International Consultant to conduct Final Evaluation of the project “Strengthening Efficiency and Access to Justice in Moldova”

Contract

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Background

The UNDP project “Strengthening Efficiency and Access to Justice in Moldova” (A2J) is a multi-year institutional development project designed to contribute to an increased efficiency of justice services and to improved access to justice of men and women in Moldova, in particular from vulnerable and marginalized groups, through enhanced capacities of forensic institutions to provide qualitative justice services, strengthened capacities of the justice sector actors in the selected pilot areas to provide coordinated response to men’s and women’s justice needs and strengthened civil society able to claim the respect of rights and engage in a constructive dialogue with the justice chain actors. Project interventions offer and encourage equal opportunity for male and female participation.

The A2J Project was launched in July 2019 through an Inception Phase which lasted until September 2020, and transited to the Implementation Phase, due to finalise in December 2022.

The implementation of the A2J Project transpired during the Covid-19 outbreak, whereas a number of activities designed to allow in person interaction and experience exchange missions could not be implemented as per original plan, others encountered constraints and needed reconsideration in the approach in implementation.

Furthermore, as of beginning of June 2022, more than 470,000 refugees, most of them women and children, have fled to Moldova, and some 75 percent of refugees continue towards Romania and other European countries. Nevertheless, about one-fourth of refugees are still in the country and straining the country’s capacity, which accounts approximately 4% of Moldova’s total population. While national and local public authorities have quickly responded to the immediate needs of the refugee population, they also face challenges to address the steady inflow of refugees from Ukraine, including their socio-economic inclusion, expansion of services and social cohesion, as well as safe and equal access to justice for all.

From the onset of the military conflict in Ukraine, UNDP together with other UN agencies mobilized itself to support the Moldovan authorities' and local communities' response to the needs of refugees arriving in Moldova. Thus, UNDP revised promptly its activities responding to the needs of refugees through the existing projects, but also offering immediate support to the Government of Moldova to help refugees who seeks shelter.

The A2J Project intervention were also adjusted to allow socio-economic integration of refugees through promoting employment opportunities, expanding their access to public services and ensuring social cohesion in host communities.

The project is financed by Sweden and implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Moldova and has a total budget of USD 2,823,711 million.

The objectives of the project are:

• Forensic system strengthened with digitalized processes, sustainable technical and administrative capacities.
• Enhanced capacities for coordinated justice delivery and improved access to justice for the vulnerable groups at the subnational level

The details about the Project progress can be found at the UNDP web page:

https://www.undp.org/moldova/projects/strengthening-efficiency-and-access-justice-moldova.

In the framework of its completion and fulfilment of all reporting procedures, the Project shall ensure an independent evaluation of the Project implementation, in accordance with the principles outlined in the UNDP Evaluation Guidelines and the UNEG Ethical Guideline for Evaluation.

In this regard, UNDP is seeking to hire an International Consultant (hereafter the Consultant) to conduct the final evaluation of the Project and assess the performance of the Project in achieving its intended results and contribution to outcomes and associated theory of change.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main objective of the final independent evaluation is to assess the efficacy of the Project design and governance structure, relevance of the Project outputs, with measurement of the achievement (and non-achievement) of project outputs, specific impact, efficiency, and effectiveness (and challenges) of the technical assistance provided sustainability and scalability of its interventions. Furthermore, the Consultant shall evaluate the strengths, weaknesses/gaps, good practices and provide forward looking recommendations for potential future assistance in supporting the work toward an enhanced access to justice in the Republic of Moldova.

Therefore, the Consultant will:

• Evaluate the relevance of the Project with respect to its consistency, ownership, technical adequacy, and complementarity of the Project with other similar initiatives. Also, she/he shall evaluate to what extent the Project was in line with the national development priorities, the country Programmes’ outputs and outcomes, the UNDP Strategic Plan, and the SDGs.
• Determine the effectiveness of the Project in the achievement of results, highlighting reasons and factors for achievement/ non-achievement.
• Determine the efficiency of the Project with respect to the value for money principle, use of funding, staff, and other resources in the achievement of results.
• Determine the level of coordination of the Project with UN agencies, relevant development partners, donors, CSOs and other relevant stakeholders.
• Evaluate the sustainability of the Project, including the participation of institutional beneficiaries/partners in the planning and implementation of activities, as well as the measures taken to ensure that activities initiated by the Project will be completed/ continued beyond the Project lifecycle.
• Evaluate the contribution of the Project to the gender and human rights aspects.
• Evaluate the best practices and provide recommendations that may be used for future programming.
• Derive lessons and areas for improvement for the remaining project activities.

For detailed information, please refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference (incl. Annex A).

Competencies

• Demonstrated strong knowledge about results-based management (especially results-oriented monitoring and evaluation).
• Proven knowledge of UNDP processes is a strong advantage.
• Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of the Moldovan justice chain is a strong advantage.
• Demonstrated interpersonal and diplomatic skills, as well as the ability to communicate effectively with all stakeholders and to present ideas clearly and effectively.
• Excellent analytical and report-writing skills demonstrated by previous assignments;
• Previous work with UNDP and/or other development partners will be an asset;
• Proven commitment to the core values of the United Nations, in particular, respecting differences of culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, language, age, HIV status, disability, and sexual orientation, or other status.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

• University degree in public administration, International Development, or project related fields;

Work experience:

• At least 5 years of relevant working experience in the field of democratic governance, public administration, justice sector, development, including participatory planning, monitoring and evaluation.
• At least 3 years of practical experience in conducting evaluations of strategies, policies, and programmes.
• Proven experience (at least 2 assignments of similar complexity) in conducting final project evaluations successfully completed in the past 3 (three) years.
• Previous experience in working on access to justice subjects is a strong advantage.
• Certification in Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) and/or Impact evaluation of policies, programmes and projects is an asset.

Language:

• Fluency in English. Knowledge of Romanian and/or Russian is an asset.

Application instructions:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

• Offeror’s Letter confirming interest and availability for the Individual Contractor assignment with financial proposal (LUMP SUM) (in USD, specifying a total requested amount per working day, including all related costs, including daily fee, travel expenses and per diems - quoted in separate line items). The travel costs to Moldova shall be indicated separately and will be covered only if the travel will be allowed in the COVID-19 context. Financial proposal template included in Annex 2;
• Duly updated CV with at least 3 references;
• Proposal, explaining why he/she is most suitable for the assignment, including past experience in similar assignments, providing a brief information on above qualifications, and brief methodology on how he/she will approach and conduct the work.

Note:

For complete information about this vacancy including detailed tasks and responsibilities, full and detailed description of the evaluation procedure which will be applied please refer to the Terms of Reference, the Individual Consultant Procurement Notice as well as the UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract, published at the UNDP Moldova website, Jobs Section:

**https://sc.undp.md/jobdetails/2*****528/***