International Consultant to conduct Final Project Evaluation

Background

The UNDP Country Office in Tajikistan, together with Committee for Environmental Protection under the Government of the Republic of Tajikistan implemented the project titled “Building Climate Resilience in Agriculture and Water Sectors of Rural Tajikistan” funded by the Government of Russian Federation. The project “Building Climate Resilience in Agriculture and Water Sectors of Rural Tajikistan” (BCRAW) was designed to build climate resilience in rural areas of Tajikistan by scaling up successful adaptation practices and technologies in agriculture and water sectors at the community-based level and facilitating access to new and existing funding opportunities. Other objectives of the project include (i) support integration of best-tested technologies and practices on climate adaptation in rural mountainous areas; (ii) building capacity of the local population and generating new knowledge on climate-resilient pathways; (iii) facilitating access to funding opportunities through existing “green” credit programs at the community-based level and new investment packages, and (iv) feed-in national climate and sector-based policy by informing about successful cases emerged from the bottom-up approach of the project. The project is in line with the priorities of the National Development Strategy until 2030 and corresponds to the Government’s commitments on Paris Agreement on Climate Change and SDG 13 in particular.

Launched in July 2019 the project is ending in June 2022, thus the project needs to evaluate the impact of the interventions towards the set results and targets.

Duties and Responsibilities

Purpose and objectives:

The overall purpose of the final project evaluation is to assess the programmatic progress towards the stated outcome by measuring to what extent has the project interventions achieved the intended outputs as well as capturing lessons learned, challenges and best practices obtained
during implementation period.

The evaluation shall effectively capture lessons learnt and provide information on the nature, extent and where possible, the potential impact and sustainability of BCRAW project. The evaluation shall assess the project design, scope, implementation status and the capacity to
achieve the project objectives. It shall collate and analyze lessons learnt, challenges faced, and best practices obtained during implementation.

Specific Tasks and Responsibilities:

Assess relevance of the project with regards to consistency, ownership, quality of the
technical assistance, and complementarity of the project with other similar initiatives;
Determine the extent to which the project design has been in line with the national priorities and UNDP policy/programmatic priorities;
Determine the effectiveness of the project in achievement of results, highlighting reasons
for achievement and non-achievement of results and factors contributing/hindering
achievement of the results;
Assess to which extent the project successfully achieved impact through reaching its anticipated outcomes and outputs, as stipulated in the Project Document and Project Results Framework;
To determine how it contributed to the climate resilience and vulnerability reduction to climate change impact of agriculture and water sectors;
Assess the sustainability of the project including participation of partners and other
stakeholders in planning and implementation of interventions, as well as assessing the
measures taken to ensure that activities initiated by the project will be completed and
continued after the project’s closure;
Analyze the effectiveness of the partnerships established/maintained with the Government, UN Agencies, donors, local communities and other relevant stakeholders;
Identify lessons learnt in the course of project implementation and provide recommendations as necessary;
Provide recommendations and identify best practices that may be used in the future
programming.
For detailed information, please refer to annex 3 - Terms of Reference.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UN;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism;

Functional Competencies

Strong analytical skills.
Strong networking and coordination skills and demonstrated ability to liaise and involve partners.
Strong interpersonal skills with ability to work under pressure and to establish and maintain effective work relationships with people of different backgrounds.
High sense of responsibility, attention to detail, willingness to take initiative, excellent communication skills.
Knowledge and understanding of international and country-level DRM contexts.
Similar experience in Tajikistan or Central Asia is an asset.

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualifications:

Minimum advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in Development Studies, Natural Resources Management, Rural Development, Social Development, Economics, or related field that is relevant for natural resources management and climate change mitigation/adaptation in developing countries.

Professional experience.

At least 5 years of experience in conducting projects/programme evaluation of similar thematic foci (i.e. climate change/resilience, disaster risk management) with UN agencies, international organizations and Government.

Knowledge of languages:

Excellent knowledge of oral and written English.
Knowledge of Russian is an asset