UNDP Jobs - 78319- Vetted Experts Roster: Programme/Project Evaluatio

Vetted Experts Roster: Programme/Project Evaluation and Monitoring

Location :

Home-based with possible missions, TURKEY

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

Application Deadline :

29-Apr-18 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Various short-term consultancy assignments

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

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. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been working in Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (ECIS) since 1992, and serves over 18 countries and territories in Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia, connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build better lives.

The UNDP Regional Hub for Europe and the CIS – based in Istanbul, Turkey -- provides advisory support and knowledge management services to UNDP Country Offices and its partners in the ECIS region in the areas of Sustainable Development (including Poverty and Inequality; Green Economy and Employment; Extractive Industries), Governance and Peacebuilding (including HIV, Health and Development; Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Development; Anti-Corruption and E-Governance; Local Governance and Decentralization; Open Data and Digitalisation; Human Rights and Rule of Law; Youth Development), Gender Equality, Knowledge and Innovation, and Energy, Climate Change and Disaster Resilience . In addition, the Hub supports the programme development of these offices at the national level.

The UN programming instrument for UN cooperation and partnership on development issues at the country level is guided by the Common Country Programming Processes, including the 2017 UNDAF Guidance issued by the UN Development Group, resulting in key documents such as the Common Country Analysis (CCA) and the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF). Based on these UN-wide documents at the country level, UNDP develops Country Programme Document and subsequently programmes and projects contributing to the achievement of the Country Programme outcomes. The expert on Programme/Project Evaluation and Monitoring will assist upon request the UNDP Country Offices/UN Country Teams (UNCTs) in the country with the timely evaluation of the programme/project or certain outcomes or outputs of the programme as required in the Evaluation Plan for the UNDP country programme. The Expert must be able to support and contribute with guidance on the evaluation function, in line with corporate UNDP evaluation standards, and hence contribute to key evaluation underpinnings i.e. accountability, organizational learning and management for results.

UNDP is soliciting the submission of CVs (individuals, not firms) to be considered for registration in the Programme Monitoring and Evaluation expert roster of UNDP Regional Hub for Europe and the CIS. The expert roster will consist of highly-qualified and experienced consultants. Only the applicants who pass all screening procedures will be registered for the roster.

Interested candidates are advised to carefully study selection procedures of this ToR and ensure that they meet the general requirements as well as specific qualifications. Only applicants who pass all screening procedures will be included into the roster and recommended to Country Offices in the region.

Duties and Responsibilities

Consultants will provide advisory support to clients (UNDP offices, national project teams, and national stakeholders including governments, civil society organizations and affected communities in the region). Specific reporting and working relationships will be specified at the time of contracting for a specific assignment.

When demand arises, pre-selected consultants are called upon to provide demand-driven monitoring and evaluation, access to knowledge and technical expertise to UNDP Country Offices. The range of tasks for the consultant may include applied research, diagnostic missions, provision of strategic and operational advice or forward-looking assessments, capacity assessments and capacity development activities, monitoring and evaluation, engagement with public/private partners and stakeholders, community engagement and outreach including through social media, training, report drafting, peer review, and others. Consultants will perform their duties from home through e-mail, telephone and/or fax combined with the in-country missions and/or project site visits (per request of the UNDP Country Office). Consultants are expected to attend relevant meetings and workshops at the country level, including stakeholder consultations, inception and validation meetings.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Expert’s primary tasks may include:

Assess and validate the results of the development programmes/projects (national or regional) in terms of achievements/gaps in delivering outputs, contributing to programme outcomes and Strategic Plan outcomes, reaching target beneficiaries, the factors that affected the results, and the potential for sustainability;
Analyze the effectiveness and sustainability of the overall strategy and approaches of the programmes/projects, in particular the three-pronged strategy, the multi-sectoral approach, the regional-national linkages, capacity building, partnerships, and knowledge generation and dissemination;
Analyze lessons learned on both substantive and programme management issues
Assist the UNCT in developing results matrices, M&E frameworks and evaluation plans for the UNDAF and/or One UN programmes or similar planning instruments.
Support the UNCT in the implementation and monitoring of the UN Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) and/or the One UN Programme or similar programming instruments;
Support capacity development of national M&E systems and assess possible ways of facilitating a transition towards the integration of national systems by UNCT;
Assist the Offices as appropriate, to conceptualize and consolidate progress reports, and to support compilation and dissemination of the Annual Reports;
Assist in commissioning independent evaluations
Provide training as required to UN agencies on Results-based management (RBM) and monitoring & evaluation techniques.

Competencies

Corporate competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment

Functional competencies:

Strategic vision, strong technical and analytical capabilities and demonstrated ability to gain the assistance and cooperation of others in a team endeavour through technical leadership in a broad range of operational areas;
Strong knowledge and understanding of UNDP corporate monitoring and evaluation policies and procedures;
Strong interpersonal skills and communication skills, resourcefulness, initiative, maturity of judgment, tact, and negotiating skills, and the ability to cope with situations which may pose conflict;
Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN's values and ethical standards
Proven ability to work in a team, develop synergies and establish effective working relations within the RCO, with persons of different UN Agencies, government counterparts, donors and NGOs;
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
Ability to handle effectively multiple tasks without compromising quality, team spirit and positive working relationships;
Strong analytical aptitude and effective interpersonal, communication and presentation skills.
Ability to solve complex problems with minimal supervision
Ability to lead formulation and evaluation of development programs and projects
Ability to work with small multi-disciplinary, multi-national teams to deliver quality products in high stress, short deadline situations.
Demonstrated ability to assess complex situations in order to screen succinctly and clearly critical issues and draw forward-looking conclusions
Ability and demonstrated capacity to work in rural and remote localities.
Facilitation and training skills

Required Skills and Experience

Education

Master’s degree in a relevant field in relevant development studies or related social science fields with solid experience in Result Based Management and Monitoring and Evaluation

Experience

At least 7 years of proven experience in conducting monitoring and evaluations and/or results-based management, including conducting independent project evaluations, trainings, developing M&E frameworks, result based frameworks, log frames etc.
Proven experience in the ECIS (Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States) Region
Experience in the evaluation of technical assistance projects, if possible with UNDP or other UN development agencies, major donors as well as government
Good knowledge of UN system, procedures and operational activities for development, previous experience in UNDAF development is considered as plus;

Language

Excellent English writing (Russian is a strong asset) and communication skills.

Evaluation of Applicants

Applicants will be screened against qualifications and the competencies specified above. Those selected for the next stage of the selection process will participate in an assessment.

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on a cumulative analysis taking into consideration the combination of the applicants’ qualifications and financial proposal.

The inclusion into the Vetted Roster of Experts will be offered to those individual consultants whose offers have been evaluated and determined as a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and b) Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical (P11 desk reviews, written essay and interviews) and financial criteria.

Only those candidates who will obtain min. 70% of points will be invited for the next stage of the technical evaluation and financial proposal evaluation.

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

P11 Desk Review - Only those applicants who obtained at least 70% of points in P11 Desk Review will be considered for written essay - max 35 points

M&E and RBM experience in Europe and CIS region – max points: 5;
Experience in RBM incl. conducting independent project evaluations, trainings, development of M&E frameworks, RRFs, log frames etc.– max points: 10;
Experience in the evaluation of technical assistance projects, with UNDP or other UN development agencies, major donors and governments – max points: 10;
Knowledge of UN system, procedures and operational activities for development. Experience in UNDAF development- max points: 5;
Language skills - max points: 5.

Written Essay max points: 20

Interview - max points: 15

Capacities in conducting evaluations in UNDP - max points: 6;
Capacities in providing technical assistance in conducting RBM trainings, development of M&E framework, log frames, RRFs in UNDP - max points: 6;
Communication skill - max points: 3.

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

Contracting Arrangements

Successful candidates will be included into UNDP RBEC Vetted Experts Roster for Area of Programme/Project Evaluation and Monitoring for the period of 3 years. Entry into the expert roster system does not necessarily mean that contract with UNDP is guaranteed. This will depend on forthcoming needs. During this period UNDP can regularly follow up with consultants as well as UNDP offices in ECIS on their assignments. Financial proposal (daily fee in USD) provided by the consultant is the all-inclusive maximum daily fee payable and is bound to the period of 3 years (unless the consultant applies to the roster during its re-opening).

Profiles of roster members will be published at UNDP internal platform and accessible to UNDP IRH and Country Offices.
Where a request for services arises, the UNDP IRH or UNDP office will share a specific Terms of Reference (TOR) outlining specific services, outputs and timeline for that assignment with consultant(s) matching the requested profile and consultants will be requested to provide a price offer. A consultant offering a best value for money will be contracted.

Payments

Payments will be made as specified in the actual contract upon confirmation of UNDP on delivering on the contract obligations in a satisfactory manner.

Application procedures:

Qualified candidates are requested to apply online via this website. The application should contain:

Cover letter, including applicant's qualifications for the advertised position. The letter should be pasted into the "Resume and Motivation" section of the electronic application.
Filled P11 form including past experience in similar projects and contact details of referees (blank form can be downloaded from http://www.eurasia.undp.org/content/dam/rbec/docs/P11_modified_for_SCs_and_ICs.doc); please upload the P11 instead of your CV;
Financial Proposal – all-inclusive maximum daily fee in USD valid for three years
Incomplete applications will not be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials

*Please note that the financial proposal is all-inclusive and shall take into account various expenses incurred by the consultant/contractor (e.g. fee, health insurance, office supplies, communications, vaccination, personal security needs and any other relevant expenses related to the performance of services...).

Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. Consultants are also required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under dss.un.org
General Terms and conditions as well as other related documents can be found under: http://on.undp.org/t7fJs.

Qualified women and members of minorities are encouraged to apply.
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.