Call for Expression of Interest for European Union Member State and Associated Country Local Authorities for Peer-to-Peer Cooperation with Iraqi Governorates (Ref: EOI 001-19)

**PLEASE NOTE, DEADLINE FOR EOI SUBMISSIONS HAS BEEN EXTENDED 31 DECEMBER 2019. ALSO KINDLY NOTE THAT THE CALL FOR EOI NOW INCLUDES COUNTRIES LISTED IN THE ADDENDUM 01.**

EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (Ref: EOI No.: IRQ-EOI 001-19)

Call for Expression of Interest for European Union Member State Local Authorities for Peer-to-Peer Cooperation with Iraqi Governorates under the Programme ‘Supporting Recovery and Stability in Iraq through Local Development’ Funded by the European Union and Implemented by UNDP.

UNDP Iraq through the Local Area Development Programme (LADP) invites interested European Union Member State (EU MS) Local Authorities to apply on the following:

Summary of project’:

Peer-to-Peer is a participatory initiative that aims at opening up new channels of dialogue and ‘ways of working’ between local government institutions of different countries (Iraq and EU Member States), in addition to facilitating the exchange of information and expertise on the decentralization of powers from central to local government.

Each of the respective Governorates in Iraq, with the support of UNDP, will choose a European local authority (based on evaluation grids) most suited to their profile and decentralization needs.

There are nine (09) Iraqi Governorates taking part in this Cooperation and they include:

1. Anbar;
2. Basra;
3. Dohuk;
4. Erbil;
5. Missan;
6. Nineveh;
7. Salah ah Din;
8. Sulaymaniyah; and
9. Thi Qar.

Iraqi Governorates will be permitted to partner with more than one EU MS local authority with complimentary expertise provided that there is a mutual understanding and agreement among the EU MS local authorities.

The selected EU MS local authority Peers and Iraqi Governorates will jointly develop a Scope of work in the form of a Project Document including but not limited to the following:

1. Decentralization needs gap assessment
2. Decentralization needs gap plugging;
3. On-the-job training and coaching;
4. Study visits; and
5. Any other innovative approach and/or tools related to the topic.

The maximum budget for each Peer-to-Peer proposal is US$500,000.

Outputs:

The specific outcomes of the Peer-to-Peer initiative will be as follows:

• EU local authorities have provided on-the-job training (including exchange of skills/knowledge/experiences/best practices/standard policies) to the respective Iraqi Governorates in relation to the decentralization of powers from central to local government.
• There is greater cultural understanding between both Peers and their respective constituencies
• The Iraqi Governorates have increased technical understanding of the decentralization of powers as a complete process.
• The Iraqi Governorates have increased capacity to undertake processes in relation to the decentralization of powers.

Eligibility criteria

Please see the attached EoI for the eligibility and selection criteria.

Submission details: 

The EoI form, as attached, must be submitted in full. All instructions on what and how to submit are in the EoI form (e-submission is only required).

As stated in the EoI form, interested EU MS local authorities must provide persuasive information and evidence indicating that they are qualified to perform the services and meet the objectives outlined in the EoI form and the Announcement, as attached.

EOIs from EU MS local authorities failing to provide the requested information will be disregarded, as mentioned in the EOI instructions.

This EOI does not entail any commitment on the part of UNDP, either financial or otherwise. UNDP reserve the right to accept or reject any or all EOI without incurring any obligation to inform the affected applicant/s of the grounds.

If you need further information, please feel free to contact the following:

Focal Persons; Leila Taleb, Community Engagement & Mobilization Officer Email:Leila.sabrina.taleb@undp.org;  with copy to

Abdulkerim Al-Khafaji, Programme Specialist Email: abdulkerim.al-khafaji@undp.org

Please note the Deadline for submission for request for clarifications: 15th December 2019.

Bid Submission Address:

Electronic submission (via email) requirements: Leila.sabrina.taleb@undp.org;  abdulkerim.al-khafaji@undp.org

• Format: PDF files (Preferred)
• File names must be maximum 60 characters long and must not contain any letter or special character other than from Latin alphabet/keyboard.
• All files must be free of viruses and not corrupted.

If you are uploading a large number of files (ex. 15 or more), please zip the files into a ZIP folder and upload the folder instead of each file individually. You can upload several ZIP folders, but if you do this, please note that the total size of each ZIP folder uploaded cannot exceed 50MB.