Background

The UNDP-EU NGOs project 'Strengthening Environmental Governance by Building the Capacity of Non-Governmental Organizations’ was designed to promote sustainable development and improved environmental management in neighbor countries to the East and to the South of the European Union through more effective civil society participation in environmental governance. The project aimed to improve NGOs capacity to participate in an informed and skilled manner in environmental policy formulation and natural resource management, collaborate in decision-making on key issues, and represent the interests of citizens and communities in the environment and sustainable development areas. By promoting coordination and knowledge exchange among NGOs and other partners the project aimed to have a wider influence on civil society capacity to engage with governments in the task of environmental governance.

The project worked through the established grant-making capacity and decentralized, country-driven programming of the GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP), implemented by UNDP. The specific objective of the project was to build the capacities of environmental NGOs in at least six and up to thirteen countries in Eastern Europe and the Arab States to engage in environmental governance.Expected results include significant capacity improvement of at least three NGOs per participating country. The project was implemented in two phases, including the following group of countries: Armenia, Belarus, Ukraine, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, occupied Palestinian territory, Tunisia (phase 1); Algeria, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and Morocco (phase 2). The project was implemented through UNDP execution over a period of four years, starting in August 2012, when the contribution agreement for the EU-NGOs Project was signed between UNDP and the European Union.

In accordance with UNDP and EU M&E policies and procedures, all UNDP supported projects are required to undergo a terminal evaluation upon completion of implementation. 

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work

The objectives of the evaluation are to assess the achievement of project results, and to draw lessons that can both improve the sustainability of benefits from this project, and aid in the overall enhancement of UNDP programming.  

The scope of the evaluation will cover all activities undertaken in the framework of the project. The evaluator will compare planned outcomes of the project to actual outcomes and assess the actual results to determine their contribution to the attainment of the project objectives. It will also attempt to evaluate the efficiency of project management, including the delivery of outcomes and activities in terms of quality, quantity, timeliness and cost efficiency as well as features related to the process involved in achieving those outputs and the impacts of the project. The evaluation will also address the underlying causes and issues that contributed to targets not adequately achieved. The evaluator is expected to frame the evaluation effort using the criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and impact, as defined and explained in the UNDP Guidance for Conducting Terminal Evaluations of UNDP-supported Projects. An overall approach and method for conducting project terminal evaluations of UNDP supported projects can be found in Handbook on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for Development Results.

The evaluation must provide evidence-based information that is credible, reliable and useful. The evaluator is expected to follow a participatory and consultative approach ensuring close engagement and consultations with SGP National Coordinators (NCs), SGP National Steering Committees (NSCs), participating EU representatives, grantees, key stakeholders and government counterparts in the countries visited during field missions. Additional project participants and other key stakeholders (as specified above) from the remaining participating countries will be consulted by email and telephone as well as through appropriate survey techniques.

The evaluator will also interview the UNDP Project Manager, the donor (EC counterparts in Brussels), contact persons from the two responsible parties (UNOPS and UNDP Istanbul Regional Hub), and from the SGP Central Programme Management Team (CPMT). The evaluator will conduct field missions to four participating countries (one mission to each of the two regions, visiting two countries during each mission) to be selected at a later stage, based on a preliminary analysis of project experience to determine the most likely to provide significant and valuable lessons, and in discussion with the donor. This will be supplemented by the interviews and survey results involving the other stakeholders – local, national - not visited by the different missions. 

The evaluator will review all relevant sources of information, such as the project document, project reports, including Annual reports, project budget revisions, progress reports, project files, national strategic and legal documents, and any other materials that the evaluator considers useful for this evidence-based assessment (all provided by UNDP).

The Evaluation will assess they key financial aspects of the project, including the extent of co-financing planned and realized. Project cost and funding data will be required, including annual expenditures. Variances between planned and actual expenditures will need to be assessed and explained. Results from recent financial audits, as available, should be taken into consideration and potential irregularities should be raised and explained. The evaluator will receive assistance from the Country Office (CO) and Project Team to obtain financial data to complete the co-financing table, which will be included in the terminal evaluation report. 

The evaluator will assess the extent to which the project is achieving impacts or progressing towards the achievement of impacts. Key findings that should be brought out in the evaluations include how the project has helped to achieve EU policy objectives in the countries and region and whether the project has demonstrated verifiable improvements with respect to the EU-NGOs project’s Capacity Results Outcomes to enhance NGOs’/CSOs’ capacities for: a) engagement, b) generation, access and use of information and knowledge c) strategy, policy and legislation development, d) management and implementation, and e) monitoring and evaluating environmental impacts and trends. The evaluator will also asses the influence of this project on the wider civil society in the region/its multiplier effect, and the long term impacts of the project, while developing, if possible, indicators that would allow evaluating the long term impact of this project.

The evaluation report must include a chapter providing a set of conclusions, recommendations and lessons. 

These final conclusions, recommendations and lessons will be based on consultation with project participants, including national coordinators, EU representatives, NSC members, government counterparts and grantees in the participating countries visited as well as other key stakeholders. Additional consultations with participants from the remaining participating countries will be conducted through email and telephone interviews and will inform the conclusions, recommendations and lessons learned.

Expected outputs and deliverables:

The key product expected from the terminal evaluation is a comprehensive analytical report written in English and according to the provided outline.

The terminal evaluation report will be a stand-alone document that substantiates its conclusions, recommendations and lessons learned. The report will provide convincing evidence to support its findings/ratings.

The report, together with its annexes, will be submitted in electronic format in both, MS Word and pdf format.

The consultant is expected to deliver the following:

• Inception Report with detail methodology and approach of the Terminal Evaluation process. To be delivered no later than 2 weeks before the first evaluation mission (estimated mission dates: May-July 2016; to be agreed with Supervisor);
• Presentation on initial findings. To be delivered by the end of the evaluation mission;
• Draft Final Report: Full report as per required template and including annexes. To be delivered within 4 weeks of the final evaluation mission;
• Final Report (revised report), including an ‘audit trail’, detailing how all received comments have (and have not) been addressed in the final evaluation report. To be submitted within one week of receiving UNDP comments on draft.

All outputs will be reviewed and approved by the Project Manager

Payment schedule:

• Inception Report; no later than 2 weeks before the first evaluation mission- 30%;
• Presentation on initial findings; at the end of the evaluation mission- 10%;
• First Draft Terminal Evaluation Report; within 4 weeks of the final evaluation mission- 20%;
• Final Terminal Evaluation Report; within one week of receiving UNDP comments on draft- 40%.

Information on Working Arrangements:

• The consultant will work from home with mission travel; 
• The Consultant will be given access to relevant information necessary for execution of the tasks under this assignment;
• All templates and log frame will be provided by UNDP;
• The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own working station (i.e. laptop, internet, phone, scanner/printer, etc.) and must have access to a reliable internet connection;
• Payments will be made upon satisfactory delivery of outputs and submission of a certification of payment form, and acceptance and confirmation by the Project Manager on outputs delivered.

Travel:

• Two missions  may be required: One mission to each of the two regions, with four countries visited overall to be selected at a later stage in collaboration with the donor based on potential value to learning, with approximately 5 working days in each country; approx. 20 days in total (estimated mission dates: May-July 2016);
• The consultant should submit a request with all the meetings planned during each mission at least 7 working days prior to undertaking each mission;
• Any necessary missions must be approved in advance and in writing by the Supervisor;
• The Advanced and Basic Security in the Field II courses successfully completed prior to commencement of travel;
• Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director;
• Consultants are required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under https://dss.un.org/dssweb/;
• Consultants are responsible for obtaining any visas and security clearances needed in connection with travel with the necessary support from UNDP;
• The consultant will be responsible for making his/her own mission travel arrangements (including travel claims) in line with UNDP travel policies;
• All related travel expenses will be supported by the project travel fund and will be reimbursed as per UNDP rules and regulations upon submission of an F-10 claim form and supporting documents. Costs for airfares, terminal expenses, and living allowances should not be included in the financial proposal.

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 favoritism.

Technical Competencies:

• Demonstrated ability to coordinate processes to collate information and facilitate discussion and analysis of material;
• Technical competencies in undertaking complex evaluations which involve multiple countries and variety of stakeholders
• Demonstrated strong research and analytical skills

Communications:

• Excellent writing skills in English;
• Demonstrated knowledge of UN terms, language and style;
• Excellent communication skills and experience in conducting structured interviews with a variety of stakeholders;

Professionalism:

• Demonstrated ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure;
• Demonstrated excellent organizational skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced (Master or PhD) degree in environmental governance, public policy, development studies or any other related field (max 10 points).

Experience:

• Minimum 8 years of relevant professional experience (max 15 points);
• Knowledge of /experience with UNDP monitoring and evaluation policies and procedures (max. 10 points);
• Previous experience with results-based monitoring and evaluation methodologies (max. 10 points);
• Previous experience with environmental issues in the target regions (the Arab States and Europe and CIS- list of countries listed in the Background section of the TOR) will be an advantage (max. 5 points);
• Experience in evaluation of international donor driven development projects will be an advantage (max. 5 points);
• Proven experience with environmental governance (inter alia policy analysis, dialogue, negotiation, research, monitoring and assessment, civil society advocacy, coalitions and campaigns) and/or in the implementation of environmental policies (max. 10 points);
• Proven experience with environmental policy analysis and understanding of policy formulation processes in neighboring countries to the East and South of the European Union will be an advantage (max. 10 points);
• Experience with EU financed initiatives as well as evaluation of EU financed or UNDP supported projects will be an advantage (max.5 points).

Language:

• Excellent English writing and communication skills (max. 5 points);
• Working knowledge of French, Arabic or Russian will be an advantage (max. 5 points).

Evaluation method:

• Only those applications which are responsive and compliant will be evaluated.  Incomplete applications will not be considered;
• Offers will be evaluated according to the Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications will be weighted at 70% and the financial offer will be weighted at 30%;
• The technical criteria (education, experience, language [max 90 points] and methodology [max 20 points]) will be based on a maximum 110 points. Only the top 3 candidates that have achieved a minimum of 77 points from the review of the education, experience, languages, and methodology will be considered for the financial evaluation;
• Financial score (max 100 points) shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal of those technically qualified;
• The financial proposal shall specify a lump sum fee, including breakdown per deliverable as outlined above. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal must additionally include a breakdown of the fee (including number of anticipated working days and all foreseeable expenses to carry out the assignment and breakdown of fees; costs for mission travel should not be included in financial proposal);
• Applicant receiving the Highest Combined Score and has accepted UNDP’s General Terms and Conditions will be awarded the contract.

Documentation to be submitted:

• Applicants must submit a duly completed and signed UNDP Personal History form (P11) to be downloaded from the below link;
• Proposed Methodology for the Completion of Services.  The applicant must describe how s/he will address/deliver the demands of the assignment, providing a short high level description of the Implementation Plan and anticipated number of work days;
• Applicants must reply to the mandatory questions asked by the system when submitting the application.

Kindly note you can upload only one document to this application (scan all documents in one single PDF file to attach).

UNDP Personal History form (P11) required of all applicants:

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/library/corporate/Careers/P11_Personal_history_form.doc.

General Conditions of Contract for the ICs:

http://www.undp.org/content/dam/undp/documents/procurement/documents/IC%20-%20General%20Conditions.pdf.