Recruitment of Consultant for the Evaluation of the Convergence Communes Approach Tender

Procurement Summary

Country : Niger

Summary : Recruitment of Consultant for the Evaluation of the Convergence Communes Approach

Deadline : 09 Aug 2018

Other Information

Notice Type : Tender

TOT Ref.No.: 25392079

Document Ref. No. :

Competition : ICB

Financier : United Nations Secretariat

Purchaser Ownership : -

Tender Value : Refer Document

Purchaser's Detail

Purchaser : UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
Maison des Nations Unies BP 11 207 Tel. + 227 20 731 300 / + 227 20 73 47 00 Fax. + 227 20 72 36 30 Niamey
Niger
Email :registry.ne@undp.org

Tender Details

Tenders are invited for Recruitment of one (1) International Consultant and two (2) National Consultants for the evaluation of the Convergence Communes approach in Niger.

background

The United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF 2014-2018) signed by the Government of Niger and the United Nations system agencies was fully aligned with the 2012-2015 PDES which aimed to promote economic well-being, social and cultural of the population.

This plan was articulated around three areas of cooperation namely:

· Resilience - Food and Nutrition Security, Environmental Management, Prevention and Management of Risks and Disasters;

· Social Development and Human Capital;

· Governance, Peace and Security. These domains are divided into five UNDAF effects.

In order to better respond to the imperative of resilience, with the government, the agencies have agreed to adopt a joint programming approach based on geographic convergence aimed at providing an integrated and holistic package of interventions responding to the multidimensional nature. needs. The 35 municipalities were thus selected on the basis of three main factors, applying the Integrated Context Analysis (ICA) approach:

· Degree of vulnerability analyzed through other socio-economic indicators;

· Profile of areas through people's livelihoods and livelihoods;

· Acquired in terms of geographic convergence and existing synergies of existing agencies.

Taking into account limited resources but also the need for gradual learning, the United Nations System (UN) agencies in Niger have agreed to adopt an approach defining gradual coverage of communes prioritized according to three phases, namely:

· Priority 1 communes (prioritized since 2014) : Djirataoua and Guidan Amoumoune in the Maradi region; Bagaroua in the Tahoua region; Kantche, Yaouri, Dogo, Gaffati, Koleram in the Zinder region; Urban municipality of Bilma in the region of Agadez; Foulatari and N'Guelbeyli in the Diffa region from 2014;

· Priority 2 communes (added in 2015) : Iférouane and Ingall in the region of Agadez, Falwel and Sokorbe in the Dosso region, Mayahi urban district in the Maradi region, Tassara in Tahoua, Dingazi, Simiri and Tondikiwindi in the Tillaberi region, Ollelewa and Tarka in the Zinder region from 2015;

· Priority 3 communes (added in 2017) : Dakoro urban district, Dan Goulbi, Kornaka, Chadakori, Gabi and Sarkin Yamma in the Maradi region, Allakeye, Tajae, Bangui, Ourno, Bambeye and Tebaram in the Tahoua region in from 2016.

The aim of the approach was to ensure that all stakeholders share common objectives and intervene in a concerted and coordinated way in a municipality, with a view to increasing the impact of their actions, through convergence (i ) geographical; (ii) programmatic, and (iii) operational The intervention package had to be defined on the basis of a joint context analysis and the division of labor between the agencies was based on the mandate and comparative advantage of each one of them .

The approach was intended to be progressive, flexible in an action research approach, but also expandable because in the long term it aimed to combat vulnerability and precariousness in all the communes of Niger, with the appropriation and commitment of the State, Territorial Communities themselves and the assistance of technical and financial partners.

At the beginning of the cycle, a baseline survey was conducted to determine baseline data. This survey conducted in the 22 communes of priority 1 and 2 aimed to produce quantitative and qualitative additional data allowing:

· to draw up the reference situation in the convergence communes, especially as regards: (i) access and use of basic social services; (ii) social norms and behaviors in the prevention and management of maternal health, child survival and development; (iii) access to means of production and the creation of productive assets; (iv) food security; (v) the risk factors that communities face as well as crisis prevention and management mechanisms; and (vi) social protection measures for the most disadvantaged.

· to assess the nutritional status of children aged 6 to 59 months and women aged 12-49, pregnant or mothers / caregivers of children under five;

· to identify and analyze the barriers to the use of basic social services and the adoption of family practices essential for the survival and development of the child as well as the solutions proposed by the communities to remedy them;

· identify and analyze bottlenecks to community resilience improvement and the solutions proposed by communities to address these bottlenecks;

· to analyze the risk factors to which the populations of convergence communes are exposed, the adaptation strategies and the endogenous responses they bring.

During the fifth and final year of implementation, in collaboration with the national party, the SNU Country Team in Niger decided to conduct an evaluation of the "common convergence" approach. This will measure effectiveness, impact on the resilience of communities and systems, and improve the overall well-being of the population. The conclusions, recommendations and lessons learned from this evaluation will be used to guide the relevant authorities, both from the United Nations system and the Government, in the strategic choices and the most appropriate approaches to support the achievement of the objectives of the Development Plan. Economic and Social (PDES) 2017-2021 and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).




Duties and Responsibilities

Objective of the review of the approach

The evaluation of the Common Convergence approach aims firstly to identify the lessons learned throughout its implementation and secondly to analyze the aspects that can confirm or invalidate the relevance, effectiveness, the efficiency and sustainability of the interventions carried out. It will generate evidence-based knowledge by identifying gaps in both the design of the approach and the implementation process, as well as good practices for strengthening joint programming and implementation; but also to guide strategic choices within the framework of the new UNDAF (2019-2021) and beyond.

The specific objectives of the evaluation are:

· Facilitate an organizational and operational learning process within the United Nations System (UN) in Niger to improve joint approaches (planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and reporting);

· Identify the factors that are favorable or unfavorable to the design, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of joint actions and interventions under the approach;

· Document successes (and why) and important areas that have worked less well (and why) that require reinforcement as part of a joint effort to make UNDAF 2019-2021 more successful;

· Draw lessons from almost five years of implementation of this joint effort by focusing more on how agencies have worked together to achieve results in the spirit of UN reform;

· Analyze the functioning of coordination mechanisms at different levels including the role of the UNS and the national part represented by OHCHR in the 3N Initiative (HCi3N) in the three types of convergence.

Port é e of assessment

Given its objectives as a learning process but also a decision-making process, the evaluation will cover a broad field. It will start from the very conception of the Convergence Commons approach to the sustainability of the systems through the implementation strategies, as well as the monitoring, evaluation and reporting mechanisms. It will cover issues relating to coordination mechanisms (at different levels), internal coherence in the United Nations system, community participation and the involvement of competent authorities at different levels of the hierarchy. All of these issues will be analyzed in terms of joint agency positioning, comparative advantage, and government priorities for community and system resilience.

The evaluation will be based on four of the OECD / DAC standard evaluation criteria, namely relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability. The evaluation will be conducted from the perspective of human rights and gender equality. Evaluation questions to be answered by the journal have been proposed, as follows:

Relevance

· To what extent has the "common convergence" approach been jointly defined, understood, integrated and operationalized in the same way within each agency (conceptual frameworks, logical frameworks, targeting, coordination and joint monitoring mechanisms)?

· Do the agencies have a joint position on support for the government, and particularly with the HCI3N?

· How much of the different agencies' interventions have integrated and prioritized the convergence approach?

· Are the expected results of the initiative, the division of labor and the accountability of UN agencies clearly defined?

· To what extent has the coordination strategy in place met expectations?

· To what extent have interventions in the area of ??resilience contributed to supporting efforts towards decentralization?

· What were the mechanisms within the communes to determine joint interventions on a site and service packages?

Efficiency

· To what extent have implementation monitoring tools been consistent with UNDAF's logical frameworks and agency frameworks individually?

· To what extent have the information management mechanisms been effective enough to ensure good coordination and feedback from the field to the country office?

· What are the major external factors that have influenced (positively and / or negatively) the achievement or non-achievement of the expected results (including in terms of convergence)?

·

Documents

 Tender Notice