Background

To support the K-12 Basic Education Program, the Department of Education (DepEd) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) entered an agreement in 2016 for the implementation of the DepEd Computerization Program (DCP). Under this partnership, the UNDP procures, delivers, and installs ICT packages in public schools using the allocations for DepEd under the General Appropriations Act of 2016. The partnership is meant to support DepEd in accelerating the implementation of its programs while providing it with assistance in implementing reforms.

Under a government financing arrangement, DepEd allocated USD$60,750,267.58 for the UNDP to procure and deliver ICT packages to more than 4,976 schools as well as to other DepEd offices. The ICT packages for procurement and delivery by UNDP for the DepEd consists of four (4) lots.  In 2017, Lot 1 (184 Senior High School Packages (SHS), Lot 2 (889 Specialized SHS Packages) and Lot 3 (209 DepEd offices) have been fully delivered. The delivery and installation of Lot 4, which consists of 3,694 ICT packages and solar power systems for un-energized schools is on-going and is expected to finish in March 2019.

Moreover, under the agreement, UNDP will utilize 2 percent for technical assistance package to DepEd to support the latter’s efforts to (1) implement public financial management (PFM) reforms, (2) scaling up of citizen monitoring teams to ensure timely and quality service delivery up to the beneficiary level; and (3) conduct trainings related to project management, monitoring and evaluation

The initiatives are in line with the Philippine Development Plan 2017-2022, which provides an overall framework and roadmap to achieve quality accessible, relevant, and liberating basic education for all through the provision of assistance to the full implementation of the K to 12 program.

Moreover, the project contributes to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, specifically, 4.4.1 Proportion of youth and adults with information and communications technology (ICT) skills, by type of skill and 4.6 By 2030, ensure that all youth and a substantial proportion of adults, both men and women, achieve literacy and numeracy

Key partners involved in the intervention

The Office of the Secretary, through the Office of the Undersecretary for Administration, act as the lead office for the DepEd-UNDP Partnership. For sites in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), the project is officially coordinating with the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Special Programs & Projects.

The project engaged civil society organizations through the Micro-Capital Grant Agreement (MCGA). These CSOs, known as the Citizen Participating in Governance (CPaG) act as conduit to changing the governance landscape of the local communities by encouraging and empowering citizens and community-based organizations such as parent-teachers’ associations (PTAs), and people’s organizations to participate in the budget accountability phase of the financial management system. This is done by through contract implementation monitoring of the DepED ICT package managed and procured by UNDP for the DepED.

Purpose

Evaluations are critical for UNDP to progress towards advancing human development. Through the generation of evidence and objective information, evaluations enable UNDP to make informed decisions and plan strategically.

This project terminal evaluation is intended to demonstrate the level of change in the project outputs indicators and the project’s contribution to outcome level changes, which are normally demonstrated as changes in the performance of institutions or behavior changes. It must also consider whether resources have been properly and judiciously harnessed towards implementation and delivery of stated outputs and the extent to which these outputs contributed to observed results achieved. The evaluation must also identify any operational issues that may be improved to facilitate better program implementation and delivery for similar programs in the future  

The evaluation will be used by all main parties (UNDP and partner government agency) to assess their approaches to development assistance and to design future interventions. It is expected to ensure accountability and to generate knowledge for wider use.

Evaluation criteria and key guiding questions

• Relevance
  • Did the project design and choice of activities and deliverables properly reflect and respond to specifically identified needs of the government and of the beneficiaries? How were the needs determined and assessed?
  • How valid is the Theory of Change? Were the planned and actual activities and outputs of the project consistent with the intended outcomes? 
• Efficiency
  • To what extent was the project managed and delivered in a cost-effective way?
  • How was the project managed in terms of timeliness?
  • How did project risks influence the efficiency of project implementation? Were all major risks adequately identified before and during project implementation?
• Effectiveness
  • To what extent is the project successful in achieving results, both expected and unexpected?
  • How effective was the project in building the capacities of partners and beneficiaries?
  • To what extent has the use of UNDP systems accelerated the implementation of the project in the following areas: budgeting, procurement, HR augmentation, partnerships and CSO engagement, finance, and monitoring?
  • Is the project reaching the intended beneficiaries, rights holders and duty bearers?
  • To what extent has the project been effective in policy/systems influencing at the national and local level?
  • What value has UNDP added? Both expected and unexpected?
  • Did the project build effective synergies with other existing initiatives?
  • To what extent does the project integrate gender equality, women’s empowerment, and human rights?
• Sustainability
  • To what extent can project results be continued without the project’s further involvement?
  • To what extent has DepEd been capacitated to improve financial management and service delivery through the project
  • To what extent has the project built in resilience to future risks? (e.g. wastage, over-budgeted specs)
  • What are the learnings and best practices?

Methodology

Methodological approaches may include some or all of the following:

• Evaluation should employ a combination of both qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods and instruments. ?
• Document review of all relevant documentation. This would include a review of inter alia:
  • Project document (contribution agreement)
  • Theory of change and results framework
  • Programme and project quality assurance reports
  • Annual work plans
  • Activity designs
  • Consolidated quarterly and annual reports
  • Results-oriented monitoring report
  • Highlights of project board meetings
  • Technical/financial monitoring reports ?
• Semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders including key government counterparts, donor community members, representatives of key civil society organizations, UNCT members and implementing partners:
  • Development of evaluation questions around relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability and designed for different stakeholders to be interviewed.
  • Key informant and focus group discussions with men and women, beneficiaries and stakeholders.
  • All interviews should be undertaken in full confidence and anonymity. The final evaluation report should not assign specific comments to individuals.
• Surveys and questionnaires including participants in development programmes, UNCT members and/or surveys and questionnaires involving other stakeholders at strategic and programmatic levels.
• Field visits and on-site validation of key tangible outputs and interventions. ?
• The evaluator is expected to follow a participatory and consultative approach that ensures close engagement with the evaluation managers, implementing partners and direct beneficiaries. ?
• Other methods such as outcome mapping, observational visits, group discussions, etc.
• Data review and analysis of monitoring and other data sources and methods. ?
  • Ensure maximum validity, reliability of data (quality) and promote use; the evaluation team will ensure triangulation of the various data sources. ?

                The final methodological approach including interview schedule, field visits and data to be used in the evaluation should be clearly outlined in the inception report and be fully discussed and agreed between UNDP, stakeholders and the evaluators. ?

Evaluation products

• Evaluation inception report (10-15 pages). The inception report should be carried out following and based on preliminary discussions with UNDP after the desk review, and should be produced before the evaluation starts (before any formal evaluation interviews, survey distribution or field visits) and prior to the country visit in the case of international evaluators. ?
• Presentation of preliminary findings. Immediately following an evaluation, the evaluator will present preliminary debriefing and findings. ?
• Draft evaluation report. The programme unit and key stakeholders in the evaluation will review the draft evaluation report and provide an amalgamated set of comments to the evaluator within an agreed period of time, addressing the content required (as agreed in the TOR and inception report) and quality criteria.
• Evaluation report audit trail. Comments and changes by the evaluator in response to the draft report should be submitted by the evaluator to show how they have addressed comments. ?
• Final evaluation report. ?
• Presentations to stakeholders and/or the evaluation reference group or participation in knowledge-sharing events

Implementation arrangements

The Evaluator will be hired for an indicative period of 3 months.

The Evaluator should be able to travel to locations within the country for fieldwork, consultations, and other on-site activities required for the evaluation. The Evaluator may be asked to report physically to UNDP as agreed during the inception report, and when physical participation, such as consultations with stakeholders and Evaluation Reference Group (ERG) meetings, will be necessary.

The principal responsibility for managing this evaluation resides with the PMU through the Project Manager (PM) and the UNDP Monitoring and Evaluation Analyst. Both will be responsible for liaising with the Evaluation Team pertaining to required technical and financial documents, coordinating with stakeholders, setting up interviews, arranging field visits, and looking after the evaluation budget and schedule. They shall likewise assist in distribution of draft reports to stakeholders for their review, consolidation of comments, and in organizing key stakeholders’ meetings for presentation of the salient points of the draft/final reports. Both will provide support in the procurement process for the selection of a service provider (i.e., publication of the TOR and assessment of proposals).

The UNDP M&E Analyst will brief the Evaluation Team on UNDP evaluation norms and standards, reviewing and quality assuring the inception/draft/final reports, and in publishing findings and management responses at the UNDP Evaluation Resource Center.

The Evaluation consultant will be responsible for implementing all evaluation-related activities and in producing the evaluation products listed in the deliverables section of this TOR. While the PMU will provide the information required and support in coordinating with stakeholders, the Evaluator will have to manage its own schedule and logistical arrangements in the conduct of interviews and site visits. 

Duration of Work

Duration of work is 45 person days spread over 3 months.

Duty Station

The Consultant should be based in Manila and shall go to the UNDP Office as needed.

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, travel costs, living allowance (if any work is to be done outside the IC’s duty station) and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the Consultant in completing the assignment.

Travel is required to Davao and Abra, spending 3 days per area. All travel related costs should be included on the financial proposal to be submitted by the Consultant. In general, UNDP shall not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the Consultant wish to travel on a higher class, he/she should do so using their own resources.

The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables/outputs and as per below percentages:

• First Tranche - 20% Upon submission and approval of inception report;
• Second Tranche - 30% Upon presentation of mission evaluation highlights and submission and acceptance of presentation materials and upon submission and approval of draft evaluation report;
• Third Tranche - 50% Upon submission and approval of final evaluation report and other related documents

Annexes can be viewed at the UNDP Procurement Notice advertisement for this position https://www.ph.undp.org/content/philippines/en/home/procurement.html

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the Evaluation Reference Group, and reporting to the UNDP evaluation manager, the evaluator, shall assess the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability of the Development Support Services to the K to 12 Basic Education Program of the Philippine Department of Education Project by reviewing progress towards project results based on the project document and annual work plans. The evaluation will review the project’s theory of change vis-à-vis the project’s achievements and risks, and assess the project’s potential effects on the target groups. It will likewise highlight strengths, weaknesses/gaps, good practices, and provide forward looking recommendations for the design and implementation of future government financing projects.

The evaluation will also provide an analysis of the data generated from the client satisfaction surveys that were collected by partner CSOs.

Objective

The evaluation will identify the level of achievement in project outputs and the contribution to results at the outcome level, including unintended positive and negative results. The evaluation will also aim to identify the key lessons learned and best practices.

The evaluation will assess:

• The relevance of the project
• The effectiveness of the achievement of results at the output levels and the level of efficiency in the use of project resources
• The usefulness and sustainability of the results for the project beneficiaries
• UNDP’s performance as a development partner
• UNDP’s added value to the expected results

Competencies

Core values

• Demonstrates integrity and fairness by modelling UN values and ethical standards;
• Demonstrates professional competence to meet responsibilities and post requirements and is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; ?
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;

Core competencies

• 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

Offers will be evaluated based on combined scoring method :

• Technical qualifications = 50%
• Methodology = 20%
• Financial Proposal =    30%

UNDP seeks to engage the services of an Independent Evaluation Consultant to carry out the Independent Terminal Evaluation of Project 95022 Development Support Services to the K to 12 Basic Education Program of the Philippine Department of Education. The Consultant will have the overall responsibility during all phases of the evaluation, particularly in ensuring the high quality and timely completion of evaluation processes, methodologies, and outputs. In close collaboration with the PMU and UNDP, he/she will lead the implementation of the evaluation design, guide the methodology and application of data collection instruments, and lead the consultations with stakeholders. At the reporting phase, he/she is responsible for putting together the first comprehensive draft and the final version of the evaluation report, based on inputs from the PMU, UNDP, and stakeholders. The applicant should possess the following qualifications:

Recommended Presentation of Offer

Offerors must upload in one (1) file the documents below:

You may download the editable version of the Offeror's Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability for the IC by clicking on this link: http://gofile.me/6xdJm/bE9TCw8fU

1. Duly accomplished Offeror's Letter to UNDP Confirming Insterest and Availability for the IC that indicates the all-inclusive lumpsum contract price, supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template provided; If an Offeror is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP;
2. Financial Proposal (Annex 2 of Offeror's Letter to UNDP Confirming Insterest and Availability)
3. Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
4. Proposed Methodology, on the evaluation process. 

In view of the volume of applications UNDP receives, only shortlisted offerors will be notified.