PHASE 1: PREPARATION
The Evaluation Office will set up the terms of reference, and establish the evaluation team. It will also undertake preliminary research to prepare for the evaluation, and prepare necessary activities to ensure that the team understands the scope, the process, the approach and the methodology of the ADR. During this stage, the task manager will undertake a preparatory mission.
PHASE 2: PRELIMINARY RESEARCH AND EVALUATION PLAN
Preliminary research: Desk review and briefings: Based on the preparatory work by the Evalua- tion Office and other information and materials obtained from the government, UNDP country office and other sources, the evaluation team will analyse, inter alia, national documents and documents related to UNDP’s programmes and The team may have in addition a national assistant
who will assist the organization and logistical arrangements of the team’s activities in the country and provide interpretation when necessary. The evaluation team will report to the desig- nated task manager of the UNDP Evaluation Office, who will also participate in the evaluation as appropriate.
ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES, AND MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS UNDP Evaluation Office
The Evaluation Office will conduct the ADR in collaboration with DIC/MPI of the Lao Govern- ment. Its task manager will provide overall management of and technical backstopping to the evaluation. The task manager will set the terms of reference for the evaluation, select the evalua- tion team, receive the inception report, provide guidance to the conduct of evaluation, organize feedback sessions and a stakeholder meeting, receive the first draft of the report and decide on its acceptability, and manage the review and follow-up processes. The task manager will also support the evaluation team in understanding the scope, the process, the approach and the method- ology of the ADR, provide ongoing advice and feedback to the team for quality assurance, partic- ipating in evaluation activities as appropriate, and assist the team leader in finalizing the report. The Evaluation Office will meet all costs related to the conduct of the ADR.
Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Planning and Investment (DIC/MPI)
DIC/MPI of the Lao Government will collab- orate with the UNDP Evaluation Office in conducting the ADR. It will provide inputs to the terms of reference particularly on key evalua- tion questions, and initial feedback to the prelim- inary findings, conclusions and recommendations made by the team. It will facilitate the conduct of the ADR by the evaluation team by: providing necessary access to information source within the
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schedule may need to be further adjusted during the data collection.
The team will collect data according to the evalu- ation plan defined in the inception report, inter alia, by conducting interviews, organizing focus group meetings, conducting surveys, observing the project activities and results, and collecting further documentary evidences.
During the data collection phase, the team may start the validation of emerging hypothesis and findings to facilitate the process and to ensure all of its findings are well supported.
The task manager may join the evaluation team during this stage when possible and desirable. Data analysis: The evaluation team will analyse the data collected to reach preliminary assess- ments, conclusions and recommendations. Once the data is collected, the evaluation team should dedicate some time (up to one week) to its analysis. The task manager will join the team during this phase to assist in the analysis and validation.
The outcome of the data analysis will be prelimi- nary assessments for each evaluation criterion/ question, general conclusions to answer key questions and provide overarching findings from the analysis, and strategic and operational recommendations.
Once the preliminary assessments, conclusions and recommendations are thus formulated, the evaluation team will debrief DIC/MPI and the country office to obtain initial feedback to avoid factual inaccuracies and gross misinterpretation. Stakeholder workshop: A stakeholder workshop will be co-organized by DIC/MPI and UNDP Evaluation Office at the end of the data collec- tion and analysis phase to present preliminary findings, assessments, conclusions and recom- mendations to a wide range of stakeholders, and to obtain their feedback to be incorporated in the early drafts of the report.
projects over the period being examined. The evaluation team may also request briefings by country office programme staff to deepen the understanding of their work portfolio and activi- ties. With the preliminary research, the evalua- tion team is expected to develop a good under- standing of the challenges that the country has been facing, and the responses and the achieve- ments of UNDP through its country programme and other activities.
Evaluation plan: Inception report: Based on the preliminary research above and the exchanges with the country office as required, the evaluation team will develop the evaluation plan and submit it as an inception report. The evaluation plan should include:
brief overview of key development challenges,
national strategies and UN/UNDP response to contextualize evaluation questions;
evaluation questions for each evaluation
criteria (as defined in the ADR Manual);
methods to be used and sources of informa-
tion to be consulted in addressing each set of evaluation questions;
preliminary hypotheses reached from the desk
study for each evaluation question, with an indication of the information source (e.g., an evaluation report) that led to the hypothesis;
selection of projects/activities to be examined
in depth;
possible visits to project/field activity sites.
PHASE 3: DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS
Data collection: Based on the inception report, the team will carry out the evaluation by collecting data. The evaluation team should establish a schedule of its activities in consultation with the UNDP country office and task manager. The country office will facilitate the organization of these activities. The field visits and observations should also be arranged through the country office. The
A N N E X 1 . T E R M S O F R E F E R E N C E 8 7 RBAP will be responsible for monitoring and
overseeing the implementation of follow-up
actions in the Evaluation Resource Centre.133
Communication and dissemination: The ADR report and brief will be widely distributed in both hard and electronic versions.
The evaluation report will be made available to the UNDP Executive Board by the time of approving a new Country Programme Document. It will be widely distributed by UNDP Evaluation Office and country office, and by DIC/MPI in the Lao Government to stakeholders in the country and at UNDP headquarters, to evaluation outfits of other international organizations, and to evalu- ation societies and research institutions in the region. The report and the management response
will be published on the UNDP website.134