UNDP Jobs - 56404- Evaluation Team Leader

Evaluation Team Leader – International Consultant for Preparing the Final Evaluation of the SSIREC Project

Location :

Tirana, with travel missions in, ALBANIA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

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

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

15 working days with five days mission in Albania within June – July 2015

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

Under the aspiration of having Albania join EU, the new Government in power is strongly committed to prevent marginalization and build sustainable integration of Roma and Egyptian communities, through ensuring equal access to public and social services.

Since 2003 Albanian governments have recognised the social exclusion of Roma communities and in response to this have adopted the Strategy for Improving the Living Conditions of Roma” (2003) and a “National Roma Decade Action Plan” (2009). These are two complementary policy documents involving specific measures in the areas of education, employment, health care, housing and infrastructure, social protection as well as cultural heritage. Whereas some progress is reported in specific areas, yet the situation of Roma and Egyptian is far from the envisioned. Due to a historic social exclusion, fostered by stigma, prejudices and discriminatory attitudes, against these communities Roma and Egyptians, continue to face a much higher level of poverty as compared to other parts of population in Albania. A UNDP study in 2011 found that 90 % of Roma and Egyptian who work are not covered with social and health insurance by employers, 40.3 % of Roma and 12.7 % of Egyptians do not have access to education, 37 % of Roma and 20% of Egyptians do not possess health cards and thus are not able to benefit basic healthcare services, while 21% of Roma and 11% of Egyptians lack basic housing.

In response to this situation, and with the aim to create a social, economic and intercultural development model, the “Supporting Social Inclusion of Roma and Egyptian Communities” (SSIREC) Project is intervening in areas inhabited by Roma and Egyptian communities in the regions of Korca, Berat and Vlora. SSIREC follows on a multi-sectorial empowering approach, relying on an active and informed participation of local Roma and Egyptian communities while fostering close partnership with central and local authorities. The project builds upon effective practices and lessons learned through previous UNDP interventions. It aims at taking the next steps towards meeting the objectives set forth in the Decade of Roma Inclusion 2005 – 2015 and aligning them with the EU framework for Roma Integration 2020. Human Rights are included in the EU – Albania High Level Dialogue on the key priorities.In its Enlargement Strategy 2013, the European Commission has identified reinforcing the protection of human rights, including of Roma, among the 5 key priorities for the opening of accession negotiations with Albania. Furthermore, improving the situation of Roma has been identified as a horizontal issue in all the enlargement countries, making it one of the key indicators of progress in European integration.

The project supports the integration of Roma and Egyptian communities into the mainstream society through participation in local decision-making, capacity-building for civil society organizations, job and entrepreneurship promotion, effective design and implementation of social inclusion policies while promoting respect for human rights and appreciation for cultural diversity in the country.

Project components include:

Participatory local planning through preparation of community development plans and implementation of small scale infrastructure projects in areas inhabited by Roma and Egyptian communities;
Strengthening Roma and Egyptian civil society capacity to combat discrimination and improve their successful participation in financial support schemes;
Job and entrepreneurship promotion for Roma and Egyptian Communities through provision of vocational training and assistance to income generation activities run by Roma and Egyptian people;
Support the implementation and monitoring of the Roma Decade Action Plan by strengthening capacities of the Social Inclusion Department at MoSWY and facilitating access of Roma and Egyptian communities to the Office of Commissioner for Protection from Discrimination;
Raise awareness of Roma and Egyptian community members about policies, strategies and instruments for their social inclusion as well as advocate and promote their acceptance and integration in the mainstream society

Key Project Results to Date:

From its commencement in July 2012 the key results achieved to date by the SSIREC Project include:

9 local infrastructure interventions (such as kindergartens, health centers, school library, internal roads, sports ground and intercultural community centers) identified by Roma and Egyptian community members have been implemented by the Project through co-funding with Local Governments. More than 3000 Roma and Egyptian households in Korca, Berat and Vlora regions have benefited from this intervention;
60 local government officials in three regions have been trained on participatory planning and budgeting and were assisted to develop 4 inter-locals Roma and Egyptian Community Development Plans with active participation of Roma and Egyptian Community members and young professionals. Through this exercise, local authorities adopted a participatory planning model and made Roma and Egyptian needs part of the local development agenda;
More than 3000 households have benefited from public information campaigns related to available public and social services.
A comprehensive training and coaching package related to NGO management, fundraising, financial reporting, human resources management as well as human rights, advocacy and lobbying has been offered to Roma and Egyptian Associations preceded by capacity and training needs assessment;
Roma and Egyptian NGOs were provided with small-grants for implementing 18 local community development initiatives;
A manual “100 innovative ideas for self-employment” accompanied with practical guidelines on preparation of business plans was developed and widely disseminated to local Roma and Egyptian youth and other potential beneficiaries in the three regions. The manual was widely embraced and triggered new income-generation ideas and activities amongst Roma and Egyptians. This led to transforming the employment profile of Roma and Egyptian individuals from passive service beneficiaries to active participants;
90 Roma and Egyptian youth, artisans and potential entrepreneurs have benefited from innovative income generating approaches to develop their self-employment skills and individual investment plans. They have also been assisted with startup tool kits with the aim to diversify their source of income;
50 Roma and Egyptian women farmers have been assisted to cultivate and market medicinal plant such as sage, contributing towards enhancing their family income;
To align the country’s policy on social inclusion with the “EU Platform for Roma Integration 2020”, expertise and support has been provided to the Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth and other line ministries to draft the Action Plan for Integration of Roma and Egyptians 2015-2020 while ensuring wide consultation with civil society sector including Roma and Egyptian organizations, as well as local authorities;
A legal “How to Manual” with particular focus on Roma/Egyptian communities have been developed to further strengthen capacities of the Office of the Commissioner for Protection from Discrimination;
Qualified Roma and Egyptian fellows have been supported to serve as facilitators for protection from discrimination, respectively at Commissioner and People’s Advocate and provide support while preparing the National and Local Plans targeting Roma and Egyptian Communities;
An intensive public awareness and advocacy campaign has been implemented in the three programme areas featuring the Goodwill Ambassadors for Cultural Diversity and Roma and Egyptian role models;
A training manual for reporters on minority issues with a focus on Roma and Egyptian Communities was produced and widely disseminated among young reporters;
Reporters enhanced their skills on fair and ethical reporting on cultural diversity and social inclusion;
To advance social inclusion and respect for cultural diversity, several documentaries have been produced such as “Equal in Diversity”, and “When Dreams Become Reality”;
The project provided support to Roma and Egyptian Young Artists to promote their talent and mainstream them in the country’s cultural agenda.

Key partners of the Project include the Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth as well as local authorities in the regions of Korca, Berat and Vlora.

Specific evaluation objectives are:

The object of study for this evaluation is the SSIREC Project understood to be the set of components, outcomes, outputs, activities and inputs that were detailed in the project document and in associated modifications made during implementation.

The evaluation shall be based on the standard evaluation criteria including relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability (as defined by OECD), as well as human rights-based approach and results-based management (as applied by the UN). The evaluation aims at the followings:

Measure to what extend the SSIREC project has fully implemented the activities, delivered outputs and attained outcomes and specifically measuring development results;
Generate substantive evidence based knowledge, by identifying best practices and lessons learned and make recommendations for improved future assistance in the relevant area;

More specifically the evaluation will:

Analyse the project ’s design quality and internal coherence (needs and problems it seeks to solve);
Analyse the sustainability of project interventions;
Provide feedback to the participating agencies and national counterparts on the soundness (defined as relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability) and impact of their approach in the project;
Evaluate project impact of implemented actions, contained in the Work Plans and Programme Logframe ;
Based on the analysis conducted over the experience of SSIREC, extract general lessons learned and recommendations for future interventions;
Provide the donor with information on impact of their specific support through the project, to social inclusion of Roma and Egyptian communities in Albania

The evaluation will also focus on how the human rights- based approach applied, has influenced the achievement of the outputs and outcomes and to provide recommendations for planning and formulation of the future replication of the project in other areas.

The conclusions and recommendations generated by this evaluation will be addressed to its main users, participating agencies: the Project Management Committee, EU Delegation to Albania and other partners involved in the project implementation.

Evaluation Methodology:

Evaluation methodology is framed around standard evaluation criteria (relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, sustainability) plus two guiding principles for UN work (human rights based approach and results-based management).

The Evaluator will use methodologies and techniques as determined by the specific needs for information, the questions set out in the TOR, the availability of resources and the priorities of stakeholders. In all cases, the Evaluator is expected to analyse all relevant information sources, such as annual reports, programme documents, internal review reports, programme files, strategic country development documents and any other documents that may provide evidence on which to form opinions. The Evaluator is also expected to use interviews as a means to collect relevant data for the evaluation.

The methodology and techniques to be used in the evaluation should be described in detail in the inception report and the final evaluation report, and should contain, at a minimum, information on the instruments used for data collection and analysis, whether these be documents, interviews, field visits, questionnaires or participatory techniques.

The evaluation will follow the Standards and Norms of United Nations Evaluation Group, UNEG Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation, 2008, UNEG/FN/ETH(2008).

Duties and Responsibilities

Working under the supervision of the UNDP Cluster Manager (referred to as evaluation focal points), the International Evaluation Expert (team leader) will work jointly with a National Evaluation Expert (team member) to undertake the following tasks:

Carry out desk-top review of relevant documents and reports (project document, Annual Work Plans, Project Results Framework, Phasing out Matrix, Annual Progress Reports, and other related documents to be provided by the project team);
Prepare the inception report, containing the evaluation methodology and tools as well as the detailed calendar of actions, elaborated in consultation with the evaluation focal points;
Field work (survey/ interviewing process of data gathering) in the regions of Tirana, Korca, Berat and Vlora to conduct meetings and hold key interviews with stakeholders;
Based on discussions and interviews, develop “Most Significant Change Stories” on behalf of the SSIREC and to be included as an annex in the evaluation report;
Submit draft final evaluation report as agreed upon in the evaluation schedule and reporting terms in English, including recommendations for future project replication;
Incorporate recommendation received from the Evaluation Focal Points and submit final report;

Outputs and Deliverables:

The evaluator is responsible for submitting the following deliverables:

Work plan – within 2 days of the start of the assignment. The Consultant will submit the wok plan which will include a detailed approach and methodology and schedule. In particular, the work plan will require a clear approach to data collection and work organization to examine the project in its full scope.

Preliminary findings and draft evaluation report (inception report) – within 6 days of the start of the assignment, the Consultant will share a draft report. The purpose of this report is to demonstrate progress on the assignment and adherence to the TORs, and will identify any evaluation issues that may need further clarification before completion of the assignment.

Presentation of findings – within 8 days of the start of the assignment a presentation of findings and preliminary recommendations to key stakeholders will be carried out. The purpose of this session is to provide opportunity for initial validation and support further elaboration of the evaluators’ findings and recommendations.

Final evaluation report – within 4 days of receiving the consolidated comments from projects’ stakeholders, the Consultant will submit a final document that addresses relevant comments and provides comprehensive reporting on all elements of the assignment. This report will be submitted to the evaluation contact points for clearance.

As a minimum, the Evaluation Report (draft or final) shall include the following components (the exact structure of the report may be influenced by the project components and components of the Evaluation TOR): Executive Summary; Introduction (Project outline; Methodology; Analysis; Findings; Best Practices and Lessons Learned; Recommendations; Relevant Annexes, for example: a. List of people interviewed; b. List of acronyms; c. Evaluation work plan and TOR; d. List of key reference documents as well as annexes of a. Most Significant Change Stories; b. Power point presentation of the main findings and recommendations;

Summary of the report - a two-page summary of the Project Evaluation Report should be provided in addition to the fully fledged evaluation report.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favouritism.

Functional Competencies:

Proven record in analytical thinking and concise writing and reporting in English language;
Demonstrated ability to write comprehensive reports;
Strong analytical and conceptual thinking;
Ability to work in an independent manner and organize the workflow efficiently;

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Advanced University Degree in Economics, Social, Political or a Development related field;

Work Experience:

At least 10 years of experience in program design, monitoring and evaluation;
Experience in conducting evaluations from a minority and human-rights based perspective and thematic/sector evaluations;
Demonstrated experience in programme design, monitoring and evaluation.
Proven ability and experience in social inclusion of vulnerable communities and development issues;
Knowledge, experience and understanding of the minority and human-rights based perspective as well as result-based management techniques;
Demonstrated knowledge and experience with EU policies on Roma social inclusion in particular with related good practices and lessons learned in the region and Albania;
Experience in applying adult learning methodologies and workshop facilities skills.

Language requirement:

Fluency in spoken and written English;

Duration and remuneration:

UNDP will fund the costs of the consultancy work and all costs of travel, as per UNDP regulations. The Evaluation Focal Points will provide technical guidance to the expert in the carrying out of the evaluation. The duration of the consultancy is 15 working days with 5 days mission in Albania, within a period of two months.

Evaluation of Applicants:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal.

The award of the contract should 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.

Only the highest ranked candidates who would be found qualified for the job will be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max. 70 points:

Demonstrated experience in programme design, monitoring and evaluation (30 points);
Proven ability and experience in social inclusion of vulnerable communities and development issues; (30 points);
Knowledge, experience and understanding of the minority and human-rights based perspective as well as result-based management techniques; (20 points);
Knowledge and experience with EU policies on Roma social inclusion in particular with related good practices and lessons learned in the region and Albania; (10 points);
Proven record in analytical thinking and concise writing and reporting in English language (10 points).

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max. 30 points

Application procedures:

Qualified and interested candidates are requested to apply on-line through this site, no later than May 24th, 2015.

The application should contain:

Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application;
Filled P11 form including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees;
(blank form can be downloaded from http://www.undp.org.al/index.php?page=bus_center/vacancies ; please upload the P11 instead of your CV;
Financial Proposal* - specifying a total lump sum amount for the tasks specified in this announcement. The financial proposal shall include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (number of anticipated working days, travel, per diems and any other possible costs).

Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials.

*Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant/contractor during the contract period (e.g. fee, health insurance, vaccination and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services...). All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel.

Payments will be made only upon confirmation of UNDP on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner.

Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply.

Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process.