UNDP Jobs - 71674- Mid Term Review Consultant UNDP Early Warning Syst

Mid Term Review Consultant UNDP Early Warning System Project

Location :

Monrovia, LIBERIA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

01-Jun-2017

Application Deadline :

10-May-17 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

30 Days

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

30 Days

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

This is the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the UNDP-GEF Midterm Review (MTR) of the full -sized project titled STRENGTHENING LIBERIA’S CAPABILITY TO PROVIDE CLIMATE INFORMATION AND SERVICES TO ENHANCE CLIMATE RESILIENT DEVELOPMENT AND ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE implemented through the Ministry of Transport. The project started in 2014 and is in its third year of implementation. In line with the UNDP-GEF Guidance on MTRs, this MTR process was initiated before the submission of the second Project Implementation Report (PIR). This ToR sets out the expectations for this MTR. The MTR process must follow the guidance outlined in the document Guidance For Conducting Midterm Reviews of UNDP-Supported, GEF-Financed Projects (http://web.undp.org/evaluation/guidance.shtml#gef).

Both the Liberia Hydrological and the Meteorological Services are among the least equipped to fulfill their institutional mandates to monitor Earth systems to provide climate information including for weather, land and water resources useful for environmental management and economic planning in Liberia. The Climate Early Warning System (EWS) Project was identified in 2008 as one of three (3) Liberia’s National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA) Projects. Climate information from the EWS is supposed to inform adaptations measures in the Country.
The EWS Project launched as the last NAPA Project, set in motion activities to reverse a poor baseline for both Hydrological as well as Meteorological Services. An international tender bid (ITB) document being prepared in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) will lead to the procurement of hydro-meteorological equipment to be deployed throughout the Country, training of staff to man the equipment and to operate a hub for hydrological and meteorological activities to be called the National Meteorological Center (NMC).

The MTR will assess progress towards the achievement of the project objectives and outcomes as specified in the Project Document, and assess early signs of project success or failure with the goal of identifying the necessary changes to be made to set the project on-track to achieve its intended results. The MTR will also review the project’s strategy, its risks to sustainability

Duties and Responsibilities

The MTR must provide evidence based information that is credible, reliable and useful. The MTR team will review all relevant sources of information including documents prepared during the preparation phase (i.e. PIF, UNDP Initiation Plan, UNDP Environmental & Social Safeguard Policy, the Project Document, project reports including Annual Project Review/PIRs, project budget revisions, lesson learned reports, national strategic and legal documents, and any other materials that the team considers useful for this evidence-based review). The MTR team will review the baseline GEF focal area Tracking Tool submitted to the GEF at CEO endorsement, and the midterm GEF focal area Tracking Tool that will be completed before the MTR field mission begins.

The MTR team is expected to follow a collaborative and participatory approach ensuring close engagement with the Project Team, government counterparts (the GEF Operational Focal Point), the UNDP Country Office(s), UNDP-GEF Regional Technical Advisers, and other key stakeholders.

Engagement of stakeholders is vital to a successful MTR. Stakeholder involvement should include interviews with stakeholders who have project responsibilities, including but not limited to ; executing agencies, senior officials and task team/ component leaders, key experts and consultants in the subject area, Project Board, project stakeholders, academia, local government and CSOs, etc. Additionally, the MTR team is expected to conduct field missions to the pilot counties to visit selected community project sites (approximately 4) within these districts that fully represent the project investment areas. The project sites to be visited will be discussed with the consultant and presented in the inception report to the UNDP, the IP (Environmental Protection Agency) and the Responsible Parties (Ministry of Agriculture ans FAO Liberia).
The final MTR report should describe the full MTR approach taken and the rationale for the approach making explicit the underlying assumptions, challenges, strengths and weaknesses about the methods and approach of the review.

The MTR team will assess the following four categories of project progress. See the Guidance For Conducting Midterm Reviews of UNDP-Supported, GEF-Financed Projects for extended descriptions.

Project Strategy

Project design:

Review the problem addressed by the project and the underlying assumptions. Review the effect of any incorrect assumptions or changes to the context to achieving the project results as outlined in the Project Document.
Review the project’s relevance of the project strategy and assess whether it provides the most effective route towards expected/intended results. Were lessons from other relevant projects properly incorporated into the project design?
Review how the project addresses country priorities. Review country ownership. Was the project concept in line with the national sector development priorities and plans of the country (or of participating countries in the case of multi-country projects)?
Review decision-making processes: were perspectives of those who would be affected by project decisions, those who could affect the outcomes, and those who could contribute information or other resources to the process, taken into account during project design processes?
Review the extent to which relevant gender issues were raised in the project design. See Annex 9 of Guidance For Conducting Midterm Reviews of UNDP-Supported, GEF-Financed Projects for further guidelines.
If there are major areas of concern, recommend areas for improvement.

Results Framework/Logframe:

Undertake a critical analysis of the project’s logframe indicators and targets, assess how “SMART” the midterm and end-of-project targets are (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound), and suggest specific amendments/revisions to the targets and indicators as necessary.
Are the project’s objectives and outcomes or components clear, practical, and feasible within its time frame?
Examine if progress so far has led to, or could in the future catalyse beneficial development effects (i.e. income generation, gender equality and women’s empowerment, improved governance etc...) that should be included in the project results framework and monitored on an annual basis.
Ensure broader development and gender aspects of the project are being monitored effectively. Develop and recommend SMART ‘development’ indicators, including sex-disaggregated indicators and indicators that capture development benefits.

Progress Towards Results
Progress Towards Outcomes Analysis:

Review the logframe indicators against progress made towards the end-of-project targets using the Progress Towards Results Matrix below and following the Guidance For Conducting Midterm Reviews of UNDP-Supported, GEF-Financed Projects; colour code progress in a “traffic light system” based on the level of progress achieved; assign a rating on progress for each outcome; make recommendations from the areas marked as “Not on target to be achieved”\

Deliverables:

MTR Inception Report : No later than 2 weeks before the MTR mission;
Presentation : End of MTR mission;
Draft Final Report: Within 3 weeks of the MTR mission;
Final Report : Within 1 week of receiving UNDP comments on draft.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Competence in adaptive management, as applied to climate change adaptation;
Demonstrated understanding of issues related to gender and Climate Change Adaptation; experience in gender sensitive evaluation and analysis;
Demonstrable analytical skills.

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

A Master’s degree in Environment and Natural Resources Management or Development Studies, or other closely related field.

Experience:

Work experience in relevant technical areas for at least 10 years;
Recent experience with result-based management evaluation methodologies;
Experience applying SMART indicators and reconstructing or validating baseline scenarios
Experience working with the GEF or GEF-evaluations;
Experience working in Africa;
Demonstrated understanding of issues related to gender and Climate Change Adaptation; experience in gender sensitive evaluation and analysis;
Project evaluation/review experiences within United Nations system will be considered an asset.

Language:

Excellent communication skills.

Evaluation criteria:

Shortlisting

Education: 4 points : Experience: 6 points (Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and forwarded the UNDP procurement notice)
Technical proposal:
Technical skills, given by qualifications and training record (20 points);
Overall experience in the provision with the services given above (50 points);
Adequacy of competencies & skills responding to the Terms of Reference (30 points).
To be qualified candidate should obtain minimum 70% of the total 70 points.

Contract Award

Contract will be awarded to highest scored candidate (technical score + financial scores)/100
Rating will be as follow:

Rating the Technical Proposal (TP):

TP Rating = (Total Score Obtained by the Offer / Max. Obtainable Score for TP) x 100
Rating the Financial Proposal (FP):
FP Rating = (Lowest Priced Offer / Price of the Offer Being Reviewed) x 100

Total Combined Score:
(TP rating) x (Weight of TP, e.g. 70%) + (FP Rating) x (Weight of FP, e.g., 30%)