Background

Kuwait is in a state of reform and is aspiring to achieve its national vision. The country’s five-year National Strategic Development Plan (2009 to 2013) reflects a policy of renewal and continued growth. With its liberal market-based economic policy and openness to the world of international investment, Kuwait is striving to become a regional hub for foreign and regional investments.

The Government’s Action Plan was formulated in accordance with the proposed five-year national strategic development plan for 2009 to 2013. Both documents are based on the Government’s strategic vision for the coming quarter-century, which is as follows:

“Kuwait is a financial and commercial hub, attractive to investors, where the private sector is leading the economy, creating competition and promoting efficiency, under the umbrella of enabling government institutions, which accentuate values, safeguard social identity, and realize human resource development as well as balanced development, providing adequate infrastructure, modern legislation and inspiring business environment.”

The Government of Kuwait realizes that to maintain economic growth and social stability, it should have a capable and efficient public administration, and an effective system of governance. Plans for improving the management and performance of ministries and public agencies are given high priority in the Government Action Plan, and several projects have been planned to achieve this goal.

Kuwait’s system of government is based on the country’s constitution of 1962, which calls for a close and cooperative relationship between the two branches of Government, namely, the executive and legislative branches. As Kuwait modernises its national institutions, it is believed that building the capacity of the bureaucracy of the national assembly to improve efficiency and productivity will be a necessary step towards facilitating smoother National Assembly — Government relations.

Kuwait is at a crossroads in this stage of its development. The Government and the professional community are aware that continued dependence on oil wealth is untenable. At the same time, the role of the State as the sole provider in the economic and social order is being seriously questioned and is considered a weak foundation on which to build for the future in a highly globalized market economy.

Within this context, to ensure effective implementation of relevant plans and programmes to fulfill the state’s  vision, seven broad strategic objectives have been advanced by the Government to channel future efforts, as follows:

• Increase the gross domestic product (GDP) and diversify revenue sources;
• Have the private-sector  lead the economy;
• Provide Governmental enabling of the private sector;
• Create jobs and increase human resource capacities;
• Ensure the effectiveness of government institutions;
• Solidify the principles of a benevolent society, and;
• Reinforce the pillars of good governance.

The Country Programme Document (CPD) for the State of Kuwait (2008-2014) is based on the Government of Kuwait’s five-year Programme of Action (2006/7-2010/11). As a Net Contributing Country, the Government of Kuwait fully funds the programme and administrative costs of UNDP Kuwait. The CPD was prepared in collaboration with the the General Secretariat of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development (GSSCPD) and in consultation with key stakeholders in the Government and selected Civil Society Organizations. Based on the comparative advantages of UNDP, the Country Programme supports the Government in achieving MDG-related goals – aimed at establishing a viable economy based on income diversification, less dependence on oil, and advancing the causes of gender equity, democratic governance and sustainable environmental and human development.

The CPD identified four main outcomes covering a) governance and development planning, b) gender and social development, c) economic and private-sector development, and d) the environment. With the Legal Environment as a cross-cutting area that underpins the programmes and activities.

Governance and Development Planning

As indicated in the CPD (2009-2014) The Governance and Development Planning is the national priority area No. 1, which addresses issues of high-level government priorities, including institutional effectiveness in key public service sectors, capacity building, and utilization of modern information technology (IT) to improve the quality of public services. Linked to this is the need to increase transparency and instil accountability and professionalism in institutions and public officials. It also addresses the need to reform the national planning process. Since oversight of planning is crucial for the successful implementation of the plan, the outcome addresses the enhancement of parliamentary and legislative functions.

Under this priority area, the CPD covers five outcomes, which will be the subject of this evaluation, per the following:

Expected Outcome 1.1:

National planning institutions capable of fulfilling the strategic planning role.

Baseline: Inadequate national planning system.

Expected Outputs:

•  National planning and implementation systems developed and GSSCPD role in economic management of national resources;
• Planning departments in line ministries conduct their functions more efficiently and effectively;                               
• Organizational structure of the GSSCPD restructured and improved leading to a more efficient and effective organization enhanced;
• Technical and human capacity of the GSSCPD developed to enable it to conduct its functions more;
• Quality of GSSCPD products and services enhanced effectively;                             
• National Human Development Report (NHDR) published on annual basis;
• Knowledge management and data integrity improved at the GSSCPD;
• Intranet developed to allow staff to communicate and share a wide variety of information in a cost-effective and interactive way.

Projects

“Support the capacity development of the General Secretariat of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development to direct the strategic planning priorities of the State of Kuwait”.

Expected Outcome

1.2. Improved transparency and accountability at the National level.

Baseline

CPI ranking: 46- CPI

Score

4.8 in 2006

Expected Outputs:

• Improved legal and institutional frameworks to facilitate performance effectiveness.  

Baseline: Performance measurement system inefficient.

• National capacity of e-governance built.                                                                   

Baseline: CPI Ranking 462006

Projects

“Support to the State Audit Bureau”.

Expected Outcome 1.3

Formulation of national strategies to facilitate e-governance in achieving development goals.

Baseline

Prolonged legislation process.

(The outcome was revised and canceled from the CPAP)Expected Outcome1.4: Improved parliamentary role in oversight and legislation

Expected Outputs

1.3.1. Capacity building for parliament secretariat.

Baseline

Existing skills need upgrading.

Project

“Support to the State National Assembly.

Expected Outcome 1.5

Enhanced statistical tools and information systems  in support of information management processes and policy development.

Baseline

Weak statistical institute and information network in place.

Expected Output:

• Capacity of the Central Statistics Office developed;
• National statistical tools and information systems developed;
• National information systems centralized at the CSO;
• Policies developed to promote decision-making utilizing statistical methodologies in line ministries.

Project

“Support to The Development of The Central Statistics Bureau.

Portfolio Overview

UNDP, in close consultation with the Government of Kuwait - represented by The General Secretariat of The Supreme Consul of Planning and Development (GSSCPD) - and relevant beneficiaries, developed several projects to address those outcomes, namely:

The “Support to the Capacity Development of the General Secretariat of The supreme Council for Planning and development To Direct the Planning Priorities of the State of Kuwait” Project: The 16,000,000,000 USD project document was signed in 2011 to continue the activities which used to be covered under the Preparatory Assistance framework. The project focuses on responding to the capacity building needs of GSSCPD as well as other Government entities, which do not have designated projects under UNDP programme to fulfill the priorities of the National Development Plan. The project approach includes recruiting needed experts upon request of beneficiaries and approval of UNDP and GSSCPD. Coordination is done at GSSCPD and quality is assessed against approved monthly reports.

The “Support the development of the Central Statistics Office” Project: the 3,500,000 USD Project document was signed in 2011 to provide technical assistance to the Central Statistical Bureau form modernizing statistics activity and civil information systems to support development and decision-making processes in all areas.

The “Support Project to the National Assembly” Project: The 850,000 USD project document was signed in 2011 to develop the institutional capacities in the General Secretariat of the National Assembly in order to allow the parliament to fully and effectively perform its constitutional mandate, through developing a long-term training plan to strengthen the National Assembly and establishing a Parliamentary Training Centre.

The “Support the State Audit Bureau to develop a performance management framework” Project: the 2,519,380 USD project document was signed in 2011 to provide technical support for the establishment and deployment of a National Performance Management Framework with the purpose of increasing its effectiveness in monitoring performance and ensuring compliance with anti-corruption regulations and international standards of various governmental entities in Kuwait. It will also seek to enhance the performance of audit functions in governance, accountability and overall performance of governmental organizations.

In 2012, The Kuwaiti Government revised the outcomes of the CPD and its action plan (CPAP), canceled outcomes 1.3, and extended the CPAP to the end of 2014, in line of the extension of the national mid-range development plan.

Duties and Responsibilities

Towards the end of the CPD cycle in December 2014, UNDP and GSSCPD are seeking to contract an Expert in Governance, to conduct an outcome evaluation of the Governance and development planning component of the Kuwait CPD and CPAP.

Scope and Objectives of the Evaluation

The purpose of the outcome evaluation is to:

• Assess the impact of the Programme and provide substantive direction to the formulation of new programme and project strategies;
• Support greater UNDP accountability to national stakeholders and partners in Kuwait;
• Serve as a means of quality assurance for UNDP interventions at the country level; and
• Contribute to learning at corporate, regional and country levels.

The outcome evaluation seeks to:

• Review the UNDP Kuwait Democratic Governance Programme with a view to understanding its relevance and contribution to national priorities for stock taking and lessons learning, and recommending corrections that may be required for enhancing effectiveness of UNDP’s development assistance;
• Review the status of the outcome and the key factors that have affected (both positively and negatively, contributing and constraining) the outcome;
• Assess the extent to which UNDP outputs and implementation arrangements have been effective for building capacities of key institutions which implement government schemes and policies (the nature and extent of the contribution of key partners and the role and effectiveness of partnership strategies in the outcome);
• Review and assess the Programme’s partnership with the government bodies, civil society and private sector and international organizations in Programme;
• Review links/joint activities with other UNDP Programmes and UN Agencies and how these have contributed to the achievement of the outcome;
• Provide recommendations for future country programme regarding ways in which the UNDP resources can most strategically impact change in capacities of key institutions of the country so that the delivery mechanisms of the Government are better designed, suit their purpose, and that governance systems are inclusive, and accountability is enhanced;
• Assess the impact and understand and articulate the key contributions that the Democratic Governance programme has made in the programmes on democratic governance processes, a rigorous analysis of the areas of synergy between the various capacity development strategies adopted within the programme and with other practice areas of UNDP Kuwait and recommendations to strengthen UNDP’s interventions in this critical area of engagement with the Government of Kuwait.

The outcome evaluation will analyze

Relevance:

• Review the UNDP Kuwait Democratic Governance Programme with a view to understanding its relevance and contribution to national priorities;
• To what extent is UNDP’s engagement a reflection of strategic considerations, including UNDP’s role in a particular development context and its comparative advantage?
• To what extent was UNDP’s selected method of delivery appropriate to the development context?

Effectiveness:

• Review the status of the outcome and the key factors that have affected (both positively and negatively, contributing and constraining) the outcome, this with a view of the current relevant CPD outcome for (2008 – 2014);
• For stock taking and lesson learning, and recommending corrections that may be required for enhancing effectiveness of UNDP’s development assistance;
• Review and assess the programme’s partnership with the government bodies, civil society and private sector and international organizations in Programme(the nature and extent of the contribution of key partners and the role and effectiveness of partnership strategies in the outcome).

Efficiency:

• To what extent have the programme or project outputs resulted from economic use of resources?
• Review links/joint activities with other UNDP Programmes and other partners and how these have contributed to the achievement of the outcome;
• Through this evaluation UNDP Kuwait seeks to understand and articulate the key contributions that the Democratic Governance programme has made in the enhancement of sustainable natural resources planning and management system.

Sustainability:

• What indications are there that the outcomes will be sustained, e.g., through requisite capacities (systems, structures, staff, etc.)?

Evaluation Deliverables:

• The evaluator will conduct a preliminary scoping exercise and design an inception report (containing an evaluation matrix, evaluation protocols for different stakeholders, and a description of the methodology), to be discussed with the UNDP Country office and other stakeholders, before the evaluation can be conducted;
• A draft report for discussion with the stakeholders; feedback received from these sessions should be used to prepare the final report.

A final evaluation report with the suggested table of contents as follows:

• Executive summary;
• Introduction (Background and approach/methodology);
• Development context of the country;
• Description of UNDP’s work;
• Achievement and impact of development results (Presentation of findings based on the evaluation criteria and other cross-cutting issues);
• Conclusions and Recommendations Annexes.

Methodology:

Though the evaluation methodology to be used will be finalized in consultation with the UNDP Kuwait Country office, the following elements should be taken into account for the gathering and analysis of data.

• Pre-assessment of data availability;
• Desk review of relevant documents including Country Programme Document (CPD), Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP), Project Documents, project and programme evaluations, relevant flagship reports, etc.;
• Discussions with the Senior Management and programme staff of UNDP Kuwait;
• Presentation of an inception report and discussion of the content with UNDP management and partners;
• Semi-structured Interviews: with key partners and stakeholders both at central and field levels;
• Field visits to projects, if necessary to verify to what extent the outputs contribute to the outcome or with a forward looking view;
• Regular consultation meetings with the UNDP staff, project staff and senior management as appropriate.

The outcome evaluation will include the following key activities:

• Inception report;
• Evaluation design and work plan;
• Desk review of existing documents;
• Briefing with UNDP;
• Field visits;
• Interviews with partners;
• Drafting of the evaluation report;
• Debriefing with UNDP;
• Finalization of the evaluation report (incorporating comments received on first draft).

The evaluator will visit project sites to meet the stakeholders and beneficiaries including government officials, civil society organizations, local authorities, academics and subject experts, and community members etc.

All evaluation questions should include an assessment of the extent to which programme design, implementation and monitoring have taken the following cross cutting issues into consideration:

Human rights:

• To what extent do the Youth, women and other disadvantaged and marginalized groups benefit?
• Gender Equality: To what extent did UNDP support positive changes in terms of gender equality and were there any unintended effects?

Environmental Sustainability:

• To what extent was UNDP projects sensitive to and supported environmental sustainability?

Capacity development:

• To what extent was UNDP outputs and implementation arrangements effective for designing policies and strategies as well as building capacities of key institutions towards achievement of the outcome;
• Institutional strengthening: Assess the extent to which UNDP outputs and activities have strengthened institutions for designing policies, strategies and the implementation towards achievement of the outcome;
• Innovation or added value to national development: How is the role of UNDP perceived in innovating and adding value in enhancing national systems for democratic governance and protection and promotion of human rights.

Work Arrangements

This impartial and rigorous evaluation exercise will be undertaken by an Evaluation Expert. The Evaluation Expert will be reporting to the Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP Kuwait). The Country Office Evaluation focal point will arrange the introductory meetings within UNDP and will establish the first contacts with the government partners and project staff. The expert will then set up his/her own meetings and conduct his/her own methodology upon approval of the methodology submitted in the inception report.

The draft and final reports will be submitted in English and Arabic. The expert will work home/office-based with presence in UNDP premises as needed for the desk reviews, and will make their own travel arrangements for the site visits.

The Evaluation Expert shall arrange all the resources s/he needs to complete the assignment, if needed, at his/her own cost. The resources to be used by the expert shall be subject to UNDP approval.

Evaluation Expert will have the overall responsibility for the conduction of the evaluation exercise as well as quality and timely submission of the final evaluation report to UNDP. S/he will specifically undertake the following tasks:

• Design the detailed evaluations scope, methodology and approach;
• Conduct the outcome evaluation in accordance with the proposed objective and scope of evaluation;
• Draft, communicate and finalize the evaluation report as per the comments from UNDP;
• The Evaluation Expert shall base the evaluation methodology on the UNDP Handbook for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation for Development Results and the Outcome-Level Evaluation Guide. The methodological proposal shall be submitted to and discussed with the Kuwait UNDP CO Democratic Governance Area.

Deliverables and Timeframe:

The expected time frame for the evaluation is 30 working days.

Day 1               Initial briefing of evaluator regarding scope, purpose and methodology of the evaluation.

Day 2-5            Desk review of documents (List of documents to follow).

Day 6 – 9         Inception report, methodology, evaluation design and work plan developed and approved.

Day 10 – 15     Stakeholder meetings, interviews and site visits (GSSCPD, The Central Statistics Department, The National Assembly GS, the State Audit Bureau and other selected institutions and NGOs to be determined on day 1)

Day 16-25        Debriefing, presentation of draft report for comments.

Day 26-30        finalization of report and (The evaluator is expected to submit 2 hard and one soft copy of the final evaluation report and a power point presentation highlighting its findings and recommendations).

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

• Proven knowledge of evaluation methods;
• Excellent analytical and English report writing skills;
• Excellent inter-personal, communication, and teamwork skills;
• Ability to work under pressure.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Minimum Master’s degree in economics, public administration, regional development/planning or any other social sciences related to governance issue.

Experience

• Minimum 10-years of professional experience in the area of development, including democratic governance, regional development and public policies;
• Knowledge of the political, cultural, and economic contexts of Kuwait including prior working experience in the country.
• Experience in conducting evaluations in the development field and with international organizations, preferably with UNDP;
• At least 5 years of experience in conducting outcome evaluations in the Democratic Governance Thematic Area and related themes;
• Strong working knowledge of UNDP and its mandate and working with government authorities;
• Extensive knowledge of results-based management evaluation, as well as participatory M&E methodologies and approaches;
• Experience in applying SMART (S Specific; M Measurable; A Achievable; R Relevant; T Time-bound) indicators and reconstructing or validating baseline scenarios;
• Strong reporting and communication skills;
• Knowledge on mainstreaming Gender and Human rights in projects and programmes desired;
• Previous experience on UNDP outcome evaluations desired.

Language:

• Arabic and English.

The Evaluation Expert will be logistically and financially responsible for arranging his/her travel to and from relevant project sites and arranging interviews. This will also be included in the proposal including the travel costs to mission sites and daily subsistence allowance (DSA), with explicit information presented with the proposal and the methodology.

The work is expected to take 30 working days over a period of 2 months (October– November 2014).

The outcome evaluation should be completed by the 4th week in October 2014, with the draft report presented to stakeholders by the first week in November.

The Evaluation shall be carried out in accordance with the principles outlined in the UNEG ‘Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation’ and sign the Ethical Code of Conduct for UNDP Evaluations.

Evaluation

The individual consultant will be evaluated based on the cumulative analysis methodology and the 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 criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical Criteria weight: 70%.

Financial Criteria weight: 30%.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70 % in their technical proposal would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Please note that any CV/P11 not submitted with a technical and financial proposal will not be considered.

Documents for Review by the Evaluators

UNDP Corporate Policy Documents:

• Handbook on Monitoring and Evaluation for Results;
• UNDP Guidelines for Evaluators;
• Ethical Code of Conduct for UNDP Evaluations;
• Outcome-level evaluation; a companion guide to the handbook on planning;
• monitoring and evaluating for development results for programme units and evaluators.

UNDP Kuwait CO Documents:

• Country Programme Document (CPD) of Kuwait for 2008 – 2014;
• Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP);
• Project documents and Final Reports;
• Other documents and materials related to the outcome as far as these are available;
• National Human development reports;
• National MDGs Reports.

Type of Consultancy: GSSCPD Contract:

• This position will be on a governmental contract administered by the General Secretariat of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development;
• As part of the application, the applicant must attach a CV.