CONSULTANT VACANCY ANNOUNCEMENT
Issued on: 21 September 2017
ORGANIZATIONAL LOCATION:
UN-Habitat
DUTY STATION:
Home-based with missions as required
FUNCTIONAL TITLE:
Evaluation of the Global Water Operators’ Partnerships Alliance (GWOPA) Strategy, 2013-2017
DURATION:
Total 6 weeks from October to November 2017
CLOSING DATE:
29 September 2017
BACKGROUND
UN-Habitat is the United Nations programme working towards a better urban future. Its mission is to promote socially and environmentally sustainable human settlements development and the achievement of adequate shelter for all.
The Global Water Operators' Partnerships Alliance (GWOPA) is a programme of UN-Habitat and contributes to the agency’s work. In 2006, the Former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, requested UN-Habitat to lead the development, and host the secretariat of the Global Water Operators Partnerships. The SG’s decision was a follow-up to the drafting of the Hashimoto Action Plan by the United Nations Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation (UNSGAB). The main UNSGAB’s Hashimoto Action Plan I objective was to strengthen local water services through Water Operators Partnerships (WOPs) while ensuring that WOPs are recognized as an important means of achieving internationally agreed targets on water and sanitation. This objective was adopted by UN-Habitat as its own and the agency agreed to build the Global WOPs Alliance. GWOPA itself is a network of partners committed to helping water operators help one another to improve their collective capacity to provide access to water and sanitation services for all.
The 2013-2017 GWOPA Strategy was developed, in 2013, through a participatory process, integrating the diverse views and lessons of the many Water Operators’ Partnerships that had joined the network since 2009. GWOPA’s vision is that water and sanitation operators help each other to achieve universal access to sustainable water and sanitation services through not-for-profit peer support partnerships. These partnerships result in public operators – the target of support – with strong technical, financial and management capacity, able to provide a sustainable, high-quality service to all. GWOPA’s mission is to promote the effective use of not-for-profit partnerships between water operators to realize its vision. GWOPA is supposed to be the global leader in Water Operator Partnerships (WOPs) promotion, facilitation and coordination, and the principle source for WOPs knowledge and guidance so that effective WOPs contribute to meeting national and global water and sanitation objectives including those relating to Sustainable Development Goals and the Human Right to Water.
GWOPA's Strategy, 2013-2017 has two objectives: 1) Guiding Global Growth of WOPs through knowledge management, branding of WOPs, communications and alliance strengthening, and
2) Strategic Operational Support through operational support to WOPs implementation in the field by strengthening regional WOP platforms, mobilizing finance for WOPs and direct operational support.
The work of the Alliance is coordinated by the GWOPA Secretariat and it develops and implements the Alliance’s annual work plans. The Secretariat is located in Barcelona, where it is hosted by the Government of Spain. The Secretariat is anchored with the Urban Basic Services Branch (UBSB) of UN-Habitat.
GWOPA’s International Steering Committee provides strategic direction to the Alliance and its Secretariat and approves the annual work plans presented by the Secretariat at the Steering Committee annual meetings. In addition, the Integrity Sub-Committee (ISC) is an organ of the Steering Committee, established to support GWOPA in its ongoing efforts to ensure the application of its guiding principles.
Justification / mandate of the evaluation
The evaluation of the GWOPA Strategy 2013-2017 has been mandated by the UN-Habitat Management. It will assess the achievements and lessons learned and recommendations will feed into the formulation and implementation of the new strategy for 2018-2022.
Purpose and objectives of the evaluation
The evaluation has performance, learning and accountability purposes. The findings, lessons learned and recommendations from this evaluation will inform decision-making and strategic direction for the new five year strategy. The evaluation will also document results and impact of the strategy and reveal the extent to which the strategic objectives were achieved, challenges experienced and identify missed opportunities.
Scope of the evaluation and methods
The evaluation will focus on the entire five year period of the strategy implementation, 2013-2017. It will cover both the strategy and the operational level with a view to drawing lessons to inform the development and implementation of the new strategy:
The evaluation will be conducted over a period of two months, from October to November 2017.
The evaluation will be conducted in four consecutive phases: an inception phase; data collection and field visit phase; an analysis and drafting phase; and evaluation findings presentation and dissemination phase.
The evaluation shall be independent and carried out in line with the evaluation norms and standards of the United Nations system. A variety of methodologies will be applied to collect information during the evaluation. These include desk review of relevant documents, interviews with various stakeholders, surveys to beneficiaries, and group meetings. Analysis and synthesis of information should be presented logically to give an overall assessment of progress and impacts in the implementation of the GWOPA Strategy 2013-2017.
RESPONSIBILITIES
The evaluation will be conducted by one independent external evaluation consultant and building on the mid-term evaluation of GWOPA Strategy that was recently conducted. The consultant has overall responsibility for producing the deliverables according to the quality standards of UN-Habitat for evaluation reports.
Deliverables expected are:
- Inception Report with Evaluation Work plan;
- Evaluation Reports Drafts;
- Final Evaluation Report not exceeding 40 pages not including executive
summary and annexes.
The independent Evaluation Unit of UN-Habitat will supervise and manage the evaluation process, including planning, providing technical support, follow up and dissemination of evaluation products. GWOPA Secretariat, Urban Basic Services Branch (UBSB) and Programme Division will be responsible for providing information and documentation required, and coordination with the relevant evaluation stakeholders. An Evaluation Reference Group (ERG) will be established to oversee the evaluation process.
The Evaluation consultant will be responsible for conducting the evaluation based on TOR and applying UNEG norms and Standards. He/she will prepare main evaluation deliverables (inception report, draft reports and final evaluation report).
Details of the evaluation are provided in the full Terms of Reference.
Link to full TOR:
http://mirror.unhabitat.org/downloads/docs/TORforEvaluationofGWOPAStrategy2012-2017.pdf
COMPETENCIES
Communication - Speaks and writes clearly and effectively and exhibits interest in having two-way communication. Shows interest and demonstrates openness in sharing information and keeping people informed.
Client Orientation - Considers all those to whom services are provided to be “clients” and seeks to see things from clients’ point of view. Keeps client informed of progress or setbacks in projects evaluation and meets timeline for delivery of products to client.
Creativity - Offers different options to approaches and methods of evaluation to meet client needs; promotes and persuades others to consider new ideas. Actively contributes to new ideas to improve programmes and services by providing different options to solve problems and improve organization’s processes.
QUALIFICATIONS
Education
Advanced academic degree in political sciences, social economy, governance, planning, similar relevant fields.
Work Experience
The consultant must have proven and extensive experience in evaluating policy and strategies at international level. He/she should have proven capacity and strong methodological and analytical skills and solid knowledge of water and sanitation, partnerships and global networks.
In addition, the consultant should have:
- Extensive evaluation experience with ability to present credible findings derived from evidence and putting conclusions and recommendations supported by findings.
- Specific knowledge and understanding of UN-Habitat and its mandate.
- 10-15 years of programme management experience in results-based management working with development project/ programmes.
- Experience in water and sanitation in developing countries desirable.
Language
Fluency as well as excellent writing skills in English is required.
REMUNERATION
Payments will be based on deliverables over the consultancy period. There are set remuneration rates for consultancies. The rate is determined by functions performed and experience of the consultant. The fees will be paid upon satisfactory delivery of outputs as per agreement. Where applicable, travel costs of the consultant (airplane ticket economy class), transfers, and daily allowance as per the UN rate is payable in addition to the daily fee.
Applications should include:
• Cover memo (maximum 1 page)
• Summary CV (maximum 2 pages), indicating the following information:
1. Educational Background (incl. dates)
2. Professional Experience (assignments, tasks, achievements, duration by years / months)
3. Other Relevant Experience and Expertise (e.g. Internships/ voluntary work, etc.)
4. Expectations regarding remuneration (daily subsistence rate for period of up to 20 days)
5. List of referees
• Optional: Applicants are encouraged to include a document (i.e., evaluation report) that describes or demonstrates her/ his ability to perform the tasks given above.
Please also be advised that since April 15th 2010, applicants for consultancies must be part of the
UN-HABITAT e-Roster in order for their application to be considered. You can reach the e-Roster
through the following link: http://e-roster.unhabitat.org
All applications should be submitted to:
Ms. Lucy Waikwa-Omondi
UN-HABITAT
P.O.Box 30030, 00100 Nairobi, Kenya
Email: Lucy.Waikwa-Omondi@unhabitat.org
Deadline for applications: 29 September 2017
UN-HABITAT does not charge a fee at any stage of the recruitment process. If you have any questions concerning persons or companies claiming to be recruiting on behalf of these offices and requesting the payment of a fee, please contact: recruitment@unon.org
Deadline for applications: 29 September 2017