Historique

N.B.

Applications through UNDP jobs will not be accepted, only to the procurement.cv@cv.jo.un.org email address.

Objective and scope

The project was designed to conserve globally significant terrestrial and marine biodiversity in priority ecosystems of Cape Verde through a protected area system’s approach. The project’s objective is to consolidate and strengthen Cabo Verde’s protected areas (PA) System through the establishment of new terrestrial and marine PA units and the promotion of participatory approaches to conservation.

In partnership with the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Government of Cabo Verde is currently implementing an integrated programme which aims at conserving globally significant biodiversity in Cabo Verde through the consolidation of the national system of protected areas (PAs). The programme is the second phase of a protected areas program. It is also expected to contribute to halting and reversing existing degradation of land and water resources within the protected areas and adjacent landscapes at the same time that it promotes the creation of income-generating alternative livelihood options for local communities that live in the surroundings of the PAs.

The programme is implemented by the Ministry of Environment, Housing and Land Planning through the General Direction of Environment (DGA) on the basis of national implementation modalities (NIM) and the support of UNDP as GEF implementing agency. DGA is the institutional focal point, responsible for project implementation and facilitation of operational procedures with the Country Office of United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and other funding partners.

The project’s Phase II is to be implemented over a four-year period, having started in late 2010 and was completed in December 2014. The current phase focuses on strengthening and consolidating the country’s nascent PA System.

This approach rest on three main pillars:  First, strengthening of the institutional, policy and legal framework for PA system management, with particular respect to financial sustainability. Second, increasing the level of operationalization of sites so that Cabo Verde can gain experience in protected areas management and can avert direct threats to the biodiversity contained in PAs and MPAs; and third, widespread dissemination of stakeholder participation in PA management and different models piloted.

The key outcomes of the project are:

• The strengthening of the governance framework for the expansion, consolidation and sustainability of the National PA system;
• The enhancement of the management effectiveness at selected terrestrial and coastal/marine PAs; and
• The strengthening of PA’s sustainability through community mobilization, sectoral engagement and local capacity building for sustainable resource management within PAs/MPAs and adjacent areas

The programme is designed to significantly strengthen capacities for PA management in the country in its efforts to conserve the island’s ecosystems and undertake long-term adaptive management against potential future degradation of Cabo Verde’s environment. It is also expected to contribute to sustainable development and poverty alleviation in the project’s zone of influence as well as to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals.

The TE will be conducted according to the guidance, rules and procedures established by UNDP and GEF as reflected in the “Guidance for Conducting Terminal Evaluations of UNDP-Supported, GEF-Financed Projects” (2012). 

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 TE will provide an independent analysis of the efficiency and effectiveness of the project’s partners and their strategy in achieving project intended results. Terminal evaluation is expected as well to assess the relevance and sustainability of outputs as contributions to medium-term and longer-term outcomes.

For GEF Secretariat, TE promotes accountability for achievement of GEF objectives through the assessment of results, effectiveness, processes, and performance of the partners involved in GEF activities. 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 Terminal Evaluation is intended to identify weaknesses and strengths of the project design and implementation strategy to come up with recommendations to avoid or address similar issues in future projects to be implemented by DG Environment, UNDP and/or any other national partners and stakeholders.

The TE must provide evidence based information that is credible, reliable and useful.  The evaluation team is expected to follow a participatory and consultative approach ensuring close engagement with government counterparts, in particular the GEF operational focal point, UNDP Country Office, project team, implementing partner, UNDP GEF Regional Technical Adviser and key stakeholders.

The evaluation mission will also identify lessons learnt and best practices from the project which could be applied to future and other on-going projects. The international consultant for this evaluation is expected to identify lessons learnt and best practices from other protected areas and biodiversity conservation & protected Areas projects that could guide technical recommendations and improvements, specially targeting the “ Mainstreaming biodiversity conservation into the tourism sector in synergy with a further strengthened protected areas system in Cabo Verde” project - currently under preparation- as well as the SGP interventions on the biodiversity focal area.

In summary, the project Terminal Evaluation has as its main objectives:

• To ensure accountability for the achievement of the GEF objective;
• To enhance organizational and development learning;
• To enable informed decision-making.

The scope of the Terminal Evaluation will cover all activities undertaken in the framework of the project. The evaluators will compare planned outputs of the project to actual outputs and assess the actual results to determine their contribution to the attainment of the project outcomes and objectives.

The evaluation should cover at minimum the five evaluation criteria considered by UNDP Evaluation Office:

The conclusions should be comprehensive and balanced, and highlight the strengths, weaknesses and outcomes of the project. They should be well substantiated by the evidence and logically connected to the terminal evaluation findings. They should respond to key evaluation questions and provide insights into the identification of and solutions to important problems or issues pertinent to project beneficiaries, UNDP, DG Environment (acting as implementing agency) and GEF.

The recommendations should be feasible and directed to the intended users of the evaluation about what actions to take and decisions to make. The recommendations should be specifically supported by the evidence and linked to the findings and conclusions around key questions addressed by the evaluation.

The terminal evaluation report should also include, if available, lessons that can be taken from the evaluation, including best (and worst) practices that can provide knowledge gained from the particular circumstance (programmatic and evaluation methods used, partnerships, financial leveraging, etc.) that are applicable to other  GEF and UNDP interventions, especially for the mainstreaming biodiversity conservation in tourism and fisheries project, but also for general PA management and DG Environment programming and implementation.

The evaluation assessment should cover, at minimum, 3 general areas/categories, for which conclusions and recommendations should be provided and lessons learned identified:

• Project formulation;
• Project implementation;
• Project results.

Interested candidates are required to read the Procurement Notice for Individual Consultants and its related documents, which are available in the following websites:

• UN Cape Verde website, www.un.cv, under the section Anúncios;
• the UNGM website at www.ungm.org; and
• UNDP Procurement website at http://procurement-notices.undp.org.

Devoirs et responsabilités

An overall approach and method[1] for conducting project terminal evaluations of UNDP supported GEF financed projects has developed over time. 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, GEF-financed Projects.    A  set of questions covering each of these criteria have been drafted and are included with this TOR (Annex C) The evaluator is expected to amend, complete and submit this matrix as part of  an evaluation inception report, and shall include it as an annex to the final report. 

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 with government counterparts, in particular the GEF operational focal point, UNDP Country Office, project team, UNDP GEF Technical Adviser based in the region and key stakeholders. The evaluator is expected to conduct a field mission to Cabo Verde including the following potential project islands: S.Antão, S.Vicente, Fogo, and Sal e Boavista. Interviews will be held with the following organizations and individuals at a minimum: beneficiaries, the Project Managers, institutional partners, Finance and Operation Manager & project assistant at UNDP CO, Directorate General of Environment, finance Officer and Program Officer at executing partner.

The evaluator will review all relevant sources of information, such as the project document, project reports – including Annual APR/PIR, project budget revisions, midterm review, progress reports, GEF focal area tracking tools, project files, national strategic and legal documents, and any other materials that the evaluator considers useful for this evidence-based assessment. A list of documents that the project team will provide to the evaluator for review is included in Annex B of this Terms of Reference.

The Terminal Evaluation will be conducted in a participatory manner working on the basis that its essential objective is to assess the project implementation and impacts in order to provide basis for improvement in the implementation and other decisions.

The mission will start with a desk review of project documentation and relevant country and GEF Focal area strategic documents and also take the following process:

• Desk review of project document, outputs, monitoring reports, such as Project Inception Report, Minutes of Project Board meetings and Technical Support and Advisory Team meetings, Project Implementation Review ( PIR), MTR final report and management responses, Quarterly Progress Reports, M&E framework, mission reports and other internal documents including financial reports and relevant correspondence;
• Review of specific products including datasets, management and action plans, publications, audiovisual materials, technical packages, consultancies reports and other materials and reports;
• Interviews with the Project Managers (project coordinator & site or island-wide office coordinators technical specialist and other project staff
• Interview with Program Officers in charge of project oversight  at UNDP CO;
• Interview with project institutional partners (list to be detailed):
• Finance and Operation Manager & project assistant at UNDP CO intervening in disbursement process, cash advances and justification
• Interview with project executing agency:  Directorate General of Environment; finance Officer and Program Officer at executing partner;
• Field visits (considering that the project islands are: S.Antão, S.Vicente, Fogo, Sal e Boavista, and one ample can be considered)  to conduct consultations and/or interviews with relevant stakeholders involved, including government’s representatives, local communities, NGO’s, private sector, donors, other UN agencies and organizations.
• Field visit to sample project sites with the purpose of interviewing project local partners and beneficiaries (community associations, local officials, school managers, etc.). Focus-group, questionnaires or any other appropriated participatory techniques for gathering information should be proposed and utilized as needed.

The evaluation report minimum contents and outline will be discussed with evaluation team at the beginning of their assignment. They will, at minimum the evaluation findings and ratings, as required by UNDP/GEF guidelines for TE.  How the information has been obtained and analyzed should be specifically explained and all statements should be properly detailed, supported and explained.

[1] For additional information on methods, see the Handbook on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for Development Results, Chapter 7, pg. 163.

Compétences

Corporate:

• Integrity and fairness - embodies UN values and promote the well-being of all individuals regardless of gender, religion, race, nationality, or age.

Functional:

• Demonstrate ability to assess complex situations, succinctly distils critical issues, and draw forward-looking conclusions and recommendations;
• Ability and experience to lead multi-disciplinary and national teams, and deliver quality reports within the given time;
• Excellent in human relations, coordination, planning and team work;
• Excellent feedback-giving skills and culture sensitiveness;
• Demonstrate ability to assess complex situations, succinctly distils critical issues, and draw forward-looking conclusions and recommendations.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Education:

• International consultant with academic and professional background in fields related to Biodiversity Conservation and Protected Areas Management.

Experiences:

• A minimum of 5 years of relevant experience is required;
• Substantive experience in reviewing and evaluating similar projects, preferably those involving UNDP/GEF or other United Nations development agencies or major donors;
• Highly knowledgeable of participatory monitoring and evaluation processes, and experience in evaluation of technical  assistance projects with major donor agencies;
• Familiarity with the challenges developing countries to develop, strengthen and  ensure sustainability of protected area system;
• Familiarity with Cabo Verde or similar SIDS ( Small Islands Developing States) countries.

Language:

• Excellent English writing and communication skills;
• Portuguese, French or Spanish reading and communication skills.

Other:

• The consultant must bring his/her own computing equipment.

Appliction procedure:

All applications including P11 form, CV, and technical and financial proposals should be submitted to the email address, procurement.cv@cv.jo.un.org indicating the following reference “International Consultant for “Terminal Evaluation – Consolidation of the Cape Verde’s Protected Area system” by 6th March COB. Incomplete applications will be excluded from further consideration.

Recommended Presentation of Proposal:

• Cover Letter;
• Curriculum Vitae (CV) and P11 form;
• Proposed evaluation methodology, approach to conduct on the field mission and desk-review phase and work plan;
• Financial proposal, including proposed fee and all other travel related costs (such as flights tickets (international and national), living allowance, etc.).
• Sample of executive summary of a Terminal evaluation, mid-term review or any other type of evaluation report leaded by the applicant.

Interested consultant are required to read the Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice, which can be viewed at http://www.un.cv/anuncios.php for more detail information about the Terms of Reference, IC Procurement Notice, and the documents to be included when making the submission.

Application Procedure:

All applications including P11 form, CV, and technical and financial proposals should be submitted to the following email address: procurement.cv@cv.jo.un.org indicating the following reference “International Consultant for “Terminal Evaluation – Consolidation of the Cape Verde’s Protected Area system” by 6th March. Incomplete applications will be excluded from further consideration.

Proposals must include all five documents. Proposals not meeting this requirement will be rejected.

Note for Interested Candidates above the age of 62: UNDP regulations require, at their own cost, to undergo a full medical examination including x-rays. Medical evaluation documentation does not need to be submitted with the other requested documents listed above, but will be requested should the candidate be chosen.

Please be informed that we don’t accept application submitted via UNDP JOBS site. Only applications emailed to procurement.cv@cv.jo.un.org  .

Criteria for Evaluation of Proposal:  Only those applications which are responsive and compliant will be evaluated.  Offers will be evaluated according to the Combined Scoring method – where the educational background, experience on similar assignments and technical proposal for evaluation will be weighted at 70% and the price proposal will weigh as 30% of the total scoring.  The applicant receiving the Highest Combined Score that has also accepted UNDP’s General Terms and Conditions will be awarded the contract.

UNDP applies a fair and transparent selection process that will take into account the competencies/skills of the applicants as well as their financial proposals. Qualified women and members of social minorities are encouraged to apply.