Evaluation Consultant

Result of Service

The primary users of the evaluation are the management and staff of the project's seven implementing entities.

The evaluation report will generate findings and recommendations on how to improve the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of the entities' further work in the area of financing for development, including on the potential for further application of the tools developed under the project.

The lessons learned identified through the evaluation will be integrated into the upcoming global processes, including the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD) to be held in the summer of 2025.

Other users include the DA Programme Management Team (DA-PMT) and the DA focal points and senior management of the seven entities.

Lessons learned from the evaluation, along with those from other 13th tranche project evaluations, will be systematically reviewed by DA-PMT to inform future programming, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of DA projects, particularly joint projects.

The key findings from the evaluation will also be included in the progress report to the General Assembly on the implementation of the DA-funded projects.

Work Location

Home-Based

Expected duration

12 Months, from 01/10/24 to 30/09/25

Duties and Responsibilities

Funded under the 13th tranche of the Development Account (DA13), the main objective of Project 2124A, titled "Towards Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF)," is to strengthen capacities of selected countries to mobilize and align financing with national sustainable development priorities, moving towards an integrated national financing framework approach.

With a budget of $2,321,000, the project commenced in quarter one of 2021 and is due to be completed in December 2024.

The implementing entities included DESA, UNCTAD and the five regional commissions. The targeted countries were Belarus, Burkina Faso, Colombia, Costa Rica, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, and Zambia. In 2022, Samoa was added, while Colombia was replaced with Dominican Republic .

The project strategy included:
(i)

Preparation of Guidance Material:
This includes developing global guidance based on ongoing work on INFFs, focusing on mobilizing financing for key SDG areas and aligning public financing policies with the SDGs, with an emphasis on addressing challenges posed by COVID-19; (ii)

Country-Level Diagnostic Exercises and Technical Assistance:
These are conducted to identify capacity gaps and provide targeted technical assistance, training workshops, and capacity-building activities. (iii)

Regional Exchange and Peer Learning:
Regional workshops are organized to share implementation experiences, facilitate peer learning, and identify additional support needs. (iv)

Global Knowledge Exchange and Publication:

Insights and lessons learned from country and regional experiences are shared globally through workshops and publications, feeding into global policy processes on Financing for Development.

The project had two main outcomes, with related outputs:

• Outcome 1 (OC 1): Strengthened national capacity of target countries in developing financing strategies that align with their national development plans and mitigate the impact of COVID-1
• Output 1.1 (OP 1.1): Development of global guidance
• Output 1.2 (OP 1.2): Inception/training workshops
• Output 1.3 (OP 1.3): Delivery of dedicated technical assistance
• Outcome 2 (OC 2): Increased knowledge exchange and peer learning on applying INFF concepts among target countries and inform wider implementation efforts of INFFs in other countries and UN support to this effect.
• Output 2.1 (OP 2.1): Regional workshops
• Output 2.2 (OP 2.2): Follow-up technical assistance from regional workshops
• Output 2.3 (OP 2.3): Global workshop
• Output 2.4 (OP 2.4): Publication of compendium of experiences The implementing entities planned to contribute to these outcomes based on their comparative advantages:
• DESA, with substantive expertise in the subject matter and the global lead in developing INFF methodology, focused on preparation of guidance material (OP 1.1/2.4), support towards inception/training workshops (OP 1.2) and regional meetings (OP 2.1); and the organization of the global workshop (OP 2.3). DESA also served as the main focal point and coordinator of the programmatic aspects of the project, including consolidation and submission of the annual progress reports, overall budget monitoring and tracking, as well as initiation of the evaluation process.
• ECA, with its comparative advantage in its substantive and technical expertise on African development issues as well as close long-standing relationships with governments, focused on supporting Zambia and Burkina Faso on enhancing domestic resource mobilization in the context of INFFs through inception/training workshops (OP 1.2/2.1) and technical assistance (OP 1.3/ ECE, with its comparative advantage in strengthening policies on innovation, competitiveness, and public-private partnerships (PPPs), focused on supporting Belarus and Kyrgyzstan in exploring public-private partnerships in the context of INFFs through inception/training workshops (OP 1.2/2.1) and technical assistance (OP 1.3/ ECLAC, with its comparative advantage in applied policy research, ability to convoke regional and national meetings of stakeholders and its close relationships with government ministries, particularly ministries of finance, focused on supporting Costa Rica and Dominican Republic to strengthen domestic resource mobilization and to finance sustainable and productive investments in the context of INFFs, through inception/training workshops (OP 1.2/2.1) and technical assistance (OP 1.3/ ESCAP, in line with its mandate to provide further analysis and capacity-building support on assessing financing strategies, focused on supporting Samoa and Pakistan on strengthening their financing strategies with the concepts, guidance and approaches provided by the INFFs through inception/training workshops (OP 1.2/2.1) and technical assistance (OP 1.3/ ESCWA, serves as an essential component of the United Nations development system policy backbone. The commission provides the connective tissue between the global and local levels and offers regional perspectives on global issues with its primary role as policy think tank, providing data and analytical services and policy advice to address regional issues, and supporting the development of a wide range of national and regional financing solutions, norms and standards. The commission also serves as platform for engagement with regional intergovernmental institutions, extending and expanding new forms of development cooperation and regional partnerships. ESCWA advances national reforms and financing solutions to propel INFFs in the Arab region, through inception/training workshops (OP 1.2/2.1) and technical assistance (OP 1.3/2.2) supporting Egypt and Jordan.
• UNCTAD, with long-standing and recognized experience in capacity building on investment strategies, PPPs, entrepreneurship promotion and domestic resource mobilization/illicit financial flows focused on supporting the following countries in the context of INFFs through inception/training workshops (OP 1.2/2.1) and technical assistance (OP 1.3/2.2):
• Indonesia and Pakistan: entrepreneurship promotion (with ESCAP)
• Burkina Faso and Zambia: illicit financial flows (with ECA)
• Belarus and Kyrgyzstan: Sustainability Reporting and Accounting Infrastructure finance (with ECE)
• Zambia : Infrastructure finance and PPPs (with ECA) The evaluation will cover the entirety of the implementation of Project 2124A, titled "Towards Integrated National Financing Framework (INFF)

" Work Assignment:

An evaluation consultant and a Financing for Development (FfD) expert will be recruited to undertake this assignment. DESA/FSDO will administrate the consultancy contracts.

The evaluation consultant is responsible for conducting the evaluation, applying the methodology as appropriate and for producing the evaluation report.

The evaluation consultant will participate in briefing and debriefing meetings, discussions, and will conduct the evaluation, writing the final draft and final report.

The evaluation report will be prepared based on the Development Account template for the 13th tranche project evaluations ).

The FfD expert will undertake a specific, discrete study to be presented to the DESA/FSDO and other jointly implementing entities as a stand-alone report, as well as to be incorporated into the evaluation report by the evaluation consultant, as deemed appropriate by the evaluation consultant.

The evaluation consultant is fully responsible for the evaluation report, which may not reflect the views of any of the implementing entities of the project.

The evaluation consultant and the FfD expert will be provided full access to all project reports, documentation, and stakeholder lists and contact information.

Tasks:

The primary tasks of the evaluation consultant are the following: - Desk review of key reference documents related to the project.

- Consultation with the FfD expert to discuss the approach to and the timeline for the study on the broader applications of project tools, to be conducted by the expert, and agree on how it will be incorporated into the evaluation.

- Development of full methodology, which may include but not limited to: o Developing or refining key evaluation questions. o Identification of indicators and measurement. o Identification of data sources and methods of data collection. o Development of data collection instruments (e.g., interview schedule for key informants, survey questionnaire, focus group discussions, etc.). - Preparation of Inception Report, outlining full methodology. - Engagement with project staff, beneficiaries, and any relevant stakeholders.

- Development of preliminary results and recommendations; and presenting them to the Project Coordinator and the project focal points at a post-data collection debrief.

- Drafting and finalization of Evaluation Report, incorporating comments received. - Preparation of an Evaluation Brief (summary of key evaluation findings and recommendations).

Scope of work:

The evaluation will be guided by the objective, outcomes, indicators of achievement and means of verification set out in the results framework of the project document.

The evaluation will cover the duration of the project from January 2021 to 31 December 2024, encompassing all elements of the project.

This final evaluation of the project has the following specific objectives:
(i)

Determine as systematically and objectively as possible the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and coherence of the project results in light of its goals and objectives; (ii) Document the results and achievements in each of the elements of the project, including synergies built across activities of implementing entities; and (iii) Identify good practices and lessons learned from the project and formulate action-oriented, forward-looking recommendations addressed to the implementing entities for improving future interventions.

C.2 Evaluation criteria, questions and tentative methodology The evaluation will follow the Glossary of key terms in evaluation and Results-Based Management as well as utilise the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Assistance Committee (OECD DAC) evaluation criteria as outlined below:
(i)

Relevance – the extent to which the intervention objectives and design respond to beneficiaries', global, country, and partners/institutional needs, policies, and priorities and continue to do so if circumstances change.

(ii) Effectiveness - the extent to which the intervention achieved, or is expected to achieve, its objectives, and its results, including any differential results across groups.

(iii) Efficiency - the extent to which the intervention delivers, or is likely to deliver, results in an economic and timely way.

(iv) Impact orientation – the extent to which the intervention has generated or is expected to generate significant positive or negative, intended, or unintended, higher-level effects.

(v) Sustainability – the extent to which the net benefits of the intervention continue or are likely to continue. Indicatively, a mixed-method approach would be used for the evaluation, which would be further refined by the evaluation consultant in the Inception Report based on the initial documentation review and consultation with the key stakeholders, using qualitative and quantitative methods, including the following (the tentative evaluation questions and how each method below is designed to provide lines of evidence for various specific questions are presented in sub-section C.3):
(i)

Desk review of project documents and relevant materials, including, but not limited to:
o Concept note, project document, progress reports and final report, including financial reports o Documentation related to meetings/workshops/training, including: agenda, minutes, outcome documents/reports, participant lists, and participant survey results o Documentation related to technical assistance, including: beneficiaries/focal points, description of assistance provided, outputs/deliverables, and beneficiary feedback o Documentation related to guidance documents, tools and other knowledge products, including: a list of guidance documents/tools/knowledge products, distribution lists, web analytics (e.g., number of visits, downloads) o Documentation related to the relevant global and regional processes on financing for development o Information related to supplementary funding made available to implement the project (to be presented in the final report) (ii)

Systematic analysis of workshop/training/meeting survey results and participant profiles, based on documentation (including survey results and participant lists) from all workshops/training/meetings undertaken under the project.

(iii) Interviews (in-person or remote) with key stakeholders including:

o Project Coordinator and project focal points in the other implementing entities o Senior management of DESA and other implementing entities who were involved in the project, including Director of FSDO o Government officials (beneficiaries of technical advisory, training, guidance material and other relevant project activities) of the six target countries not included in the case studies to be confirmed) o Representatives of relevant partners, including relevant UNDP and DCO regional teams.

(iv) Five case studies (or in-depth reviews) of target countries (five countries – one in each of the five regions), including through field missions to two countries.

The methodology will involve:

o Desk review of documentation related to technical advisory, training, meetings and other country-level activities, including tools/guidance materials/knowledge products developed o Interviews (in-person or remote) with country-level stakeholders, including:  National government officials (beneficiaries of technical advisory, training and other relevant project activities)  Country-level and regional partners involved in project activities, including RCOs and UNDP country offices (v) Study on the broader applications of project tools (to be undertaken by the FfD expert), which will look at the actual, and potential applications of the various tools developed under the project in other countries and by project partners and other organizations (in relation to evaluation question 5.

c)

The study will involve:

o Initial consultations with the Project Coordinator and select project focal points in the other implementing entities o Desk review of project documentation and relevant materials under (i) o Desk review of additional documentation related to:  Relevant work of project partners outside the DA project  Relevant work of other organizations working in the area of INFF, including other members of the Inter-agency Task Force on Financing for Development (IATF), and INFF Facility partners (UNDP, OECD, UNICEF)  Annual reports and other relevant reports of IATF  Other relevant documentation o Interviews (remote) with project partners and other organizations engaged in the area of INFF, including other members of IATF and INFF facility, as identified through the initial consultations and the desk review o Preparation of a report presenting:  Findings of the desk review and interviews related to evaluation question 5.

c  Recommendations for DESA/FSDO and other implementing entities on how to further promote the applications of specific project tools

Qualifications/special skills

Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in business administration, management, economics, development studies or a related field; First university degree in the relevant academic discipline plus 2 additional years of experience maybe qualified in lieu of an advanced degree.

A minimum of ten years of progressively responsible experience in evaluation, including experience conducting evaluations of capacity development projects in the UN context; Demonstrated relevant professional experience in design, management and conduct of evaluation processes with multiple stakeholders, including within the UN system, survey design and implementation, project planning, monitoring and management; Demonstrated methodological knowledge of evaluations, including quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis for end-of-cycle project evaluations; Possess a mix of evaluation skills and technical or sectoral/thematic knowledge relevant to the evaluation; Demonstrated knowledge and expertise in the areas of financing for sustainable development.

Advanced skills in statistical research and analysis.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this post, fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another UN official language is desirable. Knowledge of another UN official language (Spanish, French, Arabic, Russian) is an advantage.

Additional Information

Not available.

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.

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