Background

Moldova declared its independence in 1991 with the European integration becoming a strategic priority 8 years after. Since its independence the country engaged into a multitude of reforms across all sectors, in parallel developing the environmental policy and legal and institutional framework. The most important reform thought to contribute to the major transformation is the Central Public Administration Reform launched in 2005 and in the environmental sector it intended to improve transparency and finance management and to promote more structured staff training. The first policy document adopted in 2001 by the country in the environmental area is the National Environmental Policy Concept but due to the lack of a strategy and actions plan as a follow up there is still no comprehensive strategic framework in the place. Moldova is also party to 18 multilateral environmental conventions and 13 bilateral agreements which contributed to a certain degree to formulation of the environmental policy and legal framework. The main driver of current reforms is the approximation effort towards the EU environment acquis communautaire. In parallel implementation and enforcement capacities need to be built up.
The Ministry of Environment, established in 1998, is the leading central public authority responsible for formulation of policies for environmental protection and sustainable use of natural resources. The subordinated agencies are in charge of environmental monitoring, ensuring compliance and enforcement of the environmental legislation, permitting, providing environmental services and others. Driven by the public administration reform, the Ministry of Environment has developed its Institutional Development Plans which identify the need to strengthen the financial, human and institutional capacities in this area. Despite the existing Plan there is still a week linkage between strategic planning and finance planning in the environmental sector and the Ministry has limited capacity to formulate financially sound environmental programmes. The environmental sector’s budget remains extremely limited and had dropped to 0.1% of the total national budget in 2011.    
 
Moldova’s energy sector is characterised by a high dependence on external energy sources. It imports almost 96% of the needed energy resources and the energy prices highly depend on the external factors. The scarcity of natural resources is increasing due to overexploitation and poor management. The inherited agricultural systems promoting unsustainable farming has led to severe soil degradation and erosion impacting the biodiversity and the landscapes. It is estimated that annually soil losses result in a cost which equal to almost US$250 mln. It is also a large source of water pollution which along with the sanitation and wastes management is of greatest concern. Climate change is more and more recognized as key challenge, given the increasing frequency and intensity of natural hazards and the high vulnerability of Moldova’s population, economy and environment. The cross-cutting nature of the environmental protection is often disregarded by the other sectors thus overlooking the potential the environment might have for the social and economic development.     
 
Against this background the UNDP Environment and Energy Portfolio response is aimed atcontributing to the upgraded natural resource management in order to meet the EU environmental standards, improved national environmental policies and efficiently functioning public sector.  
 
According to the evaluation plan of the UNDP Moldova office, in 2012 an evaluation will be conducted for the Environment Protection Outcome to assess the impact and contribution of the following projects towards progress in achieving the respective outcome: Support to Environmental Protection and Sustainable Use of Natural Resources, Improving coverage and management effectiveness of the Protected Area System in Moldova, Preparation of the Hydroclorofluorocarbon (HCFC) Phase our Management Plan, Implementation of the HCFC Phase-out Management Plan, stage 1, Terminal Phase out Management Plan, Development of the national metered-dose inhaler (MDI) Transition Strategy, Mainstreaming of Sound Management of Chemicals into national development planning process, Strengthening capacities to undertake environmental fiscal reform to meet national and global environmental priorities, National Biodiversity Planning Project to support implementation of the CBD 2011-2020 Strategic Plan In Moldova, and Moldova Energy and Biomass Project.
 
In this context, UNDP Moldova seeks to hire an international consultant (hereinafter referred to as the “evaluator”) to assess the extent to which programme and project activities implemented with partners during 2007-2012 have contributed to the progress under Country Programme Document (CPD) Outcome 1.4 “Management of environmental and natural resources is improved in compliance with international/EU standards”, as well as to achievement of set targets, whether existing UNDP’s partnership arrangements with local partners proved to be successful and relevant and overall whether UNDP-supported activities have contributed to improved management of environmental and natural resources in compliance with international/EU standards.

Duties and Responsibilities

This is a summary progress evaluation, aiming to assess the extent to which programme and project activities implemented with partners during 2007-2012 have contributed to the progress under CPD Outcome 1.4 for UNDP, as well as to achievement of set targets, whether existing UNDP’s partnership arrangements with local partners proved to be successful and relevant and overall whether UNDP-supported activities have contributed to improved management of environmental and natural resources in compliance with international/EU standards. The evaluation shall identify changes that happened within the last 6 years as they relate to the development outcomes, the degree and levels of these changes, i.e. enabling environment, organizational and/or individual levels. It shall also assess whether UNDP’s strategic positioning in this area can be improved.
 
Since this is an evaluation carried out at the end of the development interventions planned for the current CPAPs, the evaluator shall give greater importance to assessing efficiency and to a possible extent the effectiveness of UNDP’s Environment and Energy Portfolio CPD Outcome 1.4, whether the size of resources, both financial and human, and partnership strategies continue to be cost-effective and may be applied in continuation and/or revised/changed in the Country Programme Action Plan 2007-2011.  
 
The evaluator shall take into account and rank the following items:
  • Status of and degree of change in the outcomes, and factors influencing the outcomes
  • Level of incurred changes: Enabling environment, Organizational and/or Individual levels
  • UNDP strategic positioning on achieving the outcomes
  • Relevance of the outcomes and outputs
  • Partnership strategy
  • Sustainability: whether there is ownership and capacity to maintain and manage development in the outcomes
The main partners to be involved in the evaluation are: Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Finance, Forestry Agency Moldsilva, Project Management Teams, NGOs and CBOs, and LPAs.
 
Deliverables:
The key product expected is a comprehensive evaluation report that includes, but is not limited to the following components: (see the UNDP Guidelines for outcome evaluators for detailed information):
  • Executive summary
  • Introduction
  • Description of the interventions
  • Evaluation scope and objectives
  • Evaluation approach and method
  • Development context
  • Data analysis and key findings and conclusions
  • Recommendations and lessons learned for the future (including viable project ideas and other recommendations)
  • Annexes: ToRs, field visits, people interviewed, documents reviewed, etc.
The evaluator should provide a proposed report structure to UNDP prior to the start of fieldwork. The report should be prepared in English. The UNDP Evaluation Focal Team will ensure that report is translated into Romanian. It should take into account the opinions/voices of people from Moldova, government representatives, donors and NGOs. The evaluators will prepare a presentation of the preliminary findings to be discussed at a roundtable in Chisinau with UNDP and its partners. Consultation process, entirely or in parts, might be undertaken separately by UNDP.
An outline for the future UNDP interventions in the respective area (if still deemed relevant) based on the recommendations of the mission is to be produced. The format of the outline will be agreed between UNDP and the evaluator prior to the start of the evaluation.
 
The evaluator is required to discuss the full draft of the evaluation report prior to departure from Moldova. Both products shall be submitted in electronic form.
 
Dissemination mechanisms:
The results shall presented at a round-table to all key stakeholders (representatives of Government, relevant Parliamentary Committees, projects and specialized NGOs) and shared through specialized local and regional networks. The final evaluation report will be placed on the UNDP web-site and distributed through regular Government channels to interested parties.

Competencies

  • Good understanding of the environmental issues;
  • Sound knowledge about results-based management (especially results-oriented monitoring and evaluation);
  • Proven knowledge of monitoring and evaluation policies and procedures of international financing agencies;
  • Excellent analytical skills and report writing abilities;
  • Availability to work with UNDP during the indicated period;
  • Good communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
  • Advanced university degree in environment-related sciences, environmental economics, public administration, economics, international development or other related field;
  • Trainings in project management and monitoring and evaluation is an advantage. 
 Experience:
  • At least six years of work experience in the field of environment-relates sciences, including participatory planning, monitoring and evaluation;
  • Experience in conducting complex evaluations, especially in the environmental field; 
  • Working experience in the Eastern Europe region.
Language Requirements:
  • Excellent proficiency in English (the knowledge of Russian and Romanian is an advantage).
Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

  • Proposal:
                    Explaining why they are the most suitable for the work;
                    Provide a brief methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work (if applicable);
  • Financial proposal;
  • Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references.
Financial Proposal:
 
The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days).  
 
Travel:
 
All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.
 
In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.
 
Evaluation:
 
Initially, individual consultants will be short-listed based on the following minimum qualification criteria:
  • Advanced university degree in environment-related sciences, environmental economics, public administration, economics, international development or other related field;  
  • At least six years of work experience in the field of environment-relates sciences, including participatory planning, monitoring and evaluation.
The short-listed individual consultants will be further evaluated based on the cumulative analysis methodology:
 
Cumulative analysis
The award of the contract shall 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 criteria specific to the solicitation.
Technical Criteria weight – 60%
Evaluation scheme 1 (with interview): 300 points
  • Advanced university degree in environment-related sciences, environmental economics, public administration, economics, international development or other related field - 40 points max;
  • Trainings in project management and monitoring and evaluation - 20 points max;
  • At least six years of work experience in the field of environment-relates sciences, including participatory planning, monitoring and evaluation - 60 points max;
  • Previous experience in conducting complex evaluations, especially in the environmental field - 25 points max;
  • Previous experience of work in the Eastern Europe region - 20 points max;
  • Proven experience in working with the international organizations - 10 points max;
  • Previous successful experience in working with UN Agencies - 15 points max;
  • Proficiency in English; knowledge of Romanian and/or Russian is an advantage - 10 points max;
  • Interview (demonstrated technical knowledge and experience; communication/ interpersonal skills; initiative; creativity/ resourcefulness) - 100 points max;

Evaluation scheme 2 (without interview): 200 points

Financial Criteria weight – 40%:
Evaluation scheme 1 (with interview): 200 points
Evaluation scheme 2 (without interview): 133 points.
The evaluation panel will decide which evaluation scheme will be applied.
 
The winning candidate will be the candidate, who has accumulated the highest aggregated score (technical scoring + financial scoring).