Evaluator

Result of Service The evaluator will assume overall responsibility for carrying out the evaluation. This includes, among other activities, managing the work, ensuring the quality of interviews and data collection, preparing the draft report, presenting the draft report and producing the final report after comments have been received in line with standard templates provided by ESCAP.

ESCAP management will use the findings and recommendations of the evaluation to enhance future project planning, inform programming and budgeting and report on achievements and results of ESCAP’s work to member States and donors.

Work Location Remotely

Expected duration The evaluation is expected to be undertaken during the period from 1 October 2022 to 31 January 2023

This contract is based on deliverables and payment is defined by output.

Duties and Responsibilities 1. Purpose

This project, “E-Commerce Capacity Building for Women-led SMEs in South Asia”, aims to enhance the knowledge and capacity of women entrepreneurs from South Asian LDCs (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal) in the application of e-commerce platforms to expand their business and markets. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought new value and purpose of e-commerce as a medium to conduct business and paved the way to be an important tool for women-led SMEs to sustain and innovate their business. Keeping this in mind, the project involved a multi-faceted approach on building capacity of these entrepreneurs to help their businesses through a comprehensive e-learning course, a detailed manual that shall act as a step-by step guide for beginners to start e-commerce business and an e-commerce training portal. The purpose of the evaluation is to support accountability for results and to enable learning. It will generate information on the results achieved and lessons learned to inform future programme design and implementation of relevant ESCAP capacity development work. The main users of the evaluation results will be ESCAP, particularly the implementing office/division(s). Other expected users include the project participating countries and implementing partners.

2. Objectives and Scope

The objectives of the evaluation are to:

1. Assess the project performance against the evaluation criteria: effectiveness, relevance, efficiency, sustainability, gender and human rights mainstreaming, and any other cross-cutting issues, as deemed relevant.

2. Formulate lessons learned and action-oriented recommendations to inform management decision-making and improve future project design and implementation. The evaluation includes the design, strategy and implementation of the project over the entire period of its implementation. The evaluation covers the implementation and results of the project in the participating countries. The assessment covers all modes of implementation of the project, including national and regional workshops, training and additional activities as agreed upon based on consultations with project countries.

Qualifications/special skills Academic Qualifications: Postgraduate degree in Economics, Business Administration, Public Management, Finance, Development or related areas. Experience: - Knowledge of the United Nations System; principles, values, goals and approaches, including gender equality, cultural values, the Sustainable Development Goals and results-based management. - Professional and technical experience in evaluation (application of evaluation norms, standards and ethical guidelines and the relevant organizational evaluation policy and promotion of evaluation and evidence-based learning). - Technical knowledge in the South Asia subregion, including major development trends and issues, particularly in the areas of training and gender mainstreaming. Language: It is essential that the evaluator have an excellent command of the English language and should have demonstrated their ability to communicate results effectively.

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.