Background

In accordance with UNDP and GEF M&E policies and procedures, all full and medium-sized UNDP support GEF financed projects are required to undergo a terminal evaluation upon completion of implementation. These terms of reference (TOR) sets out the expectations for the Terminal Evaluation (TE) of the full size project titled, Catalyzing the Sustainability of Thailand's Protected Area System (CATSPA) (PIMS #3825).

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective and Scope of Work:

The project aims to overcome barriers to sustainability of Thailand’s protected area (PA) system, by looking into effective management and sustainable financing of protected areas.

The project will also build the confidence and capacities of the PA management authorities and provide them with resources to test innovative PA management and financing schemes.  In addition, it will support development of appropriate incentives, establishment of an effective monitoring system, and community participation in conservation efforts.

Systemic barriers will be addressed at the national level, while demonstrations of strengthened PA management on the ground through sustainable financing will be done at demonstration sites.  These demonstrations will include, for example, developing novel models of PA management, increased participation by local communities and other stakeholders, and mobilization of diversified revenue sources, supported by improved knowledge-based planning and accounting systems.

Financial management capacity weaknesses and systemic barriers to effective management and budgeting will be addressed at the national level, while demonstrations of strengthened PA management, design of new financing mechanisms, and the increased use of improved models of PA management and co-management will be pursued at the four pilot sites.

The project objective is to overcome barriers to effective management and sustained financing of Thailand’s protected area system.  The key outcomes of this project are:

• Improved governance supports enabling environment for long term PA system;
• Institutional and Institutional and individual capacities enhanced;
• Revenue generation mechanisms and management approaches are assessed and tested at 5 PA demonstration sites leading to increased funding levels of the PA system;
• New models of PA management support effective management of the System.

The project is executed by the DNP under the Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment following UNDP guidelines for nationally executed projects (NEX). The Department of National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation implement the project and work in close cooperation with research institutes, communities, and national and local NGOs. The project has established a Project Board, a Project Management Unit (PMU), which is located at DNP, in Bangkok.

The TE will be conducted according to the guidance, rules and procedures established by UNDP and GEF as reflected in the UNDP Evaluation Guidance for GEF Financed Projects.

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.

Responsibilities of National consultant include:

• Documentation review and data gathering
• Contributing to the development of the review plan and methodology
• Conducting those elements of the evaluation determined jointly with the international consultant and UNDP
• Contributing to presentation of the review findings and recommendations at the wrap-up meeting
• Contributing to the drafting and finalization of the review report.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

The evaluation team is expected to deliver the following:

• Inception Report : Evaluator provides clarifications on timing and method

                    Timing : No later than 2 weeks before the evaluation mission: 15 July 2016

                     Responsibilities: Evaluator submits to UNDP CO

• Presentation: Initial Findings

                    Timing : End of evaluation mission: 26 Aug 2016

                    Responsilbilities: To project management, UNDP CO

• Draft Final Report: Full report, (per annexed template) with annexes

                    Timing : Within 3 weeks of the evaluation mission: 16 Sept 2016

                    Responsilbilities: Sent to CO, reviewed by RTA, PCU, GEF OFPs

• Final Report: Revised report

                    Timing: Within 1 week of receiving UNDP comments on draft: 14 Oct 2016

                    Responsilbilities: Sent to CO for uploading to UNDP ERC.

When submitting the final evaluation report, the evaluator is required also to provide an 'audit trail', detailing how all received comments have (and have not) been addressed in the final evaluation report. See Annex H for an audit trail template.

Institutional Arrangement: The consultant will work under the overall supervision of the Programme Specialist, Inclusive Green Growth & Sustainable Development, UNDP Thailand

Contract Duration: : 12 July 2016 - 31 October 2016 (up to 29 working days).

Duty Station: Home-based with travel to field missions to the project sites in Satun, Chiang Mai, Chonburi, Rayong and Chantaburi Provinces.            

Competencies

Functional:

• Multilateral and bilateral funded project development and implementation;
• Familiarity with Thailand national development policies, programs and projects.

Client Orientation:

• Contributing to positive outcomes for the client;
• Anticipates client needs;
• Works towards creating an enabling environment for a smooth relationship between the clients and service provider;
• Demonstrates understanding of client’s perspective.

Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

• Makes the case for innovative ideas documenting successes and building them into the design of new approaches;
• Identifies new approaches and strategies that promote the use of tools and mechanisms.

Core Competencies:

• Promoting ethics and integrity, creating organizational precedents;
• Building support and political acumen;
• Building staff competence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation;
• Building and promoting effective teams;
• Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication;
• Creating an emotionally intelligent organization;
• Leveraging conflict in the interests of UNDP & setting standards;
• Sharing knowledge across the organization and building a culture of knowledge sharing and learning;
• Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member;
• Fair and transparent decision making; calculated risk-taking.

Required Skills and Experience

The evaluation team will be composed of 2 independent consultants (1 team leader/ international evaluator and national evaluator).  The consultants shall have prior experience in evaluating similar projects.  Experience with GEF financed projects is an advantage. The evaluators selected should not have participated in the project preparation and/or implementation and should not have conflict of interest with project related activities. The International Consultant will serve as the Team Leader and will be responsible for the final deliverable of the TE inception report, draft report, and final report.

National consultant on Terminal Evaluation of Catalyzing the Sustainability of Thailand's Protected Area System or CATSPA shall have the following qualifications:

Education:

• A higher education degree (Bachelors level or higher) in environmental studies, development studies, social sciences, biological sciences, biodiversity conservation, environmental sciences, or a related subject.

 Experience:

• Minimum 10 years of experience in project development and implementation;
• Minimum 5 years of experience in project evaluation;
• Previous experience with results-based monitoring and evaluation methodologies;
• Familiarity with Thai national development policies, programmes and projects.

Language requirements:

• Good command of English both written and spoken.

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

Consultant must send a financial proposal based on Lump Sum Amount.

The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, travel costs, living allowance (if any work is to be done outside the IC´s duty station) and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment. The contract price will fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables/outputs and as per below percentages:

• Deliverable 1/ Submission and approval of submission and approval of inception report: 10% of total contract amount;
• Deliverable 2/ Submission and approval of the 1st draft terminal evaluation report: 40% of total contract amount;
• Deliverable 3/ Submission and approval (UNDP-CO and UNDP RTA) of the final terminal evaluation report : 50% of total contract amount.

In general, UNDP shall not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

In the event of unforeseeable travel not anticipated in this TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and the Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Evaluation Method and Criteria:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

Cumulative analysis

The award of the contract will 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 (70%) and financial criteria (30%) specific to the solicitation.

Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment. Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 350 technical points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 500 points)

• Criteria 1 - Education : max 150 points;
• Criteria 2- Work experience : max 100 points;
• Criteria 3 - Local/ Regional Experience : max 50 points;
• Criteria 4 - UN Experience : max 50 points;
• Criteria 5 - Other skills, languages and etc. max 30 points.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 350 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Documentation required

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document:

• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided in Annex 2.
• Personal CV and P11, 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.
• Financial proposal, that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price and all other travel related costs (such as flight ticket, per diem, etc), supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template attached to the Letter of Confirmation of Interest template.  If an applicant is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the applicant must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.
• Brief description of approach to work/ technical proposal of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a proposed methodology on how they will approach and complete the assignment; (max 1 page)

Incomplete proposals may not be considered.

More details can be found on the following website : http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=29610