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National Consultant to conduct Outcome Mid-term Evaluation of Inclusive Growth Pillar (working together with an International Consultant).

Vacancy Number: Of20/02082

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	27 Aug 2020, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	03 Sep 2020, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Application Extended deadline:	10 Sep 2020, 23:59 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	01 Sep 2020
Reference to the project:	United Nations Development Programme Moldova
Expected Duration of Assignment:	September- December 2020
Submission Instructions: Proposals should be submitted no later than 27 August 2020 Requests for clarification only must be sent by standard electronic communication to the following e-mail: olesea.cazacu@undp.org. UNDP will respond by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all applicants.
Supporting Documents: Individual Consultant Procurement Notice Terms of Reference OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP CONFIRMING INTEREST AND AVAILABILITY FOR THE INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTOR (IC) ASSIGNMENT UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Ms. Olesea Cazacu.

Background

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) conducts outcome evaluations to capture and demonstrate evaluative evidence of UNDP’s contributions to development results at the country level as articulated in the Country Programme Document (CPD) and in the United Nations Development Strategic Framework (UNSF). These are independent evaluations carried out within the overall provisions contained in the UNDP Evaluation Policy and aim to undertake the following:

• Provide evidence to support accountability of programmes and for UNDP to use in its accountability requirements to its investors
• Provide evidence of the UNDP contribution to outcomes
• Guide performance improvement within the current global, regional and country programmes by identifying current areas of strengths, weaknesses and gaps, especially in regard to:
  • The appropriateness of the UNDP partnership strategy
  • Impediments to the outcome being achieved
  • Mid-course adjustments (for Outcome MTRs)
  • Lessons learned for the next programming cycle
• Provide evidence and inform higher-level evaluations, such as ICPE, UNDAF evaluations and evaluations of regional and global programmes, and subsequent planning based on the evaluations.

In line with the Evaluation Plan of UNDP Moldova Country Office (hereinafter UNDP CO), a mid-term outcome evaluation will be conducted to assess the impact of UNDP’s development assistance in the Practice Area of Inclusive Growth (hereinafter IG). The proposed evaluation will evaluate the IG Pillar against the relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Country Programme Document (CPD) for Moldova covering the period 2018-2022 and the country programme outcomes and outputs as stated in the CPD.

UNDP in Moldova is guided by its Country Programme Document, and the UN-Moldova Development Assistance for 2018-2022, which is in line with the priorities of the Government of Moldova. UNDP in Moldova is fully aligned with national priorities and the country’s commitment to pursue the European vector and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. The overarching goal of the UNDP Country Programme Document (CPD) for 2018-2022 derives from the vision of the Partnership Framework for Sustainable Development 2018–2022 (UNDAF), signed between the UN and Government of Moldova, of a country free from poverty and corruption, with reduced inequalities and strengthened social cohesion and inclusion, where human rights, gender equality, the rule of law, environmental sustainability and the well-being of the population, across the conflict divide, are nurtured and respected. UNDP pursues three of the four UNDAF outcomes: (a) governance, human rights and gender equality; (b) sustainable, inclusive and equitable economic growth; and (c) environmental sustainability and resilience. Therefore, UNDP CPD has three major focus areas: (1) Inclusive growth; (2) Effective governance; (3) Climate change, environment and energy; and three cross-cutting areas: Gender equality; Crisis response; Development impact.

The new National Development Strategy 2030 is fully aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. The UN Country Team supported the Republic of Moldova in adapting the Agenda 2030 to the context of the country, nationalizing 333 indicators (following revision) which implies establishment of a system of reporting and assessing the progress in achieving each relevant goal for the Moldova.While approaching and responding to the structural challenges, Inclusive Growth Pillar bridges linkages with the Sustainable Development Goals mainly on SGG 1, 4, 5, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 16.

Current context. COVID-19 crisis

On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID- 19 global pandemic as the new coronavirus rapidly spread to all regions of the world. On March 7, 2020 the Government of Moldova reported its first confirmed case of COVID-19 and in 10 days later the first death case was reported. The number of COVID-19 confirmed cases are growing rapidly as per the Real time monitoring dashboard, with the local transmission cases exceeding the number of imported ones. Such a rapid pace puts a huge pressure on the health system and risks being overwhelming for the current capacity. The strain on the health system also depends on the share of people aged over 60 in total population, as the infection with COVID-19 is more severe for people in this age group. The Republic of Moldova has an increasingly aging population, but the COVID-19 infection rate on the population over 60 years old is of 26.6% out of the total infection cases. While the response of the Government of Moldova is mostly tactical and dependent on the daily evolution of the situation, there is no specific response or recovery strategy in place. There is nevertheless a continuous dialogue with relevant stakeholders on the consequences and impact of the crisis and it is expected that the Government of Moldova will design and put in practice a recovery strategy with relevant measures.

UNDP Moldova has been on the front lines of supporting the country to urgently respond to COVID-19. In terms of immediate crisis response measures, UNDP Moldova - and as part of the overall UN support - is currently procuring critical medical supplies to Moldovan hospitals by targeting the whole territory, including both banks of the Nistru river, within our ongoing partnerships. On the socio-economic recovery, UNDP is working closely with the UN Country Team, development partners and public authorities to assess the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis and develop a multi-sectoral inclusive response to the pandemic to protect its people and economy leaving no one behind – and with our motto of ‘building forward better’.

UNDP’s work in Inclusive Growth area

UNDP assistance under the IG Pillar is focused on sustainable, inclusive and green jobs creation; integrity-based business development; transparent, accountable, efficient and inclusive service provision; and equal and equitable access to economic opportunities.

On the supply side, UNDP will support groups with limited access to the labour market, including but not limited to youth, women, persons with disabilities and ethnic minorities, by helping them to benefit from vocational education and training, better access to financing and improved links between social protection schemes, employment measures and public services. Moving towards transformative gender results, UNDP will work to strengthen policies that address barriers for inclusion of women in the labour market by tackling social stereotypes, ensuring access to affordable services, addressing the issue of unpaid care work, and promoting women's access to entrepreneurship support schemes.

Aiming to enhance accessibility of local public services in targeted geographic regions, UNDP will strengthen local government capacities to engage targeted groups and community members in the planning, delivery and monitoring of services. Community empowerment, focusing on women and marginalized groups, will be prioritized. UNDP will build on its comparative advantage, expanding multisectoral, conflict-sensitive and risk-informed development interventions in regions with special status (including in Gagauzia and Transnistria region).

In this regard, projects of the IG Pillar have been cooperating with the following key partners in achieving development results: Government and local authorities, United Nations agencies, the private sector, academia and civil society, including diaspora.

The subject of this outcome evaluation will be the programs and projects implemented within the framework of Inclusive Growth Pillar, through the approaches mentioned previously, which can be summarized as below:

To respond to the COVID-19 crisis, some of the activities of the programmes and projects under the IG cluster have been re-programmed in coordination with the donors and beneficiary institutions, however not impacting their overall expected results so far. 

As stated in the CPD, evaluations will cover outcomes rather than individual projects to further strengthen the application of integrated, issues-based approach.

Scope of work

UNDP intends to undertake an independent evaluation to assess Inclusive Growth Pillar covering the period 2018-2020. The evaluation must provide evidence-based information that is credible, reliable and useful. The Evaluation team is expected to follow a participatory and consultative approach ensuring close engagement with relevant national counterparts including ministries, local authorities, civil society and related agencies. The evaluation needs to assess to what extent UNDP managed to mainstream gender and to strengthen the application of rights-based approaches in its interventions. In order to make excluded or disadvantaged groups visible, to the extent possible, data should be disaggregated by gender, age, disability, ethnicity, vulnerability and other relevant differences where possible. The evaluation should result in concrete and actionable recommendations for the proposed future programming.

Therefore, the outcome evaluation seeks to:

• Review the programmes and projects of UNDP contributing to the Inclusive Growth Cluster with a view to understand their relevance and contribution to national priorities for stock taking and lesson learning, and recommending mid-course corrections that may be required for enhancing effectiveness of UNDP’s development assistance;
• Review the status of the outcome and the key factors that have affected (both positively and negatively, contributing and constraining) the outcome;
• Assess the extent to which UNDP outputs and implementation arrangements have been effective for building capacities of key institutions (the nature and extent of the contribution of key partners and the role and effectiveness of partnership strategies in the outcome);
• Review and assess the Programme’s partnership with the government bodies, civil society and private sector and international organizations and how these have contributed to the achievement of the outcome
• Assess the extent to which UNDP outputs and implementation arrangements have been effective for strengthened linkages between the outcomes (the nature and extent of the contribution of key partners and the role and effectiveness of partnership strategies in the outcome) and accross the outcomes of the CPD
• Provide recommendations for future country programme in the outcomes of the Inclusive Growth Cluster and particularly for better linkages between them. A specific focus shall be on conflict-sensitive activities
• Based on the social and economic impact evaluation of the COVID-19 crisis, propose Inclusive Growth-related recovery actions which can increase the impact for development results.

As indicated above, Inclusive Growth Pillars contributes to the achievement of Outcome 2 of CPD and UNDAF: The people of Moldova, especially most vulnerable, have access to enhanced livelihood opportunities, decent work and productive employment, generated by sustainable, inclusive and equitable economic growth. UNDP reports against the following outcome indicators:

• Employment rate, by sex, age, urban/rural
• Global competitiveness index
• Proportion of young people, aged 15-29, not in employment, education or training (NEETs)
• Small Area Deprivation Index (SADI) as average of SADI ranks for communities from the 1st quintile, by regions and SADI components (economic, environment, infrastructure)

The following outputs with their respective indicator falling under this outcome, as stated in UNDP Moldova CPD 2018-2020, are to be part of this evaluation:

OUTPUT 2.1. Public institutions and private entities have improved capacities to design and implement innovative policies for inclusive, resilient economic growth

• Indicator 2.1.1: Extent to which policies, systems and/or institutional measures are in place at the national and subnational levels to generate and strengthen employment and livelihoods2
• Indicator 2.1.2: Number of companies that benefit from improved business advisory support and share of those led by women, youth, minority groups
• Indicator 2.1.3: Number of new partnerships24 between businesses which generate new jobs and improve livelihoods, including Autonomous Territorial Unit (ATU) of Gagauzia and across the conflict divide

OUTPUT 2.2. Women, youth and people from regions with special status benefit from better skills, access to resources and sustainable jobs and livelihoods

• Indicator 2.2.1.: Number of additional people benefiting from strengthened livelihoods,25 including share of women, youth, minorities
• Indicator 2.2.2: Number of new jobs created with UNDP support, including share of women, youth, minorities

OUTPUT 2.3. Improved local public services and upgraded infrastructure to enhance accessibility to and boost resilient local economic development, including in regions with special status and across the conflict divide

• Indicator 2.3.1: Number of people benefiting from improved local public services and upgraded resilient infrastructure, including share of women, youth, disability and location in special status regions
• Indicator 2.3.2: Level of capacity of local governments and other service providers for planning, budgeting and monitoring basic services delivery
• Indicator 2.3.3: Number of new jobs28 by sex, created by local companies because of improved local public services and upgraded resilient infrastructure

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

National Consultant

• Collection of background materials upon request by International Consultant;
• Provision of important inputs in developing methodology, work plan and Evaluation report outlines upon request by International Consultant;
• Assistance to the International Consultant in the desk review of materials;
• In cooperation with the International consultant, development of the mission agenda;
• Setting-up and conducting interviews with relevant stakeholders, provision of interpretation in communication with beneficiaries when required;
• Provision of support to the International Consultant in the elaboration of a summary matrix of the project implementation key findings based on interviews performed;
• Participation in briefing with UNDP and project implementing partners;
• Assistance to the International Consultant in developing the first draft of the Evaluation report. The draft will be shared with the UNDP CO, and key project stakeholders for review and commenting;
• Assistance to the International Consultant in finalization of the Final Evaluation Report.

For detailed information, please refer to Annex 1 – Terms of Reference.

Requirements for experience

The National Consultant must possess the following qualifications:

National Consultant:

• Bachelor’s degree in Economics, Public Administration, Public Finance, Local Development, or other related areas;
• Minimum 8 years of professional experience/technical knowledge in providing management or consultancy services to the preferably in local development and economic development fields;
• Previous experience with practical use of monitoring and evaluation methodologies;
• Experience in managing, monitoring and evaluating projects for UN or other international development agencies in the region will be an asset;
• Fluent in English and Romanian both written and spoken. Knowledge of Russian is an advantage
• Demonstrable analytical skills

UNDP Moldova is committed to workforce diversity. Women, persons with disabilities, Roma and other ethnic 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

1. Technical proposal: explaining why he/she is the most suitable for the work including past experience in similar evaluations;
2. Financial proposal (in USD, specifying a total requested amount per day, other expenses e.g. flight cost the most direct economic route);
3. Duly completed and signed P11 Form and at least 3 contacts for references.
4. Documents proving previous experience with practical use of monitoring and evaluation methodologies, if possible.

Financial proposal

The financial proposal will specify the lump sum, consisting of daily fee, travel expenses and per diems quoted in separate line items. Payments will be 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.