Historique

Albania’s vocational education and training (VET) and vocational skills development (VSD) system all too often has failed to equip students with the req­uisite knowledge, competences and skills for a suc­cessful transition into the labour market. This has resulted in an unsuitably qualified labour force, skills shortages and soaring youth unemployment. Recognizing the need to systematically address em­ployment by re-orienting the vocational education and training and vocational skills development sys­tem towards labour market needs, and modernizing and extending outreach of employment services, the Albanian government adopted the National Employ­ment and Skills Strategy 2014-2020.

UNDP globally and regionally has built a strategic vision that recognizes the importance of creating employment opportunities as a means to addressing both poverty reduction and inequalities and exclusion. Indeed, the first outcome of the recently adopted United Nations Youth System Wide Action Plan focuses on Employment and Entrepreneurship with the intention to ensure greater opportunities for youth to secure decent work and income over the life-cycle, contributing to a virtuous circle of poverty reduction, sustainable development and social inclusion. To support the integration of various youth employment policy objectives through coordinated action, UNDP Albania, in collaboration with other UN agencies has designed and implemented several skills development / employment related interventions.

After six years of experience addressing labor supply interventions, UNDP Albania’s strategic vision is to contribute to building a labour-market focused skills development system that is suited to enhance the employment and entrepreneurship aspects of the unemployed in urban and rural areas, while simultaneously addressing the skills needs of those employed in the formal and informal sectors and emerging entrepreneurs.

The ambition of the Skills Development for Employment (SD4E) Programme is to make a systemic contribution to the modernization of Al­bania’s VET/VSD system by addressing several key challenges: skills mismatch and unequal access to employment and training services; labour market challenges in rural areas; insufficient governance of funding for employment and training; lack of coor­dination / collaboration in the system; inadequate labour market information; and insufficient quality and relevance of VET and VSD providers and their programmes. The overall goal of the programme is that “more young women and men in urban and rural areas in Albania are employed or self-employed.” In order to achieve this goal, the programme focuses on four outcomes:

Outcome 1:       Improving and diversifying employment promotion measures, and advancing their governance

Outcome 2:       Improved environment and regulatory framework for up-scaling work-based learning schemes (elements of dual system)

Outcome 3:       Quality assurance and accreditation of VET/VSD providers

Outcome 4:       Anticipating skills needs in the short and medium term

The SD4E programme, financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), and implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), is a four-year long intervention which aims to ensure that more young Albanian men and women in urban and rural areas are employed or self-employed. SDC and UNDP formalized the implementation arrangements through a Third Party Cost-sharing Agreement on December 12, 2014, covering the period of December 15, 2014 – December 31, 2018. The operationalization of the programme commenced in January 2015, whereas the actual implementation in June 2015. The programme is entering the third year of implementation. 

Devoirs et responsabilités

Midterm Review Objectives and Approach

This assignment relates to the Midterm Review of the SD4E programme. The objective of the Midterm Review is to assess progress made towards the achievement of programme objectives and outcomes as specified in the Programme Document. In addition, it will assess early signs of programme successes and/or failures with the goal of identifying necessary changes to be made in order to set the programme on-track to achieving its intended results. The Midterm Review will also review the programme strategy, and potential risks to the sustainability of its interventions. Overall, the Midterm Review is intended to have a formative nature and it intends to improve the programme’s performance in the second half of the implementation phase.

The Midterm Review is expected to provide evidence based information that is credible, reliable and useful. The Midterm Review team, composed of one international consultant that will be the Team Leader and one national consultant that will be the Team Specialist, is expected to review all relevant sources of information including documents prepared by the SD4E programme team (i.e. Programme Document, semi-annual reports, quality assurance documentation, national strategic and legal documents, and any other materials that the team considers useful for this evidence-based review).

The Midterm Review team is expected to follow a collaborative and participatory approach ensuring close

engagement with the SD4E Programme team, government counterparts (Ministry of Social Welfare and Youth, National Employment Service, National Agency for Vocational Education and Training), the UNDP Country Office, the Swiss Embassy in Tirana, and other key stakeholders. A brief proposed methodology is expected to be submitted jointly with the application for this post, whereas a detailed methodology and data collection methods will be included in the Inception Report (for further details see section on deliverables).

The Midterm Review will assess four areas of programme progress: 1) Project strategy; 2) Progress towards results; 3) Programme implementation and adaptive management; and, 4) Sustainability. More specifically, for each of these areas, the Midterm Review team should carry out the following:

1. Programme Strategy:

• Review the problem addressed by the programme and the underlying assumptions. Review the effect of any incorrect assumptions or changes to the context to achieving the programme results as outlined in the Programme Document.
• Review the relevance of the programme strategy and assess whether it provides the most effective route towards expected/intended results. Were lessons from other relevant projects properly incorporated into the project design?
• Review how the programme addresses country priorities. Review country ownership. Was the programme concept in line with the national sector development priorities and plans of the country?
• Review the extent to which relevant gender issues were raised in the programme design.
• Undertake a critical analysis of the programme’s log-frame indicators and targets, and suggest specific amendments/revisions to the targets and indicators as necessary.
• Assess whether the programme’s objectives and outcomes or components are clear, practical, and feasible within its time frame
• Examine if progress so far has led to, or could in the future catalyze beneficial development effects.

2. Progress towards results:

• Review the log-frame indicators against progress made towards the end-of-programme targets.
• Identify remaining barriers to achieving the programme objective during the remaining implementation timeframe.
• By reviewing the aspects of the programme that have already been successful, identify ways in which the programme can further expand these benefits.

3. Programme implementation and adaptive management

• Review overall effectiveness of programme management as outlined in the Programme Document. Have changes been made and are they effective? Are responsibilities and reporting lines clear? Is decision-making transparent and undertaken in a timely manner? Recommend areas for improvement.
• Review any delays in programme’s start-up and implementation, identify the causes and examine if they have been resolved.
• Are work-planning processes results-based? If not, suggest ways to re-orientate work planning to
• focus on results?
• Examine the use of the programme’s results framework/ log-frame as a management tool and review any changes made to it since project start.
• Review the monitoring tools currently being used: Do they provide the necessary information? Do they involve key partners? Are they aligned or mainstreamed with national systems? Do they use
• existing information? Are they efficient? Are they cost-effective? Are additional tools required? How could they be made more participatory and inclusive?
• Examine the financial management of the project monitoring and evaluation budget. Are sufficient resources being allocated to monitoring and evaluation? Are these resources being allocated effectively?
• Project management: Has the project developed and leveraged the necessary and appropriate partnerships with direct and tangential stakeholders?
• Coordination with other projects: How has the programme interacted and coordinated with other Swiss/non Swiss project implementers and vice versa? Is there room for improvement and closer collaboration?
• Participation and country-driven processes: Do local and national government stakeholders support the objectives of the project? Do they continue to have an active role in project decision-making that supports efficient and effective project implementation?
• Participation and public awareness: To what extent has stakeholder involvement and public awareness contributed to the progress towards achievement of project objectives?

4. Sustainability

• Validate whether the risks identified in the Programme Document, Annual Project Review/ and the ATLAS Risk Management Module are the most important and whether the risk ratings applied are appropriate and up to date.
• What is the risk that the level of stakeholder ownership (including ownership by governments and other key stakeholders) will be insufficient to allow for the programme’s outcomes/benefits to be sustained? Do the various key stakeholders see that it is in their interest that the programme benefits continue to flow? Is there sufficient public / stakeholder awareness in support of the long term objectives of the programme? Are lessons learned being documented by the Programme Team on a continual basis and shared/ transferred to appropriate parties who could learn from the programme and potentially replicate and/or scale it in the future?

In relation to this assignment, the Team Specialist will report to UNDP and work under the guidance of the International Consultant (i.e. Team Leader) in undertaking the midterm review. S/he is expected to provide a supportive role in terms of professional inputs, knowledge of local policies, local navigation, translation / language support, etc. More specifically, the Team Specialist is expected to carry out the following tasks:

1. Support the Team Leader in defining the methodology for carrying out the midterm review and drafting the inception report;
2. Assist the Team Leader in carrying out the consultations with the relevant stakeholders;
3. The Team Specialist is expected to follow a participatory and consultative approach ensuring close engagement with government counterparts, programme staff, and other relevant stakeholders;
4. Jointly with the Team Leader present the initial findings of the Midterm Review.
5. Support the drafting of selected sections of the final report (to be agreed with the Team Leader), particularly those related to contextual elements, such as country / government priorities, alignment with on-going donor supported initiatives, etc.

Deliverables

Compétences

Core Values

Integrity:

• Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Professionalism:

• Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Cultural sensitivity and respect for diversity:

• Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff;
• Additionally, the individual should have an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

Communication:

• Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.

Planning & Organizing:

• Develops clear goals in line with agreed strategies, identifies priorities, foresees risks and makes allowances accordingly.

Organizational Awareness:

• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Teamwork:

• Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi-ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Accountability:

• Takes ownership of all responsibilities and delivers outputs in accordance with agreed time, cost and quality standards.

Functional Competencies:

• Strong analytical and M&E skills;
• Demonstrates leadership, team building and coordinating skills;
• Plans and produces quality results to meet established goals;
• Generates innovative, practical solutions to challenging situations;
• Conceptualizes and analyzes problems to identify key issues, underlying problems, and how they relate;
• Demonstrates substantive and technical knowledge to meet responsibilities and post requirements with excellence;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
• Responds positively to critical feedback and differing points of view.

Qualifications et expériences requises

Recruitment Qualifications

Education

• Post-graduate degree in social sciences, international relations, political science, evaluation, international development or a related subject.

Work experience

• Substantial technical knowledge on monitoring and evaluation of development programmes, and at least 5 years of relevant working experience;
• Documented previous experience in evaluations in the UN system, and a solid understanding on the use of evaluation methodologies;
• Prior experience in employment / skills development related programmes is desirable;
• Demonstrated capacity in strategic thinking and policy advice;
• Strong inter-personal, teamwork and organizational skills;
• Excellent drafting skills and familiarity with information technology.

Language requirements

• Excellent communication and report-writing skills in English

Evaluation Procedure

UNDP applies a fair and transparent selection process that would take into account both the technical qualification of Individual Consultants as well as their financial proposals. The contract will be awarded to the candidate whose offer:

• Is deemed technically responsive / compliant / acceptable (only technically responsive applications / candidates will be considered for the financial evaluation)
• And has obtained the highest combined technical and financial scores.

Technical Criteria - 70% of total evaluation – max points: 70

Criteria A: Theoretical and practical familiarity with employment / self-employment / rural employment in a developing country context – max points: 35

Criteria B: Educational background– max points: 15

Criteria C: Prior experience in carrying out development project evaluations – max points: 20

Financial Criteria - 30% of total evaluation – max points: 30

Application Procedure

The application should contain:

• Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised position. Please paste the letter into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.

• Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability-please fill in the attached form...http://www.un.org.al/editor-files/file/PSU_%20ICLA.doc.
• Filled P11 form including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees, please upload the P11 instead of your CV. Download here.
• Financial Proposal in ALL* - specifying a total lump sum in Albanian Lek  for the tasks specified in this announcement.  The attached template may be used - http://www.un.org.al/editor-files/file/Financial%20Offer%20template.doc. Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant during the contract period (e.g. fee and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services)

*Kindly note that Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability and Financial Proposal are two separate documents and should be both part of your application.

How to Submit the Application:

To submit your application online, please follow the steps below:

• Download and complete the UN Personal History Form (P11) for Service Contracts (SCs) and Individual Contracts (ICs);
• Merge your UN Personal History Form (P11) for Service Contracts (SCs) and Individual Contracts (ICs), Financial Proposal Letter to UNDP Confirming Interest and Availability and cover letter into a single file. The system does not allow for more than one attachment to be uploaded;
• Click on the Job Title (job vacancy announcement);
• Click “Apply Now” button, fill in necessary information on the first page, and then click “Submit Application;”
• Upload your application/single file as indicated above with the merged documents (underlined above);
• You will receive an automatic response to your email confirming receipt of your application by the system.

Due to large number of applications we receive, we are able to inform only the successful candidates about the outcome or status of the selection process

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.