INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT PROCUREMENT NOTICE Date: 24 February 2014 Country: UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre Description of the assignment: Project Evaluation Consultant Duty Station: Home-based with travel to Thailand, Cambodia, and Timor Leste Project name: Evaluation of Regional Project on “Strengthening Early Warning Systems for Extreme Weather Events to Advance Climate Risk Management in the South East Asian Region” Period of assignment/services (if applicable): March– April 2014 (up to 20 days worked) Proposal should be submitted a by email to [email protected] no later than 20 March 2014 Any request for clarification must be sent in writing, or by standard electronic communication to the address or e-mail indicated above. UNDP Asia-Pacific Regional Centre will respond in writing or by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all consultants. 1. BACKGROUND The extreme weather events in Southeast Asia during the last quarter of 2009 were considered exceptional - with historic amounts of rainfall and damaging effects from successive cyclones in a short span of time, and destructive impacts on several communities. The Philippines was affected by Typhoon Ketsana and Manila recorded historic rainfall of 450 mm in a 12-hour period on 29 September 2009. Later that year on 3 October, Typhoon Parma made landfall in Northern Luzon and brought heavy rains over an area much larger than initially anticipated. Parma was followed by Typhoon Mirinae on 31 October. Typhoon Mirinae resulted in heavy rainfall in Northern Vietnam. Hanoi recorded a rainfall of 700 mm over a 24-hour period. After leaving a trail of devastation in the Philippines and Vietnam, Typhoon Ketsana hit Cambodia on 29 September 2009, causing heavy damages to infrastructure and agriculture 1 in Kampong Thom and Siem Reap provinces. In Lao PDR , Lao Red Cross identified six southern provinces hard-struck by Ketsana. Up to 155,500 persons were directly affected, and 37,500 displaced 2. The national society reported 16 dead, 143 missing, and 120 injured. The flooding in the country exceeded the floods that occurred in August 2008. 1 ReliefWeb and IFRC Appeal 2 IFRC Information Bulletin, http://www.ifrc.org/docs/appeals/rpts09/LAKHtc03100901.pdf , Downloaded on 4 August 2010 Page 1 of 6 UNDP Asia -Pacific Regional Centre ( APRC) was involved in facilitating a lessons learned workshop in the Philippines 3, which generated discussions and recommendations to improve Early Warning Systems (EWS) for extreme weather events. ‘A Regional Dialogue on Supply and Demand of Climate Risk Information’ organized by UNDP APRC in partnership with Regional Integrated Multi-hazard Warning System (RIMES) and attended by the Philippines, Vietnam, Lao PDR, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, and Timor Leste highlighted the following: • Intensity, severity and frequency of extreme events on the rise • Areas with no past history being affected by extreme events • Varying climate information needs at different levels and time scales • Low capacities for downscaling and utilizing forecast in countries • Required improvement of observation of weather parameters • Improved dissemination of early warning to different groups • No database to understand the trends, patterns of occurrence and impacts of past disasters. In response to the growing extreme weather events, UNDP APRC developed a regional project on “Strengthening Early Warning Systems for Extreme Weather Events to Advance Climate Risk Management in the South East Asian Region” to build national capacities to better prepare for extreme weather events and reduce the losses. The regional project focuses on two LDCs, viz. Cambodia and Timor Leste in Southeast Asia based on the assessment of national capacities for monitoring, observing, and analyzing weather parameters and developing warning messages and disseminating to high risk areas. Project Information The overall intended outcome of the regional project is to build urgent and mandatory capacity required for managing extreme weather events within the climate change context. The project aims to benefit Timor-Leste and Cambodia, selected due to their limited capacity to manage extreme weather events. The project has two outputs: 1. Development of weather forecasting capacities in project countries supported by functional regional Standard Operating Procedure for early warning systems 2. Strengthening of national and local preparedness and response capacities for utilization of seasonal forecast for extreme weather events In accordance with UNDP policies and procedures, the project evaluation is now commissioned to assess the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability and impact of the project. This evaluation is also an integral part of the project and it is required by ESCAP Trust Fund for Tsunami, Disaster and Climate Preparedness who provided funds for the implementation of this project. Evaluation findings and recommendations will be utilized by UNDP to further streamline its efforts on strengthening weather forecasting and early warning capacities for extreme weather events in Least Developed Countries. ESCAP will use the evaluation findings and recommendations to provide support to countries in the region for capacity development and strengthening early warning systems for extreme weather events. The evaluation’s objectives, approach, timing and deliverables are outlined in the following sections. 3 Rising Above & Beyond O.P.S.: Ondoy-Pepeng-Santi Lessons-Learned Workshop Page 2 of 6 2. OBJECTIVE, SCOPE OF WORK, RESPONSIBILITIES AND DESCRIPTION OF THE PROPOSED ANALYTICAL WORK Scope of the Evaluation The project evaluation will cover the entire period of the project, starting from signing of the project agreement on 1 May 2011 until 30 June 2014, the end date of the project. The project evaluation will be carried out following the UNDP Evaluation Policy and guidelines provided in the UNDP Handbook on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for Development Results 4. It is expected that the evaluation will follow three distinct phases: Phase I: Review of the TOR, preliminary desk review and production of an inception report Phase II: Conduct of the evaluation (including data collection and field verification) Phase III: Final Evaluation Report 3. REQUIREMENTS FOR EXPERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS I. Academic Qualifications: • Advanced university degree in the field of disaster management or related field. II. Years of experience: • At-least five years of work experience in the field of disaster management or related field in Asia-Pacific region. • Sound knowledge and experience in results-based management (especially results-oriented monitoring and evaluation). • Sound knowledge and understanding of disaster and vulnerability profile in the region. • Experience in conducting at least 3 project evaluations • Knowledge of evaluation methods • Ability to meet tight deadlines • Familiarity with the national hydro-meteorological services and their capacity constraints in the region • Fluency in written and spoken English is essential 4. DURATION OF ASSIGNMENT, DUTY STATION AND EXPECTED PLACES OF TRAVEL Contract Duration: March – April 2014 (up to 20 days) Duty Station: Home-based with travel to Thailand, Cambodia and Timor Leste 4 http://www.undp.org/evaluation/handbook/index.html Page 3 of 6 5. FINAL PRODUCTS • Inception report, within 3 days of the start of the assignment, which includes the consultant’s understanding of the TOR and evaluation methodology explaining clearly articulating objectives, data collection methodology, timelines, and evaluation questions and preliminary analysis based on desk review and its findings and the need for verification of data from reports and interviews; individuals and institutions to be interviewed, including proposed schedule for field visits • Draft evaluation report, within 3 days after completion of field verification visits and interviews with key stakeholders, including analysis of data and key findings in terms of results and impacts of the project, lessons learned and key recommendations for UNDP’s future intervention in the area of developing national capacities for managing extreme weather events. • PowerPoint presentation based on the Final draft report to project team • Final report, within 7 days after comments provided by UNDP on the draft report, incorporating the following: o Title page o List of acronyms and abbreviations o Table of contents, including list of annexes o Executive Summary o Introduction: background and context of the programme o Description of the program – its logic theory, results framework and external factors likely to affect success o Purpose of the evaluation o Key questions and scope of the evaluation with information on limitations and de- limitations o Approach and methodology o Findings o Summary and explanation of findings and interpretations o Conclusions o Recommendations o Lessons, generalizations, alternatives o Annexes (TOR, itinerary and list of persons interviewed, summary of field visits, questionnaire used and summary of results, list of documents reviewed and any other relevant material to support the findings and recommendations of the evaluation.) 6. PROVISION OF MONITORING AND PROGRESS CONTROLS The consultant will be accountable to the Crisis Prevention and Recovery Team and will work under the team’s guidance. Page 4 of 6 7. DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS.