IC/UNDP/GEF/119/2021- National Consultant for Terminal Evaluation of the 6th OP SGPO GEF

Consultant

Overview

Conduct terminal evaluation for UNDP-supported GEF project in Indonesia.

You have:

• Fluency in written and spoken English.
• Bachelor degree in environment, sustainable development, and community-based development or other closely related field.
• Relevant experience with results-based management evaluation methodologies.
• Experience applying SMART indicators and reconstructing or validating baseline scenarios.
• Experience in evaluating projects.
• Experience working in developing countries in Asia.
• Demonstrated understanding of issues related to gender and biodiversity, climate change, and land degradation.

Contract

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

Background

Interest candidate has to access procurement notice Ref.: IC/UNDP/GEF/119/2021- National Consultant for Terminal Evaluation of the 6th OP SGPO GEF at the following link: https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=80549

We encourage you to submit your application through this website and send the complete application to [email protected] (only application with complete supporting document received in [email protected] before or at the closing date will be proceed).

1. Introduction

In accordance with UNDP and GEF M&E policies and procedures, all full and medium-sized UNDP-supported GEF-financed projects are required to undergo a Terminal Evaluation (TE) at the end of the project. This Terms of Reference (ToR) sets out the expectations for the TE of the full-sized project titled Sixth Operational Phase of the GEF SGP in Indonesia (PIMS 5499) implemented through the Yayasan Bina Usaha Lingkungan (YBUL). The project started on the 10th of June 2017 and is in its fourth year of implementation. The TE process must follow the guidance outlined in the document ‘Guidance for Conducting Terminal Evaluations of UNDP-Supported, GEF-Financed Projects’ (hyperlink).

The Terms of Reference (ToR) is set for a National Consultant who will work together with an International Consultant in conducting the Terminal Evaluation (TE) (thereafter referred to as the “TE Team”) for the project “Sixth Operational Phase of the GEF SGP in Indonesia”.

2. Project Description

The project objective is designed to enhance and maintain socio-ecological resilience of one forested and three coastal landscapes through community-based initiatives in Sulawesi, East Nusa Tenggara, and Bali, Indonesia through the generation of global environmental benefits. The project enable community organizations and NGOs to develop and implement adaptive landscape/seascape management strategies that build social, economic and ecological resilience based on local sustainable development benefits.

The project components are the following:

• Component 1: resilient landscapes for sustainable development and global environmental protection; and
• Component 2: community-based integrated low-emission systems.

The target landscapes and seascapes are a key forest landscape of Nantu Wild Life Reserve, Gorontalo province, as well as coastal seascapes of Sulawesi (Wakatobi archipelagos); Bali (Nusa Penida island); and East Nusa Tenggara (Semau Island). The key stakeholder to pursue the outcomes of these adaptive landscape/seascape management strategies are: a) community organizations, Indigenous Groups, Forest Protection Committees (FPCs), Federations, Cooperatives, Fishermen’s Associations, Women groups, Youth groups, and NGOs as grant project implementers; b) SGP National Steering Committee reviews and approves projects submitted; and c) other stakeholders such as local government, private sector, NGOs and other partners.

The project contributes to SDGs:(a) End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture (2); b) Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all (6), c) Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns (12); and d) Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, and halt and reverse land degradation and halt biodiversity loss (15). In addition, the project responds to all three areas of development work per the UNDP Strategic Plan such as eradicating poverty; structural transformations; and building resilience.

The 4-year project (expected operational closure December 10th, 2021) is executed under UNDP’s NGO modality by Yayasan Bina Usaha Lingkungan (YBUL). YBUL is responsible for the day-to-day management and implementation of project activities with the support of a full time Country Program Manager (CPM) and under the leadership of the National Steering Committee (NSC). UNDP performs Project Assurance function by providing independent feedback on progress towards project milestones.

As of to date, GEF SGP Indonesia has exceeded its target with a total of 125,612.51 hectares currently under resilient production landscape and seascape management (267% of the target), covering 71,826.97 hectares of coastal area and 53,785.54 hectares of forested area. The project has supported 73 small grants projects, 2 strategic projects for developing seascapes/landscape strategies and for developing exit strategy project through Terasmitra, and 7 knowledge management projects, totaling 82 projects. GEF SGP Indonesia has been supporting: 34 CBOs and 48 NGOs, with total 10,087 beneficiaries, with a women participation of over 51 percent, to mainstream biodiversity conservation and sustainable use in productive landscapes, seascapes and sectors in four target landscapes and seascapes in Semau Island, Nusa Penida Island, Wakatobi and Gorontalo. The communities are involved in various management actions including law enforcement, rehabilitation, reforestation, awareness raising and education, capacity building, biodiversity monitoring, policy development, and income creation. The overall total project cost is $ 3,561,644 (grant amount without fee), with an expected co-financing of $11,749,385.

Regarding covid-19 outbreak, as of 28 June 2021, there were 2,120,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Indonesia, of which 57,138 were fatalities and 1,850,000 persons recovered. Covid-19 has been spread in 34 provinces and 487 regencies/cities across Indonesia. Some regions implemented large social restrictions to prevent of Covid-19 pandemics.

The global COVID-19 pandemic has increased the vulnerability of small islands, mainly because almost all small islands in Indonesia depend on external food and energy. The most noticeable impact of COVID-19 is the increasingly limited movement of people and goods to small islands or remote areas.

The GEF SGP Indonesia Phase VI program has components related to the recovery of resilience capacity to meet vital needs such as food, water and energy, which are supported by intact natural ecosystems. In addition, the program has a key component related to developing and strengthening the resilience capacity of local agents in the target landscapes and seascapes, women and men, who have long-term commitment and skills related to resilience (local food security, water availability, environmentally friendly natural resource management, etc. ) and carry out activities even though the GEF SGP Indonesia program has been completed.

3. TE Purpose

The TE will assess the achievement of project results against what was expected to be achieved, and draw lessons learnt that can both improve the project’s sustainability, and provide input to the enhancement of UNDP programming. The TE report promotes accountability and transparency and assesses the extent of project accomplishments. The evaluation should include and analyze best practices, specific lessons learned, and recommendations on the strategies to be used and how to implement them. Results of this Terminal Evaluation will be used by key stakeholders (such as GEF, UNDP, grantee partners, government, local governments, etc.) to be replicated by other projects or by other countries, improving their implementation in future programs.

The evaluation must provide evidence-based information that is credible, reliable and useful. The evaluator is expected to follow a participatory and consultative approach ensuring close engagement with government counterparts, in particular the GEF operational focal point, UNDP Country Office, GEF SGP project team, UNDP GEF Technical Adviser (Upgraded Country Programmes Global Coordinator (UCP GC) and key stakeholders and grantees.

Evaluation Terminal will conduct an evaluation for program implementation from February 2019 to July 2021.

The evaluation will mainly focus on assessing the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, results, impact, coordination and sustainability of GEF SGP Indonesia project efforts and will be applied to all two components of the project. The following are guiding questions within the framework of the evaluation criterions (to be reviewed/elaborated in the evaluation inception report).

Relevance

• Is the project relevant to the GEF Focal Area objectives?
• Is the project relevant the GEF biodiversity focal area and other relevant focal areas?
• Is the project relevant to Indonesia’s environment and sustainable development objectives?
• Is the project addressing the needs of target beneficiaries at the local and regional levels?
• Is the project internally coherent in its design?
• How is the project relevant with respect to other donor-supported activities?
• Does the project provide relevant lessons and experiences for other similar projects in the future?
• Is GEF SGP project’s theory of change clearly articulated?
• How did GEF SGP Project contribute towards and advance gender equality aspirations of the Government of Indonesia?
• How well does GEF SGP project react to changing work environment and how well has the design able to adjust to changing external circumstances?

Effectiveness & Results

• Has the project been effective in achieving the expected outcomes and objectives?
• How is risk and risk mitigation being managed?
• What lessons can be drawn regarding effectiveness for other similar projects in the future?

Efficiency

• Was adaptive management used or needed to ensure efficient resource use?
• Did the project logical framework and work plans and any changes made to them use as management tools during implementation?
• Were the accounting and financial systems in place adequate for project management and producing accurate and timely financial information?
• Were progress reports produced accurately, timely and responded to reporting requirements including adaptive management changes?
• Was project implementation as cost effective as originally proposed (planned vs. actual)
• Did the leveraging of funds (co-financing) happen as planned?
• Were financial resources utilized efficiently? Could financial resources have been used more efficiently?
• How was results-based management used during project implementation?
• To what extent partnerships/linkages between institutions/ organizations were encouraged and supported?
• Which partnerships/linkages were facilitated?
• What was the level of efficiency of cooperation and collaboration arrangements?
• Which methods were successful or not and why?
• Did the project efficiently utilize local capacity in implementation?
• What lessons can be drawn regarding efficiency for other similar projects in the future?

Coordination

• To what extent the project adopted a coordinated and participatory approach in mainstreaming gender into policies and programs?
• To what extent the project was effective in coordinating its activities with relevant development partners, donors, CSO, NGOs and academic institution?

Sustainability

• Were sustainability issues integrated into the design and implementation of the project?
• Did the project adequately address financial and economic sustainability issues?
• Are the recurrent costs after project completion sustainable?
• What are the main institutions/organizations in country that will take the project efforts forward after project end and what is the budget they have assigned to this?
• Were the results of efforts made during the project implementation period well assimilated by organizations and their internal systems and procedures?
• Is there evidence that project partners will continue their activities beyond project support?
• What degree is there of local ownership of initiatives and results?
• Were laws, policies and frameworks addressed through the project, in order to address sustainability of key initiatives and reforms?
• What is the level of political commitment to build on the results of the project?
• Are there policies or practices in place that create perverse incentives that would negatively affect long-term benefits?
• Are there adequate incentives to ensure sustained benefits achieved through the project?
• Are there risks to the environmental benefits that were created or that are expected to occur?
• Are there long-term environmental threats that have not been addressed by the project?
• Have any new environmental threats emerged in the project’s lifetime?
• Is the capacity in place at the regional, national and local levels adequate to ensure sustainability of the results achieved to date?
• Is there potential to scale up or replicate project activities?
• Did the project’s Exit Strategy actively promote replication?
• Which areas/arrangements under the project show the strongest potential for lasting long-term results?
• What are the key challenges and obstacles to the sustainability of results of the project initiatives that must be directly and quickly addressed?

Gender equality and women’s empowerment

• What factors contribute or influence GEF SGP Indonesia project’s ability to positively contribute to policy change from a gender perspective and women’s economic empowerment.

The TE report will comprise a clear explanation of the methodology used, adequately address cross cutting areas including gender and human rights and include logical and well-articulated conclusions based on the findings which are linked to and supported by evidence. The TE will adhere to evaluation standards of integrity, accountability, transparency, and objectivity.

The TE will occur during the last months of project activities, allowing the TE team to proceed while the Project Team is still in place, yet ensuring the project is close enough to completion for the evaluation team reach conclusions on key aspects such as project sustainability.

Duties and Responsibilities

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

TE Approach & Methodology

The TE must provide evidence-based information that is credible, reliable and useful.

The TE team will review all relevant sources of information including documents prepared during the preparation phase (i.e. PIF, UNDP Initiation Plan, UNDP Social and Environmental Screening Procedure/SESP) the Project Document, project reports including annual PIRs, project budget revisions, lesson learned reports, national strategic and legal documents, and any other materials that the team considers useful for this evidence-based evaluation. The TE team will review the baseline and midterm GEF focal area Core Indicators/Tracking Tools submitted to the GEF at the CEO endorsement and midterm stages and the terminal Core Indicators/Tracking Tools that must be completed before the TE field mission begins.

The TE team is expected to follow a participatory and consultative approach ensuring close engagement with the Project Team, government counterparts (the GEF Operational Focal Point), Implementing Partners, the UNDP Country Office(s), the Regional Technical Advisors, direct beneficiaries and other stakeholders.

Engagement of stakeholders is vital to a successful TE. Stakeholder involvement should include interviews with stakeholders who have project responsibilities, including but not limited to ; executing agencies, senior officials and task team/component leaders, key experts and consultants in the subject area, National Steering Committee of GEF SGP Indonesia, local government and grantee-partners, etc. Additionally, the TE team is expected to conduct field missions, including the following project sites Semau, Nusa Penida, Gorontalo, and Wakatobi. If the COVID19 pandemic travel restrictions are still ongoing, then the TE mission for the international consultant may not be possible due to the Covid-19 situation in Indonesia. For this, virtual tools will be used to conduct the interviews.

The specific design and methodology for the TE should emerge from consultations between the TE team and the above-mentioned parties regarding what is appropriate and feasible for meeting the TE purpose and objectives and answering the evaluation questions, given limitations of budget, time and data. The TE 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 TE report.

The final methodological approach including interview schedule, field visits and data to be used in the evaluation should be clearly outlined in the inception report and be fully discussed and agreed between UNDP, stakeholders and the TE team.

If the COVID19 pandemic travel restrictions are still ongoing, then the Terminal Evaluation might be conducted using questionnaires, and virtual interviews, but the evaluation team should be able to revise the approach in consultation with the evaluation manager and the key stakeholders. These changes in approach should be agreed and reflected clearly in the TE Inception Report. The national expert consultant will have to play an important role in the conduct of the evaluation and will therefore, perform additional responsibilities. The main responsibilities of the national expert which will be further elaborated in the inception report is attached as Annex I.

The TE team has the flexibility to determine the best methods and tools to collect and analyze data. The final methodological approach including interview schedule, field visits and data to be used in the evaluation should be clearly outlined in the inception report and be fully discussed and agreed between UNDP stakeholders and the TE team.

The final TE report should describe the full TE approach taken and the rationale for the approach making explicit the underlying assumptions, challenges, strengths and weaknesses about the methods and approach of the evaluation.

As of 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic as the new coronavirus rapidly spread to all regions of the world. Travel to the country has been restricted since March 2020 and travel in the country is also restricted. If it is not possible to travel to or within the country for the TE mission then the TE team should develop a methodology that takes this into account the conduct of the TE virtually and remotely, including the use of remote interview methods and extended desk reviews, data analysis, surveys and evaluation questionnaires. This should be detailed in the TE Inception Report and agreed with the Commissioning Unit.

If all or part of the TE is to be carried out virtually then consideration should be taken for stakeholder availability, ability or willingness to be interviewed remotely. In addition, their accessibility to the internet/computer may be an issue as many government and national counterparts may be working from home. These limitations must be reflected in the final TE report.

If a data collection/field mission is not possible then remote interviews may be undertaken through telephone or online (skype, zoom etc.). International consultants can work remotely with national evaluator support in the field if it is safe for them to operate and travel. No stakeholders, consultants or UNDP staff should be put in harm’s way and safety is the key priority.

A short validation mission may be considered if it is confirmed to be safe for staff, consultants, stakeholders and if such a mission is possible within the TE schedule. Equally, qualified and independent national consultants can be hired to undertake the TE and interviews in country as long as it is safe to do so.

Detailed Scope of the TE

The TE will assess project’s achievements in accordance to the set of agreed project’s Logical Framework/Results Framework (see TOR Annex A). The TE will assess results according to the criteria outlined in the Guidance for TEs of UNDP-supported GEF-financed Projects (https://tinyurl.com/68h94cp6).

The Findings section of the TE report will cover the topics listed below. A full outline of the TE report’s content is provided in ToR Annex C.

The asterisk “(*)” indicates criteria for which a rating is required.

Findings

1. Project Design/Formulation

• National priorities and country driven-ness
• Theory of Change
• Gender equality and women’s empowerment
• Social and Environmental Safeguards
• Analysis of Results Framework: project logic and strategy, indicators

• Assumptions and Risks

• Lessons from other relevant projects (e.g. same focal area) incorporated into project design

• Planned stakeholder participation
• Linkages between project and other interventions within the sector
• Management arrangements

2. Project Implementation

• Adaptive management (changes to the project design and project outputs during implementation)
• Actual stakeholder participation and partnership arrangements
• Project Finance and Co-finance
• Monitoring & Evaluation: design at entry (*), implementation (*), and overall assessment of M&E (*)
• Implementing Agency (UNDP) (*) and Executing Agency (*), overall project oversight/implementation and execution (*)
• Risk Management, including Social and Environmental Standards

3. Project Results

• Assess the achievement of outcomes against indicators by reporting on the level of progress for each objective and outcome indicator at the time of the TE and noting final achievements
• Relevance (*), Effectiveness (*), Efficiency (*) and overall project outcome (*)
• Sustainability: financial (*) , socio-political (*), institutional framework and governance (*), environmental (*), overall likelihood of sustainability (*)
• Country ownership
• Gender equality and women’s empowerment
• Cross-cutting issues (poverty alleviation, improved governance, climate change mitigation and adaptation, disaster prevention and recovery, human rights, capacity development, South-South cooperation, knowledge management, volunteerism, etc., as relevant)
• GEF Additionality
• Catalytic Role / Replication Effect
• Progress to impact

4. Main Findings, Conclusions, Recommendations and Lessons Learned

• The TE team will include a summary of the main findings of the TE report. Findings should be presented as statements of fact that are based on analysis of the data.
• The section on conclusions will be written in light of the findings. Conclusions should be comprehensive and balanced statements that are well substantiated by evidence and logically connected to the TE findings. They should highlight the strengths, weaknesses and results of the project, respond to key evaluation questions and provide insights into the identification of and/or solutions to important problems or issues pertinent to project beneficiaries, UNDP and the GEF, including issues in relation to gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• Recommendations should provide concrete, practical, feasible and targeted recommendations directed to the intended users of the evaluation about what actions to take and decisions to make. The recommendations should be specifically supported by the evidence and linked to the findings and conclusions around key questions addressed by the evaluation.
• The TE report should also include lessons that can be taken from the evaluation, including best practices in addressing issues relating to relevance, performance and success that can provide knowledge gained from the particular circumstance (programmatic and evaluation methods used, partnerships, financial leveraging, etc.) that are applicable to other GEF and UNDP interventions. When possible, the TE team should include examples of good practices in project design and implementation.
• It is important for the conclusions, recommendations and lessons learned of the TE report to include results related to gender equality and empowerment of women.

The TE report will include an Evaluation Ratings Table, as shown in the ToR Annex.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

The TE consultant/team shall prepare and submit:

• TE Inception Report: TE team clarifies objectives and methods of the TE no later than 2 weeks before the TE mission. TE team submits the Inception Report to the Commissioning Unit and project management. Approximate due date: (13 August 2021)
• Presentation: TE team presents initial findings to project management and the Commissioning Unit at the end of the TE mission. Approximate due date: (27 August 2021)
• Draft TE Report: TE team submits full draft report with annexes within 3 weeks of the end of the TE mission. Approximate due date: (06 September 2021)
• Final TE Report* and Audit Trail: TE team submits revised report, with Audit Trail detailing how all received comments have (and have not) been addressed in the final TE report, to the Commissioning Unit within 1 week of receiving UNDP comments on draft. Approximate due date: (10 September 2021)

*The final TE report must be in English. If applicable, the Commissioning Unit may choose to arrange for a translation of the report into a language more widely shared by national stakeholders.

All final TE reports will be quality assessed by the UNDP Independent Evaluation Office (IEO). Details of the IEO’s quality assessment of decentralized evaluations can be found in Section 6 of the UNDP Evaluation Guidelines.[1]

[1] Access at: http://web.undp.org/evaluation/guideline/section-6.shtml

Competencies

Experience

• Relevant experience with results-based management evaluation methodologies;
• Experience applying SMART indicators and reconstructing or validating baseline scenarios;
• Competence in adaptive management, as applied to biodiversity, climate change, and land degradation;
• Experience in evaluating projects;
• Experience working in developing countries in Asia;
• Experience in relevant technical areas for at least 7 years;
• Demonstrated understanding of issues related to gender and biodiversity, climate change, and land degradation; experience in gender responsive evaluation and analysis;
• Excellent communication skills;
• Demonstrable analytical skills;
• Project evaluation/review experience within United Nations system will be considered an asset.
• Experience with implementing evaluations remotely will be considered an asset.
• Experience with the GEF Small Grants Programme will be considered an asset.

Language

• Fluency in written and spoken English.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Bachelor degree in environment, sustainable development, and community-based development or other closely related field;

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Potential interview questions

Added 5 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: jobs.undp.org