Phase one reports & evaluator TOR

Contract

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

Background

The LHSP “Lebanon Host Communities Support Programme”, is a multi-year broadly platform promoting social stability, inclusion, leadership of communities and working on an ‘Area Based Development Programme’ (acting at municipal and cluster level) providing capital investments, one which targets specific geographical areas characterized by a complex development problem through a conflict sensitive integrated, inclusive, participatory, and horizontal-vertical flexible approach that generate a Local Action Plan. LHSP is conducting pilot activity in 2 Unions of Municipalities, namely Al Bouhayra Union in Bekaa Governorate and Bcharre Union in North Lebanon Governorate within the local governance capacities development to better address the crisis in their communities. The project will add several governance elements to the existing LHSP programme’s implementation model, with a view to (objective) “improve building trust between communities and local governments”, improving impact and sustainability and enhancing the overall effectiveness of local governments in selected areas in Lebanon to service their constituents at this critical time. Within a batch of several activities required, the UNDP is looking to support the 2 Unions of Bouhayra & Bcharre in developing a website for each, to enhance transparency and access to information. The website should serve as a platform for the community members and local NGOs, CBOs and CSOs, since it is a crucial element in curbing city level corruption as it gives citizens access to relevant information, increases citizen engagement with the government. Furthermore, under another intervention LHSP aims to support Baalbek-Hermel Governorate in developing a website to enhance collaboration/communication and information sharing. The website should act as a hub for the Governorate, unions and municipalities, tourists, citizens, and beneficiaries whereby it will serve as a guide for users to view all information related to the Governorate.

Duties and Responsibilities

The evaluation should employ a combination of qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods and instruments to conduct a coherent evaluation of the projects. The evaluator shall follow a participatory, consultative, and interactive approach to ensure close engagement with the UNDP team, the implementing partners, in addition to direct beneficiaries, both men and women.

Suggested methodological tools and approaches that should include but not limited to:

• Documents/desk review
• Interviews and meetings; including semi-structured interviews, key informant interviews and focus group discussions
• Surveys and questionnaires
• Data review and analysis
• Other methods; observational visits, focus group discussions, outcome harvesting, etc. (optional)

The evaluation should be done taking into consideration the gender and human rights lens. The stakeholders include but are not limited to: beneficiaries (i.e. SMEs, implementing partner, Local Authorities, stakeholders and UNDP-LHSP project team.

Minimum evaluation criteria

The evaluation should, at a minimum include the following desired evaluation criteria and below are the suggested associated guiding questions:

Criteria

Question(s)

Relevance/Coherence

• To what extent was the project in line with other national development plans, the current context, and the priorities that were identified in the assessment?

Efficiency

• What have been the key results and changes attained for men, women, vulnerable groups (including persons with disabilities) and entities?
• In which areas has the project had greatest achievements? Why and what have been the supporting factors? How can the project build on or expand these achievements?
• Is the project in line with the value for money criteria?

Effectiveness

• To what extent has progress been made towards outcome achievement?
• What has been the UNDP contribution to the observed change?
• Which geographical areas and areas of intervention are the most relevant and strategic for UNDP to scale up or consider going forward?

Sustainability

• To what extent will target men, women, vulnerable persons and entities benefit from the project interventions in the medium and long term?
• To what extent will financial and economic resources be available at the local level to sustain the benefits achieved by the project?

Minimum geographical scope

The impact evaluation should be conducted in Tripoli area

Sampling minimum standards

To ensure data saturation from the qualitative data collected in this impact analysis, at least three individual interviews – such as key informant interviews or semi-structured interviews – shall be conducted with each distinct group of respondents with shared characteristics selected for this study. Similarly, at least two Focus Group Discussions shall be conducted with each distinct group of respondents with shared characteristics. In addition, and for any qualitative data collected from project beneficiaries, there shall be comparison groups at least for gender (male and female) and nationality.

Random sampling shall be used when collecting quantitative data with at least a 95% confidence level. The level of standard error shall be proposed by the bidder. The bidder shall also propose any clustering of the sample in line with the guidance outlined in the WHO document[1].

Proposed methodology

The consultant shall propose the methodological tools and approaches and number of data collection per activity that are necessary to meet the objectives of this evaluation. The final methodological approach including interview schedule, field visits and data to be used in the impact analysis will be finalized in the inception report and fully discussed and agreed between UNDP, key stakeholders, and the evaluator.

Evaluation Ethics

This evaluation should follow the ‘Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation’[2]. The bidder should safeguard the rights and confidentiality of information providers, interviewees, and stakeholders through measures to ensure compliance with legal and other relevant codes governing collection of data and reporting on data. The bidder should also ensure security of collected information before and after the evaluation and protocols to ensure anonymity and confidentiality of sources of information where that is expected. The information knowledge and data gathered in the evaluation process shall also be solely used for the evaluation and not for other uses with the express authorization of UNDP and partners.

Reporting

The consultant shall make sure to share progress related to the impact analysis on weekly basis as per the agreement as well as the raw data, data analysis, sources, and final reports. The Consultant will also provide logistical, administrative, and financial information as needed. The reporting template will be developed in direct coordination with UNDP.

WORK PLAN

In the proposal, the consultant is requested to provide a preliminary proposed project work plan covering all the activities described in Section D (a GANTT chart showing detailed list of tasks, duration and schedule per task, list of similar works conducted, professional references, and allocated resources per task shall be included in the bid.

Upon contract award, UNDP shall be provided with a revised project work plan, 2 weeks after contract signature. Once approved, the new plan shall be adopted and shall form the basis for project evaluation and monitoring.

DELIVERABLES

The following two deliverables are requested for this evaluation:

Deliverable 1:

1. Final project work plan, timeline, proposal and methodology that are in line with the points outlined in this document for revision and approval by UNDP.
   • The work plan shall be a Gantt chart as per section VI of this document.
   • The timeline shall be in line with the table at the end of this section and use days as units.
   • The proposal and methodology shall include at the very least the minimum requirements and shall be in line with the standards outlined in sections III and IV of this document. They shall also provide a tentative outline of the contents of the final report.
   • The methodology shall expand on the evaluation criteria and questions from section III.
   • The methodology shall clearly describe the final methodological tools and approaches, data collection and data analysis activities as well as the proposed data sources for each proposed evaluation questions.
2. Submission of compendium of documents reviewed

• The compendium shall include a list of the documents that were used to formulate the proposal and methodology and why they were deemed significant; this includes the guidance documents referenced in this document, namely the UNEG Evaluation Ethical standards
• The compendium shall clearly outline how and which elements of each document influenced the proposal and methodology

3-Submission of detailed guiding evaluation questions.

• The detailed guiding evaluation questions shall be in line with the main purpose of the impact analysis which is to analyze the impact in order to inform future project activities.
• Each question shall be clearly linked to the suggested data collection tools, data sources, and samples from the next point and this shall be presented in a table with at least the following column headers: evaluation criteria, evaluation questions, sub-evaluation questions, data sources, data collection tool (per data source), sample size.

4-Submission of suggested data collection tools and data collection and analysis plan for revision and approval by UNDP.

• The suggested data collection tools, data sources, and sample size shall be in line with the proposed methodology.
• This shall include the rationale for selection of the tools, sources, and sample size including the consultations with stakeholders regarding best practices and the references upon which the suggestions were based.
• The data collection and analysis plan shall be a Gantt chart with days as units and include a RACI matrix outlining the responsibilities of all stakeholders in the data collection and analysis processes.
• The document shall outline how the impact analysis being evaluated will serve to inform future project activities.
• The work plan, timeline, proposal and methodology shall be harmonized.

Deliverable 2: Submission of data collected and analyzed, final draft report, key points for discussions during stakeholder meeting, and final report integrating feedback from stakeholder meeting for revision and approval by UNDP.

1.List of data collected, indicating its source and methodology of collection, in addition to the data analysis This includes the collection of all qualitative and quantitative data as per the data collection plan in the previous deliverable.

• This includes data entry, transcription, and translation as necessary as well as data cleaning.
• Both the raw data and the clean version that was used for analysis purposes shall be submitted to UNDP
• The analysis shall be clearly done in according with the data analysis plan in the previous deliverable.

2.Submission of draft final report for revision and approval by UNDP

• The draft final report shall at the very least include the following sections: executive summary, background and introduction, methodology, challenges and limitations, results from quantitative and qualitative data, findings, and recommendations to inform future activities
• The sections of the draft final report shall be in line which what was proposed under Deliverable

3.Submit stakeholders’ recommendations for scale-up and future activities.

• The key findings from the draft final report shall be shared with key stakeholders for their feedback and a meeting shall be conducted to discuss and integrate their feedback into the final report.
• The consultant shall prepare the key points that will be discussed in the meeting and submit them to UNDP prior to the meeting for suggestions, approval, and modifications.
• The key points shall be shared with stakeholders prior to the meeting to enable productive discussions throughout the meetings.
• The consultant shall make notes of stakeholders’ feedback in the meeting and follow up as needed
• The consultant shall integrate stakeholders’ feedback in the report in coordination with and following approval from UNDP.

4.Submission of final report to UNDP.

• The final report shall include the revisions and suggestions to the draft report in addition to the outputs from the key stakeholders meeting, furthermore, the final report shall include recommendations and lessons learned based on the application of the platform and for future related interventions .

5.Submission of Final presentation of the findings to UNDP

Competencies

All requested deliverables shall be written and submitted in Englis

Required Skills and Experience

I. Academic Qualifications:

• A master’s degree in social sciences, business management, data analysis, project management, or equivalent;

II. Years of experience:

• Five (5) years’ of relevant experience in the project’s evaluation consultancy field
• The Consultant Has managed two similar projects in nature and complexity to the project stated in this TOR such as impact analysis

III. Technical experience:

- Solid experience in the project evaluation, impact analysis - Proven experience in working in remote areas and communities. - familiar with the local context, understanding of and ability to relate with a specific culture/religion,etc.

IIV. Competencies:

• All requested deliverables shall be written and submitted in English.

Note :

The application must include all of the following Mandatory documents:- Please refer to the link : https://procurement-notices.undp.org/ to reach the above documents

1. P11,
2. Technical Proposal****,
3. Annex 3 (Offerors Letter) and
4. Financial proposal