Result of Service

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) Programme Planning and Operations Division (PPOD) is seeking an independent consultant to conduct the assessment of the Development Account Project 2023Q Caribbean SIDS relevant climate change and disasters indicators for evidence-based policies.

The assessment will include the following outputs (prepared in English):

a) Work Plan and Inception Report.
b) Draft final evaluation Report.
c) Final Evaluation Report.
d) Presentation of the results of the evaluation.

Work Location

Santiago, Chile

Expected duration

16 weeks

Duties and Responsibilities

BACKGROUND
The project under evaluation is part of the projects approved under this account for the 12th Tranche (2020-2023). It was implemented jointly by the ECLAC Statistics Division and the ECLAC subregional headquarters for the Caribbean.

The duration of this project was of approximately three and half years, having started activities in March 2020, and with an estimated date of closure of June 2023.

The project’s objective as stated above is “strengthening the institutional capacity of the national practitioners involved in the statistical production, use and dissemination process.” The project was envisaged to focus on Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominica and Suriname.

OBJECTIVE AND SCOPE OF THE ASSESSMENT
This assessment is an end-of-cycle review of a project aimed at strengthening the institutional capacity of the national practitioners involved in the statistical production, use and dissemination process.

The objective of this assessment is to review the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, coherence, and sustainability of the project implementation and more particularly document the results the project attained in relation to its overall objectives and expected results as defined in the project document.

The assessment will place an important emphasis in identifying lessons learned and good practices that derive from the implementation of the project, its sustainability and the potential of replicating them in other countries.

The lessons learned and good practices in actual project implementation will in turn be used as tools for the future planning and implementation of projects.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES
The evaluation will seek to be independent, credible and useful and adhere to the highest possible professional standards. It will be consultative and engage the participation of a broad range of stakeholders. The unit of analysis is the project itself, including its design, implementation and effects. The assessment will be undertaken in accordance with the provisions contained in the Project Document. The evaluation will be conducted in line with the norms, standards and ethical principles of the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) .

It is expected that ECLAC’s guiding principles to the evaluation process are applied . In particular, special consideration will be taken to assess the extent to which ECLAC’s activities and outputs respected and promoted human rights . This includes a consideration of whether ECLAC interventions treated beneficiaries as equals, safeguarded and promoted the rights of minorities, and helped to empower civil society.

The evaluation will also examine the extent to which gender concerns were incorporated into the project – whether project design and implementation incorporated the needs and priorities of women, whether women were treated as equal players, and whether it served to promote women’s empowerment.

Other concerns to be integrated into the evaluations are disability inclusion, and environmental issues.

Moreover, the evaluation process itself, including the design, data collection, and dissemination of the assessment report, will be carried out in alignment with these principles .

The evaluation will also include an assessment of the project´s contribution to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

METHODOLOGY
The assessment will use the following data collection methods to assess the impact of the work of the project:

a) Desk review and secondary data collection analysis
b) Self-administered surveys
c) Semi-structured interviews and focus groups

Methodological triangulation is an underlying principle of the approach chosen. Suitable frameworks for analysis and evaluation are to be elaborated – based on the questions to be answered. The experts will identify and set out the methods and frameworks as part of the inception report.

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
Intellectual property rights. The consultant is obliged to cede to ECLAC all authors rights, patents and any other intellectual property rights for all the work, reports, final products and materials resulting from the design and implementation of this consultancy, in the cases where these rights are applicable. The consultant will not be allowed to use, nor provide or disseminate part of these products and reports or its total to third parties without previously obtaining a written permission from ECLAC.

Qualifications/special skills

• Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) political science, public policy, development studies, economics, business administration, or a related social or economic science.
• At least seven years of progressively responsible relevant experience in rogramme/project evaluation are required.
• At least two years of experience in areas related to public policies for sustainable development, statistics, climate change, small island developing States and/or related areas is highly desirable.
• Experience in at least three evaluations with international (development) organizations is required. Experience in Regional Commissions and United Nations projects, especially Development Account projects is highly desirable.
• Proven competency in quantitative and qualitative research methods, particularly self-administered surveys, document analysis, and informal and semi-structured interviews are required.
• Working experience in the Caribbean is desirable.

Languages

• Proficiency in English is required.

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.