National consultant to undertake an impact assessment for UNDP’s UXO clearance support

Contract

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

Background

ao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) is, per capita, the most heavily bombed country in the world. More than forty years after the end of the 1964-1973 Indochina Conflict, Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) remains a major humanitarian and socioeconomic challenge to the country, causing deaths and injuries, limiting access to potentially productive land, and adding substantial costs to processes of development. The Government of Lao PDR has been active in the process of clearance since shortly after the conflict. Lao PDR has advocated for the Convention on Cluster Munitions (CCM) and hosted the first Meeting of States Parties in 2010. It also embraced the UXO issue as a key development matter by locally establishing the Sustainable Development Goal 18 (SDG18), “Lives Safe from UXO”.

The next National Strategic Plan for the UXO Sector in the Lao PDR 2022 - 2026, “The Safe Path Forward III” (SPFIII) details the objectives of the Government and its development partners over the forthcoming period where the aim is to reduce the humanitarian and socio-economic threats posed by UXO. A focus of the document, still to be approved by government, is the need to ensure strong integration with development mechanisms particularly at a provincial level and to ensure actions are focused on community level priorities for the facilitation of development.

UNDP support to the UXO sector in Lao PDR has focused in two axes, notably: 1) support to strengthening the capacity and technical competency of the National Regulatory Authority, to be able to oversee and steer the sector in pursuance of national strategic goals and obtaining Lao PDR’s unique UXO Action Sustainable Development Goal, SDG 18: Lives Safe from UXO. 2) To provide capacity support for survey and clearance, through support to UXO Lao and the Humanitarian teams of the Lao People’s Army (Unit 58), thus hastening progress towards clearance in impacted communities.

One key observation from the recent UNDP UXO programme evaluation[1] identified the need to strengthen evidence-based research to determine both a baseline of the impact of UXO contamination on Lao PDR communities, as well as a methodology to determine the impact of clearance funded by clearance and survey, funded by UNDP. Many of the gains of investment by donors to the sector, through UNDP support, were anecdotal with little clear demonstration of evidence measured against a baseline of impact. For example, a study conducted by Shiqi Guo[2] looks at UXO contamination impact on educational attainment where UXO communities are demonstrably negatively impacted in terms of time in education than comparable communities in non-UXO communities where delays in agricultural processes, due to the presence of unexploded ordnance, impacts directly on educational attainment.

UNDP needs to be able to demonstrate the impact of both UXO contamination on development targets, as well as how the removal of UXOs hasten the same, as expressed in government’s development strategies and the Laos adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals. Demonstrating impact in the sector will not only demonstrate the relative value of UXO clearance and survey but will also provide linkages with an integrated approach to UXO clearance and development, being a key component of the Government’s Safe Path Forward III strategy. Further, investigation into the impact of UXO contamination and UXO clearance, should also feedback and inform practice in country, as lead by the National Regulatory Authority, in adapting and fine-tuning survey and clearance practice and prioritization.

[1] Terminal Evaluation: UNDP Support to UXO Programme: (link) Evaluation Detail (undp.org)

[2] ‘The legacy effect of unexploded bombs on educational attainment in Laos’, Shaqi Guo in the Journal of Development Economics 147 (2020) 102527 www.elsevier.com/locate/devec

Duties and Responsibilities

The successful applicant will be expected to be responsible for the following:

Supporting the lead international consultant in the following tasks:

Task 1: Assess the impact of UXOs on development outcomes in contaminated areas.

• Review measurable development indicators pertinent to strategic development targets and the SDGs of the Lao PDR government;
• Define a methodology for measuring indicators in selected programme areas.
• Undertake data collection and analysis.

Task 2: Assess the impact after UXO survey and clearance.

• Review the same development indicators post survey and clearance
• Undertake data collection and analysis.

Task 3: Evaluate the impact of survey and clearance (task 1 measured against task 2).

• Quantify the impact of survey and clearance by comparing impact pre- and post- survey and clearance.
• Make recommendations to drive improved survey and clearance to maximise positive impact of programming.

Further, the national consultant will also undertake the following task:

Task 4: Support the lead international consultant in:

· Facilitation of interpretation between Lao and English.

· Support with logistical arrangements for field visits and interviews with communities in country.

The national consultant will support the international lead consultant in undertaking a comprehensive desk review drawing on Lao PDR government strategic documents including SDGs[1] and strategic policy documents covering UXO management as well as development goals[2] (public health, education, rural development, decentralization etc.). The review should also include the review of other examples of impact analysis of UXO and Mine Action programming and considering Lao PDR specific documentation on prior experiences on impact measurement from other operators. The desk review should also ensure a clear understanding of the mechanics of survey and clearance (from government National Standards[3] though to application of clearance by operators at a field level) and how services are prioritized and delivered to contaminated communities

[1] Voluntary National Review 2021, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic | High-Level Political Forum

[2] 9th Five - Year National Socio-Economic Development Plan (2021-2025) - Library records OD Mekong Datahub (opendevelopmentmekong.net)

[3] nra.gov.la/resources.php

The national consultant will also support in the production of an inception report should bring together learning from pervious experiences in country, and in other UXO and Mine Action contexts, and draw on Lao PDR experiences in development and how UXO contamination might impact on development. The report should also detail clearly the methodology to be used for determining the impact of UXO contamination in contaminated communities and how this might be measured against non-contaminated communities. The report should also expand on how the study will measure impact of survey and clearance in previously contaminated communities, to enable measurements to be made between comparable communities. The report should explain the methodology including sampling, means of information gathering from communities, local authorities and method. The inception report should be presented to the consultancy supervisor and other UNDP colleagues for review to ensure the work will be meeting the clients’ expectations. The inception report should also provide the principles and criteria for selecting control groups. The inception report may require changes to the draft to ensure the clients’ expectations are being met. The inception report should include an activity plan, detailing expected activities against an anticipated timeline.

The national consultant will support field research, undertaken in Lao PDR by the international lead consultant, undertaken in UNDP programme areas, Xiengkhouang and Bolikhamxai provinces, as well as non-contaminated areas for control purposes, if necessary. The national consultant will support in the facilitation of field visits and research and undertake interpretation and liaison with local authorities when necessary. The national consultant will support the lead consultant in providing a short weekly progress report should be submitted to the consultancy supervisor to update the client on progress, and to enable the client to assist should there be any logistical challenges or blockages. The report should report against the timeline as drafted in the inception report.

The national consultant will support the lead international consultant in the drafting of the final report. The draft report should detail the objectives of the study, the methodology, approach, findings of each of the impact assessments (pre-clearance and post-clearance) as well as comparison against a control. Annexes should include questionnaires, as well as details of communities and individuals consulted. The report should also detail clearly the impact of UXOs and how survey and clearance remove possible obstacles to development. The demonstrations of impact should be clearly qualified and demonstrated with examples.

Further, the report should detail specific recommendations for UNDP and the wider sector with a view to maximizing the development outcomes of survey and clearance. The recommendations should be achievable and appropriate to the Lao context. As the inception report, the final report should be presented to the client for review and possible shift in emphasis, if required

Competencies

• Demonstrated skill in data gathering and processing, including interviewing, focus group discussions etc

Required Skills and Experience

Two individual consultants (one international and one national) will be selected for this assignment. An international consultant (team leader) has overall responsibility for providing guidance and leadership in conducting the impact assessment and preparing and revising the draft and final reports. A national consultant will support the team leader and provide knowledge of Lao cultural and development context and advise the team leader on relevant aspects of the local context. The national consultant is responsible for the translation of the executive summary of the report into the Lao language and supports as an interpreter between English and Lao when needed

Qualifications: Bachelors Degree minimum. Masters level qualification preferred

Relevant Professional Experience : Minimum of 3 years of relevant experience, and previous demonstrated experience in undertaking impact assessments, although not necessarily in UXO or Mine Action

Language Requirements :

• Fluent Lao language
• Strong English skills – where the national consultant will need to act as assistant and interpreter to the lead international consultant. Interpretation services will be required to facilitate interviews, focus group discussions, liaison with local authorities etc.

Requirements for submission of proposals

All interested and qualified International or National Independent Consultant should apply on-line using the following links:

UNDP Lao PDR Country Office website at https://www.undp.org/laopdr/jobs or

In order to make your submission, please read the relevant documents available on the link below

1. TOR
2. IC General Terms and Conditions _ Annex II;
3. OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP CONFIRMING INTEREST AND AVAILABILITY _ Annex III
4. P11 Form

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

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

1. Technical Proposal

   (i) Explaining why you are the most suitable for the work;

   (ii) Providing a brief methodology on how you will approach and conduct the work including the work

   schedule for the delivery of outputs/deliverable;

2. P11 Form Education and work experience, including past experience in similar projects and contact references of at least 3 references for whom you have rendered preferably the similar services;

3. Financial proposal: Detailed financial proposal: Lump sum offer with clear cost breakdown against each deliverable. Please use this template OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP CONFIRMING INTEREST AND AVAILABILITY _ Annex III

Instructions for on-line submissions:

Step 1: Please prepare all required documents electronically;

Step 2: Combine all documents in ONE SINGLE FILE (preferably in PDF however Word format can be also accepted) and upload to the UNDP Jobs using the links above;

Step 3: After that you will receive an auto reply from the UNDP jobs if your offer is received successfully.

Incomplete proposals or proposals received after the deadline will be rejected.

Note: Any request for clarification must be sent in writing before the submission deadline to the following emails:

surith.sengsavang@undp.org