GIZ Rwanda,Consultant to update the local government service charters and harmonise them with irembo online services

EXPRESSION
OF INTEREST

AN
INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT TO UPDATE THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT SERVICE CHARTERS AND
HARMONISE THEM WITH IREMBO ONLINE SERVICES

1.
BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The
Government of Rwanda (GoR) addresses the delivery of public services for the
well-being of its citizens in its major policies (7YGP-NST1). Service delivery
stands out in NST1 as a priority area under the pillar of good governance. It
is one of the key drivers for the achievement of the country’s set develo

pment
goals.

Service
delivery is meaningful when beneficiaries of the services have an opportunity
to provide feedback on the quality and satisfaction levels of the services
delivered. To support Local Governments (LG) in continuously improving their
quality of service delivery, MINALOC developed Standard Service Charters in
2012. In 2013 the process to review them started and the new updated
service charters were developed and approved by MINALOC in 2015 under the
support of Decentralization and Good Governance (DGG) program of GIZ.

The
Government of Rwanda in 2014, adopted a system of using ICT in providing
services including services delivered by Local Government using a platform known
as Irembo which is an e-Government portal that enables the access and provision
of government services in Rwanda and designed to improve the citizen’s way of
life by making government services easily accessible, faster and less costly.

In
the course of implementation of the Service Charters, it was observed that the
requirements, cost and time for getting the related services have changed
significantly due to the introduction and use of Irembo online services.
It was further observed that there are new online services that were put on the
online portal which are not part of the existing service charters. This
shows that some services on the service charters are out of date and do not
fully comply with the services that are delivered via Irembo platform. This
justifies the need to update the current service charters and harmonize them
with the IREMBO portal.

2.
OBJECTIVE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The
overall objective of the envisaged activities is to produce an updated service
charters at the Districts, Sector and Cell levels that are streamlined with
Irembo Online Services taking into consideration the urban, secondary city and
rural nature of the administrative entity.

3.
SCOPE OF ASSIGNEMNT

The
assignment will focus on updating and harmonization of local Government service
charters that were elaborated in 2014 with Irembo services online and it will
further deal with service charters for Cells, Sector and District by
considering rural, urban and secondary areas).

4.
TASKS

Analyse
the existing charters and services on Irembo to identify:

services
that are not uploaded on Irembo online and versa and those that are no
longer on demand
Services
posted on Irembo but not found on service charters

Update
the Local government services charters
Harmonise
the updated services with the ones posted online
Hold
consultative meetings with key stakeholders (GIZ, Rwanda Online, MINALOC,
RGB, RALGA, Districts and other institutions having a stake in service
provision in local level);
Review
of existing service charter materials;
Explore
online options for easier access, maintenance and dissemination including
use of toll free line for information and feedback
Work
closely and hold consultative meetings with the leadership of Rwanda
Online, MINALOC, GIZ and Local Governments to agree on transferring the
harmonised charters to Irembo

5.
METHODOLOGY

The
execution of this assignment will be done, to the extent possible, in a highly
participatory manner. This will enable relevant stakeholders to actively engage
with the exercise process, and eventually reach much more reliable findings.

The
methodology should include, but not limited to the following:

Desk
review of relevant documents including: the existing LG services charters
report on the development of standard service charters, Service
delivery/charters assessment/monitoring reports, etc);
Conduct
interviews and consultation meetings with Central and LG Government level,

It
is however the responsibility of the consultant to propose and submit, for
approval purposes, to the client a detailed methodology including
defining scientifically acceptable and valid techniques.

6.
EXPECTED OUTPUTS

A
short analysis and identification of services that are on service charters, but
not displayed on Irembo vice versa

Develop
soft versions of the updated service charters for three types of Districts
(Rural, Secondary Cities and Urban), Sector and Cell that can be displayed for
public information; They should include the following parameters;

Eligibility;

Staff
in charge;
Requirements;
Costs
(Fixed Cost, Variable Costs, Direct and Indirect Costs) for the provided
services;
Feedback
period;
Vertical/horizontal
linkages of services;
Feedback
mechanism;
Comprehensive
dissemination and monitoring plans for MINALOC are elaborated.

7.
DELIVERABLES

Inception
report including a methodology and a detailed work plan to be submitted 3
working days after signing the contract;
Draft
revised standard service charters;
Final
version of updated standard service charters in soft version;
User
friendly short versions of the service charters (eg. Booklet) to be used
by public servants and citizens in both English and Kinyarwanda;
Development
of poster format overviews of services offered in the service charter to
better inform citizens in Kinyarwanda;
Explore
options of developing a mobile application of the services offered in the
service charter to be used by both service providers and seekers;
Power
point presentation on the updated and harmonized LG service charters for
each type of LG for training purposes (Rural, urban and Secondary cities);
Final
report including a final version of all outputs after incorporating the
inputs from the client side.

All
deliverables shall first be delivered to MINALOC for review and quality
assurance through the Joint Technical Working Group (MINALOC, RGB & GIZ)
before they can be submitted to GIZ for final approval and payments.

MINALOC
will officially transmit all approved deliverables and attached invoices to GIZ
for review and payment.

8.
DURATION OF THE CONSULTANCY

The
consultancy will take 18 man days. Below is the breakdown of the 18 man days;

5
days for desk review (hard, soft, online & offline sources) and
developing an inception report;
6
days up country to have consultations with local Government (1 district
from each Province =4 Districts: each District the consultant will meet
focus group composed of 2 persons from :2 Sectors ,2 Cells, 2 from the
hosting District, CSO intervening in Service Delivery and opinion leaders
(including women, PWD &Youth);
4-days
compiling and analysing information from the field;
1
day’ stakeholder discussions (MINALOC, Rwanda online/Irembo & GIZ);
2-day
finalising, harmonising and integrating feedback from stakeholders.

9.
REPORTING ARRANGEMENTS

Report
weekly to the Permanent Secretary of MINALOC and copy to the joint technical
working group consisting of representatives of MINALOC, RGB and GIZ under the
leadership of the Director General of Territorial Administration and
Governance.

10.
PROFILE (Qualifications)

At
least 5 years of relevant experience in capacity development, sector
decentralization, preferably in the Public Sector;
Master’s
degree in Social Sciences, Public Policy, Political Science, Public
Administration, Law and Development Studies or in other area relevant to
the assignment.

11.
REQUIRED SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE

Experience
in working with central and local government institutions within the
Rwandan decentralization context;
Proven
knowledge of analysis of the existing system including policies,
strategies and plans related to decentralization
Proven
experience in conducting research, assessments, reviews, and analyses;
Knowledge
of the Rwandan public sector context and proven ability to capture
relevant information;
In-depth
knowledge of the current legal and policy framework for decentralized
administrative entities, sector decentralization and service delivery is
highly desirable;
In-depth
knowledge of the contents and elaboration process of local government
service charters is considered an asset;
Capacity
to work independently, within tight deadlines and take initiative;
Coordination,
planning and organizational skills;
Collaboration
and team working skills;
Effective
communication skills;
Administrative
skills; Time management skills;
Strong
interpersonal, communication, facilitation and reporting skills;
Proficiency
in both written and oral English and Kinyarwanda is required.

12.
APPLICATION

The
consultant candidate should submit the following documents:

A
Cover letter showing expression of interest
Technical
offer, including an outline of the intended methodology and a timeframe
Financial
offer
Detailed
CV
Educational
qualifications (copies of diploma, certificates, etc….)
Proof
of successful completion of related assignments, tax clearance
certificate.