National Consultant at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), helps developing countries attract and use aid effectively. In all our activities, we encourage the protection of human rights, capacity development and the empowerment of women.

We invite applications from suitably qualified candidates to fill the position below:

Job Title: National Consultant (Mid-Term Review of the UNDP Nigeria CPD 2018-2022)

Location: Abuja
Type of Contract: Individual Contract
Post Level: National Consultant
Starting Date - (date when the selected candidate is expected to start): 01-Nov-2019
Duration of Initial Contract: 30 Days
Expected Duration of Assignment: 30 Days

Background
UNDP supports the Government of Nigeria’s development efforts through the implementation of its 2018-2022 Country Programme Document (CPD), which outlines UNDP’s contribution towards national development priorities. The country programme was developed within the overall framework of the government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP 2017 – 2020), which aims to restore macroeconomic stability, good governance and growth through economic diversification, investing in people and building a globally competitive economy. In addition, the CPD is also responsive to the Buhari Plan for the northeast and the Niger-Delta master plan. The CPD also represents UNDP contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Partnership Framework (UNSDPF) 2018-2022. It is also aligned with African Union Agenda 2063; the SDGs, and the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP).

The UNDP country programme is structured around three interrelated pillars:

• Governance, Peace and Security (GPS): This pillar aim to support accountability and public sector transparency; formulation of legal and regulatory frameworks for peacebuilding, prevention of conflicts, and small arms proliferation; promotion of participatory governance focusing on consolidating electoral reforms, implementing electoral acts; promotion of participatory governance; scale-up partnerships with civil society organizations (CSOs); and support access to justice and the protection of fundamental rights by strengthening justice and human rights institutions in providing quality services, particularly to women and people living with HIV/AIDS.
• Inclusive Economic Growth (IEG): This pillar aims to promote inclusive economic growth and development; mainstreaming SDGs into policy, planning and budgeting frameworks; promote local economic diversification in growth sectors by stimulating skills development, improving market services, supporting access to potential and growing supply chains, and improving product quality to meet market standards and ensure environmental sustainability; and support the implementation of the national framework for social protection.
• Environmental Sustainability and Resilience (ESR): This pillar focuses on supporting the implementation of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs); strengthening national and sub-national capacities for participatory planning, policy formulation, national disaster management legislation, sound environment management; strengthening national preparedness capacities to access the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and GEF; raising awareness, empowering local communities, facilitating access to clean energy, and promoting environment related livelihoods opportunities downstream; scaling-up partnerships with the Bank of Industry (BOI), and forging new partnerships for increased investment in clean energy; and nurturing South-South cooperation between Nigeria and South Korea on new approaches to natural resource and forest conservation, and knowledge transfer. As the CPD reaches the halfway mark, UNDP plans to assess the continuing relevance of the country programme document, to undertake a review of progress made, to explore areas for change in scope and focus of the CPD, ensure improvements in performance and results for the remaining period of the programme cycle by identifying implementation challenges and ways to overcome them and receive recommendations for the next country programme cycle, which is especially relevant now, given the socio-political changes in the country.

Duties and Responsibilities
Purpose of the CPD Mid-term Review (MTR):

• The overall purpose of the CPD MTR is to assess alignment of the country programme in light of the many changes in the local and international contexts to the current ERGP and new Government’s priorities.
• This review takes place during a time of considerable socio-political change in Nigeria, which provides new opportunities for engaging with government and non-government actors in strengthening democratic governance.
• This MTR seeks to better position UNDP to continue its role in providing technical assistance to the Nigerian Government in strengthening the national development efforts. Further, UNDP is leading the Regional Stabilisation Facility for Lake Chad to stabilize the insurgency-affected areas of the Lake Chad Basin. This creates opportunity for cross-border and regional collaboration.
• This review also comes at an opportune time, given the full implementation of the SG’s reform agenda in “repositioning” the UN development system, including “delinking” the UN Resident Coordinator (RC) system from UNDP.
• Given recent local and international developments, this MTR presents an opportunity to review and redefine the strategic scope and focus of the CPD in Nigeria.
• The review will help the identification of specific development challenges that UNDP should address and the development solutions to support it. The task will include a comprehensive review of UNDP’s contribution to the country’s development, which includes an assessment of the progress-to-date.
• Coincidentally, this review marks almost the mid-point of UNDP’s 2018-2022 country strategy and one year ahead of the mid-term review of the United Nations Sustainable Development Partnership Framework (UNSDPF) 2018-2022.
• The review will consider both local changes linked to the socio-political transformation and the priorities of the newly elected National Government, as well as international factors. The CPD review will help inform the UNSDPF MTR.
• The first stage of the CPD MTR will be to conduct a review of the current context taking into account the latest socio-economic and political developments locally, as well as relevant developments at a global level.
• The second stage is to assess the relevance of the CPD to the current context, taking into account the emerging national, regional and global development priorities.
• The final stage will be the provision of key recommendations, including any proposed adjustments to the design of the current country programme (through a revised Results and Resources Framework); whilst also possibly informing the planning of the next phase of the country programme.
• This exercise would allow UNDP to engage with key stakeholders, opinion leaders, think-thank, and partners to discuss achievements and way-forward in view of the evolving context and development landscape.
• Specifically, this will include strategic engagement at the highest possible level - a high-level roundtable - to refine UNDP’s offer in the current CPD with inputs from eminent Nigerians and Africans to deliberate on the future of UNDP’s strategic positioning and services to the Government and people of Nigeria.

Scope of work:

• Substantive components of the MTR

The Mid-Term review will comprise three parts:

• Context Analysis: Building on relevant context analysis from the UNSDPF annual reviews and considering the changing local context and development priorities especially the current administration’s three policy goals, namely, tackling corruption, improving security and re-building the economy which underline the Economic Recovery and Growth Plan (ERGP) 2017-2020, as well as the emerging sustainable development agenda.
• Relevance of the CPD: Assessing the continued relevance of the current country programme to determine the extent to which the programme and its outcomes are consistent with national and local priorities and policies, the integrated and cross-cutting nature of the programme, and the ways and means of addressing the needs of the target groups. Key questions to consider:
  • To what extent is the country programme relevant to the evolving context and the national development agenda?Is the current UNDP programme still relevant to support sustainable development agenda
  • Has the country programme been appropriately responsive to political, institutional, economic, legal and other changes in the country
  • To what extent is UNDP’s engagement a reflection of strategic considerations and the agency’s comparative advantage
  • What have been the major achievements and lessons learnt, with a view towards enhancing the relevance, efficiency and sustainability of the current programme cycle
  • What has been UNDP’s contributions, gaps and missed opportunities to enable further progress to the country’s development priorities as identified in the Results and Resources Framework
  • To what extent is UNDP’s selected method of implementation/partnership modalities suitable to the country and the development context
  • Have UNDP’s systems created capacities (human resource, systemic and structural) for sustained results of its programmes and what could be done to strengthen sustainability
• Recommendation: Provide forward-looking recommendations and a revised Results and Resources Framework (in consultation with UNDP staff) that could possibly inform the next cycle of the country programme. Identify entry points to increase UNDP’s ability to effectively deliver on the national priorities.

Suggested methodology for preparing the MTR

• In preparing the report, the consultant is expected to draw upon all available materials to conduct the analysis. The consultant is not expected to collect primary data but may instead rely on information available through the conduct of a desk review of UNDP documentation (for example, project documents and evaluation reports, Results Oriented Annual Reports (ROARs), and donor reports), as well as national policy documents and reports.
• The MTR would need to adopt an inclusive and participatory approach and therefore, the service provider must hold consultations and interviews with a range of key stakeholders, including UN colleagues, Government counterparts, donor organizations, development partners, civil society representatives and the private sector (UNDP should be consulted after the checklist of partners and identified areas of query have been determined).
• It is essential that the team ensure the validity of data collected, which can be sought through regular exchanges with the UNDP country office staff, as well as implementing partners.
• An inception report is to be presented to UNDP following an initial desk review which details the consultant’s research design and methodology, while presenting preliminary findings on the context analysis and the country programme’s relevance in the evolving context.
• Upon receiving UNDP’s feedback on the inception report, the consultant will proceed to develop a draft report, which includes an analysis of the major findings, as well as any recommendations.
• The consultant will also be required at this stage to present the major findings to UNDP and select external stakeholders, thereby allowing a review and validation exercise to be conducted prior to finalization of the CPD MTR report.

Deliverables

Phase 1
Content:

• Discussions with UNDP senior management and programme and policy units as well as key Government counterparts
• Desk review of reference documentation and secondary data sources.
• Based on 1 and 2, develop an inception report that includes an overview of findings so far, together with a proposed methodology for data collection and analysis

Deliverables:

• Inception Report.
• Estimated Timeframe (Working Days): 5 days

Phase 2
Content:

• Consultations with key stakeholders at all levels
• Field visits (if required)
• Working meetings with UN colleagues, development partners, private sector, CSOs, opinion leaders, higher learning and research institutes, and women and you leaders as required

Deliverables:

• Presentation of Initial findings.

Estimated Timeframe (Working Days): 15 days

Phase 3
Content:

• Prepare and submit first draft report to UNDP
• Based on feedback received from UNDP, prepare and submit second draft report for review
• Based on feedback received, finalize the mid-term review report

Deliverables:

• 1st Draft Report
• 2nd Draft Report
• Final Report

Estimated Timeframe (Working Days): 10 days

Duty Station:

• The duty station of the work is Abuja, Nigeria. However, the consultant will be required to travel to project sites outside Abuja

Selection of Consultant/ Service-Provider:

• Selection will be based on an open and competitive bidding process. Interested applicants with the capacity to execute the scope of work described above should submit a detailed and realistic proposal including methodology and work plan along with rationale as to why it would be the best way to carry out the scope of work.
• The information provided in the scope of work is not prescriptive and UNDP remains open to interested bidders elaborating and presenting what they consider to be the most appropriate methodological approach and work plan to achieving the desired results. However, the decision as to the final methodology to be followed in the Report will rest with UNDP.

Required qualifications of Service-Provider

• The Mid-term Review will be conducted by a team of two independent consultants comprising one international evaluation expert (Team Leader) and one national evaluation expert (Associate).
• Both the international and national consultants must have high levels of technical, sectoral and policy expertise; rigorous research and drafting skills; and the capacity to conduct an independent and quality and extensive analysis. The required expertise, qualifications and competencies are listed below:

The National Consultant (Associate) must demonstrate the following:
Analytical/theoretical capability:

• Excellent understanding of the local context, and in particular the new and emerging policy directions;
• A deep understanding of development, its drivers and trends in Nigeria;
• A sound understanding of the United Nations system and its modalities of working;
• Familiarity with the global development agenda;
• Prior experience conducting strategic policy and programme reviews; and
• Proven ability to produce analytical reports and high-quality academic publications in English.

Technical expertise:

• Demonstrated ability to undertake similar assignments.The consultant should bring extensive experience in research and policy analysis having post-graduate level qualification in a relevant field and at least 8 years cognate work experience;
• The MTR team is expected to have expertise in all of UNDP Nigeria’s thematic and cross-cutting areas of work, including democratic governance, rule of law and access to justice, conflict prevention and peacebuilding, sustainable livelihoods and economic development, reconciliation and social cohesion, environmental sustainability, climate change, gender empowerment, and youth empowerment, including partnership development, policy and advocacy, as well as programme design and implementation.
• Comprehensive background in research and strategic analysis;
• High degree of professionalism and ability to adhere to agreed timelines and deliverables;
• Good ICT knowledge; and
• Extensive operational contacts with government institutions, development partners, civil society partners and the private sector.

Responsibilities (in addition to other generic responsibilities and expected deliverables outlined in this ToR):

• Document review;
• The national consultant will work with evaluation team lead developing and pre-testing the necessary data collection tools (to be presented in the Inception Report);
• The national consultant will work with evaluation team lead through the mid-term evaluation phases;
• Hiring and training enumerators/assistants and, if necessary, translators;
• The national consultant will undertake responsibilities assigned by evaluation team lead;
• Ensuring the use of best practice evaluation methodologies;
• Presentation of the draft evaluation findings and recommendations;
• Drafting and finalization of the mid-term evaluation report, integrating comments received from stakeholders and partner;
• Drafting, finalizing and submitting the final mid-term evaluation report;
• Quality control of the evaluation report and
• Adherence to the requirements of the ToR.

Management Arrangement for the Mid-term Review:
The mid-term review management structure will comprise the coordinating entity (Management Group) and the consultative body (Reference Group):

Management Group:

• Under the overall leadership of the DRR (P), the CO PMSU will manage the day-to-day aspects of the review ensuring that all information is provided and requests for feedback are responded to in a timely manner.
• The UNDP Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist will also provide technical oversight in terms of clearing the final review tools (including methodology and final key issues), reviewing data collection tools as appropriate, and commenting on the draft evaluation report.
• UNDP staff in field locations will assist with logistics arrangements required by the review team. The mid-term review team will be hosted by the PMSU.
• The Unit will provide office space, internet connection, and printing facility. The review team is responsible for developing and administrating all methodological tools.

Reference Group:

• A Reference Group will be established to safeguard independence and give technical input over the course of the review.
• It will provide guidance on key deliverables (Inception Report, Draft Report and Final Review Report) submitted by the evaluation team.
• It will also support dissemination of the findings and recommendations.
• The Reference Group will include representatives from government stakeholders; donors; CSOs and UNDP.

Time frame for the mid-term evaluation:

• The consultancy is scheduled to begin in November 1, 2019 and will last 30 working days. The consultants will be provided with information to prepare a table with tasks, timelines and deliverables, for which the consultants will be responsible and accountable.

Criteria for Selection of the Consultant
The offer will be evaluated by using the best value for money approach (combined scoring method). Technical proposal will be evaluated on 70%. Whereas budget proposed will be evaluated on 30% based on sufficiency for applying the data gathering techniques and for obtaining reliable data for the evaluation in the timeframe indicated. Below is the breakdown of technical proposal on 100% which will be brought to 70%:

National Consultant (Associate) technical evaluation criteria:(Weight; 100% and Max Point; 100):
Description of qualification and assign weight score:

• Master’s degree in Law, Public Policy and Management, Public Administration, Development studies, International Development, or any other relevant social science degree - Weight; 10%, Max Point; 10
• Minimum of eight years of accumulated experience in undertaking research and strategic analysis across multiple development sectors experience; Quality of relevant sample materials related to development submitted, such as research studies, evaluations, policy briefs, etc.-Weight; 25%, Max Point; 25
• Good knowledge of the UNDP Evaluation Policy, experience applying UNDP Results Based Evaluation Policies and Procedures, good knowledge of the UNDP DIM/NIM Guidelines and Procedures, knowledge of Result-Based Management Evaluation methodologies, knowledge of participatory monitoring approaches; experience applying SMART indicators and reconstructing or validating baseline scenarios, demonstrable analytical skills:-Weight; 20%, Max Point; 20.
• Adequate Methodology, approach and realistic work plan (Evaluation matrix, techniques for gathering and analyzing gender sensitive qualitative and quantitative data)?-Weight; 35%, Max Point; 35.
• Excellent English writing and communication skills- Weight; 10%, Max Point; 10.

Competencies:

• Excellent understanding of the local context, and in particular the new and emerging policy directions;
• A deep understanding of development, its drivers and trends in Nigeria;
• A sound understanding of the United Nations system and its modalities of working;
• Familiarity with the global development agenda;
• Prior experience conducting strategic policy and programme reviews; and
• Proven ability to produce analytical reports and high-quality academic publications in English.
• High degree of professionalism and ability to adhere to agreed timelines and deliverables;
• Good ICT knowledge; and
• Extensive operational contacts with government institutions, development partners, civil society partners and the private sector.

Required Skills and Experience:

• At least a Master’s Degree in Social Sciences, Economics, Development Studies or a related field.
• The consultant should bring extensive experience in research and policy analysis having post-graduate level of qualification in a relevant field and bringing at least 10 years work experience;
• Demonstrated ability to undertake similar assignments.? The consultant should bring extensive experience in research and policy analysis having post-graduate level of qualification in a relevant field and bringing at least 10 years work experience;
• The MTR team is expected to have expertise in all of UNDP Nigeria’s thematic and cross-cutting areas of work, including democratic governance, rule of law and access to justice, sustainable livelihoods and economic development, reconciliation and social cohesion, environmental sustainability, climate change, gender empowerment, and youth empowerment, including partnership development, policy and advocacy, as well as programme design and implementation.
• Comprehensive background in research and strategic analysis.

Language:

• Fluency in English required;
• Local language will be helpful.

Application Closing Date
27th October, 2019 (Midnight New York, USA)

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should:
Click here to apply online

Application and Documents to be Submitted

• Applications should be submitted together with CV, Cover letter explaining why you are the most suitable candidate for the advertised positiona detailed Methodology( All as one document) on how they will approach and conduct the work no later than 23rd Of October, 2019.The consultant wishing to submit his/her offer must note that this is the crucial part of his/her offer
• Only candidates who obtained at least 70% of points from the CV and methodology review will be invited for an interview.

Note

• 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.
• UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.