INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANT TO CONDUCT A TERMINAL EVALUATION Closing date: Sunday, 22 February 2015

Closing date: Sunday, 22 February 2015

INTERNATIONAL CONSULTANT TO CONDUCT A TERMINAL EVALUATION

Location : Amman and home based, JORDAN

Application Deadline : 22-Feb-15

Type of Contract : Individual Contract

Post Level : International Consultant

Languages Required : English

Starting Date : (date when the selected candidate is expected to start)

01-Mar-2015

Duration of Initial Contract : 20 working days during March 2015, out of which 7 working days in Jordan

Expected Duration of Assignment : 20 working days during March 2015, out of which 7 working days in Jordan

Background

The world community had initiated global efforts to regulate and control POPs, and in 2001 the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants was adopted which then entered into force in 2004. PCBs were listed in the initial register of twelve (12) POPs and have been since then controlled by the Convention. All parties which acceded or ratified the Convention assumed specific obligations to ensure safe POPs management.

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan signed the Convention in 2002 and ratified it in 2004. By becoming a party, the Government had taken on the mandatory obligations to implement the Convention and the control measures identified in its guidance text.

The first step towards meeting the obligations was the development and formulation of the National Implementation Plan (NIP) for Stockholm Convention. The NIP was prepared and transmitted to the Stockholm Convention Secretariat in December 2006.

The requirement to deal with PCBs has been identified in the NIP of Jordan. It was reported that no PCBs were ever produced in the country or re-exported, and that some of the old electrical equipment could contain PCBs. The PCB equipment was in fact an imported product originating from other countries. The two main chemical which were suspected to be in the equipment were limited to Askarel and Sovtol. The survey which was carried out at that time was focused on transformer type of equipment due to time limitations, and thus no study over the other types of equipment was performed - capacitors and circuit breakers were not covered by the survey. Resulting from the initial study, the NIP had reported that PCB materials have been found to be in power electrical equipment such as transformers and in oil reserve.

The primary locations for transformers were the Al-Husain Power Plant (5 pieces of equipment amounting to around 11 tons of PCB oil and 1.5 tons of PCB oil stored at the facility) and the Irbid Electricity Distribution Company (4 pieces of transformers showed PCB contamination with 1.5 tons of PCB containing oil estimated). The former site accounted for 90% of PCB materials available in the country.

During the NIP stage, the lessons learned from the field surveys were that it was rather difficult to obtain required information on electrical equipment in the utility and industrial sectors since no accurate documentation on the PCB equipment was available, specifically for the equipment procured and installed prior to 1980. The NIP further proposed urgent actions on a comprehensive and detailed survey of the oil electric equipment across the electricity distribution companies to create a better picture on the PCB material inventory available in the country. The NIP also listed regulatory measures which were in place in 2005 to initiate the control over the PCB management. There have been no regulations which would control the handling of PCBs and their safe disposal; however, a ban on import of import and use of oil with PCB content of above 0.005% PCB by weight was introduced by the Ministry of Health in 2005. It was also concluded, after the NIP initial studies were completed, that the lack of laboratory capacity to identify PCBs was one of the main barriers for completing the PCB inventory, and no designated storage places for PCB materials which would meet internationally established standards were identified in Jordan. The low level awareness among a significant number of stakeholders was detected during the NIP formulation, and all these aspects were summarized in the NIP Action Plan which was adopted in June 2006. To date, the NIP has received limited follow-up implementation due to the need for international technical assistance.

In 2010, however, the GEF, through UNDP, had provided project formulation assistance in order to revisit the NIP data on the PCB issue, perform additional industry contacts and inventory cross-checks in order to a technical assistance package to install internationally recognized and viable system for sage PCB management in Jordan.

The Project Preparation Grant (PPG) phase has allowed contacting and visiting several major owners (users) of power equipment in the country. Among them are:

• All entities of the utility sector (IDECO, EDCO, NEPCO, JEPCO, CEGCO) - though not all locations;
• The national oil refinery company;
• Two mines of the phosphate industries;
• The potash mining company at the Dead Sea area;
• The international Queen Alia Airport at the city of Amman; and
• The LaFarge subsidiary at Fuheis.

Project goal, objectives, outcome and outputs

The developed GEF project scenario provides necessary tools and increase technical capacity of the country to meet the requirements with respect to the Stockholm Convention with the overall objective of safeguarding the environment and health from PCB impacts at the national and global levels. A comprehensive system for environmentally sound management and disposal of PCB materials have been put in place, including up-to-date and functional PCB regulatory standards aligned with internationally recommended benchmarks. The system allows the required capacity building at the national level with a demonstration element targeting PCB material disposal abroad. The demo disposal component envisaged in the project will further re-enforce the awareness raising effect to ensure that industrial sector is fully aware of the Government requirements and approaches for safe PCB management through its ultimate disposal.

The project was formulated to address the identified principal barriers as outlined in the previous section.

The following paragraphs list the main project components included in the Project Framework: Component 1: Regulatory and administrative strengthening for PCB management

The component aims at the formulation of relevant laws and regulatory measures for effective control of PCB handling in the country: hazardous waste classification, equipment registration, labeling and status reporting of PCBs.

Through quality training and information dissemination workshops, the component will achieve better awareness level on the regulatory system and its requirements.

Component 2: Improving PCB inventory and technical capacity for Environmentally Sound Management (ESM) of PCB equipment and materials

Importantly, this component will address the barriers associated with the incomplete knowledge on the PCB inventory in the country through stimulating expanded sampling and testing of equipment oil. It will be aligned with removing limitations identified in the PCB analytical capacity sector, and specifically in the field, at the electric equipment owners. The component will further help in establishing a functional PCB equipment database. Further, it will develop ESM system for the direct application by enterprises with specialized trainings in the proper handling of PCB equipment. The in-house capacity of the private/public sector companies will be improved to prepare them to manage PCB equipment safely and minimize PCB releases, human exposure and equipment cross-contamination. Finally, it will address the highly recommended need for infrastructure upgrade to have proper interim storages which will serve the project needs within its timeframe and beyond prior to final PCB disposal abroad.

Component 3: Demonstration projects for testing ESM system and disposal of PCB containing equipment

This element has been designed to test the feasibility and reliability of all the previously described project components performing together in a holistic PCB management system for meeting practical suitability of the project's approach.

Component 4: Monitoring, learning, adaptive feedback, outreach and evaluation

This component is expected to ensure that the project delivers sustained results for the country and for the replication of the experience elsewhere where it is appropriate and according to dominant circumstances.

Duties and Responsibilities

Scope of Work

Within the context outlined above, UNDP seeks the recruitment of an international consultant to support the achievement of the following project terminal evaluation objectives: Conduct a terminal evaluation of project in line with internal procedures of UNDP and GEF guidelines.

The scope of Objective One should cover the following

The scope of the evaluation will cover all activities undertaken in the framework of the project. The evaluators will compare planned outputs of the project to actual outputs and assess the actual results to determine their contribution to the attainment of the project objectives. It will also attempt to evaluate the efficiency of project management, including the delivery of outputs and activities in terms of quality, quantity, timeliness and cost efficiency as well as features related to the process involved in achieving those outputs and the impacts of the project. The evaluation will also address the underlying causes and issues contribution to targets not adequately achieved.

The key product expected from the terminal evaluation is a comprehensive analytical report in English that should, at least, follow requirements as indicated in Annex E.

The terminal evaluation report will be a stand-alone document that substantiates its recommendations and conclusions. The report will have to provide convincing evidence to support its findings/ratings.

The report together with its annexes shall be presented in electronic form in MS Word format.

The consultant is expected to follow a participatory and consultative approach ensuring engagement with the project team, project partners and key stakeholders.

The consultant is expected to use interviews as a means of collecting data on the performance and success of the project. Questionnaires prepared by the consultant can be distributed to national project partners, facilitated by participating implementing agencies

Methodology

An overall approach and method for conducting project terminal evaluations of UNDP supported and GEF financed projects has developed over time. The evaluator is expected to frame the evaluation effort using the criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and impact, as defined and explained in the UNDP Guidance for Conducting Evaluations of UNDP-supported, GEF-financed Projects. A set of questions covering each of these criteria have been drafted and are included with this TOR (Annex C). The evaluator is expected to amend, complete and shall include it as an annex to the final report.

The evaluation must provide evidence-based information that is credible, reliable and useful. The evaluator is expected to follow a participatory and consultative approach ensuring close engagement with government counterparts, in particular the Ministry of Environment and other stakeholder agencies, GEF OFPs, UNDP Country Offices, project team, UNDP GEF Technical Adviser based in the region and key stakeholders.

The evaluator is expected to conduct a field mission to Aqaba. Interviews will be held with the following organizations and individuals at a minimum: All entities of the utility sector (IDECO, EDCO, NEPCO, JEPCO, CEGCO) - though not all locations.

The national oil refinery company

Two mines of the phosphate industries

The potash mining company at the Dead Sea area

The international Queen Alia Airport at the city of Amman, and

The LaFarge subsidiary at Fuheis.

The evaluator will review all relevant sources of information, such as the project document, project reports - including Annual APR/PIR, project budget revisions, mid-term review, progress reports, GEF focal area tracking tools, project files, national strategic and legal documents, and any other materials that the evaluator considers useful for this evidence-based assessment. A list of documents that the project team will provide to the evaluator for review is included in Annex B of this Terms of Reference.

For additional information on methods, see the Handbook on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating for Development Results, Chapter 7, pg. 163

Deliverables

The evaluation team is expected to deliver the following

• Inception Report, Evaluator provides clarifications on timing and method,week before the mission,Evaluator submits to UNDP CO.
• Presentation, Initial Findings, End of evaluation mission, To project management, UNDP CO;
• Draft final report, Full report, (per annexed template) with annexes, Within 3 weeks of the evaluation mission, Sent to CO, reviewed by RTA, PCU, GEF OFPs;
• Final report, Revised report, Within 1 week of receiving UNDP comments on draft, Sent to CO for uploading to UNDP ERC.

Competencies

Functional Competencies

• Strong interpersonal skills, communication and diplomatic skills, ability to work in a team;
• Ability to plan and organize his/her work, efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results;
• Openness to change and ability to receive/integrate feedback;
• Ability to work under pressure and stressful situations;
• Strong analytical, reporting and writing abilities;
• Keeps abreast of available technology, understands its applicability and limitations, willingness to learn new technology.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

• Advanced university degree in management or chemical engineering or chemical sciences or planning/strategic planning or development or project management/evaluation or environmental science and management or environmental law and policy or any other relevant major;
• A degree in topics relevant to themes of Stockholm Convention, Basel Convention) or very relevant fields to the Hazardous Materials Management.

Experiences

• Preferably 10 years of professional experience in fields relevant to public administration or planning/strategic planning or development or project management/evaluation or environmental science and management or environmental law and policy or any other relevant major;
• Preferably 5 years of experience in Hazardous Material Management or very relevant fields to the Stockholm and Basel Conventions' themes or any relevant filed;
• Minimum 5 years' experience in conducting evaluation of similar projects;
• Full computer literacy.
• Sound knowledge about results-based management (especially results-oriented monitoring and evaluation).

Language

• Fluency in written and spoken English.

Documents to be included when submitting the proposals

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications.

Proposal

• (i) Explaining why they are the most suitable for the work;
• (ii) Provide a brief methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work.

Financial proposal: specify a total lump sum amount including fees, travel cost (ticket), DSA. Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR. In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount.

Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references.

Note

Full terms of reference with annexes will be provided to the shortlisted candidates.

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.