UNDP Jobs - 56400- International Consultant for Midterm Evaluation of

International Consultant for Midterm Evaluation of Country Programme (CP) – Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP) 2013-2017

Location :

Yangon, MYANMAR

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

25-May-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

June 2015 – September 2015 (with 35 effective 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

June 2015 marks the mid-point of the UNDP Myanmar country programme. The UNDP Country Programme Document (CPD) 2013-2015 was approved by the Executive Board in January 2013 for the period 2013-2015, and extended in January 2015 to 2017. It defines three outcomes, which represent the anticipated development changes to be achieved after a five-year period, at the end of 2017. A Country Programme Action Plan, CPAP (2013-2015, extended to 2017) was subsequently derived from the CPD. The CPAP is UNDP’s main programme monitoring instrument, detailing outcomes, outputs, with measurable annual targets, baselines and indicators. The CPAP has three programme components and 3 outcomes. The three programme components are: (1) Promoting Local Governance; (2) Promoting Environmental Governance, Climate Change, Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction; and (3) Promoting Democratic Governance.

The current Country Programme was developed in a particular context. In 1993-2012, the UNDP mandate in Myanmar was restricted to “the Human Development Initiative (HDI)”, which consisted of interventions aiming to have grass-roots level impact by providing crucial livelihood support where other development partners had a limited presence on the ground. In effect, UNDP operated as a large scale INGO.

Beginning of 2013 was marked by the removal of mandate restrictions in response to the evolving development context in the country. UNDP has been strategically re-positioning – or, to be more precise – crafting itself a new identify – as an impartial development partner and source of international expertise. Subsequently, the new country programme has evolved around the Governance focus, addressing the three dimensions which form the three above mentioned programme components.

The programme seeks to provide catalytic support to Myanmar’s reforms towards modernizing, democratizing, and decentralizing the state and society, and in so doing pursues an incremental institutional approach that is people- and rights- oriented and places emphasis on women, youth, and vulnerable groups.

Since the inception of the Country Programme, UNDP has conducted regular reviews of established CPAP annual targets. As a result of the review process and in conjunction with national counterparts, annual targets and indicators at output and outcome level were revised and adjusted taking into account evolving national development priorities and context. The mid-point of the Country Programme now provides an opportunity to undertake a comprehensive review of UNDP contribution to development effectiveness.

Consistent with UNDP policy guidance all outcomes to which UNDP is contributing through aligned activities and planned outputs must be monitored. The mid-term review is an opportunity to monitor the strategic course, relevance and effectiveness of the implementation of the country programme. The exercise allows UNDP to engage key stakeholders to discuss achievements, lessons learned and adjustments required in response to an evolving development landscape and changing national priorities. The exercise will allow UNDP to make any changes to the strategic direction of the country programme, as well as the allocation of resources, ensuring it is aligned to national priorities and responsive to national demand. It will also be used as a tool to guide programmatic planning.

Duties and Responsibilities

At minimum the evaluation team is accountable for the following products:

Evaluation inception report: An inception report should be prepared by the evaluators before going into the full-fledged data collection exercise. Based on the Terms of Reference, intial meetings with UNDP senior management, programme managers and M&E, and desk review of relevant documents, the evaluators should develop the inception report. The report should include, at minimum, a detailed description of the evaluation purpose and scope, evaluation criteria and questions, methodology, sampling, evaluation matrix, and a revised workplan;
Draft Evaluation report: M&E Specialist of UNDP Myanmar will review the draft evaluation report to ensure that the evaluation meets the required quality criteria. The UNDP M&E Specialist will facilitate the presentation of the preliminary findings to get inputs and feedback from UNDP. Based on the inputs and feedbacks the consultant will draft the first draft of the evaluation and submit to the M&E Specialist for review and get second inputs and feedbacks from the reference group and UNDP especially to find any factual error in the report;
Final evaluation report: based on the second inputs and feedbacks the evaluators will revise the first draft and submit to M&E Specialist as the final report. The final report will be reviewed for approval by UNDP senior management;
The International Consultant need to travel 2 visits to Myanmar with the possible for additional travel if required;
The evaluation team will consist of one international consultant as team leader and one national as member of the team.

For more details, please see following link below:

http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=22146.

Competencies

The international consultant should possess the following competencies:

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN's values and ethical standards and acts in accordance with the Standards of Contuct for international civil services;
Advocates and promotes the vision, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptablity;

Functional Competencies:

Strong analytical skills;
Understanding of Results Based Approach and Human Rights Based Approach;
Understanding of policy-making and capacity development issues in Myanmar;
Understanding of Myanmar government systems;
Good interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills;
Ability to work efficiently and independently under pressure, handle multi tasking situations with strong delivery orientation;
A good team player committed to enhancing and bringing additional value to the work of the team as a whole.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master degree or higher in public policy, political science, public administration, economics, regional planning, or other relevant field

Experience:

Minimum of 10 years, in design, monitoring, management and evaluation of development projects.
Experience in working with government agencies (central and local), civil society organizations, international organizations, UN Agencies, and Donors. Direct experience working in Myanmar is an asset;
Experience in monitoring and evaluation including demonstrated experience with program assessments;
A background in development;
Experience in monitoring and evaluation techniques including in-depth interviews; focus group discussions and participatory information collection techniques;
Experience working in policy and advocacy works on development issues, particularly in developing countries, experienced in Myanmar context is an advantage;
Understanding of cultural and socio-economic context and development challenges in Myanmar.

Specific skills:

Ability and experience to lead evaluation teams, and deliver high quality reports

Language Requirements:

Excellent command of the English language, spoken and written;
Knowledge of Myanmar language is an asset.