Program Evaluation Expert (Consultant)

Purposeand Objectives:

Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) is an autonomous international organization with a vision to reduce disaster and climate risk impacts on communities and countries in Asia and the Pacific by working with governments, development partners, international organizations, NGOs, civil society, private sector, media, and other key stakeholders. Established in 1986 as a technical capacity building center, ADPC has grown and diversified its expertise across social and physical sciences to support sustainable solutions for risk reduction across a broad range of specialist areas. For details, please refer to ADPC website at http://www.adpc.net/.

ADPC is implementing a multi-year program titled “Urban Resilience to Climate Extremes in Southeast Asia (URCE)” from 2018 to 2024 under the aegis of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad). The main aim of the program is to strengthen the resilience of urban systems and urban communities to the current and future climate extremes. Myanmar and Viet Nam are the two target countries of the URCE Program.

The program has five outcomes, namely Improved multi-hazard early warning systems and risk knowledge (Outcome 1), Strengthened urban community readiness and local preparedness (Outcome 2), Improved urban sectoral preparedness and emergency response (Outcome 3), Strengthened urban risk governance systems for dealing with emerging climate extremes and emergencies (Outcome 4) and Improved knowledge and awareness on building urban climate resilience for extremes in Asia and the Pacific (Outcome 5). This program has started its implementation in November 2018 and spans up until February 2024.

ADPC will hire a Consultant to conduct the Final Program Evaluation. The evaluation is intended to assess the relevance, coherence, effectiveness, and efficiency of the URCE program. The evaluation will identify, and document lessons learned and make recommendations that the partners, Norad and other interested stakeholders may use in their upcoming activities.

The evaluation will provide the ADPC, Norad and the relevant stakeholders with:

• an overall independent assessment of the URCE program, paying particular attention to the results achieved and their contribution to the increased resilience of urban systems and communities to current and future climate extremes, disasters, and emergencies in Deltaic and Coastal Southeast Asia;
• key lessons and recommendations in order to guide current and future actions.

The detailed Terms of Reference is given in Annex 1.

ExpectedOutputs:

The consultant will produce the following major outputs:

1. Inception Report (10-15 pages) – upon the review of available documents and stakeholders’ analysis and discussion with relevant stakeholders. The inception report will:

• Describe the conceptual framework that will be used to undertake the evaluation.
• Elaborate the methodology proposed in the ToR with changes as required.
• Set out in some detail the data required to answer the evaluation questions, data sources by specific evaluation questions, data collection methods, sampling and selection criteria of respondents for interviews.
• Detail the work plan for the evaluation, indicating the phases in the evaluation, their key deliverables and milestones.
• Set out the list of key stakeholders to be interviewed and the tools to be used for interviews and discussions.
• Set out outline for the final evaluation report.

Tentative date of submission: 17 January 2024

1. Draft of Evaluation Report (20-30 pages excluding Annexes) – generating key findings and recommendations for concrete action, underpinned by clear evidence and an Executive Summary of 3-5 pages that weaves together the evaluation findings and recommendations into a crisp, clear, compelling storyline. Comments for the draft report will be provided within a specified time (not more than 10 working days).

Tentative date of submission: 12 February 2024

1. Final Evaluation Report (20-30 pages excluding Annexes) incorporating comments received from ADPC and other key stakeholders. The report should also include a section on output and outcome level results against indicators and targets set by the URCE program.

Tentative date of submission: 20 February 2024

Refer to Annex 1 for further details on Expected Deliverables.

Responsibilities and Tasks:

• Study & review relevant URCE Program documents;
• Develop the methodology for Evaluation in consultation with the URCE program team
• Conduct Online consultations with the stakeholders in Dala Township, Myanmar
• Travel to Viet Nam and spend at least 5 working days in the field (2 target cities – My Tho and Nam Dinh cities) to have interviews/discussions.

(The Consultant is responsible for arranging the air tickets, accommodation and other logistics for the field visits to the two target cities in Viet Nam)

Refer to Annex 1 for further details on responsibilities and tasks.

Working Principles:

The Consultant will report to the Director, Urban Resilience (URR) Department of ADPC and work under the guidance and supervision of the URCE Program Manager and other specialist staff involved in the implementation of activities.

Qualifications

The Consultant shall have the following qualifications:

• At least Master’s degree or equivalent post-graduate degree in a relevant field such as urban planning, disaster risk management, climate change adaptation, or development studies.
• At least 12 years of experience working with and carrying out evaluations, and at least 5 years of experience of leading evaluations. Experience of evaluating evaluations of complex programs in the areas of urban resilience, climate change adaptation, disaster risk reduction, or related fields.
• Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of the urban resilience challenges and opportunities in Asia, especially in deltaic and coastal cities.
• Understanding of the development context of the program countries (Viet Nam and Myanmar) would be a clear advantage.
• Experience in applying mixed methods and participatory approaches for data collection and analysis.
• Experience of leading teams to evaluate complex, multi-country projects or programs.
• Fluency in English, including writing skills.

Duty Station: Home-based with travel to the two target cities in Viet Nam

Duration: 15 January 2024 to 20 February 2024

Itinerary:

The consultant is expected to follow the below-suggested itinerary. The period assigned for the field visits in Viet Nam may change based on the availability of the stakeholders.

Conditions of Payment:

Payments will be made as per the payment schedule agreed by the ADPC and the Consultant upon the completion of the deliverables acceptable to ADPC.

The maximum budget available for the evaluation is USD 19,000 inclusive of all the taxes, and travel expenses (airfare, accommodation, per-diem, etc.) for conducting interviews/discussions in Viet Nam.

All payments will be credited to the bank account given by the Consultant.