UNDP Jobs - 51452- National Consultants (Team Members) for Evaluation

National Consultants (Team Members) for Evaluation of United Nations Development Assistance Plan Tanzania 2011-2016

Location :

Dar es Salaam, TANZANIA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

02-Dec-2014

Application Deadline :

25-Nov-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

80 working days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

80 working days

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

Since the commencement of the DaO reform process in 2007, the UN and Government of Tanzania have initiated and/or participated in a range of events and processes which have ensured lessons learnt have been documented, debated and converted into recommendations for improved programming and progression of the system-wide coherence agenda. At the country level, these have included:

DaO Evaluability Study, 2008;
Country-led Evaluation of DaO UN Pilot Initiative in Tanzania, 2010;
Joint Programme Individual Evaluations (All JPs under One Programme), 2011;
Joint Programme Assessments (One Office and One Voice), 2011;
Joint Programme Synthesis Report, 2012;
DaO Independent Evaluation Report, 2012;
DaO Joint Audit Report, 2012;

Referencing these studies, as well as sector-specific evaluations and the particular lessons learnt from the JP period, the proposed evaluation will focus primarily upon the UNDAP period. It will provide an independent assessment of the specific short- to medium-term results achieved and UN Tanzania’s contribution to national development priorities. It will consider what has worked, what has not worked and why in the context of a DaO pilot. It will therefore provide information for strengthening UN programming, UN results and UN coordination going forward.

The primary users of the evaluation at the country level will be the UN Country Team (resident and non-resident, management and technical level staff), the Government and Non-State Actors (including civil society and private sector), alongside Development Partners. On the global stage, the evaluation should contribute to knowledge regarding good practice under DaO; UNDOCO and regional offices will therefore also form an important audience.

The Evaluation will also link into an assessment of the national development priorities and challenges, as well as the UN’s capacity to respond, scheduled for the same period. It is anticipated that these studies utilise data emerging from the Evaluation and therefore full cooperation between the consultants is expected in terms of sharing documentation and coordination of interviews with key informants.

Purpose, Objectives and Scope

The UN Development Group (UNDG) requires all UN country offices to undertake an evaluation of their Programme of Cooperation (UNDAFs/UNDAPs) in the penultimate year of the programming cycle. To this end, the UN Evaluation Group (UNEG) in collaboration with UN Development Operations Coordination Office (DOCO) has issued guidance on the required Management Structure and ToR to ensure quality standards are maintained. The planned UNDAP evaluation must observe the parameters of the UNEG/DOCO guidance, whilst ensuring an inclusive approach which involves stakeholder representatives in key decision-making processes. This is critical to ensure the Evaluation is nationally owned, encompasses topics of national interest and has application in the wider national sphere.

The purpose of the evaluation is two fold:

To support greater accountability of the UNCT to stakeholders for the achievement of agreed results in support of the MKUKUTA II and MKUZA II. By objectively verifying results achieved within the framework of the UNDAP and assessing the effectiveness of the strategies and interventions used, the evaluation will enable the various stakeholders in the UNDAP process, including national counterparts and development partners, to hold the UNCT and other parties accountable for fulfilling their roles and commitments;
To support learning. The evaluation must provide clear recommendations for strengthening programming and operations results at the country level, specifically informing the planning and decision-making for the next UNDAP programme cycle and for improving United Nations coordination at the country level.

Duties and Responsibilities

To assess the contribution made by the UNCT to national priorities, specifically the 13 MKUKUTA II goals and 13 MKUZA II goals singled out for UN support under the UNDAP;
To assess the extent to which the UNCT has supported the country to realise its international and regional commitments on human rights and gender equality;
To identify the factors that have affected the UNCT's contribution, explaining the enabling factors and bottlenecks;
To reach conclusions concerning the UN’s contribution across the scope being examined;
To provide actionable recommendations for improving the UNCT's contribution, especially for incorporation into the new UNDAP. These recommendations should be logically linked to the conclusions and draw upon lessons learned through the evaluation, including a comparison of the UNDAP and JP structures and processes to identify good practice going forward.

Competencies

Client Orientation;
Excellent communication and interview skills
Planning and Organising;
Technical competence in undertaking complex Gender Equality and Human Rights responsive evaluations which involve use of mixed methods;
Ability to assess the application of the five UN Programming Principles: human rights (the human rights based approach to programming, human rights analysis and related mandates within the UN system), gender equality (especially gender analysis), environmental sustainability, results-based management, and capacity development;
Demonstrated ability to deliver quality results within strict deadlines;
Demonstrative ability to assess the application of the five UN Programming Principles: human rights; gender equality; environmental sustainability; RBM; capacity development;
Process management and facilitation skills; including
Ability to negotiate with a wide range of stakeholders.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

Master’s Degree in International Development, Public Administration, Evaluation or Related Field;

Experience:

10 years professional experience, specifically in the area of evaluating international development initiatives and development organizations;
Familiarity with the UN system including DaO principles and processes;
A strong record in designing and leading evaluations, using a wide range of evaluation approaches;
Experience of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis methods including interview techniques;
Proven ability to work with international consultants to deliver the same assignment. Please note that national consultant will be led by the international consultant - Team Leader, and will work with 1 international (Team Member) and 1 national consultant to be recruited concurrently and separately;
Knowledge of the UN role and UN programming at the country level, particularly UNDAFs/Ps, encompassing development and humanitarian assistance;
Experience in evaluating management structures cohesiveness, responsiveness and procedural approach;
Prior experience in working with multilateral agencies.

Language:

Proficiency in English and Kiswahili (spoken and written, with capacity to contribute to the inception, draft and final evaluation reports).

How to submit proposals:

Proposals should be submitted to the following e-mail address not later than Tuesday, 25 November 2014 icprocurement.tz@undp.org;
Applicants should download the application documents (presented in compresses file) from UNDP Tanzania website;
Applicants should separate technical and financial proposals;
Applications with no financial offer or missing P11 form and CV or the required documents for the technical evaluation will not be considered for evaluation;
Applications without submitting a financial offer instead of other format will not be considered due to the ease comparison of the received offers;
All necessary information for this post (TOR, Deliverables, Target dates, etc. are presented in the ICPN) therefore applicant must download it from the website as mentioned above;
Do not send CV only to the Email account mentioned above without Cover Letter and Methodology (if requested) as it will be considered as incomplete application;
The documents are available in PDF (the TOR, ICPN and IC guidelines) download them from (http://www.undp.org/content/tanzania), format: this is the only format available and it will not be provided in other formats;
Each email should be less than 8MB; emails over this size will not be received to the above mentioned account.