Background

National Context:

The transport sector of Saudi Arabia emerged over the past as a driving force for economic and social development. All transport modes are rapidly developing. The highway network with over 64,412 km of paved roads facilitates the movement of goods and people across the whole Kingdom. Updated traffic regulations and technology supported procedures to manage traffic and detect traffic violation have increased road safety and significantly reduced accident fatalities. To improve urban transportation in the major cities of the Kingdom integrated public transport concepts are being developed that include light rail and dedicated bus transportation. The railway network is expanding and thereby creating a regional railway network to facilitate high-speed passenger trains and support multi modal transport of goods. Private sector participation in aviation is enhancing competitive air transport services. However, the transport sector accounts for a significant percentage of Green House Gas emissions worldwide and road transport is contributing to these emissions significantly. Transforming present transportation systems towards a low-carbon, energy efficient, more environmentally sustainable sector will require long term vision and a multi-faceted strategic approach. Such a transformation would offer opportunities for green economic growth.

The following are the historical of UNDP interventions with the Ministry of Roads:

• SAU97/004 – Road Network Development and Maintenance

Saudi Arabia was developing the capacity to plan, design, manage and maintain a vast network of highways and bridges. The Saudi Government wished to develop the road network, not only to reduce the time and cost of transportation, but as a stimulus for the integration of Kingdom’s various regions. In 1979 UNDP/UN/DTCD- supported project was set up to strengthen the internal structures of the Ministry of Communications (at that time) and promote its self-reliance and effectiveness in the field of planning, designing, management, operations and maintenance of highway and bridges. The project aimed to provide substantial technical advice in the various fields related to roads and bridges; and to build up national staff capability within the Ministry in relevant filed, including investigation and repairs. (The estimated cost of the project was US$ 5million)

• SAU89/002 – Highway & Transport Development

The Project was designed to provide institutional support to the Ministry for ongoing activities as well as the newly identified areas. Emphasis was placed upon training of counterparts and building up of national capabilities in a more structured manner and through preparation om manpower development plans. (The estimated cost of the project was US$ 9million)

• SAU96/004 – Road & Transport

This Phase was focused in the formulation of the National Transport Strategy (NTS)and to contribute substantive support to the NTS task force in the definition and formulation process leading to the establishment of the NTS. (The estimated cost of the project was US$ 1.5million)

• SAU/00/011 (SAU10/14706) – Road and Transportation Management

The major goal of this intervention was the emphasis in the implementation of the strategy in more focus on shifting to “Traffic Safety”, development if Urban Transportation and Transportation and Environment. The purpose of this project was to develop the necessary national expertise/capacity, to enable the transport sector to claim a leading role in these fields. (The estimated cost of the project was US$ 5million)

• SAU10/52658 – Road and Transport Management Phase II

The immediate objectives of that phase was facilitate the preparation process of the biannual NTS Status report to ensure activities participation and contribution of related stakeholders and transport sector agencies, and develop enhanced road and traffic safety management systems including intelligent transport system and road database applications that improve road capacities and traffic safety management. (The estimated cost of the project was US$ 5million)

• SAU10/79238 Sustainable Road and Transport Management (on-going)

This is the current phase and ongoing project. The Ministry of Transport as policy leading agency for the transport sector is responsible for reporting and periodical review of the National Transportation Strategy (NTS), which has been developed with the assistance of UN agencies. Within this national strategy MOT is aiming at developing sustainable transport systems and improving road safety. Therefore, the project addresses two activity fields: (i) Strengthening governance through NTS reporting and review, and (ii) Capacity building for road and transport safety. Both are prominent activities that emanate from NTS and assistance and advice by experts is considered important for successfully achieving these tasks. Project activities give special focus on:

• Developing an activity plan for reducing carbon emissions of the transport sector,
• Improving road safety by applying intelligent transport systems, and
• Making NTS a sustainable sector strategy though comprehensive monitoring and review.

(The estimated cost of the project was US$ 9.8million)

Duties and Responsibilities

The UNDP has been extensively involved in the Saudi transport sector over the past 40 years. By the end of 2016 UNDP and Ministry of Transport had had partnered on seven projects totaling more than US$35.5 million to the sector. UNDP Support has gone to national level of road network development, Highway development, and sustainable road and transport management.

The transport sector is the primary element in the infrastructure, which forms the basis for comprehensive socio-economic development. It provides direct support to other development sectors, such as education, agriculture, industry and mining, and ensures the linkage of population settlements and provides employment opportunities.

The Ministry of Transport, the Saudi Railroad Organization (SGRRO), the Saudi Ports Authority (SPA), the Presidency of Civil Aviation and the Saudi Arabia Airlines Corporation (SAUDIA) are the major agencies responsible for the establishment, management, operation and maintenance of this sector’s key facilities. The Saudi Arabia Public Transport Company (SAPTCO) provides regular public transport services within nine main cities and around 450 cities, villages and hamlets. The services of SAPTCO also extend to eight neighboring countries in addition to the services it provides in transporting pilgrims and Umrah performers.

The National Transport Strategy (NTS) (formulated within the framework of a previous UNDP Project) was approved in November 2011, and instructed the Ministry of Transport to supervise and coordinate the implementation of the strategy and to submit a report on the implementation every two years. Hence the current phase of the project, ending xx/xxxx,  aiming at developing sustainable transport systems and improving road safety and the project addresses two main activities; strengthening governance through NTS reporting and review; and capacity development for road and transport safety

The mid-term evaluation will assess the above indicated project in terms of relevance, appropriateness, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability. It will review the performance of the project against the objectives stated in the strategic and annual plans and draw lessons learned.

The objective of the project evaluation is to assess how the outputs of the above mentioned project have contributed to “achieving high impact goals as set by the Project Document”. The assessment of this project was strategically placed at this particular time in order to promote needed adjustments, identify lessons learned and draw up a sustainability plan for the project prior to end 2016, date of project completion. The outputs of this project are to be evaluated for their contribution to the achievement of the objectives. Efficiency and effectiveness, are of prime importance but also transparency and accountability. The review will illustrate intended and unintended results.

The evaluator will be tasked to provide recommendations aiming to improve various aspects of the project towards achievement and quality delivery of the project.

The Mid- Term evaluation project expected to address the following issues:

Assessment of results and achievements:

• Has sufficient progress been achieved vis-à-vis the outcome, "support actions for the NTS reporting and review activities”. 
• What are the main factors (positive and negative) that affect the achievement of the outcome?
• Are the outcome indicators capable of measuring the achievement of the intended outcome?
• Have the outputs been achieved as measured by the output indicator?
• What are the main factors (positive and negative) that affected the achievement of the intended outputs?
• Are the output indicators capable of measuring the achievement of the intended output?
• What are the unintended results (positive and negative) and what are the contributing factors?
• Have the planned activities been successfully implemented? What are the factors affecting the successful or unsuccessful implementation of planned activities? 
• What are the plans for monitoring and evaluation and are they done periodically as planned? Have the recommendations from monitoring and evaluations implemented? If not, what are the obstacles and what are the measures for improvements?
• Have the lessons learned from prior phases been effectively used?
• Are the results sustainable? Will the outputs & outcomes lead to benefit beyond the life of the existing programme?
• Is there an exit strategy?

Assessment of efficiency and adequacy:

• Review and assess the professional capacity and quality inputs and activities by the implementing Partner both at the central and regional level.
• Assess the efficiency and adequacy of the management structure.
• Assess the efficiency and adequacy of team structure and personnel distribution to effectively carry out the day-to-day activities in the field and in support of the activities.
• Have organizational arrangements been cost effective? How can they be improved?
• Has the Advisory Committee, an oversight advisory body, met as scheduled, and provided quality policy advice and recommendations to improve project implementation? What is the quality of their inputs to ensure that activities are on track and results are achieved in accordance with the project work plan?
• What kind and level of Road safety measures available in the field operation and to what degree are they followed?

Assessment in the aspect of beneficiaries:

• Assess what partnerships established with local authorities, community leaders and members. What is the level and area of their participation and contributions?
• What level of understanding local authorities, community members including men, women, and children have on the issue and the UNDP project.

Gender aspect:

• Is gender issue adequately mainstreamed throughout the project? If not, what are the reasons, and what can be done?
• How does the project address gender aspect of the issue? If not, what are the reasons, what should be addressed, and how should they be done?
• How does the project contribute to the capacity building of women? If not, what are the reasons, and what can be done for capacity building of women?

Sustainability:

• Are there regular updates done effectively on national strategy, and are there mechanisms to inform or to train all staff on the updates?
• Are there national standard of operation built on international standard, and are there mechanisms to inform and train all related staff on the standard of operation?
• Are there refresh trainings systematically organized and periodically carried out to field staffs, staffs at the branches, central office on different subjects and units? 
• Are all the necessary reports are produced in a good quality and submitted in a timely manner?
• Has the Institutional memory such as documents and data been stored in an organized and systematic fashion so that it is accessible and available when required?
• Has the organizational capacity built with clearly written out rules and regulations with clear understanding of them by the staff and having all the work processed according to them?

Assessment on organizational capacity:

• Are there statutes of national agencies clearly stating necessary information such as organizational structure, purpose, function, information on board etc.? If so, assess the quality and identify the gaps if any.
• Are there any documents clearly stating guide-lines, manuals, which include information such as authorization capacity, work flow etc. If so, is staff regularly trained on them? Is the work done according to the written guidelines and manuals? What are the factors contributing to the current status? What and how should it be improved?
• What is the capacity of human resource department? Are the documents related to personnel systematically stored with sufficient level of confidentiality to the personal information? Are there policies regarding protection on personal information and are the staffs trained on them? What is the quality of the contracts prepared by the project? What is the quality of sign-in/out system? Is there systematic recording system for leaves, and what is the quality? What type of system are there to record the attendance of field staff.

Partnership Strategy/Visibility:

• Are there effective partnerships among parties involved in implementation of the project such as national entities, donors, civil society organizations and UNDP?
• Have the partnerships expanded during the second phase of the project? What were the factors affected the change? How can the partnerships further enhanced?
• What are the existing levels and strategies of ensuring visibility of donors? there rooms for enhancement?
• capture direct and indirect impacts of the project and reflect their contribution as an entity to human wellbeing, health savings in terms of prevention, contribution to Saudi economy.

Impact

• Assess the direct impact of the long term engagement of UNDP on transport sector
• Assess the indirect impact of the projects on different economic, social sectors and environment
• Draw lessons learned and best practices

Technical Assessment: (To be filled by Ministry)

Recommendations:

• Recommendations need to be made on each topic and they must be objective, realistic, and practical so that they can be implemented in the phase III of the project.
• Recommend realistic time-frame for implementation of the recommendations.

DELIVERABLES

• Outline and presentation of the main findings should be prepared for the debriefing session at the end of the mission.
• The report should include executive summary, background, description of the evaluation methodology, results of the evaluation, and strategies and recommendations for continued UNDP assistance towards the achievement of the project
• The report should be submitted to the Ministry of Roads and UNDP Resident Representative.
• The report should contain at least following annexes:

Terms of reference for the evaluation

• Itinerary (actual)
• List of meetings attended
• List of persons interviewed
• List of documents reviewed
• Any other relevant material

The report should be submitted as one electronic copy and three signed hard copies.

• Develop a Project Document/Project extension for future intervention.

EVALUATION CONSULTANTS

An international consultant/s and one national consultant/s will be contracted to perform the evaluation. The consultants are expected to work in a team, and the international one will lead the team. The national consultant will provide inputs regarding the national context, community development and ensure particular attention is paid to the assessment of organizational aspect. The team must include experts who have proven knowledge and relevant work experience in the field of sustainable road and transport management, sound knowledge about results-based management (especially results-oriented monitoring and evaluation). Also the team should have an expertise in organizational management. The consultant/s will design the detailed evaluation scope and methodology, conduct necessary data collection activities including field trips, meetings and desk analysis. The consultants will take the overall responsibility for the quality of the evaluation report.

Consultants will familiarize themselves with the project through a review of relevant document prior to beginning travel to the region. These documents include at least:

• Project documents
• Project budgets
• Project work plans, progress reports
• Strategic plans
• SOPs (Standard Operating Procedures)
• Past reports on the project
• UNDP guideline for evaluation
• Evaluation reports
• National development plan

EVALUATION TIMEFRAME (20 working days) -12 days in Saudi Arabia  & 8 days in home country ;

• Preparation for evaluation, review of documents (1 days)
• Briefing (0.5 day)
• Field missions including desk reviews, field visits, interviews (11 days)
• Submission of outline on main findings and briefing session (0.5 day)
• Preparation of final report (3 days)

Competencies

Functional Competencies:      

• Understands and applies fundamental concepts and principles of a professional discipline or technical specialty relating to the position;
• Strives to keep job knowledge up-to-date through self-directed study and other means of learning;
• Demonstrates good knowledge of information technology and applies it in work assignments.

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrating/safeguarding ethics and integrity;  
• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment;
• Self-development, initiative-taking;
• Acting as a team player and facilitating team work;
• Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively;
• Creating synergies through self-control;
• Managing conflict;
• 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

• The Consultant/s must have an advanced degree as Transport specialist or transport economist or equivalent.
• S/He should have at least 20 years of practical experience with demonstrated ability in project evaluation and formulation, especially for institutional capacity development.
• Knowledge of transport planning and economy, and road safety matters is essential. 
• Experience in GCC is an advantage.