Data Analyst & Local Governance Expert for Community Profile Development for USAID DOBRE Program/ Аналітик/аналітикиня даних та експерт/ка з місцевого cамоврядування для розробки профайлу громад в програму USAID DOBRE

Global Communities is seeking for a consultant or a team of consultants for USAID-funded Decentralization Offering Better Results and Efficiency Program (DOBRE):

POSITION: Data Analyst & Local Governance Expert for Community Profile Development (it could be either one or two positions based on candidates qualification)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE:                         6 months

PLACE OF PERFORMANCE:                          Kyiv, Communities located in Kharkiv, Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ternopil Chernihiv, Chernivtsi, and Zaporizhia Oblasts

LOE (Level of Effort) DAYS:                           65 days

OBJECTIVE:

The USAID Program, “Decentralization Offering Better Results and Efficiency” (DOBRE), is a six-year program, implemented by Global Communities and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). DOBRE is working to help consolidated communities (CCs) in Ukraine to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities that decentralization brings, by improving their local governance and increasing the engagement of their citizens in policy- and decision-making. Areas of support include strategic planning; financial management; public service delivery; local economic development; and gender- and youth-responsive policies. DOBRE is also working to foster linkages and cooperation across CCs. Partners with Global Communities in the DOBRE Program Consortium include the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center (UCMC); SocialBoost; the Foundation in Support of Local Democracy (FSLD/FRDL), the Malopolska School of Public Administration at the Krakow University of Economics (MSAP/UEK), Poland; and the National Democratic Institute (NDI).

The USAID DOBRE Program is working closely with 100 CCs in 10 Oblasts of Ukraine: Dnipropetrovsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kirovohrad, Mykolayiv, Ternopil, Chernivtsi, Chernihiv and Zaporizhzhia.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES / SPECIFIC TASKS:

Based on the results of its work, DOBRE plans to publish a series of studies on the results, lessons learned, and recommendations on the implementation of key instruments and practices.  DOBRE communities` recent progress in capacity measured with Participatory Municipal Capacity Index (PMCI) throughout 2017-2022 and local citizens` perception of that progress will be one of the main areas of research.

Purpose of the assignment: 

To capture findings and insights from the DOBRE program experience related to both (1) the implementation of instruments and mechanisms in DOBRE activities and the actual impact, the effectiveness of those tools; and (2) Examining the process that leads to desirable outcomes and overall capacity improvement along with program activities. This will help contextualize findings and inform the further implementation of decentralization reform in Ukraine and other programs.

 Goals: 

• Develop Community of Excellence profiles to portrait the effectiveness of tools and practices promoted and implemented through DOBRE for the achievement of expected outcomes, as outlined in DOBRE’s Results Framework (Annex 1).
• For each Community of Excellence profile, summarize relevant available data collected throughout DOBRE implementation (see brief overview below). Selection of the 10 best performing communities will be based on criteria established by Global Communities. Each Community of Excellence profile will include a community’s progress on one or several program outcomes, using the results framework as a basis, and provide evidence of change in each outcome by contrasting before/after intervention changes.
• Each Community of Excellence profile must include a detailed explanation of the context, a subset of steps taken to achieve each result, a clear identification of every key actor (with the understanding that the reader does not know the local context) and the key challenges and enabling factors that allowed the achievement of outcomes. For each Community of Excellence profile uses graphic representations for the achievement of expected outcomes.
• It is expected that a separatereport with lessons learned must include a detailed explanation of the causes of success for the 10 best performing communities. The report must also contain main recommendations for further programming. 

Community profile (up to 10 pages) will be developed using the following data sources:  all waves of household survey data (opinion poll about the perception of community progress, 2017-2021); Participatory Municipal Capacity Index (PMCI) assessment and its results; program performance indicators data where applicable; DOBRE partners and experts data; CCs self-assessment results; any other publicly available data

Objectives and scope of the study

The objectives of the study are:

1. To understand to what extent DOBRE instruments, mechanisms and practices were successful  in the areas that correspond to PMCI competencies as follows: strategic and financial management, service delivery, citizen engagement, including youth engagement, gender equality, tools of e-democracy;

2. To understand the contextual influence of instruments and mechanisms implementation on local citizen perception of changes and results in tailored communities. 

1. To identify the effective ways that helped DOBRE to achieve these results. 
2. To develop feasible recommendations regarding the most effective ways to sustain achieved results and ensure further success. 

 Key questions for the report with lessons learned:

1. Why are these Communities of Excellence more successful in capacity building? 
2. Which instruments and mechanisms introduced by the project are the most effective to develop each community, and why?
3. What are the current trends in citizen perception regarding progress in their local governance capacity?
4. What contextual factors have the most significant influence on communities` results achieved?
5. What are the best possible ways to sustain communities` results and ensure further success?
6. What relevant illustrative examples can be useful for other communities to learn and follow?
7. What are some of the “successes,” and lessons learned in DOBRE activities that correspond to PMCI competencies?

Methodology:

The proposed methods of data collection and analysis should include:

• Desk review and analysis of the DOBRE project reports, monitoring data, work plans, success stories, research results, learning product about different areas of DOBRE intervention (if available); 
• Secondary analyses of the data about 100 DOBRE communities. The consultant will complement house-hold survey results provided by the research agency with the data from additional sources and perform data analysis (correlations between indicator’s values and community characteristics, cluster analyses where types of communities are defined, linear regression, factor analyses, etc.). The consultant should interpret the results; if needed s/he could initiate additional data analyses and interpret it. 
• If the consultant needs, she/he can perform and analyze key informant interviews by telephone (skype, zoom, etc.) or face-to-face with program staff and\or representatives of local authorities.

We will use data analyses to illustrate changes and successful results, including detailed descriptions of specific ways for achieving desirable outcomes and important context details, and the potential and actual impact at the local level. This ‘how we learned to do it’ focus in presenting program results will be helpful for future scaling up of the project experience in Ukraine. The assignment will entail qualitative and quantitative data analysis to uncover the themes relevant to the research questions.

Scope of Work, Timeline and Deliverables

The following steps are foreseen with required deliverables and proposed timelines

1. Develop an Inception Report in English with a detailed workplan should include desk research results, methodology detailing relevant data sources, strategies to collect and analyze data, key hypotheses in the field of strategic and financial management, service delivery, citizen engagement that will be tested out.

For the inception report development, the expert should get familiar with the program DOBRE, its objectives, beneficiaries, partners, and respective program documents on instruments and mechanisms implemented.

We expect that the expert will formulate hypotheses for further analysis based on a literature review of current trends in local governance, mainly corresponds to PMCI competencies as follows: strategic and financial management, service delivery, citizen engagement, including youth engagement, gender equality, tools of e-democracy both in Ukraine and worldwide.

The inception report could include data collection tools (questionnaires, guides for focus group discussion, etc) if applicable. Questionnaires could be designed for three categories of interviewees: local governance representatives, management, program officers, and program experts.

 Estimated LOE for Deliverables 1 – 8 working days

2. Data analysis plan for profile development in English

The data analysis plan must introduce a brief overview of the analysis strategy applied for community profile development. This section should contain a description of approved data for further analysis and respective variables (coding table), analysis methods, template design for Community of Excellence profiles, and visualization approach. We expect that the analysis strategy comprises testing out pre-defined hypotheses and examining the existing data structure. The proposed visualization should include a detailed approach for creating Community profile documents and mapping these profiles in a way that given results could be easily disseminated (digital map, landing page, etc.)

Estimated LOE for Deliverables 2 – 7 working days

3. Complete data set in SPSS and\or Excel format in English. The expert should update an initial data set structure and its properties to include already collected data and data derived from open sources. The initial data set provided by DOBRE consists of all waves (baseline, midterm, endline) of a household survey conducted in 100 communities in SPSS format throughout 2017- 2022. DOBRE will approve additional data aggregated on the community level for meta-analysis.

Estimated LOE for Deliverables 3 – 10 working days

4. Community of Excellence profiles.

The consultant will analyze data for each community (up to 10) and create Community of Excellence profiles both in English and Ukrainian in accordance with the approved plan. DOBRE will provide the template (docs) for a profile.

Community of Excellence profiles will include the following parts:

4.1. Each Community of Excellence profile will consist of results stated in the data analysis plan, including, but not limited to the community’s progress on one or several program performance indicators and provide evidence of change. The main findings and conclusions should summarize the key challenges and enabling factors that allowed to achieve desirable outcomes.

4.2. Each Community of Excellence profile must include a detailed explanation of the context, a subset of steps taken to achieve each result, and recommendations on sustaining achieved results and ensuring further progress tailored to each community. 

Estimated LOE for Deliverables 4 – 15 working days

5. Visualization (mapping) of profiles developed in Ukrainian.

In addition to infographics developed for the Community Profile template, we expect that the consultant will visualize given profiles using web-based mapping tools or any other applications that serve the goal to promote the best practice with broader audiences in an easy-to-understand way. 

Estimated LOE for Deliverables 4 – 10 working days

6. Final analytical report on lessons learned in English.

The draft report, except for the general part, should include the following parts:

Lessons Learned. The report will include discussion of lessons learned, including new knowledge gained from the particular circumstances (intervention, context outcomes)

Findings and Conclusions. Findings section will present findings based on the analysis of all 100 Communities and conclusions drawn from the findings. Conclusions section will be comprehensive and balanced and highlight the strengths, weaknesses and outcomes of the intervention. The conclusion section will be substantiated by the evidence and logically connected to the findings.

Recommendations: The report will seek to provide very practical, feasible recommendations. The recommendations will be specifically supported by the evidence and linked to the findings and conclusions around key questions addressed by the report.  This recommendation can be used to have better achieved the project’s goals in the future or in future programming, or in similar projects.

Estimated LOE for Deliverables 6 – 15 working days

COORDINATION AND SUPERVISION:

To ensure the fulfillment of the above tasks, the Consultant will:

• Liaise and ensure constant communication/coordination with DOBRE project team and consultants/experts/vendor regarding all aspects of the assignment to ensure coordinated inputs into Community profile development;
• Submit all the deliverables for review, comments and approval to DOBRE project team as requested;
• Hold consultations and briefings with DOBRE project team as requested.

THE SELECTION PROCESS

DOBRE is looking for a consultant or a team of consultants with the following mix of competencies. 

The team will be composed of Local Governance Expert (Deliverables 1, 4b, 6) and Data Analyst (Deliverables 2, 3, 4a, 5). It is expected that the team could redistribute deliverables, ensuring that a detailed division of work meets TOR requirements.

Candidates who are qualified for both Local Government Expert and Data Analyst, can apply individually.

The Inception Report should clearly articulate the final responsibilities distribution.

Qualifications and Experience of Local Governance Expert:

• Master’s degree in Public Policy, Management, Law, Sociology, Economics, and other related areas;
• At least five years of experience working on international donor programs for the local or central government;
• At least three years experience as an evaluator, designing and conducting assessments and surveys including qualitative/ quantitative data collection;
• Experience and knowledge of local government management and decentralization reform;
• Previous experience (or ability to demonstrate the capacity) of working with the CCs;
• Ability to work in a team according to established terms, good skills of time distribution;
• Creativity, initiative, focus on results, and responsibility.
• Working level of English (Intermediate)

Qualifications and Experience of Data Analyst:

•  Master’s degree in Sociology, Statistics, Economics, and other related areas;
• At least three years of experience in the field of monitoring, evaluation, or expertise in the area of social research, including data collection, analysis, and report writing; 
• Excellent knowledge and understanding of research methodologies and processes;
• Strong analytical skills and ability to apply statistical methods to test hypotheses
• Knowledge of conducting a systematic review and performing a meta-analysis
• Knowledge of statistics and experience using statistical packages for analyzing data sets (Excel, SPSS, SAS). Knowledge of programming language (R, Python etc) is an asset.
• Familiarity with data visualization tools
• Experience in providing consultancy services to NGOs is desired but not required.
• Working level of English (Intermediate)

To apply please send Technical Offer with methodology, estimated schedule, budget based on your day-rate and summary of your experience/experience of the team as described above to [email protected] indicating  Data Analyst & Local Governance Expert  for Community Profile Development” in the subject line by 10 AM, February 4, 2022.1 Please note that you are eligible to apply for Local Governance Expert or Data Analyst position. We consider applications of team of consultants as well as individual applications of consultants to one of the positions or   

If you have questions about assignment please send them by 10 AM January 27, 2022 to [email protected]

Candidates can apply as a team or as individual applicants.

Application package must include: 

• Technical Offer. If you apply for the Local Governance Expert or Data Analyst position, Technical Offer should include a detailed proposal for the respective deliverables described above.
• A summary (max. 2 pages) of the applicant’s expertise and experience, highlighting those aspects that are particularly relevant to the present assignment;
• Applicant(s) CV/Resume (3 pages maximum);
• Examples of previously produced reports and visualizations.

Only applicants selected for interviews will be contacted. No telephone inquiries will be accepted.