UNICEF EVALUATION OFFICE
EXPRESSION OF INTEREST:
PBEA: End-of-programme evaluation
Subject:
Date of the EOI:
Closing Date of the EOI:
Address EOI by e-mail to:
PBEA Outcome evaluation
29 October 2014
24 November 2014, at 5:00pm New York Time.
kletshabo@unicef.org
1.0
PURPOSE OF EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI)
UNICEF Evaluation Office (New York) plans to commission an end-of-programme evaluation for the
Peacebuilding, Education and Advocacy Programme (PBEA). The PBEA end-of-programme evaluation
strategy has two components; (i) the on-going developmental evaluation focusing mainly on systematic,
reflective learning in order to capture the complex nature of programming for peacebuilding, and progress
towards outcomes; and, (ii) an outcome evaluation to conduct systematic assessment of the efficacy of the
programme program impact pathways that were selected for PBEA programming and whether or not results
(as specified in the five outcomes) were achieved, and to make informed judgments on PBEA’s potential for
scale-up, and its contribution towards building social cohesion.
This is an invitation for an Expression of Interest (EOI) from eligible institutions (consulting firms, research
institutes universities, evaluation teams or vendors with similar capacities) to provide services to conduct
the outcome evaluation1. Institutions that meet the requirements of this EoI will be invited to submit full
proposals. More detailed terms of reference (ToRS) will be provided to institutions that will be invited to
submit proposals.
2.0
PURPOSE OF THE EVALUATION AND SCOPE OF WORK
The purpose of the evaluation is to examine PBEA’s approach to peacebuilding, articulate and confirm (or
disconfirm) its programme impact pathways (or theories of change) in a number of contexts, and to assess
its contribution to intended programme results and outcomes of social cohesion and resilience. The
evaluation will also make informed judgments and recommendations on PBEA’s potential for scale-up,
and/or integration of PBEA work into the UNICEF resilience agenda. To the extent possible, the evaluation
will also assess who well UNICEF has engaged in risk-informed programming based on conflict analysis;
strengthened linkages between development and humanitarian programming and made the necessary
intersectoral links between education and other UNICEF sectors2, as well as external partnerships; and,
strengthened practices for monitoring and evaluation of a programme of the complexity afforded by the
PBEA. Evaluation evidence will be judged using modified OECD/DAC criteria (excluding impact and including
scalability).
Scope of the evaluation: The overall end-of-programme evaluative strategy serves the dual purposes of
learning and accountability, with the former being the focus of the developmental evaluation, while the
latter is the focus of the outcome evaluation which is the subject of this EoI. The evaluation will cover the
entire period during which the PBEA was implemented.
1
The developmental evaluation is already under way in Myanmar, and may commence soon in a second PBEA
implementing country.
2
PBEA’s areas of intervention included C4D, ECD, Gender, and Youth. Sectors beyond PBEA include Nutrition, WASH, and Health.
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Programme coverage: One of the conclusions of the PBEA evaluability assessment (EA) was that the original
intent to aggregate the contribution of education to peacebuilding at a global level would be impossible,
given the broad variations in country programme profiles, the diversity of programme interventions and
themes, and variations in country office programming arrangements. Hence it recommended an end-ofprogramme evaluative approach that assesses the contribution of each of the 14 PBEA country
programmes3, 14 evaluations in essence. Time and resources do not allow for an evaluation exercise of that
scope. However, the desk-based review and analysis is intended to be comprehensive enough to cover all 14
PBEA programmes and other PBEA implementing units, possibility with the opportunity to perform analyses
on secondary data obtained from several UNICEF databases, and databases offered by partners. Field visits
will be conducted in three programme countries. In order to broaden participation in this type of activity,
field visit candidates exclude countries that were part of the EA site visits (Pakistan, Somalia and South
Sudan), and Myanmar which is currently involved in the developmental evaluation.
Thematic coverage: The evaluation will cover all five PBEA outcome areas. It will also covers all key areas of
intervention that have been used in the implementation of PBEA activities, namely, early childhood
development (ECD); communication for development (C4D); youth and adolescents; and, gender. To that
end, up to two thematic cases studies combining one or more of these themes may be developed.
3.0
TEAM COMPOSITION AND PROFESSIONAL REQUIREMENTS
Responders to this EoI will be required to make available a highly qualified/experienced team of evaluation
and subject professionals, who among themselves have expertise in peacebuilding; the experience of using
education strategies for building peace and social cohesion; and, extensive experience in planning,
monitoring an evaluating international development programmes and practice in evaluating programmes
with education and/or peacebulding content, in particular. Evaluation teams will be also required to
demonstrate familiarity with UNICEF work for children and gender rights, to have experience/familiarity
with countries of different typologies, including countries undertaking humanitarian programming,
experience in working with vulnerable populations in conflict affected countries. Adequate gender and
geographic balance is also desirable.
Given the complexity of the issues, this evaluation requires a team leader with a high level of expertise and a
good track record in peacebuilding practice/programming, evaluation, and/or research. If the full
complement of evaluators has not yet been assembled, the Evaluation Office encourages applicants to
proffer the team leader and at least one other core evaluator, with the understanding that finding additional
evaluators with the right mix of skills and ascertaining their availability will be carried out at the proposalwriting stage.
Period of assignment: The timeline for the evaluation is 4-5 months, beginning in January 2015 through
June 2015, including field visits to 3-4 PBEA implementing countries. While the level of effort for the team
leader may be the entire 5 month period, other members of the team will be required to make inputs that
require less time.
3
Burundi, Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Myanmar Pakistan,
Palestine, Somalia and South Sudan, Uganda, and Yemen
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4.0
SUBMISSION OF EXPRESSION OF INTEREST (EOI)
Interested institutions are required to complete and submit the attached EOI form, and provide responses
to the six open-ended questions on page 2 of the EoI form.
EOIs should be sent to e-mail: kletshabo@unicef.org, no later than 24 November 2014, at 5.00 PM NY Time.
Please note the following:
1. Responses received without a duly completed form or an incomplete form will not be considered.
2. This EOI does not constitute a solicitation. We seek your expression of interest in participating in the
tender at this stage, and not proposals or price quotes.
3. A response to this request for EOI does not ensure automatic selection to participate in the tender.
4. UNICEF reserves the right to change or cancel this EoI at any time, and to require compliance with
additional conditions in subsequent stages of the solicitation process.
Following this EOI, institutions will be short-listed and invited to tender. More detailed Terms of Reference
(TORs) will be sent to short-listed institutions in the form of a Request for Proposal of Services (RfPS). Final
technical proposals in response to the RfPS are expected to be submitted by invited qualified applicants by
the end of December 2014.
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APPENDIX A
UNICEF Evaluation Office – Expression of Interest Form
PBEA Outcome Evaluation
Please fill-in page 1 of the form in its entirety and submit it to us electronically or via fax.
Full Company Name:
Type of Company:
User Salutation:
Mr.
Ms.
Mrs.
Dr.
First Name:
Last Name:
Job Title:
Mobile:
(please include country & city code)
Fax:
(please include country & city code)
Official e-mail address:
Office Address:
City:
State:
Postal Code:
Country:
Website Address:
Alternate contact person:
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Please respond to the questions below in a narrative not exceeding 4 pages.
1
Provide information which will enable us to determine whether your team or organization has the capacity
to carry out a multi-site evaluation. Information should include:
a) organizational structure, and infrastructure in place to support the evaluation, including an overview and
financial profile;
b) staff capacities, both technical and support staff (to the extent possible, attach CVs of prospective team
members, pending confirmation of their availability);
c) the number of years in the consultancy business, or the considerations for assembling an evaluation team
if one was put together for the purposes of this evaluation.
2. Provide information which will enable us to determine whether your team or organization has relevant
evaluation experience. Information should include:
a) a description of the technical competencies of your team members, and the number of years of
evaluation experience
b) a description of the type of evaluations you have carried out by the team as currently constituted, as well
as experience of individual members
c) evaluations commissioned by UN agencies and other comparable organizations that your team
conducted, or individual members participated in.
3. Provide information which will enable us to determine whether your team or organization has relevant
specialized knowledge on issues to be covered by the current evaluation. Information should include;
a) a description of programming experience in the education sector or in the peacebuilding sub-sector, and
experience in peacebulding programmes and the use of education for building peace and social cohesion
as well any other relevant sub-sector knowledge that is identified by you the prospective bidder.
b) have extensive practice in evaluating programmes with education and peacebulding content and
demonstrable experience in working with vulnerable populations in conflict affected countries,
4. Provide any additional experience that may be critical to the success of the proposed evaluation. This
should include
a) the ability to communicate in one of the local languages of one or more sample countries (Footnote 3)
b) experience of team members having worked in one or more PBEA programme countries, either as a
consultant, or having resided in those countries.
c) any other pertinent information that may be relevant to the evaluation.
5. What Quality Assurance Certifications (technical or financial) are in place? If the team or company have
any certifications, please provide a short description of internal mechanisms for assuring the quality of
products.
6. Confirm that the company or any team member:
a) has no on-going litigation with the UN;
b) is not currently removed/invalidated or suspended by the United Nations or UN system organizations;
c) shall declare if it currently employs or anticipates employing any person(s) who was employed by the
UN at the time of publication of this EoI.
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