Consultancy Title: Terminal Evaluation (TE) for the Integrating Global Environmental Priorities into Kiribati’s National Policies and Programmes – Kiribati Cross-Cutting Capacity Development Project, (PIMS #: 4936)

Project Name: Integrating Global Environmental Priorities into Kiribati’s National Policies and Programmes – Kiribati Cross-Cutting Capacity Development Project, (PIMS #: 4936)

Duty Station: Home based with mission travel to the Environment and Conservation Division in Tarawa, Kiribati.

Duration of the Contract: Up to 22 working days starting on Wednesday, 17th February and ending on 25th March 2020

Consultancy Proposal (CV & Financial proposal Template) should be uploaded on UNDP Jobshop website(https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_jobs.cfm?cur_rgn_id_c=RAS) no later than, 30th January 2020 (Fiji Time) clearly stating the title of consultancy applied for. Any proposals received after this date/time will not be accepted. Any request for clarification must be sent in writing, or by standard electronic communication to procurement.fj@undp.org. UNDP will respond in writing or 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 consultants. Incomplete, late and joint proposals will not be considered and only offers for which there is further interest will be contacted. Failure to submit your application as stated as per the application submission guide (Procurement Notice) on the above link will be considered incomplete and therefore application will not be considered.

NOTE:

Proposals must be sent through UNDP job shop web page. Candidates need to upload their CV and financial proposal -using UNDP template -. This should be scanned as 1 document 

If the selected/successful Candidate is over 65 years of age and required to travel outside his home country; He/She will be required provide a full medical report at their expense prior to issuance to contract. Contract will only be issued when Proposed candidate is deemed medically fit to undertake the assignment.

Objectives:

The objectives of the evaluation are to assess the achievement of project results, and to draw lessons that can both improve the sustainability of benefits from this project, and aid in the overall enhancement of UNDP programming.

Background

The project was designed to: improve information management and compliance monitoring in order to achieve global environmental benefits. This objective will be achieved through two components/outcomes:

1. The development of an operational environmental management information system (EMIS) providing accurate and timely information: Under this outcome, project resources will be used to develop a comprehensive Environmental Management Information System (EMIS) at the Environment and Conservation Division that serves to create new and improved environmental data and information. This EMIS will be developed through active collaboration and coordination with work programmes of key stakeholder agencies, research institutions, and other non-government organizations as appropriate to ensure the generation, collection, exchange and distribution of the required data and information. The EMIS will also be accompanied by improved capacities to generate and use new and improved data and information for policy and planning purposes and training will be provided to strengthen institutional and staff capacities to use best practice methodologies in data collection and analysis for environmental mainstreaming and environmental protection and management in the face of global climate change.
2. The development of a compliance monitoring system (CMS) tracking key environmental indicators: The project will support the development of a compliance monitoring system (CMS). It will include the identification of a set of environmental indicators that will provide information on the state of the environment in Kiribati, including the drafting of national reports to international conventions. The CMS would be used as part of the learning and re-tooling (i.e., adaptive collaborative management) of programmes and plans to ensure that their implementation proceed as planned to deliver the agreed-upon objectives and expected outcomes. Under this outcome, the project will support the development of capacities to monitor and report on progress made towards achieving Rio Conventions commitments, and to feed that information to planners and decision-makers.

Project Summary Table

Kindly note that TBD @ TE simply means ‘To be determined during the terminal evaluation

Scope of work/Expected Output

The evaluator is expected to frame the evaluation effort using the criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and impact, as defined and explained in the UNDP Guidance for Conducting Terminal Evaluations of UNDP-supported, GEF-financed Projects. A  set of questions covering each of these criteria have been drafted and are included with this TOR (Annex C) The evaluator is expected to amend, complete and submit this matrix as part of  an evaluation inception report, and shall include it as an annex to the final report.

The evaluation must provide evidence‐based information that is credible, reliable and useful. The evaluator is expected to follow a participatory and consultative approach ensuring close engagement with government counterparts, in particular the GEF operational focal point, UNDP Country Office, project team, UNDP GEF Technical Adviser based in the region and key stakeholders. The evaluator is expected to conduct a field mission to the Republic of Kiribati, to the following stakeholders:

1. the Environment and Conservation Division of MELAD (the main implementing partner), in Bikenibiu, South Tarawa;
2. Ministry of Internal Affairs, Bairiki, Tarawa;
3. Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources Development, Bairiki, Tarawa;
4. Ministry of Finance and Economic Development, Bairiki, Tarawa;
5. Ministry of Information, Communications, Transport and Tourism Development, Bairiki, Tarawa:
6. Kiribati Institute College, Betio, Tarawa;
7. Kiribati Oil Limited, Betio, Tarawa

Interviews will be held with the following organizations listed above with their focal points/liaison individuals at a minimum. The evaluator will review all relevant sources of information, such as the project document, project reports – including Annual APR, project budget revisions, progress reports, GEF focal area tracking tools, project files, national strategic and legal documents, and any other materials that the evaluator considers useful for this evidence-based assessment. A list of documents that the project team will provide to the evaluator for review is included in Annex B of this Terms of Reference.

Evaluation Criteria & Ratings

An assessment of project performance will be carried out, based against expectations set out in the Project Logical Framework/Results Framework (see  Annex A), which provides performance and impact indicators for project implementation along with their corresponding means of verification. The evaluation will at a minimum covering the criteria of: relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact. Ratings must be provided on the following performance criteria. The completed table must be included in the evaluation executive summary. The obligatory rating scales are included in  Annex D.

Project finance / co-finance

The Evaluation will assess the key financial aspects of the project, including the extent of co-financing planned and realized. Project cost and funding data will be required, including annual expenditures.  Variances between planned and actual expenditures will need to be assessed and explained.  Results from recent financial audits, as available, should be taken into consideration. The evaluator(s) will receive assistance from the Country Office (CO) and Project Team to obtain financial data in order to complete the co-financing table below, which will be included in the terminal evaluation report. 

Kindly note that:

• NA simply means ‘Not Applicable’
• TBD @ TE simply means ‘To be determined during the terminal evaluation’

Mainstreaming

UNDP supported GEF financed projects are key components in UNDP country programming, as well as regional and global programmes. The evaluation will assess the extent to which the project was successfully mainstreamed with other UNDP priorities, including poverty alleviation, improved governance, the prevention and recovery from natural disasters, and gender.

Impact

The evaluators will assess the extent to which the project is achieving impacts or progressing towards the achievement of impacts. Key findings that should be brought out in the evaluations include whether the project has demonstrated: a) verifiable improvements in ecological status, b) verifiable reductions in stress on ecological systems, and/or c) demonstrated progress towards these impact achievements.[1]

Conclusions, recommendations & lessons

The evaluation report must include a chapter providing a set of conclusions, recommendations and lessons. 

Implementation arrangements

The principal responsibility for managing this evaluation resides with the UNDP CO in Fiji. The UNDP Fiji CO will contract the evaluator and ensure the timely payments as per the satisfactory deliverables submitted by her/him. The Project Team will be responsible for liaising with the evaluator to set up stakeholder interviews, arrange field visits, coordinate with the Government etc.

Evaluation timeframe

The total duration of the evaluation will be 22 days according to the following plan:

Evaluation deliverables

The evaluation team is expected to deliver the following:

*When submitting the final evaluation report, the evaluator is required also to provide an 'audit trail', detailing how all received comments have (and have not) been addressed in the final evaluation report.

Team Composition

The consultant shall have prior experience in evaluating similar projects. Experience with GEF financed projects is an advantage. The evaluator selected should not have participated in the project preparation and/or implementation and should not have conflict of interest with project related activities.

Evaluator Ethics

Evaluation consultants will be held to the highest ethical standards and are required to sign a Code of Conduct (Annex E) upon acceptance of the assignment. UNDP evaluations are conducted in accordance with the principles outlined in the UNEG 'Ethical Guidelines for Evaluations'

Resources Provided.

• Ground transportation to facilitate in-country meetings and consultation will be facilitated only if included in the financial proposal.
• Travel cost to the countries will be facilitated only if included in the financial proposal.
• Visit to stakeholders will be supported by the Project Management Unit (PMU).
• Candidate to provide their own laptop

Supervision/Reporting

The consultant will be under the direct supervision and will report to the UNDP Fiji Multi-Country Office (MCO).

Requirement for Qualifications & Experience

Education:

• Minimum  Master's degree in M&E, environment, development studies, or other closely related field.

Work Experiences:

• Minimum 7 years of relevant professional experience in the area of Development, Environment and Sustainable Development with required technical knowledge in the targeted GEF focal areas: Multi-Focal Areas and Cross Cutting Capacity Development for MEAs
• Minimum of 5 years of project evaluation and/or implementation experience in the result-based management framework and adaptive management, with proven accomplishments in undertaking evaluation for international organizations, preferably with UNDP-GEF
• Knowledge of UNDP and GEF Monitoring and Evaluation Policies
• Excellent English Writing and reporting skills (present at least 3 references of documents prepared).
• Good communication skills and positive interrelation.

Proposal Requirements

Technical Proposal

• CV
• Statement of how applicant meets requirement
• Names/Contacts of 3 referees

Financial Proposal

• Applicants must send a financial proposal based on a Lump Sum Amount. The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee for 22 working days, travel costs, living allowance (specifically for the days of mission to Kiribati; the 20th February – 5th March, 2020) and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the Individual Consultant in completing the assignment. The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables/outputs.
• In general, UNDP shall not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the Individual Consultant wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

Travel:

• Mission travel will be required, which is a maximum of 14 travel days (inclusive of travel). Ten (10) of these are working days spent with the Environment and Conservation Division.
• The Advanced and Basic Security in the Field II courses must be successfully completed prior to commencement of travel;
• Individual Consultants are responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries.
• Consultants are responsible for obtaining any visas and security clearances needed in connection with travel with the necessary support from UNDP;
• The Consultant is required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under https://dss.un.org/dssweb/;   
• The consultant will be responsible for making his/her own mission travel arrangements in line with UNDP travel policies;
• All related travel expenses will be supported by UNDP funds and will be reimbursed as per UNDP rules and regulations for consultants.  Costs for mission airfares, terminal expenses, insurance, and living allowances should not be included in financial proposal;
• Financial proposal to be submitted separate from Technical proposal.

Payment Schedule (if required):

Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables in the table below: