FINAL EXTERNAL EVALUATION OF THE “BOOSTING THE MEDIA SECTOR FOR GREATER PEACE AND STABILITY IN GUINEA BISSAU” PROJECT (Гвинея-Бисау - Тендер #5569205)

. Background and rationale

The project “boosting the media sector for greater peace and stability in Guinea-Bissau” financed by the Peacebuilding Fund (PBF) is implemented by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations Integrated Peace-building Office in Guinea Bissau (UNIOGBIS) from January 2018 until March 2020.

The project tries to strengthen the independence of the media by using a multidimensional approach to address the issues preventing media from playing its positive role in democracy and for sustaining peace. Those are: poor working conditions for journalists; weak economic sustainability of the media sector; unclear or inadequate legal framework, insufficient professional capacity among journalists; dependency from international partners and lack of cooperation among media outlets to, among others, reduce costs. By tackling the problems in an integrated way, the project stimulates self-initiative, responsibility and accountability and at the same time tries to foster a sense of pride and self-esteem among journalists which will encourage them to follow their ethics code. The project tries to empower media actors who should take the lead in its implementation, making the pace of the projects progress against the backdrop of political tension.

Public information about the project implementation can be found in the following link: http://mptf.undp.org/factsheet/project/00108245?lo=1 .

2. Objective of the assignment

The objective of this assignment is to conduct a final external and independent evaluation of the project to provide accurate recommendations and lessons learned for future and ongoing PBF funded projects.

3. Duties and Responsibilities and Evaluation objectives

The consultant will work in close collaboration with the project coordination team and implementing partners (National Community radio network (RENARC), Union of journalists (SINJOTECS), Ordem dos Jornalistas da Guiné-Bissau (OJGB), Associação das Mulheres Profissionais dos Órgãos da Comunicação Social (AMPROCS), Ação para o Desenvolvimento (AD), Consórcio Média, Inovação da Comunicação Social (CMICS)). The consultant will work under the management of the project coordinator, with the overall supervision of the Chief Public Information of UNIOGBIS and the PBF Coordinator. The consultant is expected to perform the following activities:

• Review documents and consult with UNIOGBIS/PIU/ PBF Secretariat and senior management and project team members to better understand the project, including its design process, implementation aspects and expected results;
• Review the project results and resources framework, progress and financial reports, monitoring framework and reports and contribution agreements signed with partners;
• Prepare and conduct interviews (individual and focus group) with key stakeholders, project beneficiaries at central (Bissau) and regional level (Bafata), implementing partners and members of the Project Coordination team;
• Conduct a comprehensive analysis of the project activities based on data collected in the field during the project to assess its relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact and sustainability;
• Assess the internal and external coordination and management of the project, including between project implementing partners (UNIOGBIS and UNDP), with any other interventions on the media as well as with other PBF funded projects
• Assess to what extent the project interventions, implementation approach and methodology, targeting and sequencing have contributed to achievement of peacebuilding results on the basis of evidence;
• Assess to what extent the project has contributed to improve media situation in Guinea-Bissau and information diffusion;
• Assess to what extent the project has contributed to gender/integration of youth transformative results;
• Assess whether the project has provided value for money;
• Assess partners views on UNDP/PBF/UNIOGBIS current and future role in supporting public information through the assessed project, including views on the phasing out and transition processes underway;
• Assess how communication and knowledge management could be strengthen in future endeavors;
• Organize a debriefing session, in Portuguese, to present the interim evaluation report for comments by the key stakeholders, including the government and civil society organizations;
• Draft a final report written in English, taking into account relevant comments from the debriefing, as appropriate.

4. Deliverables

The following deliverables are expected:

• An inception report to be provided after 3 days of work and prior to the field-based component
• A draft evaluation report 4th week
• A final evaluation report. The final report should address any comments from UNIOGBIS project coordination team, the Government, the PBF Secretariat and PBSO where relevant and the final version will be delivered on the 6th week of the assignment

Note: In order to submit your application, please kindly follow this link: https://jobs.undp.org/cj_view_job.cfm?job_id=87498