Regional Profile for the West Nile Region, Uganda

Submission Start Date: 25 July 2018

Submission Deadline Date and time: 20 August 2018 COB

Size of grant: 25 000 USD

Purpose of CFP:

UN-Habitat is developing a Regional Profile for the West Nile Region in Uganda, based on prior work in the region, seeking to supporting Ugandan government in developing policies, plans and projects that will foster the sustainable economic, social and environmental development of the West Nile Region (from Nebbi to Koboko) with Arua as Hub for an “economic development corridor”. This project is in support of the implementation of the Habitat Country Programme (2016-2022), particularly to supporting capacity development for sustainable, planned urban and territorial planning and based on the findings of the two capacity development activities that were conducted for Ugandan Government Officials in March 2017 and March 2018.

Project Key Information

  • UN-Habitat Project title : Regional Profile for the West Nile Region, Uganda
  • Locations
    • Town/City: West Nile Region including Koboko, Aura and Nebbi
    • Country: Uganda
  • Anticipated start date: 1 September 2018
  • Estimated duration of project in calendar months: 4 month (until Dec 2018)
  • Maximum proposed value in US$: 25 000 USD
  • Lead Organization Unit: Regional and Metropolitan Planning Unit, Urban Planning and Design Branch, UN-Habitat

Brief Background of the Project

Uganda's urban population will increase from around six million today to over 20 million in 2040, with an urban population average annual growth rate of 4%. Policy makers need to act now to ensure that this rapid urbanization is managed well, so it can contribute to Uganda’s sustainable and inclusive growth. Even though the Ugandan National Urban Policy has recently been approved and is now starting to be implemented, the rapid (and unplanned) urban growth is imposing challenges for the urban areas, hindering social, economic and environmental development in many regions of the country. In addition to the growth of cities by birth rate, cities often go through planned or unplanned spatial expansion to accommodate migrating communities, to which adequate and integrated governance is crucial.

To promote a more integrated territorial development and reduce pressure on the Kampala metropolitan region, Uganda’s national government proposes the strengthening of four strategic cities (Gulu, Mbale, Mbarara, and Arua) alongside Kampala. The four cities have been identified in the Ugandan 2040 vision and are to be upgraded to “regional cities”. This project proposal will support the integrated territorial development in West Nile Region with Arua as core “city” in a “system of cities” along the Nebbi-Koboko corridor.

The Regional Profile will identify important trends, opportunities and challenges in the region. This evidence is then combined with the reviews of the existing planning documents in combination with cross-scale and city level GIS spatial analysis to define the future strategy for the region as well as an analysis of the local economic growth potential. For package 2 outputs, questionnaires and focus groups with youth, women and vulnerable groups will be an important means for collecting data. Several reviews of existing policy, planning documents and other sources will be undertaken with the purpose of both extracting information useful to the understanding of the context of the region and the specific municipalities itself, and to be reviewed and assessed in their contents, these documents include

  • National Spatial Strategy/plans for Uganda
  • National Urban Policy for Uganda
  • Arua, Koboko and Nebbi development plans (where available)

By analyzing how both structuring spatial elements and socio-environmental and economic issues affect each other at different scale of influence, the diagnostic methodology moves from the national to the neighborhood scale, tracking the interdependencies within the region’s physical development patterns and seeking to understand the reasons behind them. The method is used to generate evidence-based policy and spatial recommendations as well as factoring in the national level planning priorities and strategies, develop capacities and engage stakeholders in the region that are driven by both a top-down and bottom-up approach, cross-cutting all scales of planning.  Based on the spatial and socio-economic study, recommendations for the clustering of economic activities and growth poles as well as strategic location for infrastructure projects can be drawn at all planning levels.

Main activities and outputs

The Implementing Partner will be undertaking main activities as follows (but not limited to):

A, Prepare an inception report, including a review of the NUP, as well as regional and local development plans for the Ugandan West Nile Region (where applicable) as a basis for developing the Regional Profile so that it takes the national frameworks into consideration, together with other relevant documents and plans;

B, Develop a Regional Profile for Arua. The profile will include economic, social and physical considerations across the different planning scales for the Ugandan West Nile Region (date of delivery: end of December, 2018); building up on previous work from the MetroHUB planning Studio in Arua, under the USMID project and in cooperation with a local University in Uganda for research and knowledge transfer; The IG-UTPs are be used as a reference tool for the regional profile;

C, Support preparation of a capacity development activities in Uganda during the project and contribution to with content (presentations, maps, speaking points)to those activities.

Risk Analysis

(State the risks associated with this project and the mitigation factors)

- Risk 1: The needed data is not available;
Mitigation factor:
The data collection process will not only rely on desk top research, but a mission will be conducted for collecting data and doing interviews with local stakeholders. In addition to this, open source data will be used for mapping will be validated through this fact finding mission in order to have a sound basis for the recommendations.

- Risk 2: Inadequate political will of local government authorities;
Mitigation factor:
The project is building up on prior activities in which the local Ugandan authorities have already been included; the permanent dialogue with local and national level partners and stakeholders from civil society and academia will ensure that the local and national authorities take ownership in the process and advance the territorial development in the region.

- Risk 3: Project partners don’t provide information needed and the timeline of the project can’t be met;
Mitigation factor: The constant dialogue and cooperation with local partners and throughout transparent planning will ensure that all partners are aware of the deadlines and the deliverables.

 

Eligibility Criteria

Criteria

Submission Details/ Documents Required

Legal Status

·      Certificate of registration/incorporation i.e.,

·      Proof of registration in Country of Origin.

Organization profile and details

·      Clear organization profile and structure of the organization indicating:

    • Organization’s vision, mission and objectives
    • Management structure
    • Members of the Governing Board and their Designations duly certified by the Corporate Secretary, or its equivalent document
    • Proof of membership to professional associations if any.

Financial Capacity

·      Audited company financial statements (balance sheet and income statement) and auditors report for the last two years

Integrity and Governance

·      The organization should complete and submit a signed Partner Declaration Form

·      Provide the profiles of the main technical persons working on this project

Selection Criteria

Criteria

Submission Details/ Documents Required

Weighting

1.   Technical capacity

 

35%

1.1 Does the organization have the relevant experience and proven track record in implementing activities in the areas of the project?

Has it managed in the past projects of similar technical complexities and financial size?

·      List of projects executed in the last 2 years (value, location, donors, nature of projects, execution stage – completed or ongoing).

·      Demonstrate how the experiences in past projects are relevant in the execution of the current proposal

1.2 Does the organization have qualified technical staff with the experience and the technical skills required by the project?

What is the staff size, type, qualification and education background?

·      CVs technical and non-technical staff that will be involved on the project

·      Is there reasonable assurance that such technical staff required by the project will continue to be available as needed in the Project?

1.3 Does the Organization have adequate capacity to work on the research, preparation of relevant maps and provide capacity development?

·      Demonstrate, describe and provide proof of other research work in this region, maps and experience in capacity development

1.4 Does the organization have formal procedures to monitor project execution (e.g. milestones, outputs, expenditures…)

·      Provide formal project monitoring policies and procedures

2.   Financial and administrative capacity

15%

2.1 Has the organization been in operation over a period of at least 2 years to demonstrate its financial sustainability and relevance?

·      State the years of operation

·      Financial statements for the last 2 years

2.2 Does the organization have qualified staff in Finance? Is the current accounting system computerized and does have the capacity to collect and provide separate financial reports on the activities executed under the Agreement of Cooperation?

Does it have systems and practices to monitor and report whether the project deliverables and expenditures are within agreed time and budget?

Does it have minimum segregation of duties in place (separation between project management, finance/accounting and executive office)

·      CVs of key finance and accounting staff

·      Description and key features and controls of the accounting system used

·      Organization structure/ Organogram

2.3 Does the organization have formal procedures and controls to mitigate fraud such as multiple signature signatories on bank accounts, reporting and prosecution of incidences of fraud?

·      Describe anti-fraud controls and provide formal procedures

2.4 Does the organization have capacity to provide in-kind, financial, personnel contribution as UN-Habitat Implementing Partner in this present project? Please give details of contribution nature and size.

·      Describe nature and value of contribution (in-kind or cash)

3.   Financial Proposal

 

20%

3.1 Is the budget for each component of the activity to be performed by the Implementing Partner

(i) cost-effective (i.e. the cost should be economical and prudently estimated to avoid any under/over estimation)

(ii) justifiable/well supported and

(iii) accurate and complete

 

Budget Proposal

·      BOQ (if applicable)

·      Other supporting documents

 

4.   Technical Proposal

 

30%

4.1 The technical proposal is sound and responds adequately to the specifications and requirements?

Technical Proposal document

 

 

Cumulative score for ratios

 

100%

Expression of Interest must be delivered in electronic format no later than 20  August 2018 to Stephanie Loose at the following email address: stephanie.loose@un.org, copying Elizabeth Kahwae (Elizabeth.kahwae@un.org). All related questions or clarifications must also be coursed through this email address. Upon request to this email address, all related forms and templates will also be shared.

Disclaimer: Please note that this notice does not constitute a solicitation and UN‐Habitat reserves the right to change or cancel this project at any time in the process. Submitting a reply to an EOI does not guarantee that the submitting organization will be selected to carry out the implementation of the project.

Notes:

  1. Interested Organizations must provide information indicating that they are qualified to perform the services (brochure, description of similar assignments, experience in similar conditions, availability of appropriate skills among staff, etc).
  2. The CFP and accompanying documents must be received in accordance with instructions provided. CFP submitted to a different email address other than the specified one will not be considered.
  3. CFP from applicants failing to provide the complete information to fulfill the basic eligibility criteria will be considered non-responsive.
  4. CFP received after the above deadline will not be considered
  5. Organizations will be selected in accordance with the procedure set out in the UN-Habitat IP Management policy and Standard Operating Procedures.
  6. CFP from applicants failing to provide the requested information will be disregarded.
  7. This CFP does not entail any commitment on the part of UN-Habitat, either financial or otherwise. UN-Habitat reserves the right to accept or reject any or all Proposals without incurring any obligation to inform the affected applicant(s) of the grounds.
  8. All prices must be in USD