Monitoring and Evaluation Experts

I. INTRODUCTION
In order to support the development of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in rural areas of Vietnam, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development has approved the project "Study on policy recommendations to support development of small and medium enterprises in the agriculture sector – phase 2 &3”, sponsored by Spainish government and assigned Institute of Policy and Strategy for Agriculture and Rural Development.
The overall objective of the project is to provide policy recommendations to facilitate the growth of agricultural and rural SMEs in Vietnam so as to generate more employment for rural labor, increase rural incomes and promote the competitiveness of enterprises.

In order to successfully implement the overal objective, the specific ones include:
1. To develop a system of information and database on agricultural and rural SMEs
2. Implement studies for exploring constraints and difficulties preventing formulation and growth of  agricultural/rural SMEs
3. Develop and implement pilot policy models in agricultural and rural SMEs
4. Provide policy recommendations to help creating favorable investment climate for enhancing the growth of agricultural/rural SMEs;
5. Organize policy dialogues on SMEs to support for development of SMEs in general and agricultural/rural SMEs in particular;
The project now is coming to the 2nd year of implementation with many activities have been conducted. The PMU therefore would like to mobilize a group of experts to conduct the M&E work for the specific activities of the project as well as the whole project.

II. OBJECTIVE OF MISSION
- The objective of the mission is to conduct M&E activities for the specific activities and the whole project to  improve the performance of the projects with more effective impact on improving SMEs in agriculture and rural development sector of Vietnam.
- To perform this task, the PMU is promoting the establishment of a M&E team with the following specific requirements.

III. MAIN TASKS:
- Common tasks of the whole group:
- Review documents relating to the project
- Review documents relating to performance, role, difficulties and challenges of smes in agricultural and rural sector
- Review available documents of the project

Expert 1: M&E for Activity 1 of doing deep studies based on the enterprise census conducted by GSO
Set up indicators set for monitoring and evaluation of the different research activities, including 3 in-depth studies
Participate in workshops/seminars organized by research team and/or PMU
Conduct the M&E activities accordingly with the set of indicators designed
Provide 01 mid-term review report and 01 final review report to monitor and evaluate the contribution of the activity, the relevance of the activity to the objective of the project and propose any recommendations if needed.

Expert 2: M&E for Activity 2 of conducting pilot survey on investment climate evaluation for unregistered business households/ enterprises in some provinces
Set up indicators set for monitoring and evaluation of the research activities
Make comments for the key reports/outputs of the study
Carry out 3 field visits to 3 provinces to monitor the survey activities of the research teams
Participate in workshops/seminars organized by research team and/or PMU
Conduct the M&E activities accordingly with the set of indicators designed
Provide 01 mid-term review report and 01 final review report to monitor and evaluate the contribution of the activity, the relevance of the activity to the objective of the project and propose any recommendations if needed.

Expert 3: M&E for Activity 3 of conducting communication & information activities on agricultural and rural enterprises
Set up indicators set for monitoring and evaluation for different communication and information activities, including:
Updating database on agricultural and rural SMEs supporting policies
Building the Atlas of Vietnamese agricultural and rural enterprises
Enhancing capacity on market information consultancy for agricultural and rural SMEs
Enhancing policy dialog between SMEs and policy making and management agencies
Make comments for the key reports/outputs of the activities
Participate in workshops/seminars organized by implementation team and/or PMU
Conduct the M&E activities accordingly with the set of indicators designed
Provide 01 mid-term review report and 01 final review report to monitor and evaluate the contribution of the activity, the relevance of the activity to the objective of the project and propose any recommendations if needed.

Expert 4: M&E for Activity 4 of creation of research team on agricultural and rural enterprises for IPSARD
Set up indicators set for monitoring and evaluation for research activities of this research group including:
Study on proposal of mechanism converting from monetary compensation directly to land-lost farmers to forms of equity investment in areas of changing the usage of agricultural land to other purposes
Test model on vocational tranining for rural residents transferring from agricultural profession to non-agricultural ones
Test model to improve management and organizational capacity of agricultural and rural  SMEs
Make comments for the key reports/outputs of the study/models
Participate in workshops/seminars organized by implementation team and/or PMU
Conduct the M&E activities accordingly with the set of indicators designed
Provide 01 mid-term review report and 01 final review report to monitor and evaluate the contribution of the activity, the relevance of the activity to the objective of the project and propose any recommendations if needed.

Expert 5: Mornitoring and evaluation on pilot model linking enterprises, cooperatives and farmers from production to processing and trading to draw policy lessons from actual operations
Set up indicators set for monitoring and evaluation for the activities of these models including:
Models supporting organic fruit and vegetable production and linking to the market
Model on labour usage after vocational training transferring from agricultural profession to non-agricultural one (set up center on introducing jobs, improving skills, caring and proctecting labour's benefits)
Model for developing rural tourism firstly in agricultural production zones of to improve off-farm job and income of local people through connecting with rural  companies
Participate in workshops/seminars organized by implementation team and/or PMU
Conduct the M&E activities accordingly with the set of indicators designed
Provide 01 mid-term review report and 01 final review report to monitor and evaluate the contribution of the activity, the relevance of the activity to the objective of the project and propose any recommendations if needed.
Expert 6: Monitoring and evaluating the whole project
Based on the indicators set by the mentioned above activities, set up indicators set for monitoring the phase 2&3 of the project
Design the M&E mechanism for the project to evaluate the relevance of activities implemented with the overall and specific objectives of the project.
Monitor the performance of the activities accordingly with the mechanism designed
Participate in key workshops/seminars organized by PMU
Recommend any necessary changes to the specific activity of the project
Evaluate the performance of the project and recommendations for the next phase

IV. PROFESSIONAL REQUIREMENTS
Common requirements for all experts:
- privilege is given to any with deep understanding of agricultural sector, especially the SMEs in this sector
- ability on proposing ideas and evaluating issues
- competence in English
- team working skills
- independent working for M&E work
- Specific requirements as belows:

Expert 1&2:
- have at least master degree on economics, business, trade...
- have at least 5-10 years of experiences in conducting development researches on enterprises, agricultural business...
Expert 3:
- have at least bachelor degree relating to economics, communication, media development...
- have at least 10 years of experiences in participating in communication activities in media agencies
Expert 4:
- have at least master degree on economics, business, trade...
- have at least 5-10 years of experiences in conducting researches on enterprises, agricultural business...
- priviledge is given to any who has experiences in implementing models at the field supporting agricultural business and farmers.
Expert 5:
- have at least master degree on economics, business, trade...
- have at least 5-10 years of experiences in supporting agricultural business or involving in business development project
- priviledge is given to any who has experiences in implementing models at the field supporting agricultural business and farmers.
Expert 6:
- have at least master degree on economics, business, trade...
- have at least 5-10 years of experiences in conducting development project
- priviledge is given to any who has experiences in conducting M&E activities for policy or program/project.

V. WORKING MECHANISM
Experts will make report directly to the Director of  PMU and work under the direct supervision of the PMU office in IPSARD -  No. 16 Thuy Khue – Hanoi.

Experts are recruited to work from January 2011 to December 2011 occasionally at PMU.

Expenses (including expert’s fees and field work fees if any) for different experts are specified as belows:
Expert 1: 20 days x expert’s fees
Expert 2&3: 50 days/person x expert’s fees + fied work fees (for expert 2)
Expert 4, 5 & 6: 75 days/person x expert’s fees

The experts’ fees are generally defined by experience and capability of the expert according to current UN-EU guideline for financing of local costs in cooperation development with Vietnam.

Apply by email only with CV in English, scan copies of relevant certificates before March 30th, 2011 to [email protected]