1. Position Information
Title: Consultancy for supporting Karnali PA for Public Hearing, Oversight, and Promoting Open Parliamentary Practices
Department/Unit: Parliament Support Project
Reports to: National Project Manager
Coordination with: Project Team Lead
Implementation Area: Provincial Assembly
Expected Places of Travel (if applicable): NA
Duration of Assignment: 01 June to 30 August
Provision of support services:
Office space Yes □ No x
Equipment (laptop etc.) Yes □ No x
Secretarial Services Yes □ No x



2. Background Information


Since 2018, UNDP through parliament support (PSP) project is supporting the parliaments and secretariats in PAs to strengthen their capacities for effective operation of parliamentary functions including institutional capacity building. PSP’s support to the PAs are focused primarily towards strengthening parliamentary core functions; oversight, law making, and enhancing the representation. PSP, over the years has invested in the parliament outreach and openness through various initiation such as: introducing Meet the Speaker in Karnali and Sudurpaschim Provinces, connecting the PAs with the District through virtual mode, development of Outreach plan of action, supporting the parliaments for the public hearing through the media and CSOs to count few.
Some of the initiations of previous years have been adopted by the PA secretariats in some ways however, there are still many areas where the Parliament secretariat has limited engagement such as engaging with the public and thematic independent CSOs in the oversight of pertinent issues. Though there are examples of some openness activities initiated by the PA secretariat, but these are not always consistent. Likewise, the engagement with the citizens through public hearing and open interaction is another aspect through which the parliament Secretariat can enhance their outreach and openness where the secretariat will get the opportunities to respond to the queries from the citizen while sharing about the activities of the Parliament secretariat. Planning and organizing an event where citizen forums could be engaged through the consultation, dialogues, sharing, and other side activities could be another method of promoting parliament openness by engaging with the public, youth, and students in larger scale.
Additionally, engaging with the CSOs for supporting the parliament secretariat in planning and organizing the events related to the parliamentary openness not only help the secretariat in swift management but it will also contribute towards wider stakeholder engagement in the parliamentary affairs and better understanding and awareness on the overall legislative development and oversight mechanism.
In this backdrop, PSP plans to engage with a competent service provider organization to support the Karnali PA secretariat in the oversight on relevant emerging issues, including the public hearing and a mega event on the parliamentary openness. Through these programs the PA secretariats are expected to enhance their collaboration with the relevant CSOs and experts while also inspiring the PA towards making the parliament more open and accessible to the public.
Thus the project plans to hire service from a consulting firm/organisation that can provide the service as per the scope of this ToR.


3. Objectives of Assignment

The overall objective of the proposed assignment is:
To conduct dialogues/interaction through public hearing to make parliament accountable to the citizens
To support the PA committees in their oversight works to engage with relevant thematic CSOs.
To support the PA secretariat in planning and organizing a package event as part of the parliamentary openness


4. Scope of work Expected Results/Deliverables/Final Products Expected
The service provider will work in close coordination with the Project to complete the following duties and responsibilities.
Scope of Work:
The service provider will establish coordination with the PSP, PA secretariat and relevant stakeholders to to facilitate the said activities relating to conducting 2 public hearing, 2 events with Committees on their oversight work, and conduct one package-based Event for Parliamentary Openness in Karnali Province.
In addition, the service provider will accomplish the following:
Planning and Implementation
Activity1: Support PA to Conduct Public Hearing-2 events
Service provider will identify key issues and develop a plan for the public hearing
Coordinate with the PA secretariat, relevant thematic committees for planning and organization
Identify the key issues and venue for public hearing with the Committee on various issues within its jurisdiction, and it will be done in consultation with the Committee secretariat and PSP.
Collect pertinent questions and concerns form the selected community on the issue in advance so that it could be raised during the hearing programme.
Research some evidence on the key issues of the community so that the moderator could help the community raise/complement their concerns.
Select the Chairs/MPs (at least 4) representing at least 2 thematic committees of the PA and at least one MP from that constituency.
Select a spot related to selected issues that must be accessible and feasible for a one-day event.
Organize and facilitate2 events of public hearing program between the parliamentarians of the PA of the Province and the citizens on the selected issue.
The interaction will take place at the community level which is accessible in terms of proximity from the provincial capital.
Make sure that media persons are also engaged in the event and the news of the same is covered by the local media.
Prepare a detailed report with the major issues raised, response/commitment made, and ways forward.

Activity 2: Support PA secretariat to engage with Research institutions and CSOs in oversight work-2 events
Service provider will prepare plan of engagement with the CSOs
Coordination with PA Secretariat, committees and relevant CSOs for the engagement in committees works
Conduct a half day interaction/ sharing event among the PA secretariat, Committees and lead representative from the CSOs to inform the committees on their thematic areas of engagement, and sensitize to identify the pertinent areas for the oversight.
Facilitate evidence-based presentations from the CSOs so that committees could make informed choices about their oversight agenda.
Such engagement could be with different committees such as women and social dev committees with focus on women and social justice, Public Accounts Committee with CSOs and media active on public financial governance , Agriculture and Environment committee with the CSOs working on Environment, Climate and forestry etc.)
Document the major discussion, way forward and future engagement plan, if any
Provide the committees with the roster of the CSOs/research institutions for the use of the committees

Activity 3: Support PA secretariat to promote open parliamentary practices-1 packaged event
Service provider will develop an event plan to organize the event for promoting the parliamentary openness.
Coordinate and share with the Parliament Secretariat, leadership, and PSP the event plan and finalizee event accordingly.
Organize a package-based event on parliament openness in the PA in consultation with the PA secretariat ( the openness event could be a good mix of at least 5 activities such as Visit Your Parliament visit, documentary show, photo or video shows, exhibition on democracy and parliaments/ quiz or elocution shows/Meet the Speaker for elderly citizen, Youths/Students Q and A with MPs, Know your Lawmaking Corner, Women and Marginalized Groups in Parliament Corner, and other talk series relating to parliament openness or any other events as identified in consultation with the PA secretariat )
Engage at least 250 people directly in these activities and reach out t at least 10 thousand people via social media tools
Prepare event report on major achievements, outreach, and outcome of the program

Methodology:
The Service provider will be responsible for all the logistics associated with organizing and conducting the said events/activities.
The public hearing program will be more participative, interactive, and practical where all the stakeholders will be given the chance to share their queries unopposed.
The moderation of the public hearing program will be managed by a moderator to bind the program in a standard format and save the time
The event on the engagement with the CSOs/Research Institutions will be expert led for the better understanding of Parliamentarians followed by a moderated open discussion.
The eservice provider must mobilize an independent expert with exemplary expertise and experience in parliamentary affairs, oversight issues and collaboration who can share his/her findings without any prejudice.
The parliament openness event will be planned based on the discussion and agreement with the PA secretariat and in consultation with PSP.
The service provider will ensure all public communication via relevant media to invite the public and engage the partners such as university and media, and disseminate the programme and so on.
The service provider must document all the events and its output/outcome appropriately along with the report, pictures, and videos.
Points of Consideration for the service Provider
The service provider must coordinate with the PA secretariat appropriately for the participative program planning and to ensure the engagement of the PA secretariat in every step of program implementation.
The service provider should have to be flexible enough to plan the events as per the availability of the Parliament and Committee leadership
The service provider team /moderator should avoid any issues/ discussion that may cause political conflict during the events.
The service provider must ensure the Gender balanced participation in each event.
Report Submission
Prepare and submit the event completion report with a precise Executive summary followed by activity wise chapters (1 chapter for Public hearing, one for Engagement with the CSOs in Oversight, and one on Openness event) . The Report will include key achievements and observations, points of discussion, key anecdotes/remarks of the participants, parliamentarians, lessons learnt, ways forward, and necessary annexes relating thereof to UNDP/PSP.

Time Frame:
The time frame for the completion of the assignment is within 01 June 30 August 2023

Expected Results/Final Products/Deliverables:
Completion of 2 public hearing events on key issue with the parliament and Committee leadership in the Karnali Province where at least 100 public (including some from LGBTIQ and Persons with Disabilities groups) interact with the committee leadership.
Completion of 2 events with the CSOs/Research Institution on parliamentary Oversight where 10 -15 thematic CSOs will get the opportunity to discuss about the issues with Committee leadership as stated above.
Completion of 1 packaged event on promoting the parliamentary openness where at least 250 public get the opportunity to directly participate and reach out to at least 10 thousand people via social media tools
A report based on the findings and outcomes of these 3 events and possible ways forward.
Good photos and a small (2-3minutes) video featuring the summary of all three events and feedbacks of the participants.

Make two different elaborative bids ( Two different organization) for this TOR , skip budget section