The Government of Liberia is in the process of completing its long-term development vision entitled “Vision 2030’, whose overarching goal is to transform Liberia into a middle income country by the year 2030. The Vision is accompanied by a nascent medium term economic growth and development strategy known as the Agenda for Transformation through Action (ATTA) that will guide development for the next five years (2012-2017). The ATTA articulates the Government’s priorities clustered into four pillars: Peace, Security and Rule of Law, Economic Transformation, Human Development and Governance and Public institutions. A number of cross-cutting issues have also been identified and will form a separate pillar.
In turn, the UN in Liberia became a Delivering as One self-starter country in early 2010, following a request by the government to initiate the UN reform process. Since then, the UN system, in collaboration with the Government and development partners, has been engaged in operationalizing the four Ones for Delivering as One, with particular emphasis on harmonizing business practices and the development of a One Programme, composed of an UNDAF strategic framework and a Costed Action Plan. The One Programme reflects the collective response of the UN system to national priorities and, as such, is aligned with the ATTA. It is anticipated that a substantive part of the One Programme will be implemented though joint programming, in an effort to reinforce collaboration and joint programming. The current United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF 2008-2012); will come to an end in December 2012 and will be succeeded by the One Programme which will cover the period from 2013-2017.
Since 2008, Joint Programmes have been used as a collective mode of delivery of priority, programmatic interventions in Liberia. To date, seven Joint Programmes are under implementation, including County Support Teams (CST); Food Security and Nutrition (FSN); Youth Employment and Empowerment (YEE); Sexual and Gender Based Violence (GBV); Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment (GEWEE). A Joint Programme on HIV and AIDS was developed in 2011 to support the Government’s National Strategic Framework on HIV/AIDS, and a Joint Programme on Justice and Security under the Liberia Peace Building Plan began implementation in 2012.
Three of the seven (7) Joint Programmes (GEWEE, FSN and YEE) have been supported by the Government of Denmark through its Millennium Development Goal 3 (promoting gender equality and empowering women) funding mechanism. Danida has conducted annual reviews in the past three years, to assess progress in MDG3 related activities in all three Joint Programmes, with the most recent in May 2012. In addition, an in-depth review of the initial five Joint programmes was undertaken in October 2010, resulting in a number of key, short and medium term recommendations, which are now being implemented.
The three Joint Programmes (YEE, FSN and GEWEE are coming to the end of their first phase by December 2012. However, youth employment, food security and gender equality continue to be priority areas under the ATTA, and are closely linked to three key investments as identified by the Government of Liberia: a) Infrastructure (power and roads), b) People (youth development, reconciliation, health, education), and c) Institutions (security, private and public sector). Given the importance accorded by the GoL to these three thematic areas and other emerging priorities, the United Nations must determine the focus of its future interventions, taking into consideration its comparative advantage and institutional capacities.
It is against this background that the evaluations of the three Joint Programmes will be jointly undertaken. The exercise will serve as a final summative evaluation of the Joint Programmes with key audience comprising, but not be limited to, the respective Steering Committees, the management of the JPs, the donors, and the relevant line Ministries as well as relevant national partners involved.
Background to the Joint Programmes
Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment ( GEWEE): The Joint Programme for Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment (JP GEWEE) seeks to promote gender equality and economic empowerment of women and has three components: 1) Strengthen policy processes, coordination and accountability mechanisms for gender equality and women's economic empowerment, including mechanisms for dialogue and accountability with civil society and Parliament. 2) Strengthen the capacity of Government to lead and implement gender equality and economic empowerment programmes, and create an enabling environment for civil society to hold government accountable for its actions through advocacy. 3) Improving women's economic empowerment by sustainable income generation, adult literacy, and entrepreneurship, vocational and skills development and access to microfinance.
The Programme was signed in 2009, implementation began mid-2009 and activities are expected to eb completed in 2012. Its primary funding has been through the Government of Denmark MDG3 Programme in Liberia. Participating Agencies include UNCDF, UNDP, UNESCO, UNOPS, UN Women, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the Ministry of Education, the Central Bank and Ministry of Gender and Development. The Lead Agency is UN Women, with the Ministry of Gender and Development as the Government counterpart.
Food Security and Nutrition: The programme seeks to increase 1) food security for rural and urban Liberians, (2) improve access to food through enhanced opportunities for higher incomes and sustained employment, better markets and strengthened safety nets, and (3) improve nutritional status through better food utilization, particularly for vulnerable groups of pregnant and lactating women, children under five as well as children, especially adolescent girls, out of school. Key government ministries include Agriculture, Health and Social Welfare, Planning and Economic Affairs, Gender and Development, and Education and Public Works. The main collaborating UN Agencies are FAO, UNDP, UNICEF, WFP, WHO, UNMIL (the UN Mission in Liberia), and the World Bank. Youth Employment and Empowerment: The Joint Programme on Youth Employment and Empowerment addresses the issue of high youth unemployment in the country. The programme seeks to enhance the capacity of young women and men to gain access to decent and productive employment through business and jobs skills training. It also provides peace building, human rights, civic engagement, and gender sensitive sexual reproductive health training. The programme was launched in 2009 and is being funded through the Government of Denmark and core Agency resources. It has the following five components and is implemented in five counties namely, Bomi, Grand Cape Mount, Grand Bassa, and Montserrado and Margibi: (1) Youth policy review and institutional support to Government and Civil Society, especially youth-led organizations; (2) Skills training for employment; (3) Facilitating the transition of young people to employment; (4) Empowerment and social cohesion of young people through Peace building, Leadership, Civic Education training, and provision of life skills based sexual reproductive health education and psycho-social support; and (5) Promoting decent work for youth in the informal economy and in agriculture and through special employment schemes in waste management and construction. The Steering Committees of the three Joint Programmes (JP FSN, JP YEE and JP GEWEE) expressed an interest in undertaking the evaluations of the Joint Programmes simultaneously, under a common framework and overall objective. The purpose is to assess the Programmes’ relevance, sustainability, effectiveness, efficiency and impact, as well as document lessons and good practices in a manner which is forward-looking, and which will guide the design of future Joint Programmes. Specific objectives are as follows: Under the overall guidance and supervision of an Evaluation Reference Group comprising the lead agencies, Resident Coordinator’s Office and Joint Programme Management Units and under the direct supervision of the Lead Consultant, the Youth National Evaluation consultant will undertake the following tasks: - Assess the general performance of the programmes in attaining respective targets, outputs, outcomes and lessons learned and where feasible impact and sustainability options;
- Assess the efficiency of the JPs, examining how economically resources/inputs (funds, expertise, time, etc.) were converted to results.
- Assess the continued relevance of the programmes in view of national emerging priorities
- Identify good practices/opportunities and challenges that may impede effectiveness and implementation of future joint programmes;
- Review funding mechanisms and resource mobilisation efforts, achievements and opportunities;
- Assess impact of Government Line Ministries capacity development (knowledge transfer) initiatives supported under the three (3) joint programme and advance recommendations for addressing identified gaps in respect initiatives, including sustainability and national ownership’
- Make recommendations and provide specific guidance on addressing these thematic priorities in subsequent forms (design) of Joint Programmes, taking into account the UN’s comparative advantage, institutional capacities and similar/complementary initiatives by other partners.
Four Ones: One Leader, One Programme, One Budgetary Framework, One Office. Please also note that there are now 2 new/additional 'Delivering as One “Ones”' as a result of the outcome statement of the 5th High Level Delivering as One conference in Tirana, Albania, namely, One Fund, One Voice CST: Was evaluated in March 2012 in conjunction with LDLD and NIMAC programmes. Recommendations are being implemented. GEWEE: To end in June 2012 but extension has been requested until the December 2012, YEE: is to end in June 2012, FSN: To end in December 2012
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BEducation: - Advanced University degree (Masters Degree or equivalent) in a relevant Social Science (Public Administration, Agricultural Economics, Development Studies and Food Security, Business Administration, International Relations)
Experience:
- At least 7 years of work experience in management (public or private sector), programme development, UNDAF development processes, joint programming or other related fields
- A detailed knowledge and familiarity of the UN, its programming processes and coordination mechanisms. Work experience in UN Delivering as One context would be an asset.
- Progressive experience in youth empowerment and livelihoods, and women’s economic empowerment programming, as well as a strong record in designing and leading technical reviews or evaluations will be a added advantage.
Language:
DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS.
Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:
Proposal: - Provide a brief methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work (1 page)
- Financial proposal
- Personal CV (P11) including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references
FINANCIAL PROPOSAL
The financial proposal shall specify an all inclusive lump sum fees. Payments will be made to the Individual Consultant on a based on specific and measurable deliverables as specified in the TOR upon completion of deliverables. EVALUATION Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies: Cumulative analysis Award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as: - responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
- Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial
- Technical Criteria; [70 points]
- Financial Criteria; [30 points]
Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% of the maximum points would be considered for the financial evaluation The following weighted criteria will be applied: Technical: Criteria A: RELEVANT QUALIFICATION/EDUCATION, weighted at 20 (maximum 14 points) Criteria B: RELEVANT WORK EXPERIENCE, weighted at 30 (maximum 21 points) Criteria C: PROPOSED WORKPLAN & APPROACH, weighted at 35 points, maximum 35 points) Financial: 30 points x price of the lowest price proposed / price of proposal Proposals should be submitted at the following address: by email to consultants.lr@undp.org (Please include procurement notice number in the subject area) no later than 17:00 hrs (GMT), Friday 28 September 2012. Any request for clarification must be sent by standard electronic communication to the address or e-mail indicated above. UNDP will respond by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants. ANNEX 1- TERMS OF REFERENCES (TOR) ANNEX 2- INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS ANNEX 3 – P11 FORM |
