Evaluation Consultant for UNDAF Malawi – Team Member (Peace, Inclusion and Effective Institutions)

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 Background

1. 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 UN's 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.

2. COUNTRY CONTEXT AND UNDAF/UNSDCF HIGHLIGHTS

2.1 Country Context

Political and Governance Environment: Malawians elected Dr Lazarus Chakwera and Dr Saulos Chilima in June 2020 as State President and State Vice President, respectively, after the court had annulled the 2019 Presidential elections and ordered for Fresh Presidential Elections within 150 days. The CF was developed during the time Malawi held its tripartite elections in 2019. The country has had six successive peaceful elections with high voter turnout since the advent of multiparty politics in 1994, including twice changing power from the ruling party to a newly elected opposition party. One of the significant challenges that continues to derail democratization gains and push for substantive democracy consolidation is the issue of poor governance. Some key manifestations of poor governance include failure to implement the decentralization policy, frequent deadlocks among various arms of the government, intra-party democracy deficit, lack of accountability and oversight, slow judicial processes and limited access to justice, and ultimately weak institutions of governance such as the Parliament, political parties, local governance, civil society organizations, Electoral Commission and Human Rights Commission.

Development: Malawi is the Chair of the Least Development Countries Group with a per capita GDP of US$ 395.14and classified as a low human development country with a Human Development Index value of 0.483 and ranked 174 out of 189 countries. The country is landlocked with a weak export base, which creates a competitive disadvantage in trade. Besides, the country is densely populated and an agrarian economy that continuously suffers from disasters, climate change and environmental degradation. The recurring floods and droughts have increased in frequency, magnitude, and scope over the years. Towards the end of the 2019 rainy season, Malawi experienced one of the worst strong winds, heavy rains and floods induced by a tropical cyclone that formed in the Mozambican channel. The floods damaged houses, including household assets and affected water supply systems, hydrological monitoring stations and farms. It also led to increased Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) among the survivors, especially in the camping sites. On average, droughts and floods reduce the total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by about 1.7 percent every year. The agricultural sector accounts for almost 30 percent of GDP. Since the early 2000s, except for occasional growth spurts caused by good weather, growth in Malawi has been at 4 percent per annum on average, barely exceeding population growth (averaging 3 per cent in recent decades). There has thus been little or no addition to real per capita incomes in recent decades. Nevertheless, despite weather and price shocks, the country has trended towards macro stability, demonstrating a high level of domestic resilience—on which the hopes for its structural transformation are anchored today. However, there are persisting challenges on increased domestic debt due to high level of borrowing.

Human Rights: The country underwent its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) on 3 November 2020 where 83 member states made recommendations to improve the protection and promotion of human rights in the country. 8 The Malawi Government supported recommendations on increased attention to gender equality, ending child marriage and SGBV, the rights of the child, protection of persons living with albinism or with a disability, improving prison conditions, improving access to adequate health services, addressing maternal mortality, better support to the Malawi Human Rights Commission, eliminating corruption and addressing poverty. Key areas where the Government did not support the recommendations relate to the elimination of the death penalty, decriminalizing consensual same sex relationships and support for sexual and reproductive health/rights, family planning and contraception. It is notable that Malawi also rejected these recommendations in its 2015 UPR.

Leave no one Behind (LNOB): Malawi is placed in position 172 out of 189 countries and territories with a Gender and Development Index of 0.93. The country is a signatory to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and many regional protocols. However, the implementation of the national gender policy is weak. As such, the intended gender mainstreaming is limited. Furthermore, the 2018 Malawi population census shows that women and youth are the largest demographic constituting over fifty percent of the population. Yet women, youth, and sexual minorities continue to be marginalized and underrepresented in decision-making, government appointments, and political party structures. Besides, a study by Malawi Human Rights Commission indicates that the daily challenges of persons with disabilities (PWDs) in Malawi multiplied with the COVID-19 pandemic. The PWDs living within the ultra poor pockets in Malawi, and many survive on street begging or live in the streets. Lack of financial resources increasingly leaves PWDs vulnerable to situations of violence, particularly women, girls and persons living with albinism.

Emerging issues: The evolving COVID-19 pandemic has caused socio-economic impacts in Malawi. The pandemic has had indiscriminate human and socio-economic impacts on populations, livelihoods, and economic well-being. The country registered the onset of the fourth wave of the pandemic in December 2021 due to omicron variant. The vaccination rate remains low. Thus, the pandemic has affected Malawi’s growth momentum and brought about a steep deterioration in public finances. For example, combined with lingering development challenges, such as the weather-related shocks in 2019, the COVID-19 situation threatens to reverse the country’s notable SDGs’-related achievements. The Malawi Government, with technical and financial support from the UN, launched the Social Economic Response Plan to run from 2021 to 2023. The evolving COVID-19 resulted in the UN reprogramming more than US$ 50.2 million to life-saving interventions. Malawi faces a rising security threat from the ongoing Islamist insurgence in neighbouring Mozambique's northern region, the Cabo Delgado province. The insurgence, which started in 2017, is causing significant security, political, humanitarian, and socio-economic crises in Mozambique's Cabo Delgado region, which likely to have spill-over effects on Malawi and neighbouring countries. This situation occurs when the State President is the Chairperson of the Southern African Development Cooperation. This regional bloc in which Mozambique is a member stands a chance to offer lasting solutions to counter the violent extremism that has plagued northern Mozambique for almost four years. Recently, the Malawi Government launched Vision 2063, a successor to Vision 2020 that aspires to have an inclusively, wealthy and self-reliant industrialized upper-middle-income country by 206311. This Vision 2063 will be operationalized by the 10-year National Implementation Plan that defines specific strategies that will take the country to the lower-middle-income status by 2030. 12Malawi’s Vision 2063 was developed at a time when the country has made progress in a few areas, such as: reduced maternal and child mortality rate; increased primary school enrollment ratio; reduced prevalence of HIV/AIDS; increased life expectancy; and improved uptake of technology use, especially mobile phone technology. However, poverty has remained persistent over the years and remains the key challenge. The national annual real GDP growth rate, at an average of 4.1 percent during the past decade, has been slow and lagged far behind the regional and global trends. With unemployment at around 20 percent and skewed against the youth, the country has so far failed to harness the potential of a growing and youthful population. The Government with technical and financial support from the UN is undertaking its 2nd Voluntary National Review (VNR) as part of the follow-up and review of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The country will present the key messages of VNR at the High-Level Political Forum in July 2022.

2.2 UNDAF/UNSDCF HIGHLIGHTS

In December 2018, the Malawi Government and the United Nations Country Team signed the 2019-2023 United Nations Cooperation Framework developed through an extensive consultation process with the government and other key stakeholders involved at all stages to ensure that the CF aligns to national priorities and needs. Through the Vision 2030 and Strategic Prioritization process, the CF identified three pillars and nine outcomes outlined below. The pillars and outcomes are aligned with 15 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and all the Key Priority Areas of the MGDS III, namely Agriculture, water development and climate change management; Education and skill development; Energy, industry, and tourism development; Transport and ICT Infrastructure, and Health and population. The pillars respond to the root causes of development challenges in Malawi identified in the 2017 Common Country Analysis: poor governance, climate change, weak economic structure, rapid population growth, and harmful social norms. The CF has a theory of change (ToC) for each pillar under annex l of the CF document. The ToC although not explicit specifies the rationale, intervention logic, strategy and approach, preconditions, assumptions, and risks to be mitigated to address the five root causes and attain the results at the outcome level.

The CF was signed by 20 UN entities, among which six were non-resident agencies and had estimated a budget of US$ 1.08 billion, of which $ 437.2 million was mobilized as of December 2021. The top 10 donors supporting the CF include DFID (Now FCDO), EU, BMZ, Government of Netherlands, Flanders Government, KfW, USAID, Belgium Government, GAVI, and GEF.1

Pillar 1 (Leads -UNDP & UNFPA)) – Peace, Inclusion and Effective Institutions: This pillar addresses the root causes of poor governance by supporting governance institutions at all levels to harmonize legal and organizations frameworks, strengthening data systems for enhanced accountability, strengthening frameworks for gender and human rights, civic engagement and participation and augmenting the national peace architecture through early warning systems. This pillar contributes to SDGs 1, 5, 10,16, and 17

Participating agencies - FAO, ILO, UNDP, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, UN Women, and WFP

Outcome 1 (lead -UNDP): Rights holders in Malawi access more accountable and effective institutions at the central and decentralized levels that use quality disaggregated data, offer integrated service delivery, and promote civic engagement, respect for human rights and rule of law. Outcome 2 (Lead – UN Women): Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in Malawi is enhanced. Outcome 3 (Lead – UNDP): Malawi has strengthened institutional capacities for sustaining peace, inclusive societies, and participatory democracy.

Pillar 2 (Leads – UNICEF & UN Women) -– Population Management and Inclusive Human Development: This pillar addresses the root causes of poor governance (through improving birth registration at facilities, access to health care, and supporting Government to provide safe schools), rapid population growth (through interventions on family planning and information on SRHR) and negative social norms (through advocacy, behavioural change interventions, and community engagement, particularly regarding negative impacts on the girl child and HIV/AIDS). This pillar contributes to SDGs 3, 4,5, and 10

Participating agencies - ILO, IOM, UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNODC, UN Women, WFP, and WHO

Outcome 4 (Lead – UNICEF): Children 0-5 years will have increased access to comprehensive quality Early Childhood Development (ECD) services. Outcome 5 (Lead -UNAIDS): Girls and boys 6-17 years, particularly the most marginalized, benefit from an integrated package of quality education, health, nutrition, HIV/AIDS and protection services. Outcome 6 (Lead – UNFPA): Men, women, and adolescents’ access high impact comprehensive sexual and reproductive and HIV and AIDS health rights.

Pillar 3 – Inclusive and Resilient Growth (Lead- FAO & WFP): This pillar focuses on addressing climate change – both adapting to and recovering from its effects, and reducing additional negative effects through mitigation measures – which was identified as a priority area in the root cause analysis, with some interventions targeted at addressing the other root causes, such as poor governance (through enhancing service delivery and district capacity to implement resilience programmes), negative social norms (through Social Behaviour Change Communication), and weak economic structure (through economic diversification). This pillar is aligned to all the SDGs except SDG 14 and 15.

Participating agencies- FAO, IFAD, ILO, UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNIDO, UNODC, UN Women, and WFP

Outcome 7 (Lead – WFP): Households have increased food and nutrition security, equitable access to WASH and healthy ecosystems and resilient livelihoods. Outcome 8 (Lead – FAO): Malawi has more productive, sustainable and diversified agriculture, value chains and market access Outcome 9 (Lead -UNDP): Malawi has strengthened economic diversification, inclusive business, entrepreneurship, and access to clean energy

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. EVALUATION CRITERIA AND QUESTIONS

Evaluation Criteria: The CF Evaluation will be guided by all seven evaluation criteria outlined in the UNEG CF evaluation guidelines. The seven criteria include relevance and adaptability, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, coordination, sustainability, and orientation towards impact. The evaluation will respond to all questions provided. The evaluation team is expected to unpack the evaluation questions in the evaluation design matrix and ensure that issues on gender equality are fully reflected within each of the criteria. The evaluation team may adapt the evaluation criteria and questions, upon agreement with the evaluation manager.

Relevance and adaptability: Is the CF aligned to the Government priorities and adapted well to emerging needs? 1. To what extent are the CF objectives aligned and have consistent with the needs, priorities, and policies of the government (including alignment to national development goals and targets, national plans, strategies, and frameworks)? 2. How responsive has the CF been to emerging and unforeseen needs, especially those of the most vulnerable, disadvantaged, and marginalized groups?

Coherence: How well does the CF fit? 3. How successful was the CF in helping UN agencies to work together to reduce duplication, across agencies and across sectors to maximize development impacts? 4. To what extent the interventions under the CF have linkages with any interventions on recovery, peace, and development? To what extent did the intervention link to any transition strategies in the context and/or to development goals?

Effectiveness: Has the CF achieved its objectives? Is the CF doing it right? 5. How effective has the CF been in realizing outcomes/results as outlined in the results framework as a contribution to the achievement of national SDG? 6. To what extent have the CF programming principles been implemented with due consideration to gender equality, human rights, and environmental sustainability?

Efficiency: How well have resources been used? How efficiently were the outcomes achieved with the appropriate amount of resources and maintenance of minimum transaction cost (funds, expertise, time, administrative costs, etc.). 7. To what extent and in what way has the CF contributed to a reduction of transaction costs for partners through greater UN coherence and discipline? 8. Was the CF supported by an integrated funding framework and by adequate funding instruments? Have resources been allocated efficiently?

Coordination: How well has implementation of the CF been coordinated? 9. To what extent has the national government and the UN system successfully coordinated the implementation of joint workplans and UN agencies’ specific programmes to maximize efficiency, coverage, reaching the most vulnerable (disabled, women, youth, etc) while reducing overlaps? 10. To what extent have the different UN agencies contributed to the functioning and consolidation of UNCT coordination mechanisms keeping in view the spirit of the UN reform and adhering to it? 11. To what extent has the planning and coordination of the CF (through the Results Groups with the RCO support) efficiently contributed to the coherent implementation and to the achievement of indicators’ targets (outputs and outcomes)?

Orientation towards Impact: What difference do CF interventions make? 12. To what extent have UN activities stemming from the CF strengthened economic and individual resilience, contributed to reducing vulnerability against shocks and crises, and impacted gender inequality, national capacities, environmental sustainability, and promoted human rights? 13. What are the unintended changes resulting from the implementation of the CF?

Sustainability: Will the benefits last? The extent to which the benefits from a development intervention are likely to continue after the current CF will have been completed 14. What mechanisms, if any, has the CF established to ensure socio-political, institutional, financial, and environmental sustainability? 15. Have complementarities, collaboration and /or synergies fostered by CF contributed to greater sustainability of results of Donors intervention in the country?

5. EVALUATION APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY

Evaluation Methodology:

The evaluation will use a combination of document reviews, analysis of other quantitative secondary data, individual interviews with key informants and focus groups or other types of group discussion to collect data. The evaluation will synthesize evidence from Joint evaluations, project evaluations, agency-specific evaluations etc. The evaluation team will develop the evaluation methodology in accordance with the evaluation approach and design tools to collect appropriate data and information as strong, evidence-based answers to answer the overall evaluation questions. The methodological design will include: an analytical framework; a strategy for data collection and analysis; specially designed tools; an evaluation matrix; and a detailed work plan.

Sampling approach:

A purposive sampling approach will be used to select programmes (joint workplans; joint programmes; UN agencies strategic plans etc.) that will be covered in the scope of the CF evaluation. The selected programmes components should have sufficient level of transformational intent (depth, breadth, and size) and maturity. The purposive sampling approach will also be used to target partners, groups and stakeholders to be consulted. It is expected that the list of target groups will ensure adequate representation of beneficiaries, including civil society organizations with an emphasis on vulnerable groups, e.g., people living with disabilities, persons living with HIV/AIDS and other marginalized groups. The selection will be informed by the portfolio analysis and stakeholder mapping undertaken during the inception phase of the evaluation. This analysis will yield information on the relevant initiatives and partners to be part of the evaluation (including those that may not have partnered with the UNCT but play a key role in the outcomes to which CF contributes). The evaluation team should clearly outline the sample selection criteria and process and identify any potential bias and limitations, including the steps towards addressing the limitations. The sampling technique should ensure that the selected samples adequately reflect the diversity of stakeholders of the intervention and pay special attention to the inclusion, participation, and non-discrimination of the most vulnerable stakeholders. The sample will be gender-responsive and consider contextually relevant markers of equity. This process will enhance the credibility and technical adequacy of the information gathered.

Data collection:

The evaluation will use quantitative and qualitative approaches, including literature review, statistics at national and local levels, survey data, semi-structured interviews, direct observation, focus groups and workshops.

Quality assurance:

The data collected should be subjected to a rigorous quality assurance for validation purposes, using a variety of tools including triangulation of information sources and permanent exchange with the CF implementation entities at Country Office level. Quality assurance processes will be applied throughout the evaluation processes and for the key deliverables in adherence to UNEG evaluation quality standards and guidelines, such as the UNEG Quality Checklist for Evaluation Reports. A quality assessment of the CF evaluation will be applied by UNDCO.

Evaluation Matrix:

The evaluation team will use the template of the evaluation matrix provided by the evaluation manager to systematically structure and consolidate the data collected for each of the evaluation questions. This matrix will allow them, among other things, to identify the missing data and thus fill these gaps before the end of the collection. This matrix will also help to ensure the validity of the data collected. Participation and inclusion: This evaluation should be conducted using a participatory and inclusive approach, involving a wide range of partners and stakeholders. The evaluation team will carry out a stakeholder mapping to identify the direct and indirect partners of the CF, specifically targeting United Nations organizations and representatives of the national government. Stakeholders mapping will include Government line Ministries, civil society organizations, the private sector, academia, other multilateral and bilateral cooperation organizations and, above all, the beneficiaries of the program. Specific guidelines should be observed, namely the UNEG Guidance on Integrating Human Rights and Gender Equality in Evaluation (2014). The methodology is expected to clearly indicate how the perspectives and voices of diverse groups (men and women, boys, girls, the elderly, people living with disabilities and other marginalized groups) will be sought and considered.

Participation and inclusion: This evaluation should be conducted using a participatory and inclusive approach, involving a wide range of partners and stakeholders. The evaluation team will carry out a stakeholder mapping to identify the direct and indirect partners of the CF, specifically targeting United Nations organizations and representatives of the national government. Stakeholders mapping will include Government line Ministries, civil society organizations, the private sector, academia, other multilateral and bilateral cooperation organizations and, above all, the beneficiaries of the program. Specific guidelines should be observed, namely the UNEG Guidance on Integrating Human Rights and Gender Equality in Evaluation (2014). The methodology is expected to clearly indicate how the perspectives and voices of diverse groups (men and women, boys, girls, the elderly, people living with disabilities and other marginalized groups) will be sought and considered.

Contribution analysis (based on the "theory of change"):

The evaluation will be conducted based on a theoretical approach, which means that the evaluation methodology will be based on a careful analysis of the expected results, outputs, and contextual factors (which may affect the implementation of the CF interventions) and their potential to achieve the desired effects. The analysis of the CF’s theory of change and the reconstruction of its intervention logic, if necessary, will therefore play a central role in the design of the evaluation, in the analysis of the data collected throughout the evaluation, in communicating results and in developing relevant and practical conclusions and recommendations. The theory of change analysis should be limited to the soundness of the agencies’ and joint workplans outputs to the outcome level and SDG indicators. Evaluators will base their evaluation on the analysis and interpretation of the logical consistency of the results chain: linking program outputs to changes at a higher level of outcomes, based on observations and data collected during the process along the result chain. This analysis should serve as a basis for the judgment of the evaluators on the contribution of the current CF to the achievement of the outcome level results as targeted by the CF.

Finalization of the evaluation questions and assumptions:

The evaluation team will finalize the evaluation questions after consultations with the evaluation steering committee and thematic groups. The final evaluation questions should be a reasonable number, generally not exceeding 15. They should clearly reflect the evaluation criteria as well as the indicative evaluation questions listed in this Terms of Reference. They should also take advantage of the results of the reconstruction of the intervention logic of the cooperation framework. The evaluation questions will be included in the evaluation matrix (see annex f) and should be supplemented by sets of hypotheses that capture the key aspects of the intervention logic associated with the scope of the question. Data collection for each of the assumptions will be guided by clearly formulated quantitative and qualitative indicators, also indicated in the matrix.

Ethical Considerations:

The evaluation must conform to the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) ethical standards and norms. Accordingly, the evaluation team will be responsible for safeguarding and ensuring ethics at all stages of the evaluation cycle. This includes, but is not limited to, ensuring informed consent, protecting privacy, confidentiality, and anonymity of participants, ensuring cultural sensitivity, respecting the autonomy of participants, ensuring fair recruitment of participants (including women and socially excluded groups) and ensuring that the evaluation results do no harm to participants or their communities. The Evaluation Team will not have been involved in the design, implementation or monitoring of the CF, nor have any other potential or perceived conflicts of interest. All members of the evaluation team will abide by the 2020 UNEG Ethical Guidelines and the 2014 Guidelines on Integrating Human Rights and Gender Equality in Evaluations. In addition to signing a pledge of ethical conduct in evaluation, the evaluation team will also commit to signing a Confidentiality, Internet and Data Security Statement.

6. 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.

7. EVALUATION PROCESSES AND TIMELINE

7.1 EVALUATION PROCESSES

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 Competency: 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 Peacebuilding and conflict resolution, Law, Development Studies, Political Sciences, Public Administration, Monitoring and Evaluation or any other Social sciences related to the CF Pillar is required. 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 5 years’ experience of conducting complex evaluations related to the three outcome areas: Accountable and Effective Institutions, Gender Equality and Women Empowerment, Peace, Inclusivity and Participatory Democracy is required. (Previous work should be hyperlinked).

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.

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Added 2 years ago - Updated 2 years ago - Source: careers.un.org