UNDP Jobs - 27716- External Evaluation Consultant (International/Nati

External Evaluation Consultant (International/National)

Location :

Sarajevo, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Mar-2012

Application Deadline :

15-Feb-12 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

30 expert days (in the period 1 March 2012 – 30 April 2012)

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Culture for Development is a partnership programme implemented by three United Nations agencies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely the UNDP, UNICEF and UNESCO, in close collaboration with the national Ministry of Civil Affairs, entity Ministries of Culture and Education, as well as other institutions responsible for education and culture in the country. The overall budget of the 3.5 year Joint Programme (JP) foreseen to end in June 2012 is USD 8,000,000. The JP is funded through MDG-F thematic window for Culture and Development and through its implementation considerable co-financing by the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been secured.

Relevant MDGs that are being primarily targeted are MDG’s 1, 2, 3 and 8. The programme builds on existing efforts of the United Nations Country Team (UNCT) BiH in the areas of the protecting and revaluing cultural heritage, inter-ethnic dialogue, tolerance building in education, and human rights-based approaches to programming, including social inclusion. Programme formulation focused on identifying the strengths and comparative advantages of the UN agencies, and ensuring strong links with existing programmes, including those managed by other donors.

Key programme outcomes are:

Improvement of the cultural policy and legal framework;
Improvement of cross-cultural understanding;
Strengthening the cultural industries; and
Improvement of tolerance towards diversity.

The key partners to the implementation of the MDGF Programme are: BiH Ministry of Civil Affairs, FBiH Ministry of Culture and Sports, RS Ministry of Education and Culture, BiH Ministry of Education and Science, Department for Education of Brcko District, Government Agency for Pre-primary, Primary and Secondary Education, Pedagogical Institutes, 10 core localities (municipalities), schools, Media representatives, Artists and culture workers. The programme is well distributed across the country. Equal representation of both entities has been taken into consideration during the process of approval of criteria for selection of core localities.

The programme works within four distinct programmatic components that address evidence-based policy making (strategic policy documents; policy research and improved methodology for statistics), improved cultural understanding at local level (local municipal and NGO projects that address issues of intercultural understanding , improved culture tourism and culture industry potentials (local and umbrella projects focused on improved conditions for and improved tolerance for diversity (media, documentaries and culture workers).

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the direct guidance and supervision of the UN RCO Development, Research and M&E Specialist and MDG-F Culture for Development management team consisted of representatives of UNDP, UNICEF and UNESCO, the Evaluation Consultant is going to provide evaluation services ensuring high quality, accuracy and consistency of work. The Evaluation Consultant will demonstrate a client-oriented approach and should meet the standards outlined in the Standards for Evaluation in the United Nations System. The evaluation will also be based on a stakeholder approach, where all groups and individuals, who affect and/or are affected by the achievement of the programme results and outcomes, are involved in the analysis. Moreover, the evaluation will take into consideration the institutional, political and economic context, which affected the programme during its implementation. The evaluation Consultant will work in close collaboration with the MDG-F Culture for Development Programme Manager, participating agencies, programme staff and key programme stakeholders, partners and beneficiaries.

The main purpose of the evaluation is to provide an independent in-depth assessment of the achievements of programme results and outcomes against the planned results and the implementation modality of the MDG-F Culture for Development Joint Programme. The final evaluation will be a systematic exercise and thorough analysis of the OECD/DAC evaluation criteria: programme design and relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability, based on the scope and criteria as defined in the ToR. Anticipated approaches to be used for data collection and analysis by the evaluator are desk review, interviews with key stakeholders, field visits, questionnaires and participatory techniques.

Objectives of the final evaluation are:

Assessment of the programme’s quality and internal coherence (needs and problems it aimed to solve) and its external coherence with the UNDAF, national development strategies and priorities, the Millennium Development Goals at the local and country level, the level of contribution to the objectives of the MDG-F Culture for Development Thematic Window and find out the degree of national ownership as defined by the Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda for Action;
Assessment on how the joint programme operated and what is the efficiency of its management model in planning, coordinating, managing and executing resources allocated for its implementation, through an analysis of its procedures and operational and institutional mechanisms. This analysis will seek to uncover the factors for success and limitations in inter-agency tasks, collaboration and synergies and will evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of the JP modality and make recommendations to guide future joint programming among UN agencies in BiH;
Assessment of design and relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of the programme and the level of achievement of envisaged programme results and outcomes (thorough assessment of all four programme components is required);
Assessment of quality, results and impact of local programme interventions (municipal and NGO) / grant projects financed through the programme, including the assessment of co-financing modality and implementation capacities on a local level;
Assessment of programme’s different internal and external M&E systems and tools developed including data collection, statistics, research and analytical outputs, databases, guidelines, etc. and assessment of programme’s communication strategy, outreach activities and impact;
Identification of key recommendations and lessons learned through the evaluation process of the JP.

The evaluation process is expected to contain three phases:

Inception Phase (7 days) - the Evaluation Consultant will review documentation, agree on the meetings and field visit locations with the Programme Coordinator, and produce the Evaluation Inception Report with a clear evaluation work plan and tools;
Data Collection and Field Visit (10 days) – the Evaluation Consultant will gather data through group and individual interviews and field visits to at least three municipal locations outside Sarajevo; at the end of the mission, presentation with preliminary findings and recommendations will be presented to the programme team/Evaluation Reference Group;
Analysis and Reporting (13 days) – the Evaluation Consultant will prepare the draft evaluation report based on the analysis of findings, and will submit the report to the Evaluation Reference Group for factual review and comments. Opportunity to comment on the draft report will be open to the Reference group for a maximum of 10 working days. After this process ends, the Evaluation Consultant will proceed with production of the final evaluation report.

It is very important to read Terms of Reference (ToR) for more details. The ToR can be found at http://www.undp.ba/ under Vacancies.

Competencies

Shares knowledge and experience and provides helpful feedback and advice;
Conceptualizes and analyzes problems to identify key issues, underlying problems, and how they relate;
Ability to identify beneficiaries’ needs, and to match them with appropriate solutions;
Excellent communication and interview skills;
Excellent report writing skills;
Responds positively to critical feedback and differing points of view;
Ability to handle a large volume of work possibly under time constraints;
Strong IT skills;
Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced University degree in international development, evaluation, social sciences, culture, education or related field.

Experience:

A minimum of 10 years of professional experience specifically in the area of evaluation of international development initiatives and development organizations;
Substantial international track record of conducting different types of evaluations, including process, outcome and impact evaluations in different countries and organizations;
Knowledge and experience of the UN System and the UN Reform process;
Understanding of the development context and working experience in Bosnia and Herzegovina is an asset.

Language Requirements:

Fluency in spoken and written English;
Knowledge of Bosnian, Croatian and/or Serbian language is considered to be an asset.