Functional Title: Evaluation & Monitoring Expert (Team Leader)
Duty Station of Assignment: Kosovo and home-based
Type of Contract: Individual Contract (Consultancy Assignment)
Duration of Assignment: 45 w/days over the period 3 September 2020 – 30 July 2021
Closing date for applications: 6 July 2020
BACKGROUND
The Pristina-Belgrade dialogue has presented an unprecedented opportunity to effectively address the unmet needs of citizens in Kosovo’s Serb-majority northern municipalities, and to promote better relations between Kosovo’s main communities. Yet implementation of agreements intended to facilitate integration of the northern municipalities has been slow and incomplete: critical duty-bearers in the northern municipalities need technical assistance to develop and align local municipal planning and management with Kosovo frameworks; genuine local democratic responsiveness and accountability is essential to reduce the risk of increased tension between municipalities and citizens; support is needed to build mutual confidence and cooperation between municipalities and central government, and amongst municipalities, to ensure positive results for citizens.
Successful integration of the four northern municipalities, consistent with agreements emerging from the dialogue since 2011, will be a key determinant of future stability and inclusive development, as well as Kosovo’s European perspective. UN-Habitat, PAX and Community Building Mitrovica (CBM) developed the Inclusive Development Programme to respond to the urgent demand for technical assistance on municipal planning and management in northern Kosovo, for strengthening of the social contract between municipalities and citizens, and for enhanced trust and joint action within a framework of local-central dialogue and inter-municipal cooperation. Following conclusion of a one-year inception phase, the programme is implemented over the period of October 2017 – September 2021. The Programme is financed by the Swedish International Development Agency and jointly implemented by UN-Habitat, PAX and Community Building Mitrovica (CBM) in close partnership with the Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Local Government Administration. It covers 7 municipalities in the northern Kosovo region: Leposavic/Leposaviq, Mitrovica South, Mitrovica North, Skenderaj/Srbica, Vushtrri/Vucitrn, Zubin Potok, and Zvecan/Zvecan.
Given the complexity of the programme and the multi-stakeholder partnership delivering it, a an evaluation and monitoring team will support the Programme Steering Committee by carrying out objective and independent oversight and monitoring functions, providing an external perspective on implementation progress and recommendations on the way forward to reach expected outcomes and assessing the performance of the Programme.
For general information on UN-Habitat in Kosovo and the Inclusive Development Programme, refer to the website: http://www.unhabitat-kosovo.org
OBJECTIVES AND PURPOSE OF EVALUATION & MONITORING
A team of two consultants will be engaged to undertake the assignment, an evaluation expert for governance & capacity & trust building and a technical evaluation expert. The Team Leader will be the evaluation expert for governance & capacity & trust building. The Team Leader shall propose the methodology for conducting the independent review.
The key objectives are to:
The two-step evaluation’s findings and recommendations are expected to be used to inform the Steering Committee of the Programme for the best way forward to achieve the expected outcomes, and also in future planning and decision-making processes by the concerned national and local authorities, the Swedish Development Cooperation, UN-Habitat, PAX, CBM and other stakeholders.
DESCRIPTION OF INTENDED OUTCOMES OF THE PROGRAMME
The long-term goal of the Inclusive Development Programme is to foster inclusive development and good governance in northern Kosovo through support to integration in Kosovo’s planning framework, with strong local democratic oversight, local-central dialogue, and inter-municipal cooperation.
The programme will contribute to achievement of the headline goal through the realization of three intended outcomes, in relation to which the team will conduct oversight, monitoring and evaluation activities:
Strengthened public confidence in local institutions and the integration process, achieved through demonstration of practical infrastructure and service delivery improvements, and delivered by enhanced mechanisms for local-central and inter-municipal trust-building, dialogue, and coordination.
EVALUATION AND MONITORING PARAMETERS
The evaluation ultimately seeks to gauge the overall result of the efforts invested in the whole Programme, and particularly in the three objectives, and in the cross cutting / integrated activities in order to achieve the Expected Outcomes.
The following parameters are proposed to guide the evaluation and monitoring mission. Findings in the evaluation should be exemplified with evidence-based data emanating from specific contributions.
A. Relevance: Are the Programme’s adopted strategies valid? Does the Programme have a comparative advantage in the sector?
– Rationale of the programme and its objectives
– Changes in project context during implementation
– Institutional and partner priorities
B. Effectiveness: Are the activities contributing to the achievement of the expected outcomes?
– Actual or expected achievement of objectives at the time of the evaluation
– Factors and processes affecting the achievement of objectives
C. Efficiency: Are the activities implemented in a cost-efficient and timely manner?
– Programme Progress compared to plans, budget and overall performance
– Relevance and implementation efficiency of Catalytic Funds
D. Outcomes and impact: What real difference is the Programme making to the national and local partners? What is the extent to which the Programme is contributing to positive changes? How does it influence the work of the national and local institutions and CSOs?
– Outcomes/impact (positive/negative, foreseen/unforeseen) on the Kosovo Central Institutions, partner municipalities, CSOs and grassroots groups, and other stakeholders;
– Outcomes/impact (positive/negative, foreseen/unforeseen) on local collaborating partners, consultants and professionals involved in the implementation of the Programme
E. Institutional Arrangements: How appropriate are the partnerships and other institutional relationships in which the operations of the Programme are engaged in?
F. Sustainability, ownership, internalization: To what extent are the indications that the benefits of the Programme will continue after it comes to an end? To what extent and how the Local Ownership and the Internalization of the Programme is perceived?
– Factors affecting or likely to affect sustainability of the project
– Established networks among Institutions, Local Authorities, CSOs; established partnerships
– Experiences exchanged, amount of information shared
– Capacities
– Trust and confidence, conflict-sensitive mechanisms, dialogue
– Implementing capacity of the cooperation partners to take the activities forward
G. Responsiveness to Opportunity: How responsive is the Programme to opportunities and demands that arise from partners, other local / central institutions / bodies, CSOs?
H. Conclusions and recommendations
– Summary on Programme relevance, performance and success (actual or potential)
– Summary on major problems previously and currently faced by the Programme that are contributing to its setback
– Recommendations for the future.
I. Lessons learned:
– Operational Lessons: What are the major lessons learned from the Programme implementation with reference to capacity building, dialogue, trust building and the sustainability of its results?
– List of all lessons learned from the evaluation point of view that may be applied to other programme phases or other projects / programmes
EVALUATION AND MONITORING PROCESS
The evaluation will be carried out by a two-member team with relevant professional background and with well documented experience from evaluation and assessment of projects/programmes. The Team Leader shall propose a detailed approach and the methodology for conducting the evaluation.
The evaluation process shall include;
IMPLEMENTATION SCHEDULE
The consultancy work is foreseen for a total of 45 working days plus travel days during the period September 2020 – July 2021. The consultancy will include work from home office (26 working days) and four missions to Kosovo (19 working days).
Activity | Location | Duration (days) | Tentative Dates |
Review of documents and inception report | Home based | 6 | 3-10 September 2020 |
Mission 1: Consultations in Kosovo and field visits, meetings with Programme’s staff, counterparts and stakeholders, debriefing with management on the findings, presenting key points of the review | Kosovo | 10 | 28 September – 9 October 2020 |
Initial findings Report | Home based | 5 | by 30 October 2020 |
Mission 2: Presentation at the Steering Committee | Kosovo | 2 | December 2020 |
Mission 3: Consultations in Kosovo and field visits | Kosovo | 5 | April 2021 |
Draft Evaluation Report | Home based | 10 | by 31 May 2021 |
Mission 4: Presentation at the Steering Committee | Kosovo | 2 | June 2021 |
Final Evaluation Report | Home based | 5 | by 30 July 2021 |
Total working days | 45 |
DELIVERABLES
The Consultant will be responsible to deliver the following outputs in accordance with the contractual requirements and will ensure that inputs of the second team member will be incorporated:
All reports shall be written in English, produced in an electronic version and a hard copy, and be presented in a concise format.
RESPONSIBILITIES
Under the overall supervision of the Chief Technical Advisor at the Kosovo UN-Habitat Office, the Consultant will be responsible for conducting the evaluation and producing the required deliverables.
UN-Habitat Kosovo will be responsible for:
The Team Leader will be responsible for:
COMPETENCIES
Professionalism: Demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject areas. Good research, analytical and problem-solving skills. Conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results. Communication: Excellent and effective written and oral skills. Ability to convince people through constructive argumentation and to present information in a concise and accurate manner. Negotiating skills and ability to enable good communication and understanding between different interest groups, organizations etc. Planning and Organizing: Proven ability to plan, coordinate and monitor own work and that of others. Ability to work under pressure and use time efficiently. Identifies priority activities and assignments, and adjust priorities as required. Teamwork: Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals. Solicits input by valuing ideas and expertise of others and is willing to learn from others.
QUALIFICATIONS
Education
Work experience and other requirements
Language
Special considerations
The consultant should not have been substantially involved in operations of the Programme in the past.
PAYMENT INSTALLMENTS
Payments will be based on deliverables over the consultancy period. The fees will be paid in installments upon completion and acceptance of the outputs as specified in section – Deliverables- above.
Interested candidates must submit an email quoting the post title and the duty station to the email address: recruitment@unhabitat-kosovo.org
with the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:
Deadline for applications: 6th July 2020
UN-Habitat does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process. If you have any questions concerning persons or companies claiming to be recruiting on behalf of these offices and requesting the payment of a fee, please contact: recruitment@unon.org
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 installments 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 travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days).Travel: All envisaged travel costs (to be covered by the Project) must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel. In general only travel costs will be accepted that do not exceed 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. Evaluation: Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology: Cumulative Analysis: When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made available to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as responsive/compliant/acceptable and having received the highest score out of a set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation. Technical criteria weight: (70%); Financial criteria weight: (30%)