Result of Service
Develop the inception report & workplan
Deliverable: Approved Inception report & workplan
Delivery Date: 15 September 2020
Develop the draft MTR report (including findings and recommendations)
Deliverable: Draft MTR report
Delivery Date: 30 October 2020
Develop the final MTR report (incorporating UNEP and EU comments)
Deliverable: Approved Final MTR Report
Delivery Date: 30 November 2020
Develop PPT summarizing the main findings and recommendations of the MTR report
Deliverable: Approved PPT summarizing MTR main findings and recommendations
Delivery Date: 10 December 2020
Develop the consultancy completion report
Deliverable: Approved Consultancy completion report (max 3 pages)
Delivery Date: 15 December 2020
Work Location
Home-Based
Expected duration
Duration of contract From: 1 October 2020 – 15 December 2020
Duties and Responsibilities
The SWITCH-Asia Regional Policy Advocacy Component (RPAC) is a project funded by the European Union (EU) and implemented by United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The Project is carried out under UNEP’s Programme of Work (PoW) 614.2 on strengthening resource efficiency and sustainable consumption and production (SCP) policy frameworks in Asia Pacific. The overall objective of SWITCH-Asia RPAC is to strengthen the dialogue at regional, sub-regional and national policies on SCP in 19 countries from the Asia region, thereby contributing to green growth and reduction of poverty in Asian countries. The project has three activity areas: (1) advocacy of SCP related regulatory framework at regional, sub-regional and national fora, (2) demonstration of SCP policy instruments and (3) support to countries for the uptake and reporting of SCP related SDGs (i.e. SDG 12).
To implement the activities, RPAC teams works closely with policy makers and key recipient government stakeholders to ensure their ownership and to build capacity to respond to specific national and regional priorities. RPAC focuses its work on generating exchange spaces where different stakeholders can share know-how and best practices related to SCP. These spaces can take form of regional, sub-regional or national policy dialogues or trainings, multi-stakeholder consultation meetings or thematic roundtables and leadership academies. Additionally, RPAC also implements some national activities providing technical support to develop policies or policy instruments in selected countries.
A mid-term review is a required step of the project implementation under UNEP, focusing on analysing the impact of the project among its various stakeholders, in particular uptake and use of the work of the project and its influence on policy development and awareness raising. In addition to taking into account lessons learned from the evaluation, the mid-term review will allow for a re-alignment of the project to the Programme of Work for 2020-2021
Main duties and responsibilities:
▪ Prepare an inception report & workplan detailing the methodological approach to be used (based on UNEP, EU and OECD/DAC criteria). This report & workplan needs to be approved by UNEP and the EU.
▪ Conduct the evaluation as per the workplan (Conducting interviews, compiling and reviewing secondary data/reports, etc.).
▪ Consolidate the results of the evaluation in the MTR Report, including recommendations and an action plan for the implementation of the recommendations. This report will be reviewed for 2-weeks by UNEP and EU.
▪ Prepare a final version of the MTR Report incorporating the inputs from UNEP and EU.
▪ Prepare a power point presentation (PPT) summarizing the main findings of the review.
▪ Prepare a consultancy completion report (max 3 pages).
Scope of the review:
The project covers 19 countries: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Maldives, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, North Korea, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam, within 3 subregions which are Northeast, Southeast and South Asia. The MTR will cover all the completed activities implemented between 2017-2019.
Full details of the project can be found in the formally agreed contract with the EU which is an integral part of this MTR consultancy. Additional information about the implemented activities can be found in the 2 progress reports already submitted by UNEP to the EU which are also an integral part of the consultancy. In addition, the consultant will be provided with all contracts signed by UNEP with different entities and consultants to support the implementation of the activities.
The MTR needs to have the following characteristics:
– The seven UNEP evaluation criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, sustainability of the outcomes, replication and upscaling and factors influencing performance, are covered. More information can be found at: https://www.unenvironment.org/about-un-environment-programme/evaluation-office/overview. It also needs to align with EU criteria (https://europa.eu/capacity4dev/evaluation_guidelines) and OECD/DAC criteria (https://www.oecd.org/dac/evaluation/daccriteriaforevaluatingdevelopmentassistance.htm).
– Cross-cutting issues, such as gender and environment, are taken into consideration.
– The intervention logic (i.e. logframe) is analysed.
Methods of the review:
• Desk review of project documents, outputs, consultant and sub-contractors reports and deliverables in relation to activities;
• Expenditures reports against expected cash-flow, including on co-finance delivery;
• Review of public communication activities, publications, media support, websites, etc;
• Review of major sub-contracts such as Small Scales Funding Agreements (SSFAs) and SSAs and their deliverables;
• e-mail/phone/Skype interviews of selected project implementers and stakeholders including:
o EU Delegation to Thailand
o RPAC project team at UNEP
o Partners engaged through SSFAs – where applicable
o Other government, institutions and individuals involved in the project – where applicable
o Others as appropriate
The result of the review will be quantified and summarized in the Consolidated MTR Report, following UNEP and EU methodological approach and evaluation criteria (to be provided by UNEP at the start of the MTR).
The review will assess, amongst other things:
a) The effectiveness and efficiency of project management and supervision of project activities;
b) The production of planned outputs and milestones, in terms of quantity, quality, usefulness and timeliness;
c) Project performance in achieving project objectives and outcomes;
d) Project performance against quantified criteria;
e) Project progress against available and spent budget.
Based on this:
• The Consultant shall make recommendation on how to continue and improve project implementation during the second half of the project;
• Recommend any specific redirecting of program activities;
• Advise on project institutional arrangements;
• Advise on project approaches towards stakeholder groups and other beneficiaries;
• Advise on project visibility;
• Suggest any needed approaches to better achieve project objective and outcomes.
The MTR consultant shall prepare a short inception report during the first two weeks of the assignment, on the MTR process, evaluation methodology, timing and deliverables, as well as reporting formats. To prepare the inception report the consultant is requested to take into consideration UNEP, EU and OECD/DAC methodological guidelines to conduct evaluations. Once the inception report and workplan is approved, the consultant shall conduct in-depth review of secondary data, conduct interviews to compile, capture and evaluate project information and prepare the consolidated MTR Review Report.
The consolidated MTR report shall also provide a summary review of the approach and methods used during the first years towards achieving the project objectives and outcomes. The review shall also highlight lessons learned and/or best practice features for expansion, the replication elsewhere and strengthening of the EU support. The review of sustainability and replicability of the project will be an integral part of this.
Qualifications/special skills
Skills:
• Excellent communication and inter-personal skills
• Strong team leader/builder
• Excellent analytical, evaluation and report-writing skills
• Computer literate – especially in use of MS Office programmes
Academic Qualifications:
Advanced University Degree of at least MSc level or equivalent degree in monitoring and evaluation, environmental management, interdisciplinary studies or related field. A combination of relevant academic qualifications and extensive practical experience may be accepted
Experience:
• At least 10 years of professional experience in monitoring and evaluation of the project related to environment, green economy, resource efficiency and natural resource management.
• A minimum of 7 years’ experience as project/team leader with management of internationally funded and multi-country projects; inclusive of: experience in project design, impact monitoring, project evaluations
• Professional work experience in Asia
Language:
Fluency in spoken and written English is required. Excellent oral and written communications skills
No Fee
THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.
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