Result of Service

The project development objective was to strengthen national capacities to design and implement social protection policies, with a gender perspective, for rapid recovery from COVID-19 and increase resilience, especially of the most vulnerable populations, to the negative impacts of future exogenous shocks.

The Project aimed to achieve the following outcomes:
Outcome 1: Improved institutional capacity among core stakeholders to implement and deliver social protection and expand coverage
Outcome 2: Innovative capacities and cooperation mechanisms developed to integrate the care economy into social protection and other public policies of COVID-19 recovery
Outcome 3: Improved national capacity for producing timely and disaggregated poverty measures following internationally agreed guidance.

Work Location

Addis Ababa

Expected duration

4.5 months

Duties and Responsibilities

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT
With more than 20 million confirmed cases and almost three quarters of a million deaths in more than 200 countries, COVID-19 posed a challenge like no other in living memory. Coming at a time when worldwide economic growth was already at its slowest since the global financial crisis of 2008/2009, the spread of the pandemic had a debilitating and increasingly recessionary impact on the economies across regions. With severe disruption to global supply chains, manufacturing, transport, logistics and retail sectors declined, leading to high levels of unemployment and a negative impact on the financial markets and consumer welfare. As a result, incomes declined, jobs lost, and mean consumption levels fell below critical thresholds. There are also indications that these impacts affected men and women unequally, exacerbating existing gender inequalities.

Even prior to the pandemic, progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was mixed, with an increased recognition that ‘business as usual’ would not be enough, and that the window of time within
which to act was closing fast. Vulnerable populations – those in countries in special situations, in conflict and post-conflict settings, migrants, women, older persons, youth, persons with disabilities, and indigenous persons, among others – continued to be at risk of being left behind.
10. Responses to COVID-19 commonly focused on mandated restrictions of activity or physical movement – policies which appear to have helped to prevent even greater loss of life but have commonly resulted in loss of livelihoods and incomes, absence from classrooms, foregone vaccinations against other infectious diseases, stresses on mental health, and, for women in particular, a disproportionate increase in the burden of care work as well as greater risk of domestic violence.

Thus, COVID-19 had a three-fold impact whereby a severe health shock led to domestic containment measures with serious economic and social impacts. These local economic impacts, combined with a resultant slowdown in the global economy are having significant social consequences that are, in turn, becoming increasingly likely to be felt for years, and generations to come. Such impacts cut across all regions – Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Europe, Latin America and Caribbean, and Western Asia.

Initial assessments indicated some of the likely outcomes, at least in the short term. By some estimates, as many as 400 million people may fall into extreme poverty, reversing a declining trend that lasted over two decades. Some 1.6 billion working in the informal sector could see their livelihoods at risk, and many lack access to any form of social protection. Numbers such as these are indicative of the immense risks of not acting swiftly, coherently, and in a coordinated manner. At the same time, they indicate the imperative to “build back better,” to forestall similar risks in future.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic stretched the capacity limits of Member States whilst providing opportunities to reflect on how social protection systems can be more appropriately designed and expanded to ensure that the poorest and most vulnerable meet the minimum standards of living. As COVID-19’s health, economic and social impacts continued to manifest, governments required to strengthen capacities to adapt quickly, efficiently, and adequately to identify affected populations and respond innovatively with appropriate social protection measures that go beyond the normal boundaries of traditional recipients and methods.

The project responded to the needs of member States across the five Regional Commissions (RCs) – ECA, ECE, ESCAP, ECLAC and ESCWA – to strengthen national capacities to design and implement social protection policies with a gender perspective, for rapid recovery from COVID-19 and increase resilience, especially of the most vulnerable populations, against future exogenous shocks.

The Team Leader will be responsible for the overall evaluation process and outputs including and not limited to the following specific responsibilities:
i) Lead the evaluation by providing overall technical and methodological leadership.
ii) Lead the analysis of key findings to arrive at an overall assessment of the performance of the project, conclusions, and recommendations, identification of lessons learned and best practices leading to the preparation of the final report.
iii) Lead and coordinate the preparation of the evaluation report, using the DA evaluation report template as provided by ECA, and delivered in accordance with ECA quality standards, specifications, and timeline.
iv) Lead the preparation and presentation of the draft report to be made to project stakeholders.
v) Lead the finalization of the evaluation report, including all annexes.
vi) Supervise the Evaluation Team Members, ensuring high-quality outputs are delivered timely.

Qualifications/special skills

Advanced University Degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Economics, Demography, Development studies, or other related social sciences fields. A first level university degree with a relevant combination of academic qualifications and experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.
Experience evaluating international development interventions is required.
Experience evaluating international development interventions is required.
Experience working in one or more of the regions covered by the project will be an asset.
Experience conducting evaluations of UN programmes and projects will be an asset.
At least 7 years of professional experience in one of the respective fields of specialization i.e., social protection, poverty measurement, and/or care economy is required.

Languages

English and French are the official languages of the United Nations. For this assignment, fluency in English is required and working knowledge of French will be a distinct advantage. Working knowledge of one or more local languages spoken in the target countries (i.e., Spanish, or Arabic) is considered an asset.

Additional Information

Total lump sum fees for the evaluation will be payable against deliverables, through Electronic Financial Transfer (EFT), according to the following schedule:
i. 20% on approval of deliverable 1, inception report.
ii. 20% on completion of deliverable 2, post-data collection de-brief meeting.
iii. 30% on approval of deliverable 3, draft evaluation report.
iv. 30 % on approval of deliverable 4, final report.

COMPLETION CRITERIA

Acceptance of deliverable will be acknowledged only when the deliverable(s) concerned is judged to be in accordance with the requirements set out in the contract, to reflect agreements reached and plans submitted during the contracting process and incorporate or reflect consideration of amendments proposed by the Evaluation Manager.

Completion and acceptance of the final report will be based on the criteria set out by the ECA Evaluation Section.

Deliverables shall be submitted electronically via email and regarded as delivered when acceptance is confirmed by the Evaluation Manager.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.