UNDP Jobs - 60772- Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant (Lead Consult

Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant (Lead Consultant- International)

Location :

Mandalay and it May Involve Travel to the Project Sites in Mandalay, Sagaing and Magwe Regions, as appropriate, MYANMAR

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

16-Oct-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

45 days (2 November to 16 December 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

UNDP Myanmar, with funding from Adaptation Fund is initiating the implementation of a CC adaptation project - “Addressing Climate Change Risks on Water Resources and Food Security in the Dry Zone of Myanmar.” The project aims to reduce the increasing impacts of climate change on agricultural and livestock production cycles in the dry zone of Myanmar - the impacts of increasing temperature and evaporation, declining water availability, and intensifying weather events especially flash floods and cyclones.

The project will operate in five townships in the Sagaing, Mandalay and Magway Regions – Shwebo and Moneywa townships in the Sagaing region, Myingyan and Nyaung Oo townships in the Mandalay Region, and Chauk township in the Magway Region. The townships were selected on the basis of observed temperature extremes, frequency of drought per year, and the impacts of climatic parameters on food security. An additional criterion for township selection was the potential to access ground and surface water resources – vital prerequisites for small irrigation and water management schemes. The direct beneficiaries of the project are marginal farmers in rain-fed areas and landless workers whose access to arable land is severely threatened by erosion and land degradation. Special emphasis is placed on women and female-headed households within this vulnerable group.

The project target sites consist of approximately 50,000 households from 280 villages with a high percentage of landless households and marginal/small farmers. Many of these landless and marginal/small farmers will benefit directly from the proposed project. Among them, approximately 85% of the total population is estimated to be impoverished landless and marginal farmers’ households on rain-fed lands who are prone to critical losses of livelihood assets from recurring droughts and crop failures. While impoverished and marginal farmers with land-use rights will benefit from the project through additional investments in natural and productive capital (such as improved water supply on drought-prone fields; access to diversified and improved crops for fields and home gardens; expanded agro-forestry services; diversified livestock rearing; arrested soil erosion and watershed protection), landless people will benefit from diversified livestock assets, improved ecosystem services (such as greater availability of non-forest products and more reliable freshwater supply), as well as through greater opportunities for manual labor in water-, forestry- and agroforestry-related components of the project. An important element of the proposed project is to strengthen the participation and stakes of landless people in Community-based Organizations, especially forest resource users groups and water resource users groups.

By the end of the four-year period, the project aims to ensure continuous freshwater resource during the dry seasons in 280 villages in the Dry Zone, promote and enhance climate-resilient agricultural and livestock practices and ensure timely and quality dissemination of climate risk information through use of short-term weather forecasts, medium-term seasonal forecasts, and longer-term climate scenario planning.

In order to ensure that the above results are achieved by the end of the project period, the project intends to develop a robust and practical monitoring and evaluation framework. Among others, the monitoring and evaluation framework is expected to ensure that results achieved are in line with the stated objectives and outcomes of the project, as well as the results and resources framework prepared during the design phase. The framework will also consist of an implementation plan that will capture quantitative impact of some of the planned interventions of the project.

Duties and Responsibilities

Lead Consultant (International):

Developing the overall M&E framework and implementation plan for the AF project

In consultation with the Technical Specialist and Project Manager of AF Project and UNDP Myanmar CO, develop methodologies for collecting information for every project Objective and Outcome indicator in the approved AF project result framework. The methodologies should include the way to establish/verify the baseline information for each indicator, data collection process for monitoring the progress, frequency of data collection, and the responsible party for data collection.
Provide capacity building trainings to key staff on executing the monitoring work.

Developing an experimental (quasi-experimental) design to capture the causal impact of the project

In recognition of the inability of the project result framework to infer causal impact of the project on tangible welfare gains of the project beneficiaries, this project will set up an experimental or quasi-experimental design and carry out additional data collection to capture the impact of the project in three areas of fresh water access, food security, livelihoods for the landless. In this regard, the Lead M&E consultant will be responsible for the following tasks:

Develop a conceptual framework on the approach to raise awareness among the project team about the methodology;
In consultation with the project team, UNDP Myanmar Country Office and UNDP RTA, finalize the topics of impact assessment and design a questionnaire;
Based on the project implementation strategy, identify the best impact assessment methodology (i.e. experimental vs. quasi-experimental design), and design a data collection methodology which includes the sampling methodology, frequency of data collection, etc.;
In consultation with UNDP Myanmar Country Office, identify suitable institutions (NGOs, private companies, research institutes, universities, etc) which has the capacity to administer large-scale baseline, mid-term and terminal surveys; and develop a TOR for engaging an institution to execute these surveys.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards and acts in accordance with the Standards of Conduct for international civil servants;
Advocates and 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 favoritism.

Functional Competencies:

Good knowledge of the natural resource management particularly lake and watershed management, the concept of sustainability and sustainable development in the region and developing countries;
Ability to quickly grasp and synthesize inputs from a range of disciplines related to environmental conservation and lake management;
Ability to advocate and provide technical advice on the relevant sector/theme;
Self-motivated, ability to work with minimum supervision;
Promotes a knowledge sharing and learning culture in the office;
Sensitivity to and responsiveness to all partners, respectful and helpful relations with all UN/UNDP staff;
Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s Degree in social sciences, management, environment and natural resources and related fields;

Experience:

At least 5 years of work experience in monitoring and evaluation in a development organization;
Proven track record of designing M&E frameworks for developmental project preferably in the areas of climate change adaptation, poverty reduction, rural livelihoods and environmental protection;
Proven track record of designing and overseeing experimental or quasi-experimental impact assessments;
A strong experience in designing household surveys covering issues of poverty reduction, rural livelihoods, and environmental protection;
Experience in procuring and supervising social research companies or team of researchers;
Excellent human relations, coordination, planning and team work skills.

Language:

Excellent English writing and communication skills.