Evaluation of Development Account Project – Expanding the potential of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Arab region

Evaluations at ESCWA strive to demonstrate the difference made by its work and its impact on member States and their citizens. This evaluation will aim to determine how the work undertaken in the Expanding the potential of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Arab region project contributed to achieving its intended results, the pathway to these results, and the elements that contributed most significantly to their achievement. It will also consider any unintended results — positive or negative — that emerged during implementation. The evaluation will serve three main purposes: • Evidence-based decision-making: Provide a foundation for strategic planning and risk management. • Accountability: Demonstrate performance and results to ESCWA’s Executive and member States, in line with the Commission’s mandate. • Organizational learning: Identify lessons learned and actionable recommendations to strengthen future ESCWA projects in debt management, fiscal policy, and SDG financing.

Remote / Hybrid

6 months

1. Background and Objective In recent years, especially after the pandemic of Covid-19, several emerging issues pose severe challenges to the region's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Therefore, tackling the SMEs' problems and challenges is fundamental to expanding and positioning Arab SMEs for future progress and growth that leave no one behind. In this context, ESCWA conducted community workshops and policy roundtables in several Arab countries (Jordan, Lebanon, Algeria, Sudan, Egypt, and Tunisia) to examine the existing government and non-government SME-based assistance programs, map the needed programs to support SMEs, and explore the inclusivity of the existing entrepreneurial ecosystems. The workshops also discussed SMEs' challenges to scale up internationally and ways to help business enablers and incubators support SME growth and sustainability. The outcomes of these workshops elaborated the following SMEs’ needs: access to international markets, overcome financial constraints, benefit from regional and international networks, ability to scale up, access new markets, digital transformation of businesses, support women entrepreneurs and vulnerable groups, among others. And from the policy perspective, there is a need for a reformed legal environment and an enhanced entrepreneurial infrastructure for Member States. This project aims to enhance partnerships and expand SMEs' potential in the region through targeted capacity building to both government entities and Arab SMEs and to provide networking opportunities and strategic alliances with special focus on women empowerment and inclusive entrepreneurship. Furthermore, the project will create a regional platform that would gather regional and international leaders from the public and private sectors to advocate inclusive policies and strategies required to support Arab SMEs. The project will result in engaging Member states for developing improved SME policy frameworks that promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth and build resilient infrastructures to nurture the SMEs of the region. 2. Duties and Responsibilities Purpose of the Evaluation Evaluations at ESCWA strive to demonstrate the difference made by its work and its impact on member States and their citizens. This evaluation will aim to determine how the work undertaken in the Expanding the potential of small and medium-sized enterprises in the Arab region project contributed to achieving its intended results, the pathway to these results, and the elements that contributed most significantly to their achievement. It will also consider any unintended results — positive or negative — that emerged during implementation. The evaluation will serve three main purposes: • Evidence-based decision-making: Provide a foundation for strategic planning and risk management. • Accountability: Demonstrate performance and results to ESCWA’s Executive and member States, in line with the Commission’s mandate. • Organizational learning: Identify lessons learned and actionable recommendations to strengthen future ESCWA projects in debt management, fiscal policy, and SDG financing. The evaluation will be conducted in accordance with ESCWA’s Evaluation Policy (2025), the UNEG Norms and Standards for Evaluation, and the Development Account Evaluation Guidelines. It will integrate best practices for promoting gender equality, human rights, disability inclusion, and environmental sustainability. The primary audiences are ESCWA, UN Country Teams in target countries, and relevant government institutions in ESCWA member States. The evaluation will be facilitated and coordinated by ESCWA’s Strategic Planning, Accountability, Results and Knowledge (SPARK) Section. Scope of the Evaluation The evaluation will be forward-looking and will objectively and systematically assess the performance of the project in terms of its relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability. Furthermore, the evaluation will assess the extent to which gender, human rights, disability inclusion, environmental concerns, and other cross-cutting issues were incorporated or mainstreamed into the project. The evaluation will cover the period from January 2024 to December 2026. Evaluation Criteria The following key evaluation questions per criteria will guide the evaluation. The evaluator is expected to refine evaluation questions where necessary and to include the refinement in the Inception Report. Relevance • How did the project team determine the strategic needs and priorities of member States in its project design? • How were the intended results of the project aligned with the strategic needs and priorities of member States, the sustainable development goals, and national and regional development agendas? • How were the identified results aligned with other stakeholders’ strategic needs and priorities? • How was the log frame translated to ensure that the activities carried out were relevant and contributed to achievement of the intended result(s)? • How were planned and implemented activities designed and sequenced to ensure a conscious consideration of the intended result? Effectiveness • What evidence is available to support the achievement of the results identified? • Which of the activities undertaken by the project team directly contributed to the identified results? How did these activities contribute to the results? • To what degree can the achievement of results be attributed to the intervention? • How did the work of stakeholders contribute to the achievement of the identified results? • Which other factors have contributed to the achievement of the identified results? • Would the results have been achieved regardless of the project being implemented? • How were key partnerships integrated in the delivery of the project to maximise the achievement of results? Efficiency • Were the planned activities considered and delivered with the end results in mind? How did this shape the process? • What, if any, adjustments were made during the project to optimize the achievement of results? • What, if any, considerations were made in terms of the most efficient way of delivering activities (choice of modality, expertise available, etc.) • To what extent were partnerships leveraged and/or enhanced to utilize additional strategic expertise? Impact • What, if any, high-level effects did the project cause (such as changes in norms or systems)? • How did the project ensure that all the intended target groups, including the most disadvantaged and vulnerable, benefitted equally from the intervention? • How transformative was the project – did it create enduring changes in norms – including gender norms – and systems, whether intended or not? • To what extent did the intervention lead to other changes, including “scalable” or “replicable” results? Sustainability • Given a similar context, could the identified results of the project be replicated? • Which of the activities identified as contributing to the identified results of the project provided ongoing benefits for stakeholders? • What evidence is available to indicate that the results of the project can be maintained by stakeholders? Gender, Human Rights, Disability Inclusion, and Environmental Issues • To what extent were issues of gender, human rights, disability inclusion, and the environment incorporated into the design, planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation practices of the project, as well as the results achieved? To what extent did the project respond to and affected the rights, needs and interests of different stakeholders, including women, men, youth, people with disabilities and other marginalized groups? Evaluation Methodology The evaluator is expected to identify the main results achieved through the project, as established by both the project team and key stakeholders, and develop a Theory of Change (ToC) for these results. The causal links postulated in the ToC should then be used to theorise a plausible causal mechanism, which should be tested using all available evidence, to evaluate the influence of ESCWA’s work on results achieved through the project. The evaluator is expected to ensure a mixed method (qualitative and quantitative), inclusive and participatory approach, with adequate triangulation across methods, to arrive at credible, reliable, and unbiased findings. The evaluator will also ensure that all aspects of the evaluation are gender and human rights sensitive (including a special focus on the rights with person with disabilities). In addition, the evaluator must ensure that they always comply with the UNEG Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation during the conduct of the evaluation. The above methodology is indicative. The evaluator is expected to build upon it and present a robust evaluation methodology within the inception report, including addressing and refining the evaluation questions. Management and Governance Arrangements SPARK will oversee management of the evaluation through an evaluation officer/s, who will act as the evaluation manager/s. This role will include recruiting the evaluator/s; serving as the main port-of-call for the evaluator/s and for internal and external stakeholders; recording the feedback of the project team and effectively integrating it into the evaluation exercise; monitoring the budget and the correct implementation of the work-plan; ensuring quality assurance; etc. The support of the organization and project’s senior management is key for the success of the evaluation, particularly during the recruitment of the evaluator/s, collection of documents for desk review, identification of stakeholders and arrangement of interviews, focus groups or surveys. Quality Assurance Mechanism The evaluator will employ a quality assurance mechanism of her/his preference (either an internal or an external system can be used), which will provide quality checks throughout the evaluation process. This quality assurance mechanism will be indicated in the Inception Report and in the Final Evaluation Report. In addition, ESCWA will review the evaluation report prior to finalization to ensure that it aligns with the UNEG Quality Checklist for Evaluation Reports , particularly with reference to the quality of recommendations. Evaluation Ethics The evaluation will be conducted in accordance with the principles outlined in the UNEG Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation; and all rights and confidentiality of information providers will be prioritized and safeguarded as per UNEG Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation.

A Master's degree in management, evaluation, or related area is required. All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. A minimum of five years’ experience undertaking impact evaluations, including of projects and/or evaluations working with Arab governmental bodies, is required. Proven competency in quantitative and qualitative research methods, particularly self-administered surveys, document analysis, and informal and semi-structured interviews is required. Work experience in the UN environment is desirable. Experience in SMEs related policy making is desirable. Excellent oral and written communication skills and the ability to effectively convey complex information in a clear and concise manner to both governmental and UN audiences.

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat; and Arabic is a working language of ESCWA. For this position, fluency in English is required. Fluency in Arabic is desirable. Note: “Fluency” equals a rating of ‘fluent’ in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand) and “Knowledge of” equals a rating of ‘confident’ in two of the four areas.

Not available.

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.