Background

The “Improving the quality of Moldovan democracy through parliamentary and electoral support” Programme (henceforth referred to as the “Programme”) aims to strengthen the institutional capacity of the Parliament and Central Electoral Commission, improving their main functions and entrenching gender and human rights considerations in formal political process. In particular, the Programme is improving the legislative, oversight and representation functions of the Parliament, providing a solid basis for the improvement of the electoral process and supporting, when necessary, an inclusive process of constitutional reform. The Programme assists the Parliament to increase the participation of civil society and citizens in policy making and oversight processes. It also builds the capacities of Members of Parliament in budget understanding, development and monitoring of its implementation. At the Central Electoral Commission, the Programme supports the further development of an enabling environment for the delivery of modern and inclusive electoral services. The programme implementation period is four years (2012-2016). The Programme is fully financed by the Government of Sweden.

• To improve the institutional capacity of the Parliament and Central Electoral Commission to meet European standards of gender and human rights;
• To strengthen the legislative and oversight functions of the Parliament;
• To establish a well-functioning cross-party women’s caucus in the Parliament;
• To foster the quality of the representative role of the Parliament and promote more interaction between Members of Parliament, citizens and civil society;
• To promote Child's Rights into parliamentary work;
• To improve voter registration process;
• To improve the public registration process for Moldovans and support the modernisation of Moldovan electoral processes.

Duties and Responsibilities

The overall purpose of the evaluation is to assess the processes and achievements made during the first two years of implementing the Programme with a focus on achievements and constraints of the Programme targets for indicators and outputs as contained in the programme document. This will further allow for drawing conclusions, recommendations and lessons learned that will improve the assistance and expertise provided by the Programme to its main partners, the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova and the Central Electoral Commission (CEC); adjust its indicators and targets as well as the implementation arrangements.

• Conduct a comprehensive desk review of the programme documentation in the period 2012-2014;
• Carry out interviews with relevant stakeholders, develop and apply questionnaires or field visits (as evaluation methodology) to assess the progress made by programme;
• Evaluate the efficiency of the Programme implementation, the quality of the results achieved and the time/political constraints;
• The analysis should differentiate between short and long term effects, with special reference to the parliamentary and electoral reforms implications. If the results other than the planned ones have been reached, whether they are positive and or negative, these should also be described and analyzed;
• Conduct an assessment of management decisions vis-à-vis the cost effectiveness and to which extend the Programme outputs have been effectively achieved;
• Identify and analyze the challenges and constraints which confronted the programme during its implementation and draw lessons learnt;
• Assess the impact or prospects of the programme enhancing the consideration of cross cutting issues such as gender and European integration. Assess the sustainability of results with specific focus on national capacity and ownership of the process;
• Evaluate the overall impact of the programme and its contribution to the development of the Parliament of Moldova and Central Electoral Commission;
• Draft a set of concrete conclusions, recommendations and lessons learnt based on review findings and identified opportunities for intervention, including recommendations on the relevant changes to the Results and Resources Framework and the Risk Log.
• Prepare and present a comprehensive review report.

The review team, as part of the Inception Report, shall propose a methodology on organizing and conducting the review, including proposed structure of the final reports, proposed interviews, questionnaires and field visits. The proposal should include: interview schedules, target groups, list of questions, roles and responsibilities and any other relevant issues.

The key stakeholders of the programme includes the Parliament, CEC, key donors, international organizations (such as Council of Europe, USAID, NDI, IRI etc.), key Embassies, relevant NGOs, key think tanks, media and individual experts.

The programme team will make available all relevant programme documentation in electronic format to the review team upon their selection and at the start of the work for the preparation of the inception report.

In accordance with the Programme document, the Project Board has the overall responsibility for the management, monitoring and evaluation of the programme implementation. The review team will report to the Programme Board. An ad-hoc programme board meeting will be organized for presentation of the draft review report, main findings and recommendations.

On operational level, the international consultant will work under the guidance of UNDP, Parliament and CEC coordinating authority for substantive aspects of the assignment, and under the direct supervision of the Programme Manager for administrative and financial aspects.

• Principle approaches and strategies that were employed in the programme to meet the objectives of parliamentary and electoral reforms;
• Is the programme on track towards achieving the stated outputs?
• What progress toward the outcomes has been made?
• What factors have contributed to achieving or not achieving intended outputs and outcomes? (coherence of the programme, how realistic is the RRF, adequate human and financial resources allocated, capacity of the team, implementation challenges, etc.)
• What was the added value of having a joint programme Parliament – Elections?
• To what extent has the UNDP and UNICEF outputs and assistance contributed to outcomes?
• What factors contributed to effectiveness or ineffectiveness?

• Effectiveness – The extent to which the targets of the programme document have been achieved, or are expected to be achieved, with respect to their relative importance.
• Cost-efficiency – A measure of how the programme budget and AWPs are converted into results
• Impact – Intended or unintended change caused by an intervention, direct or indirect.
• Relevance – The extent to which the programme contribution is compatible with the Parliament and CEC demands, the country’s needs, global priorities and the policies of partners and donors.
• Sustainability – Programme’s contribution to sustainable development of both Parliament and CEC

All the deliverables should be agreed with the Parliament, CEC and the Programme and shall be provided in English hard and electronic copy.

The consultancy will be conducted and completed within two and a half month period. The timeframe for the work of the International Consultant is tentatively planned through August-October 2014. The Consultancy should involve about 15 working days of work in Moldova. The remaining working days are home-based.

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. 

Competencies

• Sound knowledge about results-based management (especially results-oriented monitoring and evaluation);
• Sound knowledge of the Moldovan political/governance systems with a focus on Parliament and elections;
• Knowledge of the assistance to Moldova in the area of democratic Governance and previous experience in the evaluation of the assistance projects;
• Extensive research and analytical skills;
• Excellent writing and oral communication;
• Facilitation and management skills and;
• Possess leadership skills and be a team player;
• Knowledge of UN system and UNDP;
• Availability to work during the indicated /approved period;

Required Skills and Experience

• Master degree in Law, Public Administration, International development or related fields; Bachelor and at least 8 years of relevant experience will be also acceptable.

• At least 7 years of work experience in the field of democratic governance, public administration, development, including participatory planning, monitoring and evaluation;
• Previous regional work experience in related areas, in transitional or emerging democracies, including Central and Eastern Europe or CIS countries is a strong advantage.

• Fluency in English;
• Knowledge of Romanian and/or Russian will be an asset.

Note:

For complete information about this vacancy, including detailed tasks and responsibilities, full and detailed description of the evaluation procedure which will be applied, as well as the UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract, please refer to the Terms of Reference, the Individual Consultant Procurement Notice published at the UNDP Moldova website, Jobs Section: http://www.undp.md/jobs/current_jobs/.