UNDP Jobs - 79104- International Consultant for Evaluation of Outcome

International Consultant for Evaluation of Outcome 5 of the Country Programme Document for Bosnia and Herzegovina 2015-2019

Location :

Home-based with travel to BIH, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

06-Jun-18 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

June-July 2018 (20 working days)

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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

Introduction

UNDP Country Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina commissions an Outcome Evaluation to assess its contribution to sustainable management of environmental and energy resources in the country, for the period January 2015 - April 2018. The subject of the proposed evaluation is Outcome 5 of the UNDP Country Programme Document for Bosnia and Herzegovina (CPD, 2015-2019) : “By 2019, legal and strategic frameworks are enhanced and operationalized to ensure sustainable management of natural, cultural and energy resources”.

UNDP’s response to development challenges in the area of sustainable management of natural and energy resources, climate change adaptation and mitigation and building resilience

UNDP in Bosnia and Herzegovina is part of the wider UN family and its work is guided by the United Nations Development Assistance Framework 2015-2019, as well as the Country Programme Document for Bosnia and Herzegovina for the same period. In line with the UNDP Strategic Plan and responding to country priorities, UNDP work in the areas of governance, sustainable and inclusive development, and resilience. These are operationalised through 4 outcomes (chosen directly from the UNDAF), focusing on (i) effective management of war remnants and strengthened prevention and responsiveness for man-made and natural disasters; (ii) reduction of economic, social and territorial disparities; (iii) enhance legal and strategic frameworks for sustainable management of natural, cultural and energy resources; and (iv) social inclusion and social protection.

Scope of UNDP’s work in the environment and energy domain
Under the energy and environment outcome, UNDP’s assistance to the country aims to contribute to sustainable growth through investments in clean and efficient technologies and services, expanded access to energy and water, and green jobs. It also helps Bosnia and Herzegovina to meet its international and EU accession obligations in the field of energy and the environment. Through a portfolio of projects and broad-base partnerships, UNDP delivers assistance to authorities across all government levels in the areas of: design and implementation of policy and regulatory frameworks; energy management (e.g. biomass utilisation and fuel switch initiatives; energy efficiency in the public sector buildings; public energy revolving funds; renewable energy infrastructure; affirmation of modern energy consumption monitoring and reporting system); environmental protection (biodiversity; sustainable use of wood; GHG emission reduction; low-carbon urban development; air quality; public environmental funds; capacitate public water management utilities), disaster risk management (mainstreaming disaster risks into policies and strategies; disaster-smart infrastructure); climate change adaptation and mitigation (climate resilient flood management and economic activities; prepare the Fourth National Communication and Third Biennial Update Report under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change; support for the implementation of the Minamata Convention).

Partnerships
The main UNDP partners in the domain include:

Governments and numerous public institutions (ministries, agencies) at local, cantonal, entity and state levels;
Donors and the international community, including the Green Environmental Fund, the Green Climate Fund; governments of Sweden, Czech Republic, Italy; USAID, GIZ, the EU; other UN agencies, such as UNEP and UNESCO;
International financing institutions and banks, which have a growing role in UNDP’s work in this domain;
Private sector, especially small and mid-size enterprises;
Non-governmental organisations and thematic associations;
Academia and media.

Financial volume of the programme in the energy and environment domain
Since 2015, the volume of financial resources delivered through interventions in the energy and environment domain by UNDP amount to USD 17,530,000 (against the planned USD 17 million for this outcome by 2019 within the Country Programme). As of March 2018, the total resource mobilisation spearheaded by UNDP in this domain amounts to nearly USD 34, 8 million.

Purpose
The purpose of this Outcome Evaluation is to capture and demonstrate evaluative evidence of UNDP contributions towards energy and environmental sustainability in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as stated under the Outcome 5 of the UNDP Country Programme Document (2015-20219).
In that light, the Evaluation is expected to provide an independent and substantiated review of the achievements; capture underperformance; review coherence and inter-connectivity among initiatives within the portfolio; assess partnership strategy; capture feedback from beneficiaries of assistance provided by UNDP, in light of development results; last but not least – recommend improvements that may be undertaken to ensure quality outcome, as well as a strategic pathway for the domain for the period beyond this programme cycle.
At this particular time, UNDP is keen to look at its outcome-level achievements and receive an independent review on how effective and efficient it is in delivering result-based development assistance in the energy and environment domain. The findings of the evaluation will not only inform the follow-up design of the Country Programme Document but will also serve as input to the wider UNDAF final evaluation in 2019. Another purpose of this evaluation is to provide inputs to the Country Programme Document Final Evaluation to be carried out by the UNDP Evaluation Office in September 2018.

Objective
The overall objective of the evaluation is to measure UNDP’s contribution to achieving Outcome 5 of the UNDP Country Programme Document for Bosnia and Herzegovina, namely “By 2019, legal and strategic frameworks are enhanced and operationalized to ensure sustainable management of natural, cultural and energy resources” for the period 2015-2017 and provide recommendations for programmatic course corrections.
In addition, this evaluation aims to provide a forward-looking vision: the findings and recommendations must be based on concrete evidence that will support UNDP’s strategic thinking for the new programme cycle, specifically in determining its strategic priories in supporting Bosnia and Herzegovina in the area of sustainable development, environment and energy.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work

The Outcome Evaluation will focus on (but may not be limited to):

Outcome status: the extent to which the planned outcome and the related outputs have been, are being achieved, and likely to be achieved by end 2019 (based on the Country Programme Document Outcome 5 and its results framework).
Strategy: if and which programme processes, strategic partnerships and linkages proved 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 risks, as well as internal, including: weaknesses in programme/project design, management, human resource skills, and resources; Added value and comparative advantage of UNDP in contributing to the outcome, including a better understanding of similar work implemented by other partners and stakeholders and how UNDP adds its values.
Strategic complementarities and programmatic coherence: assess to what extent the outcome and its interventions are inter-connected, as well as complementary to other work areas (including with other UN agencies) thus maximising development results.
Innovation: assess the extent to which UNDP applies innovation in its work related to the outcome and substantiate this aspect with concrete examples/case studies.
Lessons learnt: Identify lessons learnt and recommendations as the critical aspect of the Outcome Evaluation, that will be used for eventual course corrections in the current implementation or to inform design of a better implementation strategy for the next UNDP programmatic cycle.

Main evaluation criteria and evaluation questions
The Outcome Evaluation will answer the following questions, so as to determine the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of UNDP interventions conducted towards achieving the Country Programme Document Outcome 5, including lessons learned and forward-looking recommendations. These are summarised below.

Relevance

To what extent the Outcome 5 and its outputs address country development priorities?
Have UNDP interventions within this Outcome been relevant to the socially excluded populations and gender-sensitive?
What are potential area of engagement for UNDP’s next Country Programme in relation to the energy and environment domain?

Effectiveness

To what extent has the Outcome been achieved or has progress been made towards its achievement?
What has been UNDP contribution to the Outcome? How have corresponding outputs and projects delivered by UNDP influenced the outcome? Are there any inefficiencies in achieving the outputs and the outcome?
What is the added value and comparative advantage of UNDP in contributing to the outcome?
If and which programme processes, strategic partnerships and linkages proved critical in producing the intended outcome?
Has UNDP’s partnership strategy been appropriate and effective in contributing to the outcome?
What were the positive or negative, intended or unintended, changes brought about by UNDP’s work?
What are the challenges to achieving the outcome?
Is innovation featuring within the work related to the outcome?
To what extent have the poor, women and other disadvantaged and marginalized groups benefited from UNDP interventions?

Efficiency

To what extent have the programme outputs resulted from the cost-efficient use of resources?
Has there been any duplication of efforts among UNDP’s own interventions (especially those contributing to this outcomes) and interventions delivered by other organizations or entities in contributing to the outcome?
Are there any weaknesses in programme/project design, management, human resource skills, and resources?

Sustainability

How strong is the level of ownership of the outcome results by the relevant government entities and other stakeholders?
Is sustainability an overarching consideration across interventions within the outcome?
Are there concrete sustainability approaches that may be considered as exemplary in their design and implementation?
What could be done to strengthen sustainability?

The evaluation need to assess the degree to which UNDP initiatives have supported or promoted gender equality, a rights-based approach, and human development. In this regard, United Nations Evaluation Group’s guidance on Integrating Human Rights and Gender Equality in Evaluation should be consulted.

Evaluation methodolgy

Based on the UNDP Handbook on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for Development Results, the Outcome-Level Evaluation: A companion guide to the handbook on planning monitoring and evaluating for development results for programme units and evaluators, and in consultations with UNDP Country Office, the outcome evaluation will be participatory, involving relevant stakeholders.
Data collection tools may include (not limited to):

Desk review: the Consultant will conduct a detailed review of all documents relevant to the Outcome 5 subject to evaluation under these ToR (an indicative list of documents is provided in Annex 2);
Key informant interviews: government representatives, non-governmental organisations, private sector representatives, other UN agencies, donors, etc. UNDP will share with the selected Consultant the list of partners that may be considered for meeting in the process.
Focus group discussions: 3 – 4 field missions to meet partners and beneficiaries and see results;
Other methodologies, as appropriate, such as case studies, statistical analysis, social network analysis, etc.

The expected duration of the assignment is 20 working days (up to 7 days in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including field trips) in June 2018.

Evaluation Deliverables
Following the fine-tuning and final approval of the outcome evaluation methodology, the Consultant will be responsible for delivering the following products:

Inception Report showing how each evaluation question will be answered by proposing methods, sources of data and data collection procedures. The Inception report should elaborate an evaluation matrix for the CPD Outcome 5 and propose schedule of tasks, activities and evaluation deliverables. The Inception report should follow the structure proposed in the UNDP Outcome-Level Evaluation: A Companion Guide, p. 31.
Draft Evaluation Report: Upon the approval of the Inception report and Evaluation work plan by the UNDP, the consultant is expected to carry out the evaluation. UNDP will provide support to the Consultant in organization of meetings and interviews, as necessary, as well as will make all logistical, translation and transportation arrangements. The Draft Evaluation Report (based on the structure outlined below) will be submitted to the UNDP team for initial review.
Evaluation debriefing meeting with UNDP and key stakeholders where main findings will be presented.
Final Evaluation Report: the minimum structure of the Outcome Evaluation Report (to be written in English language) is the following:(i) Executive summary; (ii) Introduction; (iii) Methodological approach; (iv) Development challenge and UNDP response; (v) Contribution to results: Evaluation findings against the main evaluation criteria; (vi) Lessons learned; (vii) Main conclusions and forward-looking recommendations; (viii) Annexes.

Implementation arrangements and reporting relationships
The Consultant will report to the Deputy Resident Representative (DRR) and the Energy and Environment Sector Leader in UNDP Bosnia and Herzegovina. A UNDP Evaluation Focal Point will be assigned to oversee and support the overall evaluation process. In addition, an evaluation reference group will be formed to provide critical and objective inputs throughout the evaluation process to strengthen the quality of the evaluation. The CO Senior Management will take responsibility for the approval of the final evaluation report.

Time-table for the evaluation process
Deliverables/outputs

Deliverables / outputs/# of days per task/Due date/Percentage

Inception report 4 Mid-June, 2018 20.00;
Draft Evaluation Report 10 End of June, 2018 50.00;
Evaluation Debriefing meeting 1 End of June, 2018 5.00;
Final Evaluation report 5 Early July, 2018 25.00.

Competencies

Core values

Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modelling UN values and ethical standards;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Core competencies

Demonstrates professional competence to meet responsibilities and post requirements and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results;
Results-Orientation: Plans and produces quality results to meet established goals, generates innovative, practical solutions to challenging situations;
Communication: Excellent communication skills, including the ability to convey complex concepts and recommendations, both orally and in writing, in a clear and persuasive style tailored to match different audiences;
Team work: Ability to interact, establish and maintain effective working relations with a culturally diverse team;
Client orientation: Ability to establish and maintain productive partnerships with national partners and stakeholders and pro-activeness in identifying of beneficiaries and partners’ needs, and matching them to appropriate solutions.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications/Education

Advanced university degree in environmental sciences, economics, public administration, regional development/planning, or other sciences related to environment and sustainable development.

Experience

At least 10 years of experience in conducting complex evaluations, especially in the Environment and Sustainable Development practice area, with proven accomplishments in undertaking evaluation for international organizations, preferably with UNDP.
Sound knowledge of results-based management systems, and gender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation methodologies;
Extensive knowledge of qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods;
General understanding and knowledge of the political and administrative context in Bosnia and Herzegovina is considered an asset;
Proven analytical skills and ability to conceptualize and write concisely and clearly;
Proven communication skills, and ability to interact with multiple actors including government representatives, donors and other stakeholders.

Languages Requirements

Fluency in English Language.

Other

Excellent computer skills (MS Office applications) and ability to use information technologies as a tool and resource.

Evaluation

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology.

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:
a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
b) 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%
* Financial Criteria weight- 30%

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points for technical criteria assessment would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Applicants are required to submit an application including:

Completed and signed UNDP Personal History Form (downloadable from http://www.ba.undp.org/content/bosnia_and_herzegovina/en/home/operations/jobs.html) and at least 3 references;
Financial proposal (in USD) which will separately specify professional fee, indicating number of anticipated working days, travel costs (air-ticket or use of private vehicle), living allowance, and all other applicable costs;
Proposal (outlining the specific design and methods for the evaluation):

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

The methodology should present the Consultants approach, proposed detailed methods, scope and evaluation criteria and questions;
The methodology should apply a mixed-method approach collecting both quantitative and qualitative data to validate and triangulate data;
The methodology should include the filled in evaluation matrix (Annex 3);
The methodology should explain the data collection tool/s to be used.

Please scan all above mentioned documents and upload as one attachment only online through this website.

Note:

For an assignment requiring travel, consultants of 62 years or more require full medical examination and statement of fitness to work to engage in the consultancy.
Due to large number of potential applicants, only competitively selected candidates will be contacted for remaining steps of the service procurement process.

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

Criteria /Weight/ Max. Point

Ratings based on Shortlisting Criteria 30% 30
Methodology 25% 25
Phone Interview/Interview by Skype 45% 45

For detailed ToR please follow the link http://www.ba.undp.org/content/bosnia_and_herzegovina/en/home/operations/procurement.html.