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Team Leader/International Consultant for Final Evaluation of Disaster Risk Project

At the Second World Conference for Disaster Risk Reduction in 2005 168 nations, including countries from Central Asia, pledged to initiate the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), a key goal of which it is to develop and strengthen institutions, mechanisms and capacities to build resilience to hazards.
The project is funded by the Humanitarian Aid Department of the European Commission (ECHO) under the DIPECHO VI Programme and implemented over a 15-month period in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. The project is headed by a Project Team Leader located in Almaty, and is supported by national project implementation groups in the three countries, supported by the UNDP country offices in Kazakhstan (Almaty/Astana), Kyrgyzstan (Bishkek) and Tajikistan (Dushanbe).
The overall objective of the project is that Central Asian countries become more efficient in the implementation of disaster risk reduction policy and operations, specifically through the development of capacity at regional, national, and sub-national levels for a more effective disaster risk reduction (DRR). In Kazakhstan, the project will support the creation of sustainable mechanisms for DRR through the formation of the Central Asian Center for Disaster Response and Risk Reduction through the following three subsets of activities: improved inter-agency cooperation and coordination; strengthened regional early warning and disaster preparedness and response capacities; and harmonization of disaster management / civil defense between nations and civil society. In Kyrgyzstan, the project will strengthen capacity of the established disaster preparedness and response coordination mechanism and support establishment of the National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction by the Government of Kyrgyzstan. In Tajikistan the overall objective is to identify Disaster Risk Management priorities and further streamline them into planning at national and local levels. The activities include support to a National Platform, strengthening the chairmanship of the Committee of Emergency Situations and Civil Defense in the REACT network, support to the implementation of the National Disaster Risk Management Strategy, implementation of GIS standards, assessment of seismic risk, and update of the DIPECHO database.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Final Evaluation serves as an agent of change and plays a critical role in supporting accountability. The emphasis of the evaluation should be the following:
Project indicators:
The Final evaluator will assess the achievement of indicators and review the work plan, planned duration and budget of the project.
Implementation:
The evaluation will assess the implementation of the project in terms of quality and timeliness of inputs and efficiency and effectiveness of activities carried out. The effectiveness of management and the quality and timeliness of monitoring and backstopping by all parties to the project should also be evaluated.
Project outputs, outcomes and impact:
The evaluation will assess the outputs, outcomes and impact achieved by the project as well as the likely sustainability of project results. This should encompass an assessment of the achievement of the immediate objectives and the contribution to attaining the overall objective of the project. The evaluation should also assess the extent to which the implementation of the project has been inclusive of relevant stakeholders and to which it has been able to create collaboration between different partners. The evaluation will also examine if the project has had significant unexpected effects, whether of beneficial or detrimental nature.
Methodology or evaluation approach:
An outline of an evaluation approach is provided below, however, the evaluation team is responsible for revising the approach as necessary. Any changes should be in line with international criteria and professional norms and standards (as adopted by the UN Evaluation Group). They must be also cleared by UNDP before being applied by the evaluation team.
The evaluation must provide evidence-based information that is credible, reliable and useful. It must be easily understood by project partners and applicable to the remaining period of project duration.
The evaluation should provide as much gender disaggregated data as possible.
The methodology to be used by the evaluation team should be presented in the report in detail. It shall include information on:
  • Documentation review - the list of documentation to be reviewed is included in Annex A to the Terms of Reference;
  • Interviews will be held with the following organizations and individuals at minimum: UNDP in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, 3 project teams, members of the National Counterparts.
  • Project visits;
  • Questionnaires;
  • Participatory techniques and other approaches for the gathering and analysis of data.
A team of independent experts composed of one international consultant or team leader and three national consultants (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan) will conduct the evaluation. The evaluators selected should not have participated in the project preparation and/or implementation and should not have conflict of interest with project related activities. The consultants shall have prior experience in evaluating similar projects. Former cooperation with ECHO is an advantage.
Specifically, the international expert (team leader) will perform the following tasks:
  • Lead and manage the evaluation mission;
  • Design the detailed evaluation scope and methodology (including the methods for data collection and analysis);
  • Assist in drafting terms of reference of the national consultant;
  • Decide the division of labor within the evaluation team;
  • Conduct an analysis of the outcome, outputs and partnership strategy (as per the scope of the Evaluation described above);
  • Draft related parts of the evaluation report;
  • Finalize the whole evaluation report taking into account feedback from the project staff, UNDP and the project implementing agency.

Competencies

  • Demonstrated experiences of evaluation of donor-funded development projects;
  • Knowledge of UNDP projects and project requirements;
  • Recent knowledge of the UNDP Monitoring and Evaluation Policy;
  • Recent knowledge of UNDP’s results-based evaluation policies and procedures;
  • Recognized expertise in the Disaster management and other related fields;
  • Demonstrable analytical skills;
  • Good communications and writing skills in English.

Required Skills and Experience

Experience:

  • At least 7 years of relevant experience in evaluation of development projects – experience in disaster risk reduction, crisis management and recovery programming will be considered an asset;
  • Experience in the evaluation of technical assistance projects, if possible with UNDP or other UN development agencies, major donors as well as government;
  • Previous experience of working in CIS countries is an asset.

Language:

  • Excellent English communication skills.

How to Apply - Documents required:

Technical Proposal:

  • Candidate CV. Shortlisted candidates will be requested to submit their signed P11;
  • Motivation letter describing their interest in the position and why they are the most suitable for the work.

Financial proposal:

The financial proposal will specify the daily fee. Please provide a breakdown of the lump sum; fees, travel, per diems and misc. costs in the financial proposal. UNDP will provide entitled air tickets to Projects locations and daily subsistence allowance (DSA). Payments of fees are made to the Individual Consultant based on the number of days worked.
The Individual Contractor should include the full mission costs (travel and DSA, covering the anticipated itinerary) into his/her financial proposal.
UNDP will not cover travel costs exceeding 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.

Anticipated itinerary:

  • Travel: Home based-Almaty
  • Mission: Almaty (1 day)
  • Travel: Almaty-Astana
  • Mission: Astana (1 day)
  • Travel: Astana-Dushanbe
  • Mission: Dushanbe, Khujand, Kurgan-Tuybe (4 days)
  • Travel: Dushanbe-Bishkek
  • Mission: Bishkek, Osh (4 days)
  • Travel: Bishkek-Almaty
  • Mission: Almaty (1 day)

Important Note!

ToR and Procurement Notice can be found at UNDP Kazakhstan website www.undp.kz , Vacancies , Individual Contracts.


UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.