Opportunities

Reports to: Deputy Facility Director (DFD)

 

Location: Management Support Team (MST) Office, Jakarta

 

Duration and inputs: Variable part-time inputs over the period 2010-2012 with options beyond this period subject to Deacons/AusAID approval

 

Purpose

AIPEG is a complex Facility providing a variety of technical assistance, advice and support to selected GOI agencies (MOF, MOT, BAPPENAS and CMEA). The major focus of AIPEG is to build capacity at the individual, organisational and institutional levels through the provision of support to their reform processes particularly in the areas of economic and fiscal management and good governance reforms. Integral to this support are changes in the way the agencies view, manage and develop their human resources.

 

Reform of the GOI bureaucracy is driven also by Presidential Directive which requires the restructure of ministries by 2011 with the aim that they will be more effective and efficient and capable of fulfilling their responsibilities on behalf of the Indonesia public.

 

AIPEG places long term (Lead) advisers in agencies to facilitate, advise, guide and support change at the technical and policy level.

 

With the commencement of the AIPEG it is necessary to review and use the lessons learned from the TAMF experience to build on and improve the M&E systems, approaches and reporting arrangements. The M&E Adviser (MEA) will be recruited to implement this process.

 

Inputs

This is a short term position with inputs across the duration of AIPEG.

 

Focus

Using the AIPEG Facility Design Document, selected TAMF Performance Assessment & Evaluation (PA&E) Reports as key references, the MEA will develop an effective Monitoring and Evaluation Framework (MEF) for AIPEG. The MEF must reflect an integrated approach that clearly links the Goal and Purpose of AIPEG with the activities undertaken. These activities include the role of Lead Advisers placed in participating ministries, with those of short-term advisers engaged as part of the Technical Support Pool.

 

Recognising the flexibility inherent in a Facility, the MEA will pay particular attention to identifying the most appropriate approach to demonstrating the outcomes achieved by AIPEG at all levels of activity. The MEA will also develop tools for use by AIPEG to enable monitoring and evaluation of the activities undertaken by Lead Advisors and STAs. As the support provided by Lead Advisors and STAs is often of a technical advisory nature, mentoring or training, application of hard quantitative measures are often difficult to apply. Similarly, the Goal and Purpose statements for AIPEG are expressed in broad measures related to economic and improved governance outcomes that lead to poverty reduction. Thus qualitative measures that reflect the contribution made by AIPEG are required. However, it is imperative that these measures and the resultant analysis be fully justifiable and sustainable.

 

To facilitate a consistent understanding and adherence to the AIPEG MEF, the MEA will provide briefings/workshops to core staff at the commencement of AIPEG, and routinely across the life of the program. In addition, the MEA will produce a simple but effective instructional guide on AIPEG’s MEF approach as a reference guide for AIPEG staff.

 

The MEA will need to establish sound and positive working relationships with the Facility Evaluation Team or FET (an independent team engaged to evaluate AIPEG and report to the Facility Advisory Board on the outcomes of activities). The FET undertakes two missions a year to review AIPEG and reflects its assessment in the PA&E reports.

 

Two potential areas to be addressed by the MEA in formulating the MEF are:

 

1. Strengthening the capacity of the M&E system to measure the impact of the

       program with a greater focus on:

 

▪ effectiveness (did AIPEG achieve what it set out to do, and what is the evidence?)

▪ relevance (were the AIPEG objectives right?)

▪ efficiency (was AIPEG value for money?)

▪ sustainability (will AIPEG benefits, particularly in systems or institutions, be sustained?)

▪ knowledge creation (what new knowledge has AIPEG generated and shared?)

▪ improvement (could AIPEG have been designed and implemented better?)

 

2. Strengthening the M&E capacity of Indonesian partners through a greater

       focus on:

 

▪ working with and through, Indonesian systems

▪ having an active, structured process of engaging with the AIPEG partners to develop activities and use common M&E system and approaches

▪ where required (and asked) helping develop M&E skills

▪ ensuring a strong focus on tangible, jointly agreed target results

▪ undertaking joint evaluation activities and joint reporting

 

Approach

The MEA would work closely with FET and all members of the AIPEG Technical Support Pool (TSP) to facilitate information sharing, feedback, common activities, and a consistency of approach.

 

In the first months of AIPEG development and initial implementation - and at other strategic times as the program takes shape and develops - it is essential  that partner / stakeholders in the particular area of AIPEG engagement come together to confirm a shared interpretation of the expected long term and end of program benefits - and how to get there. There needs to be joint ownership of the M&E arrangements. The MEA would take the lead in this process that would include:

▪ A review of the AIPEG program logic and description of the extent to which it is evaluable including clarity of expression of end-of-initiative outcomes in the documentation;

▪ Confirm the key hypothesis(es) to be tested

▪ Confirm the key evaluation questions or KEQ (defined in the PDD and Scope of Services) of interest to stakeholders;   

▪ An examination of proposed/potential data sources (including partner systems) to ensure that data is of sufficient quality; is collected and analysed as expected; and will be available within the required reporting cycles;

▪ An assessment of the capacity of the implementation team and partners to participate in the design and/or conduct of M&E activities;

▪ Development of clear and effective  linkages to the AIPEG gender strategy, capacity building approach, and other relevant cross-cutting issues

▪ A review of the budget/resources available for M&E activities;

▪ Identification of reporting requirements for key stakeholders. This includes progress reporting, Quality at Implementation Reporting, and Annual Program Performance Reporting. There should be a clear recognition of how the M&E is expected to provide evidence for reporting against the Australia Indonesia Country Program Performance Assessment Framework.

▪ A review of cross-cutting policy areas that will need to be included in M&E planning;

▪ Clear identification of issues and/or constraints that will affect the MEF.

▪ Assist in the design of a monthly reporting format (one page reporting) for Lead Advisers and STAs on previous month activities, outcomes etc to facilitate regular reporting to AusAID and Deacons on Facility performance and achievements

 

This process of engagement will form the basis for the revised M&E Framework (MEF) which in turn will guide all M&E activities during the life of AIPEG.

 

Experience/Qualifications

The MEA shall have the following qualifications and experience:

 

Qualifications

The consultant should hold a postgraduate degree in the field of evaluation / assessment / research methods. 

 

Experience

▪ Minimum of 5 years experience in monitoring and evaluation roles for development aid projects

▪ Demonstrated understanding and application of current M&E concepts such as contribution analysis, most significant change (MSC) and other concepts relevant to assessing the performance of a facility program

▪ Demonstrated practical experience in research or evaluation design, conduct, and management. This experience should reflect expertise in developing a fully elaborated design of an M&E system which includes the design approach, articulation of M&E questions, development of sound methods and tools, conduct of data collection activities, analysis of data (or supervision of such), interpretation and dissemination of results and report preparation.

▪ Demonstrated ability to develop and deliver M&E capacity building activities for implementation teams.

▪ Demonstrated ability to train and mentor national counterparts in M&E skills and systems

▪ Demonstrated high level report writing skills with a particular emphasis on complying with AusAID’s AusGUIDELINES, Key Result Areas (KRAs)  and cross-cutting issues

▪ Demonstrated ability to facilitate learning from M&E findings with implementation teams and other relevant stakeholders

▪ Experience in working in Indonesia.

 

Languages

▪ English language skills (fluent) – essential

▪ Bahasa Indonesia language skills (intermediate/fluent) – desirable.

 

Success Factors

▪ Conscientious, with an excellent sense of judgment.

▪ Excellent communication and team-building techniques

▪ Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, multi-tasking environment

▪ Demonstrated strong understanding of cultural and social environment in the region, and be able to work successfully in those environments.

▪ Willingness and ability to work effectively with a wide variety of people.

▪ Ability to work as part of a team and coordinate with other project personnel.

▪ Computer literate and strong organizational skills.

▪ Proactive, dynamic, creative, problem-solver

 

MEA Inputs 2010 - 2012

The MEA will undertake a number of inputs over calendar years 2010 to 2012.  While the final number of inputs is yet to be determined, the indicative schedule/duration of inputs is:

Input	Timing	Duration (days)
1	Mar. 10	30
2	Oct. 10	20
TOTAL		50

 

Tasking Notes For Each Specific GOI Activity:

Tasking Notes will be prepared for each specific input stipulating the work to be performed during that input.

 

To be considered please send a written application and CV (4 pages max) to recruit_tamf@uninet.net.id by 29 January 2010. Only short-listed applicants will be contacted. Selections will be made in accordance with Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines.