Evaluation Consultant for UNDAF Malawi – Team Leader

Result of Service The purpose of the CF evaluation is twofold to:

Promote greater learning and operational improvement. The evaluation will provide important information for strengthening programming and results at the country level, specifically informing the planning and decision-making for the next CF programme cycle and for improving United Nations coordination at the country level. The UNCT, Government of Malawi and other CF stakeholders can learn from the process of documenting good practices and lessons learned which can then be shared with the UN Development Coordination Office (UNDCO) and used for the benefit of other countries.

To support greater accountability of the UNCT to CF stakeholders. By objectively verifying results achieved within the framework of the CF and assessing the effectiveness of the strategies and interventions used, the evaluation will enable the various stakeholders in the CF process, including national counterparts and donors, to hold the UNCT and other parties accountable for fulfilling their roles and commitments.

Work Location Malawi

Expected duration The evaluation is expected to be carried out from March to July 2022 for 60 working days.

Duties and Responsibilities INTRODUCTION

In January 2019, the UN in Malawi, in partnership with the Government of Malawi, started implementing the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (2019-2023), previously called the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF)1. The Cooperation Framework (CF), as a core accountability tool, outlined the strategic vision of the UN in Malawi in support of the national development objectives as expressed in the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MGDS) III and specified the high-level results that the UN Country Team and Government partners commit to achieve by 2023. The CF was aligned to the 2030 Agenda and its underlying principle of leaving no one behind. It is also a vehicle for strengthening coherence, accountability, and impact of the UNs work at country level, in line with the ambitions of the UN Secretary-General’s ongoing UN Reforms. The Government-UN National Steering Committee comprising senior government officials, the UN resident Coordinator, and UN Heads of Agencies provides oversight and strategic direction towards implementing the CF through the bi-annual high-level Joint Strategy Meetings. The CF is operationalized through joint programmes and annualized Joint Work Plans (JWPs) developed at inter-agency Result Groups under the leadership of United Nations Country Team (UNCT) and Programme Management Team (PMT). The Monitoring, Evaluation and Advisory Group provides technical assistance to the PMT and the Results Groups in monitoring the implementation of the CF. The CF partners include key Government line Ministries, Civil Society Organizations, the Private Sector, Academia, and multilateral and bilateral donors. The details of the stakeholders are included in the annexes.

The 2019 CF Guidance emphasizes commissioning the independent CF evaluation in the penultimate year of the Cooperation Framework, which is 2022 for the UN in Malawi2. The evaluation is important for improving accountability for results and learning in terms of what has worked and what has not and why, particularly for informing the next CF cycle. The lessons learnt from CF evaluations in one country can be useful for designing and implementing CF in other countries. Evaluation of the CF is a mandatory independent system-wide country evaluation and is separate from an annual review. The CF evaluation is crucial to assess the relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability of the UN’s programmes on recovery and long-term development in Malawi by reviewing the contributions made under the CF towards addressing national priorities and achieving results in line with agenda 2030, and humanitarian commitments.

The independent CF evaluation will be informed by evidence collected using primary and secondary data collection methods. This secondary data will include the CF and agency annual reviews, assessments, CF Partners, UN entity and joint evaluations generated during the CF implementation cycle. The main audience and primary users of the report of the CF evaluation include the Malawi Government, United Nations Country Team (UNCT3), current and potential implementing partners, and current and potential donors.

PURPOSE AND OBJECTIVES

The objectives of the evaluation are: ¿ to assess the contribution made by the UNCT in the framework of the CF to national development results through making judgements using evaluation criteria based on evidence (accountability). ¿ to identify the factors that have affected the UNCT's contribution, answering the question of why the performance is as it is and explaining the enabling factors and bottlenecks (learning). ¿ to reach conclusions concerning the UN’s contribution across the scope being examined. ¿ to provide actionable recommendations for improving the UNCT's contribution, especially for incorporation into the new CF. These recommendations should be logically linked to the conclusions and draw upon lessons learned identified through the evaluation.

SCOPE

Temporal and programmatic: The CF evaluation will be implemented from March to June 2022 and cover all the interventions implemented under the annualized Joint Work Plans by resident and non-resident agencies during the CF cycle from 2019 to 2023. The CF will be evaluated against the strategic intent laid down in the CF document, particularly its contribution to national results. The CF evaluation will address all three pillars and nine associated outcomes (see table 1. above). For Joint programmes, greater emphasis will be placed on those interventions which are implemented for more than three years during the CF programme cycle. The evaluation is expected to address CF programming principles (human rights-based approach, gender equality, environmental sustainability, results-based management, capacity development). The evaluation will also cover humanitarian interventions in disaster prone districts. The CF evaluation is expected to explicitly address cross-cutting issues such as gender equality and women’s empowerment, human rights and non-discrimination, disability inclusion and environmental sustainability through an adequate evaluation design. The evaluation is also expected to apply the evaluation questions and methodology to yield key findings, conclusions, and recommendations.

In terms of geographic coverage, the evaluation will have a nationwide scope, covering all three regions of Malawi. The evaluation should follow an inclusive approach, engaging a broad range of stakeholders and partners representing the Government, civil society organizations, the private sector, other multilateral organizations, and bilateral donors. The CF evaluation is not expected to be a set of summative evaluations of individual each UN agency’s programmes or projects, rather it will build on the programme and project evaluations conducted by each agency to present a synthesis and broader evaluative judgements about the CF.

MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS

As per CF Evaluation Guidelines, the management of the CF evaluation will comprise of the following groups of stakeholders: a. The Evaluation Steering Committee The Evaluation Steering Committee (ESC) will oversee and guide the CF evaluation process. The Committee will consist of high-level representatives from the UNCT, CF Result Groups, Government, SDG-Fund Donors, and NGOs.

b. The Evaluation Manager The Evaluation Manager will provide technical oversight of the entire process of the evaluation, from its preparation to the dissemination and use of the final evaluation report. The manager serves as an interlocutor between the Evaluation Team and the ESC, ensuring the quality control of deliverables submitted by the evaluators throughout the evaluation process. The Evaluation Manager will facilitate access to information for the evaluators, sets up meetings, organize briefing and debriefing sessions and provide comments on the main deliverables of the evaluation process.

c. Evaluation Reference Group The Evaluation Reference Group comprising members of the Programme Management Team, Monitoring and Evaluation Advisory Group (MEAG) and the nine Outcome Groups will provide advice and support in the planning and implementing evaluation activities. Besides, this group will facilitate access to information and review the inception report, draft evaluation report and final evaluation report.

d. The Evaluation Team The evaluation team will be composed of a multidisciplinary and gender balanced team of four evaluators (including an international team leader) with expertise in three CF strategic priorities, namely, Peace, Inclusion and Effective Institutions, Population Management and Inclusive Human Development, and Inclusive and Resilient Growth. The Team Leader must have expertise in designing and undertaking evaluations on interventions related to Food and Nutrition Security, Sustainable and Diversified Agriculture, Economic Diversification, Inclusive Business, and Clean Energy. The team member focusing on Peace, Inclusion, and Effective Institutions must have expertise in designing and undertaking evaluations on democratic governance and Gender Equality and Women Empowerment interventions. The CF priority on Population Management will require a team member with expertise in designing and undertaking evaluations for interventions focusing on Early Childhood Development (ECD) Services; Quality Education, Health, Nutrition, HIV/AIDS, and Protection Services; and Sexual and Reproductive and HIV/AIDS Health Rights. One of the team members will be an expert on cross-cutting issues such as gender equality, human rights, disability, and environmental sustainability. The team will be expected to conduct the evaluation in adherence to the UNEG evaluation Norms and Standards, code of conduct and ethical guidelines for evaluations, CF evaluation guidelines and the guidance on integrating human rights and gender equality in evaluations. The Team should be built with due consideration to cultural and language balance, gender balance, collective knowledge of the national context in various areas of UN work, and a balanced team of both national as well as international experts.

There should be no conflict of interest such as recent or expected employment by UNCT members or implementing partners, private relationships with any UNCT members of staff or government counterparts or implementing partners; participation in the design, implementation or advising CF being evaluated, among others). Any potential conflict of interest should be declared by candidates during the application process.

The team leader will be an international consultant (non-Malawian national) and will be responsible for providing guidance and leadership, and in coordinating the draft and final report. He/she holds the overall responsibility for the methodological design and implementation of the evaluation and therefore, should demonstrate adequate expertise in evaluation methods, management of evaluations, report writing skills. He/she will be responsible for the production and timely submission of all expected deliverables in line with the ToR. The team leader will act as a technical expert for the CF’s priority area on Inclusive and Resilient Growth.

EVALUATION PROCESSES AND TIMELINE

a. Inception phase - 15 days ¿ Entry-level briefing with the Resident Coordinator and the Evaluation Managers ¿ The Evaluation Team compiles relevant documents and undertakes a desk review ¿ The Evaluation Team maps and scopes activities to refine the evaluation design and questions to be reflected in the inception report ¿ The Evaluation Team assesses and reconstitutes (if necessary) the theory of change to better adhere to the CF as implemented ¿ The Evaluation Team undertakes a detailed stakeholder mapping and selects a representative sample of stakeholders to be interviewed during the field phase ¿ The Evaluation Team drafts an inception report using the standard template aligned with the UNEG Norms and Standards.

b. Field phase - 25 days ¿ The Evaluation Team undertakes primary and secondary data collection and analysis, including triangulation ¿ The Evaluation Team presents the preliminary findings of the data collection exercise to Evaluation Managers and the Evaluation Reference Group

c. Reporting phase - 20 days ¿ The Evaluation Team synthesizes the findings and drafts the Evaluation Report ¿ Evaluation Steering Committee and Evaluation Reference Group reviews the evaluation report ¿ UNDCO reviews and approves the evaluation report (Quality assurance) ¿ RCO organizes a stakeholder validation workshop of CF findings

d. Management response, Dissemination and use Phase ¿ RCO disseminates the CF Evaluation Report through the UNSDG portal and the UN website ¿ RCO and UNCT drafts the management response

Reporting line The consultant shall report to the Development Coordination Officer in the RC Office and Evaluation Managers comprising designated staff from UN Women, UNFPA and UNICEF.

Qualifications/special skills Competencies: The evaluation team should possess the following competencies: - Good understanding of the SDGs, other relevant regional or global frameworks, national priorities, and their implications for development cooperation - Good understanding of multilateralism and the role of the UN System in development cooperation in the context of the country in question - Understanding of UN Reform and its implementation implication at the country level - Demonstrated analytical capacity, including on political economy and financing for development - Sound knowledge of the country context and an in-depth understanding of one of the CF priorities - Excellent capability in reporting highly credible conclusions substantiated by evidence and develop clear, realistic, actionable recommendations. - Excellent knowledge of different types of theories of change, logic models and can use systems approach to recreate the development of theories of change and logic models to facilitate evaluative thinking. - Must be able to work in a multidisciplinary team and multicultural environment.

Academic Qualifications: A master’s degree in Agricultural Economics, Monitoring and Evaluation, Agriculture, Environmental/Natural Resources Management or any other social sciences related to any of the UNCF priority areas is required. A PhD level degree is preferred. A first level degree in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the master's degree

Experience: - A minimum of 10 years’ experience of conducting complex evaluations, including at least one CF evaluation and one Gender Equality and Human Rights responsive evaluation is required. (Previous work should be hyperlinked). - A minimum of 5 years’ experience of conducting complex evaluations related to the three outcome areas: Food and Nutrition Security, and WASH services; Sustainable and Diversified Agriculture; and Economic Diversification, Inclusive Business, and Clean Energy is required. (Previous work should be hyperlinked). - Experience and background in gender equality/gender analysis and gender responsive evaluations is required.

Language: English and French are the working languages of the UN Secretariat. For this position, fluency in oral and written English is required.

No Fee THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.