic, social realities and constraints, emerging governance issues and challenges at the LG sector.
• Identifies relevant approaches and opportunities to enhance good governance principles in APLA as semi-governmental / independent organisation.
• Develop policies, procedures, guidelines, rules, and regulations for APLA’s BoD and GA.
• Draft the governance guide and review it with APLA’s Executive Director.
• Finalize the guide and hand it over to APLA’s Executive Director for final approval.

Outputs (expected deliverables)

The Expert shall produce very well structured and detailed Governance Guide in accordance with the principles of good governance. 

NB: The output should be in Arabic language.

جميع الحقوق محفوظة لموقع جوبس.

Minimum Qualifications

The Expert should have the following minimum requirements:

• Bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering.
• Master’s Degree or equivalent in Law, Public Administration or other related fields. A PhD in these fields will be considered an asset.
• Substantial knowledge about governance issues in Palestine and familiarity with innovative approaches to address governance problems in local government sector.
• Demonstrable recent and substantial work experience (at least 5 years) in local government sector.
• 5 years’ experience in developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOP's), processes, user manuals and/or work instructions.
• Experience with Microsoft Visio in developing process flowcharts.
• Excellent reporting and communication skills.
• Analytical thinking skills.
• Excellent written and spoken command of English and Arabic language.

Approximate number of working days and planning

The allocated level of effort to perform the aforementioned activities is Ten (10) working days in total.

The local expert will submit their time sheets and invoices using the VNG templates and formats.

Note: Holidays and vacation, and days of illness are not considered as working days. Holidays are the national official holidays.

Period of the assignment

The assignment will be implemented during the period starts on 27th of September 2020 and ends on 21st of November 2020. 

Place of the assignment

APLA’s Office, 10 Jabra Al-Anqar Street- 2nd Floor- Safad Building- Al-Masion- Ramallah- Palestine. 

Reporting requirements

In addition to the aforementioned deliverables, the Good Governance Expert will submit the following to VNG:

1. Within one week after contract commencement, an Inception Report which shall include, without limitation, a detailed work plan taking on consideration the scope of work.
2. Within five weeks after contract commencement, a final copy the guide shall be completed and submitted to VNG ARD initiative project manager.

Routing of the reporting occurs according to the following guidelines:

1. The expert will work in close collaboration with the ARD Project Manager to ensure alignment of the activities.
2. The expert will ensure that a proper level of information prior to, during and after the activity is provided to ARD Project Manager.
3. The expert will report directly to the Project Manager at VNG.

Contact details of the Project coordinator

Experts are requested to submit their application form that consists of: cover letter, proposed work plan with timelines for deliverables, CV indicating three previous supervisors, technical and financial offer by COB Sunday, 20 September 2020.

Please indicate your ability, availability and daily rate to undertake the ToR above.