Terms of Reference
NATIONAL EXPERT FOR OSITION PAPER / POLICY RECOMMENDATION FOR SETTING UP A STREAMLINED PROCEDURE FOR REGISTRATION OF ASSETS FOR PUCS AND LGUS – FOR CADASTRE AGENCY
I. Background
The project “Regional Capacity Development Network (RCDN) for Water and Sanitation Services” aims at increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the water utilities in the Western Balkans, contributing to better service provision with larger numbers of population groups getting access to drinking water and sanitation services and meeting the EU environmental Acquis Communautaire.
The project is jointly financed by the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) and the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and development (BMZ), and it is administratively embedded in the GIZ Project “Open Regional Fund for Southeast Europe – Modernisation of Municipal Services (ORF MMS)”, commissioned by BMZ.
Three key sets of activities will contribute to achieve the RCDN project outcomes:
Outcome 1: The Associations of water utilities and municipalities in the Western Balkans, in cooperation with NALAS and IAWD, are enabled to deliver quality capacity development measures to water utilities and municipalities in the frame of the RCDN in a financially sustainable manner.
Outcome 2: Management and technical staff of water utilities and public officials of municipalities have access to and make use of RCDN’s high-quality, demand-oriented and standardised capacity development products.
Outcome 3: National Authorities, International Financial Institutions and Donors promote the use as well as contribute to the improvement of the RCDN capacity development offer.
The RCDN builds upon and integrates the existing Capacity Development (CD) activities, on regional as well as national levels, and facilitates scaling-up and further replication throughout the region. Strengthening capacities of associations for collaborative CD delivery is core of the methodological approach. The project will provide the necessary assistance for introducing and enhancing functional capabilities, procedures and instruments that shall allow the RCDN partner associations to deliver fee-based CD products to water utilities and municipalities in an effective manner.
Under this Project, the Joint Advocacy Strategy is developed by SHUKALB, AAM and ALA and their members in a participatory manner, and is aimed towards the government and other relevant authorities, donor and international financial institutions (IFIs), but at the end, the impact from the advocacy activities should be felt by the members – the public utility companies (PUCs) and local government units (LGUs) as well as the water supply and sewerage professionals and by the citizens who are the end users of their services.
This strategy document was developed as a result of a series of meetings of the 3 partner organizations and a dedicated workshop held on 26.6.2020 with representatives from the members of SHUKALB, AAM and ALA as well as representatives of main water sector stakeholders in Albania; the Water Regulatory Authority and the National Agency for Water Supply, Sewerage and Waste Infrastructure. The workshop elaborated on the 3 key advocacy areas identified by the 3 partner organizations and discussed the specific end results that should be achieved and the involved stakeholders.
The aim of this document is to focus the advocacy activities of SHUKALB, AAM and ALA and improve the overall efficiency and quality of service provision of the public utility’s companies, as well as contributing to their sustainable operations and enabling environment for capacity development in the PUCs and LGUs.
The overall aim for the Joint advocacy activities of SHUKALB, AAM and ALA is to represent and protect the interest of their members and to create enabling environment for the WSS sector.
The 3 partner associations have agreed to join their advocacy efforts on the following issue:
– Topic 1: Asset Management (AM) – Business plans and financial models are based on realistic and updated asset registries and proper O&M business practices including re-valuation of the assets.
Therefore, AAM, as a partner organisation in the RCDN Project Implementation Team, invites experts from Albania with relevant national experience and expertise to submit proposal for provision of Consultancy Services of drafting a Position paper / policy recommendation for setting up a streamlined procedure for registration of assets for PUCs and LGUs – for cadastre agency.
II. Aim of the Assignment
General objective of the assignment is to provide a background analysis on the current situation on asset registration for APUCs in Albania identifying key challenges and provide recommendations to address them.
One national expert is required.
In that regard, the specific objectives of the assignment are:
1) Brief overview of the current legislative and institutional framework for asset registration in sector of water and sanitation service,
2) Provision of the country-specific obstacles and challenges included in the current situation status,
3) Specific recommendations to be submitted to AAM for further consideration and approval.
The respective documents will be provided to the national experts after signature of the contract.
IV. Deliverables and Time Frame
When? What? Who?
20 February 2021 Signature of contract with the NE/initial meeting AAM, NE
21 February – 23 February 2021 Provision of relevant information. NE
1 March 2021 Submission of deliverables NE
V. Man days
The following days are agreed upon for the entire assignment: up to 3 working days
VI. Expert profile
The position requires a highly experienced expert with hands-on knowledge of local government and public utility companies’ functioning, including experience in. The NE has to fulfil the following requirements:
▪ Sector competence: At least 7 years of experience in local government/public utility company functioning; knowledge of legal, regulatory and institutional framework of the water sector; knowledge of international assistance programming and capital investment project funding; experience in working with public utility companies in the area of water supply and sanitation would be considered as an added value.
▪ Methodological competence: at least 7 years of experience within the field of project cycle management and, particularly, project funding. Experience with participation in a project implementation unit (PIU), would be considered an asset.
▪ Skills: high level of analytical, interpersonal communication and presentations
▪ Profound knowledge of project management cycle (PCM) – (to be demonstrated by participation in the preparation, development and/or implementation of at least 3 (three) capital investment infrastructure projects),
▪ Language requirements: Fluency in English and national language is required.
▪ Other: Promptness, high flexibility, ability to work under tight deadlines.
▪ Working experience in the implementation of EU- and IFI-funded projects would be an asset.
The NE has a University Degree in an area relevant (e.g. social sciences, public administration, business administration, WSS engineering and management) to the assignment. He/she can demonstrate gained qualifications with regard to human capacity development.
VII. Proposal
The NE is invited to submit a proposal by February 18, 2021. The proposal has to be submitted in English by email at [email protected] and shall contain the following sections:
▪ Application letter, with comments to the ToR and suggested methodology on how to realise the assignment; tools/instruments,
▪ CV of the proposed expert,
▪ Letters of reference for relevant assignments, presented in the CV, ▪ Proposed expert’s daily rate.
VIII. Terms and Payment
The National Expert will be hired under an Individual Contract (IC) signed by the AAM and will be paid upon submission and approval of the deliverables listed above. The NE shall provide IC timesheet (following the template in Annex 1) together with the deliverables in order to proceed with the payment.
The payment will be based on the actual number of working days (according to the submitted timesheet) invested for the development of each deliverable.
IX. Performance indicators
The indicators reflecting the National Expert’s performance are: timely presentation of results and outputs, quality of documents and reports to be provided to the AAM.
X. Evaluation of work
The performance of the tasks will be assessed by the RE and AAM.
