| Overview : Country: Nepal Description of the assignment: The Election Commission of Nepal (ECN) is a constitutional body responsible for holding elections in Nepal. It is an independent body and is directly involved in planning and managing the federal, provincial and local level elections in Nepal. It is also mandated to hold a referendum in matters of national importance. In 2017, ECN successfully conducted all three tiers of elections – local, federal and provincial with minimum external support, demonstrating their capacity to conduct elections independently. BRIDGE (Building Resources in Democracy, Governance and Elections) is an international modular professional development programme on elections developed by a group of electoral experts in 1999. The BRIDGE curriculum is comprehensive and includes major sections on stakeholders in the electoral processes, coverage of cross-cutting issues (such as gender, integrity and access), and in-depth exploration of complex issues relating to institutional culture, credibility and ethics. BRIDGE is one of the key components of UNDP electoral assistance worldwide and an important element of ESP for the capacity building of ECN staff. The objectives of BRIDGE are to: Enhance the skills and confidence of stakeholders in the electoral process, Increase the awareness of tools and resources available/necessary to build and maintain a sustainable electoral culture, Develop a support network for stakeholders in electoral processes and encourage a culture of sharing information and experiences, and Promote internationally accepted principles of democracy and good electoral practice. BRIDGE was introduced in Nepal in 2008 in partnership with ECN, International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES) and International IDEA. In order to support ECN in its institutional capacity development, ESP together with the implementing partners, provided technical and financial support to institutionalize the BRIDGE program in Nepal. Since 2008, over 60 BRIDGE training courses on 10 modules, including Train-the-Facilitator (TtF) were conducted with over 1500 participants. After the first year of implementation, an assessment was carried out in 2009 providing recommendations on enhancing national ownership and sustainability. Another BRIDGE evaluation was conducted in 2012 with respect to the different aspects of the program, such as its ownership, localization, institutionalization, funding and sustainability. At a meeting of the BRIDGE partners held in early 2016, it was agreed that a joint evaluation of the program should be undertaken to assess the impact and issues of sustainability. The objective of this consultancy service is to evaluate the impact of the BRIDGE program in Nepal in terms of its achievements, challenges and sustainability, and provide recommendations for future professional development of ECN and other electoral stakeholders. In addition, the evaluation will assess the relevance and effectiveness of the BRIDGE modules, and analyze the extent of national ownership of the BRIDGE program. Number of consultant required: 2 Project name: Electoral Support Project (ESP) Period of assignment/services (if applicable): 40 days from 01 March to 30 April 2018 Duty Station: Kathmandu Proposal should be submitted at the following address: Procurement Unit, UNDP (Ref.: UNDP/PN/04/2018: National Consultant - Evaluation of the Impact of the BRIDGE Program for ESP, by email to procurement.np@undp.org not later than 1730 hours (Nepal Standard Time) of 18 February 2018. | 
