Result of Service

The evaluation will include the full project implementation during the period of January 2021 to December 2024. The values and principles of cross-cutting issues, including human rights and gender equality, disability and environment need to be integrated in all stages of the evaluation process, in compliance with the United Nations Evaluation Group’s revised norms and standards. It should be evidence-based, conducted systematically and objectively as possible to answer evaluation questions organized around the evaluation criteria of relevance, effectiveness, coherence, efficiency, effectiveness, sustainability and impact. The evaluation report and its management response will be published on the DA website. In addition it will be published on the UN Habitat website and share with key stakeholders as well as wider audience within UN Habitat.

Work Location

Home-based

Expected duration

5 Months

Duties and Responsibilities

The United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) is mandated by the UN General Assembly to promote socially, economically and environmentally sustainable cities, towns and other human settlements. It is the focal point for urbanization and human settlements matters within the UN system. This terms of reference (ToR) concerns the final evaluation of 13th Tranche project of the UN Development Account (UNDA). Tranche 13 of Development Account had one project that UN-Habitat was the implementing agency, namely, Enhanced social and economic inclusion of migrants in border cities through safe and accessible public spaces – The case of Latin America and Western Asia. The project is funded by UNDA Secretariat with a budget of USD 549,000. It was approved for period covering January 2021 to December 2024. The project is implemented by UN-Habitat through Lebanon Country Office and Regional Office of Latin America and the Caribbean (ROLAC) in Brazil. It aims at improving social and economic development opportunities of migrants and host communities in small and secondary cities near international borders in Latin America (Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay) and Western Asia (Lebanon). In line with the UNDA project evaluation guidelines, this evaluation is to be conducted at the end of project completions and no longer than 6 months after project completion. The evaluation will be conducted by external evaluation consultant in the months of February 2025 to June 2025. The evaluation should focus on providing evidence-based learning opportunities for future projects and for decision making. The primary target audience for the evaluation is the project team, UN-Habitat management; UNDA programme Management team (DA-PMT) and the secondary target users are the evaluation community interested in knowledge issues related to inclusion of migrants to foster social cohesion in Brazil and Lebanon. Background and Context The aim of the project is to enhance the capacities of local authorities and communities to apply urban planning and design for inclusion of migrants, foster social cohesion and strengthen cross-border cooperation in small and secondary cities near international borders in Latin America and Western Asia (Lebanon). Migration to urban areas is an ongoing trend, in development as well as humanitarian contexts, with 60 percent of refugees and 80 percent of internally displaced persons forced to move to cities for shelter and safety on the one hand, and many people migrating to urban areas for better employment and livelihood opportunities on the other. However, rapid and unplanned influx of people can be challenging for municipal institutions and can lead to increase of informal settlements, lack of accessible and adequate public space, enhanced spatial inequality and a perception of stronger competition for jobs and livelihood opportunities, all of which may lead to tensions between host and migrant communities. The availability of quality public space to all inhabitants of a city is one means to improve equity, promote inclusion and increase social cohesion, especially in border regions which are often marginalized. This is especially important in responses global crises, such as the global COVID-19 pandemic, which mainly impacted cities. By providing safe, inclusive and efficient public spaces for socio-economic and cultural interaction, people of urban communities can benefit, including marginalized communities, migrants and urban poor, whose livelihoods situations are often precarious and who reside in overcrowded, dense areas of cities which might not allow physical distancing. Upgrading public space also provides important benefits to all forms of local businesses, both formal and informal and can therefore enhance not only social, but also economic inclusion and opportunities. The project to be evaluated focuses on public space as a catalyst for social cohesion between host and migrant communities and for fostering local economic development by enabling local authorities to provide a safe, beneficial and upgraded living environment for all. It is intended to improve policies, develop strategies and plans and enhance local capacity for creating accessible, inclusive, profitable and safe living environments through public space quality assessments, participatory planning approaches and pilot public space designs in selected cities in Western Asia and cross-border urban agglomerations in Latin America. It includes knowledge sharing and learning activities for local authorities for better understanding how those strategies can increase urban resilience in humanitarian and development contexts, including policy recommendations for the specific local contexts. The project was piloted in nine target countries across the globe, in one city in each of the selected countries. The Independent Evaluation Unit (IEU) of UN-Habitat will manage the evaluation, ensuring that the evaluation is conducted by a suitable evaluator, providing technical support and advice on methodology, explaining evaluation process and standards, ensuring contractual requirements are met, approving all deliverables (TOR, Inception Report, Draft and Final Evaluation Report), sharing the evaluation results, supporting use and follow-up of the implementation of the evaluation recommendations. The evaluation consultant will be responsible for conducting the evaluation based on these TOR and applying UNEG Norms and Standards. The consultant will prepare three main deliverables: inception report, draft report and final evaluation report. It will be added advantage for the consultants with knowledge of Portuguese, Spanish and Arabic since the project was implemented in Portuguese, Spanish and Arabic speaking countries. The project implementation Team will be responsible for supporting the evaluation by providing information and documentation required as well as providing contacts of stakeholders to be consulted to provide evaluation information. Under the supervision of the Chief, Independence Evaluation Unit, the Consultant will: (i) Assess the design, implementation and achievement of results at the objective, outcome and output levels. This will entail analysis of planned versus actual achieved results. (ii) Assess the performance of the project in terms of its relevance, coherence, efficiency, effectiveness, partnerships, emerging impact, and sustainability. (iii) Assess the appropriateness of implementation working modalities, coordination and how they contributed to achieving results of the project. (iv) Assess the effects of Covid-19 Pandemic on the projects’ performance. (v) Assess how social inclusion issues of gender equality, human rights, youth, disability, as well as environment issues were integrated in and impacted by the project. Taking into account intended users of the evaluation, the evaluation will identify lessons learned and provide recommendations for improving future UNDA projects of similar nature.

Qualifications/special skills

Advanced academic degree in social science, evaluation, public policy, urban development, environment, gender, housing, infrastructure, governance or related fields is required. 10 years’ experience in conducting multi-country project and programme evaluations, including experience with reconstruction theory of changes and at least four other evaluation methods is required. Advanced knowledge and understanding of conducting evaluation and participatory processes and delivering specified outputs, presenting credible findings derived from evidence and putting conclusions and recommendations supported by the evaluation findings is required. Experience in conducting remote data collection missions, capturing views of diverse stakeholder, participants and community members including marginalized and hard-to-reach voices such as undocumented residents, youth, women is required. Excellent writing skills in English, Arabic, Portuguese and Spanish. Also, experience and creativity in multi-lingual data collection, analysis and reporting is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this post, fluency in written and oral English is required. Knowledge of Arabic, Portuguese and Spanish would be desirable.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.