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Introduction

As part the UNICEF Kosovo (UNSCR 1244) programme of cooperation 2021-2025 and Costed Evaluation Plan the UNICEF Kosovo Office is conducting the evaluation of the strategic integrated programming ‘Municipality Approach’ applied in five municipalities since 2021.

Object of the evaluation

The object of the evaluation is the implementation of the ‘Municipality Approach’ in five municipalities (Gjakova, Gjilan, Lipjan, Dragash and Zubin Potok) starting in 2021.

The ‘Municipality Approach’ is positioned within the larger construct of the UNICEF Kosovo Programme (2021-2025) and its corresponding Programme Strategy Notes, which outlines three programmatic outcome areas:

• First decade: Young Children and their parents, which focuses on nurturing care and development of children (aged 0-10), with an  emphasis on early childhood education (ECE) (aged 0–6).
• Second decade: Empowerment and Participation of Adolescents and Young People which focuses on building skills for life and work and developing platforms for their participation (aged 11-24).
• Normative Agenda: Social Inclusion and Child Rights Monitoring, which is focusing on strengthening system for protective, inclusive, and equitable environment for all children.

While structuring the new Kosovo programme along these outcomes four strategic “thrusts” were identified to underpin all the activities of the three programme areas, including (i) influencing national policies, (ii) proof of concept demonstration at the municipality level, (iii) scanning and scaling up Kosovo-wide, (iv) knowledge management, innovation, monitoring, and evaluation. UNICEF’s overall strategic approach in Kosovo specifically pointed out a move towards convergent and integrated programming at the municipality level, specifically in five selected municipalities (as the second “thrust”).

As part of the second strategic ‘thrust’ – the ‘Municipality Approach’- is characterized by three core elements: Strategic convergence at two levels: (i) multi-sectoral programming with an intention of combining education, health, and child- and social protection UNICEF interventions and fostering interlinked and shared results; (ii) geographic convergence focusing resources, investments, and efforts in five distinct municipalities with the aim of replicating and scaling up promising models and programmes implemented in the five selected municipalities in other municipalities;  • Application and testing of new approaches at the municipality level to achieve improved outcomes for children, adolescents, and youth at local level. To inform quality programming and scaling up, the most promising interventions should be identified for potential replication by means of assessment and evaluation including consultations with stakeholders. Working through the municipality approach is also a way to influence upstream policy making of sectoral policies, as well as decentralization policy, based on the experience and lessons learned from local level interventions; and The “Leave No Child Behind” principle underpins the approach, which aims to put the child at the centre of programming and to ensure that her/his/their deprivations are addressed in a multidisciplinary manner spanning from conception all the way to adolescence.

The objectives of ‘Municipality Approach’

To bring increased consensus and clarity to the approach in 2021, UNICEF Kosovo commissioned the development of a conceptual framework to further elaborate the ‘Municipality Approach’ to inform programme implementation for the remaining four years of the programme cycle (2021-2025), as well as for upcoming evaluation purposes. The objectives of the approach as per the conceptual framework document are described below.

Evaluation Purpose, Objectives and use 

Purpose: The purpose of the evaluation is to take stock of progress made thus far and provide a rigorous assessment of UNICEF’s ‘Municipality Approach’ to maximize results for children, particularly in reaching the most vulnerable children. It will provide an objective assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the approach and its core elements within the contexts of the distinct municipalities. Further, it will provide strategic direction to UNICEF on how to continue its engagement at the municipal level. Given the delays in implementation, of interventions in selected municipalities the evaluation will seek to understand the outputs achieved and potential for longer-term results.

The evaluation is formative and forward-looking, being an important learning opportunity, both for UNICEF and municipal level governments, in deriving lessons to successfully address the most pressing challenges and deliver high impact results, as well as understand what has not yielded results as expected.

Objectives:

1) To revisit the conceptual framework, take stock and document the current implementation progress of the approach so that there is a shared understanding;

2) To provide an independent assessment of the ‘Municipality Approach’ seen in relation to expected results (and unexpected consequences), incorporation of the core elements of the approach, and UNICEF’s contributions to realization of child rights in the five municipalities under scope, especially the most vulnerable, such as children with disabilities, children from Roma, Ashkalia and Egyptian communities, rural girls etc and

3) To draw lessons and forward-looking recommendations on i) short-terms solutions to the implementation of the ‘Municipality Approach’, ii) identification of potential models for scale-up; iii) longer-term, strategic guidance for UNICEF’s engagement at local (municipality) level for the next Kosovo programme (2026-2030), including guidance on designing strategic interventions and measuring results.

Temporal Scope: The evaluation will cover the period 2021 to date as part of the Kosovo Programme.

Thematic and Geographic Scope: The evaluation will examine the application of the ‘Municipality Approach’ in the five selected municipalities. One or two additional municipalities may be considered for examination as an indicative counterfactual. Further, supplementary interviews may be sought at the national level to help contextualize the findings and the linkages between central and local level governance.

EVALUATION QUESTIONS
The questions that will guide this evaluation are aligned with the evaluation criteria developed by the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC)8 – relevance, coherence effectiveness, efficiency, impact, and sustainability. The evaluation questions will be revisited during the inception phase, with complementary sub-questions with greater granularity anticipated as part of the inception phase of the evaluation. It is expected that the evaluation team will review each question for evaluability and potentially narrow the list. The final criteria and questions should be designed in a way that ensures that human rights and gender-responsive related data will be collected.

Relevance

1. To what extent was the idea of geographical targeting relevant in the Kosovo context?
2. To what extent does the approach allow a focus on the most deprived children?
3. To what extent does the approach respond to the local development needs of stakeholders, including duty-bearers and rights holders (including boys, girls, other vulnerable groups)?
   Coherence
4. To what extent does the approach complement other initiatives at local level, including government, other UN agencies, and development partners
5. How does the municipality approach taken by UNICEF compare to other ‘convergence’ strategies used by duty-bearers in other municipalities? (Descriptive)
6. How does the municipality approach is interlinked with other similar UNICEF initiatives, such as the Local Governance approach to programming? (Descriptive)
7. How is the approach affected by the larger governance arrangements (linkages between central and local level) and systems in which it is embedded, including national initiatives/policies, financing flows and degrees of decentralization?
   Effectiveness
8. To what extent is the approach effective in identifying and addressing the different needs/rights of boys and girls?
9. To what extent has the approach upheld the principles of “leave no one behind”? Are the right people being reaching by the approach?
10. Has local implementation of national strategies and policies improved as a result of UNICEF’s approach?
11. Is there a demonstrable improvement in local authority capacity related to child rights in the priority municipalities compared to other municipalities?
    Efficiency
12. Was implementation of the Kosovo programme priorities more efficient at local level due to convergence of activities/interventions from different sectors (education, child protection, health and nutrition)?
    Impact
13. Can a demonstrable impact on services and children (girls and boys separately) be documented in the priority municipalities and scaled up to non-target municipalities?
14. To what extent have achievements in the target districts fed into national level policy dialogue and supported the environment for implementation of child rights?
    Sustainability
15. What capacities have been built at institutional level and were they sustainable? Is there a potential for a financial arrangement in place to ensure future commitment by the government?
16. To what extent does implementation of the approach depend on the continuous investments of UNICEF or external partners/donors? Is there interest by other partners to invest in this approach?

Evaluation Approach & Methods: The proposed evaluation will employ a quasi-experimental, theory-based approach primarily utilizing qualitative techniques. The detailed methodology will be developed by the evaluation team during the inception phase, guided by UNICEF’s policies and standards. The inception report will outline a gender-responsive data gathering and analysis methodology, including stakeholder analysis and sampling strategy to ensure comprehensive coverage. The team is encouraged to compare results from targeted municipalities with non-intervention areas. Emphasis will be placed on efficiency and timeliness, considering limitations in data availability. Human rights, including child rights, equity, and gender equality, will be mainstreamed throughout, following UNICEF guidance. Methods will include desk reviews, literature searches, key informant interviews, and data analysis with a focus on triangulation and complementarity. Findings and recommendations will be included in the final report.

Team Composition and Requirements

The evaluation is planned to be undertaken by a team of two consultants – the team leader – international consultant, and the national expert/consultant. Each of them will have a direct contract with UNICEF Kosovo, however, it is expected that the team leader will be overall responsible for guiding the work of the national consultant. At any time during the process, the UNICEF evaluation manager should be consulted and know the division of the work between the team leader and the national consultant.

The team leader is expected to have primarily the evaluation expertise, whilst the national expert has the local governance expertise.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• Advanced university degree, preferably in evaluation, social studies or a related field. A combination of relevant academic background and relevant work experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree
• At least ten years’ experience in evaluation, including experience of evaluating local governance or similar and familiarity with UNICEF and the UN system (CVs required)
• Previous work experience with UNICEF and familiarity local governance, institutional development, policy dialogue, organizational development, monitoring evaluation and learning
• Previous solid experience of designing and leading systems-level designs and documented professional experience in conducting rigorous independent evaluations that meet professional evaluation standards
• Proven experience of using techniques/approaches (mentioned above) in previous evaluations
• Familiarity with UNICEF and procedures
• Strong analytical skills and statistical data analysis experience
• Ability to produce content for high standard deliverables in English
• Sensitivity towards ethics with regards to human and child rights issues, different cultures, local customs, religious beliefs and practices, personal interaction and gender roles, disability, age and ethnicity
• A strong development background with a profound understanding

For more detailed TOR’s please klick here

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS).

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UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks: 

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures, and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.