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International Consultant for Mid Term Review Consultant

Juba

  • Organization: UNDP - United Nations Development Programme
  • Location: Juba
  • Grade: Consultancy - International Consultant - Internationally recruited Contractors Agreement
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction
  • Closing Date: Closed

Background

The Republic of South Sudan is a land locked Country of an area of over 648, 000 square kilometres. The population is estimated at 13.3 million (2020. Est) . The government adopted a National Development Strategy (NDS) 2018-21. The overarching objective of the NDS is to Consolidate Peace and Stabilize the Economy. The new NDS provides the medium-term framework for implementing the Vision 2040, focusing on Justice, Liberty and Prosperity.

A Trade Policy Framework (TPF), which is the first integrated trade policy document for South Sudan fills important gap in the country’s overall policy framework to foster economic diversification and to achieve the vision of NDS. The TPF   seeks to promote international trade and a competitive domestic private sector by supporting agricultural, industrial and services sectors to trade domestically and international levels to create economic diversification, employment generation and improvement of livelihood and poverty reduction.

The government in collaboration with UNDP has been implementing EIF Tier 1 project on ‘Enhancing Institutional Capacities for Trade Integration and Economic Diversification Project’ in South Sudan since July 2018 to support the implementation of South Sudan National Development Strategy (NDS) 2018-2021. The main objective of this project is to strengthen the capacity of institutions and stakeholders in South Sudan to formulate and implement trade policies that support poverty reduction, inclusive economic growth and equitable sustainable development.

The project aims to support the operations and activities of the Ministry of Trade and Industry as lead agency responsible for the formulation and implementation of trade policy in South Sudan, aligned to national development objectives. The project is envisaged to improve donor coordination and Aid-for-Trade (AfT) delivery in line with the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the Forum Compact.

As part of the project, UNDP as the Main Implementing Entity is seeking the services of a qualified Mid Term Review Evaluation Consultant with proven experience in evaluating strategies, development and trade related programs and projects. This consultancy comes under the “South Sudan Tier 1 trade capacity development project and funded by Enhanced Integrated Framework(EIF) Facility. The EIF is a multi-donor programme which supports LDCs to be more active players in the global trading system. The programme works towards a wider goal of promoting economic growth and sustainable development and helping to lift more people out of poverty.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of work/Expected Output

The primary objective of the assignment is to assess the progress made towards achieving the planned project objectives of South Sudan EIF Tier 1 project on ‘Enhancing Institutional Capacities for Trade Integration and Economic Diversification Project’. The evaluation will also review the results and document lessons learnt since the inception of the project. The consultant is expected to undertake the assignment in light of the following methodology and evaluation questions; 

Methodology

Evaluation methods for delivering the outputs will include, but will not be limited

  • Document review, including the DTIS, relevant national development policies and strategies; project proposal including the approved project document, any revision of log frames, work plans and budgets; training and capacity building plans, technical and financial progress reports, Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), documents related to the establishment and functioning of the National Steering Committee (NSC); National Implementation Unit (NIU), the implementation of the project, different supervision missions undertaken by EIF and UNDP, external review (e.g.Audit Report); and any other EIF related documents
  • Interviews with in-country stakeholders, including members of the NSC, Human Resources Division, direct and non-direct beneficiaries of the EIF Project team in the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and liaise with the UNOPS and EIF ES team in Geneva.
  • Field visits, if necessary: The evaluation will also be in accordance with the EIF Mid-term Project Evaluation Guidance Note for Tier 1 Funded Project. Evaluation methods will be discussed with the EIF Focal Point(FP) and the National Implementation Unit (NIU) at the beginning of the assignment. On that basis, the Evaluator will decide on the evaluation methods that are the most appropriate for the purpose of the evaluation. A detailed statement of the evaluation methods used for conducting the evaluation must be included in the Inception and the final report.

Indicative of Evaluation Questions

Following are indicative questions to be covered by the evaluation:

An assessment/overview of the overall EIF institutional set-up in the country (Focal Point, NSC, NIU and the organizational and operational links to relevant departments in the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), key ministries and other relevant bodies:

  1. Titles of members of the NSC in annex, description of task, mandate, etc.
  2.  Brief review of mandate and activities of the NSC and assessment of what has worked, what has not worked.
  3. Description of tasks, mandate (formalized in government decision) of the NIU, including an organogram and workflows within and between the NIU and the FP/ MTI. This description should include a table with staff information (name, position, date of engagement with NIU, information on staff being seconded (with indication of whether with or without salary top-ups), hired for project funds or hired as consultants, information on immediate, previous position held/CV for professional staff).
  4. The organizational and operational links (including physical location) of the NIU with the Ministry of Trade and Industry,
  5.  An assessment of how integration/coordination has evolved during project implementation and how it is working.

Results and activities for the Tier 1 project:

  1. List and describe main results from the project, including time of start/completion for main activities.
  2. Is the project making sufficient progress towards achieving its planned objectives? Will the project be likely to achieve its planned objectives upon completion?
  3. Indicate activities undertaken by the NIU to achieve results, including detail of the DTIS Update (if any) process and state of play.
  4. Is monitoring and evaluation system in place and how effective is it to measure the progress towards results?
  5. What, if any, challenges and risks (internal and external) experienced so far during the project implementation period? What were the measures adopted to mitigate such risks;
  6. Compare the current log frame with the original log frame, where applicable and appraise the relevance of the activities in the current emerging socio-economic context.

Review of trade mainstreaming processes in the country in line with EIF logical framework:

  1. Does the country have a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) (or other national development strategy), covering which period, when next one to be prepared?
  2.  Describe how trade aspects have been integrated in existing/being integrated in the upcoming strategy and assess the complementarity between trade and development policies/objectives.
  3. How is the institutional set-up for PRSP preparation and consultations on trade aspects?
  4. Does the project receive adequate political, technical and administrative support from its national partners?
  5. Assess and describe if/how the Tier 1 project contributed to this process.

Trade policy/export development strategy:

  1. Does the country have a trade policy and/or export development strategy? Which period does it cover, and when will it be updated?
  2. Does the country have sector strategies with trade integrated into them?
  3. How has the project supported trade integration process (regional/multilateral trading system)?
  4. How has inter-ministerial coordination on trade issues been organized to support elaboration, implementation and monitoring of such strategies?
  5. Assess and describe if/how the Tier 1 project contributed to this process.

Engagement with the private sector and other non-governmental stakeholders on trade and trade policy issues:

  1. Does the country have a functioning public-private sector consultation mechanism on trade and trade policy issues?
  2. Assess and describe if/how the Tier 1 project contributed to this process.

Donor coordination on trade-related assistance:

  1. Are there government and donor consultations on trade-related matters?
  2. How is it (are they) organized in the country?
  3. Assess and describe if/how the Tier 1 project contributed to this process.

Wider mobilization of funds for trade-related assistance – formulation of Tier 2 projects:

  1. State of affairs with formulation of new trade-related assistance and identification of funding sources.
  2. Assess and describe if/how the Tier 1 project contributed to this process.

Sustainability:

  1. How effective has the project been in establishing national ownership?
  2. Has the project prepared for an exit plan to ensure a proper hand-over to the national government and institutions after the project ends?
  3. Are national stakeholders involved in project implementation, and are they willing and committed to continue with the project?
  4. Are the project results likely to be durable? Are results anchored in national institutions, and is there likelihood that the national institutions and implementing partners maintain the results financially once external funding ends?
  1. Deliverables and Timelines

The consultant will be required to submit the following outputs

  1. Inception report: to be submitted to the Focal Point and NIU within 5 working days (methodology for carrying out the assignment, detailing how it is intended to deliver the proposed outputs including a tentative work plan and timelines).
  2.  Draft report for stakeholder inputs, including NSC members, Focal Point, NIU, EIF Executive Secretary and Trust Fund Manager. Draft report should have same structure as final report.
  3. Final Report: on completion of the assignment. A draft version of the final report should be circulated to all stakeholders for comments, including Executive Secretary and Trust Fund Manager prior to final submission.

The final report should include the following items:

  1. Cover page
  2. Executive summary
  3. Brief background on the project
  4. Purpose and scope of the evaluation and clients of evaluation
  5. Methodology
  6. Review of project implementation
  7. Presentation of findings
  8. Conclusion
  9. Recommendations
  10. Lesson learned
  11. Annexes

 

Competencies

  • At least 5 years of relevant work experience in the field of M&E with Proven experience in evaluating strategies, development and trade related programs and projects;
  • Familiarity with trade and development situation in LDCs, donor agencies procedures, monitoring and evaluation practices and in the use of basket funds, trust funds and budget support  for development projects;
  • Prior experience working in Remote  contexts, preferably in the Africa

Required Skills and Experience

Education

  • Master’s degree in international Trade, International Economics or Development related studies.

Experience

  • At least 5 years of relevant work experience in the field of M&E with Proven experience in evaluating strategies, development and trade related programs and projects;
  • Familiarity with trade and development situation in LDCs, donor agencies procedures, monitoring and evaluation practices and in the use of basket funds, trust funds and budget support for development projects;

Language

  • Excellent English writing and communication skills with excellent interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills

 

Payment Schedule

  • Inception Report 20%
  • Draft Evaluation Report 50%
  • Final Evaluation Report 30%

Management Arrangements

  • The overall management of the EIF Tier 1 project evaluation will remain with UNDP as the MIE in consultations with EIF (NIU).
  • The day-to-day supervision of the activity will rest with the EIF NIU Coordinator, in close consultation with EIF Focal Point.
  • Administrative support (meeting arrangements, reporting to NIU, contract support) will be provided by NIU.

Required Qualification

  • Master’s degree in international Trade, International Economics or Development related studies;
  • At least 5 years of relevant work experience in the field of M&E with Proven experience in evaluating strategies, development and trade related programs and projects;
  • Familiarity with trade and development situation in LDCs, donor agencies procedures, monitoring and evaluation practices and in the use of basket funds, trust funds and budget support for development projects;
  • Excellent English writing and communication skills with excellent interpersonal and cross-cultural communication skills

Resources Provided

  • IC is expected to have own laptop, government/EIF project is expected to provide workstation and operational support

Evaluation

  • The proposals will be evaluated using the cumulative analysis method with a split 70% technical and 30% financial scoring. The proposal with the highest cumulative scoring will be awarded the contract.
  • Applications will be evaluated technically, and points are attributed based on how well the proposal meets the requirements of the Terms of Reference using the guidelines detailed in the table below:

Criteria 

  • Master’s degree in international Trade, International Economics or Development related studies; 15
  • At least 5 years of relevant work experience in the field of M&E with Proven experience in evaluating strategies, development and trade related programs and projects;  25
  • Familiarity with trade and development situation in LDCs, donor agencies procedures, monitoring and evaluation practices and in the use of basket funds, trust funds and budget support  for development projects; 20
  • Prior experience working in Remote  contexts, preferably in the Africa 10

The Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points in the Technical Evaluation would be considered for the Financial Evaluation. Interviews may be conducted as part of technical assessment for shortlisted proposals.

The final evaluation method will be based on a cumulative analysis of both the technical and financial proposals.  When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

  • responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
  • having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

Technical Criteria weighting; 70%

Financial evaluation (total 30 points)

All technically qualified candidates will be scored up to 30 points based on the formula provided below.The maximum points (30) will be assigned to the lowest financial proposal. All other proposals receive points according to the following formula:

p = y (x/z)

Where:p = Financial score of the financial proposal being evaluatedx = Cost of the lowest priced proposaly = maximum number of points for the financial proposal price of the lowest priced proposalz = price of the proposal being evaluated.

Submission and Documentation Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications.

  • Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided in Annex II.
  • Signed detailed CV , indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references.
  • Technical proposal, including a) a brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the  most suitable for the assignment.
  • Financial proposal, as per template provided in Annex II.

Consultant must send a financial proposal based on a Lump Sum Amount. The total amount quoted shall be all inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, travel costs, living allowance (if any work is to be done outside the IC´s duty station) and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment. The contract price will be fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables/outputs.

In general, UNDP shall not accept 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 event of unforeseeable travel not anticipated in this TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and the Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed

This vacancy is now closed.