International Consultant – Final Evaluation of the joint project “Empowering Youth for a Peaceful, Prosperous and Sustainable Future in Kosovo 2019-2021”

The “Empowering Youth for a Peaceful, Prosperous, and Sustainable Future in Kosovo” (EYPPSFK) project, funded by the UN Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund within the Immediate Response Facility (IRF), is an 27-month joint initiative implemented by UNDP-UNV, UNICEF and UN Women, under the strategic guidance of the UN Development Coordinator in Kosovo. The project directly engages positive influencers of a shared future, namely young women and men from communities divided by perpetuation of conflict dynamics, and who have been under-represented in leadership to work together on issues of shared interest and concern and become more active changemakers who will catalyze peace and trust-building efforts in Kosovo. 

Building upon the success of existing youth-led initiatives in Kosovo supported by United Nations and its partners and stakeholders such as Ministry of Local Government Administration, Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports, Agency for Gender Equality, Employment Agency, Peer Education network (PEN), NGO Domovik, Kosovo Women Networkd (KWN) this project is also an effort to catalyze the United Nations trust-building framework for Kosovo. In doing so, the project focused on establishing and consolidating a “habit” of cooperation, providing empirical challenge to divisive narratives. The project is time-sensitive and has targeted the rising dissatisfaction, frustration and anxiety that results from stalled political process and a noted increase in community-level distrust in public institutions in both majority and non-majority communities. Moreover, the project was innovative and human-centered because it focused on direct community mobilization and facilitated cooperation between people and institutions. Its modular design allowed for easy scale-up, and where appropriate replication across different geographical target areas. Finally, the project will was catalytic, because it empowered participants to become advocates for positive change in their communities.

The peacebuilding outcome of this project was that the influence of conflict narratives and prejudice has decreased through improved social cohesion resulting from local populations working together and with local institutions on contemporary issues of shared interest to jointly develop solutions for a common future. The joint project will implement activities under three core outputs: 

Output 1: Young women and men from communities polarized in the current political environment have established the practice of jointly addressing issues of shared interest and concern. 
 

Output 2: Trust in public institutions/service providers and confidence in gaining employment opportunities has improved through direct engagement based on responsive, transparent and participatory interaction.
 

Output 3: Leadership capacity and influence of women and young girls to engage in peacebuilding has been increased.

Objective of the Assignment
The objective of the assignment is to conduct a final evaluation of the project outomce in terms of their Relevance, Impact, Effectiveness, Efficiency, Sustainability, Gender, and show the degree to which such progress may or may not have contributed to addressing a relevant conflict factors and provide peacebuilding recommendations for future programming with a similar outcome. The evaluation should enable the implementing agencies (UNDP-UNV, UNICEF, UNWOMEN) in Kosovo, the PBSO and other stakeholders to draw peacebuilding lessons from the evaluation for future similar undertakings as well as highlight areas where the project performed less effectively than anticipated. Furthermore, the recommendations originated from this evaluation should inform the social cohesion and youth programming in Kosovo.

The consultant will work under direct supervision of the Joint Project Coordinator, in close consultation with UNDP Portfolio Lead and PBSO. The project team will provide administrative and logistical support as needed. 

In order to achieve the above objective, the main tasks of the International Consultant include:

Desk Review Phase; – Conduct a comprehensive desk review of relevant project-related documents and draft and submit an inception report and the interview questionnaire. The inception report must be approved by both the evaluation manager and the PBSO prior to commencement of data collection in the field. The inception has to have the following key elements:

• Overall approach and methodology
• Key lines of inquiry and interview protocol
• Data collection tools and mechanisms
• Proposed list of interviewees
• A work plan and timelines to be agreed with relevant PBF focal points

The Inception Report should also include a list of key risks, limitations and risk management strategies for the evaluation, particularly under the constraints presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. The inception report should make clear how it will reach project beneficiaries in the 15 selected municipalities.

Field Visit (virtual format); – Undertake interviews with relevant stakeholders such as Ministry of Local Government Administration; Ministry of Culture Youth and Sports; Agency for Gender Equality; Employment Agency/Employment Offices, and project beneficiaries in the 15 selected municipalities in Prishtinë/ Priština and Mitrovicë/ Mitrovica regions. The full list will be shared with the Consultant once the agreement is signed.  The consultant will gather data for the first draft of the evaluation report.

Draft Report; – Prepare a draft evaluation report and submit it to the Joint Project Coordination Team for feedback. The draft evaluation report must include, but not necessarily be limited to, the following: 

• Title and opening pages (1 page);
• Table of contents (1 page);
• List of acronyms and abbreviations (1 page);
• Executive summary (max 1.5 page);
• Introduction (1 page);
• Description of the intervention (2 pages);
• Evaluation scope and objectives (max 2 pages);
• Evaluation methodology (max 2 pages);
• Data analysis (max 7 pages);
• Findings and conclusions (2 pages);
• Recommendations (4-5 pages);
• Report annexes.

Final report – Based on the draft report and the comments provided by UNDP-UNV, UNICEF, UN Women, and PBSO, the evaluator will produce a final report. The final report provides the complete content of the report as per the main outline proposed above. Upon completion, the Joint Coordination Team will ensure that no further comments are pending from either agencies, PBSO or stakeholders.

KEY RECOMMENDATIONS
The evaluation should provide an overview of key peacebuilding recommendations that are appropriately trailored to specific actors. They should be articulated clearly so that they can be used for any future programming needs. The following should be included:

• The key actors to whom the recommendation is targeted;
• The main programming factors of success; 
• The main programming challenges and gaps; 
• The main implementation factors of success; 
• The main implementation challenges; 
• The main gaps and challenges and ways to address them. 

CONSIDERATIONS

• The evaluator is responsible for refining the evaluation methodology, evaluation questions, carrying out the evaluation and delivering to the Joint Project Coordinator a draft report and a final report. The response to the questions listed above should be followed by specific short and long term recommendations.
• These analyses must be conducted for each output and for the overall project.
• Key stakeholders, those involved in the implementation, project beneficiaries and the users of the evaluation should be involved in the evaluation process.
• Appropriate tools and practices to be adopted to overcome limitations for primary data collection within a COVID-19 context. 

Methodology and Evaluation Ethics
The consultant may employ any relevant and appropriate quantitative or qualitative methods it deems appropriate to conduct the project final evaluation. Methods should include: desk review of documents; interviews with stakeholders, partners, and beneficiaries; (virtual) field visits; use of questionnaires or surveys, etc. However, a combination of primary and secondary, as well as qualitative and quantitative data should be used. The consultant is expected to revise the methodological approach in consultation with key stakeholders as necessary and should present both quantitative data and qualitative findings and data.

The consultant is expected to hold interviews and meetings with relevant staff of the Joint Coordination Team and implementing agencies, municipal officials, partners, and beneficiaries. 

The consultant is expected to share the list of interview questions and interviewees to be conducted beforehand and receive feedback and clearance from UNDP.

Considering COVID-19 pandemic challenges and constraints, especially when field missions are restricted, the consultant is expected to utilse remote data collection methods and ensure that a robust and utilization-focused methodology is implemented.

The suggested methodology should be compatible with the OECD DAC evaluation criteria and UNDG Guidance.  http://www.oecd.org/dac/conflict-fragility-resilience/publications/4312151e.pdf 

The final evaluation will be conducted in accordance with the principles outlined in the UNEG ‘Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation.’ The International Consultant must address any critical issues in the design and implementation of the evaluation, including evaluation ethics and procedures to safeguard the rights and confidentiality of information providers; for example: measures to ensure compliance with legal codes governing areas such as provisions to collect and report data, particularly permissions needed to interview or obtain information about children and young people; provisions to store and maintain the security of collected information; and protocols to ensure anonymity and confidentiality. 

Expected Results

• Methodology and desk review of relevant project documents to produce the Inception Report (10 working days)
• (Virtual) field visits, meetings and interviews are conducted, to gather data for the 1st Draft Evaluation Report (10 working days)
• Elaboration of the Draft Evaluation Report including the above mentioned elements (13 working days) 
• Elaboration of the Final Evaluation Report incorporating the feedbacks provided by Joint Coordination Team,  PBSO and stakeholders (4 working days)

Deliverables / Final Products Expected

• INCEPTION REPORT AND INTERVIEW QUESTIONNARE
• DRAFT EVALUATION                                                                                  
• FINAL EVALUATION

Scope of price proposal and schedule of payments
Remuneration – Lump Sum Amount:
The Contract is based on lump sum remuneration and shall be processed subject to deliverables as per the schedule listed below:  

• Deliverable 1 — Acceptance of the Inception Report (30%)
• Deliverable 2 – Submission of the draft final report (40%)
• Deliverable 3 – Acceptance of the Final Report (30%)

Required Presentation of Offer: 

• Personal CV and P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Offeror and at least three (3) professional references;
• Technical proposal, a max. 2-page document briefly outlining the methodology envisaged for the assignment for delivering the expected results within the indicated timeframe
• Financial proposal, the consultant is expected to provide an all-inclusive lump sum amount/financial proposal. The Offeror must indicate at this point, and ensure that all such costs are duly incorporated in the financial proposal submitted to UNDP. 
• Copy of Diplomas and copy of Passport

Criteria for selection of the Best Offer
Offers will be evaluated utilizing a combined Scoring method – where the qualifications, technical proposal and interview will be weighted a max. of 70% and combined with the price offer which will be weighted a max of 30.

Corporate Competencies:

• Committed to professionalism, impartiality, accountability and integrity;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality, ethnicity, and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Demonstrates substantial experience in gender equality. Actively promotes gender equality in all activities;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism.

Functional Competencies:

• Ability to work effectively within a team and develop good relationships with counterparts and stakeholders;
• Ability to synthesize research and draw conclusion on the related subjects;
• Ability to pay attention to details; 
• Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing;
• Ability to establish effective working relations in a multicultural team environment; 
• Good organizational skills;
• Commitment to accomplish work; 
• Responds positively to critical feedback;
• Results and task oriented

Education:

• Master’s degree in social sciences, international development or other related qualifications to peacebuilding.

Experience:

• At least 7 years of demonstrated relevant work experience with evaluation of peacebuilding interventions at national and/or international level is required.
• Experience with social cohesion, youth agenda, peacebuilding and conflict prevention work is required. 
• Previous work experience in the Western Balkans, preferably Kosovo in particular, is considered an asset.
• Extensive knowledge of results-based management evaluation, as well as of participatory M&E methodological and practical considerations in conducting evaluations of development interventions is required.
• Experience in conducting remote evaluations is considered an asset. 

Language requirements:

• Fluent in English. Excellent analytical and report writing skills in clear and fluent English. Knowledge of Albanian or Serbian is an asset.

Application Instructions:

• Click on the “Apply now” button.
• Input your information in the appropriate Sections: personal information, language proficiency, education, resume and motivation; You can type in, or paste your short Resume into the last box.
• Upon completion of the first page, please hit “submit application” tab at the end of the page. On the next page, you will be asked to upload your Resume.
• System will only allow one attachment. All docs (CV; P11; financial offer; list of similar profiles should be included as one attachment).
• Please make sure to submit all the requested documents/information; otherwise, your application will be considered incomplete.