Economic Stat Programme Evaluation.

Descriptions

DFID seeks a supplier to conduct an evaluation of its Economic Statistics Programme. The programme aims to improve the quality and availability of economic statistics by strengthening the capacity of national statistics systems. The evaluation will be used for both accountability and learning purposes. The supplier will evaluate two components of the programme: the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Enhanced Data Dissemination Initiative 2 (EDDI2); and the UN Economic and Social Council for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) Regional Programme for Economic Statistics (RPES). DFID has committed 6 200 000 GBP to the IMF for EDDI2 to provide technical assistance and training on macroeconomic statistics to national statistical systems in over 40 countries in Africa and Asia. 1 500 000 GBP has been committed to UNESCAP for the Regional Programme for Economic Statistics which will support 9 countries in South Asia to implement action plans for economic statistics, as well as developing training materials. This will be a summative and process evaluation. It will require a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods to assess the intervention on the basis of its contribution to development outcomes and impacts within its context. We expect that a theory based approach and robust mixed methods to be used. An important assumption to test is whether policy makers are using the economic statistics, which have been improved or produced as a result of this project, and whether this use led to improved policies or decisions. A 3 stage evaluation is required: the inception stage will include an inception report; the mid-term stage will include a midterm review of EDDI2 and an evaluation progress report; the final evaluation stage will include an evaluation report of RPES and a final evaluation report which will include the evaluation of EDDI2. The following evaluation questions have been drafted but may be changed during the tender process and inception period in consultation with stakeholders: 1. Is there evidence to show that the use of economic statistics produced or improved by this programme have led to policies or decisions which have a positive impact on socio-economic development of project countries? Including, what are the barriers to the use of economic statistics and how can they be overcome? 2. What lessons can be learned including an assessment of the effectiveness of RPES and EDDI2 in meeting their objectives and the reasons for this? Including how effective has the pilot approach to focusing on source data been in EDDI2? 3. Is there evidence to show that the capacity built in national statistical systems is sustainable and will be maintained after the end of the projects? Services are expected to commence from November 2016 and run for 4 years up to December 2020 with the option to extend by up to a further 24 months. The maximum budget for delivery of services is 300 000 GBP. DFID has drafted Terms of Reference for this evaluation which will be available on the DFID supplier portal. (https://supplierportal.dfid.gov.uk/selfservice/). The ToRs may change prior to launch of the tender, subject to internal Quality Assurance review.