Evaluation Specialist for “Joint UNEP-UNIDO Programme at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Specific Responsibilities for the Evaluation Specialists:

• The Evaluation Specialists will make substantive and high-quality contributions to the evaluation process and outputs.
• The Evaluation Specialists will provide substantive contributions to the inception phase of the evaluation, substantive contributions to the data collection and analysis, substantive contributions to the main report and ensure good teamwork and external relations.
• The three consultants will ensure together that all evaluation criteria and questions are adequately covered.

The Evaluation Team members will undertake the following: Inception phase of the Evaluation, including:

•  preliminary desk review and introductory interviews with project staff;
•  draft the reconstructed Theory of Change of the project;
•  prepare the evaluation framework;
•  develop the desk review and interview protocols;
•  draft the survey protocols;
•  develop and present criteria for country and/or site selection for the evaluation mission;
•  plan the evaluation schedule;
•  prepare the Inception Report, incorporating comments until approved by the Evaluation Manager

Data collection and analysis phase of the Evaluation, including:

•  conduct further desk review and in-depth interviews with project implementing and executing agencies, project partners and project stakeholders;
•  conduct an evaluation mission to selected countries, interview project partners and stakeholders, including a good representation of local partners and stakeholders. Ensure independence of the Evaluation and confidentiality of evaluation interviews.
•  regularly report back to the Evaluation Manager on progress and inform of any possible problems or issues encountered and;
•  in consultation with the Evaluation Manager, keep the CTCN Secretariat and Evaluation Reference Group informed of the evaluation process.

Reporting phase, including:

•  draft the Main Evaluation Report, ensuring that the evaluation report is complete, coherent and consistent with the Evaluation Manager guidelines both in substance and style;
•  liaise with the Evaluation Manager on comments received and finalize the Main Evaluation Report, ensuring that comments are taken into account until approved by the Evaluation Manager
•  prepare a Response to Comments annex for the main report, listing those comments not accepted by the Evaluation Consultant and indicating the reason for the rejection; and
•  (where agreed with the Evaluation Manager) prepare an Evaluation Brief (2-page summary of the evaluand and the key evaluation findings and lessons)

Managing relations, including:

•  maintain a positive relationship with evaluation stakeholders, ensuring that the evaluation process is as participatory as possible but at the same time maintains its independence;
•  communicate in a timely manner with the Evaluation Manager on any issues requiring its attention and intervention.

The Evaluation Specialist shall have had no prior involvement in the formulation or implementation of the work of CTCN and will be independent from the participating institutions. The consultant will sign the Evaluation Consultant Code of Conduct Agreement Form.

The Evaluation Specialist will be selected and recruited by the UNEP Evaluation Office through an individual consultancy contract.

Comprehensive terms of reference will be shared with the consultant separately.

Qualifications/special skills

• A first level university degree in environmental sciences, international development or other relevant political or social sciences area is required
• A minimum of 8 years of technical/monitoring/evaluation/statistics experience is required
• A good/broad understanding UNFCCC processes and climate convention in general is required
• Working knowledge in a development related organization especially the UN system and specifically the work of UNEP is an advantage.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this consultancy, fluency in oral and written English is a requirement. Proficiency in another UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish) is desirable.