National expert in monitoring and evaluation for planning and conducting of baseline studies

Contract

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

Background

Background and rationale

The negative impact of transnational organized crime, specially drug and human trafficking and related cross-cutting crimes, corruption and money laundering, has been recognized at the highest level by the Guinea-Bissau authorities, and the fight against it has become a national priority.

Since early 2000s, Guinea-Bissau has become associated with high levels of illicit activity particularly drug trafficking. Following two major hauls of cocaine of 674 kg and 625 kg respectively in 2006 and 2007, the country gained a reputation as a center for the transshipment of drugs and has been labelled since then as West Africa’s premier “narco-state.”

The coastal topography of the country, composed of an archipelago of 88 mangrove- and palm-fringed islands, provided an ideal setting for the conduct of illicit activities and created the conditions for the country to be an attractive hub for transnational organized crime and drug trafficking. Limited State presence, porous borders and its linguistic and cultural ties to Brazil, Cabo Verde and Portugal have also played a role in Guinea-Bissau positioning along the transshipment routes from South America to West African and Europe.

Nowadays, Guinea-Bissau continues to serve as a landing point and transit hub for international drug trafficking and other forms of transnational organized crime.

In this sense, and with the aim to partially address the problem in Guinea-Bissau, in 2020 the IOM, UNODC and UNDP, with support of United Nations Peacebuilding Fund, initiated the implementation of the project “Strengthening the justice and security sector response to drug trafficking and transnational organized crime to reduce insecurity in Guinea-Bissau “, in close cooperation with national authorities.

To track the progress toward the intended results of the project and to identify what corrective actions may be needed, the project needs to have a good plan for M&E that will allow the project to i) to evaluate the project M&E plan; ii) conduct baseline studies (qualitative and/or quantitative); ii) to present recommendations on indicators and targets, and on compatibility with UN documents (PBF prodoc, CPD, UNPAF, gender goals); iii) to monitor and evaluate results; iv) to provide a basis for decision making on necessary amendments and improvements; and v) to document, provide comments/feedback for current and future interventions, and disseminate lessons learned.

It is in this context that UNDP intends to recruit a national consultant specialized in Monitoring and Evaluation at the national or international level to support the project management to track the progress toward the intended results of the project including indicators revision and proposition, conduct baseline studies and to identify what corrective action may be needed for the completion of project deliverables.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective of the assignment

The purpose of this consultancy is to review the project’s results framework and M&E plan, to conduct a baseline study to collect information for indicators that do not have baseline yet, and to determine quantitatively and qualitatively the current situation in relation to the main elements of the project (capacity of State institutions to prevent and investigate drug trafficking and transnational organized crime, level of intelligence-sharing and investigative cooperation with neighboring countries, capacity of CSOs to influence public policies on DTOC, among others) amongst the target beneficiaries.

The baseline study will focus on baseline data collection for a set of indicators outlined in the project result framework and additional indicators proposed by the consultant. The baseline study report will be used as a measurement to monitor the project progress against the set indicators over the course of the project implementation.

The selected consultant will work closely with the project team along with other key stakeholders to ensure that data collection will provide the basic background in the areas of Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall supervision of the UNDP’s Representative Resident, the technical supervision of the PBF CDTOC Project Manager, the consultant will:

Provide support to implementation of the project’s M&E framework;

Prepare accurate and quality reports on the project implementation;

Review, provide inputs and update as necessary the M&E plan, indicators and tools;

Provide additional indicators into the project’s results framework if necessary, based on the Project Documentation and in accordance with the project team;

Elaborate questionnaires for quantitative and qualitative surveys , interviews or focus groups discussions, which incorporate the different indicators of the Project’s results framework;

Lead on the process of the baseline and endline study design, methodology, planning and quality control procedures;

Plan and conduct project’s research activities as required (baseline and results studies);

Contribute to analysis of quantitative and qualitative data and prepare draft reports;

Enter data into reporting systems and databases and prepare indicator reports for internal and external reporting and project management purposes;

Plan and participate in field visits;

Manage participants and meeting/ event arrangements;

Assist in documentation of lessons learned;

Assist the team in coordinating with partners and stakeholders;

Assist in relevant support tasks as required.

Deliverables

• Work plan
• Revision and update of the project M&E Plan, with proposition of new indicators if necessary.-Methodology for the baseline study (including but not limited to the identification and definition of the samples, the development of the questionnaires for surveys and focus group discussions as needed);
• Conduct the baseline data collection/field work
• Presents draft analysis of results, lessons learned analysis, recommendations for corrective action and for future interventions and results report.
• Submit final report validate by the project team

Duration of the assignment

The assignment must be conducted within 60 working days, from the day the contract is signed.

Consultant Profile

Competencies

Competencies:

Functional

• ?Professional experience;
• Able to manage conflicting deadlines and priorities;
• Able to coordinate activities such as missions, special events, etc.
• Able to assume full responsibility for activities, ensuring that mission objectives are met in a transparent and inclusive manner;
• Set clear goals and performance standards; perform responsibilities as it should be;
• Self-analysis of performance problems; seeking appropriate guidance and support.

Resource management

• Strong organizational skills;
• Ability to work independently, produce high quality outputs;
• Solid opinion, strategic thinking and ability to manage competing priorities;
• Able to find creative solutions to daily problems, working in an ever-changing work environment.

Communication and advocacy

• Strong ability to write clearly and convincingly, adapting style and content to different audiences and speaking clearly and convincingly;
• Ability to produce high quality professional documents and products under pressure and to defend and negotiate difficult issues and positions for senior and official employees;
• Strong ability to present at meetings with the ability to adapt to different audiences;
• Strong analytical, research and writing skills with demonstrated ability to think strategically;
• Strong clear and fast communication skills;
• Strong interpersonal skills in negotiation and liaison.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• -Academic training, Bachelor or Master in social science, public administration, economics, gender studies or related area.

Experience:

• Professional experience of at least five (5) years relevant professional experience in project management, monitoring and evaluation at the national or international level.
• Experience in research methods, monitoring and evaluation tools, development of reports, development and analysis and elaboration of indicators and data collection, analysis and reporting is required.
• Experience in the use of computers and office software package, including management of databases.
• Proficiency in Portuguese, speaking and writing. Intermediary knowledge in English is required. The mastery of other languages (Crioulo and/or French) is an advantage;
• Solid knowledge of the Guinean justice and security system is an advantage.

Language:

• Fluency in Portuguese and Crioulo is necessary;
• Intermediary knowledge in English is required;
• Good knowledge in French is desirable.

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. The methodology should be relevant to the Project objectives and aligned with the current Project Results Framework (attached to the Tor);
• 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).

Travel: All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel.? In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the Individual Consultant wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Evaluation: Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

Cumulative analysis

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation;
• 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 - 15 points;
• Competences as defined in the ToR - 10 points;
• Understating of the ToR - 15 points;
• Methodology and overall approach - 30 points;
• Overall quality of the proposal (comprehensiveness, structure, language and clarity) - 20 points.