Local Consultant on Citizen Engagement for USAID DOBRE Program / Експерт/ка із питань залучення громадськості в програму USAID DOBRE

USAID-funded Decentralization Offering Better Results and Efficiency Program (DOBRE) implemented by Global Communities is seeking a qualified Local Consultant on Citizen Engagement:

POSITION:                                                    Local Consultant on Citizen Engagement
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE:            4 months (November 2022 – February 2023)
PLACE OF PERFORMANCE:               Remotely via online communication with visits to DOBRE Program office (if necessary)
LOE (Level of Effort) DAYS:                maximum 30 working days for the entire period. The exact number of days will be determined individually during the contracting process.

OBJECTIVE:

DOBRE program is implemented by Global Communities and funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). DOBRE is working to help territorial communities (TCs) 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); the Foundation in Support of Local Democracy (FSLD/FRDL), the Malopolska School of Public Administration at the Krakow University of Economics (MSAP/UEK), Poland.

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

The USAID DOBRE Program helps territorial communities in ensuring interaction between citizens and local government, and in creating opportunities for citizens to participate in decision-making at the local level. In particular, it is planned to integrate citizen engagement as a cross-cutting approach to all areas of support for target territorial communities: infrastructure and provision of public services, management of assets and local public finances, management of humanitarian aid, and local economic development. The USAID DOBRE Program also promotes better interaction and communication of local self-government bodies with IDPs and vulnerable social groups in territorial communities. 

The USAID DOBRE Program helps territorial communities in ensuring interaction between citizens and local government, and in creating opportunities for citizens to participate in decision-making at the local level. The USAID DOBRE Program supports and encourages the promotion of deliberative civic engagement (DCE) as a distinctive approach to involve people in decision-making.

The USAID DOBRE Program is working with territorial communities to enable engagement between citizens and their local government as well as help citizens take advantage of opportunities to participate in decision-making at the local level. DOBRE will ensure that citizen engagement is integrated as the crosscutting theme in all the activities (infrastructure and public service delivery, financial management, asset management and managing humanitarian assistance, local economic development). The USAID DOBRE Program also facilitates better communication and understanding between the local authorities and IDPs and various vulnerable groups.

The USAID DOBRE Program defines citizen engagement as the two-way interaction between citizens and local governments that give citizens a stake in decision-making, with the objective of improving development outcomes.

The USAID DOBRE Program aims to encourage the use of inclusive approaches to the restoration of territorial communities that have suffered destruction and faced the negative consequences of military actions, as well as improving the infrastructure of providing services and solving other local problems. It is expected to improve the capacity of local government and local CSOs to use deliberative civic engagement.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES / SPECIFIC TASKS:

To provide expert support, the USAID DOBRE Program is looking for an expert on the development manual/handbook on the informal methods use of citizen engagement/drop-in events for people to discover more and outspeak, organizing and conducting formalized and informal events in the process of public consultations and other engagement mechanisms. The manual/handbook will be available for use by all interested territorial communities and CSOs.

DCE is different from other forms of engagement as it gives participants time to consider and deeply discuss an issue before they come to a considered view. A deliberation is an approach to decision-making that allows participants to consider relevant information, discuss the issue(s), options and develop their thinking together before coming to a view. The deliberative method focuses on uncovering attitudes after citizens have been provided with impartial evidence and ‘good conditions’ to discuss the issue(s) in question (versus traditional methods that seek to understand current viewpoints). It is particularly valuable for providing insight into public attitudes to local policy problems that are contested, complex or uncertain.

Specific tasks for Local Consultant on Citizen Engagement:

Task 1: Analysis of existing practices of citizen engagement, considering both the requirements of the legislation of Ukraine and the success stories of territorial communities. Development of a list of relevant formalized and informal formats of public consultations at the local level in the recovery activities, liquidation of the consequences of armed aggression and the provision of public services, managing local public finances and assets, ensuring local economic development. The expected minimum outputs: list of tools and methods (from 10 pages). (Approximate number of working days – 7).

Task 2: Development of methodological recommendations for local self-government bodies and CSOs regarding the use of a DCE, the organization and conduct of formalized and drop-in events in the process of public consultations. The expected minimum outputs: the methodological recommendations (from 10 pages). (Approximate number of working days – 10).

Task 3: Preparation of the manual/handbook for local self-government bodies and CSOs on the use of various formalized and drop-in events for DCE. The expected minimum outputs: the draft of manual/handbook (from 20 pages). (Approximate number of working days – 13).

COORDINATION AND SUPERVISION:

The scope of the consultant’s tasks is agreed upon each month within the workload (number of working days) provided for the task. Once a month, the consultant submits an interim report on the work performed during the period with applications.

To ensure the implementation of the above tasks, the expert will:

• ensure constant communication/discussion with the USAID DOBRE Program team during the execution of tasks.
• coordinate with the USAID DOBRE Program team the final documents and materials developed within the scope of the tasks.
• provide, in response to requests, all work results for review, comment, and approval by the DOBRE Program team.
• hold briefings, participate in briefings and media events together with the USAID DOBRE Program team (if necessary).

THE SELECTION PROCESS: 

Global Communities will select the consultant based on meeting the following criteria: 

• Experience and knowledgein the field of local self-government, citizen engagement, local democracy.
• Thorough knowledge of decentralization processes.
• Experience in preparing methodological recommendations, manuals for local self-government bodies and CSOs.
• Master’s Degree in one or more relevant fields of knowledge (public administration, Political sciences and civics, sociology).
• Previous experience of working with local self-government bodies and CSOs, associations of local governments, ITA programs will be an advantage.

To apply please send your CV as well as Cover Letter with summary of your experience as described above to [email protected] indicating “consultant on citizen engagement” in the subject line by November 22, 2022.  

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