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Call for Applications

Call for Applications

About D+

Democracy Plus (D+) is an independent, not-for- profit organization, founded by a group of activists who strongly believe in democratic values and in a democratic Kosovo. Our organization’s principal goal is to support democratic values and practices in the scope of good governance, rule of law, elections and political parties, social issues, and human rights.

Background

D+ is implementing the USAID/Recycling Matters Activity – Gračanica/Graçanicë that seeks to improve the socio- economic cohesion of the Informal Waste Collectors (IWC) from the Kosovo Roma, Ashkali and Egyptian (RAE) communities residing in the municipality of Gračanica/Graçanicë.

The Activity will establish recycling models in Gračanica/Graçanicë with source segregation of waste in households, businesses and schools, that will be scaled up in each subsequent year, and will undertake supporting activities including training collectors, outreach to the community, and promotional/awareness raising campaigns. The technical approach is designed in a way that supports the IWCs from the target community through formal employment and with equipment and trainings that benefit those that remain in the informal sector, while at the same time contributing to environmental protection. A Waste Separation Center will be established in cooperation with the municipality and its waste management company, which will complement the efforts of the source waste separation, with the ultimate goal of creating sustainable jobs for the IWCs from the target community. Additionally, the Activity will support IWCs remaining in the informal sector and make additional efforts to formalize them through employment opportunities in the private sector.

This Activity aims to provide sustainable livelihoods and increase socio-economic cohesion among the Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian informal waste collectors in Kosovo, through the facilitation of sustainable recycling models led by the private sector in cooperation with local communities and the municipality of Gračanica/Graçanicë, including the goal of further replication beyond the municipality.

Objective of this Call

The objective of this Assignment is to engage a Company/Team of consultants, for preparing the methodology and conducting a detailed baseline study on the recycling sector in Kosovo using a market system development approach. Specifically:

  1. Map the entire value chain from waste production to waste collection and handling, sorting and recycling to final sale;
  2. Identify and categorize all key stakeholders involved directly in the recycling sector;
  3. Identify the types of materials that these actors buy and sell;
  4. Identify prices and routes of recyclable materials from the points where they are collected to the final processors;
  5. Analyze the policy framework that regulates waste management, with a particular emphasis on recycling;
  6. Research practices and successful models of source separation of waste in developed countries and their approach to incentivizing citizens and businesses to engage in sound environmental behavior with regards to downstream waste management, as well as the inclusion of informal collectors into waste management.

 

The company/Team of Consultants is expected to provide the following deliverables:

  1. Methodology for the completion of the assignment;
  2. Submission of Initial Draft-report on the market dynamics that will enable the project team to design interventions that ultimately lead to an increased standard of living for the RAE Informal Waste Collectors (IWCs) of the municipality of Gračanica/Graçanicë;
  3. Submission of a Final Report after addressing all comments received from the project team;

 

Qualifications

The Company/Team of Consultants (interested in conducting this detailed baseline study must have the following qualifications:

  • Proven prior experience in designing and undertaking research based on the market system development approach;
  • Proven experience in designing and conducting baseline research (quantitative and qualitative) and producing quality program analysis and reports;
  • In-depth knowledge of environmental legislation, regulatory requirements, interpretations, and health and safety programs;
  • Ability to understand and apply regulations related to waste management;
  • Required fluency in English and Albanian, working knowledge of the Serbian language is a strong asset;
  • Master’s Degree(s) in social sciences, international development, public administration, economics (in case when an organization or company is applying, this qualification must be met by the lead researcher in the team);
  • Ability to produce high-quality written reports, including visual presentation of data (tables and graphs);
  • Prior experience with donor-funded projects, strong preference will be given to candidates with prior experience with USAID funded projects/programs.

 

Duration and timeline

The baseline report, including preparation, design of methodology, development of research tools, testing and revising the tools, field work, data analysis, consultations of the preliminary findings with D+, USAID and other relevant stakeholders, final report, and revisions thereof, must be completed by 10 February, 2023.

Nature of the contract and Payment

This will be a service agreement contract.

Payments will be done in three instalments upon successful completion of the set deliverables, per the following plan:

 

Payment Schedule  %
Submission and approval of the Methodology for completion of the Assignment 30%
Submission and Approval of the detailed baseline study 70%

Eligibility

The Call is open for Companies or Teams of Consultants composed of at least two experts, who must possess Kosovo residence permit and meet the qualifications presented above.

 

Criteria  %
Technical Offer, of which:

Methodology – 20%

Key personnel – 30%

Previous experience of the Company/Team of Consultants–20%

70%
Financial offer 30%

Only short-listed companies/team of consulantants will be contacted by Democracy Plus.

D+ reserves the right to negotiate the financial offer.

Negotiations

D+ may enter into negotiations concerning the technical and/or financial aspects of the agreement.

Costs for preparing offers

All costs related to preparing, submitting, or negotiating offers in response to this call, are under the responsibility of the applicant. D+ does not reimburse any such costs.

Validity of offers

All offers must remain valid for a period of 60 days from the date of submission, unless the Applicant withdraws from the procedure in writing.

Bidding Documents

Interested applicants must submit the following required documents (in English):

Cover letter (1-2 pages) which introduces the Company/Team of Consultants with an expression of interest to carry out the work as described in this ToR and clearly stipulating the division of roles amongst the Team members and designation of the Team leader.

Detailed CV of Team Members encompassing education, work and engagements related to the scope of this ToR and in response to the qualifications requested;

At least three references of similar work conducted in the past;

Written sample of previous reports in a similar field;

A work plan detailing the duration of the work

Financial proposal: total financial requirement to carry out the work, and detailed breakdown of costs for each activity to be accomplished, without VAT (in EUR);

For companies:

Copy of registration certificate

Copy of fiscal number certificate

Company/organization profile

Application procedure

Interested applicants must submit the required documentation to [email protected], until 8 November, 2022 at 17:00. Applications received after the closing date & time will not be considered.

Email subject line should contain the following text: “Detailed Study on Recycling Sector”.

If any clarifications relating this ToR are required, such question should be directed to D+ only through e-mail at: [email protected] until 01 November, 2022. D+ will not answer questions over the phone or in-person and strongly encourages applicants to refrain from contacting D+ by any means. Applicants must write their questions solely in English language.
D+ does not guarantee that all questions will be answered.