The Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania and the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar provide for the election of the President of the United Republic of Tanzania and Members of Parliament and Local Councils, and on Zanzibar the President of Zanzibar, the members of the House of Representatives and local councils every five years. The country’s fourth multi-party elections will be held in October 2010. The past three elections since the reintroduction of multiparty politics have been generally considered as free and credible on the Mainland but have been much more problematic on Zanzibar where there has been election-related violence (2000/2001) and allegations of registration rigging (2005). Notwithstanding, in the periods between elections, the country has taken notable steps to consolidate democracy including the revision of legislation and introduction of new laws including the Election Expenses Act 2010.

 

Acknowledging the centrality of credible and legitimate elections in democratic consolidation and based on the needs identified by the Government, its key partners and stakeholders, the URT and the Government of Zanzibar (GOZ), through NEC and ZEC, have engaged early in the preparations of the 2010 elections. To complement the national initiative, the Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) requested the United Nations for support to enhance the relevant national capacities for the preparation, management, conduct and observation during these upcoming elections in 2010. The request was based on the recognition of the importance of effectively addressing the persistent electoral challenges and of responding to the expectations of the electorate for credible elections, and suggsted the need for a rapid augmentation of election management capacity.

 

In response to the request from EMBs, and within the framework of the joint EU-UNDP agreement on electoral assistance, the United Nations fielded a joint electoral Needs Assessment Mission (NAM) from the UN Department of Political Affairs/ Electoral Assistance Division and UNDP to assess the pre-electoral conditions including the political environment and to identify the challenges, constraints and needs of various actors in the electoral process. Among the key actors consulted in terms of their expected roles in the upcoming elections were the EMBs, political parties, civil society organizations, the media, and development partners. The project document is the direct outcome of the needs assessment mission and responds to its recommendations and further reflects additional consultations among programme partners.

The main goal of the Election Support Project 2010, which was formally inaugurated in June 2009, is to further strengthen national capacities for the implementation of free, fair and credible elections, with a focus on strengthening the national leadership of Electoral Management Bodies (EMBs) and engagement and capacities of political parties, media and other civil society, as well as national security management institutions, in contributing to this overall goal.

 

The project is implemented under UNDP Direct Implementation with a dedicated project management team under the leadership and full operational support of the UNDP Country Office. The project has offices in mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar and operates under the overall guidance and leadership of a Steering Committee that has delegated aspects of quality assurance to two stakeholder Technical Committees. Further support, as needed, comes from the UNDP Bureau for Development Policy (BDP) and the UNDP Regional Service Centre based in Johannesburg. The total project budget of USD 28,300,000 is funded through a multi-donor basket funding mechanism which currently receives contributions from the governments of Canada, Denmark, the European Commission, Finland, Norway, Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, UNDP and DFID/the United Kingdom. Cost-sharing agreements signed bilaterally between UNDP and individual Development Partners detail the contractual obligations of the parties.  

 

The Election Support Project will come to a close in June 2011. As per the project document, UNDP Evaluation Policy, and agreement among the partners, an evaluation is to be conducted to independently assess the relative achievement of intended results. While the project comes to an end in June 2011, it is suggested to conduct this evaluation shortly after the electoral events, in order to benefit from the availability of project staff and build on the findings of elections observers and other key informants. This is also a time when a vast majority of project activities will have been completed. The evaluation is expected to also make recommendations that would guide any needed actions in the remaining time of the project up to June 2011. 

 

The evaluation should provide a qualitative, informative and summative assessment of the project components in order to inform stakeholders on the appropriateness of the design, organisation, management, implementation, partnerships, and progress towards achievement of the stated project objectives. 

The overall aim of the evaluation is to assess the contribution by the Elections Support Project to the conduct of free, fair and credible elections in Tanzania and Zanzibar, by validating the results achieved by the project, their likely impact and their relevance to the overall intended outcome and their overall sustainability.

 

A second objective is to record the overall degree of progress in the development of national elections management capacities, in order to support the Electoral Management Bodies in their ongoing efforts to strengthen their management capacities and systems, and to give some indications to the programme partners on the expected need and focus of any future electoral assistance.

 

Thirdly, the evaluation should inform and provide lessons for future programming in the area of Democratic Governance in the context of the 2011-2015 UN Development Assistance Plan (UNDAP) with regard to assistance to . The Evaluation is expected to provide lessons especially in respect of identifying further capacity development needs in national democratic institutions, including suggestions regarding changes to the legal framework around elections.

 

Fourthly, the evaluation should inform continued implementation in the period of January-June 2011, by making recommendations regarding further capacity development, how lessons learnt and key issues can be followed up in the post-election period, and suggesting immediate steps to be taken towards an improvement in the future electoral environment.

 

The evaluation should cover the period from the signing of the Project Document on June 15^th, 2009 until the time of the evaluation. It will examine the ESP’s election support on the Mainland and in Zanzibar, will encompass the entire scope of ESP’s capacity building work with and through NEC and ZEC, civil society organizations, the media and political parties. 

 

Specifically, the evaluation will examine:

 

Relevance – the extent to which the project design and delivery of activities was able to respond to and address:

 

Effectiveness – the extent to which project activities yielded expected outputs at the sub-component level and contributed to expected outcomes, e.g. improved:

Efficiency/Value for Money – the extent to which project funds, expertise and time were used judiciously to achieve desired project results – i.e. with minimal duplication and redundancy. Were project inputs procured in a timely way and with intended results?

 

Sustainability – the extent to which the legislative and policy innovations, strengthened human capacities, and management systems are likely to benefit the EMBs into the future with a view to the next scheduled elections in 2015. Sustainability should be assessed in particular with regard to the following:

Impact– the evaluation should seek to approximate or estimate the project’s contribution to free, fair and credible elections in 2010.

 

The evaluation should further aim to:

 As much as possible, the evaluation should refer to the start of the project period, or the start of project monitoring where applicable, as its baseline for comparative analysis. While many improvements have been recorded in Tanzania’s electoral environment since the 2005 elections, many of them are not attributed to this project;

 

 

The evaluators will develop a work plan and approach that addresses the following key evaluation questions:

 

The evaluation should use a combination of the following methods for data collection:

Key Informant Interviews – the evaluation should include interviews with key stakeholders:

Structured surveys and semi-structured  telephone interviews – project staff and key informants no longer in the country could be approached by telephone, e-survey or both. The evaluators may also wish to use this tool for other data collection purposes.

 

Stakeholder Consultations – Consultations with groups of stakeholders i.e. media, CSOs Development Partners, Political Parties, National Observers etc.

 

In conducting data analysis and presenting the findings, the evaluation should use a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. While the evaluation is expected to estimate project impact, it is understood that the evidence of impact may not be available for all components; and further that the methodological rigour usually associated with impact evaluation may not be applicable to this evaluation.

 

In addition to being guided by recognized international standards for free and fair elections as well as the project M&E framework, the evaluators are required to apply substantive expertise to distinguish key indicators of electoral fairness, transparency, and credibility.

 

 

Work plan – within two days of the start of the assignment with UNDP. The document will include a review/elaboration of the evaluation matrix drafted by project management, a detailed approach and methodology, schedule, and a draft data collection protocols. The work plan should also include an outline of the evaluation report. 

 

Preliminary findings report – a presentation of findings to key stakeholders orally and in writing will be made prior to completing the in-country mission. The purpose of this session is to provide opportunity for initial validation and elaboration of the evaluator’s observations and analysis. 

 

Draft evaluation report – within two weeks of leaving the project site, the evaluator will submit a draft evaluation report to UNDP.

 

Final evaluation report – within two weeks of receiving comments from stakeholders, the Evaluation Team will submit a final document.  

 

 

As a minimum, the Evaluation Report (draft or final) shall include the following components:

 

The evaluation will be conducted in accordance with the principles laid out in UNDP Evaluation Policy http://www.undp.org/evaluation/ and the principles outlined in the UNEG ‘Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation” ttp://www.uneval.org/search/index.jsp?q=ethical+guidelines.

 

 

The Team Leader will report directly to UNDP Senior Management, who will provide guidance in the development of the work plan and ensure the monitoring of satisfactory completion of evaluation deliverables. UNDP and/or the Elections Support Project will provide office space and access to office services such as local transport, internet and printing. Evaluators should provide their own computer and communications equipment.

In consultation with the Evaluation Team Leader and as requested, UNDP and ESP personnel will make available all relevant documentation and provide contact information to key project partners and stakeholders, and facilitate contact where needed.

 

The Evaluation is expected to start on 15 November 2010 and have an expected total duration of 30 working days. The final work plan will be confirmed by the Evaluation Team and UNDP upon submission of a draft work plan for discussion.

 

Activity and number of days:

 

             Total: 30 working days

 

It is expected that the mission will spend 3-4 weeks on in-country work (including domestic travel time), and that remaining time will be allocated for the production of evaluation deliverables.

 

A team of three independent experts, two international and one national, will be contracted to undertake the evaluation. The Team Leader will lead, organize, and supervise the work of the evaluation team, ensuring a division of labor that is commensurate with the skills profiles of the individual team members.

 

He or she will have overall responsibility for the production of deliverables, in particular the evaluation report, and is ultimately accountable for its quality. The Team Leader is also responsible for ensuring adequate consultations with all stakeholders and for reporting to UNDP on progress.

 

Specifically, the team members will have the following profiles:

 

 

 

Consultants will be contracted by UNDP and remunerated according to UNDPs standard rates for consultants and in line with the level of their experience and expertise. The contract will be output-based and payment issued only upon delivery of satisfactory outputs.