Background
Since 2017, Uzbekistan has been implementing several reforms in the area of anti-corruption, which have resulted in significant improvement in the institutional and policy framework of the fight against corruption in the country. Progress has been made since the adoption of the Action Strategy 2017-2021 focusing on an efficient, responsive, transparent, and accountable public administration, and the state anti-corruption programmes for 2019-2020 with a range of corruption prevention measures. An important milestone of this reform was the establishment of the Anticorruption Agency of Uzbekistan in 2020. Due to these continued efforts, in the 2021 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) report, Transparency International considered Uzbekistan as one of the countries that have improved their CPI in the last 5 years. Despite significant achievements, the country has still a long way to go in curbing corruption and restoring citizens’ trust and confidence in government institutions, as there are commitments that are still to be met and challenges to be addressed.
Prevention of Corruption through Effective, Accountable, and Transparent Governance Institutions in Uzbekistan (PCEAT) Project was launched by UNDP Country office in Uzbekistan jointly with the Ministry of Justice of Uzbekistan on March 22, 2018, with policy and advisory support of UNDP’s Global “Anti-Corruption for Peaceful and Inclusive Societies” (ACPIS) project and UNDP’s Istanbul Regional Hub (IRH). The PCEAT project is the largest UNDP initiative on anti-corruption in Europe and the CIS region funded by the Government of Uzbekistan with a total budget of $8mln.
The project aims to provide anti-corruption policy and program support to Uzbekistan to prevent and curb corruption countrywide with a focus on strengthening the national corruption prevention system and monitoring the implementation of the UNCAC and OECD Istanbul Plan of Action in an integrated manner. The key output of the project is “Anti-corruption solutions, principles and tools are integrated with the public administration systems, public service delivery, civil service performance, the system of law-making and rule-making”. The implementation of the PCEAT project is supported by UNDP’s global and regional anti-corruption teams, who provide policy and programme support.
In particular, the PCEAT project aims to:
1. Provide legislative and policy support to integrate anti-corruption solutions in the process of law-making, rule-making, and policy advice.
2. Strengthen the capacity, knowledge and skills of civil servants to prevent corruption.
3. Support the digitalization of public service delivery and interaction in government entities to ensure the effective flow of documents and transparency of public services.
4. Promote a culture of intolerance towards corruption in society through knowledge and advocacy, and active cooperation between government, civil society and the private sector.
From October 2020 to January 2021, an independent international consultant carried out a mid-term review of the PCEAT project. Overall, the review concluded that the project implemented anti-corruption interventions and activities in line with Uzbekistan’s Action Strategy for 2017-2021, the State Anti-Corruption Programme of Uzbekistan 2019-2020 (the PCEAT project directly implemented 29 activities out of the program’s total of 35) and Uzbekistan’s commitments under the 2030 Agenda. Moreover, the review found that the ongoing anti-corruption reforms in Uzbekistan have created momentum for development partners to invest in and the project is stimulating this momentum and sustaining national stakeholders' interest by introducing best innovative practices and supporting concrete needs.
Duties and Responsibilities
For detailed TOR (terms of reference) please refer to the attachment in the notice via the link:
http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=97389
The FE (Final evaluator) will assess project performance against expectations set out in the project’s Logical Framework/Results Framework (see ToR Annex A). The FE will assess results according to the criteria outlined in the Guidance for TEs of UNDP projects (United Nations Development Programme - Evaluation Guidelines (undp.org).
The Findings section of the FE report will cover the topics listed below. A full outline of the FE report’s content is provided in ToR Annex C.
The asterisk “(*)” indicates the criteria for which a rating is required.
Findings
i. Project Design/Formulation
• National priorities and country drivenness
• Theory of Change
• Gender equality and women’s empowerment
• Social and Environmental Standards (Safeguards)
• Analysis of Results Framework: project logic and strategy, indicators
• Assumptions and Risks
• Lessons from other relevant projects (e.g. same focal area) incorporated into project design
• Planned stakeholder participation
• Linkages between project and other interventions within the sector
• Management arrangements
ii. Project Implementation
• Adaptive management (changes to the project design and project outputs during implementation)
• Actual stakeholder participation and partnership arrangements
• Project Finance and Co-finance
• Monitoring & Evaluation: design at entry (*), implementation (*), and overall assessment of M&E (*)
• Implementing Agency (UNDP) (*) and Executing Agency (*), overall project oversight/implementation and execution (*)
• Risk Management, including Social and Environmental Standards (Safeguards)
iii. Project Results
• Assess the achievement of outcomes against indicators by reporting on the level of progress for each objective and outcome indicator at the time of the FE and noting final achievements
• Relevance (*), Effectiveness (*), Efficiency (*) and overall project outcome (*)
• Sustainability: financial (*), socio-political (*), institutional framework and governance (*), environmental (*), overall likelihood of sustainability (*)
• Country ownership
• Gender equality and women’s empowerment
• Cross-cutting issues (poverty alleviation, improved governance, climate change mitigation and adaptation, capacity development, South-South cooperation, knowledge management, etc., as relevant)
• Catalytic Role / Replication Effect
• Progress to impact
Main Findings, Conclusions, Recommendations and Lessons Learned
• The FE consultant will include a summary of the main findings of the FE report. Findings should be presented as statements of fact that are based on analysis of the data.
• The section on conclusions will be written in light of the findings. Conclusions should be comprehensive and balanced statements that are well substantiated by evidence and logically connected to the FE findings. They should highlight the strengths, weaknesses and results of the project, respond to key evaluation questions and provide insights into the identification of and/or solutions to important problems or issues pertinent to project beneficiaries and UNDP, including issues in relation to gender equality and women’s empowerment.
• Recommendations should provide concrete, practical, feasible and targeted recommendations 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 FE report should also include lessons that can be taken from the evaluation, including best practices in addressing issues relating to relevance, performance and success that can provide knowledge gained from the particular circumstance (programmatic and evaluation methods used, partnerships, financial leveraging, etc.) that are applicable to other UNDP interventions. When possible, the FE consultant should include examples of good practices in project design and implementation.
• It is important for the conclusions, recommendations and lessons learned of the FE report to incorporate gender equality and empowerment of women.
Competencies
• Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity;
• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment, self-development, initiative-taking;
• Acting as a team player and facilitating teamwork;
• Managing conflict and facilitating and encouraging open communication, communicating effectively;
• Creating synergies through self-control;
• Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of others;
• Promoting learning and knowledge management/sharing is the responsibility of each staff member;
• Informed and transparent decision-making.
Required Skills and Experience
Education:
• Master’s degree in public administration, law, political science, finance, economics, international relations, development studies, or related field.
Experience:
• At least 10 years of working experience in monitoring and evaluation and (in addition) policy support, programme management or design of governance and anti-corruption programmes/projects;
• A prior record of producing research studies (preferably in governance and anti-corruption),
• A prior record of conducting mid-term or final evaluations related to governance and preferably anti-corruption.
Language Requirements:
• Strong writing skills in English. Knowledge of Russian is an advantage.
Application Process:
Interested candidates need to apply online at www.jobs.undp.org and upload the requested documents (Technical Proposal, CV/P11 form, Offeror’s Letter of confirmation and Financial Proposal) in Part 6 of Procurement Notice no later than the end of January 20, 2023 (New York time). Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document. Your on-line application submission will be acknowledged to your email address provided in application. If you do not receive an e-mail acknowledgement within 24 hours of submission, your application may not have been received. In such cases, please resubmit the application, if necessary.
Link to the application at the UNDP Job Site - https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?cur_job_id=110831 (cut and paste into the browser address bar if the link does not work).
You can review detailed Procurement Notice, Terms of Reference, and download templates from the UNDP Procurement Notices Site following the link: http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=97389 (cut and paste into the browser address bar if the link does not work).
Applications submitted via email, incomplete applications, or received after the closing date (January 20, 2023) will not be given consideration.
Failure to submit the Financial Proposal by the deadline or without reference to the subject above will result in disqualification.
For more detailed information about UNDP Uzbekistan please visit our website at www.undp.org/uzbekistan. UNDP is an equal-opportunity employer. Qualified female candidates, people with disabilities, and minorities are highly encouraged to apply. UNDP Balance in Manage Policy promotes achievement of gender balance among its staff at all levels.