Mid Term Review Evaluation Expert – Low Carbon Solutions Kutaisi GeorgiaMid Term Review Evaluation Expert – Low Carbon Solutions Kutaisi Georgia at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Task Manager, (based in Geneva, Switzerland) and the overall guidance of the Portfolio Manager of the GEF Biodiversity and Land Degradation Unit based in Nairobi. Duties and Responsibilities The project “Low Carbon Solutions through Nature Based Urban Development for Kutaisi City” has been designed as a package of technical and institutional capacity building measures at city level leading to policies to improve service quality for public transport and to develop integrated land-use/transport plans for the city of Kutaisi. The project is intended to develop plans and policies which lead to new investment decisions which significantly entail improvement of the transport management infrastructure in Kutaisi. Broad involvement of stakeholders in consultations as part of the project means that the project involves civil society organizations and allows for a participatory approach to the solution of the problems related to the sustainable management of transport. The project enables Georgia to mainstream environmental issues into its transport management infrastructure and assists the country to meet its commitments to UNFCCC through the reduction of GHG emissions due to the fact that the project is expected to lead to the increased use of sustainable transport modes. The SLM component provides best practices on how land degradation challenges could be addressed at city scale. The project’s objective is to enable a transformative shift towards sustainable urban development within and outside of Kutaisi City of Georgia by strengthening planning and institutional frameworks, demonstrating and scaling-up investment in integrated low-carbon electric solutions in transport and sustainable land management practices. Achieving these objectives requires collaboration with a wide range of stakeholder.

Three components are being implemented:

Component 1 – Strengthening planning and institutional frameworks enabling sustainable development in the City of Kutaisi. This component supports Kutaisi City authorities and relevant national agencies to prepare and adopt applicable spatial and urban development planning documents to establish legal planning basis to foster low emission development, low-carbon electric public transport and sustainable land management within and around Kutaisi in line with the newly adopted Spatial Planning, Architectural and Building Code (2018) and Rules for Development of Spatial and Urban Plans (2019), relevant provisions of the national climate and land degradation strategies, as well as priorities set-up in the SEAP, as described in the baseline section.

Component 2 - Facilitating investment in low emission electric public transportation and green city development. Main objective of this component is to support low emission development and LDN through demonstration of economic and technical feasibility of integrated municipal pilot projects. This component supports identification and demonstration of financial and technical feasibility of integrated low emission electric urban transport and SLM solutions. As part of this component financial needs assessment for achieving low emission urban transportation and green city development have been undertaken and resource mobilization strategy/plan has been prepared.

Component 3 - Capacity development, knowledge management and M&E for integrated low carbon city development. Objective of the Component 3 is that City of Kutaisi demonstrates improved capacities for low-carbon electric public transport and sustainable land management. The component will focus on capacity building, knowledge sharing and dissemination. It will start with capacity needs assessment and preparation of capacity building plan for the city administration. The GEF-Biodiversity and Land Degradation unit is seeking to recruit a consultant to conduct the Mid Term Review of the project to assess the achievements of the project to date, the challenges faced and engage with project counterparts to overcome the issues. Specifically,

The consultant will be required to complete the following tasks:

Inception phase:

• Preliminary desk review and introductory interviews with project staff.
• Prepare the review framework in line with UNEP's evaluation guidelines.
• Identify stakeholders.
• Develop the interview/questions matrix.
• Plan the review schedule.
• Prepare the Inception Report. Data collection and analysis phase of the review, including:
• Conduct further desk review and in-depth interviews with project implementing and executing agencies, project partners and project stakeholders.
• Regularly report back to the Task Manager on progress and inform of any possible problems or issues encountered. Reporting phase, including:
• Draft the Review Report, ensuring that the review report is complete, coherent and consistent with the Task Manager guidelines both in substance and style.
• Liaise with the Task Manager on comments received and finalize the Review Report, ensuring that comments are considered until approved by the Task Manager.
• Prepare a Response to Comments annex for the main report, listing those comments not accepted indicating the reason for the rejection. Managing relations, including:
• Maintain a positive relationship with stakeholders, ensuring that the review process is as participatory as possible but at the same time maintains its independence.
• Communicate in a timely manner with the Task Manager on any issues requiring its attention and intervention.

The consultant will prepare the following documents, in consultation and collaboration with the Project team:

• Inception Report: containing an assessment of project, project stakeholder analysis, review framework and a tentative review schedule.
• Preliminary Findings Note: typically, in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, the sharing of preliminary findings is intended to support the participation of the project team, act to ensure all information sources have been accessed and provide an opportunity to verify emerging findings.
• Draft and Final Review Report: containing an executive summary that can act as a stand- alone document; detailed analysis of the review findings organized by review criteria and supported with evidence; lessons learned and recommendations and an annotated ratings table.

Qualifications/Special Skills

• An Advanced degree in environmental sciences, international development or other relevant political or social sciences area is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience in the required field may be accepted in lieu of the advanced degree.
• A minimum of 7 years of technical / evaluation experience, including of evaluating large, global programmes, including overseeing project teams, managing complex budgets, interacting with oversight personnel or committees, and demonstrating adaptive management when necessary is required.
• Hands-on experience in managing national and international projects concerning GHG emissions, carbon reduction with electric public transportation and sustainable urban transportation planning, sustainable transportation etc. is highly desirable.
• Working experience in an international environment is desirable.
• Experience in the project target area in Georgia and Caucasus region is an asset.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat.
• For the post advertised, fluency in oral and written English is required.

Deadline : Jul 11, 2024

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Task Manager, (based in Geneva, Switzerland) and the overall guidance of the Portfolio Manager of the GEF Biodiversity and Land Degradation Unit based in Nairobi. Duties and Responsibilities The project “Low Carbon Solutions through Nature Based Urban Development for Kutaisi City” has been designed as a package of technical and institutional capacity building measures at city level leading to policies to improve service quality for public transport and to develop integrated land-use/transport plans for the city of Kutaisi. The project is intended to develop plans and policies which lead to new investment decisions which significantly entail improvement of the transport management infrastructure in Kutaisi. Broad involvement of stakeholders in consultations as part of the project means that the project involves civil society organizations and allows for a participatory approach to the solution of the problems related to the sustainable management of transport. The project enables Georgia to mainstream environmental issues into its transport management infrastructure and assists the country to meet its commitments to UNFCCC through the reduction of GHG emissions due to the fact that the project is expected to lead to the increased use of sustainable transport modes. The SLM component provides best practices on how land degradation challenges could be addressed at city scale. The project’s objective is to enable a transformative shift towards sustainable urban development within and outside of Kutaisi City of Georgia by strengthening planning and institutional frameworks, demonstrating and scaling-up investment in integrated low-carbon electric solutions in transport and sustainable land management practices. Achieving these objectives requires collaboration with a wide range of stakeholder.

Three components are being implemented:

Component 1 – Strengthening planning and institutional frameworks enabling sustainable development in the City of Kutaisi. This component supports Kutaisi City authorities and relevant national agencies to prepare and adopt applicable spatial and urban development planning documents to establish legal planning basis to foster low emission development, low-carbon electric public transport and sustainable land management within and around Kutaisi in line with the newly adopted Spatial Planning, Architectural and Building Code (2018) and Rules for Development of Spatial and Urban Plans (2019), relevant provisions of the national climate and land degradation strategies, as well as priorities set-up in the SEAP, as described in the baseline section.

Component 2 - Facilitating investment in low emission electric public transportation and green city development. Main objective of this component is to support low emission development and LDN through demonstration of economic and technical feasibility of integrated municipal pilot projects. This component supports identification and demonstration of financial and technical feasibility of integrated low emission electric urban transport and SLM solutions. As part of this component financial needs assessment for achieving low emission urban transportation and green city development have been undertaken and resource mobilization strategy/plan has been prepared.

Component 3 - Capacity development, knowledge management and M&E for integrated low carbon city development. Objective of the Component 3 is that City of Kutaisi demonstrates improved capacities for low-carbon electric public transport and sustainable land management. The component will focus on capacity building, knowledge sharing and dissemination. It will start with capacity needs assessment and preparation of capacity building plan for the city administration. The GEF-Biodiversity and Land Degradation unit is seeking to recruit a consultant to conduct the Mid Term Review of the project to assess the achievements of the project to date, the challenges faced and engage with project counterparts to overcome the issues. Specifically,

The consultant will be required to complete the following tasks:

Inception phase:

• Preliminary desk review and introductory interviews with project staff.
• Prepare the review framework in line with UNEP's evaluation guidelines.
• Identify stakeholders.
• Develop the interview/questions matrix.
• Plan the review schedule.
• Prepare the Inception Report. Data collection and analysis phase of the review, including:
• Conduct further desk review and in-depth interviews with project implementing and executing agencies, project partners and project stakeholders.
• Regularly report back to the Task Manager on progress and inform of any possible problems or issues encountered. Reporting phase, including:
• Draft the Review Report, ensuring that the review report is complete, coherent and consistent with the Task Manager guidelines both in substance and style.
• Liaise with the Task Manager on comments received and finalize the Review Report, ensuring that comments are considered until approved by the Task Manager.
• Prepare a Response to Comments annex for the main report, listing those comments not accepted indicating the reason for the rejection. Managing relations, including:
• Maintain a positive relationship with stakeholders, ensuring that the review process is as participatory as possible but at the same time maintains its independence.
• Communicate in a timely manner with the Task Manager on any issues requiring its attention and intervention.

The consultant will prepare the following documents, in consultation and collaboration with the Project team:

• Inception Report: containing an assessment of project, project stakeholder analysis, review framework and a tentative review schedule.
• Preliminary Findings Note: typically, in the form of a PowerPoint presentation, the sharing of preliminary findings is intended to support the participation of the project team, act to ensure all information sources have been accessed and provide an opportunity to verify emerging findings.
• Draft and Final Review Report: containing an executive summary that can act as a stand- alone document; detailed analysis of the review findings organized by review criteria and supported with evidence; lessons learned and recommendations and an annotated ratings table.

Qualifications/Special Skills

• An Advanced degree in environmental sciences, international development or other relevant political or social sciences area is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience in the required field may be accepted in lieu of the advanced degree.
• A minimum of 7 years of technical / evaluation experience, including of evaluating large, global programmes, including overseeing project teams, managing complex budgets, interacting with oversight personnel or committees, and demonstrating adaptive management when necessary is required.
• Hands-on experience in managing national and international projects concerning GHG emissions, carbon reduction with electric public transportation and sustainable urban transportation planning, sustainable transportation etc. is highly desirable.
• Working experience in an international environment is desirable.
• Experience in the project target area in Georgia and Caucasus region is an asset.

Languages

• English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat.
• For the post advertised, fluency in oral and written English is required.

Deadline : Jul 11, 2024