Local consultant for Terminal Evaluation of the project “Strengthening natural resource valuation capacities for improved planning and decision-making to conserve the global environment”

Contract

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

Background

In accordance with UNDP and GEF M&E policies and procedures, all 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 medium-sized project titled “Strengthening natural resource valuation capacities for improved planning and decision-making to conserve the global environment” (PIMS # 5737) implemented through the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, Guinea Bissau. The project started on the 16th of April 2018 and is in its 4th 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’ (http://web.undp.org/evaluation/guideline/documents/GEF/TE_GuidanceforUNDP-supportedGEF-financedProjects.pdf).

The goal of this medium-sized project is for Guinea-Bissau to make better decisions to meet and sustain global environmental obligations through improved natural resource valuation and accounting. To that end, the objective of this project is to develop technical and institutional capacities for undertaking an economic valuation of global environmental goods and services as potentially impacted by proposed development policies, programmes, plans and projects. The project is implemented through the following four strategically linked components:

Component 1: Strengthening policy and legislative instruments for effective monitoring and decision-making on the global environment

Component 2: Strengthening effective monitoring and decision-making mechanisms for the global environment

Component 3: Development of natural resource valuation tools for improved decision-making on the global environment

Component 4: Improving awareness of global environmental values through the use of natural resource valuation

Each of these components comprises a set of outputs with their respective activities to build systemic, institutional, and individual capacities within Guinea-Bissau. Among the key activities of the project are the enhanced targeted capacities, strengthened monitoring, natural resource valuation tools, and targeted training and awareness-raising. At the end of the project, each of the four components will result in an expected outcome, namely:

• Enhanced targeted capacities to improve policy and legislative instruments for better monitoring and decision-making on the global environment.
• Strengthened monitoring and decision-making mechanisms for the global environment
• Natural resource valuation tools for improved decision-making on the global environment
• Targeted training and awareness-raising will have resulted in improved understanding of the good practices for delivering and sustaining global environmental outcomes within the framework of sustainable development

The project’s strategy emphasizes a long-term approach to institutionalizing capacities to meet MEA obligations through a set of learn-by-doing activities that lay the foundation for effective decision-making regarding global environmental benefits. Active participation of stakeholder representatives in the full project life cycle facilitates the strategic adaptation of project activities in keeping with project objectives. Moreover, the inclusion of non-state stakeholders contributes to the adaptive collaborative management of project implementation and promotes long-term sustainability of project outcomes.

After close to 4 years of implementation, this project will be operationally closed on the 16th of April 2022. As per UNDP project management policies and procedures, an independent terminal evaluation is required. This evaluation mission will proceed while the project team is still in place, yet ensuring the project is close enough to completion for the evaluation team to reach conclusions on key aspects such as project sustainability. The consultants that will be hired to undertake the assignment will be independent from organizations that were involved in designing, executing or advising on the project to be evaluated.

This TE will be conducted by a team of 2 consultants (hereby referred to as the TE team) made up of an international consultant who will act as the TE team leader and a local consultant. This TOR is developed specifically for acquiring the services of a local consultant for the TE.

Objective of the assignment

The TE report will assess the achievement of project results against what was expected to be achieved and draw lessons from the project implementation that can both improve the sustainability of benefits from this project and aid in the overall enhancement of UNDP programming. The TE report promotes accountability and transparency and assesses the extent of project accomplishments. It also highlights the relevance, efficiency, sustainability and impact of the project. The evaluation will also identify the main challenges and constraints faced by the project and provide recommendations for future UNDP interventions to support and strengthen capacities for planning and decision making towards natural resources management in light of the government´s development priorities and the Agenda 2030.

In order to attain this objective, the evaluation will cover the 4 project components mentioned above and will take into consideration the feedback from all the relevant government institutions, development partners and Civil Society Organizations involved in the project. In addition, the evaluation will also seek information from the core personnel involved in the project implementation activities and UNDP senior management. The evaluation will also assess the project approach to capacity development, knowledge management, south-south and triangular cooperation, mainstreaming gender equality and the results achieved in that regard.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant together with the TE team leader will review all relevant sources of information including documents prepared during the preparation phase of the project, the Project Document (ProDoc), various project reports and any other materials that the TE team considers useful for this evidence-based evaluation. The consultant will review the baseline and midterm GEF focal area Core Indicators/Tracking Tools submitted to the GEF at the Chief Executive Officer (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.

The consultant will ensure the engagement of all stakeholders who have project responsibilities for the success of the TE. These includes relevant government counterparts, NGOs, CBOs, Executing agencies, project beneficiaries etc. He/she is expected to conduct field missions to project sites upon assessment of the TE team. 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 consultant must, however, 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.

Expected outputs and deliverables

The consultant, led by and together with the senior international consultant shall prepare and submit:

• The inception report before the TE mission
• A presentation of initial findings at the end of the TE mission
• A draft TE report within 3 weeks of end of TE mission
• Final TE Report* + Audit Trail within 2 weeks of receiving comments on draft report

*The final TE report must be in English.

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.

Duration of the assignment

The total duration of the TE will be approximately 45 working days over a time period of 9 weeks starting 04th/04/2022 and shall not exceed five months from when the consultant is hired. The expected start date of contract is the 4th April 2022.

Competencies

• Strong negotiation and communication skills, including ability to produce high quality reports;
• Ability to work independently in a timely manner;
• Strong ability to communicate clearly, adapting style and content to different audiences;
• Strong interpersonal and presentation skills in meetings;

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in economics, natural resource management, development studies or other similar areas

II. Years of experience:

• 1 year of experience in managing, monitoring or evaluating projects;
• 2 years of experience working in the West Africa Region, especially in Guinea Bissau;
• Demonstrated understanding of issues related to gender and/or natural resources;
• Excellent communication skills;
• At least 1 project evaluation/review experience within the United Nations system will be considered an asset;

III. Language:

• Fluency in spoken and written English and Portuguese;

Guidelines for application:

Required documents:

• A cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for this assignment;
• A brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the tasks, describing the tools and workplan proposed for this assignment;
• A financial proposal;
• A personal CV including past experiences in similar projects and at least 3 professional references.
• Lump sum contracts: The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the ToR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days)

Evaluation:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

• Technical Criteria weight – 70 points;
• Financial Criteria weight – 30 points.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70 points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Evaluation criteria:

• Education background - 10 points;
• Experience as defined in the ToR - 20 points;
• Competences as defined in the ToR - 10 points;
• Understating of the ToR - 15 points;
• Methodology and overall approach - 25 points;
• Overall quality of the proposal (comprehensiveness, structure, language and clarity) - 20 points.