National Independent Evaluator for evaluation of the “Stabilization of Tajikistan’s southern border region with Afghanistan” project (SSAs) deadline extension

Contract

This is a Consultancy contract. More about Consultancy contracts.

Background:

The “Stabilization of Tajikistan’s southern border region with Afghanistan” project (further: project) was launched on 1 January 2020 and is expected to end on 31 December 2021 (incl. a 6-month no-cost extension from 1 July to 31 December 2021). Funding for the project was provided by the European Union (EU) via the European Commission’s (EC) Service for Foreign Policy Instruments (FPI), through the Instrument Contributing to Stability and Peace (IcSP). The project’s budget amounts to 3,289,659 EUR

The project has two main objectives: to contribute to the EU FPI’s Overall Objective 1 to “Increase the EU’s position as a peace actor on the international scene” and its Specific Objective 1.2 to “Contribute to the prevention of conflicts and to ensure capacity and preparedness to address pre- and post-crisis situations and build peace”. The objectives are to be achieved by building sustainable capacities and preparedness of the Tajik Border Troops (TBT) and the Committee on Emergency Situations and Civil Defence (CoESCD) to plan for and respond effectively to trans-national organised crime, terrorist incursions and other emergency situations.

The project consists of three main components: training, delivery of technical equipment to the trainees and the two beneficiary agencies, as well renovation of training facilities. The overall aim behind implementing these three components is to support the beneficiaries in building a sustained capacity to respond effectively to various security threats, which the country is currently facing. The geographical focus lies on Tajikistan’s southern region, which borders with Afghanistan and which is arguably the most vulnerable due to its geographical characteristics, due to current political/security situation in Afghanistan and due to limited resources that the country has available to address various challenges that frequently occur in the area. Tajikistan’s south is predominantly a mountainous terrain, which is difficult to control from the point of view of border security and where the state can only provide limited assistance in response to natural disasters. However, by developing specialized and sustained capacity of the Tajik Border Troops and the Committee of Emergency Situations and Civil Defence (the two main beneficiaries), Tajikistan will be in a position to address the aforementioned threats more effectively, creating a stabilizing effect in the geographical area targeted by the project. Furthermore, some of the acquired capacity can be applied country-wide (e.g. trainees from other regions of Tajikistan can be trained in the renovated CoESCD training centre in Karatag), contributing to an overall increase of the security situation across the entire country.

Objective of Assignment:

The overall objective of the project and its expected impact is to support Tajikistan through stabilizing of the country’s southern border region with Afghanistan. More specifically, the project’s objective is to build the capacity of specialised CoESCD units to effectively respond to any emergency, especially those with high likelihood stemming from Afghanistan, including refugee inflows, earthquakes, flooding and mudslides in the terrain representative of the Tajik-Afghan border.

In more detail, the project pursues the following specific objectives:

1. Increased professional capacities of the Border Troops in tackling illicit activities in border areas; and 2. Increased ability of the CoESCD to address the destabilising effects of natural disasters and manage potential influxes of refugees from Afghanistan.

Duration of Assignment: 24 working days in the period from 16 May to 20 June 2022.

Tasks and Responsibilities: The evaluator will support the International Evaluator in preparing the main deliverables listed under Section 6. of this document. In doing so, he/she will be guided by the International Evaluator. During the evaluation process, the Evaluator will also be guided by relevant project documentation (project documents and any other relevant information provided by POiD and its staff) and will use evaluation questions as indicated under section 4.2 Evaluation questions and criteria of this document. The questions shall serve as overall guidance and can be added/modified to a certain degree by the evaluator. The evaluator will maintain regular contact with POiD focal points (Senior Executive officer or his delegates and the Project Manager; further: evaluation manager(s)) through the international evaluator, keeping them abreast of developments, on a regular basis, whilst conducting the following tasks:

1. Undertaking a review of the provided documentation;
2. Contributing to the evaluation process in close co-operation with and under the guidance of the International Evaluator;
3. Providing advice on methodology and sound evaluation design and standards;
4. Consulting with key stakeholders identified by OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe;
5. Analysing and synthesizing evidence, findings, contribute to drafting the evaluation report, and executive summary;
6. Assessing the value of the project’s activities, its possible impact and sustainability;
7. Analysing the degree of implementation of the key tasks of the project as described in the Description of the Action and any other relevant documentation;
8. Identifying lessons learned and provide concrete conclusions/recommendations, which will allow for taking corrective actions, should a similar project (thematically and size-wise) be implemented by POiD in the future;
9. Utilizing a mix of quantitative (budget information) and qualitative information (documentation and interviews of key staff).

For more detailed information on the structure and work of the OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe, please see: https://www.osce.org/programme-office-in-dushanbe

Please note that the full Terms of Reference (ToR) can be provided upon request, interested candidates should submit a request for more details about the current ToR to [email protected] with the indication of the post title in the subject line.

Deliverables:

Tangible deliverables (with deadlines) expected of the external evaluators:

Result / product

Timetable / deadline for submission

1. Paper with analysis of documents and secondary data

27 May 2022

2. Inception report (one page to highlight any issues, preliminary understanding and findings)

3 June 2022

3. First draft of the report

13 June 2022

4. Internal OSCE commentaries and feedback addressed in written format

16 June 2022

5. Final evaluation report submitted to POiD

20 June 2022

Necessary Qualifications:

In order to avoid any bias and conflict of interest, the selected evaluator needs to be independent: he/she should not have been involved in any way in the design or implementation of the project to be evaluated, nor should any close relationship with the evaluation manager or other stakeholders in this evaluation (OSCE management, counterparts, beneficiaries).The required skills, experience, educational qualifications, and other competencies of the evaluator:

• Master’s degree complimented by work experience or degree in monitoring and evaluation field;
• Equivalent work experience of not less than 8 years may be considered in the absence of a university degree;
• A minimum of 5 years of documented experience in evaluation;
• Experience with evaluation of technical assistance/development programs delivered by international NGOs or international organizations to government structures or agencies;
• Relevant work experience and sound knowledge in the field of issues related to assessment and evaluation of projects;
• Excellent communication skills, demonstrated analytical skills as well as maturity of judgment;
• Professional fluency in written and spoken English, Russian and Tajik;
• Demonstrated ability and willingness to work as a member of a team and with colleagues throughout the OSCE with people of different nationalities, religions and cultural and professional backgrounds as well as different gender, diverse political views and approaches to problems, while maintaining impartiality and objectivity;
• Good knowledge of the OSCE and its area of operation.
• Previous work-experience within OSCE, UN or EU would be an asset;
• Demonstrated ability and willingness to cooperate with POiD focal points in terms of consideration and accepting of their opinions and comments when preparing the evaluation report;
• Resourcefulness and initiative;
• Previous work experience in Central Asia or South Asia and good understanding of the local context will be a distinctive advantage (international evaluator);
• Demonstrated gender awareness and sensitivity, and an ability to integrate a gender perspective into tasks and activities;
• Ability and willingness to work as a member of team, with people of different cultural, and religious backgrounds, different gender, and diverse political views, while maintaining impartiality and objectivity;
• Computer literate with practical experience using Microsoft applications.

Remuneration Package:

Remuneration will be based on the selected consultant's/expert's qualifications, experience, the tasks and deliverables for this position and in accordance with the OSCE established rates.

If you wish to apply for this position, please use the OSCE's online application link found under https://vacancies.osce.org/.

The OSCE retains the discretion to re-advertise/re-post the vacancy, to cancel the recruitment or to offer an appointment with a modified job description or for a different duration.

Only those candidates who are selected to participate in the subsequent stages of recruitment will be contacted.

The OSCE is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all religious, ethnic and social backgrounds to apply to become a part of the Organization.

Candidates should be aware that OSCE officials shall conduct themselves at all times in a manner befitting the status of an international civil servant. This includes avoiding any action which may adversely reflect on the integrity, independence and impartiality of their position and function as officials of the OSCE. The OSCE is committed to applying the highest ethical standards in carrying out its mandate. For more information on the values set out in OSCE Competency Model, please see https://jobs.osce.org/resources/document/our-competency-model.

Please be aware that the OSCE does not request payment at any stage of the application and review process.

Additional Information

• Issued by: OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe
• Requisition ID: OSC00004U
• Contract Type: Special Service Agreement (SSA) / Consultant
• Grade: No grade
• Job Type: Consultant
• Number of posts: 1
• Location: OSCE Programme Office in Dushanbe, Dushanbe
• Posting Date: Apr 1, 2022
• Closing Date: Apr 8, 2022
• Education Level: Master's Degree (Second-level university degree or equivalent)
• Job Field: Project Management