UNDP-IC-2021-109-International Consultant/ Resilience for CPD Programme End-of-Cycle (2018-2022) Evaluation

Contract

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Background

Home to 207.8 million people , Pakistan is the fifth youngest and sixth most populated country in the world, having 64% young people i.e. nearly two-thirds of its population under the age of 30. Since 2018, economic growth has declined – falling from 5.8% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the highest rate of growth in 11 years, to -1.5% in 2019 and expected to be 2% in 2021. Due to COVID pandemic in 2020, as economic activity further slowed, inflation gained pace. This made more difficult for the economy to absorb the millions of young people who enter the labour market, year on year. Although local government elections were delayed, successful provincial government elections took place. Elected representatives from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Merged Districts in the provincial assembly are making a difference in mainstreaming political, social and economic development in the districts, among the most impoverished areas in Pakistan. Pakistan ranked 154th of 189 countries on the Human Development Index in 2020, falling two places since 2019. According to the report, the life expectancy at birth and average expected years of schooling in Pakistan are lower than the South Asian averages. Pakistan also performed poorly on inequality adjusted human development, as well as gender development and equality compared with the regional countries. For provinces struggling with human insecurity such as Balochistan and Newly Merged Districts in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the data are more alarming; respectively 49 % in and 66% suffer directly from partner violence of all kinds. Inequality and insecurity are pervasive, with wide disparities between provinces and administrative areas. One in four Pakistanis lives in poverty – income-based poverty stands at 24.3% and multi-dimensional poverty at 38.8% i.e. around one-fourth (24 per cent) of the country’s population is living below national poverty line and 39.0 per cent is poor based on multidimensional poverty index (MPI). Pakistan continues to have among the highest rates of out-of-school children in South Asia, as well as some of the lowest rates of women’s labour force participation and of gender parity in education. Discrimination and violence affect women, girls, transgender people and minorities. With a population growth rate of 1.94 percent , according to the World Bank , the total labour force was 75.8 million in Pakistan, with an unemployment rate of 4.45 percent in 2020 . Pakistan is also the fifth most vulnerable country in the world to climate change and natural disasters, spanning floods, earthquakes and drought , climbing three places compared to its ranking on Germanwatch’s Global Climate Rate Index in 2018. The country hosts among the largest protracted refugee populations in the world. In 2019, legal protection of Proof of Registration (PoR) cards was temporarily extended until the end of June 2020 for 1.4 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan. As in other parts of the world, COVID-19 has had implications on not just the economic aspects but also the human cost in terms of mental trauma of death of a relative and fear of encountering the virus, loss of livelihood, loss of academic progress for students including impact on many other aspects of life. The Governments faced a daunting challenge in curtailing the spread of the novel coronavirus, while struggling to minimize the socio-economic impacts of the outbreak at the same time. The country has witnessed significant increase in its confirmed cases from the initial two cases on 26th February 2020 to approximately 300,000 cases as of 10 September 2020 . The UNDP CP 2018-2022 was formulated in close consultation with the Government and other stakeholders to support the national development priorities of the Government i.e. implementation of the National Vision 2025 and Sustainable Development Goals. The current CP (2018-2022) is aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Framework (UNSDF) (2018-2022). UNDP leveraged its strong, trusted relationship with the national and provincial governments to accelerate a strong development-oriented agenda, anchored in the UNDP core mandate and its strategic plan (2018-2021). UNDP pursued the implementation of CP (2018-2022) through (a) fostering an enabling environment in legislation, regulatory frameworks and development policies, drawing on South-South best practices; (b) strengthening the capacity of institutions and systems at all levels to provide innovative solutions and implementation support for governance, environmental sustainability and stabilization processes; and (c) supporting the Government in community-level interventions that promote scalable solutions focused on building local capacities. Both CP and UNSDF will come to an end in 2022. This end-of-cycle evaluation of the CP (2018-2022) is commissioned to generate evidence and knowledge about the ongoing programme The evaluation recommendations will be used to inform the development of the new CP (2023-2027). The primary audiences of this evaluation are national, subnational, local government institutions, UNDP Executive Board, UNDP, the UN Country Team, donors and development stakeholders. Secondary audiences are but not limited to academia, researchers, civil-society organizations and communities.

Duties and Responsibilities

S/he has overall responsibility for contributing to the CP evaluation especially reviewing UNDP’s engagement in the Outcome 2 of Resilience. In consultation with the team leader, s/he will be responsible for developing a methodology for the assignment that reflects best practices and encourages the use of a participatory and consultative approach as well as delivering the required deliverables to meet the objective of the assignment. S/he will substantively contribute to the preparation and revision of the draft and final reports, ensuring the assignments have been completed in the agreed timeframe. S/he will prepare final sections of the evaluation report focusing on the findings, lessons learned and recommendations for UNDP’s CP Outcome 2 (Resilience). The key elements and highlights of resilience will be integrated into the final country programme evaluation report.

S/he has responsibilities as follows: • Contributing to the documentation review and framing of evaluation questions; • Leading and contributing to the design of monitoring and evaluation questions and field verification tools; • Ensure efficient division of tasks between evaluation team members; • Conducting the evaluation of the Outcome 2 while contributing to the overall planning, execution and reporting; • Incorporating the use of best practice with respect to evaluation methodologies; • Significantly contributing to the drafting of inception report, finalization/quality control of the evaluation report including timely submission and adjustment; • Contributing to and participating in the kick-off meeting and debriefing meeting on behalf of the evaluation team with UNDP and stakeholders;

Competencies

• Extensive professional experience in the area of resilience and sustainable development, including gender equality and social policies; • Strong knowledge of UNDP and its working approaches including partnership approaches with Government, civil society and community groups; • Experience in applying SMART (S Specific; M Measurable; A Achievable; R Relevant; T Time-bound) indicators and reconstructing or validating baseline scenarios; • Demonstrated capacity in strategic thinking, problem solving and policy advice; • Strong inter-personal skills, teamwork, analytical skills and organizational skills; • Excellent presentation and drafting skills, and familiarity with information technology, including proficiency in word processing, spreadsheets, and presentation software; • Fluency in English, both in speaking and writing; • Previous experience working in similar Pakistan context or in the region is an advantage; • Knowledge of the sensitivities of the context of Pakistan is an asset.

Required Skills and Experience

• Minimum Master’s degree in economics, public administration, regional development/planning or any other social sciences related to economic management and pro-poor development;
• *Minimum 8 years of proven experience in conducting outcomes/impact/CPD/UNDAF/thematic evaluations especially in Resilience thematic area focusing on human rights, creating jobs, increasing livelihoods and employment opportunities, social cohesion, early recovery rehabilitation, climate change adaptation and mitigation, biodiversity, conservation, hazardous waste management, etc*****.;
• Applicants are instructed to submit their Technical and Financial proposals as per the details provided in the Procurement Notice and IT Returnable Forms attached in this link: https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=76780