Background

A.     PROJECT TITLE:  Leveraging Electoral Assistance for Regionalized Nation-Building (LEARN), UNDP Timor-Leste.

B.      NATIONAL CONTEXT.

The Constitution of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste provides for a Parliamentary System of government, with President as the Head of State and the popularly elected Prime Minister as Head of government. The Legislature is a unicameral Parliament, composed of the 65 members which are elected through a proportional representation electoral system.

In 2017, there was a political deadlock between political parties because the legitimate government formed after 2017 parliamentary elections did not have a majority of seats in the parliament. Consequently, the President announced an early parliamentary election to end the deadlock by forming a new government. A new government with a majority of seats was formed by a coalition of parties subsequent to 2018 early parliamentary election.

The country is heading towards a decentralization process and the government has planned to implement it in the next five years. The former 12 districts have recently been changed to municipalities with the enclave remaining an autonomous region commencing to the municipal governance structure. The project in 2019 will focus more on support to the decentralization process especially the preparation for the electoral process and capacity building of EMBs to manage and conduct the Municipal elections for the first time in the history of Timor-Leste.

C.     PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

UNDP Electoral Project- LEARN was designed to provide technical assistance on enhancing civic knowledge, awareness and engagement of citizens in local and national democratic processes, to increase political participation of women and youth, to enhance institutional capacity and to increase sustainability of voter registration and electoral results management systems. The technical assistance has been provided to different cycles elections in village Presidential and Parliamentary Elections.

Since its establishment in 2016, The project LEARN has been providing support to the EMBs in the electoral processes: 2016 Suco Elections, 2017 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections and in 2018 support to early parliamentary elections. The project in the beginning of 2018 anticipated elections at the Municipal level as one of the first stages of the decentralisation process. Therefore, the project, at the announcement of the government, diverted its activities of support from the preparation of Municipal Elections to Early Parliamentary Elections in May 2018.

The project focused on supporting the EMBs to conduct and manage 2018 parliamentary elections in continuation to the support provided to Suco, Presidential and parliamentary elections in 2016 and 2017 respectively. The project strongly intervened in enhancing voter education through awareness and engagement of citizens in democratic processes, as well as promoting participation of women, youth and people with disabilities to guarantee their rights. In addition, the capacity enhancement of journalists, community radios, media, observers, party agents and other electoral stakeholders was also supported to create a sustainable environment for inclusive and responsive electoral and political processes.

There are four outputs of the project that are to be achieved through the designed activities. The objective of the project is to strengthen electoral institutions to perform their core functions for accountability, participation and representation in the electoral processes. The project, by achieving its outputs, is contributing to UNDP Strategic Plan Outcome for enabling electoral institutions to perform their core functions, that is being accountable and participatory for a peaceful transition of electoral system and processes. Strengthening citizen’s voice and promoting inclusion through democratic electoral processes is one of the outputs of the country programme that the project strongly contributes to. Emphasis is also provided on building the capacities of national institutions to provide efficient, accountable and accessible services to citizens especially of the rural, poor, disadvantaged and marginalized groups. 

Outputs are those results which are achieved immediately after implementing an activity. The project has four outputs outlined with activities that are contributing to achieve such outputs.

Output 1: Enhanced civic knowledge, awareness, and engagement of citizens in local and national democratic processes.

Output 2: Increased political participation of women and youth at the local and national level

Output 3: Enhanced institutional capacity of CNE and STAE to manage and implement national and local elections through an electoral cycle approach

Output 4: Increased sustainability of voter registration and electoral results management systems

In accordance with UNDP policies and procedures, the project is required to undergo Terminal evaluation upon completion of implementation. These terms of reference (TOR) sets out the expectations for a Terminal Evaluation (TE) of the project Leveraging Electoral Assistance for Regionalized Nation-Building (LEARN), UNDP Timor-Leste.  Therefore, the UNDP is seeking a qualified International consultant to undertake the terminal evaluation of the project and all activities undertaken between 2015-2019 and prepare and present the Terminal Evaluation Report.

The Terminal Evaluation will be conducted according to the guidance, rules and procedures established by UNDP as reflected in the UNDP Evaluation Guidance. 

The evaluation must provide evidence-based information that is credible, reliable and useful. The evaluator is expected to follow a participatory and consultative approach ensuring close engagement with government counterparts, UNDP Country Office, project team, based in the region and key stakeholders.

Duties and Responsibilities

The project evaluation is being carried out to assess the progress made by the project against the project outputs and indicators. In-depth analysis will be needed to review the results achieved under four projects as outlined in the project document.

The evaluation should look into the relevance, sustainability, effectiveness and efficiency of the assistance provided by LEARN to STAE and CNE during the project cycle.

The evaluation will also measure an impact of the project towards strengthening the capacity of STAE in conducting a credible, inclusive and transparent elections contributing to the broader outcome of making the institutions, systems and processes of democratic governance more accountable, effective, efficient an inclusive.

The analysis and recommendations presented by the evaluation will be useful to, UNDP, STAE, CNE development partners and CSOs in measuring the contributions made by the project and in designing future interventions for strengthening electoral system and processes in Timor-Leste.

The specific objectives of the evaluation are the following:

·         To assess and evaluate the progress made by the project towards an attainment of the results as specified in the project monitoring and evaluation framework, UNDAF and CPD

·         To measure the contributions made by the project in enhancing the accountability, effectiveness, efficiency and inclusiveness of democratic system and processes with focus on elections 

·         To assess the sustainability of the project interventions

·         To examine the cost efficiency and effectiveness of LEARN project assistance

·         To document main lessons learned, best practices and propose recommendations

A.     METHODOLOGY OF THE EVALUATION.

The evaluator is expected to frame the evaluation effort using the criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and impact, as defined and explained in the Terminal Evaluation Guidance.

During the evaluation, the team is expected to apply the following approaches for data collection and analysis.  

·         Desk review of relevant documents (project document, review project report, STAE Electoral strategies and electoral operations plan, elections documents and observation reports etc);

·         Briefing sessions with Development Partners, UNDP and the STAE and CNE as well as with other partners;

·         Interviews with partners and stakeholders (including gathering the information on what the partners have achieved with regard to the outcome and what strategies they have used); donors, etc.

·         Field visits to selected project sites and discussions with project teams, project beneficiaries and major stakeholders (as deemed necessary);

·         Consultation meetings.        

B.      EVALUATION QUESTIONS

Relevance

·         To what extent LEARN Project technical and operational assistance were relevant in addressing the needs and strategic priorities of STAE and CNE and other electoral stakeholders?

·         To what extent were interventions informed by gender and social inclusion analyses to enhance women, youth, people with disability and marginalized groups’ meaningful participation in the electoral processes as voters and candidates?

·         How relevant was the project in making the election management body, electoral system and processes inclusive, credible and transparent?

·         To what extent the project was able to cater the needs of the beneficiaries in the changed context? If and when required an alteration of focus/strategy, was the project flexible?

·         Is there any evidence that the project advanced any key national human rights, gender or inclusion policies and the priorities of UN, UNDP, including the UNDAF?

·         How relevant was the geographical coverage?

Effectiveness

·         How effective has the project been in enhancing the institutional and professional capacity of STAE to conduct democratic, an inclusive, credible and transparent elections?

·         Has the project achieved its outputs? What were the major factors influencing the achievement or non-achievement of the outputs?

·         To what extent the planned outputs contributed towards the achievement of the UNDAF outcome and what are the evidences to validate these claims?

·         Did women, men, People with disability, youth and marginalized groups directly benefit from the project ‘s activities? If so, how and what was the impact?

·         Were any changes made in the project regarding approach, partnerships, beneficiaries etc. suggested by project mid-point assessment, context/risk analysis? Did it affect project results?

Efficiency

·         To what extent have resources (financial, human, institutional and technical) been allocated strategically?

·         Were the project inputs and benefits fairly distributed amongst different genders and communities while increasing access for the most vulnerable? What factors influenced decisions to fund certain proposed activities, and not others?

·         To what extent did the coordination with other UN agencies and UNDP projects reduce transaction costs, optimize results and avoid duplication?

Impact

·         What impact did the work of LEARN project have on the institutional/professional capacity of STAE and other electoral stakeholders? Is there evidence of knowledge transfer?

·         What impact did the work of LEARN project have on the conduct of elections in Timor-Leste?

·         Is there evidence of changes in their credibility, effectiveness and/or sustainability?

·         What impact did the work of LEARN project have on the democratic participation in elections in Timor-Leste?

Sustainability

·         Have LEARN project interventions enhanced the capacity of STAE/CNE and electoral stakeholders for sustainable results?

·         What is the level of ownership of STAE/CNE towards the project? Will the STAE/CNE be able to sustain project supported interventions (programmatically and financially) after the project phases out?

·         Is there any evidence of LEARN project reduced assistance over the years due to STAE/CNE increased ownership and leadership?

C.     SCOPE OF THE EVALUATION AND TIMEFRAME

Under the overall supervision of the responsible officer of UNDP Timor Leste , the Consultant will be responsible for the evaluation covering all activities as outlined in the framework of the project.

Duration: 01 August 2019-31 August 2019

The evaluator is expected to conduct a field missions for several municipality under discussion stakeholders. Interviews will be held with the following organizations and individuals at a minimum:

-        Director of STAE

-        Officers of STAE

-        Minister of State Administration

-        President of CNE and Commissioners.

-        Officers of CNE

-        Development Partners, JAPAN, KOREA, KOICA, EU

-        Electoral Experts, IDEA, IFES, members of civil society organizations,

-        Local level stakeholders: STAE Municipality Director. 

-        Project staff (former and current)

-        UN agencies and UNDP projects

-        Member of CSOs

-        Political parties

-        UNDP Country Team

The evaluator will review all relevant sources of information, such as the project document, project reports – including Annual Progress Report, project work plan and budget revisions, Quarterly progress reports, combine delivery report (CDR), any other materials that the evaluator considers useful for this evidence-based assessment. The project team will provide these documents to the selected evaluator.

The tentative schedule will be the following:

D.     EVALUATION CRITERIA & RATINGS:

An assessment of project performance will be carried out, based against expectations set out in the Project Logical Framework/Results Framework, which provides performance and impact indicators for project implementation along with their corresponding means of verification. The evaluation will at a minimum cover the criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact.

Ratings must be provided on the following performance criteria: 

·         Monitoring and Evaluation design at entry

·         Monitoring and Evaluation Plan Implementation

·         Overall quality of M&E

·         Relevance, Effectiveness, Efficiency

·         Overall Project Outcome Rating

·         Quality of UNDP Implementation – Implementing Agency (IA)

·         Overall quality of Implementation / Execution

·         Sustainability of Financial resources

·         Institutional framework and governance sustainability

The Evaluation will assess the key financial aspects of the project utilization of funds. Project cost and funding data will be required, including annual expenditures, revision of budget, donors’ financial reports. The evaluator(s) will receive assistance from the Country Office (CO) and Project Team to obtain financial data in order to complete assessment of financial reports which will be included in the terminal evaluation report. 

Impact:

The evaluators will assess the extent to which the project is achieving impacts or progressing towards the achievement of impacts. Key findings that should be brought out in the evaluations include whether the project has successfully implemented the activities within the project time frame.

E.      IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENTS:

To facilitate the evaluation process, project will assist in connecting the review team with STAE/CNE officials, development partners and key stakeholders.  In addition, the project will provide operational support in organizing meetings and field visits, if necessary.

Key project materials will be sent before the field work and will be reviewed by the team prior to the commencement of the field work. The evaluation team will prepare and share the draft inception report before the field mission. The evaluation team will be briefed by UNDP upon arrival on the objectives, purpose and output of the project evaluation.

The review team will assess the project based on interviews undertaken, discussions and consultations with all relevant stakeholders or interested parties and review of project documents. As a minimum indication, the review team should consult with implementing partners, other key government stakeholders, development partners and civil society representatives. UNDP will provide guidance in identifying, contacting and arranging for discussions, meetings with the stakeholders as required. 

A mission wrap-up meeting during which comments from participants will be noted for incorporation in the final review report

The principal responsibility for managing this evaluation resides with the UNDP CO in Timor Leste. The UNDP CO will contract the evaluators and facilitate travel arrangements within the country for the evaluation team.

Competencies

• Lead and manage the evaluation mission;
• Design the detailed scope and methodology (including the methods for data collection and analysis) for the report;
• Decide the division of work within the team;
• Conduct an analysis of the outcome, outputs and partnership strategy (as per the scope of the review described above) for the report;
• Contribute to and ensure overall quality of the outputs and final report.

Required Skills and Experience

• Advanced university degree in political science, international development or related field
• At least 7 years of experience in the field of elections, including technical advice at senior level, capacity building, monitoring and evaluation of electoral programs
• Sound knowledge of results-based management (especially results-oriented monitoring and evaluation)
• Previous work experience working on elections in post-conflict countries
• Ability to manage a team and ensure quality of a team output
• Fluency in English with excellent writing skills and good communication skills