Background

The National Strategy for Development and Integration (NSDI) that the Government of Albania adopted in 2016, is the core strategic document that combines the EU integration agenda with the country’s sustainable economic and social development goals, also in the framework of the Agenda 2030. The NSDI II contains the vision of Albania for the democratic, social and economic development between 2015 and 2020, while highlighting the EU integration aspiration. The NSDI 2015–2020 is a depiction of how this vision is going to be translated into policies and priorities, as follows:

• Promoting the country’s development by fostering sustainable economic growth through macroeconomic and financial stability;
• Achieving higher standards in the provision of services to citizens by ensuring better quality of life and protection of their rights;
• Transforming Albania into a country whose life standards would enable its EU membership;
• Building policies that enhance competitiveness and foster the country’s economic growth, so to progressively reach economically the other countries of the region.

The NSDI II contains three sets of national high level monitoring indicators and targets (some 50 in total) focusing on: (i) EU integration indicators, that are also included in the Country Strategy Paper 2014-2020 of EU for Albania (regarding programing of IPA 2); (ii) some 25 sectoral development programmes included in/aligned with the NSDI II; and (iii) some macroeconomic indicators.  These represents important elements for the monitoring of the NSDI, as well as SDGs and Agenda 2030, that are aligned with the national development policy frameworks.

The UNDP together with the GoA acknnoledges that good planning, monitoring and evaluation enhances the contribution of strategy to its objectives, by establishing clear links between past, present and future initiatives and development results. After more than two years of the approval of the NSDI, it is deemed necessary to conduct an assessment of strategy, vis-à-vis its mid-term planned targets and results. The monitoring and evaluation will extract relevant information from past and ongoing activities, so to provide a basis for programmatic fine-tuning, reorientation and future planning. Without effective planning, monitoring and evaluation, it would be impossible to judge if the work is going in the right direction, whether progress and success can be claimed, and how future efforts might be improved.

It should be mentioned the stock-taking exercise, using the UN Rapid Integrated Assessment tool[1], on assessing the level of integration of SDGs into NSDI 2015-2020 and sectoral programmes[2]. It analysed the NSDI II plus 30 other national, sectoral, or cross-cutting strategies and policy documents and national plans that had been adopted at mid-year.

In the second half of 2017, the Prime Minister’s office prepared a Baseline Report, collecting available data against the SDG indicators and a National Action Plan that outlines how Albania intends to pursue SDG achievement. The National Baseline Report on SDG alignment[3] was published in January 2018, with UNDP support. This report documents Albania’s mainstreaming progress since mid-2016, inter alia in terms of clarifying institutional responsibilities for SDG implementation. It found that 140 SDG targets (83% of the total) are directly tied to NSDI II main pillars; and that 134 SDG targets (79% of the total) are directly linked to other national strategic policy documents.

There has been prepared also (i) a State Budget Baseline Analysis against SDGs in Albania and (ii) a needs assessment on INSTAT capacities in the country, in order to provide an overview on the actual status of SDG ressoruces capacities in place.

In May 2017, there has been established the Inter-ministerial Committee and the Inter-institutional Working Group at technical level for the achievement of SDGs were established. First meetings were held in May 2017, which served for stakeholders to be aware on the SDGs process and needs. In 2018, some 2 meetings of the Interministerial Committee on VNR launching and approval were held, while 6 meetings of the Technical working Group have been organized in order to prepare the VNR. The VNR was based on a long process of consultations (Nov.2017 – May 2018) with various stakeholders at the national and sub-national level focused on the prioritization and nationalization of SDGs and an overall adaptation of Agenda 2030 for Albania, with linkages to EU integration processes.

The Unit of Policies for Development and Good Governance  (part of the Department for Development and Good Governance) at Prime Minister Office, is responsible for the preparation and the monitoring of the NSDI, as well as streamlining the monitoring system of the strategic framework for the country.

The U-PDGG is engaged at establishing a monitoring/oversight system, which will examine the NSDI, as well as the sector and cross-sector strategies, trying to improve the coordination process and providing assistance to the ministries in monitoring the indicators of the strategies. An Information System for Integrated Planning System (IPSIS) is being implemented in order to ensure an digitazed platform for the monitoring of the NSDI and national strategies.

Actually, it represents a challenge for U-PDGG the preparation of the Mid-term Progres Report for NSDI, which shall focus on analysing the high level monitoring indicators, as well as reform progress in priority sectors. The report shall contain policies aligned with the SDG’s in order to ensure an alignment of the Agenda 2030 with the monitoring frame for the country, in terms of monitoring instruments.The Mid-term Progres Report for NSDI is expected to ensure recommendations and lessons learned for the next planning cycle that will gauge the periode after 2020.

The UNDP is requested to support the government in preparing the NSDI Mid-term Progres Report, which will include important analysis regarding priority reforms and policies.

[1] http://www.un.org.al/publications/sdg-mainstreaming-through-national-strategy-integration-and-development-2015-2020-nsdi

[2] The analysis involved assessments at the goal, target and indicator levels of the NSDI II and related strategic frameworks, comprising a set of more than 50 national strategies, national plans and policy documents.

[3] Albania, Report on the Harmonization of Sustainable Development Objectives with Existing Sectoral Policies.

Duties and Responsibilities

At the request of the GoA, UNDP is planning to support with technical assistance the entire monitoring and reporting process of the National Strategies, and the drafting of all reporting documents. More precisely the produced reports will:

1. assess progresses with regard to strategies implementation;
2. use other pieces of available statistical information to analyze long-term trends and compare Albania to other countries in the region;
3. selectively identify issues of critical importance in the process of meeting the long-term development and integration national objectives.

The NSDI mid-term review (2015-2017) may not address progress in all the sectors and subsectors, but rather may focus only on the areas requiring special attention, either in terms of significant achievements or issues - such as major policy shifts, serious implementation issues, or other factors. This would allow the government institutions and development partners to take the appropriate actions. The production of the reports may be combined with government–development partner meetings or roundtable.

The main objective of the assignement is to support the Unit of Policies for Development and Good Governance at the Department for Development and Good Governance in preparing and drafting the mid-term monitoring report for the National Strategy for Development and Integration, which will cover the time period 2015-2017 (NSDI mid-term review 2015-2017). The report, which will serve as an analysis of the implementation of the policies and the objectives in different sectors and areas, will also unearth the linkages with the whole existing strategic framework of the country: NSDI, crosscutting and sectorial strategies, Medium Term Budget Program (MTBP) and macroeconomic framework, government priorities, Agenda 2030.

The NSDI II contains three sets of national monitoring indicators (some 50 in total) focusing on:

(i)            some 15 EU integration (as agreed between the GoA and the EU);

(ii)           some 25 sectorial development programmes included in/aligned with the NSDI II;

(iii)          some 10 macroeconomic indicators.

In addition, the national development policies are strongly aligned with the SDGs; the report will assess their effectiveness in supporting transitions to sustainable development. Such connections are made explicit in the NSDI II, which contains an annex linking the global goals to the NSDI II pillars. This section reviews the work that has been done on SDGs mainstreaming in Albania, and suggests some possible next steps, in light of the anticipated start of Albania’s EU accession negotiations.

Methodology and deliverables

Under the direct supervision of UNDP Programme Specialist the Consultant will support the Unit of Policies for Development and Good Governance at the Department for Development and Good Governance with the preparation of the NSDI mid-term monitoring report and s/he will organize the work as described below:

1)   Methodology review:

-          Review, together with GoA staff, the methodology for collecting both quantitative and qualitative data and agree on the use of specific tools (electronic platform, templates/ fiches…) for monitoring progress on the NSDI II;

-          Review the experience of other countries in the region for monitoring and reporting on national strategic documents, and also in the light of the European Integration agenda and in localizing and monitoring the SDGs.

-          Prepare project outline, discuss and agree with U-PDGG and UNDP Programme Specialist.

2) Definition of contents and necessary institutional set-up:

-          Define the main contents of the report, as validated with the Unit of Policies for Development and Good Governance at the Department for Development and Good Governance.

-          Define the documents to be considered and included and other indicators (appart of NSDI high level indicators), which can be reflected in the monitoring report. The report shall use quantifiable indicators and such qualitative indicators as are needed to adequately measure performance in the priority areas.

-          Define procedures and deadlines for the report preparation, the institutional set-up and key governmental units to be involved in the data collection and feedback mechanism releted to monitoring and reporting

3) Data collection and analysis:

-          Collect information from all implementing partners and ensure a comprehensive process, involving all the actors and stakeholders that are  part of the NDSI II implementation (or make sure all required contributors insert information directly in the database by the set deadline);

-          Check data quality, possibly referring back to the contributors if the information was not clear or incomplete;

-          Assess (i) progresses achieved in different strategies and reforms in line with the national vision and the need for sequencing the reforms, (ii) progresses against the government priorities; (iii) critical risks related to implementation of national vision, (iv) corrective actions and recommendations of how to eliminate the risks;

-          Make explicit linkages of results with the European integration agenda and with the SDGs.

-          The Report should include information about SDG progress in Albania, whenever possible.

-          The Report should include information and data about indicators for the Budget Support Sectors, and provide for some analysis of these data. The Report should include an overview of the micro-economic situation for the country (related also to the micro-economic indicators), providing aspects of real sector and also monetary policy analysed (referring also other valuable reports prepared so far).

-          Analyse all data received and draft the first version of the NSDI II mid-term Progres Report (2015-2017). The Report should include an Executive Summary, and a Brief Overview of how the strategy contributes to the achievement of European Integration (EUI) and the Agenda 2030, in the English language. The Report should include recommendations for every policy area included in the Report

4) Main findings and finalization of the annual report:

-          Prepare a presentation (slides) in Albanian and English to discuss and validate the findings and propose suggestions for a long-lasting monitoring system, in the working group at technical level;

-          Prepare a presentation on consultation of the report with different stakeholders (Civil Society, donors, etc).

-          After the validation has been held and the findings endorsed, finalise the NSDI II mid-term review (2015-2017)

In general, the monitoring and evaluation processes should be geared towards ensuring that results are achieved and not that all activities and outputs get produced as planned. Country stakeholders and implementing partners shall be consulted on their specific contributions in the NSDI II implementation and actively encourage in achiving the targets set. This includes putting in place a system to monitor and evaluate progress and use such information to improve performance.

First complete draft of the NSDI II mid-term review (2015-2017) needs to be finalised by end of January 2018.

All relevant documents will be made available to the contractor at the start of the assignment. Please note that any eventual additional cost (i.e. translation) should be included in the financial offer.

Deliverables

Competencies

Core Values

Integrity:

• Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of the 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:

• Theoretical and practical familiarity with policy and strategic planning/ monitoring/ sustainable development/ European integration;
• Demonstrated capacity and expertise in assessing progress and analyzing quantitative and qualitative data;
• Ability to work under pressure;
• Effectively and collaboratively work with multiple counterparts (UNDP, GoA, donors); and
• Meet tight deadlines without compromising on the quality of work, and being flexible;
• Excellent presentation skills;

Required Skills and Experience

Education

-       Advanced University Degree in development studies, social sciences, economics, law, business administration, or a closely related discipline.

Work experience

-       Substantial technical knowledge on policy planning, assessment and reporting; and at least 10 years of relevant working experience particularly in relation to analysing sustainable development policies, strategies  and European integration strategies and SDGs;

-       Systematic information collection and analysis and academic writing skills, evidenced through a list works in the fields of sustainable development policies, European integration process, policies impact assessment, or other relevant areas;

-       Prior experience in technical work for the preparation of monitoring reports related to national strategies and/or SDGs, is desiderable;

-       Previous experience/familiarity with UNDP or other UN agencies in a similar assignment is desirable;

Language

-       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 policy and strateigic planning, assessment of the impact of sustainable development policies and European integration strategies and SDGs – max points: 25

Criteria B: Educational background– max points: 15

Criteria C: Prior experience in systematic information collection and analysis, academic writing skills on sustainable development policies, European integration process, policies impact assessment, and evaluation of national development programmes, strategies and projects – max points: 20

Criteria D: Previous experience/familiarity with UNDP or other UN agencies in similar assignments – max points 10;

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

UNDP retains the right to contact references directly. 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.