Background

United Nations Office for South South Cooperation (UNOSSC) is conducting a final evaluation of its Strategic Framework (SF) 2018-2021 considered by the UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS Executive Board in 2018 by hiring a team of independent external evaluators. The Final Evaluation of SF 2018-2021 focuses on assessment of the established goal and the developmental and institutional results in the SF. This evaluation is summative, as it assesses the work of UNOSSC under current SF since 2018, and formative, as its conclusions and recommendations will be used in informing implementation of the next UNOSSC SF 2022-2025. The evaluation will be shared on the UNDP Evaluation Resource Center accessible for all.

During the current SF cycle, the Second High-level United Nations Conference on South-South Cooperation, known as BAPA+40 Conference, was organized in 2019. In the BAPA+40 Outcome Document, Member States recognize that South-South and triangular cooperation contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and to achieving the overarching goal of eradication of poverty in all its forms and dimensions[1]. The BAPA+40 Outcome document reaffirms the mandate and the central role of the UNOSSC as the focal point for promoting and facilitating South-South and triangular cooperation for development on a global and United Nations system-wide basis. In the Decisions of 20th High Level Committee on South South Cooperation, the Member States requested the UNOSSC to improve the impact as well as strengthen the efficiency, effectiveness and transparency of the Office[2]. At the beginning of 2020, the world began to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic disrupted supply chains and triggered a steep increase in health and socio-economic crisis across the Globe. The pandemic affected the Southern countries adversely that consist of approximately 83% of the world population and 40.51% of the world GDP[3]. These events are crucial for UNOSSC’s mandates and positioning in changing global, regional and national development landscapes.

The overarching goal of the UNOSSC SF 2018-2021 is to support Member States’ efforts to achieve the eradication of poverty in all its forms and to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment so as to achieve the 2030 Agenda through enhanced South-South cooperation, including triangular cooperation[4]. To achieve this goal, the UNOSSC SF focused on three strategic outcomes and seven outputs. The three outcomes include: i) Strengthened multilateral policymaking processes to advance Southern interests and development agenda, and enhanced coherence and coordination of United Nations support. ii) Capacities of Member States, the United Nations system and other partners in South-South and triangular cooperation strengthened through enhanced generation and sharing of knowledge and access to high-quality advisory services. iii) South-South and triangular cooperation partnership initiatives and demand driven programmes facilitated to address sustainable development needs of developing countries.

To deliver the planned results, UNOSSC operationalized a set of work-programmes and cross-cutting services, which are summarized below:

UNOSSC Work-programmes:

1. Intergovernmental processes facilitation and reporting: UNOSSC continued to serve as secretariat to High-Level Committee on South-South Cooperation and supporting the Second Committee of General Assembly, and produced mandated reports for inter-governmental processes.
2. Capacity development of Member States and UN Entities: UNOSSC continued to support in building capacity of Member States and UN Entities through development UN system wide strategy, and organizing trainings/workshops/Events including DG Forum, Global South-South Expo etc. 
3. Regional Initiatives/Offices: Three Regional Offices continued to coordinate UNOSSC’s works and deliver services to Member States, UN Entities and other partners.
4. Knowledge and Research: Continued co-creation of knowledge with wide range of stakeholders including Member States, UN Entities and other partners, dissemination and brokering of knowledge through Artificial Intelligence powered South-South Galaxy established in 2019. Supported to bring the Southern voices in the forefront through commissioning number of researches with Southern Think Tanks.
5. Trust Funds Management and demand-driven programmes/initiatives: UNOSSC continued to manage three Trust Funds namely Perez Guerrero Trust Fund (established in 1986); UN Fund for South-South Cooperation (established in 1995); IBSA Fund (established 2004). Among the UNOSSC managed trust funds, UN Fund for South-South Cooperation serves as a pooled funding mechanism with multiple contributing partners. It is also an umbrella fund that hosts the sub-funds such as India-UN Development Partnership Fund (established in 2017), the facility supported by Republic of Korea, the global projects supported by People’s Republic of China, and various demand-driven programmes/initiative supported by grants received from Member States and partners organizations. UNOSSC also supported the Member States in responding the COVID-19 pandemic through facilitating most needed medical supplies and grants for socio-economic recovery.   

Cross-cutting Services:

1. Strategic partnerships and communications: These services focus to increase the understanding, visibility, and engagement in South-South and triangular cooperation agenda and also the promotion of office’s advocacy efforts and dissemination of results and lessons.
2. Operations support: UNOSSC enabled its capacity in programme management support and operations during the SF 2018-2021 responding the increase in businesses especially upsurge in Trust Funds.
3. Result Management: UNOSSC enabled its capacity in result management in later part of 2019 responding increase of business especially upsurge in Trust Funds, and corporate requirements in establishing and implementing result-based management system in the office.   

To support the implementation of UNOSSC SF 2018-2021, UNDP allocated $ 26.2 million from regular resources, and UNOSSC planned to mobilize $ 50 million from other resources. Outcome-wise resource allocation was made to Outcome one: $11.11 million; Outcome two: $14.84 million; and Outcome tree: $38.65 million.

As per ATLAS data, during the SF 2018-2021, UNOSSC received $ 105.37 million [$ 23.33 million from regular resources; and $ 82.40 million from other resources] and delivered $65.82 million[5] [$ 23.33 million from regular resources; and $ 42.55 million from other resources]. Most of the unspent other resources received under the UNOSSC managed Trust Funds are already allocated to the multi-year projects approved by the respective Trust Fund Board.

[1] BAPA+40 Outcome Document (para 27 h)

[2] Decisions of 20th High Level Committee on South South Cooperation

[3] UNCTAD Stats

[4] UNOSSC Strategic Framework 2018-2021

[5] 2021 delivery calculated with estimation

Duties and Responsibilities

SCOPE OF WORK, RESPONSIBILITIES AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED ANALYTICAL WORK

The evaluation Team will consist two independent external consultants namely i) an Evaluation Team Leader; and ii) a South-South cooperation Specialist – Evaluation Team Member.

1. Evaluation Team Leader (45 working days): the candidate will bring at least 10 years of extensive and proven experiences in evaluating international development policies and programmes including large-scale global programmes and/or strategic plans of UN Entities. S/he will provide overall leadership and coordination to the evaluation including evaluation design, data collection and analysis, status progress reporting, report writing, and submission of high-quality deliverables.2. 
2. South-South Cooperation Specialist - Evaluation Team Member (42 working days): the candidate will bring at least 10 years of extensive experience in research/evaluation on South-South cooperation including triangular cooperation issues, trends, polices and/or programmes. S/he will serve as a South-South cooperation subject matter expert and work with the Evaluation Team Leader in successfully commissioning the planned evaluation. The specialist will also bring strong quantitative data collection and analysis skills in the evaluation team.

Purpose and objectives of the evaluation:

The purpose of this evaluation is to strengthen UNOSSC’s accountability to its partners and stakeholders; to support organizational learning; and to inform the implementation of the next strategic framework 2022-2025. The users of the evaluation are the UNOSSC staff at all levels, the UNDP/UNFPA/UNOPS Executive Board, UNDP, other UN agencies and partners.

The key objectives of the evaluation are as follows:

• To assess results delivered on the UNOSSC SF 2018-2021 goals, outcomes and outputs.
• To identify contextual, strategic and operational factors that enabled the delivery of results and document challenges and lessons learned while implementing the SF 2018-2021.
• To provide recommendations for UNOSSC consideration in implementing the next SF 2022-2025, and enhance theory of change of the next SF 2022-2025.

Scope and Key Evaluation Questions

The scope of the evaluation covers the period 2018 to 2021. The scope encompasses the overarching goal of the Strategic Framework as well as the organizational performance under it. The goal and performance are considered in light of the changing context for UNOSSC including adoption of SDGs, BAPA+40 Outcome Document and UN System Wide Strategy on South-South and Triangular Cooperation as well as impact of COVID-19 pandemic. The evaluation will specifically consider how the strategic framework was operationalized, planned results were progressed, and the institutional arrangement became effective and efficient in achieving planned results.

The evaluation will assess:

• To what extent the SF is recognized within the office and by the partners as a guide for UNOSSC work-programmes to help Member States in achieving their development goals, especially implementing the SDGs through leveraging South-South and triangular cooperation?
• What level the results as envisioned in the SF have been achieved and how?
• How changes in the external environment have affected programme results, including the introduction of SDGs and BAPA+40 outcome document, and the uncertainty due to COVID-19 pandemic?
• What extent the internal environment in UNOSSC including organizational setting and business model helped to accelerate the achievement of planned outcomes of the SF?
• Extend to which UNOSSC has promoted gender equality and women’s empowerment through its work in achieving the SF outcomes and its organizational performance?

Key evaluation questions

The evaluation will be commissioned in line with the criteria set out in the UNDP Evaluation Guidelines – Coherence, Relevance, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Adaptability and Sustainability. In addition, the evaluation will also assess South-South approaches embedded into the design and implementation of the SF. Within these criteria, the key evaluation questions are derived to meet the purpose and objectives of the evaluation. Assessment of the SF 2018-2021 will also help to inform the implementation of the next UNOSSC SF 2021-2025.

Evaluation Methodology

The evaluation team is expected to propose a sound evaluation methodology (including detailed data collection methods to answer each evaluation questions) and submit to UNOSSC in the inception report. However, it is suggested that the evaluation team should use a mixed-method approach – collecting and analyzing both qualitative and quantitative data using multiple sources in order to draw valid and evidence-based findings, lessons and conclusions and practical recommendations. The evaluation team will review all the relevant reports providing secondary data collected by UNOSSC, UN entities, and relevant organizations, and also collect primary data through semi-structured interviews/focused group discussions, small scale survey and case study methods. The evaluation team should ensure triangulation of the various data, where possible, to ensure maximum validity and reliability of evaluation findings, conclusions, lessons and recommendations. Method proposed to be used by the evaluation shall include, but not be limited to:

Evaluation Phases

Phase 1: Preparatory inception (February 2022)

This phase will include consultations with the UNOSSC Management and Team Leaders to further map issues to be assessed and to identify relevant documents, literatures and stakeholders to consult. During inception, a theory of change/logic model of the Strategic Framework (2018-2021) to be elaborated, and tools for data collection and analysis to be developed.

Phase 2: Desk Review (February-March 2022)

This phase will include both programmatic and financial documents analysis to draw trends of the SF implementation. Desk Review will also attempt to further detail the theory of change/logic model and assumptions to be tested, which will inform the evaluation’s analysis. This review will provide an assessment of the potential range and quality of the secondary data available for use by the evaluation, including an identification of key gaps to be addressed with additional data collection. It will also help to determine the extent and coverage of evaluative evidence available for the design of the selected case studies.

Phase 3: Primary Data Collection (March - April 2022)

Due to COVID-19, the interviews and focused group discussions will be organized via teleconference. The respondents will be selected considering gender and regional representations. Selected case studies will be documented through in-depth interviews/focused group discussions with relevant stakeholders via teleconference. Small scale survey with partners and stakeholders may be considered to enhance availability of the evidence. Case studies will be collected covering each domain of changes/work programme mentioned in the TOR that provide in-depth analysis and evidence.

Phase 4: Analysis and Quality assurance (May 2022 – June 2022)

• Analysis, report writing, and triangulation of the evidence will focus to credibly respond the evaluation questions, as well as to assess – what extent the recommendations of the previous SF (2014-2017) final evaluation and SF (2018-2021) mid-term review were implemented. As indicated in the SF, the analysis will also explore to ascertain how UNOSSC has helped to bring about changes in human development conditions including through the behavior of people or institutions targeted under this framework. Synthesis of the analysis and findings will feed conclusions in response to the evaluation questions and forward-looking recommendations. This stage will review and improve the theory of change of UNOSSC Sf 2022-2025.
• Quality assurance of the report will be conducted in line with UNDP Evaluation Policy and Guidelines. The draft report will be first reviewed by UNOSSC Management and subsequently by an Evaluation Advisory Group.
• Factual corrections and will be provided by UNOSSC Staff members reviewing a semi-final draft report before a final draft is submitted.

Expected outputs and deliverables

The evaluation team is expected to produce the following deliverables:

1. Inception report: It will elaborate the proposed evaluation methodology in detailed including sources of data, and data collection and analysis tools and procedures. The inception report should be produced, reviewed and agreed before the evaluation starts.
2. Phase-wise progress as indicated in this TOR should be submitted to UNOSSC.
3. Debriefing meeting (1) will be organized with UNOSSC staff and key stakeholders to present preliminary findings, conclusions and recommendations.
4. Draft Evaluation report will contain the same sections as the final report and follow the report structure suggested in the UNDP Evaluation Guidelines. All the collected primary data and case studies, performed analysis, documents reviewed, stakeholders consulted, data sources etc. should be included into annex.
5. Review and improvement of UNOSSC SF 2022-2025 theory of change.
6. Debriefing Meeting (2): a meeting will be organized with UNOSSC staff and key stakeholders to present final findings, conclusions and recommendations.
7. Final Evaluation report will follow the structure suggested in the UNDP Evaluation Guidelines. The final report will include detailed annexes and reviewed/improved theory of change of UNOSSC SF 2022-2025 as separate documents.

Evaluation Management Arrangements

The evaluation team will work under the guidance of the UNOSSC Director who will serve as a Manager of this evaluation. The Evaluation Manager will be supported by UNOSSC Deputy Director and UNOSSC Result Management Specialist in performing coordination and quality assurance of the works and deliverables related to this the evaluation.

UNOSSC will make the key relevant documents available to the evaluation team for review. UNOSSC shall also provide support to the evaluation team in scheduling key interviews and meetings related to the evaluation.

The evaluation team will provide status updates on the progress of evaluation implementation on weekly basis, which could either in brief written reports or in brief weekly meetings with the Evaluation Manager and his support team as mentioned above. UNOSSC will ensure that the evaluation is conducted in accordance with the Code of Conduct for Evaluation in the United Nations System, as approved by the members of the United Nations Evaluation Group.

Evaluation Advisory Group

An Evaluation Advisory Group will be formed – comprised of thematic area experts and evaluators that will review and comment on the overall design of the evaluation as set out in the TOR and provide a substantive review on the draft evaluation report.

Time frame for the evaluation

The evaluation is expected to start on 1 February 2022 and is foreseen to be completed by 30 June 2022.

Competencies

COMPETENCIES

Core values:

• Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modelling UN values and ethical standards;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Core competencies

• Demonstrates professional competence to meet responsibilities and post requirements and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results;
• Results-Orientation: Plans and produces quality results to meet established goals, generates innovative, practical solutions to challenging situations;
• Communication: Excellent communication skills, including the ability to convey complex concepts and recommendations, both orally and in writing, in a clear and persuasive style tailored to match different audiences;
• Teamwork: Ability to interact, establish and maintain effective working relations with a culturally diverse team;
• Client orientation: Ability to establish and maintain productive partnerships with national partners and stakeholders and pro-activeness in identifying of beneficiaries and partners’ needs and matching them to appropriate solutions.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic qualifications:

• A masters’ degree or equivalent (Ph. D. an asset) in evaluation, public policy, international relations, social sciences, economics or any other relevant fields. (Required)

Experience:

• At least 10 years of extensive experiences in evaluating international development policies and programmes including large-scale global programmes and/or strategic plans of UN Entities, and have demonstrated experiences in serving as an evaluation team leader. (required)
• Strong analytical and writing skills, with the ability to conceptualize, articulate, write and debate about the issues in international development. (Highly desirable).
• Demonstrated strong track-record of conducting evaluations/reviews of the effectiveness of development cooperation. This includes knowledge of the UN Norms and Standards for Evaluation. (Highly desirable).
• Experience of results-based monitoring and evaluation methodologies and developing or improving programme level theory of change. (Highly desirable)
• Experience in implementing a range of qualitative and quantitative data collection tools and methods. (Highly desirable)
• Very good knowledge of South-South cooperation and triangular cooperation issues, policies, practices, and programmes. (Distinct advantage)

Language:

• Fluency in written and spoken English is required;
• Working knowledge of another UN language would be an asset

Application Procedure

The application package containing the following (to be uploaded as one file):

• A cover letter with a brief description of why the Offer considers her/himself the most suitable for the assignment;
• Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects and specifying the relevant assignment period (from/to), as well as the email and telephone contacts of at least three (3) professional references; and
• An example/sample of previous similar work (Required) applications without this will not be considered.

Note: The above documents need to be scanned in one file and uploaded to the online application as one document.

Shortlisted candidates (ONLY) will be requested to submit a Financial Proposal.

• The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around the specific and measurable deliverables of the TOR. Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR, and deliverables accepted and certified by the technical manager. 
• The financial proposal must be all-inclusive and take into account various expenses that will be incurred during the contract, including: the daily professional fee; (excluding mission travel); living allowances at the duty station; communications, utilities and consumables; life, health and any other insurance; risks and inconveniences related to work under hardship and hazardous conditions (e.g., personal security needs, etc.), when applicable; and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services under the contract.
• This consultancy is a home-based assignment, therefore, there is no envisaged travel cost to join duty station/repatriation travel. 

• In the case of unforeseeable travel requested by UNDP, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between UNDP and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed. In general, UNDP should 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.
• If the Offeror 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 a Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.

The Financial Proposal is to be emailed as per the instruction in the separate email that will be sent to shortlisted candidates.

Evaluation process

Applicants are reviewed based on Required Skills and Experience stated above and based on the technical evaluation criteria outlined below.  Applicants will be evaluated based on cumulative scoring.  When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Being 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 where technical criteria weighs 70% and Financial criteria/ Proposal weighs 30%.

Technical evaluation - Total 70% (70 points):

• Criteria 1. Quality and relevance of sample works submitted for review Weight = 10%; Maximum Points: 10;
• Criteria 2. Relevance and track-record of expertise in conducting evaluations of large scale global polices and/or strategic plans of UN Entities and demonstrated experiences in serving as an evaluation team leader. Weight = 15%; Maximum Points: 15;
• Criteria 3. Strong analytical and writing skills, with the ability to conceptualize, articulate, write and debate about the issues in international development. Weight = 7.5 %; Maximum Points: 7.5; and
• Criteria 4. Demonstrated skills and experience in facilitating stakeholder/working group consultations of diverse groups and building consensus on complex and sensitive issues Weight =7.5 % Maximum 7.5.

Having reviewed applications received, UNDP will invite the top three/four shortlisted candidates for interview. Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

• Interview: Weight = 30 %; Maximum Points: 30.

Candidates obtaining a minimum of 70% (49 points) of the maximum obtainable points for the technical criteria (70 points) shall be considered for the financial evaluation.

Financial evaluation - Total 30% (30 points)

The following formula will be used to evaluate financial proposal:

• p = y (µ/z), where
• p = points for the financial proposal being evaluated
• y = maximum number of points for the financial proposal
• µ = price of the lowest priced proposal
• z = price of the proposal being evaluated

Contract Award

Candidate obtaining the highest combined scores in the combined score of Technical and Financial evaluation will be considered technically qualified and will be offered to enter into contract with UNDP.

Institutional arrangement

The evaluation team will work under the guidance of the UNOSSC Director who will serve as a Manager of this evaluation. The Evaluation Manager will be supported by UNOSSC Deputy Director and UNOSSC Result Management Specialist in performing coordination and quality assurance of the works and deliverables related to this the evaluation.

UNOSSC will make the key relevant documents available to the evaluation team for review. UNOSSC shall also provide support to the evaluation team in scheduling key interviews and meetings related to the evaluation.

The evaluation team will provide status updates on the progress of evaluation implementation on weekly basis, which could either in brief written reports or in brief weekly meetings with the Evaluation Manager and his support team as mentioned above. UNOSSC will ensure that the evaluation is conducted in accordance with the Code of Conduct for Evaluation in the United Nations System, as approved by the members of the United Nations Evaluation Group.

The Consultant will be responsible for providing her/his own laptop.

Payment modality

• Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified above and deliverables accepted and upon certification of satisfactory completion by the manager. 
• The work week will be based on 35 hours, i.e. on a 7 hour working day, with core hours being between 9h00 and 18h00 daily.