International Consultancy: Evaluation Team, Johannesburg, South Africa

Hiring Office:

UNFPA ESARO

Composition of the Evaluation Team:

THE FOLLOWING CONSULTANCY POSITIONS ARE BEING READVERTISED

Adolescent & Youth Expert

Population & Development Expert

(Please indicate the position you are applying for in the cover letter)

Purpose of consultancy:

1. The purpose of this evaluation is to provide evidence to support UNFPA’s learning related to what works (and what does not) to accelerate progress towards achievement of the transformative results and inform the design of the next regional programme action plan as a contribution to the strategic Plan and its stated intent to focus on “unfinished business”. 
2. This formative evaluation is a milestone within an ‘evaluative evidence package’ to inform the next regional programme building s intended to build a foundation of the first and current regional programmes to guide, actions to accelerate progress towards achieving the three transformative results in East and Southern Africa Regions. The evaluation of the RPAP will undertake in coordination with the Global SP formative evaluation and other regional programme evaluations. The ‘evaluative evidence package’ is composed of several thematic and institutional centralized evaluations implemented under the last two Quadrennial Budgeted Evaluation Plans, a summative evaluation of the Strategic Plan scheduled in 2028, and this formative evaluation.

Scope of work:

1. The objective of this evaluation is to assess UNFPA’s organizational readiness and strategic positioning to accelerate the progress towards the achievement of the three transformative results and catalyse a discussion on the design of the next Strategic Plan given the state of progress on the SDGs. New elements introduced in this Strategic Plan will be the focus – namely, the six accelerators for change - and the strategic shifts that were proposed, including flexibility and agility in programming, financing, innovation, and partnerships. The evaluation will focus on the current Strategic Plan period starting in 2022 until the end of data collection in early-2024. A forward-looking perspective will be maintained so that the evaluation results will benefit both the remainder of the current regional programme and the Strategic Plan and the development of the subsequent one.
2. The evaluation will cover all the following thematic areas of the Regional Programme Action Plan 2022 - 2023 - sexual and reproductive health, maternal health, family planning, adolescents and youth, gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, as well as population and development data, policies and strategies, Humanitarian and Emergencies. 
3. In addition, the evaluation will cover cross-cutting issues such as human rights and gender equality, emergencies, humanitarian crises, displacement, and migration status relevant in countries affected by humanitarian crisis in the region; as well as innovation, knowledge management, resource mobilization, communication and organizational efficiency and effectiveness, programme coordination and results-based management, monitoring, and evaluation.

Duration and working schedule:

January 01, 2024 – June 30, 2024 (6 months)

1. Budget and Payment Modalities

The evaluators will receive a daily fee according to the UNFPA consultancy scale based on qualifications and experience. The payment of fees will be based on the submission of deliverables, as follows:

Upon approval of the design report (Joint Evaluation Office and Regional Office) (40%).

Upon satisfactory completion of the draft final evaluation report (40%).

Upon approval of the final evaluation report and PowerPoint for dissemination of evaluation results (20%).

In addition to the daily fees, the evaluators will receive a daily subsistence allowance (DSA) in accordance with the UNFPA Duty Travel Policy, using applicable United Nations DSA rates for the place of mission. Travel costs will be settled separately from the consultancy fees. The provisional allocation of workdays among the evaluation team will be the following:

Place where services are to be delivered:

UNFPA ESARO

Delivery dates and how work will be delivered (e.g., electronic, hard copy etc.):

• Inception phase (Joint Evaluation Office and Regional Office) - January 31, 2023
  • Inception workshop
  • Draft inception report
  • Pilot country mission
  • Final inception report 
• Data collection, Analysis and Synthesis April 31, 2024
• Reporting and Review                               June 30, 2024
• Draft Evaluation report
• Final Evaluation report

Monitoring and progress control, including reporting requirements, periodicity format and deadline:

The evaluation team leader will hold the overall responsibility for the design and implementation of the evaluation. She/he will be responsible for the production and timely submission of all expected deliverables in line with the ToR. She/he will lead and coordinate the work of the evaluation team and ensure the quality of all deliverables at all stages of the evaluation process. The Evaluation Team Leader will provide methodological guidance to the evaluation team in developing the design report but not limited to, the evaluation approach, methodology, work plan and agenda for the field phase, the draft and final evaluation reports, and the PowerPoint presentation of the evaluation results. 

She/he will lead the presentation of the design report and the debriefing meeting with the Regional Office and Taskforce/Evaluation Reference Group at the end of the field phase. The Team leader will also be responsible for liaising with the Evaluation Manager. Beyond her/his responsibilities as team leader, the evaluation team leader will serve as technical expert for one of the thematic areas of programming of the Regional Programme. The Draft final report is expected to be submitted by the team leader by the end of 31 May 2023 while the final report is expected to be submitted at the end of 30 June 2023.

Supervisory arrangements: 

Regional M&E Adviser at UNFPA ESARO is the Evaluation Manager at all stages of the evaluation process. The Evaluation Manager at the UNFPA ESARO will be responsible for the management of the evaluation and supervision of the evaluation team in line with the UNFPA Evaluation Handbook. The Evaluation Manager will oversee the entire process of the evaluation, from the preparation to the dissemination and facilitation of the use of the evaluation results. She/he will also coordinate the exchanges between the evaluation team and the ERG. The major task of the Evaluation Manager is to ensure the quality, independence, and impartiality of the evaluation in line with the UNEG norms and standards and ethical guidelines for evaluation.

Expected travel:

The evaluation team shall undertake evaluation mission travel with the EO Strategic Plan evaluation consultants to at least UNFPA two country Offices, and four partner offices.

Required expertise, qualifications, and competencies, including language requirements:

Qualifications and Experience

Adolescent and Youth Expert

The competencies, skills and experience of the evaluation team leader should include:

• Master’s degree in public health, Medicine, Health Economics and Financing, Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Social Sciences, or a related field.
• 7 years of experience in conducting evaluations, reviews, assessments, research studies or M&E work in the field of international and/or humanitarian action.
• Substantive knowledge of adolescent and youth issues, sexual and reproductive health and rights of adolescents and youth.
• Good knowledge of humanitarian strategies, policies, frameworks and international humanitarian law, and principles as well as the international humanitarian architecture and coordination mechanisms.
• Ability to ensure ethics and integrity of the evaluation process, including confidentiality and prevention of harm to evaluation subjects.
• Ability to consistently integrate human rights and gender perspectives in all phases of the evaluation process.
• Solid knowledge of evaluation approaches and methodology and demonstrated ability to apply both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Experience working with a multidisciplinary team of experts.
• Excellent communication (written and spoken), facilitation and knowledge-sharing skills.
• Good knowledge of the national development context of ESARO
• Familiarity with UNFPA or other United Nations organizations’ mandates and operations will be an advantage.
• Fluent in written and spoken English.

Population and Development Expert

The competencies, skills and experience of the population and development expert should include:

• Master’s degree in Demography or Population Studies, Statistics, Social Sciences, Development Studies or a related field.
• 7 years of experience in conducting evaluations, reviews, assessments, research studies or M&E work in the field of international development.
• Substantive knowledge on the generation, analysis, dissemination and use of housing census and population data for development, population dynamics, migration, and national statistics systems.
• Good knowledge of humanitarian strategies, policies, frameworks and international humanitarian law, and principles as well as the international humanitarian architecture and coordination mechanisms.
• Ability to ensure ethics and integrity of the evaluation process, including confidentiality and prevention of harm to evaluation subjects.
• Ability to consistently integrate human rights and gender perspectives in all phases of the evaluation process.
• Solid knowledge of evaluation approaches and methodology and demonstrated ability to apply both quantitative and qualitative data collection methods.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Experience working with a multidisciplinary team of experts.
• Excellent communication (written and spoken), facilitation and knowledge-sharing skills.
• Good knowledge of the regional development context of ESARO
• Familiarity with UNFPA or other United Nations organizations’ mandates and operations will be an advantage.
• Fluent in written and spoken English.

Inputs / services to be provided by UNFPA or implementing partner (e.g., support services, office space, equipment), if applicable:

• UNFPA ESARO shall provide office space when needed.

Other relevant information or special conditions, if any:

• The evaluators will receive a daily fee according to the UNFPA consultancy scale based on qualifications and experience. The payment of fees will be based on the submission of deliverables, as follows:
• Upon approval of the final inception report (By the Evaluation Management Group - Evaluation Office & Regional Office) 20%
• Upon satisfactory completion of the draft final evaluation report (by Regional Office) 30%
• Upon approval of the final evaluation report and PowerPoint for dissemination of evaluation results (By Regional Office) 50%.
• The Terms of Reference of the global evaluation of the UNFPA Strategic Plan 2022-2025 (click Attachments tab 8 to view)
• ESAR - TOR Evaluation of Regional Programme 2022-2025 (click Attachments tab 8 to view).

The application should include:

• A cover letter, indicating the position you are applying for, motivation for this consultancy, availability and expected daily rate for consultancy services.
• Names and contact information of three references.
• A recent evaluation report or other type of writing sample in English (from a similar assignment) drafted by yourself.