Background

Over the years, the Government of Malawi with support of various partners embarked on a programme to develop a “whole of government” M&E system seeking to develop capacities of central government offices, line ministries, city and district councils in evidence-based decision making.  Currently, the National Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Master Plan guides the process and it also provides the framework for monitoring development policies and programs in the country. The Master Plan has five components, namely: Monitoring of National Development Strategy (NDS) implementation; Monitoring of Development Outcomes; Impact assessment and policy analysis; Development Monitoring Information System (DMIS); and Communication and Advocacy.    The national development strategy, the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy MGDS II, expired in June, 2017 and will be replaced by the MGDS III whose preparation is at an advanced stage.   The MGDS III will domesticate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Africa 2063 and other internationally agreed development goals in Malawi.

The key responsibility for monitoring overall progress of national strategies is within the remit of the M&E Division in the Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning and Development (MoFEPD).  However, the role of MoFEPD in guiding monitoring and evaluation of the national strategy is expected to change as the government is in the process of establishing a National Planning Commission whose functions will include monitoring and evaluation of national policies, strategies and programmes.

At the sectoral level, joint sector reviews are held as an annual forum for joint assessment of progress. Sector submissions were the basis for the broader annual review of the MGDS. In 2008 Government created 16 Sector Working Group to among other activities provide a platform for inclusive monitoring of sectoral policies, strategies and programmes.

The National Statistical Office (NSO) is the agency tasked with providing high quality, timely and independent statistical information. The NSO implementing the National Statistics System (NSS) Strategic Plan with the overall goal is to providing quality statistics at the fingertips of users for evidence based policy decision.

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultancy will support the M&E Division in MoFEPD in developing an M&E Policy for the public sector to facilitate the effective implementation of MGDS III and achievement of the SDGs in Malawi as well as become a tool for promoting the culture of monitoring and evaluation.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities:

The consultant will undertake the following tasks:

• Facilitate consultations towards determination of the scope, key objectives and agreed principles of the national M&E policy.
• Outline institutional set up for the implementation of the M&E policy.
• Estimate resource requirements for policy implementation and suggest means for securing adequate resources.
• Propose measures to ensure the independence of evaluations in the public sector.
• Draft a National M&E policy.

Literature Review:

The consultants will be expected to conduct a comprehensive literature review of documents which should inform and ground the policy including: the 2014 Study on the State of M&E in Malawi; the 2012 M&E Master Plan; MGDS III document, Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, Organizational Performance Assessment Reports of the Department of Performance Enforcement, among others.

The consultants will also be expected to review M&E policies from other countries especially within the African region including understanding of experiences and lessons in their implementation.

Production of Inception Report:

Based on the preliminary literature review and initial consultations, the consultant will be expected to prepare an inception report within one week after the signing of the contract. The inception report should provide a clear picture of how the consultant understands the ToRs and how he/she intends to achieve the expected outputs and deliverables. The inception report should also include a work plan with timelines for all the tasks that the consultant will undertake during the exercise.  The inception report will be discussed and approved by a National Reference Group (NRG) for the policy formulation exercise.

Stakeholder consultations and data collection:

Policy development requires inputs from all key stakeholders.  In this regards, the consultant is expected to conduct stakeholder consultations and to solicit views and, to the extent possible, reach consensus on what the policy should cover: the objectives of the policy and what should become its principles.  Stakeholder consultations will also be useful for collecting relevant documentation and data from. The list of stakeholders should include Government officials, Development Partners, UN agencies, private sector, academia and other relevant Civil Society Organizations. 

Competencies

• Excellent communication and negotiation skills.
• Strong analytical and organizational skills.
• Ability to build strong relationships with clients and external actors.
• Policy analysis skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Possession of at least a Masters Degree in Social Science or Applied Sciences.

Experience:

• Above 7 years professional experience in developing or implementing government M&E systems in developing countries, particularly in Southern Africa;
• Proven experience in drafting public sector policies;
• Experience in gender mainstreaming;
• Excellent communication skills for report writing and presentation.

Language:

• Fluent in English.

Deliverables:

• Inception report: An inception report that outlines the approach to the consultancy will be produced within five days from the start of the assignment.
• Brief reference document on relevant policies around the region and their key features and characteristics.
• Preliminary report outlining the scope, objectives and principles of the M&E policy.
• Draft M&E policy M&E in the public sector.
• Final draft national M&E policy document.

Rationale for a national monitoring and evaluation policy:

While efforts have been made to develop national M&E systems, there are concerns about the overall effectiveness of M&E at all levels. Support and appreciation for M&E activities differ between sectors and districts, and capacities for conducting M&E are varied in different districts and sectors. Evaluation is an essential component of the M&E cycle, but the level of investment in the evaluation function so far has been very minimal.

With support from the Strengthening Institutional Capacity for Development Effectiveness and Accountability Programme (DEAP), the Government undertook a comprehensive assessment of State of M&E in Malawi in 2014. The report decried a poor monitoring and evaluation culture in the country and concluded that deliberate efforts were needed to promote monitoring and evaluation as key ingredients of effective development management.  The report recommended placing M&E at the centre of MGDS implementation and in achieving the internationally agreed goals.  The report also made a number of recommendations aimed at entrenching monitoring and evaluation functions in development programming in Malawi which included the establishment of an overall M&E Policy and evaluation capacities, while noting that the National M&E Master Plan becomes the vehicle for operationalizing the Policy.

It is against this background that MoFEPD with support from DEAP wishes to engage a consultant to support Government to develop the Public Sector M&E Policy.

Management and implementation arrangements:

The consultant will report to the Director M&E in DoEPD and the UNDP Deputy Resident Representative responsible for programmes.

There will be a Reference Group which will provide technical inputs and insights to the whole process. The Reference Group meetings will include representatives from government, development partners, civil society and academia. The role of the Reference group may be played by the Government M&E Coordination Committee if functional.

DoEPD and UNDP will facilitate consultations by making necessary appointments with persons to be met by the consultant.

The consultant should provide regular feedback to DoEPD and UNDP on the progress of the assignment and ensure strict adherence to timely delivery of the deliverables.

Time frame:

The consultancy is scheduled to start in early September, 2017 and is expected to take a total of 30 person-days inclusive of consultations with key stakeholders.  The assignment should be completed by 30 November, 2017.

Documents to be included when submittin the proposals

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications by 6 September, 2017, before 5 pm to the following email address: procurement.mw@undp.org.

Technical Proposal

• Explaining why they are the most suitable for the work
• Provide a brief methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work

Financial Proposal

Personal CV (P11 Form) including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references

Proposals must include all three documents (combined) uploaded in the online system as one document. Proposals not meeting this requirement will be rejected.

Financial proposal

Contracts based on daily fee:

The financial proposal will specify the daily fee, travel expenses and per diems quoted in separate line items, and payments are made to the Individual Contractor based on the number of days worked upon satisfactory completion of the required deliverable.

Travel:

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station in Lilongwe /repatriation travel. 

Evaluation of proposals:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodologies:

Cumulative analysis:

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

• Responsive/compliant/acceptable; and
• Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical Criteria weight; 70 points.

Financial Criteria weight; 30 points.

• Criteria A:    A minimum of a Master’s Degree in Social Science or Applied Sciences.  5 points.
• Criteria B:   Above 7 years professional experience in developing or implementing government M&E systems in developing countries, particularly in Southern Africa.  15 points.
• Criteria C:  Proven experience in drafting public sector policies.  30 points
• Criteria D: Proven experience in gender mainstreaming or promoting gender equality.  10 points.
• Criteria E: Brief methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work in not more than 2 pages.  10 points.
• Combined Total Score (Maximum) = 100 points.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 70 points in the Technical Evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.
The financial score for the financial proposal will be calculated in the following manner:
Sf = 100 x Fm/F, in which Sf is the financial score, Fm is the lowest price and F the price of the proposal under consideration.
(Total Financial Maximum points = 100 points).

Total Score:
The technical score attained at by each proposal will be used in determining the Total score as follows:
The weights given to the technical and financial proposals are: T= 0.7, F=0.3
The Total score will be calculated by formula: TS = St x 0.7 + Sf x 0.3
TS - Is the total score of the proposal under consideration?
St - is technical score of the proposal under consideration.
Sf - is financial score of the proposal under consideration.