International Consultant for Final Project Evaluation

Title: International Consultant for Final Project Evaluation

Duty Station: Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

Contract Type: Consultancy

Consultancy start date: As soon as possible

Call For Applications Closing Date: November 30, 2021

CONTEXTE AND SCOPE

Established in 1951, IOM is the leading intergovernmental organization in the field of migration and works closely with governmental, intergovernmental and non-governmental partners. IOM is dedicated to promoting humane and orderly migration for the benefit of all. It does this by providing services and advice to governments and migrants.

Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia are two neighbouring countries that share a border more than 700 kilometres long. The communities residing on both sides of the border are socially, culturally, and economically interlinked. Despite their secular connections, the political crises that have destabilized the two countries over the last decade have exacerbated the existing tensions within border communities.

These tensions are diverse and strongly embedded. The main tensions concern:

· Conflicts regarding lands are especially common. They are often generated by border encroachment due to the absence of an official demarcation and / or land occupation by the host communities, by the migrants / refugees or the members of a same family or clan;

· The inefficient cooperation mechanisms at the operational and decentralization levels. Tensions are often palpable between the different security forces operating on both sides of the border zone, despite excellent bilateral diplomatic relations between Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire;

· Illicit activities such as migrant smuggling, arms and drug trafficking that are facilitated by the borders porosity. They create tensions in the community but also between security forces and communities, especially when the alleged perpetrators are housed by their families living abroad;

· Harassment and corruption by some security forces. Women and youths are often victims since most of them essentially depend on cross-border trade for subsistence;

· The security forces’ limited capacity. Security forces often have to intervene in remote areas without the necessary technical and operational means to ensure their efficiency.

In order to address these challenges in addition to the retreat of the United Nations Mission in Liberia and the United Nations Operations in Côte d’Ivoire, which respectively took place in June 2016 and July 2017, the United Nations Fund for Peacebuilding granted the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) a first subvention for the implementation of the project “Cross-border cooperation between Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia for durable peace and social cohesion”.

This joint initiative was limited to the meridional areas of the joint border (Tabou and Taï in Côte d’Ivoire; Maryland and River Gee in Liberia). Following its successful implementation, the donor renewed its trust for the recipients by funding of the second phase through the project “Cross-border engagement between Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia to strengthen social cohesion and border security”. The total funding over two years between 16 January 2020 and 15 January 2022 amounted to 3,000,000 USD. The scope of the project as well as the lessons learned were extended to the northern areas (Danané and Touleupleu in Côte d’Ivoire; Grand Gedey and Nimba in Liberia) that particularly face intercommunity tensions.

The objective of the project is to facilitate cooperation and strengthen confidence between border communities and Ivorian and Liberian security forces through community engagement and cross-border social, cultural, and economic activities contributing to pacific coexistence. The project will contribute to strengthen border and human security and to diminish the risks of regional instability and increasing intra- and intercommunity conflicts. It also aims to support the rising cross-border and regional approach promoted by UNOWAS and other regional actors such as the Mano River Union.

In collaboration with partner NGOs, the implementation enabled the creation and dynamization of 60 peace committees, including 23 in Liberia and 37 in Côte d’Ivoire. Through this project, the technical capacities of more than 500 community leaders were strengthened in the fields of conflict management, rumour management, identity-based conflict management, generational conflict management and the roles and responsibilities of the community leaders and the youths in promoting pacific coexistence. Moreover, 320 members of local authorities, security forces, border management agents and government representatives now have an enhanced knowledge of border management and conflict prevention. 7 border units were also rehabilitated and/or equipped to ensure basic services. Furthermore, 34 community infrastructures were installed in response to the needs expressed by the beneficiary populations in terms of water, markets, primary schools, health centers, motorized dugout canoe, conflict prevention and resolution halls, etc. Additionally, 18 associations and groups of women or youths benefitted from support in income-generating activities to allow communities to work together, tackle prejudice and strengthen pacific cohabitation. 12 peace and restauration days were also organized following 41 sensibilization activities led in the communities and 37 local radio-transmitted sensibilization activities focusing on the fight against COVID-19.

At the end of the project, an analysis of the project experiences and activities should be conducted to extract the lessons learned and propose efficient strategies to ensure the durability of the results.

The documentation and the lessons learned from these experiences will also constitute excellent inspiration tools for the government and development partners to implement other programmes and projects related to peacebuilding and community stabilization.

JOB DESCRIPTION

1. SCOPE AND EVALUATION OBJECTIVES

This consultancy will consist in conducting an evaluation assessing the performance of the project “Cross-border engagement between Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia to strengthen social cohesion and border security”, through the results obtained within the framework of the project implementation. It will focus on the relevance, the efficiency, the effectiveness and the impact of the actions carried out comparatively with the aimed objectives and the durability of the results.

The evaluation exercise will specifically assess the functioning and the performance level of the project, comparatively with the initially set qualitative and quantitative objectives.

The specific objectives of this evaluation include the following aspects:

• Assess the conformity of the project interventions in relation with the aimed beneficiaries’ expectations;
• Compare the obtained results with the initially set objectives;
• Assess the changes that can be attributed to the project interventions;
• Measure the observed progress in the participation of youths and women to conflict prevention and management as well as cross-border security preservation;
• Assess the use of the funds disbursed in relation with the needs initially identified;
• Identify the constraints linked to the project implementation;
• Elaborate recommendations to reinforce the project’s lessons learned;
• Extract the general lessons learned throughout this project, that will be useful for IOM, UNDP and the governments of Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia for the implementation of future programmes in the same field;
• Determine whether the project effectively encouraged gender equality in a coherent and significant way, according to the gender equality markers. Determine whether women benefitted from this project and whether the project reflected their preoccupations and interests;
• Identify the success and challenge factors of the project (project design and management) and formulate recommendations accordingly, regarding the design and implementation procedures of future potential projects that will fund this type of interventions.

2. EVALUATION METHODOLOGY

This exercise will allow to collect qualitative and quantitative data in relation with the results obtained or not to assess the relevance, coherence, effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability of the project, in addition to the consideration of human rights and gender equality according to the OECD-DAC evaluation criteria. The evaluation will necessitate the services of an international consultant to coordinate the joint production of a final evaluation report with two national consultants, one for Côte d’Ivoire and one for Liberia.

2.1. Approach

• The evaluation will be based on both quantitative and qualitative methodology and the consultant’s methodology. The data collection and analysis will reflect this approach. The quantitative part will aim to document the main effects of the project through figures collected from the direct and indirect beneficiaries of the project. This part of the evaluation will take the project’s results framework as its starting point.
• The project has baseline data obtained from a baseline study complemented by secondary data from the results and final evaluation of the first phase. Furthermore, at the end of the current project implementation, all target data have been provided through the direct results of the activities carried out, but also through a rapid perception evaluation, as far as the impact indicators are concerned. It is up to the evaluators to gather the necessary information to confirm or deny the data in relation to the achievement of the outcome indicators mentioned in the results framework.
• The qualitative part will complement the quantitative part and will aim to deepen the analysis and corroborate the ways in which the project approach could contribute to social cohesion, reduction of the level of conflict and improvement of border security. It will also serve to uncover alternative explanations for possible effects/changes attributed to the project that are difficult to capture through quantitative survey. Finally, the qualitative survey aims to better understand the perspectives and aspirations of the direct and indirect beneficiaries, and the questionnaires and interview guides will include open-ended questions allowing respondents to express themselves freely.

2.2. Data collection

The evaluation should use a variety of evaluation methods and instruments, both qualitative and quantitative and gender sensitive. The consultant will develop samples and questionnaires for data collection from beneficiaries. The evaluation will be carried out under the overall supervision of the international consultant who is responsible for coordinating the work of the national consultants. If necessary, the international consultant will be able to travel to the field with a waiver to cross the border into Liberia.

2.3. Document review of all relevant documents

It encompasses the analysis of the following document:

• The project document (contribution agreement)
• The annual workplans
• The activities’ concept notes
• The consolidated trimestral and annual reports
• The meeting notes of the technical committees and the project steering group
• The technical / financial monitoring reports
• The study reports (2020 perception studies, other studies).

2.4. Semi-structured interviews with the main stakeholders

It concerns governmental counterparts, donor community members, representatives of the main civil society organizations, some UNCT members and implementing partners.

2.5. Group discussions or discussions with key informants

This includes male and female beneficiaries and stakeholders. All interviews must be conducted in the respect of confidentiality and anonymity. The final evaluation report must not establish links between comments and one or several individuals.

2.6. Field visits and one-site validation of the main tangible products and interventions

The consultant is required to adopt a consultative and participative approach and ensure that the personnel in charge of the evaluation, the implementing partners and the direct beneficiaries are implicated.

The adopted methodological approach, including the interviews schedule, the field visits and the list of data used for the evaluation must be clearly presented in the start-up report and must be thoroughly discussed and agreed upon by the IOM and UNDP stakeholders and the expert consultants. **

DELIVERY DATE

Under the coordination of the international consultant, it is required from the team of expert consultants to provide:

• One start-up report (10-15 pages): the report must be prepared by the consultant before starting the collection of additional data (before any formal interview, distribution of questionnaires or field visits; and before the start of the mission in the country of assignment in the case of international evaluators) after consulting the provided documentation and the first interviews. The initial report must include a detailed programme of tasks and activities while detailing the person responsible for them as well as the necessary material means.
• One interim report (40 pages): the consultant must provide an interim report to the stakeholders so they can ensure the conformity to the quality norms.
• One final report in English and in French (40 pages maximum excluding annexes) with a table of contents in English and French. Its content must comply with the prescriptions in the appointment’s terms of reference

Performance indicators for the evaluation of results

1. EVALUATION CRITERIA AND KEY QUESTIONS

The following key questions are indicative and are intended to guide the analysis, which should be presented in a coherent, clear and succinct manner in the final report. The report should not therefore answer these questions individually.

1.1. Relevance

• To what extent does this project match the national priorities in terms of strengthening social cohesion and security, within the framework of the cooperation for sustainable development under the United Nations system in Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia?
• To what extent have lessons from other relevant projects been considered in the project design?
• To what extent does the project adequately respond to the political, judicial, economic and institutional evolutions in the two countries?

1.2. Effectiveness

• To what extent did the project contribute to the products and priorities around peacebuilding of the two countries, of the SDGs and of the programmatic framework of IOM and UNDP?
• To what extent has the project achieved these results and contributed to the peacebuilding objectives and how (better security in the areas, better relations between the border communities, better trust between the authorities on both sides and also between the authorities and the communities)?
• To what extent has the project’s Theory of Change been realised?
• How has the project progressed in relation to the results framework indicators?
• Has the IOM and UNDP partnership strategy been appropriate and effective? What factors contributed to effectiveness or ineffectiveness?
• In which areas did the project perform best? Why and what were the facilitating factors? How can the project build on or develop these results?
• In which areas did the project perform less well? What were the limiting factors and why? How can they be, or could they be overcome?
• Are the project’s objectives and outputs clear, practical, and feasible in this context? To what extent have stakeholders been involved in the implementation of the project?
• To what extent has the project contributed to gender equality, women’s empowerment, and the realisation of human rights?

1.3. Efficiency

• How efficient and cost-effective was the IOM/UNDP project implementation strategy and execution?
• Were human and financial resources used economically? Were resources (funds, staff, time, expertise, etc.) allocated strategically to achieve results?
• Do the resources used for gender promotion correspond to the resources planned for this purpose at the time of project formulation?
• To what extent have project funds and activities been delivered on time?
• To what extent do the M&E systems used by IOM and UNDP ensure efficient and effective project management?

1.4. Effects / Impacts

The consultant will qualitatively and quantitatively, when possible, evaluate the indicated impact of the activities accomplished until now within the framework of the two project results. This evaluation will be based on the project document’s logical framework, but the consultant will be able to suggest other evaluation elements considered more relevant. Special attention will be paid to the analysis of the needs assessment field reports and of the end of activities reports by the operational implementing partners of the project activities.

1.5. Coherence

• To what extent is the project compatible with other interventions conducted within the framework of the PBF country portfolio, within the framework of the PACoP and within the national framework in general? What synergies were developed?
• Are there any interventions by other organizations / structures in the same domain? What were the complementarity actions with these interventions, and especially in terms of gender?
• To what extent did the project bring an added value while avoiding any duplication with other internal or external projects?

1.6. Sustainability

• Has the financial sustainability strategy for this project been achieved?
• Are there any social or political risks that could threaten the sustainability of the project’s outputs or the project’s contributions to the outputs and outcomes of the PACoP, country programme?
• Do the legal frameworks, policies and governance structures and processes within which the project operates represent a risk to the sustainability of project benefits?
• Do the actions of IOM and UNDP represent an environmental threat to the sustainability of project results?
• Does the level of stakeholder ownership represent a risk to the sustainability of project benefits?
• To what extent are mechanisms, procedures and policies in place to enable key stakeholders to sustain the results achieved in gender equality, women’s empowerment, human rights and human development?
• Are the long-term aspirations of women and men in line with the results achieved?
• To what extent do stakeholders support the long-term objectives of the project?
• To what extent are lessons learned continuously documented by the project team and disseminated to stakeholders who could benefit from the knowledge gained by the project?
• What measures could be adopted to strengthen exit strategies and sustainability?
• Are the results of Phase 1 of the project – in the areas where it was focused – still present?

1.7. Cross-cutting issues

Fundamental rights

• Has the project been innovative and/or taken risks to achieve results?
• To what extent have the poor, indigenous, non-indigenous and immigrant populations, people with physical difficulties, women and other disadvantaged or marginalised groups benefitted from the project’s interventions and outcomes?

Gender equality

• To what extent does the project contribute to gender equality, female empowerment and to human rights-based approaches?
• To what extent have gender equality and female empowerment been considered in the project design, implementation and monitoring?
• Does the affected gender marker reflect the reality?
• To what extent did the project encourage positive evolutions in terms of gender equality and female empowerment? Have there been any unexpected impacts?

PROFILE

Education

• Master’s degree or equivalent in sociology, anthropology, ethnology or related field of social sciences is required.

Experiences and Knowledge

• At least five years of relevant work experience in the results-based evaluation of programmes and projects (Results-based management / RBM) is required. Experience in the evaluation of similar projects is an asset.
• Experience in the design, implementation and / or evaluation of projects / programmes in the field of peace and social development, and specifically peacebuilding is required.
• Experience in community-based approaches is desirable.
• Experience as team leader or chief of mission is desirable
• Work experience in sub-Saharan African countries and a good knowledge of Chad are desirable.
• Familiarity with the United Nations system is desirable.

Language

• Excellent oral and written fluency in French and English

Values

Inclusion and respect for diversity: respects and promotes individual and cultural differences; encourages diversity and inclusion wherever possible.

Integrity and transparency: maintains high ethical standards and acts in a manner consistent with organizational principles/rules and standards of conduct.

Professionalism: demonstrates ability to work in a composed, competent and committed manner and exercises careful judgment in meeting day-to-day challenges.

Core Competencies – behavioural indicators

Teamwork: develops and promotes effective collaboration within and across units to achieve shared goals and optimize results.

Delivering results: produces and delivers quality results in a service-oriented and timely manner; is action-oriented and committed to achieving agreed outcomes.

Managing and sharing knowledge: continuously seeks to learn, share knowledge and innovate.

Accountability: takes ownership for achieving the Organization’s priorities and assumes responsibility for own action and delegated work.

Communication: encourages and contributes to clear and open communication; explains complex matters in an informative, inspiring and motivational way.

Notes

The candidate must adhere to the data protection principles of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) (IN / 138) and maintain confidentiality

Hiring will be subject to certification that the candidate is medically fit for the intended job and verification of resident status, visa and authorizations by the government concerned, if applicable, and security clearances.

How to apply

HOW TO APPLY

Interested candidates are invited to submit their application via e-mail to recrutementabidjan@iom.int on subject line: “CFA-OIM-CI-19-2021”.

Applications must include a detailed CV and cover letter in a single file.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted

Posting period

From 17/11/2021 to 30/11/2021