Expired: Provision of Training and Institutional Capacity Building to Ministry of Energy in Sierra Leone

Qualification and experience of Key staff proposed

The consulting team should have complementing profiles for key staff, tailored to the following experience:
• Experience in developing scalable training programs;
• Experience in establishing departments within organizations;
• Experience in developing and implementing training programs for government institutions
• collaboration with diverse group of stakeholders;
• Experience in designing incentive schemes for staff at all professional levels;
• Strong stakeholder management and coordination skills, strong verbal and written communication and capacity to facilitate and conduct stakeholders’ dialogues in a collaborative and multi-stakeholder team environment;
• Knowledge of relevant project management systems;
• Excellent spoken and written English;
• Sociocultural skills;
• Client and partner orientation;
• Interdisciplinary thinking;
• Knowledge of Sierra Leone’s energy and electricity sectors desirable;
• Experience from sub-Saharan Africa desirable.

A. Team Lead, Technical Coordinator

The Coordinator will be embedded in the Ministry of Energy providing support and monitoring the implementation of the delivery of this technical assistance and will have overall responsibility for the successful delivery of the program. Scope of Work includes: 

• Coordinating timely implementation of the project deliverables 

• Liaising with relevant authorities and staff within the Ministry to facilitate the 
deliverables of the program 

• Supporting coordination of processes to improve on the operational efficiency of the 
Ministry 

• Assisting the office of the Minister with establishing streamlined monitoring and 
reporting mechanisms related to the management of the RREP 

• Coordinate between UNOPS and the Ministry to align the deliverables and reporting 
for the technical assistance program
• Develop and support processes that allow knowledge transfer from UNOPs to the Ministry to ensure successful handover of the project by the project closure date

Education
● MBA or Masters degree in development studies, operations and management, energy studies, or related fields desirable;

Experience
●  At least 5 years of demonstrated experience in multi-sector governmental settings required; experience of providing technical and institutional support to operational efficiency; in most recent years as an advantage:
●  Experience in working with UN, DFID or World Bank through multiple sectors/ministries is desirable. Other Considerations
●  Identify and coordinate information and support structures required by the Minister to facilitate delivery of daily tasks
●  Help provide cross-functional processes that will impact to the outputs of the office of the Minister
●  Developed routine processes within the Minister’s office to maximize operational efficiency
●  Provide general assistance handling or directing the feedback loop between the Minister’s office and public and private sector stakeholders
●  Identify opportunities for cross-functional process / protocol improvement and implement and coordinate them
●  Support Ministry staff and other public and private sector stakeholders to establish routine coordination procedures necessary to establish streamlined reporting norms

B. Capacity Building Expert

The expert will be the deputy team lead and will have overall responsibility for designing the proposed capacity building program
●  Provide expert advice and structuring of the implementation of the entire capacity building program at the Ministry, coordinating with the technical coordinator on technical assistance to the Ministry Expert
●  Oversee the development of the Capacity building training programs for different target groups within the Ministry
●  Provide technical inputs into inter-governmental coordination to develop by the consulting team.
●  Primary responsibility to ensure that the capacity building programs and efforts based meet the needs of the beneficiary and key stakeholder based on practical applied experience;
●  Based on the baseline assessment of needs for relevant staff for Capacity Building, coordinate specific capacity building goals, identify trainees to participate in capacity building efforts, and outline future training needs;
●  Conduct at least 2-3 modules of capacity building for select stakeholders based on identified need
●  Provide technical guidance to experts in the training process
●  Identify capacity building links with sustainable implementation post-project;
●  Provide technical capacity building strategy to be undertaken by International Experts, based on agreed baselines and identified needs.
●  Provide level appropriate technical input into design of curriculum for possible online certification programs
●  Coordinate with team lead for the approval of all proposed interventions

Education
● MBA or Masters degree in development studies, operations and management, energy studies, or related fields desirable;

Experience
●  At least 5 years of demonstrated experience in development and implementing technical capacity building programs
●  experience in application of technical and institutional approaches to operational efficiency
●  Demonstrated experience in capacity building programs includes at least in three of the areas required, with additional areas an advantage
●  Experience in working with UN, DFID or World Bank beneficial

ACTIVITIES

Needs assessment and Planning: Conduct a needs assessment to provide ananalytical overview of the capacity, strengths and weaknesses within the Ministry, identifying the main capacity gaps, focusing of the needs of the Ministry as it relates to the oversight of the RREP. Furthermore, as far as is practical and realistic, an analysis will identify and assess:
i. Key Management, Technical and Administrative staff and also to establish their baseline capacity
ii. Process and tools used by these identified staff, vis-à-vis their duties within the Ministry.
Using systemic processes, the needs assessment will be conducted primarily by consultations with the Ministry and relevant stakeholders to determine capabilities. Thereafter, this analysis will inform the necessary interventions to facilitate the desired conditions to support the objectives and the strategic direction of the Ministry and the sector
The results of the assessment should be well defined to:
1. Analyse the dynamics that explain present capacity, identifying driving forces for change to ensure effectiveness of future capacity development efforts and provide building elements for developing a demand-driven and capacity building programme in the ministry;
2. Develop a sustainable capacity development programme for the Ministry of Energy identifying opportunities and sustainable products that will enhance the ability of the Ministry to meet its mandate;
3. Developaroadmapandimplementationplanforthesuccessfulexecutionofthecapacity development programme. The roadmap should identify priority areas, and corresponding implementation plans;
4. Develop job descriptions and guidelines for each key position identified during the assessment. The consultant will develop qualification standards and job descriptions in consultation with responsible managers and officials within the Ministry. This should be based on global standards and best practises. The consultant should also develop baseline TORs for relevant positions within the Ministry; The Terms of Reference will serve as a basis for performance assessments and job appraisals, should the Ministry chose to use it in the future.

5. Prepare a comprehensive set of training materials in support of the implementation of the capacity building programme. To ensure sustainability of capacity building activities, the materials will be designed in a manner that will enable the tools to be used beyond the lifespan of the project;

b. Training programs: Following the organisational and individual assessment the Consultant shall prepare a comprehensive training programme for the Ministry to achieve sustainable capacity development. The Consultant shall also advise on staff retaining policies and measures to improve the capacity of the staff within the Ministry.
The number and duration of each of the training workshops for each area is to be set out in the capacity development implementation plan and should focus on pertinent trainings to complement the objectives of the consultancy and at a minimum include:
i. Contract Management: To effectively negotiate, manage and support contracts to maximize the performance of contracts including risk mitigation from the creation to the execution of the contract
ii. Assets Management: managing of assets through their respective life cycles from use to disposal
iii. Project Management: building capacity within the Ministry to encourage effective and efficient operationalization and management of all projects in the sector
iv. Microsoft Office suite: provide function understanding and use of software to improve operational efficiency
v. Communications: Where relevant, the communication of emergent issues by the Ministry to relevant stakeholders including line-ministries, donor partners and potential investors. Coordinate with existing structures
vi. Monitoring and Evaluation: set out objective, scope and outcomes based on the skills needed to Monitor RREP activities
The consultant should make provisions for training certification in each of the core training areas suggested above where available, and any other training areas identified. These should be available for 2 staff members for each module. These certifications should be complete by identified staff members before the end of the contract period and the consultant should work with staff to provide support to complete certifications. Said certifications include Prince2 or equivalent and other relevant internationally recognized certification in the core skills areas identified.

c. Technical Assistance
Complementary to the customized training program, the consultant should devise and implement a transaction advisory support that will support the key recommendations from the needs assessment and overall build capacity with the Ministry to ensure proper management of the RREP. The transactional advise will;
●  Provide technical assistance for each critical position identified during the needs assessment and provide embedded technical assistance dedicated to support up to 5 key staff members agreed on with the Ministry as a means of direct skills transfer and support.
●  Support the Ministry and other sector stakeholders to bring to the fore, the discourse and planning around renewable and rural electrification as part of the broader energy sector planning including
●  Support to the Ministry with the mainstreaming and use of GIS mapping tool for the RREP and the Energy sector
●  Develop communication resource and capacity building, and create streamlined processes to ensure institutional capacity is embedded within the Ministry to ensure sustainable maintenance of the RREP.

DELIVERABLES/OUTPUTS 


1. Needs Assessment: A detailed needs assessment study, and consolidated report addressing various issues including but not exclusive to:
   I. Capacity challenges at the organizational and individual levels in relation to the functional areas identified above
   II. Current capacity development priorities
   III. Specific capacity needs and priorities at the organizational and individual levels in relation to the functional areas identified
   IV. Recommendations and implementation of the most suitable, effective, efficient and affordable modes of capacity development to meet the identified needs.

2. Training: A comprehensive capacity building programme in the form of a long-term programme and also short-term intervention, primarily in the key functional areas identified.

I. A comprehensive set of training materials in support of the implementation of the capacity building programme.
II. Conduct priority tailor-made training workshops for the Ministry, primarily in the key functional areas identified in section 3 above
III. Job descriptions, Process document, and related guidelines for the positions and functional processes identified.
IV. Terms of Reference for different positions.
V. Certification programs for each key area

3. Technical Assistance

i. Internal and external communications plan for the Ministry
ii. GIS support

iii. Embedded Technical support to identified staff

iv. Monitoring and evaluation strategy for M&E of the RREP

4. Reporting: Tailored reports to

i. Monthly summary report

ii. Six monthly report

iii. Deliverables summary report
Contractual Time and Implementation Period (Milestones and Deliverables)

Contractual period

The Provision of Technical Assistance to the Ministry of Energy will run 12 months from the contract signature. The service is expected to start November 2019 with possibility for renewal based on the project duration.

Deliverables

● Detailed needs assessment study, and consolidated report
● Development of comprehensive capacity building programme
● A comprehensive set of training materials
● Conduct tailor-made training workshops
● Job descriptions, Process document, and related guidelines
● Terms of Reference for different functional areas expert positions
● Guidelines on performance assessment and job appraisal

Reporting

The Consultants will provide:
1. Inception report: The Consultant shall prepare an inception report within one (1) month after signing the contract. The report shall cover the two areas of work described above and, at minimum provide an outline of the work to be done for each of the deliverables. The Inception Report shall also set out how the Consultant will monitor progress, learn from experiences and adapt interventions if/when necessary. The Consultant shall demonstrate how the approach will be flexible and adaptable, enabling activities to be turned on and off, scaled up or down, or refocused in response to changes in the programme environment, the delivery of results and changes in the levels of efforts
2. Monthly status reports (progress overview in form of bullet points) and monthly financial reports;
3. Quarterly reports: will include technical progress reports showing progress against outputs.
4. Project closure report