UNDP Jobs - 61072- National Consultant - Mid Term Review of the Kidep

National Consultant - Mid Term Review of the Kidepo Critical Landscape Conservation Project - Kampala, UGANDA

Location :

Kampala, UGANDA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

12-Nov-2015

Application Deadline :

04-Nov-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

National Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

30 working days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

30 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

The Government of Uganda through the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) with support from United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Global Environmental Facility (GEF) is implementing the project “Conservation and Sustainable Use of the Threatened Savannah Woodland in the Kidepo Critical Landscape in North Eastern Uganda”.
This UNDP/GEF-GOU initiative is a partnership programme implemented as a joint venture of national government partners.

The partners include:

The National Environment Management Agency (NEMA;
Uganda Wildlife Authority;
National Forestry Authority;
District Local Governments of Kaabong, Kotido, Abim, Otuke, Agago and Kitgum.

The Project Document covering the period 2013-2017 was signed by Government and UNDP in July 2013 and full project implementation began in 2014. The project is scheduled to end on 31-Jul-2017.

The Government of Uganda has made significant investments in most protected areas (PAs) in the country. However, the Kidepo Critical Landscape of North Eastern Uganda, encompassing eight protected areas under a range of management authorities received limited investment over the past 20 years due to protracted conflict, and proportionately suffer from lower management effectiveness compared to other sites. The long-term solution proposed by this project is to strengthen the national system of protected areas in Uganda by improving the management effectiveness of protected areas in the Kidepo Critical landscape in the North Eastern part of the country, thus affording biodiversity sufficient protection from emerging and future threats. This can be achieved through providing planned, targeted and effective support to the operational capacity of core PAs within the landscape and through creating a coordinated landscape management approach in the KCL to serve as a shield against human-induced pressures on Uganda’s threatened biodiversity.

This proposed project in the Kidepo Critical Landscape of PAs and buffer zones in northern Uganda satisfies the requirements for GEF financing under GEF Biodiversity Focal Area, Strategic Objective one: Improve sustainability of Protected Area systems. The project will directly bring 416,485 ha of land under strengthened PA management arrangements designed to conserve biodiversity, involving three different forms of PA Status (NP, CFR and CWA) as well as public lands, with a wider positive influence on an additional 239,215 ha of dispersal areas. In total the project will thus bring enhanced biodiversity protection to over 655,700 ha of target PAs and linked dispersal areas. The project will comprise two complementary components, which will be cost shared by the GEF and co-financing. Each addresses a different barrier and has discrete outcomes.

Component 1. Strengthening Management Effectiveness of the Kidepo Critical Landscape PA Cluster.
Component 2. Integrating PA Management in the Wider Landscape.
By addressing management deficits in these sites, the proposed project is expected to strengthen the national PA system in Uganda as a whole as well as improve livelihoods for communities within the landscape. This is to be achieved through enhanced management both of PAs and of biodiversity outside PAs, such as that of the Shea tree, which provides significant economic benefits to communities, thus demonstrating the importance of biodiversity to livelihoods of the rural communities.

Objectives of the assignment

The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) policy at the project level in UNDP has four key objectives namely:

To monitor and evaluate results and impacts;
To provide a basis for decision making on necessary amendments and improvements;
To promote accountability for resource use; and
To document, provide feedback on, and disseminate lessons learned. A mix of tools is used to ensure effective project M&E. These might be applied continuously throughout the lifetime of the project, e.g, periodic monitoring of indicators, or as specific time-bound exercises such as mid-term reviews, audit reports and independent evaluations. From the GEF guidance notes, MTRs are a monitoring tool to assess project status and challenges, identify corrective actions to ensure that projects are on track to achieve planned outcomes. MTRs are required for full-sized UNDP supported projects with GEF financing such as this one.

Mid-Term Reviews (MTR) are beneficial for project implementation as they provide an independent in-depth review of implementation progress, and this is responsive to the need for transparency and better access of information during implementation. This MTR is going to cover the project period up to date. The MTR will be conducted according to the guidance, rules and procedures established by UNDP in the UNDP Evaluation guidelines.

Overall Objective of the MTR

This MTR is intended to identify potential project design problems, assess progress towards the achievement of objectives, identify and document lessons learned (including lessons that might improve design and implementation of other UNDP projects), and to make recommendations regarding specific actions that might be taken to improve the project. It is expected to serve as a means of validating or filling the gaps in the initial assessment of relevance, effectiveness and efficiency obtained from monitoring. The MTR provides the opportunity to assess early signs of project success or failure and prompt necessary adjustments.

The specific objectives of the MTR are to:

Identify unforeseen project design problems;
Assess progress towards the achievement of objectives we can say here – especially objectives towards delivering global environmental benefits and improving livelihoods;
Identify the changes caused by the project to sustainable livelihoods;
Make recommendations regarding what should be done during the rest of the project life;
Analyze the project performance up to now in the context of the institutional framework and events in Uganda.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work and Deliverables

Detailed Consultancy Activities

The National Consultant will support and provide inputs to the Team Leader / Lead Consultant and she/he will deliver on the following:

Identify strengths and weaknesses in the Programme design and implementation, in particular implementation arrangements and its impacts on efficiency and effectiveness of converting resources (money, time) into results and impacts;
Ascertain achievements and impacts to date; to what extent the Programme has moved towards achievement of the objectives and outputs under the three outcomes in the results framework and the need for continued focus (in particular achieving global environment benefits and improvement in livelihoods);
Assess likelihood of sustainability of results and determine the key elements of the exit strategy that would increase the likelihood of sustaining critical results;
Examine the significance of un-expected effects, whether beneficial or detrimental in character;
Assess to what extent the Programme has contributed to building capacity at national, district and community levels to formulate, implement and monitor actions/activities for biodiversity conservation;
Assess the validity of assumptions used in the development of the Kidepo Critical Landscape programme, and this Kidepo Critical Landscape project;
Identify and assess lessons learnt and best practices in relation to achievement of the programme objectives and outputs;
Assess how the Kidepo Critical Landscape Project has adapted to emerging issues and trends such as climate change, energy and other emerging issues, etc.;
Mobilise stakeholders for consultations and provision of information regarding the evaluation.

The TE will assess the overall relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability of the Kidepo programme and will be guided by the following key questions (but not limited to these) relating to the above highlighted issues.

Relevance:

Assess the relevance of the project to the problems it was intended to address and how the project relates to the main objectives of the project outputs, outcomes, and to the environment and development priorities at the local, regional and national levels?

Efficiency:

Assess the project implementation efficiency/ arrangement through the government structures in line with international and national norms and standards?

Effectiveness:

To what extent have the expected outcomes and objectives of the project been achieved?

Impact:

Assess whether there are indications that the project has contributed to, or enabled progress toward, reduced environmental stress and/or improved ecological status. Clearly specify the unexpected positive and negative results that the project has registered to date?

Sustainability:

To what extent are there financial, institutional, social-economic, and/or environmental mechanisms to address project risks so as to sustain long-term project results? Clearly specify project sustainability measures and/or exit strategies in place to sustain the key initiatives/outcomes identified.

Role of UNDP:

To what extent has UNDP fulfilled its roles during implementation of the project and to what extent has the project developed human and institutional capacity?

Deliverables:

An Inception Report (within 3 working days of signing the contract), this should provide details of the methodological approach to be used by the consultants to undertake the study as well as well specified time schedule/frame;
A Draft evaluation report of approximately 40 pages, excluding annexes, according to the attached detailed breakdown. The report will be in English and will be prepared and submitted in MS Word, font 12, with tables in Excel where necessary;
A PowerPoint presentation (10 – 15 slides) covering the key points of the MTR with the main findings and recommendations also provided;
A Final MTR Report submitted within a week of receiving written comments on the drafts from UNDP and partners.

Working arrangment

Institutional Arrangement

With overall reporting to the UNDP Country Director, the Consultant will work on day to day basis with KCL Project Manager and the Project Coordinator NEMA, and shall be supervised by the Team Leader, Energy and Environment Unit. The consultant will include travel costs and per diems within the country in their financial proposals. The Project Implementing partner will be responsible for liaising with the Evaluation team to set up stakeholder interviews, arrange field visits and coordinate with Government. The planning and the administrative arrangements for the MTR will be done in collaboration with the UNDP Head Quarters and the RTA. UNDP will support organization of stakeholder workshops to review the report.

The Consultant will liaise, interact, and collaborate/meet with officials from District Local Governments of Kaabong, Kotido, Abim, Otuke, Agago and Kitgum as well as relevant Central Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies.

UNDP will support the Consultant in the following areas:

Access to required information (copy of project document, Annual Work plans, Progress reports and other project related reports);
Access to UNDP Office and its infrastructure (e.g conference room and internet while at UNDP);
Support and assistance to gain access to relevant stakeholders for consultations;
Transport for visits both within Kampala and in the field (for official purposes only);
UNDP Kampala and the Project Office will coordinate the study and keep abreast of the mission’s activities during the consultant’s stay.

Reporting Arrangements
The National Consultant will report to NEMA on all technical obligations and to UNDP on all contractual obligations.

Competencies

Excellent Analytical Skills;
Positive, constructive attitude towards work;
Ability to act professionally and flexibly to engage with government officials, donor representatives, and local communities.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

MSc degree in natural resources management, Agriculture, climate change adaptation/ mitigation, socio-economic development or related fields.

Experience:

At lease 7 years of experience in natural resources management, Agriculture, climate change adaptation/ mitigation, socio-economic development or related fields;
Familiarity with Biodiversity conservation related projects in Uganda and particularly the national parks and community wildlife management areas, either through managing or evaluating donor-funded projects;
Substantive knowledge of participatory M&E processes is essential, and experience with CBOs/community development processes; design, implementation and/or management of community and local level sustainable livelihoods initiatives and country experience in Uganda are advantages;
A good wealth of experience in the evaluation of technical assistance projects, if possible with UNDP or other UN development agencies and major donors, is required;
A demonstrated understanding of UNDP principles and expected impacts in terms of poverty reduction and sustainable development is essential;
Familiarity and knowledge of the UN Convention to Conserve Biodiversity, and knowledge of integrated approaches to drylands development and capacity development for management of Biodiversity loss would be an asset;
Excellent English writing and communication skills;
Demonstrated ability to assess complex situations in order to analyse critical issues succinctly and clearly and draw forward-looking conclusions;
Experience in supporting small multi-disciplinary, multi-national teams to deliver quality products in high stress, short deadline situations;
Experience of working with Local Governments and Community Based Organisations in the areas of Natural Resource Management is an advantage.

Language:

Excellent spoken and written English.

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

Payment to the Consultant will be made in two instalments upon satisfactory completion of the following deliverables;

30% of the contract amount upon submission of an acceptable inception report;
70% of the contract amount upon submission, presentation and approval of finall evaluation report.

Evaluation of proposals (Method and Criteria)

The Individual Consultant will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis

The award of the contract shall 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. 70%-30%;
Technical Criteria weight; [70%];
Financial Criteria weight; [30%].

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation
Technical Criteria – Maximum 100 points.
Expertise of the Individual – 30 Points.
Description of approach/methodology to assignment – 70 Points.

Application Procedure

The candidate is required to submit an electronic application directly uploaded on the UNDP jobs website with all the requirements as listed here below. Annexes and further information may be downloaded on http://procurement-notices.undp.org/. (Reference # 26134)

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications in one single PDF document to this website - http://http://jobs.undp.org (Ref no.61072).

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP (Annex II);
Personal CV, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.

Technical proposal:

Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
A methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment;
Financial proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided (Annex II);
Annexes 1 and II - may be downloaded from the UNDP Procurement Notices Website - http://procurement-notices.undp.org/ - under reference # 26134. For further clarifications, please contact; fredah.zawedde@undp.org; justine.naiga-bagonza@undp.org and diana.nabbanja@undp.org

Interested applicants should submit applications through uploading of all their required documentation in one single pdf document on this website only.