ARIAS SOCIETY

Assam Rural Infrastructure and Agricultural Services Society (An Autonomous Body under Govt. of Assam) Project Management Unit (PMU) of the World Bank financed Assam Citizen-Centric Service Delivery Project (ACCSDP) Agriculture complex, Khanapara, G.S. Road, Guwahati-781022 (Assam, India) Tel: +91 361-2332125; Fax: +91 361-2332564; website: www.arias.in; email - spd@arias.in

Draft Indicative Terms of Reference (ToR) for Social Safeguards Specialist (SSS) Background and Objective of the Project:

1. The Govt. of Assam has created the Assam Rural Infrastructure and Agricultural Services (ARIAS) Society in November 1998, as an autonomous body, headed by the Chief Secretary, Assam as its President (Project Guidance Council) and the Agriculture Production Commissioner, Assam as the Chairman (Governing Body). The Project Management Unit (PCU) is headed by a State Project Director. The key mandate of the Society is to function as an apex autonomous body of the Govt. of Assam for monitoring, coordination and/or implementation of World Bank or any other externally financed/aided Projects or other Projects of any department as may be authorized by Govt. of Assam from time to time.

2. The Society has successfully completed two World Bank aided projects (ARIASP: 1995-2004 and AACP: 2005-2011 including AACP-AF: 2012-2015) and the World Bank has rated performance of these projects as Satisfactory. The Society contributed in mainstreaming many of the good practices that emerged from the projects into various schemes of the State Government. ARIAS Society has proved to be a path finder and innovator in the areas of targeting the intended beneficiaries, employment generation, reaching out to the vulnerable and the disabled and overall good governance and social accountability.

3. The Government of Assam (GoA) is committed to improve governance in the state and public sector performance. It has already embarked upon a number of specific initiatives to support this objective. They include: the Right to Public Service Act (RTPS), RTI, a public grievance redress system, e-District, Common Service Centers, and establishment of State e-Governance infrastructure.

4. Affordable access to public services, especially for the poor people, is one of the key imperatives for inclusive growth. The Government of Assam (GoA) is committed to improve governance in the state and public sector performance and has recognized the need to strengthen the delivery of citizen-centric service, and had therefore enacted the Assam Right to Public Services Act, 2012 (ARTPS) to ensure citizens access to public services in timely, efficient and accountable manner. The Act enables the citizens of Assam to get notified public services within a stipulated timeframe and also fixes responsibilities on public servants to provide these services in a time-bound manner. GoA has also embarked upon a number of specific initiatives to support this objective, a public grievance redress system, e-District, Common Service Centers, and establishment of State e-Governance infrastructure.

5. To strengthen and deepen these initiatives, GoA has received a $39.20 million loan from the World Bank financed towards the Assam Citizen-Centric Service Delivery Project (ACCSDP) *Project ID: P150308, IBRD Loan No. 8754-IN]. The ACCSDP aims to improve citizen access to targeted services under the ARTPS, particularly in remote areas. Citizens, especially the rural communities who are heavily dependent on government services, will be the principal beneficiary group of the project. The project will place citizens at the center of the service delivery process by strengthening feedback mechanisms and grievance redress.

6. ACCSDP will facilitate implementation of the ARTPS Act with efficiency and accountability for better delivery of citizen-centric services under ARTPS Act and will support the line Deptts. A high-level delivery unit will be established to monitor the implementation of the ARTPS Act. A blend of technological interventions and administrative reforms for 18 key services will be taken-up initially under the project in four Govt. agencies, viz. Transport, Revenue & Disaster Management, and Welfare of Plain tribes & Backward Classes (WPT&BC Deptts). and the Guwahati Municipal Corporation. The project will assist implementing line departments/agencies in restructuring business processes so that citizens can access services digitally within the given timeline of ARTPS Act.

7. The Project Development Objective is to improve access in the delivery of selected public services in Assam.

ACCSDP also aims to strengthen institutional operations and improve citizen awareness and participation in order to expand access to services to benefit the rural poor. This inclusive approach will contribute to access improvements in four key ways: (i) by expanding the number of Right to Public Services Act (RTPS) services which are digitized and available on-line; (ii) by improving connectivity infrastructure especially in underserved areas to enhance citizen access to services; (iii) by engaging local populations in service delivery (through both participatory and digital approaches) so that targeted priority services for the rural communities are accessible; and (iv) by rationalizing and strengthening service delivery by front-line institutions. This project design is pivoted around four interrelated components: (i) strengthening RTPS implementation; (ii) improving service delivery processes in targeted departments; (iii) setting up one-stop-service centers to receive requests for RTPS services and electronically deliver select services to the citizens closer to their homes; and (iv) promoting citizen engagement.

8. These key components of the project namely digitization of services, ICT infrastructure, citizen engagement, front-line delivery institutions, and change management would be managed through the Project Management Unit (PMU) under the ARIAS Society, led by a State Project Director (SPD) and would have inter alia the following staff/consultants:

Business Process Re-engineering and IT Specialist

ICT Infrastructure Specialist

Social Safeguards and Communication Specialist

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) Specialist

Citizen engagement and Change management

Procurement & Contract Management Specialist

Financial Management Specialist

PMU Support Staff

9. The PMU of the ACCSDP is seeking an interested and qualified professional for the position of Social Safeguards Specialist hereinafter referred as SSS to lead activities related to planning, design and implement IEC Strategy, M&E Framework, Implementation arrangements and overall communications strategy for the ACCSDP to improve public service delivery.

Job Summary along with Key Tasks/responsibilities

10. The Social Safeguards Specialist (SSS) shall report to the Social Development Specialist, ARIAS society (under the overall command of the State Project Director, ARIAS Society) and he/she will support the implementation of the project ensuring wider participation by citizens with special efforts to reach out to tribal people, as well as inclusion initiatives and enhancing equity; decentralizing service delivery; human and institutional development.

11. The SSS will work closely with the participating government departments/agencies of ACCSDP, and other specialists hired for ACCSDP and he/she will support projects efforts at reaching the targeted communities which, however, are quite diverse in many ways social (scheduled castes, others), economic (landless, small, marginal, and large farmers), ethnic (scheduled tribe, others), gender (female headed households) and geographical setting (hills, plains, forests, flood prone).

12. He/she will ensure that the tribal populations impacted by the project are adequately and fully consulted and included in the entire process of preparation, implementation and monitoring of project as per the Tribal Development Plan (TDP) of the project;

13. He/she will ensure that the tribal people are provided with special assistance as per prevailing laws and policies, so that project benefits are equally accessible to the tribal communities. Assist the PMU in continuous assessment of project implementation to take stock of project outreach and its influence/impact specially on the on tribal communities in Sixth Schedule and non-Scheduled areas; and to recommend corrective action, as necessary;

14. He/she will ensure gender aspects of the project and support the PMU in promoting the use of RTPS services by women through (i) campaigns explicitly tailored to potential women users of services; (ii) encourage engaging of women as staff responsible for operating Public Facilitation Centers (PFC) being supported by the project and ensure that atleast one-third of all the staff to be hired under the project are women and (iii) systematically tracking the use of RTPS services accessed electronically by women at blocks and PFCs

15. He/she will work in close collaboration with the rest of the technical team and support the projects endeavors in change management initiatives aimed at government institutions including assessing the challenges and

opportunities for change, creating a ambience for change and setting strategies to address resistance to change, help in reinforcing the change process. The change management initiatives will be backed by citizen information, education and communication (IEC) campaign, citizen engagement, social accountability activities, etc.

16. The other responsibilities include the following:

(i) Ensure that project implementation is in compliance with World Banks social safeguard principles and that the project activities are not in violation of the tribal safeguards regulations and TDP prepared for the project.

(ii) Provide conceptual and operational leadership on the core social development themes pursed in the project.

(iii) Ensure that social issues have been adequately addressed pursuant to the Social Safeguard Policies.

(iv) Advise Management on issues relating to social development and contribute to discussions on social analysis.

(v) Prepare reports on social safeguards aspects of the project taking into account inter alia social outreach, impacts, constraints and risk.

(vi) Lead communication with government and other partners in sharing project progress, and seeking feedback to improve social development related issues

(vii) Any other task as may be assigned by the State Project Director, ARIAS Society

17. The SSS will have to attend PMU, ARIAS Society on all working days from 10 AM to 5 PM unless he/she is on official tour as approved by SPD or allowed to work from home by SPD. He may also be required to attend office on holidays as and when so desired by SPD for disposal of urgent matters. However, no extra remuneration will be paid for attending office on holidays.

18. Duration of Assignment

a) The contract period with SSS is intended for entire duration of the project and coterminous with the project period of ACCSDP. However, continuity of the SSS beyond one (1) year from the date of signing the agreement will depend upon his performance. The decision of the SPD will be final and binding in this regard.

b) The contract with SSS may be terminated by either side at any point of time during the contractual period by serving a 30 days notice without assigning any reason and without thereby incurring any liability to the Govt. of Assam/ PMU/ ARIAS Society. The assignment is purely contractual in nature and will not, under any circumstance, be extended beyond the ACCSDPs closing date. The ARIAS Society or the Government of Assam will not undertake any responsibility for subsequent deployment of the consultant.

c) The SSS shall not assign or sub-contract, in whole or in part, his obligations to perform under this Contract, except with the SPDs prior written consent. The SSS will have to serve the ARIAS Society on full time basis under overall command of State Project Director, ARIAS Society and provide services from the PMU at Khanapara, Guwahati. The resignation/termination shall be as per HR Policy of the ARIAS Society.

d) The SSS may be required to undertake field-visits and tours as per the project requirements, with prior approval of the SPD.

19. Qualifications

A. Essential Qualifications & Experience:

a) Postgraduate in Social Development/ Sociology/ Anthropology/ Social Sciences/ Social Work or related subject from any Govt. recognized university. Atleast 7 years of experience in social development/ management activities in public/reputed private sector agency(ies) at leadership position.

However, Graduates in Social Development/ Sociology/ Anthropology/ Social Sciences/ Social Work or related subject with over 10 years of experience in social development/ management activities in public/reputed private sector agency(ies) at managerial/ leadership position may also be considered, but at a reduced CTP.

b) Proficiency in Computer including in the use of Internet based applications, MS Word, MS Excel and MS Power Point etc.

c) Must possess initiative and the ability to work independently as well as team;

d) Good communication and social skills and report writing skills in English;

e) Must possess initiative, synthesis, organizational skills and personal dynamism, and capacity to prepare planning and activity reports ;

f) Good command over English/Hindi and Assamese/Bengali

20. Age: The candidate shall not be of more than 45 years of age as on 1st August2017. However, in case of exceptionally talented candidate having wide relevant experience this requirement may be relaxed.

21. Remuneration and payment terms:

a) Depending on the qualifications, experience, competency, and also the remuneration/ CTC of the last assignment, the consolidated fixed annual Cost to project (CTP) of the SSS will be determined and mutually agreed with the successful candidate, which would be in the range between Rs.11.40 lakh to Rs.19.20 lakh per year. The agreed annual CTP shall be inclusive of remuneration, performance-linked-incentive, communication allowance, health/service related allowance, all taxes, cost of accommodation and food at Guwahati, conveyance to attend the PMU, etc.

b) The remuneration will be given in equal monthly installments and the performance-linked-incentive will be given on quarterly basis based on the performance and achievement against the mutually agreed deliverables by the ICTI Specialist. Taxes as applicable shall be dealt with as per applicable laws. The remuneration may be enhanced on an Annual Basis, based on the HR Policy of the ARIAS Society.

c) Travelling, Boarding, Lodging and Food expenses for approved official tours outside Guwahati will be reimbursed as per the HR Policy of ARIAS Society and as provided in the contract agreement. For travel outside the State, the Travelling and Boarding & Lodging expenses will be reimbursed as per the HR Policy of the ARIAS Society and as provided in the contract agreement.

22. Travel Requirements: The SSS may be required to undertake field-visits as per the project requirements, with prior approval of the SPD and the travel costs will be reimbursed as per the HR Policy of the ARIAS Society

23. Reporting and Performance Review

The SSS will report to the State Project Director, ARIAS Society. The quality of service and performance of the SSS will be reviewed by the SPD on a quarterly basis and the annual performance review will be done as per the HR Policy of the ARIAS Society

24. Facilities to be provided by the PMU: The PMU, ARIAS Society

a. Will be given access to all documents, reports, correspondence, contacts available and any other information as deemed necessary for smooth accomplishments of tasks assigned.

b. Will be provided with one office cubicle in the PMU along with computer, printer, computer/office consumables, and internet access.

c. Will pay the fixed monthly remuneration as per the contract agreement. No house rent allowance or any other allowance shall be paid by the PMU. No other payment whatsoever (except reimbursement of travelling expenses and project allowance) shall be paid, except as agreed with the SSS and by the SPD, ARIAS Society.

d. Will not be provided with any clerical assistance.

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