International consultant for the mid-term evaluation of the parliamentary assistance provided through 2016-2018 in Moldova (SPGM)
Vacancy Number: Pr18/01697
Contacts:
Mr. Sergiu Galitchi.
sergiu.galitchi@undp.org
Background
The goal of the UNDP “Strengthening Parliamentary Governance in Moldova” Project, further on referred to as the SPGM project, is designed to address the main needs of the Parliament of Moldova in the areas of law-making, oversight and representation during the on-going process of domestic reform spurred by closer relations with the EU.
The project also assists in making the Parliament’s legislative activity more open, transparent and participatory through establishing tools and mechanisms for the engagement of civil society, professional associations and the general public. Project interventions offer and encourage equal opportunity for male and female participation.
The SPGM Project was launched in July 2016. The project is financed by the Government of Sweden and implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Moldova. The duration of the project is envisaged for 3 years from July 2016– December 2019 and has a total budget of USD 4,3 million.
The SPGM project identified the following outputs for its programming:
- Output 1: Members of the Parliament and Standing Committees have improved capacities to review and adopt the legislation related to EU integration agenda.
- Output 2: Members of the Parliament and Standing Committees have improved capacities to oversee policy implementation with a focus on policies related to the implementation of SDGs and the EU integration agenda.
- Output 3: The Parliament of Moldova has improved capacities to better engage with CSOs, media and citizens.
Scope of work
The overall purpose of the mid-term evaluation of project is to assess the programmatic progress (and challenges) at the outcome level, with measurement of the achievement (and non-achievement) of project outputs. The specific objectives of the mid-term evaluation are:
- Assess performance in relation to the original work program and understand how that work plan has evolved in view of demand from the beneficiary and political developments
- Assess the relevance of the project with regards to consistency, ownership, quality of the technical assistance, and complementarity of project with other initiatives
- Determine the effectiveness of the project in achievement of results, highlighting reasons for achievement and non-achievement of results and factors contributing/hindering achievement of the results
- Assess risk management and mitigation measures taken by program staff to ensure progress on the work program
- Assess the sustainability of the project including the participation of partners in planning and implementation of interventions, as well as assessing the measures taken to ensure that activities initiated by the project will be completed and continued after the project’s closure
- Derive lessons and areas for improvement for the remaining project activities
- Provide recommendations and identify best practices that may be used in the future programming
The evaluation including its recommendations will be used as a resource by UNDP to inform future programming and direction.
Scope of work and expected output
The expected output for the consultant’s assignment is to provide a holistic, impartial and credible review of the activities implemented by the project during July 2016 - March 2018. In order to achieve the stated objective, the international Consultant will have the following responsibilities:
- Inception Phase
- Conduct a comprehensive desk review of the project documentation in the period 2016-2018 after an initial briefing by the UNDP Parliamentary Project Team;
- Draft an Inception Report, including evaluation questionnaire, proposed methodology, and work plan (with agreed deliverables and timeframe);
- Provide a Final Inception Report, which incorporates feedback received from UNDP and the Parliament of Moldova.
- Data Collection & Analysis
- Carry out interviews with UNDP management and staff, donor, beneficiaries and other organizations;
- Conduct an analysis covering the following topics:
- Assess the project’s progress towards attaining its objectives, envisaged outcomes and recommend measures for improvement if needed;
- Assess the targeting of project activities, including equal participation by men and women;
- Determine the effectiveness of the project in achievement of results, highlighting reasons for achievement and non-achievement of results and factors contributing/hindering achievement of the results
- Evaluate the overall impact of the project and its contribution to the development of the Parliament of Moldova;
- Evaluate the efficiency of project implementation for which the consultant shall assess amongst others the following aspects: performance of the project in terms of timeliness, quantity and cost effectiveness of the activities undertaken including project procurement of experts, equipment, training programs, etc.;
- Review the responsibilities of project stakeholders, clarity of the roles and the level of coordination between the project team and stakeholders;
- Identify and analyze the challenges and constraints, which confronted the project during the reviewed implementation period;
- Evaluate the project’s risk management and any mitigation measures taken by the project team;
- Assess the prospects of the sustainability of the project outcomes with a specific focus on national capacity and ownership and recommend measures for its further improvement;
- Review the Results and Resources Framework for assessment of the project’s monitoring and evaluation of project performance; and
- Derive lessons learned across the focus areas for the analysis and identify areas for improvement for the remaining project activities
- Provide recommendations and identify best practices that may be used in the future programming
- Develop and present the first draft Mid-term Evaluation Report with concrete findings and recommendations.
- Convene a debrief meeting with UNDP Project (via Skype) on the preliminary findings, main recommendations and lessons learned;
- Finalize the Mid-term Evaluation report based on the feedback received at the debrief meeting and present the final report at the Project Board meeting.
Undertake two missions to Chisinau, according to the tentative schedule:
- First half of May 2018 – for Data Collection
- Second half of June 2018 – for presentation of the final Report
Methodology
The evaluation will be based on the findings and factual statements identified from the review of relevant documents including the project document, progress reports, Annual Project Reports (APR), in addition to the technical reports produced by the project and different publications. These outputs will be shared with the consultant at the beginning of the assignment. The consultant is also expected to use face to face interviews to collect relevant data for the evaluation report.
The consultant is particularly encouraged to use participatory methods to ensure that all stakeholders are consulted as part of the evaluation process. She/he should take measures to ensure data quality, reliability and validity of data collection tools and methods and their responsiveness to gender equality and human rights.
The following evaluation criteria, based on OECD/DAC, should be considered:
- Effectiveness – The extent to which the targets of the project document have been achieved, or are expected to be achieved, with respect to their relative importance.
- Cost-efficiency – A measure of how the project budget and AWPs are converted into results.
- Impact – Intended or unintended change caused by an intervention, direct or indirect.
- Relevance – The extent to which the project contribution is compatible with the Parliament demands, the country’s needs, global priorities and the policies of partners and donors.
- Sustainability – Projects contribution to sustainable development of the Parliament.
Evaluations in UNDP are conducted in accordance with the principles outlined in the United National Evaluation Group (UNEG) “Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation”, “Integrating Human Rights and Gender Equality in Evaluations[1]” and the UNDP Handbook on Monitoring and Evaluation for Results.[2]
The consultant will take every measure to safeguard the rights and confidentiality of key information providers in the collection of data.
[1] www.unevaluation.org/guidance/HRGE
[2] http://web.undp.org/evaluation/handbook/documents/english/pme-handbook.pdf
Requirements for experience
Academic Qualifications:
- Master degree in Law, Public Administration, International development and related fields; Bachelor and at least 8 years of relevant experience will be also acceptable;
- Years of experience:
- At least 7 years of relevant working experience in the field of democratic governance, public administration, development, including participatory planning, monitoring and evaluation;
- At least 5 years of practical experience in conducting evaluations of strategies, policies and programs;
- Previous regional work experience in the evaluation of the development assistance projects in the area of democratic governance with a focus on parliament in Central and Eastern Europe or CIS, is a strong advantage;
- Previous experience in gender-sensitive evaluations is an advantage;
- Experience in working with UN agencies is a strong advantage;
2. Competencies:
- Demonstrated interpersonal and diplomatic skills, as well as the ability to communicate effectively with all stakeholders and to present ideas clearly and effectively;
- Excellent research and analytical skills;
- Facilitation and management skills;
- Leadership skills and ability to be a team player;
- Demonstrated strong knowledge about results-based management (especially results-oriented monitoring and evaluation);
- Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of the Moldovan political/governance systems with a focus on Parliament;
- Recent project evaluation/review experiences within United Nations system, and particularly UNDP, will be considered an asset;
- Proven proficiency in English. Knowledge of Romanian and/or Russian is an asset.
Personal qualities:
- Proven commitment to the core values of the United Nations, in particular respecting differences of culture, gender, religion, ethnicity, nationality, language, age, HIV status, disability, and sexual orientation, or other status;
The UNDP Moldova is committed to workforce diversity. Women and men, persons with different types of disabilities, LGBTI, Roma and other ethnic, linguistic or religious minorities, persons living with HIV, as well as refugees and other non‐citizens legally entitled to work in the Republic of Moldova, are particularly encouraged to apply.
Documents to be included
Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:
- Offeror's Letter confirming Interest and Availability
- Proposal: explaining why they are the most suitable for the work including previous experience in similar Projects (please provide brief information on each of the above qualifications, item by item);
- Financial proposal (in USD, specifying a total requested amount per working day, including all related costs, e.g. fees, phone calls etc.);
- Duly completed and signed Personal History Form (P11), personal CV and at least 3 references.
Financial proposal
- Contracts based on daily fee
The financial proposal will specify the daily fee, travel expenses and per diems quoted in separate line items, and payments are made to the Individual Consultant based on the number of days worked.
Travel
All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.
In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.
Disclaimer
In case of discrepancies between the text published on the website and the contents of the supporting documents, the provisions, instructions and conditions included in the supporting documents (published as Adobe Portable Document Format files) shall prevail. In case of discrepancies between the English version and the Romanian and/or Russian versions of text, documents or other content published on this webpage, the English version shall prevail.
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