Background

In 2004 the Government of Sierra Leone re-introduced political decentralization with a view to opening political space as well as improving inclusiveness as a way of addressing some of the root causes of the 1991-2002 conflict. Local Council elections were held in May 2004, with 19 local councils established thereafter. With the enactment of the Local Government Act 2004, the Act provides the legal framework that guides the decentralization process. Because there was no decentralization policy to draw upon in the formulation and enactment of legislation, this posed several challenges including clarification of roles between key actors in the decentralization process - Local Councils and Paramount Chiefs, Ministries, Departments and Agencies, the allocation of revenue and expenditure assignments, securing broad agreement to the devolution process, securing an inclusive and participatory engagement by local communities.

The Local Governance and Economic Development Joint Programme (LGED-JP) was designed by UNDP/UNCDF and the Government of Sierra Leone to support the decentralization of governance and the building of the local government system. It responds to the Government of Sierra Leone PRSP II, Agenda for Change (now Agenda for Prosperity) under the 2nd and 4th priority areas: addressing pro-poor growth, and promoting the decentralization policy and devolution of functions to local governments. It also fits within the UN response to PRSP II1 and the outcomes of the United Nations Assistance Framework (UNDAF).

The overarching goal of the LGED-JP is poverty reduction and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. The purpose of the LGED-JP is the promotion of local economic development, i.e. clarity on functional assignments and implementation of the national policy on decentralisation; local economic development functions institutionalised in local councils; and improved local economic development. The intermediate outcome is an expanded and more effective and efficient role of local governments in the promotion of local economic development.

The LGED-JP operates within the framework of the Local Government Act (LGA) and the Decentralization Policy. The Programme pursues four outputs:

  • Output 1: MLGRD and MOFED strengthened to develop a National LED policy and strategy to enhance inclusive growth and economic diversification.
  • Output 2: Effectiveness of the Performance-Based Grant System (PBGS) enhanced through promoting participatory planning for inclusive LED.
  • Output 3: Effectiveness of revenue collection and management of the property tax and business licenses improved.    
  • Output 4: Local economies improved and micro and small enterprises (MSEs) capacities in target local councils strengthened to contribute to post-EVD recovery.

Evaluation Purpose

  1. The present consultancy fits into the above outputs. As provided for by the ProDoc, the programme will be evaluated in 2017, unless there is agreement to move into a second phase. In that case, the mid-term evaluation suffices, and a programme formulation will take place. This evaluation was supposed to be preceded by a mid-term review in 2016 to help keep the programme on track and feed into formulation of phase II. However, the outbreak of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in 2014 diverted programme focus and concentrated on fighting the disease. After Sierra Leone was declared free of Ebola in 2015, the national programme focus changed, so did the LGED to support recovery of lost livelihoods. As such the programme, could only achieve tangible results as from 2017 onward with the completion of the first round of SME capacity building and investments.

Duties and Responsibilities

The objective of the Evaluation is to assess (i) the relevance, (ii) the effectiveness, (iii) the efficiency, (iv) the sustainability and the impact of the programme. The evaluation will also identify potential project design problems, document lessons learned from programme implementation and make recommendations to be considered in designing the second phase for replication. The specific scope of the evaluation is as follows:  

  • Relevance (i)the extent to which the programme and its outputs were and are consistent with national development policies and priorities (PRSP II and PRSP III, National Decentralization Policy etc) and local policies and priorities, (ii) the responsiveness of the programme to UNDP and corporate plans (including the UNDP Strategic Plans -2014-2017) and human development priorities of empowerment and gender equality and the extent to which the programme has been able to respond to changing and emerging development priorities at national and local levels.
  • Effectiveness: The extent to which the programme intended results (outputs or outcomes) have been achieved or progress made toward achieving them. The evaluation will assess the results achieved against the 4 project outputs and contribution to the intermediate goals including effectiveness of development assistance initiatives. The evaluation will consider the following three main steps (measuring the changes in the 4 outputs, assessing the extent to which these changes result from the programme interventions and value (positive/negative) of the changes.
  • Efficiency: (i) how economically the programme resources have been used to achieve the results with greater impact, (ii) the quality and timeliness of inputs including the Management arrangements, staffing, the reporting and monitoring system and the extent to which these have been effectively supporting activities directed towards achieving the outputs and (iii) how the partnership strategies have contributed to achieving the results.;
  • Impact: To assess the end results in terms of (i) goods, services, social and economic supports and opportunities delivered to the communities and contributing to poverty reduction, women’s empowerment and providing necessary support to LCs and
  • Cross-cutting issues: Gender and social inclusion: the extent to which initiatives have considered mainstreaming a gender perspective in the design, implementation and outcome of the Programme.
  • Sustainability: the likelihood of the project results to continue and expand beyond the lifespan of the project. The evaluation will assess the institutional arrangements at national and local levels including local councils’ strategies, the involvement of the private sector and the communities as a way of ensuring ownership and the continuation of the results.
  • Lessons learned and recommendations: to collate and analyse lessons learned and best practices which will be taken into consideration for the second phase of the programme and to make recommendations for future enhancement of the programme. 

Methodology

While it is the responsibility of the evaluation team to propose the appropriate methodology, UNDP is very much interested in considering the following for accurate data collection and analysis to generate relevant information:

  • The consultant will undertake the desk review and analysis of the key primary and secondary documentation (list in annex 1).
  • He/she will undertake individual interviews and group consultations with the key stakeholders, including the members of the National Steering Committee.
  • Field visits. The consultant will conduct field visits to LGED target districts for first-hand information gathering. 
  • Structured and semi-structured interviews will be organized with key stakeholders to collect information;

The consultant will comply with the UNDP Evaluation Policy and UNEG norms and standards for evaluation of the UN System, the UNEG ethical guidelines for evaluators and the Code of Conduct for Evaluators in the UN system.

Deliverables

. Inception Report – Prior to going into the full data collection exercise the consultant will prepare and submit and inception report (IR) to UNDP and MLGRD. The IR will provide details on the evaluators’ understanding of what are being evaluated and why, showing how each evaluation question will be answered by way of: proposed methods, proposed sources of data and data collection procedures. The inception report should include a proposed schedule of tasks, activities and deliverables, designating a team member with the lead responsibility for each task or product.

. Draft Evaluation report – The consultant will prepare and submit a draft Report to UNDP and MLGRD. The Draft Report will follow the outline stated below:

  • Executive summary (2 pages)
  • Introduction (1 page)
  • The methodology used (1-2 pages)
  • Development context under which the programme was implemented (1-2 pages)
  • UNDP’s programme strategy and interventions (3-4 pages)
  • Assessments as per the criteria and questions defined (10-15 pages)
  • Conclusions and recommendations (2-3 pages)
  • Annexes: terms of reference, persons consulted, documents reviewed

The Consultant will organize a session to validate the draft report and to incorporate the views and feed-back of stakeholders into the final report and submit to UNDP and MLGRD.

 Implementation Arrangement:

. The  PMSU of UNDP Sierra Leone country office will be the evaluation manager. The Team Leader or Deputy Team Leader of inclusive growth and Sustainable Development will provide overall quality assurance and oversight of the evaluation.

. A reference group consisting of the UNDP Sierra Leone Country Director, LGED Programme Manager and, the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and Ministry of Finance and Economic Development (see annex II) is established to enhance the quality of the evaluation. The group assists the evaluation manager in reviewing the terms-of-reference, the inception report and the draft report.

Although the final report must be cleared and accepted by UNDP before being made public, the UNDP Evaluation Policy is clear that the evaluation function should be structurally independent from operational management and decision-making functions in the organization. UNDP management will not impose restrictions on the scope, content, comments and recommendations of evaluation reports. In the case of unresolved difference of opinions between any of the parties, UNDP may request the evaluation team to set out the differences in an annex to the final report.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies

  • Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards.
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.
  • Treats all people fairly.

Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise

  • Demonstrated knowledge of environmental challenges in Sierra Leone
  • Strong analytical skills, particularly applied to environment profiling

Functional Competencies:

  • Building Strategic Partnerships
  • Ability to identify needs and interventions for capacity building of counterparts, clients and potential partners.

Results Orientation

  • Ability to take responsibility for achieving agreed outputs within set deadlines and strives until successful outputs are achieved.

Team Work and Communication skills

  • Excellent time management, monitoring and evaluation skills.
  • Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback.
  • Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication.
  • Excellent interpersonal and communication skills. 

Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing

  • Identifies new approaches and strategies that promote the use of tools and mechanisms.
  • Knowledge of inter-disciplinary development issues.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

  • Master’s degree in Economics, Political Science, Public Policy or any other relevant field.

Experience

  • At least 15 years of experience with strong comparative experience in field of decentralization and local economic development; fiscal decentralization; decentralized infrastructure and service delivery; local government capacity building for decentralized public expenditure management and operationalization of decentralized systems of planning and budgeting, policy, legal and regulatory reform related to decentralization including rural development;
  • At least 8 years of experience in leading evaluations of decentralization and local development programme, including experience using a range of qualitative evaluation methodologies to assess programme results at the institutional, sector and policy level. 
  • Experience in providing technical assistance in project proposal, project appraisal and project cycle strategy (from social preparation to operations and maintenance) in the implementation of service delivery. 
  • Proven experience in gender mainstreaming in the implementation of projects of local government institutions.
  • Experience in UNDP Evaluation preferred.

Language Requirement

  • Fluency in written and spoken English is essential.

 

Remuneration

  • Payment for this consultancy will be a lump sum based on the UNDP national consultancy fee rate and payable upon submission based on payment schedule.  This will be inclusive of the DSA, travel and other costs payable to national consultants.                  

Payment Schedule: 

  • 1st payment -  20% payment upon signing of the contract
  • 2nd payment - 50% payment after the first draft report is provided and accepted by UNDP and the LGED project board.
  • 3rd payment - 30% payment after the Final report has been submitted by the consultant and accepted by UNDP and LGED project board.

Evaluation Criteria

  • Applicable Experience.   Record of previous and actual engagement and/or work experience including quality of performance in similar projects.       Knowledge in results-based M & E preferred 40%.
  • Relevant Projects for similar international organization.    Applicable experience that contributes to the overall understanding and experience of the assignment with projects funded by other government agencies and/or international organization particularly in public sector reform, decentralization and small grants facility 20%.
  • Previous relevant UNDP Projects.  Knowledge of UNDP cluster portfolio, particularly governance and decentralization is preferred. Experience in UN System is desirable 10%.
  • Qualifications and relevant training or specialization: Qualification of personnel to be assigned to the project compared to the complexity of the undertaking. This includes the education and applicable length of experience related to the project to be undertaken 20%.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Application procedure
  •  Interested qualified individual consultants that meet the above requirements are invited to submit the following:
  • This Opportunity is open to male and female candidates. Applications from qualified female candidates are encouraged.
  • E-mail application to ghulam.sherani@undp.org with cc to pious.bockarie@undp.org  or drop mail at UNDP Country Office, 55 Wilkinson Road, Freetown, Sierra Leone
  • Financial proposal stating: Lump sum cost that includes a) fees or daily rate and minor miscellaneous expenses and b) travel costs and insurance.
  • Technical Proposal providing details of the methodology envisaged for the assignment
  • Curriculum Vitae that includes list of previous work, contractual responsibility and successful completion of consultancy services related including name, contact numbers and email address of focal persons for each contract.   
  • Cover letter/EOI that indicate how the consultants meet the selection criteria and state the specific posts applied.   

ANNEX 1: Reference Documents (available online. The programme unit can also support to provide)

  1. UNDP
  • UNDP Guidance for Outcome Evaluation
  • UNDP Handbook on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, 2013
  • UNEG Code of Conduct for Evaluation in the UN System, 2008
  • UNDP Strategic Plan (2010-2013)
  • UNDP Strategic Plan (2014-2017)
  • UN Joint Vision Sierra Leone (2008-2012
  • UN Transitional Joint Vision Sierra Leone (2013-2014)
  • UNDAF Sierra Leone 2015-2018
  • UNCDF LDF Business Plan 2011-2013
  • UNCDF LDF Business Plan 2014-2017                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

LGED Documents

  • Pro Doc Programme 16, UNDP UNCDF, 2012
  • LGED Sierra Leone Project Document (ProDoc), 1st April 2011
  • KDERP Evaluation report, 2010
  • Report of the National Conference on LED, July 2012
  • Report of the LED Peer review and methodology Workshop, Makeni, 2012
  • LED Mapping report for Kenema City Council, Kenema District Council, Moyamba District Council, Tonkolili District Council, December 2012
  • LED Strategy for Kenema City Council, Kenema District Council, Moyamba District Council, Tonkolili District Council, December 2013
  • LGED-JP Annual report, 2015
  • LGED-JP Annual report, 2016
  • LGED AWP 2016 and 2017
  •  
  1. GoSL Policy Documents:
  • National Decentralization Policy (2010)
  • Chiefdom and tribal Administration Policy (2011)
  • The Local Government Act 2004

 

Annex II:

Members of Reference Group

 

Name                             Designation                                   Institution

                                      Deputy Country Director                    UNDP

Pious Bockarie                 Programme Manager-LGED-JP            UNDP

 Alhassan Kanu                Director, Decentralization Secretariat   MLGRD

John Sumailah                 Development Secretary                       MoFED

Adams Tommy                 Senior Economist                            LGFD/MOFED

                                      President                                          LOCASL

Sahr Moigua                    Executive Secretary                           LOCASL