Call for proposals for the evaluation of the Regional Centre for Living Arts in Africa (CERAV), in Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso, a Category 2 Centre under the auspices of UNESCO

Deadline: 25 April 2021

Terms of Reference

Background

Category 2 institutes and centres under the auspices of UNESCO are a global network of institutions of excellence in the Organization’s domains of competence. Given their expertise, these institutes and centres contribute to the implementation of UNESCO’s strategic priorities, programmes, and global development agendas, through international and regional cooperation, research, knowledge production, policy advice, and capacity development. They contribute to the achievement of UNESCO’s strategic programme objectives, priorities, and themes as well as to the attainment of programme results at the Main Line of Action (MLA) level of the UNESCO programme and budget (C/5), whether through individual action, joint action with other category 2 institutes and centres or through joint implementation with the Secretariat.

In order to enhance the operation and effectiveness of individual UNESCO category 2 institutes and centres, UNESCO’s General Conference adopted 40 C/Resolution 99 by which it approved a new “Strategy for Category 2 Institutes and Centres under the auspices of UNESCO”, also referred to as the “2019 Strategy” (document 40 C/79). This Strategy provides, among other elements, guidelines for renewal assessment procedures of category 2 institutes and centres.

Those guidelines provide that an agreement for the establishment of a centre as a category 2 centre is typically concluded for a definite time-period, not exceeding eight years. The Director-General may recommend the renewal to the Executive Board, following an evaluation of the activities of the institute or centre and of its contribution to UNESCO’s Approved Programme and Budget (C/5), including global strategies and action plans, as well as sectoral and programme priorities, which shall be conducted by a team of gender-balanced independent experts, in line with the provisions of the aforementioned 2019 Strategy. The conclusions of the renewal evaluation will serve as the basis for the Intersectoral Review Committee’s recommendation to the Director-General as to whether the agreement with the category 2 centre should be renewed or not.

The Regional Centre for the Living Arts in Africa (CERAV) (hereafter, ‘the Centre’) is a category 2 centre established through an agreement signed by the Government of Burkina Faso and the Director-General of UNESCO in 2010, which entered into force on the 1^st August 2015 and is set to expire on 31 July 2021. According to this agreement, the Centre’s key objectives are to:

• Promote African living arts in their diversity, taking into account all their creative potential and encouraging exchanges and creation between African countries;
• Assist States cooperating with the Centre in the field of creation, promotion and strengthening of the living arts sector, to integrate cultural, social and economic measures for the living arts in their development strategies;
• Work for the collection of data and the exchange of information, expertise and good practices in the field of the living arts at the regional level, thereby contributing to a better understanding amongst people and communities both within and outside of Africa;
• Promote, as appropriate, at the international and regional levels, the integration and joint implementation of policies and plans of action concerning the protection, promotion, management, production and dissemination of the living arts and, to this end, carry out training activities
• Encourage the joint elaboration and implementation of policies and action plans at the African level of joint policies and strategies in the field of culture through living arts and associated cultural industries;
• Accompany the implementation of the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions in Africa.

Purpose

The main purpose of this evaluation is to assess the Centre’s performance with respect to its objectives and functions, as specified in the agreement between UNESCO and the Government of Burkina Faso, and its contribution to UNESCO’s strategic programme objectives, as defined in the Organization’s Medium-Term Strategy (37 C/4), and sectoral or intersectoral programme priorities and themes, as defined in the Organization’s Approved Programme and Budget for the considered period (37 C/5 and 39 C/5). The renewal evaluation shall serve as the basis for the assessment by the Intersectoral Review Committee and its recommendation to the UNESCO Director-General as to whether the agreement should be renewed or not. On this basis, the Director-General will then provide a recommendation as to whether the designation as category 2 centre under the auspices of UNESCO should be renewed or not in her report to the Executive Board. The Executive Board will examine the renewal request submitted by the Director-General, and decide on the renewal or non-renewal of the designation of the centre as a category 2 centre under the auspices of UNESCO and, if the outcome is positive, authorize the Director-General to conclude a renewal agreement between UNESCO, the Government of Burkina Faso and the CERAV. The findings of the evaluation will then also be taken into consideration in the drafting of the renewal agreement, which shall be prepared by UNESCO in consultation with the Government of Burkina Faso and CERAV.

The results of the renewal evaluation will be shared with the Government of Burkina Faso and CERAV, and the report will be made available on the Diversity of Cultural Expressions website (https://en.unesco.org/creativity/).

Scope

The following parameters shall be considered by the independent experts contracted to undertake the renewal evaluation. The independent experts, who shall have had no prior affiliation with the Centre and shall draft the renewal evaluation in English or French, should seek to determine:

1. the extent to which the centre’s objectives as set out in the agreement signed with UNESCO were achieved;
2. the relevance of the contribution of the centre’s programmes and activities to the achievement of UNESCO’s prevailing Approved Programme and Budget (C/5) at the time in which it was designated, including global strategies and action plans as well as sectoral programme priorities, as defined in the agreement, as well as to the priorities defined by the governing bodies of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions;
3. the relevance of the contribution of the activities of the centre to global development agendas;
4. the quality of coordination and interaction with UNESCO, both at Headquarters and in the field, as well as with National Commissions, other thematically- related category 1 and 2 institutes or centres with regard to planning and implementation of programmes;
5. the partnerships developed and maintained with government agencies, public or private partners and donors;
6. the nature and efficiency of the centre’s governance, including organizational arrangements, management, human resources and accountability mechanisms;
7. the financial resources available for ensuring sustainable institutional capacity and viability;
8. the extent to which the centre enjoys within its territory the autonomy necessary for the execution of its activities and legal capacity to contract, institute legal proceedings, and to acquire and dispose of movable and immovable property.

Methodology

The evaluation of the Centre shall include:

• A desk study of relevant documents, provided by the Centre and UNESCO Secretariat, (see “Background documents” below);
• Interviews with the Centre’s management and staff (telephone, online and/or via e-mail or in-person if the evaluation team has a local partner and the conditions allow it);
• Interviews (telephone, online and/or via e-mail or in-person if the evaluation team has a local partner and the conditions allow it) with the Centre’s stakeholders and collaborators, as well as with the beneficiaries targeted by its activities, including in the States cooperating with the Centre;
• Interviews with relevant staff of the Ministries of Culture, Arts and Tourism and of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Burkina Faso ((telephone, online and/or via e-mail or in-person if the evaluation team has a local partner and the conditions allow it);
• Interviews with UNESCO staff concerned;
• Preparation of the draft evaluation report.

Roles and responsibilities

The evaluation shall be conducted by a gender-balanced team of experts/evaluators.

The Diversity of Cultural Expressions Entity within UNESCO’s Culture Sector will facilitate and oversee the evaluation process, to the extent possible, by providing any relevant information, and will be responsible for reviewing and approving approve the contractor’s deliverables.

Background documents

UNESCO shall make the following documents available to the evaluation team in electronic form:

• The Executive Board and General Conference documents concerning the establishment and renewal of the Centre;
• The existing Agreements between the Government of Burkina Faso and UNESCO concerning the establishment and continued operation of the Centre;
• The Medium-term Strategy 2014-2021 (37 C/4), Approved programme and budget 2016-2017 (38 C/5) and 2018-2021 (39 C/5);
• Relevant working documents of the statutory organs of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions
• Relevant correspondence and documents concerning the cooperation between UNESCO and the Centre.

The Centre shall make the following documents available to the evaluation team in French or English, in electronic or paper form:

• Annual Workplans;
• Annual progress reports;
• Financial reports;
• List of staff, their roles and qualifications;
• List of key publications;
• List of donors and project partners;
• Minutes, decisions and working documents of the Centre’s Governing Body;
• Report of support provided to or received from Member States;
• Available audit and evaluation reports;
• Account of networking achievements linked with other thematically related category 2 institutes or centres and UNESCO’s programmes.

Draft evaluation report

A draft report shall present findings, conclusions and recommendations, with a draft executive summary. The Diversity of Cultural Expressions Entity within UNESCO’s Culture Sector, the Government of Burkina Faso and the Centre itself shall have the opportunity to comment and give feedback to the evaluation team.

Final evaluation report

The final report (max. 20 pages, excluding annexes) should be structured as follows:

• Executive summary (maximum four pages);
• Introduction (background, purpose and scope);
• Methodology;
• Findings;
• Recommendations;
• Annexes (including interview list, data collection instruments, key documents consulted, Terms of Reference).

The report shall be drafted in English or French.

Evaluation team

The evaluation team shall be gender-balanced and consist of independent experts/evaluators. A single proposal/expression of interest must be submitted on behalf of the team, and a single contract will be awarded.

Qualifications:

• At least 10 years of professional experience in policy and programme evaluation in the context of international development; experience in the evaluation of international cultural cooperation programmes will be considered an asset;
• Linguistic competencies in French (oral and written) and proven ability to conduct interviews in French are essential;
• Knowledge of the role and mandate of UNESCO and its programmes, knowledge of the programmes of UNESCO Culture Sector and in particular of the 2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, will be considered an asset.

Schedule

The evaluation shall be completed no later than 25 June 2021 and the final report presented no later than 25 July 2021.

Submission of proposals/expression of interest

This call is for institutions or legal entities (i.e. for-profit or not-for-profit organisations). Interested candidates should submit their applications in English or French, consisting of:

1. A proposal regarding the team composition and structure with recent CVs.;
2. Letter expressing interest and clearly identifying how the company meets the required skills and experience;
3. An approach and methodology for the assignment, a Workplan and comments on the Terms of Reference if any (in brief);
4. A financial proposal (quoted in US dollars), with a breakdown of the cost and number of working days required for each phase of the schedule.

Applications should be submitted no later than 25 April 2021, midnight (Paris time) to the Entity for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (convention2005@unesco.org). Please note that applications submitted through other channels will not be considered. Selection will be based on the technical proposal and on the basis of best value for money.