National Consultant to provide expert support to development of platforms and coalitions of the MSME Business Membership Organizations (up to 5 coalitions)

Background

Micro- small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) provide work for more than 4 million people in Ukraine and generate about 20% of the country’s GDP. The Government of Ukraine has been increasing its efforts to undertake economic reforms and create a business enabling environment for enterprises, strengthen the position of MSMEs in the economy. Business membership organizations (BMOs) – an essential component of the business support infrastructure faces several challenges which are due to weaknesses of the BMO sector and low capacity, sustainability, and maturity of BMOs in terms of service provision strategy alignment and low level of awareness and understanding of existing and/or potential benefits of BMOs among current and potential member businesses.

During the period 2015 – 2018, in cooperation with the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and with the financial support from Switzerland, UNDP supported BMOs through the “Strengthening SME Business Membership Organizations” project.

Building on the experience and lessons learned, a key focus of the Project Phase II is to ensure the sustainability and scaling-up of the positive results achieved during the First Phase, in particular, enhance growth and competitiveness and strengthen the voice of MSMEs in Ukraine through more professional, demand-driven and client-oriented Business Membership Organizations. The Project aims to expand BMO coverage throughout Ukraine and is expected to positively impact their ability to attract members, promote constructive cooperation with governmental structures, and contribute to policy development leading to MSMEs sector growth.

20 Partner BMOs have been selected as the result of a competitive process based on clear and transparent criteria and will be delivered tailored support to improve their institutional, organizational, financial, as well as communication capacities to represent the interests of the private sector.

In addition to 20 selected partner BMOS, the Project will provide follow-up support to 7 partner BMOs engaged under Project Phase I, which will be additionally trained to serve as hubs or platforms for the cooperation of the wider BMO community, thus spreading further the experience and knowledge obtained in Phase I and contributing to MSME sector consolidation.

One of the roles of the BMOs is to represent the interests of the MSMEs in the public-private dialogue. At the same time the most of BMOs lack capacity in the formulation of positions/proposals for advocacy and public-private dialogue in view of their small size, lack of representation and limited resources. To be effective in this role the BMOs should build cooperation and coalitions across the BMO sector, as well as establishing synergies and partnerships with the think tanks, NGOs and other stakeholders.

Effectiveness of the public-private dialogue at all levels would depend primarily on the capacity of BMOs to jointly promote their role on all levels and advocate for better business climate and on capacity of the authorities to incorporate and provide feedback on private sector inputs. The coalitions and networks of the BMOs and business support organizations have a potential to become a platform for advocating interests of micro- and small businesses at the national level. This is why the Project seeks to hire the Consultant to provide the expert support to BMOs uniting their efforts and resources into coalitions to promote interests of the MSME, and to build the capacity of the coalitions to be the platform for the effective public-private dialogue.

The incumbent will promote UNDP’s mandate as a gender-responsive organization with zero tolerance to any kind of discriminatory and abusive behavior, including sexual harassment, sexual exploitation and abuse.

Duties and Responsibilities

2. MAIN OBJECTIVES OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The main objective of the assignment is to assist the existing and/or accruing coalitions of selected 27 BMOs to plan and coordinate their advocacy activity (up to 5 coalitions); to coach and support the selected BMOs in building coalitions to achieve their common advocacy goals; to support the selected BMOs in developing, establishing and promoting the standards of quality and representativeness for MSME BMOs as competent actors of private sector in the public-private dialogue; to select one coalition uniting BMOs from all over Ukraine including some of selected 27 partner BMOs for Project’s approval, and support it in its transformation into a full-fledged platform for the public-private dialogue at the national level.

3. DESCRIPTION OF RESPONSIBILITIES/SCOPE OF WORK

Under the direct supervision of the Project Manager, the Consultant will work to support the coalitions of the BMOs. In particular, the Consultant will:

Develop and deliver the series of educational webinars for selected BMOs on the definition and nature of coalitions, the difference between the coalitions and consortiums, cooperatives, and other forms of voluntary associations of enterprises and organizations to protect their rights and advocate for common interests;
Review existing coalitions in Ukraine within the participation of at least one of 27 partner BMOs and select the national coalition with the potential to become the platform for the Public-Private Dialogue (PPD) at the national level and submit it for Project’s approval. After the Project’s approval the Consultant provides its full expert support to the coalition (the national coalition – further);
Provide the BMO coalitions with recommendations and expert support of the strategic planning process:
Facilitate the revision of the members – organizations of the national coalition, possible division of the members into two categories, one – for actual MSME BMOs, and another – for all other organizations (NGOs, enterprises, think tanks, etc.), establishing the membership policy in the national coalition;
Support the selected partner BMOs in becoming the active members of at least one coalition (joining and signing of the memorandum to formalize the principles of their cooperation and coordination with the network/coalition);
Support the BMO coalition in developing its advocacy plan – for launching its own advocacy campaigns, and supporting/joining the advocacy campaigns of other partnering organizations;
Support in developing the package of services of the selected national coalition (advocacy campaigns, regulatory expertise, incubation capacity development programs for BMO leaders).
Facilitate the development of the policy and mechanism of Interaction of MSME BMO coalitions with the Government and their participation in the Public-Private Dialogue, reflected in Draft Regulations (Order);
Support the working meetings of the selected BMOs on developing, establishing, and promoting the standards of quality and representativeness for MSME BMOs as competent actors of the private sector in the public-private dialogue (within the long-term training program for selected BMOs);
Develop the intervention concept to mobilize resources for implementation of the MSME BMO coalition strategy;
Advise on the promotion of the role of BMOs and demand on BMOs among the entrepreneurs and broad public (in line with promo campaign).

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

Liaise and ensure constant communication/coordination with the UNDP project team regarding all aspects of the assignment;
Submit all the deliverables for review, comments, and approval to the UNDP project team as requested;
Hold consultations with the UNDP project team as requested;
Ensure the mainstreaming of gender equality and women’s empowerment considerations in activities, promote a safe and enabling environment free of any kind of discrimination and abusive behavior, and use the principles of gender-responsive communications in line with the UNDP corporate standards.

4. DELIVERABLES

The approximate timeframe is 130 working days within 9 months. The Consultant should provide the following deliverables:

Deliverable

Timeline

1.

Detailed work plan for the assignment

5 working days from the contract signature

2.

The updated list of the members of the MSME BMOs coalitions provided;

One national coalition with the potential to become the national platform for the Public-Private Dialogue selected by the consultant and submitted for Project’s approval;

2-years Operational Plan for the selected national coalition’s activities shaped;

At least one coalition policy (e.g. Membership/Operational Manual/Ethic Code) of the national coalition developed;

The package of services of the national coalition for 2021 (advocacy campaigns, regulatory expertise, incubation/networking/capacity-building programs for BMO leaders) is formulated.

November 30, 2021

3.

At least 3 products (Business Development Services) of the national coalition developed;

Advocacy plan for at least one own advocacy campaign endorsed by the coalition;

At least 3 developed Concepts on implementation of the coalition’s projects for further submission by the coalitions to donors ;

The series of educational webinars for selected BMOs on the specifics and nature of the coalitions (three webinars, two hours each) is delivered;

The list and profiles of network members are specified and placed on the national coalition web portal.

December 15, 2021

Tranche 1 – 20%

4.

At least one Advocacy/Promotion Campaign of National coalition launched (e.g. the role of BMOs);

At least one position paper developed by the MSME BMOs coalition;

At least one service product sold and implemented (e.g.: incubation/capacity building/networking programs for BMO leaders, Regulatory capacity for Hromadas).

February 28, 2022

5.

Mechanism of Interaction of MSME BMO coalitions with the Government and their participation in the Public-Private Dialogue is proposed (Workshop on PPD mechanism for a joint group of EEPO, SRS, MEDTA and MSME BMOs coalitions facilitated, Concept paper elaborated);

At least 5 working meetings of the selected BMOs on developing, establishing, and promoting the standards of quality and representativeness for MSME BMOs supported;

At least one advocacy campaign was joined and supported by the national coalition;

Information on major MSME BMOs advocacy campaigns gathered, position papers of MSME coalitions, specified and placed on the national coalition web portal.

May 31, 2022

Tranche 2 – 50%

6.

At least one developed project concept has been considered by the donor project;

At least 10 BMOs financially supported the implementation of activities;

At least 15 of selected 27 BMOs signed the memorandums of joining or creating the coalitions;

Case study of coalition strategic planning process developed and published on the national coalition portal.

July

31, 2022

Tranche 3 – 30%

5. PAYMENT SCHEDULE

UNDP will pay the negotiated amount in tranches according to the following payment schedule:

20% - upon successful completion of the Deliverables 1-3.

50% - upon successful completion of the Deliverables 4-5.

30% - upon successful completion of the Deliverables 6.

The payments will be processed upon the full completion and acceptance of contractual obligations whereupon the Project Manager (Supervisor) signs the certification of acceptance.

6. MONITORING/REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

The Consultant will work under the overall supervision of the Project Manager and in close cooperation with the Project staff and partner BMOs.

Work-progress reporting/monitoring meetings will be held with the Consultant on a regular basis.

The consultant will interact with UNDP to receive any clarifications and guidance that may be needed. He/she will also receive all necessary informational and logistical support from the Project. The Consultant will duly inform UNDP of any problems, issues or delays arising in the course of implementation of assignment and take necessary steps to address them.

UNDP will be the final authority to control the quality and evaluate the work. The satisfactory completion of each of the deliverables shall be subject to the endorsement of the Project Manager. Each deliverable will be delivered in a draft for comments and feedback before finalization. No reports or documents should be published or distributed to third parties without the approval of UNDP.

All reports and results are to be submitted to the UNDP in electronic form (*.docx, *.xlsx, *.pptx, and *.pdf or other formats accepted by UNDP). The intermediate and Final reports should be submitted in English.

Competencies

Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, ethnic, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favouritism;
Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Required Skills and Experience

7. EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS REQUIREMENTS

The consultant should possess the following qualifications:

At least Master’s/Specialist degree or equivalent in Economics, Business Administration, Finance, International Relations, Management, Law, Social Sciences, Public Administration, Political Science, or other relevant areas;
At least 7 years working experience in economic and social development analysis, SME development, public policy analysis, and research, government relations;
At least 3 years of experience in consulting BMOs on advocacy, SME development;
Proven experience of drafting analytical reports, studies, and/or policy proposals related to SME development, SME policy, business support infrastructure, BMOs, advocacy campaigns for SMEs (at least 2 samples of different types of papers prepared or co-authored, with proven authorship – analytical reports, policy papers, research, studies);
Public service experience would be an asset;
Working experience with UN-funded programmes or other international technical assistance projects would be an asset;
Fluency in Ukrainian, Russian and working English is required; fluency in English will be an asset.