Background

Cambodia's landmine contamination is the result of a protracted sequence of internal and regional conflicts that affected the country from the mid-1960s until the end of 1998. Anti-personnel mine contamination in the north-western regions bordering Thailand are amongst the highest concentrations in the world. Other areas of the country, mainly in the east, have been impacted primarily by the presence of explosive remnants of war (ERW), including cluster munitions.

Humanitarian mine action in Cambodia started in 1992. To ensure proper management, effectiveness, and efficiency of the mine action sector, the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) established the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) by Royal Decree in 2000. The CMAA is mandated to coordinate, monitor, and regulate demining and ERW clearance activities and assistance to mine/ERW victims.

As of April 2022, Cambodia’s mine action sector had collectively cleared and released 2,379 km2 of contaminated land, destroyed 1,136,494 anti-personnel mines, 26,014 anti-tank mines, and 2,997,328 items of ERW, including cluster munitions. However, the deadly legacy of unexploded ordnance and other ERW contamination has restricted livelihood activities, hindered development, and caused almost 65,000 human casualties, including nearly 20,000 deaths and over 9,000 amputations since 1979.

The CMAA estimates that Cambodia still has 1,991 km2 of contaminated land, of which 736 km2 is contaminated by landmines. The Cambodian mine action sector efforts are currently guided by the National Mine Action Strategy (NMAS) 2018-2025 and its respective three-year implementation plans (current 2021-2023). The NMAS is envisioned towards achieving a known-mine free Cambodia by 2025, while the RGC has also adopted a localised Sustainable Development Goal 18 (CSDG 18: End the negative impact of Mine/ERW and promote victim assistance) in pursuit of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Nationally implemented through the CMAA, the Clearing for Results (CfR) project has been supporting the RGCs mine action efforts since 2006. Clearing for Results, Phase IV (CfRIV: 2020-2025), financially funded by the RGC, Australia, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, and UNDP, has been designed to support the transition of a humanitarian-driven mine action sector to one that utilizes the results of mine action to support targeted action for poverty reduction and human development. The project aims to support mine/ERW clearance and land release, create pathways for accelerated development in villages that have been declared mine-free, and strengthen the national regulation and coordination capacity in the demining sector for sustainable residual threat management.

CfRIV contributes to the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2019–2023 Outcome 2: By 2023, women and men in Cambodia, in particular those marginalized and vulnerable, benefit from expanded opportunities for decent work and technological innovations; and participate in a growing, more productive and competitive economy, that is also fairer and environmentally sustainable; and the UNDP Country Programme Document (CPD) Output 1.3: Left-behind and mine-affected communities have access to mine-free land for better livelihoods.

The CfRIV project has the following three outputs:

Output 1: The prioritized mine-impacted villages are declared mine-free

Output 2: Affected and vulnerable populations provided with expanded opportunities for decent livelihoods, inclusion, and wellbeing in accordance with national development priorities

Output 3: Strengthened mine action sector management and national capacities that address residual threats

Duties and Responsibilities

The MTR will be conducted in such a way to ensure that the key principles of UNDP Evaluation are fully respected. The review shall be independent, impartial, transparent, ethical, and credible.

This MTR will mainly focus to assess the relevance, effectiveness, results, efficiency, impact, sustainability, gender and other cross cutting issues namely human right and disability, and partnerships of the project. The following are guiding questions within the framework of the MTR criterions (to be reviewed/elaborated in the evaluation inception report):

1. Relevance: to review the relevance of the CfRIVs strategy, design and implementation arrangements in today’s development context while also considering future challenges. This includes overall relevance of the CfRIV in the national and local context.

• Outline to what extent does the CfRIV intervention meet the needs of local mine affected communities and does the intervention align with national priorities.
• Assess if the activities and outputs of CfRIV are consistent with the overall project objectives and goal.
• Related to activities and capacity level, assess if the project timeframe (including each result) is reasonable to achieve the outputs and outcomes.

1. Effectiveness: to evaluate how effective CfRIV was in achieving its objectives during each year of its three years of implementation. The evaluation will also look at how the project identified, managed, and mitigated risks and will provide practical recommendations concerning the improvement of future project effectiveness.

• Assess to what extent were the project objectives achieved/are likely to be achieved by end of December 2025.
• Define what were the major factors influencing the achievement or non-achievement of the objectives.
• Identify to what extent has the project’s capacity building process has been effective in helping the CMAA to effectively manage and coordinate Cambodia’s national mine action programme, including implementation of the management response from the 2019 Capacity Development Needs Assessment and in delivering the expected commitments under the project (including planning, implementing, monitoring, information management, quality assurance, and mainstreaming gender etc.).

1. Results: assessment of intended results elaborated in the project document shall be conducted to measure to what extent CfRIV has achieved the stated results in the project document.

• Define what the main factors are that have affected the achievement of CfRIV outputs.
• Assess how Covid 19 impact the performance of the project in delivering toward the expected results.
• Assess the extent to which CfRIV has achieved its outputs and how have these have contributed to the CfRIV outcomes.
• Identify the lessons learned, good practice/strategies and recommendations which can be used to further improve results and project delivery.
• Assess the extent to which CfRIV has implemented the recommendations from the various reviews conducted (CfRIII final evaluation, CDNA, and gender mainstreaming assessment) and the extent to which these were incorporated into the CfRIV project design and implementation.
• Assess the extent to which CfRIV contributes the UNDAF Outcome 2, UNDP CPD 2019-2023 Output 1.3 as reflected in the current project Result Resources Framework. Assess how the project can link to the new UNDP Strategic Plan 2022 – 2025. Where possible, from the lens of project result contribution, propose additional indicator(s) at the output and/or outcome levels as relevant.
• Recommend revisions and/or adjustments to the content of the project document including the project Theory of Change and Monitoring and Evaluation framework, as deemed necessary.

1. Efficiency: to the extent possible, the MTR will compare the benefits from CfRIV with the budget to assess how efficient the project is. The review will provide practical recommendations regarding how to improve the efficiency, as required.

• Assess the extent to which the current service mobilized through the demining contracts contributes to the efficiency in delivering the high-quality clearance to meet the target set under the project, and/or the sub-sequent national level target as relevant.
• Assess if project annual outputs are achieved on time and how the project managed to reduce delays associated with COVID restrictions.

1. Impact: while CfRIV releases mine/ERW contaminated land to promote agricultural and livelihood development, a key component of the project is on building the national capacity of the CMAA to manage the mine action sector. The review should analyse how capacity has been developed and how project achievements contribute to future strengthening of capacities.

• Assess what were the changes resulting from CfRIV intervention in the way in which Cambodia is addressing Cambodia’s national mine action programme issues.
• Identify what were the impacts of CfRIV on developing the institutional capacity of CMAA.
• Ascertain if the intended beneficiaries benefited from the project and disaggregate how many people have directly and indirectly benefited in what way, articulating how the project can maximise its impact. 

1. Sustainability: assess how the project’s achievements contribute to sustainability by engaging appropriate Government, non-government and community level stakeholders.

• Assess the extent that the benefits of CfRIV are likely to continue after its completion of activities.
• Identify a strategic approach for a gradual handover of project implementation responsibilities (exit strategy) from UNDP to CMAA.
• Present the major factors which influenced the achievement or non-achievement of sustainability.
• Identify CMAA capacity for securing funding through the governmental cost-sharing and/or domestic financial resources to fund mine action/RGC Sustainable Development Goal 18.

1. Partnership: to review how the project engaged other partners on potential synergies and strengthened sectoral coordination.

• Assess partnership effectiveness amongst all key project partners (CMAA, UNDP, donor agencies) in achieving the project’s intended results. The International Consultant may consider the effectiveness on assurance support, strategic guidance, etc.
• Assess to what extent has the project established partnerships, or lack thereof, with other key stakeholders, especially through sector coordination mechanisms, e.g. Technical Working Group – Mine Action and Mine Action Coordination Committees, and Technical Reference Groups, ARMAC and how this has impacted the achievement of project’s intended results.
• Assess to what extent has the CfRIV intervention forged new or strengthened partnerships among different stakeholders (government institutions, development partners, civil society/academia, international/sub-regional organizations, etc)

H. Cross cutting issues - Gender, human rights, and disability: assessment of the project’s contribution of and visibility to strengthening gender equality and social inclusion across institutional, operational, and beneficiary levels.

• Assess how the CfRIV ensured the integration of a gender lens in its activities.
• Identify good practices and challenges in promoting gender mainstreaming efforts at all levels.
• Present areas of opportunity for the project to maximise an inclusive approach.
• Assess the extent to which the relevant disadvantaged and marginalized groups, including women, persons with disabilities, Indigenous populations, villagers living within mine affected communities of the project’s target provinces, etc., have benefited from the work of UNDP in the country through the project.
• Assess the extent to which the project supports to address the challenges for persons with disabilities under its scope of interventions.
• Assess the extent to which women and persons with disabilities were consulted and meaningfully involved in programme planning and implementation.

Interested offeror must read the Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice, which can be viewed at https://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=92487 for more detail information about term of reference, instructions to offeror, and to download the documents to be submitted in the offer through online

Competencies

• Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively with various partners including the government, civil society, private sector, UN and other development donors and high-quality liaison and representation at local and national levels. Sense of diplomacy and tact.
• Excellent evaluation skills, including organizational and time management skills and capacity to produce high quality and constructive reports within short timeframes.
• Demonstrated analytical skills, ability to assess complex situations, to succinctly and clearly distill critical issues, and to draw practical conclusions.
• Excellent English report writing skills.
• Excellent organizational and time management skills and ability to deliver quality products within short timeframe.
• Good facilitation and presentation skills.
• Ability and willingness to travel to provincial areas.
• Computer literate (MS Office package).

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Minimum of an advanced university degree i.e. Master’s Degree in the field of Evidence-Based Social Intervention and Policy Intervention, Impact Evaluation for International Development; Social Science, International Relations, Development Studies or related field demonstrably relevant to the position.

Experience:

• At least 10 years of relevant experience, including 5 years of experience in conducting monitoring and programme reviews or evaluation of development projects in the field of mine action and/or related field.
• Strong technical background in mine action (experience of the Cambodia context an advantage).
• Good experience in results-based project management, gender mainstreaming, and capacity development.
• Good experience in data collection, analysis and evaluation report writing.
• Previous work experience with UNDP or UN agency will be an asset.

Language Requirement:

• English (fluent)
• Knowledge of Khmer would be an asset

Please be informed that we don’t accept application submitted via email.

 Interested individual offeror must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

 1. Proposal: Letter of explaining why they are most suitable for the work

2. Financial proposal (Duly accomplished Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP)

3. Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references

Interested Offerors are required to submit application via UNDP jobsite system as the application screening and evaluation will be done through UNDP jobsite system. Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file. Your on-line applications submission will be acknowledged where an email address has been provided. If you do not receive an e-mail acknowledgement within 24 hours of submission, your application may not have been received. In such cases, please resubmit the application, if necessary. Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.

Any request for clarification/additional information on this procurement notice shall be communicated in writing to UNDP office or send to email chanpisey.ky@undp.org and cc procurement.kh@undp.org . While the Procurement Unit would endeavor to provide information expeditiously, only requests receiving at least 5 working days prior to the submission deadline will be entertained. Any delay in providing such information will not be considered as a reason for extending the submission deadline. The UNDP's response (including an explanation of the query but without identifying the source of inquiry) will be posted in Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice page as provided above. Therefore, all prospective Offerors are advised to visit the page regularly to make obtain update related to this Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice