International Consultant for Mid-Term Review of Timor-Leste 2021-2025 Country Programme

1. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

The UNFPA Fourth Country Programme Document (CPD4) for Timor-Leste for 2021-2025, detailing the planned collaboration between UNFPA and the Republic Democratic of Timor-Leste, was approved by the UNDP/UNFPA Executive Board at its Second Regular Session, in 15 July 2020. Aligned with Strategic Development Plan (SDP 2011 – 2030), the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action (PoA) and the SDGs, and the 2021-2025 United Nations Strategic Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for Timor-Leste, the CPD4 was developed in consultation with government of Timor-Leste (GovTL) partners taking into account the shift to a new business model of working in lower middle-income countries, such as Timor-Leste, i.e. focusing on Advocacy and policy dialogue/advice, Capacity development,  Knowledge management and some projects on Service delivery.

 

The third programme evaluation highlighted a number of key achievements: development of key technical and policy documents; development of in-school teaching materials on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), gender and gender-based violence (GBV) prevention; approval of the National Action Plan on Gender-Based Violence (NAP-GBV); and undertaking of the 2015 population and housing census and 2016 Demographic and Health Survey. 

The evaluation identified lessons learned and made recommendations for developing the capacity of the Ministry of Health in safe motherhood, family planning, addressing gender-based violence, and improving adolescent sexual and reproductive health. It also recommended for continued strengthening of integrated sexual and reproductive health systems, including the logistics management capacity of the Ministry of Health, and technical support on collecting data, with increased emphasis on raising data literacy to enable the Government to obtain, interpret and utilize the data for policy and planning.

 

Drawing on the experience of previous programmes, the new programme support UNSCDF strategic priorities 3 (Early Childhood Development and Life-long Learning Outcomes and Skills) and 4 (High-quality Healthcare and Well Being). These UNSCDF priorities are linked to the SDGs 3, 5 and 17. The overall goal of the 4^th CPD in Timor-Leste is to support national efforts to achieve universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, in line with the UNFPA transformative results to end maternal deaths, unmet need for family planning, and gender based violence and harmful practices. It responds to the principle of leaving no one behind, focusing on women, adolescents and youth, particularly those living in rural areas, people with disabilities and key population groups.

The Implementation of CP4 has been quite challenging due to COVID-19 pandemic which affected all countries around the world without exception.  The restrictions imposed by host country hampered the movements of staff from IPs and UNFPA during the implementation of programmes.

The country programme mid-term review will serve the purpose of demonstrating accountability to stakeholders on performance in achieving development results and on invested resources, supporting evidence-based decision making and contributing important lessons learned on how to further improve programming. The review will also help the Country Office making adjustment to baselines and target of some indicators that are identified as not appropriate after two and half years of implementation.  

 

The primary users of the MTR are the decision-makers within UNFPA (Timor-Leste Country Office, Asia and Pacific Regional Office, Headquarters) and the Timorese Government counterparts, current and potential implementing partners in Timor-Leste, and other development partners/donors.

 

2. PURPOSE

The overall purpose of the Country Programme Mid-Term Review (MTR) for 2021-2025 is to: 1) enhance the accountability of UNFPA for the relevance and performance of the CP4 by assessing the Country Programme (CP) progress and achievements to date, and 2) support evidence base for adjustment of our strategy of action to better reach our objectives before the final country programme evaluation in penultimate year CP Cycle. 

The specific objectives of MTR include:

• Provide a comprehensive and relevant update and analysis of the context of intervention with huge focus on multisector needs, on power relations between multiple level stakeholders, capacity and resources.
• Provide an independent assessment of the effectiveness and efficiency of UNFPA support and progress towards the expected outputs and outcomes set forth in the results framework of CP4, with emphasis on the synergy and relations with the implementing partners;
• Revised specific indicators, baselines and targets identified as not realistic and modified it accordingly. 

 

• Analyse expected and unexpected results, challenges and lessons learnt of the CP4 implementation in order to assess the relevance of the implemented strategy, identifying strengths, weaknesses, threats and new opportunities for UNFPA Timor-Leste;

3. SCOPE

The Country Programme Document (CPD) and Country Programme Action Plan (CPAP) cover the period from year 2021 to 2025. Although the implementation of CP4 was slightly disrupted from mid-2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit every country the travel restrictions were imposed by government nationally. In reality, major structural, conjectural and behavioural changes were observed across the world subsequent to the pandemic crisis and Timor-Leste could not escape from those shifts. The MTR will focus on all evident changes in terms of context and needs but all the more their impact on our actions.   Since the MTR is undertaken in the middle of CP implementation, the results will feed into the Final CP Evaluation in the penultimate year of 4^th CP cycle in 2024.

The CP MTR will cover 4 fields of intervention at the national and municipality levels, id est Sexual and reproductive health (i), adolescents and youth (ii), gender equality and women’s empowerment (iii), population and dynamics (iv) (if needed). All four thematic areas of CP4 will be assessed by using the Results and Resources Framework of the CP Action Plan.

The MTR will cover cross-cutting aspects such as human rights based approach, multidisciplinary approach, monitoring and evaluation, humanitarian and partnerships. Besides the assessment of the intended effects of the country programme, the review with a holistic approach also aims at assessing potential effects of UNFPA’s response through the country programme to the emerging issues such as COVID-19 and others. Through assessment of internalities and externalities, learnings of strengths, weaknesses,

 

The focus of the review will be forward looking and focused on developing consensus around the future priorities for the delivery of the next cycle of United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF, 2021-2025) and UNFPA CP Final Evaluation.

 

4. REVIEW CRITERIA AND QUESTIONS

The MTR focuses on the assessment of three review criteria: efficiency, sustainability and relevance.

 

The MTR is expected to answer these key review questions under each criterion:

Efficiency / Sustainability

 

• To what extent have interventions led and supported by UNFPA contributed to (or are most likely to contribute to) sustainably improved access to, availability and use of quality integrated services in the field of reproductive health, family planning and gender-based violence including for vulnerable and marginalized populations?

 

• To what extent did the intervention mechanisms (coordination mechanism, financing instruments, administrative regulatory framework, staff, timing and operational procedures) foster or hinder the achievement of the programme outputs.

 

 

Relevance

 

• To what extent has UNFPA ensured that the varied needs and capacity of, not only key populations, including women and girls, adolescents and youth, survivors of gender-based violence, people living with HIV but also government, non-government institutions and civil society organizations at national and local levels, have been taken into account in both the planning and implementation of all UNFPA-supported interventions under the country programme action plan?

 

• To what extent has the country office been able to respond or adjust to shifts caused by major political restructuring, and to changes in national needs and priorities, including those of vulnerable or marginalized population, caused by gaps in policies, protocols or external factors? What was the quality of the response with regard to (the demographic dividend), human capital and preconditions for the sustainability of change?

 

 

5. APPROACH and METHODOLOGY

 

The consultant will mainly use related literature, data review, key informant interviews and focus group discussions, but will not be limited to those methodologies. If quantitative methods are needed such as surveys and questionnaires, it can complement the qualitative data. Participatory approach, gender sensitivity, theory-based and transformative approach are key approaches that are highly valued at UNFPA level.

The consultant needs to take into account cultural components when choosing the methods. All the more each method has its unique strengths and weaknesses, the consultant needs to combine them in a way that fits for purpose. 

 

The review will involve key partners and stakeholders at national and sub-national levels on an inclusive, transparent and participative basis. The UNFPA Timor-Leste CO will develop an initial stakeholder map to identify stakeholders who have been involved in the preparation and implementation of the CP, and those partners who play a key role in a relevant outcome or thematic area in the national context. Governmental implementing partners must be at the core of the review, even though other stakeholders influence such as CSOs or donors cannot be underestimated.

 

The review should establish the validation mechanisms including internal team-based reviews with the CO programme managers and the reference group.

6. MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS

• Technical review committee

At UNFPA Country office, under the overall guidance of the Representative and supervision of the Assistant Representative, a technical review committee will be set up to manage the MTR process.

The committee will consist of the Assistant Representative, the 4 Outcome Managers of P&D, SRH, Gender and Adolescent and Youth programmes.

They will be responsible for: a) coordinating b) securing technical assistance, c) organizing the review meetings and field visits d) coordinating and providing feedback and guidance to consultants.

 

The Technical review committee will work very closely with the operations team.  UNFPA CO will consult with APRO for feedback and quality assurance of the processes and products.

 

7. PROFILE OF THE MTR CONSULTANT:

The MTR consultant will consist of one (1) international expert who demonstrated expertise and experience in

• mid-term evaluation of other country programmes – at least three previous ones
• experience in programme formulation (at least two previous experiences, preferably with the UN)

 

The qualifications of the MTR evaluator :

• Preferably a Ph.D. or Master Degree in Social Science, Public Health, Demography, Monitoring and Evaluation
• Experience in leading evaluations in the field of development for UN organizations or other international organizations.
• At least ten years of professional experience in Maternal and Reproductive Health, Population and Development, or Gender and Women’s Empowerment, and evaluation methodology.
• Strong analytical skills and expertise formulating development programmes in lower-middle income countries, particularly in South East Asia.
• Excellent leadership, communication ability and excellent report writing skills in English.

The MTR consultant will: 1) periodically brief the UNFPA technical review committee on their approach, progress and findings; 2) engage with the UN Inter-agency groups for consultations and sharing information; 3) In addition to the individual meetings with government, engage with key stakeholders including donors, NGOs and research institutions; 4) produce the deliverables as per section 8; 5) present the findings to relevant stakeholders and UNFPA Timor-Leste during dissemination workshop.

8.  DELIVERABLES

Pre-requisite

The incumbent must submit

• A technical proposal outlining objectives, formulation of questions for the review, methodology, sample questionnaire for KII and FGD, a list of literature to be reviewed, an outline of the report and a workplan
• A financial proposal for 30 working days required for this MTR

 

Once appointed

The expected outputs/deliverables of the MTR include:

• A design report using the template of Annex 1 including (as a minimum): a) a stakeholder map; b) the MTR matrix (including the final list of review questions and indicators); c) the overall MTR design and methodology with a detailed description of the data collection plan for the field phase;
• A debriefing presentation document synthesizing the main preliminary findings, conclusions and recommendations of the MTR, to be presented and discussed with the CO during the debriefing meeting foreseen at the end of the field phase;
• A draft MTR report using the template of Annex 2 (potentially followed by a second draft, taking into account potential comments from the MTR technical committee);
• A final MTR report;
• A PowerPoint presentation of the results of the MTR for the dissemination events.

All deliverables will be in English version of the final draft MTR report is required.

TERMS OF REFERENCE
Hiring Office:	UNFPA Timor-Leste
Purpose of consultancy:	International Consultant for Mid-Term Review of Timor-Leste 2021-2025 Country Programme
Background	The UNFPA Fourth Country Programme Document (CPD4) for Timor-Leste for 2021-2025, detailing the planned collaboration between UNFPA and the Republic Democratic of Timor-Leste, was approved by the UNDP/UNFPA Executive Board at its Second Regular Session, in 15 July 2020. Aligned with Timor-Leste Strategic Development Plan (SDP 2011 – 2030), the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action (PoA) and the SDGs, and the 2021-2025 United Nations Strategic Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) for Timor-Leste, the CPD4 was developed in consultation with government of Timor-Leste (GovTL) partners taking into account the shift to a new business model of working in lower middle-income countries, such as Timor-Leste, i.e. focusing on Advocacy and policy dialogue/advice, Capacity development,  Knowledge management and some projects on Service delivery. The country programme mid-term review will serve the purpose of demonstrating accountability to stakeholders on performance in achieving development results and on invested resources, supporting evidence-based decision making and contributing important lessons learned on how to further improve programming. The review will also help the Country Office making adjustment to baselines and target of some indicators that are identified as not appropriate after two and half years of implementation.
Scope of work:   (Description of services, activities, or outputs)	The CP MTR will cover 4 fields of intervention at the national and municipality levels, id est Sexual and reproductive health (i), adolescents and youth (ii), gender equality and women’s empowerment (iii), population and dynamics (iv) (if needed). All four thematic areas of CP4 will be assessed by using the Results and Resources Framework of the CP Action Plan. The MTR will cover cross-cutting aspects such as human rights based approach, multidisciplinary approach, monitoring and evaluation, humanitarian and partnerships. Besides the assessment of the intended effects of the country programme, the review with a holistic approach also aims at assessing potential effects of UNFPA’s response through the country programme to the emerging issues such as COVID-19 and others. Through assessment of internalities and externalities, learnings of strengths, weaknesses.
Duration and working schedule:	The consultant is expected to work up to 30 days upon signing of the contract until 30th  June, 2023.
Place where services are to be delivered:	The consultant will work both remotely and on mission to Timor-Leste. When on mission, the consultant will be based at UNFPA office. For remote-based support, the consultant will closely coordinate with the M&E Team of UNFPA and staff.
Delivery dates and how work will be delivered (e.g. electronic, hard copy etc.):	Pre-requisite: The incumbent must submit A technical proposal outlining objectives, formulation of questions for the review, methodology, sample questionnaire for KII and FGD, a list of literature to be reviewed, an outline of the report and a workplan; A financial proposal for 30 working days required for this MTR;   Once appointed: The deliverables to be produced by the consultant are as follows (reports are in electronic form):
	Deliverables	Due Date	Payment  (%)
	1. An  Inception report using the template of Annex 1	One week after signing of contract	10%
	2. A debriefing presentation document synthesizing the main preliminary findings, conclusions and recommendations of the MTR	Last day of two weeks mission	25%
	3. A draft MTR report using the template of Annex 2	Two weeks after field mission	25%
	4. A final MTR report and PowerPoint presentation of the results of the MTR for the dissemination events.	Two weeks after management review	40%
Monitoring and progress control, including reporting requirements, periodicity format and deadline:	Regular consultation (face-to-face, online meetings, e-mails) and sharing of information and documents.
Supervisory arrangements:	The consultant will be guide by the UNFPA Country Representative and closely supervised by Assistant Representative.
Expected travel:	The consultant is expected to be on one-time mission of 2 weeks.
Required expertise, qualifications and competencies, including language requirements:	The qualifications of the MTR evaluator: Advanced Degree in Social Science, Public Health, Demography, Monitoring and Evaluation At least ten years’ experience in leading evaluations in the field of development for UN organizations or other international organizations. At least ten years of professional experience in Maternal and Reproductive Health, Population and Development, or Gender and Women’s Empowerment, and evaluation methodology. Strong analytical skills and expertise formulating development programmes in lower-middle income countries, particularly in South East Asia. Excellent leadership, communication ability and excellent report writing skills in English.
Inputs / services to be provided by UNFPA or implementing partner (e.g support services, office space, equipment), if applicable:	UNFPA will provide a work station when the consultant is on mission to Timor-Leste.
Other relevant information or special conditions, if any:	Round trip ticket and visa fees will be borne by UNFPA.

Application could be submitted to the following email address: timor-leste.office@unfpa.org