International Consultant-Evaluation Consultancy

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled.  UNFPA’s strategic plan (2022-2025), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments on accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations and individuals to “build forward better”, while addressing the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains and realize our goals.

In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.

UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.

Scope of work: (Description of services, activities, or outputs):

The evaluation team leader will be responsible for the overall design and implementation of the evaluation, ensuring the production of good quality and timely submission of all expected deliverables in line with the ToR. S/he will lead and coordinate the evaluation team, ensuring the quality of all outputs at every stage as described in the in the UNFPA Evaluation handbook. The team leader will participate in data collection and guide the team members with data collection and analysis, oversee the drafting and presentation of the design report, as well as the draft and final evaluation reports, and will play a key role in meeting with the ERG and CO. S/he will also maintain communication with the CPE manager. 

The deliverables, tentative workplan and details of the country programme evaluation can be found in the Terms of Reference (ToR). 

The consultancy will be for a total of 60 days between February-September 2025 throughout the evaluation process. 

The provisional allocation of workdays among the evaluation team will be the following:

Place where services are to be delivered: The Evaluation Team Leader will need to be physically in Bangladesh for the required days (as per discussion and agreed with the CPE manager) throughout the evaluation process, and will deliver services at the UNFPA Bangladesh office in Dhaka.

Supervisory arrangements:

• The evaluation team will conduct the CPE under the supervision of the CPE manager in the UNFPA Bangladesh CO.
• The evaluation will be managed by the CPE manager, with guidance and support from the Regional Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Adviser at UNFPA APRO and in consultation with the evaluation reference group (ERG) throughout the evaluation process.
• In compliance with UNFPA evaluation policy (2024), the Regional M&E Adviser in UNFPA APRO will provide guidance and backstopping support to the CPE manager at all stages of the evaluation process. In particular, the Regional M&E Adviser plays a crucial role in the quality assurance of the CPE deliverables.
• Expected travel: Travel will be determined based on needs identified notably during the field phase (data collection).

Required expertise, qualifications and competencies, including language requirements:

The competencies, skills and experience of the evaluation team leader should include:

• Master’s degree in public health, social sciences, demography or population studies, statistics, development studies or a related field.
• 10 years of experience in conducting or managing evaluations in the field of international development. Experience in humanitarian contexts and/or humanitarian assistance is preferable.
• Extensive experience in leading complex evaluations commissioned by United Nations organizations and/or other international organizations and NGOs.
• In-depth knowledge of theory-based evaluation approaches and ability to apply both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods and to uphold high quality standards for evaluation as defined by UNFPA and UNEG.
• Good knowledge of humanitarian strategies, policies, frameworks and international humanitarian law and humanitarian principles, as well as the international humanitarian architecture and coordination mechanisms.
• Ability to ensure ethics and integrity of the evaluation process, including confidentiality and the principle of do no harm.
• Ability to consistently integrate human rights and gender perspectives in all phases of the evaluation process.
• Excellent management and leadership skills to coordinate the work of the evaluation team, and strong ability to share technical evaluation skills and knowledge.
• Ability to supervise a young and emerging evaluator, create an enabling environment for her/his meaningful participation in the work of the evaluation team, and provide guidance and support required to develop her/his capacity.
• Experience working with a multidisciplinary team of experts.
• Excellent ability to analyse and synthesize large volumes of data and information from diverse sources.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (written and spoken).
• Work experience in/good knowledge of the region and the national development context of Bangladesh.
• Fluent in written and spoken English.
• Inputs/services be provided by UNFPA or implementing partner (e.g. support services, office space, equipment), if applicable:
• The consultant must have their own laptop.

Payment Instruction:

• The consultant will receive a daily fee according to the UNFPA consultancy scale based on qualifications and experience. The payment of fees for the evaluation will be based on the submission of deliverables, as follows:

Upon approval of the design report:

• Upon submission of a draft final evaluation report of satisfactory quality 40%
• Upon approval of the final evaluation report and the PowerPoint presentation of the evaluation results 40%
• In addition to the daily fees, the evaluators will receive a daily subsistence allowance (DSA) in accordance with the UNFPA Duty Travel Policy, using applicable United Nations DSA rates for the place of mission. Travel costs will be settled separately from the consultancy fees.

Required Competencies: 

Values:

• Exemplifying integrity,
• Demonstrating commitment to UNFPA and the UN system,
• Embracing cultural diversity,
• Embracing change