Global Communities, is seeking qualified short-term consultants for USAID-funded Decentralization Offering Better Results and Efficiency Program (DOBRE): 

POSITION: A consultant specialized in participatory design of public spaces (central squares, parks, lake/river areas, Farmers’ Markets and other places) that will provide services for the Program’s communities. The community/ies will be additionally discussed on the final stage of the selection.

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE:                    up to 12 months

PLACE OF PERFORMANCE:                     Territorial Communities (TC) located in Zaporizhzhya, and/or Chernihiv, and/or Chernivtsi oblasts. Some activities will be performed home-based via online communination tools. 

LOE (Level of Effort) DAYS:                       Average 32 LOE days per 1 project for the work of 2 (two) consultants. The exact LOE number per consultant will be defined individually for each project.

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Background

The current climate in Ukraine offers an unprecedented opportunity for reform in many areas. On local governance, the Government of Ukraine has completed an ambitious effort at decentralization. Following decentralization process, local communities enlarge necessity in better civic engagement and finding solution in different areas of the community’s life.

DOBRE Project Description

Decentralization Offering Better Results and Efficiency (DOBRE) Program is USAID’s five-year program, implemented by international organization Global Communities, and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The Program is working to enhance good local governance and create improved conditions for the development of consolidated communities (CCs), increase citizen engagement in decision-making, and ensure accountability and transparency in public administration. The DOBRE Program implementing Consortium, led by Global Communities, includes: Ukrainian Crisis Media Center (UCMC); SocialBoost; Foundation in Support of Local Democracy (FSLD/FRDL), Malopolska School of Public Administration at the Krakow University of Economics (MSAP/UEK), Poland; National Democratic Institute (NDI).

The USAID DOBRE Program operates in 7 target Oblasts: Dnipropetrovsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv, and Ternopil. Since June 2020, DOBRE Program started operating in three more Oblasts: Zaporizhzhia, Chernivtsi and Chernihiv.

Scope of Work and Deliverables

Global Communities is willing to contract one or several consultants specialized in participatory design of public spaces with a Placemaking approach, which will provide services to the Communities of the Program. As of today, we received community requests to assist designing of nine projects. Final number of projects implemented depends on further community requests and available funding. 

The selected consultant will use participatory methods with organization of workshops, preparing sketches, drafts and short guidelines for the development of public spaces, market places, parks squares and green areas, where placemaking concept has to be applied.

These design solutions would be applied as reference to develop the public spaces, selected by communities where participants of the Community are located, providing reference for the following professional engineering, if necessary.

To find advanced solutions for the public spaces development and place making, the activity will include:

• Organizing and leading workshops on renovation, rehabilitation or development of the selected areas in the communities;
• Conduct and facilitate development workshops with active involvement of community members (including local business) in the discussion about pros and cons of the areas, its analysis, preparing MoM’s (Minutes of Meeting with the actions, ideas and solutions noted)
• Providing initial sketches, based on the workshops to proceed with the development of the areas;
• Supporting community with an expertise in the public spaces development and place making;
• Providing low-cost effective solutions with use of local materials and workforce;
• Developing and providing the community with robust details of the public spaces development and Placemaking design (e.g. kiosks and merchants’ raw design, pavement section, benches, bins and light design) (short 5-10 pages A4 of reference details).

The consultant will provide the following deliverables:

• Evaluation of information, provided by the community about the site (initial information will be provided by DOBRE), site analysis and capacity of the site for the Placemaking concept, develop initial sketches and layouts;
• Organization of meetings, preparation for the workshops, presentation of the Placemaking concept (including information that place is not just for the market, selling point, etc., but also a public space for revitalizing LED and public life, see some examples at: https://www.pps.org/article/what-is-placemaking ) and how it can be realized in the community; finding solutions, make recommendations and professional advice to community members; conduct and facilitate development workshop with active involvement of community members (including local business) in the discussion about pros and cons of the area, its analysis, preparing MoM’s (Minutes of Meeting with the actions, ideas and solutions noted).
• MoMs should include confirmations on civic engagement tools that community used prior to and after each workshop and meeting. These confirmations might include, but are not limited to the following: screen shots/photos of community related Facebook posts, community official website news, announcements/posters, 1-page handouts, other. After contract signing, the Consultant is expected to attend DOBRE facilitated webinar on civic engagements approaches and tools.
• Final meetings– presentation of the solutions, discussion and actions plan to be taken by the Community to ensure implementation of place making concept. Presentation of public spaces, places sketches, layouts, details. Action plan should include development sketches for the spaces and areas, phases of renovation, rehabilitation or development and other required information.
• Layout (sketch, A2-A0, dwg and/or pdf and/or hand painted) of the public spaces, places development, including general layout of the places with location of all the facilities like: car parking and walkways, kiosks and merchants’ raw, canopies and playgrounds, summer stages and other area (if necessary). Technical details, like area, length of walkways, site of each target area, etc. High-level budget calculation with the amount of materials, scope of works, and references to Ukraine’s vendors of suggested materials and services.
• Brief (1-2 mins) 3D visualization providing an overview of to-be-improved area
• Reference details – recommended sections of the walkways, small architectural forms like kiosk or merchants’ raw general view (like façade), light support and light colour, benches (3-6 pages in A4 in dwg and/or pdf and/or hand written), list of plants to be used (where necessary).
• Brief 10-30 pages guide (in Ukrainian) for communities on Participatory design of public spaces/Placemaking in rural communities
• Final report on implemented activities to be approved by DOBRE technical representative.

1. Qualifications and Experience of Trainers/Consultants

The ideal consultant will have the following qualifications:

• Experienced in participatory consultancy, design of public spaces, landscape and place making consultant (individual);
• Experience of online and offline facilitation; 
• Familiarity with national and international standards and up-to-date trends and approaches in public places design;
• Experience in international design is preferable;
• Experience with USAID/NGO/social projects is preferable

Duration

The work will begin immediately after contract signing and be completed no later than 90 calendar days after the signing. If the Consultant will provide services for more than one project, the contract duration may be extended.

Estimated Level of Effort (LOE) Guide

The expected LOE per activity measured in 8-hour work man-days is as follows:

Estimated for 1 (one) project (site) for the work of 2 (two) consultants.

Exact number of projects assigned by the Consultant will be agreed on case-by-case basis. In some case, consultants may be requested to implement two/several projects in same community.

* – per diems and travel expenses (taxi, train and hotel accommodation) will be reimbursed separately

Coordination and Reporting 

Technical Representative for all technical direction, monitoring, reporting and acceptance of the services provided by the Consultant will be DOBRE Local Economic Development Specialist and/or DOBRE Local Economic Development Officer.

8. Application Process

Submissions must be prepared in Ukrainian and delivered electronically to the following address: [email protected], indicating “Landscape/Placemaking Design Consultant” in the subject line by 9:00AM May 17, 2021

All submissions must include: 

• 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 (3 pages maximum);
• Proposed daily consultancy fee rate (in US$, supported by Biodata Form to be sent to applicant upon request).