Background

In 2015, the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) and the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) issued the National Evaluation Policy Framework (NEPF) to promote the purposive conduct of evaluations in the public sector in support of good governance, transparency, accountability, and evidence-based decision making. "While much has been achieved since the adoption of the NEPF, there is a need to escalate efforts to strengthen national evaluation capacity. First, enabling environment: while the NEPF established the beginnings for a centrally coordinated evaluation system, operational guidelines for how agencies should do evaluation have yet to be issued. Second, institutional capacity for evaluation is highly uneven across agencies and stifled by weak demand from senior management, lack of dedicated M&E units, and funding constraints. Third, individual capacity among decision-makers and technical staff to determine, design, manage, communicate, and make use of evaluations is likewise highly uneven across the government.

In 2017, NEDA and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Philippine country office partnered to strengthen the conduct of evaluations in support of the NEPF. The Strategic Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Project, which is financed by NEDA and implemented with full UNDP country office support, aims to build the capacity of NEDA and select government agencies to conduct evaluations of priority programs, in turn supporting the achievement of the Philippine Development Program (PDP) and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through the partnership, UNDP is supporting NEDA in a) commissioning evaluations; b) developing operational guidelines for the NEPF; c) pursuing initiatives to strengthen evaluation capacity; d) facilitating a community of practice on evaluation and e) leveraging technology and innovation.

The Project requires the services of a National Evaluation System and Capacity Development Adviser who shall provide strategic and technical guidance on how NEDA can best pursue national evaluation capacity development. The Adviser shall 1) conduct a scoping study on the experience and context of other countries and the Philippines, including the models they used, in establishing their respective monitoring and evaluation systems and capacities; 2) perform a meta-evaluation of existing evaluation studies conducted by or for Philippine government agencies in the past five (5) years; 3) recommend a realistic institutional framework for the NEPF; 4)provide advisory services to the development of a learning program for government evaluation; 5) provide advisory services to the strengthening of a community of practice (COP) on evaluation; and 6) provide strategic inputs and quality assurance, including the provision of guidance to service providers hired by UNDP, to ensure quality and coherence of capacity development efforts.

Governance and Accountability

• The Consultant shall be directly supervised by the Project Coordinator of the NEDA-UNDP Strategic M&E Project, with whom all outputs shall be submitted and through whom all communications shall be coursed or copied;
• The Consultant shall report progress, provide updates, or raise issues to the Project Coordinator on a regular basis. The Consultant is expected to be accessible to the UNDP Project Coordinator via phone, mobile, or internet, and may be asked to report physically to UNDP on an agreed schedule and when required.
• The Consultant may also be required to coordinate with the Senior Adviser, Institutions and Partnerships Programme Team  Lead, and other officials and staff of UNDP; and with the Undersecretary and Assistant Secretary for Investment Programming, the Director and staff of the MES, and other officials and staff of the NEDA but through the NEDA-MES;
• In performing his/her functions, the consultant is expected to coordinate, consult, and/or collaborate with the contractors of the evaluation studies, the implementing agencies and other stakeholders, attend ERG meetings, and other meetings, among others.

Expected Duration of the Contract

The consultant will be hired for 110 person-days spread over a period of seven (7) months from 01 June to 30 December 2020

Scope of Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments

• Financial proposals must be expressed as a lump sum “all-inclusive” per-person day rate. The term “all-inclusive” implies all costs (professional fees, medical insurance, allowances, etc.). The price is fixed regardless of changes in the cost components.  Please follow the UNDP template with the breakdown of costs. Medical/health insurance must be purchased by the individual at his/her own expense, and upon award of contract, the consultant must be ready to submit proof of insurance valid during the contract duration.

• Each person-day of work delivered, according to the equivalent level of effort per output as outlined in part D, may be billed upon submission of a time sheet with the accompanying outputs. The submission of such time sheet may be made immediately after outputs have been submitted and accepted or for each agreed-upon cut-off period.

Duty Station

• In light of the COVID-19 pandemic and declaration of State of Public Health Emergency in the Philippines, all work of the Individual consultant shall be done within the guidelines and protocols set by the local and national government. During the quarantine period, the IC shall NOT ENGAGE in any meetings or activities OUTSIDE THEIR HOMES. Coordination/meetings shall be done through phone or online communication until such time that the quarantine is lifted, during which this will be STRICTLY a HOME-BASED assignment; NO TRAVEL IS REQUIRED for the IC to complete their abovementioned tasks.

• The Consultant will be based in Manila but should be able to travel to locations of learning activities, consultations, and other engagements within the country, as required, subject to community quarantine guidelines set by the local and national government. Any future travels will be charged to UNDP c/o Strategic M&E Project;
• Similarly, once the community quarantine is lifted, the Consultant will be required to report physically to UNDP on a weekly basis and when physical participation in activities, such as engagement with stakeholders and evaluation of prospective contractors, will be necessary.
• The Consultant is expected to have his/her own workspace, computer, and other facilities.

Annexes and other References

• Philippines National Evaluation Policy Framework (hyperlink here)
• National Evaluation Policy Guidelines – Consultation Draft (hyperlink here)
• EvalPartners Global Evaluation Agenda 2016-2020 (hyperlink here)
• UNDP National Evaluation Diagnostic Tool and Guidance (hyperlink here)

UNEG Evaluation Competency Framework (hyperlink here)

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the UNDP Senior Adviser, the UNDP Institutions and Partnerships Outcome Lead, and the NEDA Monitoring and Evaluation Staff (MES) Director, and reporting directly and regularly to the Strategic M&E Project Coordinator, the Adviser shall implement appropriate methodologies to address the following questions:

• What is the experience and context of other countries and the Philippines, including the models they used, in establishing their respective evaluation systems and capacities? Which model(s) is (are) most appropriate in the Philippine context? What good practices and lessons can the Philippines take away from these countries’ experiences? What is the recommended operational institutional framework for the conduct of evaluations in the Philippines?
• To what extent can evaluation studies conducted by and for Philippine government agencies in the past five (5) years be curated and repurposed to support learning and knowledge exchange on evaluation? What lessons can be gathered from these studies?
• Based on global experience and the Philippines’ current evaluation systems and capacity, what is the best direction that the government can take in strengthening evaluation capacity and professionalizing the evaluation practice? What is the best approach and direction to, among others, developing a certificate program or accreditation of the program for evaluation? What should that program’s curriculum and delivery approach have given the latest body of knowledge?

In doing so, the Consultant shall undertake the following:

• Conduct a scoping study on the experience and context of the Philippines and other countries, including the models they used, in establishing their evaluation systems, highlighting those which present best practices or lessons which are relevant to the Philippines, including the following at the minimum:
  • A stock-taking and review of relevant literature and global initiatives to strengthen national evaluation systems and capacities. A minimum of five (5) country case studies that could be relevant to the Philippines given similar socio-economic and politico-governance contexts;
  • Aside from performing desk research of available materials, the scoping study may use key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and other relevant research methodologies.
  • Recommend an appropriate institutional framework that would harmonize, complement, and rationalize evaluation activities of various institutions in the country.
• Undertake a meta-evaluation of evaluation studies conducted by or for Philippine government agencies in the last five (5) years, including at the minimum:
  • An inventory of evaluations on national government programs which were conducted in the Philippines over the past five (5) years, including those which were commissioned by NEDA, the Department of Budget and Management, and other national government agencies; as well as by development partners, academic and research institutions, and other third parties. The inventory will be done in collaboration with the Project Team and service providers.
  • An initial analysis of these evaluation studies to identify emerging key themes and domains, which will be validated with NEDA and the Project Team; and a more in-depth analysis of the evaluation studies around the key emerging themes or domains.
  • From the inventory of past evaluations, the consultant, in consultation with NEDA and the Project Team, shall select and develop a set of 10 case studies that highlight the key themes or domains. Each case will follow a uniform outline or template which shall at the minimum contain i) a summary of the evaluation subject, methodology, and findings; ii) good practices and lessons learned; iii) key information on the evaluation commissioner and evaluation team; iv) institutional arrangements for the conduct of evaluations; v) financing sources for evaluation; vi) aspect of the evaluation that highlights a key theme or domain; and vii) utilization of evaluation results, such as in policymaking, planning-programming-budgeting, and other decision-making activities.

• Serve as technical adviser of the project to guide, provide input, and assure the quality of outputs of the Responsible Parties engaged to deliver the following:
  • development and establishment of a Competency Framework on Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) in the Philippine Government; and
  • technical assistance to key Departments on evaluation planning and evaluability assessment of priority development programs.

• Prepare a National Evaluation Systems and Capacity Development Plan which shall serve as the government’s roadmap to establishing/strengthening national evaluation systems and developing evaluation capacities at the individual, institutional, and whole-of-government levels. Such Plan shall be informed by the outputs above as well as the outputs of other service providers and partners of the NEDA and its Strategic M&E Project, including but not limited to:
  • The competency framework and assessment, and other related outputs, of the Responsible Party tapped to develop a competency program on M&E;
  • The evaluability assessments conducted by Responsible Parties on the priority programs of key government agencies;
  • The capacity diagnostic study conducted by NEDA-UNICEF-UNDP.

• Provide other strategic and technical advisory services to the project on other outputs related to developing evaluation systems and capacity, including but not limited to the following:
  • Conduct learning, coaching and/or mentoring, and other related activities on specific aspects of evaluation for NEDA and evaluation managers of agencies assisted in the evaluability assessment identified from activities undertaken stated above (numbers 1 to 4);
  • Propose, initiate, and/or lead research and initiatives to collate and repackage available knowledge materials and content that could be useful to government evaluation practitioners and members of related communities of practice (COP), in collaboration with other service providers hired by UNDP for the purpose;
  • Propose, initiate, and/or lead research to strengthen evaluation capacity and professionalizing the evaluation practice, through reporting on the best approach and/or strategy in:
    • recognizing M&E practitioners or professionals, which could be through a certificate or accreditation of program by NEDA or similar organizations as considered appropriate.
    • developing or designing a program and/or curriculum for a sustained individual capacity development. This could include discussions with relevant organizations such as CSC, CHED, etc.

These in consideration of the result of the competency assessment by the responsible party mentioned above (C.3.a).

• Provide leads on learning opportunities and linkages that NEDA staff may utilize.

In performing the abovementioned functions, the Consultant shall be guided by the National Evaluation Policy Framework (hyperlink here), the UNDP National Evaluation Diagnostic Tool (hyperlink here) with respect to overall capacity for evaluation, and the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Competency Framework (hyperlink here) with respect to individual competency for evaluation.

Other resources and instruments may also be used as relevant (see part L below).

Timetable of Deliverables

The consultant is expected to perform the abovementioned works according to the following schedule:

The Consultant shall a) submit a work plan for the duration of the Contract, spelling out the outputs, level of effort, and dependencies/resources needed; b) a brief accomplishment report, submitted monthly or as agreed, consisting of bullet points on activities conducted and lessons learned, which must be submitted together with each billing of the Consultant.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies

• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN mission, vision, values and ethical standards
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability

Other Competencies

• Demonstrates strong analytical skills and mature judgment well-planned and organized;
• Ability to work in close collaboration with a group of national and international experts, to meet strict deadlines and plan the work according to priorities;
• Demonstrates capacity to plan, organize and execute effectively;
• Ability to establish effective working relations in a multi-cultural team environment;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Facilitates and encourages open communication in the team and with stakeholders;
• Excellent written communication and presentation/public speaking skills

Required Skills and Experience

Offers will be evaluated based on the combined scoring method :

• Technical qualifications (CV) = 40%
• Portfolio of Prior Research Work and other Relevant Projects (at least 5 in the last 2 years)  = 20%
• Essay = 10%
• Financial Proposal =    30%

For the evaluation of the Technical Proposal, the selection of the successful consultant must be based in the following qualifications (with the appropriate obtainable points):

Applicants who will only receive 70 points  from the assessment of the CV, essay and  two (2) sample Portfolios of related communications work will be qualified for the assessment of the Financial Proposal.

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 Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
2. Personal CV 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;
3. A portfolio of at least five (5) published and unpublished research work in relevant policy/program areas and/or research output from consultancy projects in the last two (2) years. Research works may include evaluation, action research, policy papers, project reports, etc
4. Brief description or essay of not more than 2 pages long on why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment given his/her specialized background. S/he must also discuss the top M&E capacity development issue(s) in the Philippines and globally, and how the candidate seeks to help address this through his/her proposed approach to the assignment. 

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