Consultant National pour l'evaluation à mi-parcours du projet Aires Marines protégéés

Contract

This is a National Consultant contract. More about National Consultant contracts.

Background

The Republic of Djibouti is a small coastal country in the Horn of Africa, with a total area of 23,200 km2 , a coastline of 372 km and, within a maritime territory area of 7,200 km². Djibouti's economy is largely dependent on its service sector (76.3% of GDP) connected with the country's strategic location as a deepwater port at the intersection of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Over the last years, led by the vision to turn the country into a platform for commercial and logistics services for the Horn of Africa, the Government has started to undertake vast projects for the development of port, rail and road infrastructure, aimed at facilitating and increasing access to markets in the region. While the Government of Djibouti has made investments to protect some of its unique and biodiversity rich marine habitats, these achievements risk to become precarious given the magnitude and speed of new developments of port infrastructure in Djibouti, most notably in the Gulfs of Tadjourah and Ghoubet. There are major risks associated with the new shipping routes and increased traffic of oil tankers and other ships transporting noxious substances through this vulnerable environment. This GEF project therefore has the objective to “Enhance the resilience of Djibouti’s marine biodiversity through increasing institutional capacity, enhancing financial sustainability and management effectiveness of the Marine Protected Area (MPA) system, and mainstreaming marine biodiversity into key maritime sectors”. The project Objective will be achieved through implementation of four components that address the key barriers identified for effective MPA and marine ecosystem services management. Component 1 Strengthening the effectiveness of Djibouti’s MPA system through enhanced capacity of all stakeholders, including dialogue to mainstream biodiversity into maritime sectors; Component 2 Expanding the national MPA network and strengthening MPA management at site level; Component 3 Sustainable financing mechanism for marine biodiversity and the national protected areas system; and Component 4 Gender Mainstreaming, Knowledge Management and M&E.

Duties and Responsibilities

The MTR will assess progress towards the achievement of the project objectives and outcomes as specified in the Project Document, and assess early signs of project success or failure with the goal of identifying the necessary changes to be made in order to set the project on-track to achieve its intended results. The MTR will also review the project’s strategy and its risks to sustainability.

The MPA Project is a successor to the MPA Project -Phase 1, which was implemented until 2015 by the same implementation partner. The implementation of the project was greatly affected by the global pandemic and the likelihood of receiving a request for extension is high considering that many aspects of the project are delayed. The latest Project Implementation Report (PIR) has shown that there are significant delays and adaptive management might be needed to adjust to the impacts of COVID-19 crisis. The project has had more interactive sessions with the project beneficiaries so as to plan more targeted alternative livelihood options as part of the project interventions. In this regard, the results and recommendations of the MTR will be crucial to make evidence-based and risk-informed decision at the implementation partner and at UNDP level to ensure that the envisaged results are achieved.

MTR is planned for January 2021, as the project has entered the third year of implementation, in line with the evaluation plan.

The specific design and methodology for the MTR should emerge from consultations between the MTR team and the above-mentioned parties regarding what is appropriate and feasible for meeting the MTR purpose and objectives and answering the evaluation questions, given limitations of budget, time and data. The MTR team must use gender-responsive methodologies and tools and ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment, as well as other cross-cutting issues and SDGs are incorporated into the MTR report.

The final methodological approach including interview schedule, field visits and data to be used in the MTR must be clearly outlined in the Inception Report and be fully discussed and agreed between UNDP, stakeholders and the MTR team. The final MTR report must describe the full MTR approach taken and the rationale for the approach making explicit the underlying assumptions, challenges, strengths and weaknesses about the methods and approach of the review.

The MTR team will include a section in the MTR report for evidence-based conclusions, in light of the findings. (COVID) MTR ToR for GEF-Financed Projects - Standard Template for UNDP Procurement Site - June 2020 9 Additionally, the MTR consultant/team is expected to make recommendations to the Project Team. Recommendations should be succinct suggestions for critical intervention that are specific, measurable, achievable, and relevant. A recommendation table should be put in the report’s executive summary. See the Guidance For Conducting Midterm Reviews of UNDP-Supported, GEF-Financed Projects for guidance on a recommendation table.

Competencies

A team of two independent consultants will conduct the MTR - an international team leader (with experience and exposure to projects and evaluations in other regions globally) and a national marine biodiversity expert. The team leader will be responsible for the overall design, suggesting the timeline of the MTR, supporting the process of stakeholder interviews and writing and finalization of the MTR report. The national expert will identify the stakeholders and organize bilateral and group consultations with the (COVID) MTR ToR for GEF-Financed Projects - Standard Template for UNDP Procurement Site - June 2020 11 stakeholders, support the project team in organizing the workshop to share the preliminary findings, organize field missions and work with the Project Team in developing the MTR itinerary, support the team leader in drafting and finalizing the MTR report.

Required Skills and Experience

Education • A Master’s degree in Natural Resources Management, Conservation or Marine Protected Areas Management, Fisheries, Coastal Zone Management, Environmental Sciences, or related fields of expertise (20 points) Experience • Relevant experience with result-based management evaluation methodologies (10); • Experience applying SMART indicators and reconstructing or validating baseline scenarios (10); • Competence in adaptive management, as applied to Biodiversity (10); • Experience in evaluating projects (15); • Experience working in Djibouti and East Africa, in general (5); • Experience in relevant technical areas for at least 5 years (10); • Demonstrated understanding of issues related to gender and Biodiversity; experience in gender sensitive evaluation and analysis (10). • Excellent communication skills; • Demonstrable analytical skills (5); • Project evaluation/review experiences within United Nations system will be considered an asset (5).

Language • Fluency in written and spoken English and French. • Official language of Djibouti is French and Arabic, with Somali and Afar as the most commonly spoken local languages. Fluency in French is required. Knowledge of either Arabic, Somali and/or Afar will be an asset