Terminal Evaluation Consultant

Consultant

Contract

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Background

1.****Introduction

In accordance with UNDP and GEF M&E policies and procedures, all full- and 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 full-sized project titled Kura II: Advancing IWRM across the Kura river basin through implementation of the transboundary agreed actions and national plans (PIMS # 5325) implemented through the United Nation Development Program, Istanbul Regional Hub (UNDP-IRH). The project started on the 23rd August 2016 and is in its last year of implementation.

The Terminal Evaluation 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)

2.****Project Description

UNDP GEF Kura Project “Advancing Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM) across the Kura river basin through implementation of the transboundary agreed actions and national plans” is implementing the Strategic Action Program (SAP) for the Kura River Basin in partnership with the Governments of Georgia and Azerbaijan. The project is funded by The Global Environment Facility (GEF) (www.thegef.org)

The SAP is framed around four agreed Ecosystem Quality Objectives (EQO) which are:

• To achieve sustainable utilization of water resources to ensure access to water and preserve ecosystem services;
• To achieve water quality such that it would ensure access to clean water for present and future generations and sustain ecosystem functions in the Kura river basin;
• To achieve and maintain ecosystem status whereby they provide essential environmental and socio-economic services in a sustainable manner in the Kura River Basin; and,
• To achieve mitigation of adverse impacts of flooding and climate change on infrastructures, riparian ecosystems and communities.

The GEF will support priority activities towards these objectives. The GEF funded SAP implementation Project has the objective “to integrate water resources management in the Kura river basin to address water-energy-food-ecosystem security nexus through the implementation of agreed actions in the SAP”.

There are five project components to support the countries to achieve this objective. These are:

• Project Component 1: Establishment of effective cross sectoral IWRM governance protocols at the local, national and transboundary levels in the Kura Basin;
• Project Component 2: Strengthening national capacities to implement multi-sectoral IWRM in the Kura basin;
• Project Component 3: Stress reduction in critical areas and pre-feasibility studies to identify investment opportunities for improving river system health;
• Project Component 4: Targeted education and involvement projects to empower stakeholders in implementing local / national / regional actions in support of SAP implementation;
• Project Component 5: Enhancing science for governance by strengthening monitoring, information management and data analysis systems for IWRM.

3.****TE Purpose

The purpose of the TE is to provide an impartial evaluation of the project in terms of its relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, sustainability, overall performance, management and achievements.

The Terminal Evaluation consultant will develop a technical report on the assessment of the achievement of the UNDP-GEF Kura II project results against what was expected to be achieved, and draw lessons that can both improve the sustainability of benefits from the project, and aid in the overall enhancement of UNDP programming. The Terminal Evaluation report should promote accountability and transparency, and assess the extent of project accomplishments.

The Terminal Evaluations for GEF-financed projects have the following complementary purposes:

• To promote accountability and transparency;
• To synthesize lessons that can help to improve the selection, design and implementation of future UNDP-supported GEF-financed initiatives; and to improve the sustainability of benefits and aid in overall enhancement of UNDP programming;
• To assess and document project results, and the contribution of these results towards achieving GEF strategic objectives aimed at global environmental benefits;
• To gauge the extent of project convergence with other priorities within the UNDP country programme, including poverty alleviation; strengthening resilience to the impacts of climate change, reducing disaster risk and vulnerability, as well as cross-cutting issues such gender equality, and empowering women.

The Project Team, GEF RTA, and the two GEF NFPs, and other key stakeholders will have the opportunity to comment on the draft report and, if needed, provide additional information relevant to the TE team’s assessment of results. The main output results of the terminal evaluation process will be presented in the UNDP-GEF Kura II final Steering Committee meeting in Middle April 2021.

Duties and Responsibilities

1.****TE Approach & Methodology

The TE must provide evidence-based information that is credible, reliable and useful. Evaluation should employ a combination of both qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods and instruments. The TE methodology should include:

• Document review of all relevant documentation including the Project Document, project reports including annual PIRs, project Steering committee meetings minutes, project budget revisions, national strategic and legal documents, and any other materials that the team considers useful for this evidence-based evaluation. The TE Consultant will review the baseline and midterm GEF focal area Core Indicators/Tracking Tools submitted to the GEF at the CEO endorsement and midterm stages and the terminal Core Indicators/Tracking Tools that must be completed before the TE field mission begins
• Development of evaluation questions around relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability and designed for different stakeholders to be interviewed.
• Organize series of interviews with key relevant stakeholders who have project responsibilities and beneficiaries, this list includes:
  • The UNDP-IRH management
  • The GEF Regional Technical Advisor
  • The two project’s National Focal points (the Azerbaijani NFP and the Georgian NFP)
  • The UNDP Country Office in Azerbaijan and in Georgia
  • The UNDP-GEF Project CTA/RC and the project team
  • The members of the project National Advisory Groups
  • key experts and consultants contributing in the project implementation
  • Representatives of relevant NGOs involved in the project implementation
• All interviews should be conducted online due to Covid-19 restrictions. All interviews should be undertaken in full confidence and anonymity. The final evaluation report should not assign specific comments to individuals.
• Validation of key tangible outputs and interventions through analysis of the available documents and report produced for these outputs. These documents should include technical reports, brochures, and pictures or videos that were taken by the project team from the field sites during the different phases of implementation.
• The evaluator is expected to follow a participatory and consultative approach that ensures close engagement with the evaluation managers, implementing partners and direct beneficiaries.
• Other methods such as outcome mapping, online group discussions, etc.
• Data review and analysis of monitoring and other data sources and methods.
• Ensure maximum validity, reliability of data (quality) and promote use; the TE process should ensure triangulation of the various data sources.

The final TE report should describe the full TE approach taken and the rationale for the approach making explicit the underlying assumptions, challenges, strengths and weaknesses about the methods and approach of the evaluation.

An assessment of project performance will be carried out, based against expectations set out in the Project Logical Framework/Results Framework, which provides performance and impact indicators for project implementation along with their corresponding means of verification. The evaluation will at a minimum cover the criteria of: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact. Ratings must be provided on the following performance criteria (The rating scales are provided in the TOR Annex F). The completed table must be included in the evaluation executive summary.

The Evaluation will also assess the key financial aspects of the project, including the extent of co-financing planned and realized. Project cost and funding data will be required, including annual expenditures. Variances between planned and actual expenditures will need to be assessed and explained. Results from recent financial audits, as available, should be taken into consideration. The evaluator will receive assistance from the PCU to obtain financial data in order to complete the co-financing table (example template is in the TOR Annex F), which will be included in the terminal evaluation report.

Detailed Scope of the TE

Consultant will first conduct a document review of project documents (i.e. PIF, UNDP Initiation Plan, Project Document, ESSP, Project Inception Report, PIRs, Finalized GEF focal area Tracking Tools, Project Steering Committee meeting minutes, Financial and Administration guidelines used by Project Team, project operational guidelines, manuals and systems, etc.) provided by the Project Team and Commissioning Unit. Then they will participate in an TE inception workshop to clarify their understanding of the objectives and methods of the TE, producing the TE inception report thereafter. The TE Consultant will then organize a series of interviews with relevant stakeholders.

The TE will assess project performance against expectations set out in the project’s Logical Framework/Results Framework (see TOR Annex A). The TE will assess the project results according to the criteria outlined in the Guidance for Terminal Evaluations of UNDP-supported GEF-financed Projects (http://web.undp.org/evaluation/guideline/documents/GEF/TE_GuidanceforUNDP-supportedGEF-financedProjects.pdf).

The Findings section of the TE report will cover the topics listed below. A full outline of the TE report’s content is provided in TOR Annex C.

The asterisk “(*)” indicates criteria for which a rating is required.

Findings

Project Design/Formulation

• National priorities and country driven
• Analysis of Results Framework: project logic and strategy, indicators
• Gender equality and women’s empowerment
• Social and Environmental Safeguards

• Assumptions and Risks

• Lessons from other relevant projects (e.g. same focal area) incorporated into project design

• Planned stakeholder participation
• Linkages between project and other interventions within the sector
• Management arrangements

Project Implementation

• Adaptive management (changes to the project design and project outputs during implementation)
• Actual stakeholder participation and partnership arrangements
• Project Finance and Co-finance
• Monitoring & Evaluation: design at entry (*), implementation (*), and overall assessment of M&E (*)
• Implementing Agency (UNDP-IRH) (*), overall project oversight/implementation and execution (*)
• Risk Management, including Social and Environmental Standards

Project Results

• Assess the achievement of outcomes against indicators by reporting on the level of progress for each objective and outcome indicator at the time of the TE and noting final achievements
• Relevance (*), Effectiveness (*), Efficiency (*) and overall project outcome (*)
• Sustainability: financial (*) , socio-political (*), institutional framework and governance (*), environmental (*), overall likelihood of sustainability (*)
• Country ownership
• Gender equality and women’s empowerment
• Cross-cutting issues (poverty alleviation, improved governance, climate change mitigation and adaptation, disaster prevention and recovery, human rights, capacity development, South-South cooperation, knowledge management, volunteerism, etc., as relevant)
• GEF Additionality
• Catalytic Role / Replication Effect
• Progress to impact

Main Findings, Conclusions, Recommendations and Lessons Learned

• The TE Consultant will include a summary of the main findings of the TE report. Findings should be presented as statements of fact that are based on analysis of the data.
• The section on conclusions will be written in light of the findings. Conclusions should be comprehensive and balanced statements that are well substantiated by evidence and logically connected to the TE findings. They should highlight the strengths, weaknesses and results of the project, respond to key evaluation questions and provide insights into the identification of and/or solutions to important problems or issues pertinent to project beneficiaries, UNDP and the GEF, including issues in relation to gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• Recommendations should provide concrete, practical, feasible and targeted recommendations directed to the intended users of the evaluation about what actions to take and decisions to make. The recommendations should be specifically supported by the evidence and linked to the findings and conclusions around key questions addressed by the evaluation.
• The TE report should also include lessons that can be taken from the evaluation, including best practices in addressing issues relating to relevance, performance and success that can provide knowledge gained from the particular circumstance (programmatic and evaluation methods used, partnerships, financial leveraging, etc.) that are applicable to other GEF and UNDP interventions. When possible, the TE team should include examples of good practices in project design and implementation.
• It is important for the conclusions, recommendations and lessons learned of the TE report to include results related to gender equality and empowerment of women.

The TE report will include an Evaluation Ratings Table, as shown in the ToR Annex F.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

The TE Consultant shall prepare and submit:

1. TE Inception Report: TE Consultant clarifies objectives and methods of the TE no later than 2 weeks after signing the contract. TE Consultant submits the Inception Report to the Commissioning Unit and project management. Approximate due date: 1st March 2021
2. Presentation: TE Consultant presents initial findings to project management and the Commissioning Unit at the end of the TE interviews. Approximate due date: 1st April 2021
3. Draft TE Report: TE Consultant submits full draft report with annexes within 2 weeks of the end of the TE mission. Approximate due date: 15 April 2021
4. Final TE Report and Audit Trail: TE Consultant submits revised report, with Audit Trail detailing how all received comments have (and have not) been addressed in the final TE report, to the Commissioning Unit within one week of receiving UNDP comments on draft. Approximate due date: 30 April 2021. The final TE report must be in English.

The final TE report 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.

TE Arrangements

The principal responsibility for managing the TE resides with the Commissioning Unit. The Commissioning Unit for this project’s TE is the UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub. The Project Team will be responsible for liaising with Consultant to provide all relevant documents, set up stakeholder interviews, and arrange field visits if any.

Duration of the Work

The total duration of the TE will be approximately 30 working days over a time period of 9 weeks starting 1st March 2021. The approximate TE timeframe is as follows:

• 15 Feb. 2021: Application closes
• 28 Feb. 2021: Selection of TE Consultant
• 1 March 2021: Prep the TE Consultant (handover of project documents)
• 10th March 2021: 5 days: Document review and preparing TE Inception Report
• 15th March 2021: 2 days: Finalization and Validation of TE Inception Report- latest start of TE interviews
• 25th March 2021: 10 days : TE Disk review: stakeholder meetings, and interviews
• 1st April 2021: Presentation of initial findings
• 15th April 2021: 10 days: Preparation of draft TE report
• 16th of April 2021: Circulation of draft TE report for comments
• 25th April 2021: 3 days: Incorporation of comments on draft TE report into Audit Trail & finalization of TE report
• 30th April 2021: Preparation & Issue of Management Response
• 7th May 2021: Concluding Project SC meeting to present the TE findings
• 7th May 2021: Expected date of full TE completion

The expected date start date of contract is 1st March 2021

Competencies

Corporate competencies:

• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favouritism;
• Fulfils all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Functional competencies:

• Excellent communication skills
• Demonstrable analytical skills

Required Skills and Experience

The selection of consultants will be aimed at maximizing the overall qualities in the following areas:

Education:

• A Master’s degree in water resources management, applied water resources evaluation or other closely related field.

Experience:

• Recent experience (within 5 years) with result-based management evaluation methodologies required
• At least 3 years’ experience applying SMART targets and reconstructing or validating baseline scenarios required
• At least 3 years’ experience in adaptive management, as applied to GEF International Waters transboundary freshwater systems required
• At least 5 years’ experience working with the GEF evaluations required
• Work experience in transboundary fresh ater management for at least 5 years required

Language skills:

• English is the working language of the UNDP-GEF Kura II Project and it is required

Assets:

• Experience working in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Caucasus in fresh water management is an asset, in evaluation of project implementation preferred
• Experience in gender sensitive evaluation and analysis and demonstrated understanding of issues related to gender and GEF International Waters is an asset
• Project evaluation/review experiences within United Nations system will be considered an asset
• The ability to communicate in Russian is an asset.

Evaluator Ethics

The TE Consultant will be held to the highest ethical standards and is required to sign a code of conduct upon acceptance of the assignment. This evaluation will be conducted in accordance with the principles outlined in the UNEG ‘Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation’. The consultant must 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 consultant must 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 must also be solely used for the evaluation and not for other uses with the express authorization of UNDP and partners.

The evaluator cannot have participated in the project preparation, formulation and/or implementation (including the writing of the project document), must not have conducted this project’s Mid-Term Review and should not have a conflict of interest with the project’s related activities.

Payment Schedule

• 20% payment on 1st of March 2020: upon satisfactory delivery of the final TE Inception Report and approval by the Commissioning Unit
• 20% payment on 1st of April: upon presenting the initial findings to project management and the Commissioning Unit at the end of the TE interviews.
• 30% payment on 15th of April: upon satisfactory delivery of the draft TE report to the Commissioning Unit
• 30% payment on 30th of April: upon satisfactory delivery of the final TE report and approval by the Commissioning Unit and RTA (via signatures on the TE Report Clearance Form) and delivery of completed TE Audit Trail

Criteria for issuing the final payment of 30%

• The final TE report includes all requirements outlined in the TE TOR and is in accordance with the TE guidance.
• The final TE report is clearly written, logically organized, and is specific for this project (i.e. text has not been cut & pasted from other MTR reports).
• The Audit Trail includes responses to and justification for each comment listed.

Application Process

Financial Proposal:

• Financial proposals must be “all inclusive” and expressed in a lump-sum for the total duration of the contract. The term “all inclusive” implies all cost (professional fees and any other expenses that may be required to finalize the TE process);

Procedure for applying for this consultancy

Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via this website. The application should contain:

ALL FORMS CAN BE DOWNLOADED FROM THE LINK:

http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=75094

1. Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP; Annex 2 Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability
2. Personal History Form (P11 form); Annex 4: CV Template (P11)
3. Brief description of an approach to work/technical proposal of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a proposed methodology on how they will approach and complete the assignment; (max 1 page)
4. Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price and all other travel related costs (such as flight ticket, per diem, etc.), supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template attached to the Letter of Confirmation of Interest template. If an applicant is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the applicant must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.Annex 2 Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability

All application materials should be submitted online.

Criteria for Selection of the Best Offer

Only those applications which are responsive and compliant will be evaluated. Offers will be evaluated according to the Combined Scoring method – where the Technical Proposal includes educational background, experience on similar assignments and other ToR requirements will be weighted at 70% and the price proposal will weigh as 30% of the total scoring. The applicant receiving the Highest Combined Score that has also accepted UNDP’s General Terms and Conditions will be awarded the contract.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max. 35 points:

• Criteria A: Master’s degree in water resources management, applied water resources evaluation or other closely related field, Max Points: 5,
• Criteria B: Recent experience (within 5 years) with result-based management evaluation methodologies required, Max Points: 5,
• Criteria C: At least 3 years’ Experience applying SMART targets and reconstructing or validating baseline scenarios required, Max Points: 5,
• Criteria D: At least 3 years’ experience in adaptive management, as applied to GEF International Waters transboundary freshwater systems required, Max Points: 5,
• Criteria E: At least 5 years’ experience working with the GEF evaluations required, Max Points: 10,
• Criteria F: At least 5 years work experience in transboundary freshwater management required, Max Points 5.

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max 15 Point

Annexes to the TE ToR can be found as (Annex 5 ToR Template Annex A to H) under the link:

?http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=75094

• ToR Annex A: Project Logical/Results Framework
• ToR Annex B: Project Information Package to be reviewed by TE team
• ToR Annex C: Content of the TE report
• ToR Annex D: Evaluation Criteria Matrix template
• ToR Annex E: UNEG Code of Conduct for Evaluators
• ToR Annex F: TE Rating Scales and TE Ratings Table
• ToR Annex G: TE Report Clearance Form
• ToR Annex H: TE Audit Trail template

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Added 3 years ago - Updated 3 years ago - Source: jobs.undp.org