Local Consultancy: Adolescents and Youth Consultancy at United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

Purpose of consultancy:

The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency. Its mission is to deliver a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person’s potential is fulfilled. Within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals and the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), UNFPA is working towards three transformative results: (i) zero preventable maternal deaths; (ii) zero unmet need for family planning; and (iii) zero gender-based violence and harmful practices, including female genital mutilation and child, early and forced marriage. The UNFPA South Africa Country Office (SACO) is currently implementing the 5th Country Programme (CP) (2020-2025) with the Government of South Africa and other partners. The goal of the CP is to achieve universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights and accelerate the implementation of the ICPD Programme of Action, to improve the lives of women, adolescents and youth. In pursuit of this goal, the UNFPA South Africa CO seeks to achieve results in the following thematic areas of programming under the CP: (i) adolescents and youth ii) gender and social norms (iii) population change and data

Scope of work:

In line with the 2024 UNFPA Evaluation Policy, the UNFPA SACO is planning to conduct an evaluation of its 5th CP (2020-2025) The purpose of the Country Programme Evaluation (CPE) is to strengthen accountability to stakeholders, support evidence-based decision-making, and improve learning. The overall objective of the CPE is to provide an independent assessment of the performance of the CP and to broaden the evidence base for the design of the next programme cycle. The evaluation will cover all interventions in the three thematic areas of the CP, which have been implemented across three UNFPA supported provinces namely Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo, during the programme’s period. The thematic areas are described in section 3 of the terms of reference. In addition, the evaluation will also cover cross-cutting issues, such as cross-cutting issues: human rights, gender equality, disability, displacement and migration status, etc., and transversal functions, such as coordination, monitoring and evaluation, innovation, resource mobilization, strategic partnerships, etc.

Evaluation team: The CPE will be conducted by a multidisciplinary team of consultants. They should collectively have the qualifications and experience to design and implement a methodologically robust evaluation and cover all the above-mentioned thematic areas of the CP. The evaluation team will consist of:

Team leader: An international consultant with primary responsibility for the design of the evaluation methodology and the coordination of the evaluation team, as described in section 12.1 of the terms of reference. The team leader will also demonstrate the qualifications, experience and skills required to serve as a technical expert for one of the thematic areas. 

Thematic experts: National consultants  should demonstrate the qualifications, experience and skills required to serve as technical expert in at least one of the thematic areas, as described in section 12.1 of the terms of reference. The evaluation team will conduct the CPE under the supervision of the CPE manager in the UNFPA SACO 01 April 2024 to 30 September 2024. Candidates must clearly indicate the thematic area(s) for which they demonstrate the requested expertise. See the attached terms of reference for more details on the CPE as well as on the required qualifications and experience of the team leader and team members (section 12.2). Section 10 indicates the evaluation timeline and the expected evaluation deliverables are described in section 8.

Duration and working schedule:

The consultancy will have a duration of maximum 6 months (April - September)

Place where services are to be delivered:

The consultancy will be primarily home-based, with field visits to the implementation sites departments, institutions, partners, facilities and organizations as needed. UNFPA will arrange the logistics for this work.

Delivery dates and how work will be delivered (e.g. electronic, hard copy etc.):

Most products will be delivered via electronic means (email). The consultancy will be for 38-48 days between 01 April and 30th of September 2024 and is expected to deliver the following key products.

•  Product 1: Design report – 30 April 2024
•  Product 2: PowerPoint presentation of the Design Report- 10 May 2024
• Product 3: PowerPoint presentation for debriefing meeting with the CO and the Evaluation Reference Group- 24 May 2024
• Product 4: Draft evaluation report- 14 June 2024
• Product 5: Recommendations worksheet- 12 July 2024
• Product 6: Final evaluation report- 31 July 2024
•  Product 7: PowerPoint presentation of the evaluation results- 16 August 2024

 *The contract shall be valid until the end of September 2024 to accommodate potential delays.

Monitoring and progress control, including reporting requirements, periodicity format and deadline:

Bi-weekly meetings will be held between the consultant and UNFPA team to provide feedback on progress, get guidance from UNFPA on the conduction of activity, as well as to address any questions that may arise during the conduction of the work. It is the responsibility of the consultant to proactively document the discussions and recommendations for follow-up. The products will be reviewed and appraised by UNFPA for approval and payment. The edits and inputs provided need to be considered in the final revisions and generation of final versions of the products. The consultant must submit the products in Word version (.doc or .docx) within the stipulated timelines.

Required expertise, qualifications and competencies, including language requirements:

The competencies, skills and experience of the adolescents and youth expert should include:

• Master’s degree in public health, medicine, health economics and financing, epidemiology, biostatistics, social sciences or a related field.
• 5-7 years of experience in conducting evaluations, reviews, assessments, research studies or M&E work in the field of international development.
• Substantive knowledge of adolescent and youth issues, in particular SRHR of adolescents and youth.
• 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.
• Solid knowledge of evaluation approaches and methodology and demonstrated ability to apply both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Experience working with a multidisciplinary team of experts.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills (written and spoken).
• Work experience in/good knowledge of the national development context of South Africa.
• Familiarity with UNFPA or other United Nations organizations’ mandates and activities will be an advantage.
• Fluent in written and spoken English.