Antecedentes

UNDP Global Mission Statement:

UNDP is the UN’s global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. We are on the ground in 166 countries, working with national counterparts on their own solutions to global and national development challenges.

 UNDP in Afghanistan:                               

UNDP supports stabilization, state-building, and governance and development priorities in Afghanistan. UNDP support, in partnership with the Government, the United Nations system, the donor community and other development stakeholders, has contributed to institutional development efforts leading to positive impact on the lives of Afghan citizens. Over the years UNDP support has spanned such milestone efforts as the adoption of the Constitution; Presidential, Parliamentary and Provincial Council elections; institutional development through capacity-building to the legislative, the judicial and executive arms of the state, and key ministries, Government agencies and commissions at the national and subnational levels. UNDP Programmes in Afghanistan have benefited from the very active support of donors. UNDP Afghanistan is committed to the highest standards of transparency and accountability and works in close coordination with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan and the UN system as a whole to maximize the impact of its development efforts on the ground.

The UNDP country programme document (CPD) for Afghanistan for 2010-2014 is designed to advance and deepen the progress made in the previous cycle in promoting stabilization, state building and governance, and strengthening democratic institutions in the country. It has been formulated in consultation with the Government and development partners and reflects the national development priorities articulated in the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) and the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) priorities, and takes into account that UNDP operates under the overall mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). Under the CPD, UNDP Afghanistan works to contribute towards the achievements of six development outcomes:

  • Capacity in state and non-state institutions increased to contribute to overall stabilization and peace-building;
  • Effectiveness of the justice system is improved and access to justice is increased;
  • The state has improved ability to deliver services to foster human development and elected bodies have greater oversight capacity;
  • The state and non-state institutions are better able to promote democratic participation and be accountable to the public;
  • Capacities of national and local governance bodies are improved for better natural resource and disaster risk management;
  • Increased opportunities for income generation through the promotion of diversified livelihoods, private sector development and public-private partnerships.
 In line with the Evaluation Plan of UNDP Afghanistan, an outcome evaluation will be conducted to assess UNDP contributions towards the progress made on outcome achievements. Specifically to this Terms of Reference, UNDP’s contributions towards the following outcome are to be evaluated:
  •  “The state has improved ability to deliver services to foster human development and elected bodies have greater oversight capacity.”
 Evaluation Purpose and Objectives:

The 2010-2013 CPD has been extended for another year until 2014 in concurrence with the extension of the UNDAF. The new UNDP Afghanistan Programme will start in 2015. The purpose of this evaluation is to take stock and evaluate UNDP contribution towards poverty reduction, sustainable livelihoods, and achieving MDGs as envisaged under the Outcome 6 in the CPD and CPAP. The evaluation findings will be mainly used to inform the planning, design, and formulation of the new Country Programme Document for UNDP Afghanistan, which will cover the period of 2015-2018. Therefore, this evaluation will need to be forward-looking; the findings and judgments made must be based on concrete evidence that will support UNDP’s strategic thinking for its new programme cycle, specifically in determining its strategic priories in supporting the Government in the area of poverty reduction and sustainable livelihoods.

 Another purpose of this evaluation is to provide inputs to the Assessment of Development Results exercise currently being carried out by the UNDP Evaluation Office.
  • The outcome evaluation will assist UNDP in gaining a better understanding of the following aspects of its interventions:
  • The extent to which the planned outcome and the related outputs have been, are being achieved, and likely to be achieved by end 2014;
  • The causal linkage by which outputs contribute to the achievement of the specified outcome;
  • concrete evidence of the UNDP contribution to the outcome including the use of case studies as a tool to explain results;
  • If and which programme processes e.g. strategic partnerships and linkages are critical in producing the intended outcome;
  • Factors that facilitate and/or hinder the progress in achieving the outcome, both in terms of the external environment and those internal to the portfolio interventions including: weaknesses in design, management, human resource skills, and resources;
  • Strategic values and comparative advantage of UNDP in contributing to the outcome;
  • Lessons learned from the implementation of the interventions;
 The Evaluation Team Leader will work under the overall guidance of Senior Deputy Country Director (Programme), UNDP Country Office in Afghanistan.

Deberes y responsabilidades

Roles and responsibilities:

The Evaluation Team Leader is responsible for overall coordination of the evaluation team, and for the overall quality and timely submission of the evaluation report to UNDP. Specifically, the Evaluation Team Leader will perform the following tasks:

  • Serve as the focal point of the evaluation in liaising with UNDP evaluation manager;
  • Lead and manage the evaluation mission;
  • Prepare, finalize, and lead the presentation of the inception report;
  • Decide the division of tasks and responsibilities within the evaluation team;
  • Draft and present the evaluation report and evaluation findings;
  • Finalize the whole evaluation report and submit it to UNDP;

The evaluation team is to evaluate the collective results of UNDP’s contributions towards strengthening democratic governance for service delivery in Afghanistan as implemented through various initiatives under the Outcome 6 of the current CPD/CPAP.

Programmatic scope:

Under this outcome, UNDP implements four key initiatives that are linked directly with this outcome as well as a number of other initiatives whose main focuses are in other areas but they also partly contribute towards this outcome.

The four key initiatives that directly contribute towards this outcome are:

  • National Institution Building Project (NIBP) – UNDP works mainly with the Independent Administrative Reform for Civil Service Commission (IARCSC) to provide capacity development (CD) support to Afghanistan Government at the national and sub-national levels. The project places international capacity development advisors and national capacity development officers in ministries and departments to provide CD support to civil servants. NIBP, implemented between 2010-2013, promotes “twinning arrangements” and partnerships between Afghanistan ministries and agencies with corresponding ministries and agencies of other countries to transfer specialized skills and experience. NIBP has three main outputs:
  • Institutional and organizational capacity of selected government entities strengthened by policy and strategy development and systems improvement through coaching and advisory services to improve service delivery and to support Public Administration Reform (PAR) objectives;
  • Institutional and organizational capacity development of selected government entities improved through coaching and advisory services in alignment with Civil Technical Assistance Plan;
  • PAR management and coordination capacity of IARCSC strengthened and institutional and policy support for implementing required training programmes for civil servants established.
 National State Governance Project (NSGP) – NSGP, covering the period of 2010-2013, works directly with the Office of the President (OoP) to enable more effective policy and decision making at the center of the government. The project focuses on improving organizational, management, and administrative effectiveness of the OoP; strengthening policy planning, analysis, monitoring, and coordination among relevant state actors; and improving the infrastructure and facilities of the OoP. NSGP works to deliver four outputs:
  • An enabling organizational environment is in place to support the operations and programs of the President’s Office;
  • Capacity of First Vice-President Office in planning and service delivery improved;
  • Strengthen the human and institutional capacity of the second Vice President to support the President in achieving his mandate;
  • Improved policy analysis and technical capacity of Council of Ministers and Cabinet Committees – Office of Administrative Affairs.
 Afghanistan Sub-National Governance (ASGP) – ASGP supports the Government in developing capacity and systems to ensure effective implementation of the governance strategies outlined in the ANDS under the Good Governance and Rule of Law pillar, and the Afghanistan Compact addressing the challenges identified for sub-national governance. ASGP is now in its second phase covering the period of 2010-2014. ASGP implements three outputs:
  • National systems, procedures, and legal frameworks to implement, coordinate, and monitor subnational governance policy are in place;
  • Provincial and District Governors’ Offices have the capacity to develop and lead the implementation of strategies for improving security, governance, and development in accordance with the Afghanistan National Development Strategy;
  • Democratically elected Municipal administrations are collecting revenues and delivering basic services under an improved organizational framework by 2014.
 Making Budgets and Aid Work (MBAW) - MBAW, now in its third phase, supports the Budget Department of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Finance, aiming at developing capacity, process, and systems to ensure effective implementation of the Government’s strategies in addressing challenges identified for improved public finance management, as outlined in the ANDS and Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board. MBAW also aims to contribute to the overall improvement of the country’s aid effectiveness. MBAW deliver three outputs:
  • Improved budget planning and management (the budget is comprehensive, policy-based, prepared in an orderly manner, and supportive of the national development strategy);
  • National policy and strategy development and coordination of external assistance aligned with Paris Declaration and ANDS implementation improved;
  • Improved Budget Execution and delivery management and sustainable Institutional capacity developed at MoF and Government Institutions.
 Geographical coverage:

NIBP works with the 25 key ministries and government agencies, centrally located in Kabul. It also reaches out and works with all civil training institutes and centers in all 34 provinces in Afghanistan.

 NSGP mainly works with the Office of the President, located in Kabul.
 
ASGP’s key project partners are the Independent Directorate of Local Governance and the Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Servant Commission, situated in Kabul. Through its provincial approach in the second phase, it has also established partnerships with each of the 34 provincial governors and also with provincial and municipalities on a demand-based basis.
 
MBAW works mainly with the Budget Department of the Ministry of Finance, located in Kabul.
 
This evaluation covers the entire geographical reach of all projects.
 
Target groups and stakeholders:

Target groups and stakeholders of UNDP’s interventions under these four projects vary depending on the planned results of each output but they are mainly the key government counterparts for each project.  

The overall evaluation TORs outlining the evaluation methodologies, criteria, and questions will be shared with the shortlisted candidates prior to the interview. But overall, outcome evaluations include four standard categories of analysis:

  • An assessment of progress towards the outcome;
  • An assessment of factors affecting the outcome;
  • An assessment of key UNDP contributions to outcomes;
  • An assessment of the partnership strategy used.
 During the outcome evaluation, the evaluation team is expected to apply a mixed-method approach collecting both quantitative and qualitative data to validate and triangulate data. The development of evaluation methodology will be done in close collaboration with UNDP, to be coordinated by UNDP Afghanistan’s Strategic Management Support Unit.
 
Deliverables:
 
The evaluation team is expected to produce the following deliverables:
  • Evaluation Inception Report detailing the evaluation team understands of what is being evaluated and why, an evaluation matrix outlining which data collection methodologies will be used to address each of the evaluation questions, a proposed schedule of tasks. A presentation of the inception report will be made to and discussed with UNDP. Please see Annex A for the minimum requirements of what to be included in the Inception Report. (Timeframe: 10 days after contract signed for draft Inception Report and 2 days after receiving feedback from UNDP for the final Inception Report);
  • Zero draft Evaluation Report for initial feedback from UNDP (Timeframe: 10 days after data collection mission ends);
  • Draft Evaluation Report to be shared with UNDP and relevant stakeholders for feedback and quality assurance (Timeframe: 5 days after receiving feedback from UNDP);Evaluation debriefing meeting with UNDP and key stakeholders where main findings will be presented.
Final Evaluation Report

Evaluation Brief - a concise summary of the evaluation findings in plain language that can be widely circulated. This can be in a form of a PowerPoint presentation or a two-page briefing document (Timeframe: 5 days after receiving feedback from UNDP).

 The final report is expected to cover findings; judgments made following the evaluation criteria and questions based on a good analysis of qualitative and quantitative evidence, as applicable; lessons learned; and forward-looking, realistic, and actionable recommendations. The report will include the following contents:
  • Title and opening pages;
  • List of acronyms and abbreviations;
  • Executive summary;
  • Introduction;
  • Description of the intervention;
  • Evaluation purpose, objective, and scope;
  • Evaluation methodology;
  • Evaluation findings;
  • Recommendations (forward-looking and actionable).

Annexes: TOR, data collection report - field visits, people interviewed (names not to be mentioned), documents reviewed, etc.

Competencias

Functional Competencies

Knowledge Management and Learning

  • Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example;
  • In-depth practical knowledge of inter-disciplinary development issues;
  • Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills;
  • Seeks and applies knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside of UNDP.
 Development and Operational Effectiveness:
  • Ability to lead strategic planning, change processes, results-based management and reporting;
  • Ability to lead formulation, oversight of implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development projects;
  • Ability to apply development theory to the specific country context to identify creative, practical approaches to overcome challenging situations.

Management and Leadership:

  • Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
  • Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
  • Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
  • Ability to lead effectively, mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills;
  • Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
  • Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
  • Proven networking, team-building, organizational and communication skills;
  • Good analytical and strategic thinking skills.

Corporate Competencies

  • Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values;
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
  • Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
  • Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
  • Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback.

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education:
  • Advanced university degree in relevant disciplines (e.g., political sciences, public administration, public policy, laws, etc.).
Experience:
  • At least 15 years of international working experience in the field of economic development and/or poverty reduction, preferably in conflict or post-conflict settings;
  • At least seven years of experience in programme evaluation and proven accomplishments in undertaking evaluation for international organizations, preferably including UNDP;
  • Experience in conducting at least seven evaluations in related fields and with international organizations, at least two of which as the team leader;
  • Deep knowledge of the political, cultural, and economic contexts of Afghanistan including prior working experience in the country;
  • Extensive knowledge of qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods;
  • Ability to meet tight deadlines.
Languages:
  • Excellent written and spoken English and presentational capacities;
  • Knowledge of local language i.e. Pashto and Dari is preferable but not required.
FC: 11300