Background

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is implementing an Electoral Project- Leveraging Electoral Assistance Regionalized Nation-Building (LEARN) to provide tailored technical assistance to Election Management Bodies (EMBs)- Technical Secretariat for Electoral Administration (STAE) and National Commission for Elections (CNE) to strengthen their capacities through electoral cycle approach, contributing to the process of creating and sustaining an environment for inclusive and responsive electoral and political processes.  Since the successful conduct of national elections in 2017 and 2018, the project is undergoing activities that would pertain to the post-election scenario in relation to building the capacity of EMBs and civil societies of Timor-Leste. The project is gearing towards the preparation for municipal elections through conducting several activities like voter education, voter registration and others.

UNDP is also implementing the Justice System Programme (JSP) and has been supporting the justice sector in Timor-Leste in collaboration with the government, civil society and development partners for more than a decade. Building on the JSP’s concerted efforts to date, JSP Phase IV (2014-2019) aims to consolidate further the rule of law in Timor-Leste by strengthening the institutional capacity and improving access to justice of the vulnerable. The capacity development support focuses on the quality legal education for professionals through the Legal & Judicial Training Centre (LJTC) and reform of the state-owned legal aid system. Continuing the Mobile Justice and the new establishment of access to justice clinics are expected to reinforce access to justice for women and disadvantaged people in rural areas of Timor-Leste.  

In addition to that UNDP’s Anti-Corruption Project in close collaboration with the Commission of Anti-Corruption of Timor-Leste (CAC), aims to strengthen anti-corruption, transparency, and accountability at the national and municipal levels and raise awareness among citizens in Timor-Leste has been implemented since 2018.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the National Project Managers, the key function of the international consultant is to oversee and execute M&E activities included in the Annual Work Plan and M&E Plan of LEARN Project, Anti-Corruption Project and Justice system Programme (JSP)  with particular focus on results and impacts: The consultant will be performing the following responsibilities:

Monitoring and Evaluation of Project Activities

·         Ensure that the project has results-based annual work plans with indicators, baselines and targets established at output and activity level;

·         Oversee and execute M&E activities included in the Quarterly Annual Work Plan and the M&E plan, with focus on results and impacts; 

·         Ensure quality contributions to the annual Results-Oriented Annual Reporting (ROAR), including provision of quality Programme data according to a predefined set of indicators and other requirements, etc.;

·         Support the process of UNDP quality results reporting by provision of M&E information for ATLAS, Transparency Dashboard as well as facilitating the process of Programme/project Quality Assurance and Monitoring;

·         Prepare and update project risk log, issue log, lessons learnt log and other UNDP instruments for effective implementation of the electoral programme;

·         Evaluate results achieved by the project against their targets and track overall progress in achieving objectives in accordance with UNDP Evaluation Policy, UNDP Programme and Operations Policies and Procedures and UN Evaluation Norms and Standards;

·         Prepare consolidated progress reports for project management (including project quarterly and annual progress reports) capturing qualitative and quantitative aspects, according to the annual work plans and log frame including identification of problems, causes of potential bottlenecks in project implementation, and providing specific recommendations.

·        Promote a results-based approach for monitoring and evaluation, emphasizing results and impact;

·        Undertake regular visits to the field to support implementation of M&E and to identify where adaptations might be needed;

·        Facilitate project final evaluation

·        Monitor the project implementation activities follow up of evaluation recommendations.

·        Advise to National Project Managers on preparation of work plan and quarterly work plan

Lessons Learned

·        Design and implement a system to identify, analyze, document and disseminate lessons learned;

·        Ensure that TOR for consultants recruited by the project also incorporate mechanisms to capture and share lessons learned through their inputs to the project, and to ensure that the results are reflected in the reporting system described above;

·        Facilitate exchange of experiences by supporting and coordinating participation in any existing network of projects sharing common characteristics;

·        Identify and participate in additional networks, for example scientific or policy-based networks that may also yield lessons that can benefit project implementation.

Support to Project Management

·        Be responsible for writing project reports, such as interim and final reports, and other reports requested by the Project Manager and by the UNDP Country Office;

·        Contribute to the preparation of annual and quarterly workplans;

·        Act as a facilitator or trainer in areas of his/her knowledge as required;

·        Other duties as required by the Project Manager or the UNDP Country Office.

Impact of Results

·        The quality of UNDP reporting on the project is timely, comprehensive and of high quality;

·        The direction of the project is brought into focus by the setting of relevant targets and benchmarks;

·        Donors are satisfied with the quality of the information they are receiving on the impact their funds are having on the electoral process, justice, and anti-corruption initiatives;

·        The global principles of UNDP's Results Based Management are strengthened in the project

C. Deliverables:

·        To submit inception report containing all the work plan for the duration of five (5) months detailing methodology to achieve the key result expected

·         Provide support to final evaluation of LEARN Project and JSP

·        Submission of quarterly and annual reports of the project (s).

·        Submission of periodic donor reporting meeting deadlines.

·        Provide a summary report on the way forward based on external evaluation report for LEARN Project, Anti-Corruption Project and Justice System Programme (JSP).  

The timeline for delivering the above outputs will be discussed and documented in contractual documents.

Intellectual Property

All information pertaining to this project as well as outputs produced under this contract shall remain the property of the UNDP who shall have exclusive rights over their use. Except for purposes of this assignment, the products shall not be disclosed to the public nor used in whatever format without written permission of UNDP in line with the national and International Copyright Laws applicable.

D.           Expected Outputs and Deliverables

The successful consultant is expected to deliver the following deliverables:

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

·        Knowledge Management and Learning:

·        Promotes knowledge management in UNDP and a learning environment in the office through leadership and personal example;

·        Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

·        Ability to lead and manage results-oriented strategic and thematic evaluations;

·        Substantive knowledge and understanding of evaluation and development evaluation in particular;

·        Excellent knowledge in current development issues particularly those pertinent to UNDP’s Practice Areas.  Excellent conceptual and analytical abilities;

·        Excellent technical skills in measurement and evaluation, including grasp of methodological and operational dimensions and the ability to link corporate and country level issues;

·        Ability to go beyond established procedures and models, creation of new approaches;

·        Ability to lead business processes re-engineering, implementation of new systems (business side), and affect staff behavioral/ attitudinal change;

·        Good knowledge of Results Management Guide and Toolkit.

Management and Leadership:

·        Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;

·        Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;

·        Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;

·        Leads teams effectively and shows mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills;

·        Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

A minimum of five years of relevant professional experience, including:

·        Experience in planning, design and implementation of M&E systems;

·        Experience in application of the logical framework, other strategic planning approaches, M&E methods and data/information analysis;

·        Experience in the area of Governance is desirable;

·        Experience working with government counterpart on national development issues an asset;  

·        Experience working with UNDP, other UN entities, donor organizations or development organizations is an asset.

·        Must have a high level of computer literacy (competent in MS Office) and good technical report writing skills; Knowledge of statistical tools is an asset.