Thailand: Evaluation Consultant

Kindly note that this consultancy is home based. The consultant will be required to travel to 3 countries in the Asia and the Pacific and will be determined later on.

Introduction

• Evaluation at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) serves three main purposes: (a) demonstrate accountability to stakeholders on performance in achieving development results and on invested resources; (b) support evidence-based decision-making; (c) contribute key lessons learned to the existing knowledge base on how to accelerate implementation of the Programme of Action of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD). In 2019 UNFPA Asia-Pacific Regional Office (APRO) will conduct an independent evaluation of the Regional Prepositioning Initiative (2016-2020)
• The primary intended users of the evaluation are: (i) UNFPA Asia-Pacific Regional Office, which manages the initiative; (ii) Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia, which funds the initiative. The results of the evaluation will also be of interest to a wider groups of stakeholders across UNFPA including UNFPA country offices involved in the initiative, the Humanitarian Office, Procurement Services Branch, Resource Mobilization Branch, Finance Branch and Office of the Executive Director.
• As part of the agreement with DFAT, UNFPA committed to undertake an external evaluation of the Regional Prepositioning Initiative. This evaluation is also part of UNFPA’s approve RIAP evaluation plan.
• As stakeholders who are directly interested in the results of the evaluation identified staff from DFAT, UNFPA APRO, country offices, headquarters, and other regional offices will form an informal reference group who are invited to provide feedback and comments as the evaluation progresses.

Background and context

• The Asia–Pacific region is the most disaster-prone region in the world. Nearly 45 per cent of the world’s natural disasters occur in the region, and 95% of all people affected by a disaster in 2016 live in Asia-Pacific. Mitigating and adapting to the impacts of climate change are huge challenges facing all countries in the region, especially Pacific island nations. The region is also home to a number of protracted crises and long-running conflicts resulting in large refugee and displaced populations.
• The UNFPA Asia–Pacific Regional Office works with UNFPA Country Offices in the region to assist governments and civil society partners to reduce disaster risk, and prepare for and respond to emergencies. This is in line with the unique mandate of UNFPA to address sexual and reproductive health, and prevent and respond to gender-based violence during humanitarian crises.
• In May 2016, following a successful pilot initiative, UNFPA Asia Pacific Regional Office and Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, signed an Exchange of Letters for a four year Programme Prepositioning of commodities for sexual and reproductive health in emergencies in Asia Pacific (Regional Prepositioning Initiative).
• Initially an AUD 3-million-dollar agreement, as of January 2019 the total contribution of the Project is AUD 4,500,886.
• The overall programme outcome of the Regional Prepositioning Initiative is to ensure that the lifesaving needs of women and girls in humanitarian crises in the Asia Pacific region are met by governments, UN agencies, and key stakeholders. This will be achieved through the timely distribution of lifesaving commodities and supplies by trained partners to meet the sexual and reproductive health needs of women and girls and respond to gender-based violence in emergencies.
• This initiative in occurring in the changing political context of the Asia-Pacific region, where Governments are firmly in control of any humanitarian response and decide what coordination mechanisms will be used and how/if the international humanitarian community will play a role. In this context, the evaluation will consider how the Regional Prepositioning Initiative has adapted to national contexts and positioned UNFPA among other humanitarian actors beyond the provision of supplies.

Purpose of this consultancy

1. To provide an independent, external and objective assessment of the Regional Prepositioning Initiative, and to provide recommendations that could help guide future humanitarian preparedness investments in UNFPA APRO from DFAT, and inform UNFPA’s humanitarian work in the Asia Pacific region and beyond.

2. The specific objectives of the evaluation are:

3. · To assess the relevance and effectiveness of the Regional Prepositioning Initiative in supporting humanitarian preparedness and response across the Asia-Pacific region;

4. · To assess the impact and sustainability of the Regional Prepositioning Initiative with regards to influencing policy and advocacy work and the prioritization of sexual and reproductive health and gender-based violence in emergencies by governments and partners across the Asia-Pacific region;

5. · To assess the extent to which UNFPA’s policies and procedures support humanitarian prepositioning, and how the Regional Prepositioning Initiative has influenced UNFPA’s internal humanitarian priorities, policies and processes.

6. · To investigate if/how the Regional Prepositioning Initiative has strengthened UNFPA’s position as a humanitarian actor in the Asia-Pacific region.

7. · To assess the value for money of the Regional Prepositioning Initiative;

8. · To determine any unintended consequences of the Regional Prepositioning Initiative, including the relevance and appropriateness of supplies and capacity building;

To draw lessons from the Regional Prepositioning Initiative and propose recommendations for UNFPA’s future humanitarian preparedness programming in the region.

Scope of work and expected outputs

Evaluation period, geographical scope & content

• The evaluation will cover the period since the signing of the exchange of letters for the second phase of the Regional Prepositioning Initiative in May 2016.
• The geographical scope of the evaluation is the Asia-Pacific region, specifically the eleven priority countries, Bangladesh, Fiji, Indonesia, Myanmar, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tonga and Vanuatu of the Regional Prepositioning Initiative, as well as other countries where the initiative has been active.
• The evaluation will focus primarily on humanitarian preparedness, specifically the capacity building and prepositioning of supplies, as well as the use of the prepositioned supplies in humanitarian responses across the Asia-Pacific region. The evaluation will also examine the effectiveness of the internal advocacy and strategic interventions that the Regional Prepositioning Initiative has supported, including through the strategic dialogue, RH kit customization, and support for disability inclusion in humanitarian settings.

The consultant will design the evaluation methodology required to respond to evaluation objectives in collaboration with the reference group. The evaluation will be based on mixed methods, combining quantitative and qualitative data collection methods and tools.

At a minimum, the methodological approach will comprise:

a. A document review of all documents relating to the Regional Prepositioning Initiative including the planning and reporting, an analysis of the available administrative and financial data, and DFAT’s investment quality reporting (Partner Performance Assessments and Aid Quality Checks);

b. The conduct of key informant interviews, focus group discussions and surveys;

c. Two country field visits and a visit to APRO in Bangkok, with a view to illustrating the Regional Prepositioning Initiative in preparedness and response. Field visits may be accompanied by DFAT/UNFPA staff as appropriate.

1. Particular attention will be paid to triangulation of information, both in terms of data sources and methods and tools for data collection.

2. The below list of key questions and areas for enquiry will be further refined by the external consultant hired to lead the evaluation at the inception stage, leading to a final list of a maximum of ten evaluation questions.

   (See more details inhttps://asiapacific.unfpa.org/)

Key Questions

To what extent does the Regional Prepositioning Initiative support preparedness, recovery and strengthen longer-term resilience? To what extent does the Regional Prepositioning Initiative correspond to the identified needs of affected populations in humanitarian crises?

How effectively do UNFPA’s internal policies and procedures support the regional prepositioning initiative’s objectives?

How effective has the regional prepositioning been in providing value for money?

How effective has the Regional Prepositioning Initiative been in complementing national responses and responding to requests from governments?

How effective has the Regional Prepositioning Initiative been in strengthening UNFPA’s partnerships with other humanitarian actors?

To what extent will the benefits of the Regional Prepositioning Initiative endure after the conclusion of the programme?
What changes were produced by the initiative – positive and negative, directly and indirectly, intended and unintended?

Duration and working schedule

The consultant will work for a total of 45 work days between May – September 2019.

Place where services are to be delivered

The majority of the work will be home-based, however there will be a mission to Bangkok to meet with APRO and partners, and two field missions to priority countries (TBC).

Deliverables and Timeline

The following deliverables and timeline is expected:

1. Inception report: outlining evaluation questions, theory of change, data collection methods, stakeholder map, methodology, work plan including division of labor and dissemination strategy. End May 2019

2. Field work and data collection. June 2019

3. Debriefing and data validation with APRO humanitarian team and key stakeholders. Mid July 2019

4. Draft evaluation report submitted to reference group. Beginning of August 2019

5. Evaluation report finalized with evaluation brief. End of August 2019

The payment terms will be lump sum (equivalent of 45 working days at daily fee) in 3 instalments as follows:

· 20% upon acceptance by UNFPA of the inception report;

· 40% upon acceptance by UNFPA of the draft final evaluation report;

· 40% upon acceptance by UNFPA of the final evaluation report, evaluation brief and dissemination support.

Note that no payment will be processed until the corresponding deliverables are formally accepted and approved.

All agreed travel related costs for the field visits will be paid separately and in accordance with UNFPA’s travel policy.

Monitoring and progress control

The evaluator will conduct the first level of quality assurance for all evaluation products prior to their submission to UNFPA. UNFPA recommends that the evaluation quality assessment checklist is used as an element of the proposed quality assurance system for the draft and final versions of the evaluation report. The main purpose of this checklist is to ensure that the evaluation report complies with evaluation professional standards.

The Humanitarian Project Coordinator and Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor, with the support of the informal reference group, will provide a second level of quality assurance.

Finally, the evaluation report will be subject to assessment by an independent evaluation quality assessment provider using an evaluation quality assessment grid. The evaluation quality assessment grid will be published along with the evaluation report on the Evaluation Office website.

Supervisory arrangements

1. The responsibility for the management of the evaluation will rest with the Humanitarian Project Coordinator. The Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor will provide quality assurance and ensure the independence of the evaluation (in line with UNEG Norms and Standards and Ethical Guidelines).

2. An informal reference group will be formed to provide feedback on the draft terms of reference of the evaluation; provide feedback and comments on the inception report; provide comments and substantive feedback from a technical expert perspective on the draft and final evaluation reports; act as the interface between the evaluators and key stakeholders of the evaluation, notably to facilitate access to informants and documentation; participate in review meetings with the evaluation team as required; play a key role in learning and knowledge sharing from the evaluation results, contributing to disseminating the results of the evaluation as well as to the completion and follow-up of the management response.

Expected travel:

Two country field visits and a visit to APRO in Bangkok, with a view to illustrating the Regional Prepositioning Initiative in preparedness and response. Field visit locations will be selected from the priority countries during the inception report process in consultation with APRO, DFAT and Country Offices. The two field visits will be selected to try to capture experience from different country contexts however key informant interviews are expected from all eleven priority countries.

Required expertise and qualification:

· At least 10 years of evaluation experience, including humanitarian evaluation experience, and leading evaluation teams.

· Demonstrated competence in evaluation of similar types of programmes, particularly in developing countries and humanitarian contexts.

· Extensive evaluation experience of humanitarian policies, strategies and programmes and of complex conflict situations, internal displacement, refugee programmes and transition settings;

· Experience with and institutional knowledge of humanitarian UN actors, the inter-agency mechanisms, such as OCHA and CERF funding, and the IASC;

· Extensive knowledge of humanitarian law and principles, and experience with using human rights and gender analysis in evaluations;

· Good understanding of UNFPA mandate and processes;

· Technical expertise in (i) sexual and reproductive health; (ii) gender equality; (iii) population dynamics; (iv) emergency preparedness and response;

· Excellent analytical skills; process management skills, data management and facilitation

· Excellent communication skills (written, spoken) in English;

· Good communication skills (written, spoken) in languages spoken in the regions and countries covered is desirable.

The consultant is expected to provide all necessary equipment to complete the evaluation (computer, software, phone, etc.). UNFPA will provide all relevant background information regarding the Regional Prepositioning Initiative, as well as play a coordinating role for the evaluation.

Candidates should submit the following documents:

· Completed P11 Form

· CV

· Daiily rate of consulting fee

All the above documents must be sent by e-mail to vac-robangkok@unfpa.org.

The P11 is available on the UNFPA websites at https://www.unfpa.org/resources/p11-un-personal-history-form

Please quote the Vacancy number JID 1905 UNFPA APROThe deadline for application is Wednesday, 8 May 2019 at 15:00 hours, Bangkok time.

UNFPA will only be able to respond to those applications in whom UNFPA has a further interest.

UNFPA provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, teamwork, respect for diversity, integrity and a healthy balance of work and life. We are committed to maintaining our balances gender distribution and therefore encourage women to apply.

We offer an attractive remuneration package commensurate with the level of the position.Notice: There is no application, processing or other fee at any stage of the application process. UNFPA does not solicit or screen for information in respect of HIV or AIDS and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status.