Antecedentes

Interest candidate has to access procurement notice Ref.: IC/UNDP/TIGER/109/2021 - International Consultant for Terminal Evaluation at the following link: https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=79852

Background

In accordance with UNDP and GEF M&E policies and procedures, all full- and medium-sized UNDP-supported GEF-financed projects are required to undergo a Terminal Evaluation (TE) at the end of the project. This Terms of Reference (ToR) sets out the expectations for the TE of the medium-sized project titled Transforming Effectiveness of Biodiversity Conservation in Priority Sumatran Landscapes (PIMS #5363) implemented through the Ministry of Environment and Forestry as the Implementing Partner. The project started on the 24th February 2016 and is in its last (6th) year of implementation. The TE process must follow the guidance outlined in the document ‘Guidance for Conducting Terminal Evaluations of UNDP-Supported, GEF-Financed Projects’.

Project Backgorund context:
Indonesia has ratified the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on 26 November 1994, and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and Drought on 31 August 1998. In addition to these conventions, Indonesia

also ratified the Kyoto Protocol on 3 December 2004, thereby committing itself to stabilizing global greenhouse gas emissions for the period of 2008-2012. Moreover, to protect biodiversity from the potential risks posed by genetically modified organisms that are the product of biotechnology, Indonesia subscribed to the Cartagena Protocol on Biological Safety on 3 December 2004.

Sumatra is the sixth largest island in the world, characterized by the Bukit Barisan mountain range and globally significant tropical montane, sub montane, lowland, fresh water and peat swamp forests as well as mangroves and rivers. The island’s fauna includes 201 mammal and 580 bird species, with endemic and critically endangered species such as the Sumatran orangutan and Sumatran rhinoceros, and subspecies such as the Sumatran elephant.

The Sumatran tiger Panthera tigris sumatrae is Indonesia’s last remaining tiger subspecies with an estimated population of 400-500 adults. Its conservation areas include 13 Important Bird Areas, two Ramsar sites (Berbak and Sembilang National Parks) and the UNESCO WHC Tropical Rainforest Heritage of Sumatra sites (the National Parks of Gunung Leuser, Kerinci Seblat and Bukit Barisan Selatan).

The current project will cover all five of these globally significant sites and surrounding landscapes. Across Sumatra, the principal threat to biodiversity is habitat loss and forest degradation, with forest cover shrinking from 25.3m hectares in 1985 to 12.8m hectares in 2009, with clearance driven by commercial oil palm and timber fibre plantations, followed by subsistence agriculture, while the main driver of forest degradation has been commercial logging. In addition, the wildlife trade is a significant pressure on species, with an estimated fifty Sumatran tigers poached annually between 1998 and 2002.

The main barriers to achieving this vision are weak natural resource governance and limited protected area management capacity, poor inter-agency coordination for wildlife and forest conservation outside of the PAs, and inadequate financial planning and management for protected areas. The long-term solution offered by the project for securing Sumatra’s forests, wildlife and ecosystem services lies in consolidating a network of effectively managed and adequately funded protected areas (PAs) that are supported by complementary actions in the adjacent forests and with multiple stakeholders to achieve sustainably managed landscapes. This will require both multi-agency partnerships across multiple provinces and sufficient incentives for communities to reduce forest encroachment and illegal hunting of protected species.

The objective of the project is to enhance biodiversity conservation in priority landscapes in Sumatra through adoption of good management practices in protected areas and adjacent production landscapes, using tiger recovery as a key indicator of success. This will be accomplished through supporting implementation of the National Tiger Recovery Plan, which sets out the key elements to protect forests and wildlife in Sumatra.

The project aims to address a range of institutional, governance and financial issues that prevent the project objective from being achieved. In doing so, it will create a model biodiversity management system that is operational across the target landscapes, can be scaled-up across Sumatra, and strengthen the national PA system. The Ministry of Environment and Forestry will lead project implementation in partnership with UNDP and NGOs.

As stipulated in Sumatran Tiger project document and in line with UNDP – GEF guideline on Terminal Evaluation, an International consultant will be recruited to conduct Terminal Evaluation for SUMATRAN TIGER project.

Regarding covid-19 outbreak, as of 02 April 2021, there were 1.523.179 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Indonesia, of which 41.151 were fatalities and 1.361.017persons recovered. Covid-19 has been spread in 34 provinces and 487 regencies/cities across Indonesia. Some regions implemented large social restrictions to prevent of Covid-19 pandemics. Covid-19 pandemic has affected the implementation of the project. Based on our assessment, some activities can continue on-schedule, some activities remain the same but involve delays, some activities need to be redesigned to achieve the expected output.

Tiger project has provided equally important opportunities for the women and men in managing the activities supported by the project. Tiger project has promoted women roles for instance, through the development and management of SMART-RBM and in producing variety of non-timber forest products, and in adapting with the covid-19 pandemic by promoting health protocol for the local community.

Referring to the Covid-19 outbreak in Indonesia, the impact on the Tiger project implementation includes the following:

1. The project has to pay attention to the Presidential Decree of the Republic of Indonesia (KepPres RI no. 12/2020 dated 13 April 2020) concerning Determination of Covid-19 Outbreak as Non-natural Disaster, and Large-Scale Social Distancing measures in several provinces, cities and regencies in Indonesia, including the areas where Tiger Project activities are implemented.
2. During the past few months, consultations with stakeholders have not been able to take place at the project sites. Since early March 2020 several Tiger activities for Q1 (January to March 2020) particularly the ones related to travels (to project sites), face-to-face discussions or meetings, and personnel mobilizations for field technical activities have been postponed or have been implemented using health protocol by Project Implementation Units (PIU).
3. Several Tiger Project activities in the work plan, including monitoring and facilitation that involved discussion with group of people, have been delayed in accordance with government regulation.
4. To assure personnel safety and community health, the project facilitated measures in the fields by allocating project budget for the procurement of personal protective equipment, such as vitamins, mask and other relevant equipment for the community affected by Covid-19 outbreak.
5. To cope with the Covid-19 situation, in the last few months, the project has been working through online system (virtual meetings) to conduct coordination discussions with Project Implementation Units, UNDP Indonesia, the Implementing Partner and other relevant partners

TE Purpose

The objective of the Terminal Evaluation is to enable the GEF, UNDP and the participating countries to assess the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability of the Transforming Effectiveness of Biodiversity Conservation in Priority Sumatran Landscapes Project. The Terminal Evaluation will assess achievements of the project against its objectives. It will also identify factors that have facilitated or impeded the achievement of the objectives. While a thorough review of the past is in itself very important, the in-depth evaluation is expected to lead to detailed overview and lessons learned for the future and particularly provide recommendations that will contribute to sustaining the outcomes of the project to the stakeholders in the country.

The TE process must follow a collaborative and participatory approach ensuring close engagement with key participants including the Commissioning Unit (the UNDP Country Office), RTAs, Regional M&E Advisors, Country Office M&E Focal Points and Programme Officers, Government counterparts including the GEF Operational Focal Point (OFP), the Biodiversity Conservation Directorate of MoEF, and other key stakeholders. Ideally, the TE should occur during the last few months of project activities, allowing the TE team to proceed while the Project Team is still in place, yet ensuring the project is close enough to completion for the evaluation team to reach conclusions on key aspects such as project activities’ sustainability.

At the Project Board Meeting on 27th of October 2020, it was informed that the project team has been constrained working in the field with the project implementation because of COVID-19 pandemic since March 2020. Hence, most of the activities planned for Q2 of the year 2020 were moved to Q3 and Q4. In Q3and Q4, some activities in the field were implemented with a small group by practicing physical distancing, and some activities that were supposed to be attended by participants from various places were adjusted through virtual options.

Deberes y responsabilidades

TE APPROACH & METHODOLOGY

The TE report must provide evidence-based information that is credible, reliable, and useful.

The TE team will review all relevant sources of information including documents prepared during the preparation phase (i.e. PIF, UNDP Initiation Plan, UNDP Social and Environmental Screening Procedure/SESP) the Project Document, project reports including annual PIRs, project budget revisions, lesson learned reports, national strategic and legal documents, and any other materials that the team considers useful for this evidence-based evaluation. The TE team will review the baseline and midterm GEF focal area Core Indicators/Tracking Tools submitted to the GEF at the CEO endorsement and midterm stages and the terminal Core Indicators/Tracking Tools that must be completed before the TE field assessment begins.

The evaluation will mainly focus on assessing the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, results, impact, coordination and sustainability of Tiger project efforts and will be applied to all three components of the project. The following are guiding questions within the framework of the evaluation criterions (to be reviewed/ elaborated in the evaluation inception report).

The TE team is expected to follow a participatory and consultative approach ensuring close engagement with the Project Team, government counterparts (the GEF Operational Focal Point), Implementing Partners, the UNDP Country Office(s), the Regional Technical Advisor, direct beneficiaries, and other stakeholders.

Engagement of stakeholders is vital to a successful TE. Stakeholder involvement should include interviews with stakeholders who have project responsibilities, including but not limited to, executing agencies, senior officials and task team/component leaders, key experts and consultants in the subject area, Project Board, project beneficiaries, academia, local government and CSOs, forest rangers, communities, women investigators, and other relevant stakeholders. Additionally, the TE team is expected to conduct field missions, however, the TE mission for the international consultant may not be possible due to the Covid-19 situation in Indonesia. For this, virtual tools will be used to conduct the interviews.

The specific design and methodology for the TE should emerge from consultations between the TE team and the above- mentioned parties regarding what is appropriate and feasible for meeting the TE purpose and objectives and answering the evaluation questions, given limitations of budget, time and data. The TE team must, however, use gender-responsive methodologies and tools and ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment, as well as other cross-cutting issues and SDGs are incorporated into the TE report. It includes presentation of information using sex-disaggregated data.

As part of initial deliverables of the consultant, an Inception Report will be prepared for discussion. This will outline the proposed approach to the assignment and will include, but not be limited to, a detailed work plan of activities, and methodologies of approach. It is anticipated that the Consultant will look at the entire evaluation and its activities in a holistic manner to maximize efficiencies. The Inception Report should be produced before the virtual interviews are undertaken to ensure that methods are aligned with the GEF guidelines for final evaluation.

The final methodological approach including interview schedule, field visits and data to be used in the evaluation must be clearly outlined in the TE Inception Report and be fully discussed and agreed between UNDP, stakeholders and the TE team.

Due to ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Terminal Evaluation might be conducted using questionnaires, and virtual interviews, but the evaluation team should be able to revise the approach in consultation with the evaluation manager and the key stakeholders. These changes in approach should be agreed and reflected clearly in the TE Inception Report. The national expert consultant will have to play an important role in the conduct of the evaluation and will therefore, perform additional responsibilities. The main responsibilities of the national expert which will be further elaborated in the inception report is attached as Annex J.

The final report must describe the full TE approach taken and the rationale for the approach making explicit the underlying assumptions, challenges, strengths and weaknesses about the methods and approach of the evaluation.

As of 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic as the new coronavirus rapidly spread to all regions of the world. Travel to the country has been restricted since March 2020 and travel in the country is also restricted. If it is not possible to travel to or within the country for the TE mission then the TE team should develop a methodology that takes this into account the conduct of the TE virtually and remotely, including the use of remote interview methods and extended desk reviews, data analysis, surveys and evaluation questionnaires. This should be detailed in the TE Inception Report and agreed with the Commissioning Unit.

If all or part of the TE is to be carried out virtually then consideration should be taken for stakeholder availability, ability, or willingness to be interviewed remotely. In addition, their accessibility to the internet/computer may be an issue as many governments and national counterparts may be working from home. These limitations must be reflected in the final TE report.

If a data collection/field mission is not possible then remote interviews may be undertaken through telephone or online (skype, zoom etc.). International consultants can work remotely with national evaluator support in the field if it is safe for them to operate and travel. No stakeholders, consultants or UNDP staff should be put in harm’s way and safety is the key priority.

A short validation mission may be considered if it is confirmed to be safe for staff, consultants, stakeholders and if such a mission is possible within the TE schedule. Equally, qualified, and independent national consultants can be hired to undertake the TE and interviews in country as long as it is safe to do so, and it will be subject to UNDP CO Operational Manager’s approval. A national consultant will also be able to support meetings virtually and in terms of language as required observing all Covid-19 stipulations.

DETAILED SCOPE OF THE TE

The TE will assess project performance against expectations set out in the project’s Logical Framework/Results Framework (see ToR Annex A). The TE will assess results according to the criteria outlined in the Guidance for TEs of UNDP-supported GEF- financed Projects ( http://web.undp.org/evaluation/guideline/documents/GEF/TE_GuidanceforUNDP-supportedGEF-financedProjects.pdf ). The Findings section of the TE report will cover the topics listed below.

A full outline of the TE report’s content is provided in ToR Annex C.

The asterisk “(*)” indicates criteria for which a rating is required.

Findings

1. Project Design/Formulation

• National priorities and country driven-ness, relevance
• Theory of Change
• Gender equality and women’s empowerment
• Social and Environmental Safeguards
• Analysis of Results Framework: project logic and strategy, indicators
• Assumptions and Risks
• Lessons from other relevant projects (e.g. same focal area) incorporated into project design
• Planned stakeholder participation
• Linkages between project and other interventions within the sector
• Management arrangements, staffing
• Institutional capacity

2. Project Implementation

• Adaptive management (changes to the project design and project outputs during implementation)
  • Responsiveness to MTR analysis
• Actual stakeholder participation and partnership arrangements
• Project Finance and Co-finance
• Monitoring & Evaluation: design at entry (*), implementation (*), and overall assessment of M&E (*)
• Implementing Agency (UNDP) (*) and Executing Agency (*), overall project oversight/implementation and execution (*)
• Risk Management, including Social and Environmental Standards
• Sustainable financing for biodiversity management
• Implementation of cross cutting / gender mainstreaming at implementation stage
• Stakeholder engagement
• M&E at implementation stage

3. Project Results

• Assess the achievement of outcomes against indicators by reporting on the level of progress for each objective and outcome indicator at the time of the TE and noting final achievements
• Relevance (*), Effectiveness (*), Efficiency (*) and overall project outcome (*)
• Sustainability: financial (*) , socio-political (*), institutional framework and governance (*), environmental (*), overall likelihood of sustainability (*)
• Country ownership
• Gender equality and women’s empowerment
• Cross-cutting issues (poverty alleviation, improved governance, climate change mitigation and adaptation, disaster prevention and recovery, human rights, capacity development, South-South cooperation, knowledge management, volunteerism, etc., as relevant)
• GEF Additionality
• Catalytic Role / Replication Effect
• Progress to impact and long-term sustainability

Main Findings, Conclusions, Recommendations and Lessons Learned

• The TE team will include a summary of the main findings of the TE report. Findings should be presented as statements of fact that are based on analysis of the data.
• The section on conclusions will be written in light of the findings. Conclusions should be comprehensive and balanced statements that are well substantiated by evidence and logically connected to the TE findings. They should highlight the

Competencias

Experience

• Relevant experience with results-based management evaluation methodologies; experience in assessing SMART indicators and reconstructing or validating baseline scenarios; (10%)
• Experience in undertaking evaluations for UNDP or for GEF (10%)
• Experience working in the area of Biodiversity and Natural Resource Management (10%)
• Demonstrate understanding of issues related to gender and climate change adaptation/mitigations (10%);
• Experience in evaluating projects; (10%)
• Experience working in developing countries in Asia; (10%)
• Experience in relevant technical areas (biodiversity conservation) for at least 15 years; (20%)
• Excellent communication skills;
• Demonstrable analytical skills;
• Experience with implementing evaluations remotely will be considered an asset.

Language

• Fluency in written and spoken English

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Master’s degree in the fields related to Environment, Natural resources, Biodiversity, Forestry, or other closely related field from an accredited college or university