Climate Proofing UNDP-GEF Terminal Evaluation 2019

Background

The Global Environment Fund-financed project on Climate Proofing Local Development Gains in Rural and Urban Areas of Machinga and Mangochi Districts in Malawi was designed to reduce vulnerability to climate change driven droughts, floods and post-harvest grain losses for rural and urban communities in targeted areas. The project aimed to secure development and food security gains by empowering communities to integrate climate risk considerations in development policies, plans, projects and actions by providing knowledge, tools, capacities and methodologies for the adoption of an ecosystems and community-based approach to climate change adaptation, targeting over 458,371 people in 91,674 households. The 5-year project started in July 2014 and ends in June 2019.

In accordance with UNDP and GEF M&E policies and procedures, all full and medium-sized UNDP support GEF financed projects are required to undergo a terminal evaluation upon completion of implementation. These terms of reference (TOR) sets out the expectations for a Terminal Evaluation (TE) of the Climate Proofing Local Development Gains in Rural and Urban Areas of Machinga and Mangochi Districts (PIMS #4508).

The project is implemented by the Government of Malawi, through the Ministry of Natural Resources Energy and Mining with support from Global Environment Facility (GEF) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The project started July 2014 and is in its final year of implementation.

Duties and Responsibilities

The project was designed to:

Secure the development and food security gains from the baseline programs by empowering communities to integrate climate risk considerations in the development policies, plans, projects and actions. The project’s outcomes are as follows:

• Outcome 1: The impact of ecosystems degradation in aggravating vulnerability to climate change risks and reducing resilience of development gains understood and integrated into key decision-making processes at the local, sub-national and national levels.
• Outcome 2: Skills and operational capacity of District, EPA and TA level technical officers to support implementation, maintenance and monitoring of the activities under component 1 and to mainstream climate risks into all local development process (skills, legislation, information)
• Outcome 3: Public and domestic water harvesting, storage and distribution reduces climate change driven flooding and regulates availability of water throughout the year in flood & drought hotspots
• Outcome 4: Rehabilitation of badly degraded forests, protection of riverbanks, lake shores and urban infrastructure
• Outcome 5: Productivity of agriculture supported by adoption of climate smart agriculture practices

The Scope of the Terminal Evaluation:The TE will be conducted according to the guidance, rules and procedures established by UNDP and GEF as reflected in the UNDP Evaluation Guidance for GEF Financed Projects. 

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.

Competencies

• Excellent analytical, writing, advocacy, presentation, and communications skills;
• Demonstrated ability to work in multi-cultural and inter-disciplinary environments;
• Demonstrated ability to work in an independent manner;
• Excellent proficiency in English language;
• Openness to receive feedback and change;
• Demonstration of integrity and ethical standards;
• Positive and constructive attitude to work;
• Sensitivity to different culture, gender, religion, race, nationality and age

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

• A Master’s degree in Climate Change, Natural Resource Management, Agriculture, Geography, Environment, Social Sciences, Development Studies, or other closely related field (10 points).

Experience:

• Minimum ten (10) years of relevant professional experience in conducting evaluations of development programmes and projects supported by the UN or other similar international organizations (10 points);
• Experience working with the GEF or GEF-evaluations (10 points);
• Experience working in Malawi or other African countries with similar context (10 points);
• Minimum seven (7) years of work experience in climate change adaptation (10 points);
• Demonstrated understanding of issues related to gender and climate change vulnerability and adaptation; experience in gender sensitive evaluation and analysis (10 points);
• Proven experience in leading an evaluation mission as a team leader (10 points);
• Excellent communication skills in English;

Language:

• Fluent English

Evaluation Approach and Method:An overall approach and method for conducting project terminal evaluations of UNDP supported GEF financed projects has developed over time. 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 Mangochi and Machinga district councils, including the project 6 hotspot sites in the 2 districts. Interviews will be held with stakeholders including organizations and individuals.

The evaluator will review all relevant sources of information, such as the project document, project reports – including Annual APR/PIR, Community Based Adaptation (CBA) interventions reports, project budget revisions, midterm review, quarterly progress reports, GEF focal area tracking tools, project files, national strategic and legal documents, technical studies 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 cover 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/Cofinance:

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, which will be included in the terminal evaluation report. 

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. In addition, the evaluation will be included in the country office evaluation plan.

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. 

Conclusions, Recommendations & Lessons:

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

Evaluation Deliverables:The International Consultant is expected to deliver the following:

• Inception Report: No later than 2 weeks before the evaluation mission, International Consultant should provide clarifications on timing and method. International Consultant will consolidate the draft prepared by National Consultant, finalise and submit the final Inception Report to UNDP CO.
• Presentation: At the end of evaluation mission, International Consultant should submit Initial Findings from the field evaluation mission to project management, UNDP CO.
• Draft Final Report: Within 3 weeks of the evaluation mission, International Consultant will consolidate, finalise Draft Final Report in full report (per annexed template) with annexes and send to CO to be reviewed by RTA, PCU, GEF OFPs.
• Final Report: Within 1 week of receiving UNDP comments on draft, International Consultant will consolidate, finalise and send the revised report to CO for uploading to UNDP ERC.

*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.

Implementation Arrangement:The principal responsibility for managing this evaluation resides with the UNDP CO in Malawi. The UNDP CO will contract the evaluators (1 International Consultant and 1 National Consultant) and ensure the timely provision of per diems and travel arrangements within the country for the evaluators. The Project Team will be responsible for liaising with the evaluators to set up stakeholder interviews, arrange field visits, coordinate with the Government etc. 

Evaluation Timeframe:The total duration of the assignment for International Consultant will be 16 days according to the following plan:

• Starting date: 2nd October 2019
• Preparation: 2 working days (completion date: 6th October 2019)
• Evaluation Mission: 10 working days (completion date: 20th October 2019)
• Draft Evaluation Report: 2 working days (completion date: 4th November 2019)
• Final Report: 2 working days (completion date: 11th November 2019)

Requirements for International Consultant:

Under this assignment, there will be two evaluators and the International Consultant will work closely with the National Consultant. The consultant shall have prior experience in evaluating similar projects. Experience with GEF financed projects is an advantage. The International Consultant will have the overall responsibility for the conduct of the evaluation exercise as well as quality and timely submission of reports (inception, draft, final etc). The International Consultant will be accountable to UNDP for the delivery results on this assignment. 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'

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals:

• Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided by UNDP;
• CV including at least 3 references and a Personal History Form (P11 form);
• Brief description of approach to work/technical proposal of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment, and a proposed methodology on how they will approach and complete the assignment; (max 1 page)
• Financial Proposal that indicates the all-inclusive fixed total contract price and all other travel related costs (such as flight ticket, per diem, etc), supported by a breakdown of costs, as per template attached to the Letter of Confirmation of Interest template.

Travel:All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. UNDP does not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the International Consultant 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 will be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed

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. 

All application materials should be submitted by email to procurement.mw@undp.org by 5th July 2019. Please include “CLIMATE PROOFING UNDP-GEF Terminal Evaluation 2019” in the subject line of the email. The UNDP will not accept proposals via printed hardcopy.

Payment Schedule:

• 1st payment: 10% Upon approval of the final TE Inception Report
• 2nd payment: 40% Following submission and approval of the 1st draft terminal evaluation report
• 3rd payment: 50% Following submission and approval (UNDP-CO and UNDP RTA) of the final terminal evaluation report

Evaluation:

Only those applications which are responsive and compliant will be evaluated.  Offers will be evaluated according to the Combined Scoring method – where the qualifications and methodology will be weighted at 70% and the price proposal will weigh as 30% of the total scoring.  The applicant receiving the Highest Combined Score that has also accepted UNDP’s General Terms and Conditions will be awarded the contract.

UNDP applies a fair and transparent selection process that will take into account the competencies/ skills of the applicants as well as their financial proposals. Qualified women and members of social minorities are encouraged to apply.

• Qualifications and Methodology 70%
• Qualifications (see Requirements above): 70 points
• Technical proposal/approach to work: 15 points
• Interview: 15 points
• Financial Proposal 30%

The essentials of the project to be evaluated can be found in the full TOR on the link below.

For hand delivery or post office delivery, please use the address below and also log in on the link below for more details:https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fprocurement-notices.undp.org%2F&data=02%7C01%7Csusan.mkandawire%40undp.org%7Cd9ad0079cb094af7da4d08d725fe9cd9%7Cb3e5db5e2944483799f57488ace54319%7C0%7C0%7C637019647792584411&sdata=r%2Fw%2BRYbOZAKnaibIzQfYTR%2BscrGPWZ4Ec%2FDZIJWRHXg%3D&reserved=0

UNDP Malawi P.O. Box 30135, Lilongwe 3, Malawi.Attention: The Deputy Resident Representative (Operations).

Or use email below: procurement.mw@undp.org