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National Consultant to undertake the Independent Environment, Energy and Climate Change Outcome Evaluation.

Vacancy Number: Pr21/02161

Location:	Chisinau, Moldova
Application Deadline:	18 Feb 2021, 16:30 (GMT+2:00)
Type of Contract:	Individual Contract
Starting date:	25 Feb 2021
Reference to the project:	Advisory Services for Programme Development
Expected Duration of Assignment:	up to 18 wds
Supporting Documents: Terms of Reference Individual Consultant Procurment Notice OFFEROR’S LETTER TO UNDP CONFIRMING INTEREST AND AVAILABILITY FOR THE INDIVIDUAL CONTRACTOR (IC) ASSIGNMENT UNDP General Conditions of Individual Contract

Ms. Elena Olaru.

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 Independent Country Programme Evaluation (ICPE), UNDAF evaluation 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, an outcome evaluation will be conducted to assess the impact of UNDP’s development assistance in the area of Environment, Energy and Climate Change (EECC).

The proposed evaluation will evaluate the ECC Cluster Projects against the relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), country programme pillar and outputs aligned to the Republic of Moldova–United Nations Partnership Framework for Sustainable Development (UNDAF) and the UNDP Country Programme Document (CPD) for Moldova, both covering the period 2018-2022. The Outcome evaluations for the other 2 CPD pillars have been completed in early January 2021, while an Independent Country Evaluation will be conducted during 2021.

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

Scope of work

UNDP intends to undertake an independent mid-term outcome evaluation to assess Climate Change, Environment, and Energy Pillar at the macro level covering the period 2018-2020. The evaluation must provide evidence-based information that is credible, reliable, and useful. The evaluators are 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.

The evaluation shall identify changes that happened within the last 3 years as they relate to the development outcome, the degree, and levels of these changes, i.e. enabling environment, organizational and/or individual levels. The evaluation should result in concrete and actionable recommendations for the next CPD cycle and future programming.

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

Requirements for experience

I. Education:

• University degree, environment, environment economics, energy (relevant to climate change mitigation), disaster risk reduction- related sciences, public law, public administration, international development or other closely related fields.

II. Experience:

• At least 7 years of professional experience/technical knowledge in Monitoring and Evaluation, providing management or consultancy services in Environment, Climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation fields.
• At least 7 years of experience with the 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.

III. Competencies:

• Experience in conducting remote evaluations.
• Strong analytical and reports (national reports, policy papers, and research papers) writing skills demonstrated by previous assignments.
• Strong communication and teamwork/coordination skills demonstrated by previous assignments.
• Ability to achieve results and deadlines in a timely manner, maintaining a high standard throughout.
• Fluent in both written and spoken English and Romanian is a requirement. Knowledge of the Russian language is an asset.

Documents to be included

Applicants shall submit the following required documents:

• CV, including information about experience in similar assignments and contact details for at least 3 referees;
• Brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment;
• Offeror's Letter confirming Interest and Availability with the financial proposal (in USD, specifying the total lump sum amount). Financial proposal template prepared in compliance with the template in Annex 2.

Incomplete applications will not be considered.

If an applicant is employed by an organization/company/institution, and he/she expects his/her employer to charge a management fee in the process of releasing him/her to UNDP under Reimbursable Loan Agreement (RLA), the applicant must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP.

Financial proposal

Lump-sum contracts

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in instalments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR.  In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including fees, taxes, travel costs, accommodation costs, communication, and the number of anticipated working days).  

Travel

All envisaged travel costs (if applicable) 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.