NOTE: Closing date extended.  Please note change in email address for the applications. New email address is yemen.vac@unfpa.org.  Thank you.

Location:   Remote working

Duration: Three months

Purpose of Consultancy:

UNFPA Yemen is seeking an external international/national consultant for the Mid-term Evaluation (MTE) of its ECHO Funded project on “Providing Integrated Lifesaving Reproductive Health and Mental Health Specialized Services to under-served Communities and Rapid Response Mechanism to newly displaced persons affected by the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen”.

 

The MTE will focus on a formative evaluation of the project after 28 months of implementation which works with the objective of improving access to integrated basic lifesaving reproductive, maternal and newborn health, and nutrition services including mental health specialized services, and Rapid Response Mechanism to newly displaced persons affected by the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen.

The humanitarian situation in Yemen continues to escalate, as fighting continues to erupt in multiple frontlines around the country and new infighting emerging among hitherto allied groups. According to humanitarian actors project that in 2020, 24 million people are going to be in need, of which 15.6 million will be targeted. Among the estimated 3.9 million women of reproductive age are some 624,000 vulnerable women who will be pregnant or delivering during the course of the year with some 93,600 likely to develop complications. Government financing of health services has all but ceased and access to lifesaving RH services has become difficult with only 37 percent of health facilities providing maternal and newborn health care services. Women in most remote areas lack access to services due to lack of providers and transportation means. One in five people suffer mental disorders due the ongoing crisis. More than 300,000 residents have been displaced between January and mid-April 2019 alone. Most of these reside in collective sites. While the RRM provides immediate assistance, the post-RRM assistance is mostly delayed.

UNFPA with the support from ECHO is implementing the project “Providing Integrated Lifesaving Reproductive Health and Mental Health Specialized Services to Under-served Communities and Rapid Response Mechanism to newly displaced persons affected by the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen”. The Action supports improved access to the Minimum Initial Service Package (MISP) for RH, mobile RH teams, specialized psychological centers, and immediate assistance to newly displaced persons. The proposed action comprise three main elements, namely; 1) support 52 health facilities in selected districts to provide basic and comprehensive EmONC services, including integrated GBV services; 2) community-based reproductive health through 50 midwives and two mental health specialized centers; and 3) responding to those newly displaced with immediate safe assistance throughout the country, with measures to accelerate the sequencing of the assistance to more sustainable forms, including enrollment in 110 districts with highest displacement.

The results and objectives of the project will be evaluated through the MTE, according to the UNFPA ECHO project logical framework, are as follows:

 

Long-term objective: Improved access to integrated basic lifesaving reproductive, maternal and newborn health, and nutrition services including GBV prevention, mental health specialized services, and Rapid Response Mechanism to newly displaced persons affected by the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen

 

Specific objective: Support targeted facilities to provide basic and comprehensive EmONC quality services. Community based RH services through the deployment of mobile teams and/or community midwives. Support to community based specialized psychological health centers. Life-saving assistance made available to newly displaced persons, and accelerating the access of the most vulnerable to sustainable forms of humanitarian assistance.

 

Specific objective detailed description:

The action support timely response to newly displaced population by ensuring RRM delivers urgent lifesaving kits within 72 hours of displacement. This action contributes to the coordination, pre-positioning and distribution costs for all the three kits, and procurement of the dignity kit component of the RRM package. The other components comprise of hygiene kits and IRR being provided by UNICEF and WFP respectively. It also supports the enrollment of the newly displaced persons, which reduces the risk of exclusion, and provide quicker and better quality data to food and MPCA actors who can provide more sustainable assistance. The action strengthens health facilities to provide lifesaving RH services integrated with GBV services by providing the required health and social workers to augment the under staffing that has resulted from lack of salary payment and beef up existing staff to cope with increased caseload due to displacement. UNFPA works with NGO partners to support payment of incentives to retention of staff required to provide EmONC services. The NGOs role is to ensure quality assurance by deploying the right service delivery team and quality of care. Medical supplies including the emergency RH Kits that contain basic equipment and supplies for management of lifesaving RH services are provided. Health facilities are also supported to provide GBV services. The action supports community level RH services through Community Midwives or mobile teams to complement facility based services that have currently been overstretched. The midwives received orientation training, midwifery kits and supplies and equipment to conduct ANC, normal home deliveries, identify danger signs and timely refer complicated cases to referral level health facilities as defined in the Yemen Minimum Service Package. The action supports two specialized community-based psychological centers providing psychological and psychiatric assistance to those in need. This intervention is complemented by WHO and protection actors. UNFPA has identified the locations where the midwives and mobile team’s models will be deployed/implemented. Currently, mobile teams are in place in Ta'iz, Al Jawf and Ma'rib. While midwives are in place in most of the governorates through home-based clinics and community midwifery. In the course of March, and in consultation with ECHO field, the locations supported by this action have been defined through this MR, the action will support an additional 36 health facilities to reach a total of 52 facilities (16 CEMONC and 36 BEMONC). It ensures the service provision is done safely, in line with the COVID-19 preventive and infection control measures. This is in line with the available evidence that the RH service uptake is at almost the pre-COVID-19 levels in the facilities which continued to run. This is partially attributed to the presence of infection control measures in place, sustained demand from the communities and possibly the most vulnerable women and girls accessing these services. The action will also support the provision of the RRM distribution and coordination costs for an additional month to ensure the continuation of the enrollment of those newly displaced, assisting them with the RRM kits, and alerting other actors, mainly the DRC/IOM cash consortium and WFP/GFD partners to provide sequenced assistance.

Objectives and Scope

The purpose of this MTE is to provide an independent assessment of the project to improve project implementation, and making necessary course corrections. The evaluation will assess relevance, effectiveness, and sustainability of the project.

 

More specifically, the objectives of the MTE will be to assess:

• Progress made toward the achievements against the logic of the partnership and performance after 28 months of implementation (from July 2018 to date).
•  Relevance of the project strategies and design in the evolving context of changing socio-economic developments and realities in Yemen such as inclusion of accountability to affected population and alignment of partners’ strategies on RRM and capacity sequenced responses and common registry Effectiveness of the project in achieving the specific results of the project.
• Recommend adjustments, if any, to project strategies and directions for the remainder of the project.
• Potential sustainability of the project

 

The MTE will include the following steps:

 

Step 1: Inception meeting, desk review of key programme documents and key stakeholder interviews to understand the scope of the MTE. Review project theory (desk review and meetings) and Stakeholder analysis.

The evaluator will attend an inception meeting where s/he will be oriented on project objectives and key progresses made. At this stage of the MTE, the evaluator will have the chance to meet with UNFPA staff and staff from IPs working on this project to be oriented with the project and define scope as well as design of the MTE. At this stage, UNFPA will provide the evaluator with key project documents for review. The documents could include agreement with donor, letter of agreements between UNFPA and IPs, capacity assessment report, monitoring reports by UNFPA staff, post activity reports by IPs. Documents should provide a sense of the intent of the project as well as what is actually occurring.

 

Step 2: Submission of Inception Report and finalization of methodology and evaluation design based on UNFPA feedback.

The inception report should include final evaluation questions, identified stakeholders for interviews and discussions, and present the methodology of the midterm evaluation. This will be finalized in agreement with UNFPA.

 

Step 3: Data collection (mixed-methods).

Interviews and focus group discussions, or questionnaire interview should focus on what stakeholders know and perceive to be true about the project. Data from project staff, documentation, and stakeholder interviews and group discussions will be used to determine plausibility of the project model. That is, data are analyzed to determine the extent to which the project is properly implemented, sufficiently developed, and activities appropriate, to reasonably predict that desired outcomes will be met.

 

Step 4: Data analysis.

Collected data should be analyzed. Analysis framework should be clearly explained in the report.

 

Step 5: Share preliminary findings and presentation draft report with UNFPA.

The evaluator will share preliminary findings and recommendations with UNFPA at the end of the field visit and interviews with stakeholders. The evaluator will draft the report and present the initial report to a group with representatives from UNFPA and key stakeholders. Feedback will be taken into consideration and incorporated into the final report.

 

Step 6: Draw conclusions and make recommendations (analysis and report writing).

The evaluator makes conclusions and recommendations. Conclusions and recommendations are drawn from the data. The evaluator is encouraged to guard against validity threats, such as personal bias.

 

Step 7: Draft report.

The evaluator finalizes a draft report. The report structure should follow the UNEG’s evaluation report guidance. UNFPA will review the report as part of quality assurance and will share it with the reference group for their feedback.

 

Step 8: Finalization of the MTE report.

The evaluator will present the final draft MTE report to the stakeholders in a validation workshop. Recommendations of the MTE report will also be presented and stakeholders will prioritize recommendations to draft action plans for the Management Response. UNFPA will be responsible for finalizing the Management Response and follow up of the Actions Points.

 

 

Step 9: Dissemination of MTE report, and plan specific steps for utilization of MTE data.

Based on the stakeholder analysis, UNFPA will develop a dissemination plan from the beginning of the evaluation process. It will follow the principles of gender and human rights, particularly participation and inclusion of stakeholders.

 

Key Deliverables

Inception report: The inception report should detail the evaluators’ understanding of what is being evaluated and why, showing how each evaluation question will be answered by way of: proposed methods; proposed sources of data; and data collection procedures. The inception report should also include a proposed schedule of tasks, activities and deliverables. This inception report should also identify the sites visits and it should elaborate on the selection criteria for those sites selected.

 

Preliminary findings: The evaluator shall share initial findings and recommendations with the UNFPA Yemen programme team prior to the stakeholders’ consultation.

 

Draft reports: Report structure should follow UNEG evaluation report guidance.

 

Facilitate and presentation of draft MTE report: A presentation will be done on the draft report and the draft report will be shared with the UNFPA Yemen Country Office for comments. In addition to validation of data, the evaluator should draft practical recommendations in consultation with stakeholders.

 

Final MTE report: The final report will not exceed 40 pages (not including annex) in hard and soft copy to be submitted to UNFPA (please follow UNFPA’s evaluation report guidance).

 

The evaluator will work in close collaboration and consultation with UNFPA Yemen staff and management structure as per the followings:

 

Commissioner of the Evaluation

(Country Representative of UNFPA Yemen):

• Safeguard of the independence of the evaluation exercise and ensure quality of evaluations
• Prepare a management response to the evaluation and ensure the implementation of committed actions in the management response

Evaluation Task Manager (Programme Specialist)

• Provide inputs from the programme perspective
• Participate in the review of the evaluation methodology and provide comments to the evaluation team.
• Observe the process of the evaluation
• Facilitate evaluation by providing relevant documents and contacts
• Facilitate and ensure the preparation and implementation of relevant management responses
• Facilitate and ensure knowledge sharing and use of evaluation information
• Coordinate with travel unit on travel arrangement for field visits of the evaluator.

Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist:

 

• Support the UNFPA Yemen Programme Team at the all stages of the evaluation management in terms of technical issues of evaluation.
• Follow up on the progress of the evaluation

 

Reference Group

• UNFPA Yemen Programme Team.
• Participate in various steps of the evaluation management process such as inception meeting and commenting on draft reports to ensure evaluation quality.

Evaluator

• Lead the whole evaluation process
• Manage the evaluation process in timely manner
• Communicate with UNFPA Yemen whenever it is needed
• Conduct field visits to the project sites identified and collect data.
• Report to UNFPA Yemen when required
• Produce the inception report
• Produce the final report
• Participate in dissemination workshops organized by UNFPA and present findings of the reports (can be done through Webinar)

Required Expertise and Qualifications:

The following are the required skills and competencies expected from the selected applicant for conducting this MTE. In the case of an evaluation team, it is expected that the team leader should fulfill all required skills and competencies.

• Education:
  
  • Advanced degree in relevant discipline (e.g. public health, development and social studies, sociology, political science, etc.)
  • Advanced degree in evaluation is an asset.

• Professional experience:
  
  • At least 10 years’ experience in programme evaluation in a humanitarian and/or development contexts and proven accomplishment in undertaking evaluations, including leading evaluations of multi-stakeholder programmes for multilateral organizations.
  • Experience in evaluating reproductive/mental health, and Rapid Response Mechanism related programmes/project.
  • Experience in working in Yemen will be an advantage.

• Knowledge and skills:
  
  • Knowledge of evaluation.
  •  Knowledge in results-based programming.
  • Proven expertise in evaluating programmes focusing on reproductive/mental health, and Rapid Response Mechanism.
  • Extensive knowledge of qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods.
  • Excellent written and spoken English and presentational capacities.
  • Knowledge of Arabic language would be an asset.
  • Knowledge of the UN system would be an asset.

Required Competencies:

Values:

• Exemplifying integrity,
• Demonstrating commitment to UNFPA and the UN system,
• Embracing cultural diversity,
• Embracing change

 

Functional Competencies:

• Job knowledge/technical expertise
• Conceptual innovation in the provision of technical expertise
• Promoting organizational learning and knowledge sharing (IERD/DHR)
• Organizational awareness
• Promoting accountability and results-based management

Core Competencies:

• Achieving results,
• Being accountable,
• Developing and applying professional expertise/business acumen,
• Thinking analytically and strategically,
• Working in teams/managing ourselves and our relationships,
• Communicating for impact
• Job knowledge/technical expertise
• Conceptual innovation in the provision of technical expertise

• Promoting organizational learning and knowledge sharing (IERD/DHR)
• Organizational awareness
• Promoting accountability and results-based management

Evaluation Ethics

Evaluations in the UN will be conducted in accordance with the principles outlined in both UNEG Norms and Standards for Evaluation in the UN System and by the UNEG ‘Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation’. These documents will be attached to the contract. Evaluators are required to read the Norms and Standards and the guidelines and ensure a strict adherence to it, including establishing protocols to safeguard confidentiality of information obtained during the evaluation.

Application Process

The evaluator will be evaluated based on technical capacities (70%) and financial proposal (30%). Technical evaluation will be based on the following criteria stated below.

1	Advanced university degree in relevant fields such as public health, development and social studies, sociology, political science and evaluation.	20 points
2	Demonstrate experience from evaluations of similar types of project.	25 points
3	At least 10 year experience in programme evaluation in a development context and proven accomplishment in undertaking evaluations, including leading evaluations of multi-stakeholder programmes for multilateral organizations. Expertise in evaluating programmes focusing on health, GBV and RRM.	20 points
4	Good understanding on reproductive/mental health and Rapid Response Mechanism approaches.	10 points
5	Preferably in depth knowledge of Yemen.	5 points
6	Excellent written and editing English.	10 points
7	Demonstrate to be fluent in English writing skill is a requirement, by providing 2 writing samples in English.	10 points
	Total	100 points

 

A two-stage procedure is utilized in evaluating the submissions, with evaluation of the technical components being completed prior to any price proposals being opened and compared. The price proposal will be opened only for submissions that passed the minimum technical score of 70% of the obtainable score of 100 points in the evaluation of the technical component.

The technical component is evaluated on the basis of its responsiveness to the Term of Reference (TOR).

Technically qualified consultants may be selected for an interview before financial evaluation.

 

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on Cumulative analysis, the award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

1. Responsive/compliant/acceptable, and
2. Havng received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

How to apply

Interested applicants must submit the following document/information (in PDF format) to demonstrate their qualifications.

Technical component:

• Letter of interest explaining why they are the most suitable for the work.
• Technical proposal.
• Two writing samples/reports in English.
• Signed Curriculum vitae with contact details of 3 clients for whom you have rendered preferably the similar service.

Financial proposal (with your signature):

• The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount in US Dollar including consultancy fees and all associated costs

• Please note that the cost of preparing a proposal and of negotiating a contract, including any related travel, is not reimbursable as a direct cost of the assignment.
• If quoted in other currency, prices shall be converted to US Dollar at UN Exchange Rate at the submission deadline.

Interested and qualified candidates should submit a cover letter along with their CV and P11 form by email to yemen.vac@unfpa.org with the subject line "Application: ECHO Mid-term Evaluation" by 20 June 2021.