[Retainer] Monitoring and Evaluation Senior Officer [Terminal Evaluator]

UNOPS supports partners to build a better future by providing services that increase the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of peace building, humanitarian and development projects.  Mandated as a central resource of the United Nations, UNOPS provides sustainable project management, procurement and infrastructure services to a wide range of governments, donors and United Nations organizations.  

New York Portfolios Office (NYPO) supports the United Nations Secretariat, as well as other New York-based United Nations organizations, bilateral and multilateral partners in the delivery of UNOPS mandate in project management, infrastructure management, and procurement management.

The Sustainable Development Cluster (SDC) supports diverse partners with their peacebuilding, humanitarian and development operations. It was formed by combining the following portfolios: Grants Management Services (GMS), UN Technology Support Services (UNTSS), Development and Special Initiatives Portfolio (DSIP). It provides Services to partners' programmes that are designed, structured, and managed with a global perspective and primarily serving partners that are headquartered in New York.  The SDC has a footprint of approximately 125 countries.

The Global Support Initiative for Indigenous Peoples and Community-Conserved Territories and Areas (ICCA-GSI) is a global project funded by the Government of Germany, through its Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV)  as part of the International Climate Initiative (IKI). The ICCA GSI is delivered by the UNDP-implemented GEF Small Grants Programme (SGP) and executed through UNOPS.

Launched in 2014 in line of with the SGP Sixth Operational Phase, the programme has sought to expand the range and quality of governance types of protected areas and enhance sustainable livelihoods of indigenous peoples and local communities through improved recognition, capacity building and empowerment, and on-the-ground support to Indigenous Peoples and Community-Conserved Territories and Areas (ICCAs). The actions of the project were designed to contribute to achieving national and global level Aichi 2020 Targets of the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD); particularly Target 11 – increasing coverage of protected and conserved areas, Target 14 – safeguarding essential ecosystem services, and Target-18 on the protection of traditional knowledge. 

The ICCA GSI works in collaboration with the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD), the Global ICCA Consortium, the IUCN Global Programme on Protected Areas (GPAP); and the UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP WCMC). In 2020, with additional support from the BMUV, the GSI launched a COVID-19 response facility to assist Indigenous Peoples and local communities to respond to and recover from the pandemic through nature-based solutions to climate change, biodiversity conservation and ecosystem restoration. Phase 1 of the GSI was announced in 2014 (12M EUR) in 26 participating countries, while the COVID-19 response (15M EUR) was expanded to 45 countries in 2020. 

The incumbent of these positions will be UNOPS personnel under its full responsibility.

The Terminal Evaluation (TE) report will assess the achievement of project results against what was expected to be achieved during Phase 1 (including the response to Covid-19, for the period 2014-2024), and draw lessons that can both improve the sustainability of benefits from the programme. The TE is expected to aid in the enhancement of UNDP Nature, Climate, Energy, Chemicals and Waste programming, with particular relevance to the empowerment of Indigenous Peoples and the SDG objective to Leave No-One Behind (LNOB) as part UNDP management response to IEO LNOB evaluation. 

The TE report promotes accountability and transparency and assesses the extent of project accomplishments. The TE will be submitted to the BMUV International Climate Initiative (IKI) to inform and accompany Phase 2 of the ‘Global Support Initiative for Indigenous Peoples and Community-Conserved Territories and Areas: 30 x 30’ (PIMS 6693) which was launched at CBD COP15 in Dec 2022 (22M EUR), and will be running from 2023-2028 in alignment with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF). 

Main Responsibilities

The TE must provide evidence-based information that is credible, reliable and useful.

The TE will review all relevant sources of information, including documents prepared during the preparation phase, including the BMUV proposal development, UNDP Social and Environmental Screening Procedure (SESP), the Project Document, BMUV biannual reports, project budget revisions, lesson learned reports, national strategic and legal documents, and any other materials that consider useful for this evidence-based evaluation. The incumbent will review the IKI Indicators and project-level tracking tools (i.e., ICCA Security Index and SGP database) before undertaking the TE field missions to target participating countries.  

The TE is expected to follow a participatory and consultative approach ensuring regular engagement with the ICCA GSI project team (Programme Manager and Programme Associate); UNDP Vertical Fund oversight and quality assurance colleagues; UNOPS focal point(s) for the programme; GSI global partners (ICCA Consortium, UNEP WCMC, IUCN); SGP Central Programme Management Team (CPMT) and National Coordinators (NCs); government counterparts; UNDP Country Office(s); direct beneficiaries and other stakeholders.

The engagement of stakeholders will be vital to undertake a successful TE. Stakeholder involvement should include interviews with stakeholders who have project responsibilities, including but not limited to executing agencies, senior officials and task team/component leaders, key experts and consultants in the subject area, the project board, project beneficiary partners, SGP National Steering Committee (NSC) members including a representative from academia, local government and CSOs. Additionally, the incumbent is expected to conduct field missions to three of the following six countries (to be confirmed): Ecuador, Malaysia, Madagascar, Mongolia, Panama or Tanzania, including the small-grant project sites in the target countries (for the Mid-Term Review (MTR) of the ICCA GSI, conducted in 2020 subject to Covid-19 restrictions, the following country assessments were conducted in Colombia, Morocco, Senegal and Vietnam, and are not as a consequence proposed for country visits as part of the Terminal Evaluation). In case of language considerations pertaining to the incumbent selection, alternatives from the list of 45 participating countries may be considered. 

The specific design and methodology for the TE should emerge from consultations between the incumbent and the above-mentioned parties regarding what is appropriate and feasible for meeting the TE purpose and objectives and answering the evaluation questions, given the limitations of budget, time and data. The incumbent is expected to use gender-responsive methodologies and tools and ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment, responsivity to the UN System-Wide Action Plan on Indigenous Peoples (SWAP), persons with disabilities, as well as other cross-cutting issues and SDGs, are incorporated into the TE report.

The final methodological approach, including interview schedule, field visits and data to be used in the evaluation (i.e. questionnaires, surveys, interviews, group Zoom/on-line webinars and calls) should be clearly outlined in the inception report and be fully discussed and agreed between UNDP, stakeholders and the incumbent. The final TE report should describe the full TE approach taken and the rationale for the approach making explicit the underlying assumptions, challenges, strengths and weaknesses about the methods and approach of the evaluation.

The TE will assess project performance against expectations set out in the project’s Logical Framework/Results Framework (see TOR Annex A). The TE will assess results according to the criteria outlined in the Guidance for TEs of UNDP-supported VF-financed projects (insert hyperlink). (The scope of the TE should detail and include aspects of the project to be covered by the TE, such as the time frame, and the primary issues of concern to users that the TE needs to address.

The Findings section of the TE report will cover the topics listed below. A full outline of the TE report’s content is provided in ToR Annex C.

The asterisk “(*)” indicates the criteria for which a rating is required.

Findings

• National/regional/global priorities and country driven-ness
• Theory of Change
• Gender equality and women’s empowerment
• Indigenous Peoples’ empowerment
• Social and Environmental Safeguards
• Analysis of Results Framework: project logic and strategy, indicators
• Assumptions and Risks
• Lessons from other relevant projects (e.g. same focal area) incorporated into project design
• Planned stakeholder participation
• Linkages between project and other interventions within the sector
• Management arrangements

• Adaptive management (changes to the project design and project outputs during implementation)
• Actual stakeholder participation and partnership arrangements
• Project Finance and Co-finance
• Monitoring & Evaluation: design at entry (*), implementation (*), and overall assessment of M&E (*)
• Implementing Agency (UNDP) (*) and Executing Agency (*), overall project oversight/implementation and execution (*)
• Risk Management, including Social and Environmental Standards

• Assess the achievement of outcomes against indicators by reporting on the level of progress for each objective and outcome indicator at the time of the TE and noting final achievements
• Relevance (*), Effectiveness (*), Efficiency (*) and overall project outcome (*)
• Sustainability: financial (*), socio-political (*), institutional framework and governance (*), environmental (*), overall likelihood of sustainability (*)
• Country ownership
• Gender equality and women’s empowerment
• Indigenous Peoples’ empowerment
• Cross-cutting issues (SDG leaving no-one behind, poverty alleviation, improved governance, climate change mitigation and adaptation, disaster prevention and recovery, human rights, capacity development, South-South cooperation, knowledge management, volunteerism, as relevant)
• BMUV IKI Additionality
• Catalytic Role / Replication Effect 
• Progress to impact 

• The TE will include a summary of the main findings of the TE report. Findings should be presented as statements of fact that are based on analysis of the data.
• The section on conclusions will be written in light of the findings. Conclusions should be comprehensive and balanced statements that are well substantiated by evidence and logically connected to the TE findings. They should highlight the strengths, weaknesses and results of the project, respond to key evaluation questions and provide insights into the identification of and/or solutions to important problems or issues pertinent to project beneficiaries, UNDP and BMUV, including issues in relation to gender equality, women’s and Indigenous Peoples’ empowerment. 
• Recommendations should provide concrete, practical, feasible and targeted recommendations directed to the intended users of the evaluation about what actions to take and decisions to make. The recommendations should be specifically supported by the evidence and linked to the findings and conclusions around key questions addressed by the evaluation. 
• The TE report should also include lessons that can be taken from the evaluation, including best practices in addressing issues relating to relevance, performance and success that can provide knowledge gained from the particular circumstance (programmatic and evaluation methods used, partnerships, financial leveraging, etc.) that are applicable to other BMUV IKI and UNDP interventions. When possible, the TE should include examples of good practices in project design and implementation.
• It is important for the conclusions, recommendations and lessons learned of the TE report to include results related to gender equality and empowerment of women.

The TE report will include an Evaluation Ratings Table, as shown in the ToR Annex.

Monitoring and Progress Controls

Expected Outputs and Deliverables

The incumbent shall prepare and submit:

• TE Inception Report: TE clarifies objectives and methods of the TE no later than two weeks before the planned TE country missions. The incumbent submits the Inception Report to the Commissioning Unit and project management. Approximate due date: [1 February 2024]
• Presentation: The incumbent presents initial findings to project management and the Commissioning Unit at the end of the TE country missions. Approximate due date: [30 March 2024] 
• Draft TE Report: The incumbent submits full draft report with annexes within 3 weeks of the end of the TE mission. Approximate due date : [15 May 2024]  
• Final TE Report* and Audit Trail: incumbent submits revised report, with Audit Trail detailing how all received comments have (and have not) been addressed in the final TE report, to the Commissioning Unit within one week of receiving UNDP comments on draft. Approximate due date: [30 June 2024]

*The final TE report must be in English. If applicable, the Commissioning Unit may choose to arrange for a translation of the report into a language more widely shared by national stakeholders.

All final TE reports will be quality assessed by the UNDP Independent Evaluation Office (IEO). Details of the IEO’s quality assessment of decentralized evaluations can be found in Section 6 of the UNDP Evaluation Guidelines (access at: http://web.undp.org/evaluation/guideline/section-6.shtml). 

TE Arrangements

The principal responsibility for managing the TE resides with the Commissioning Unit. The Commissioning Unit for this project’s TE is the UNDP BPPS Vertical Funds Directorate.

The annexes mentioned above are found in attachment to this vacancy

The incumbent cannot have participated in the project preparation, formulation and/or implementation (including the writing of the project document), must not have conducted this project’s Mid-Term Review and should not have a conflict of interest with the project’s related activities. The selection of the evaluator will be assessed in relation to the following areas: 

Education

• Advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent), preferably  in environmental management, social sciences, natural resources, geography, political science and/or other closely related fields.
• First-level university degree (Bachelor’s or equivalent) in combination with two (2) additional years of relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced university degree;

Work Experience
a. Required

• Minimum two (2) years of experience in biodiversity conservation, community-based conservation, spatial planning, protected, conserved areas and/or related areas.
• Relevant experience with results-based management evaluation methodologies is required. 
• Experience applying SMART indicators and reconstructing or validating baseline scenarios is required. 
• Experience in evaluating projects is required.
• Evaluation experience working in Africa, Asia, and/or Latin America is required. 
• Experience in relevant technical areas is required. 
• Demonstrated expertise relating to Indigenous Peoples’ empowerment is required. 

• Project evaluation/review experience within the United Nations system will be considered an asset.

Language

• Fluency in written and spoken English.
• French and/or Spanish full proficiency considered a significant advantage

• Contract level: IICA 01 (ICS-09) - LICA 9

Duration of the Work

The total duration of the TE will be approximately [45 working days] over a time period of 16 weeks starting 15 Jan 2024 and shall not exceed five (05) months from when the incumbent is hired. The tentative TE timeframe is as follows:

• 20 Dec 2023: Application closes
• 10 Jan 2024 : Selection of incumbent
• 15 Jan 2024: Prep the incumbent (handover of project documents)
• 15-25 Jan 2024: 5 days document review, interviews, and preparing TE Inception Report
• 25-27 Jan 2024: 2 days Finalization and validation of TE Inception Report- latest start of TE mission
• 28 Jan-14 April 2024: 21 days TE mission(s) to three countries (6-7 days per country) including stakeholder meetings, interviews, and field visits 
• 15 April 2024: Missions wrap-up meeting & presentation of initial findings- earliest end of TE mission
• 16 April-15 May 2024: 15 days: Preparation of draft TE report, on-line interviews and meetings
• 15 May 2024: Circulation of draft TE report for comments
• 1-20 June 2024 : 2 days Incorporation of comments on draft TE report into Audit Trail & finalization of TE report
• 20 June 2024 : Preparation & Issue of Management Response
• 30 June 2024 : Expected date of full TE completion

Travel and security:

• International travel will be required in three of the following six countries (tbc): Ecuador, Malaysia, Madagascar, Mongolia, Panama or Tanzania during the TE mission.
• The BSAFE course must be successfully completed prior to commencement of travel.
• The Incumbent responsible for ensuring they have vaccinations/inoculations when travelling to certain countries, as designated by the UN Medical Director. 
• The incumbent is required to comply with the UN security directives set forth under: https://dss.un.org/dssweb/  
• All related travel expenses will be covered and will be reimbursed as per UNDP rules and regulations upon submission of an F-10 claim form and supporting documents.

• Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes.

• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.

• Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments.

• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures,  languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. 

• Qualified women and candidates from groups which are underrepresented in the UNOPS workforce are encouraged to apply. These include in particular candidates from racialized and/or indigenous groups, members of minority gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities.

• We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process.  If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

Terms and Conditions 

• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post. 

• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few Mandatory Courses (they take around 4 hours to complete) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. For more information on a retainer contract here.

• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda.

• It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

Small Grants Cluster

UNOPS executes the UNDP-implemented Small Grants Programme though the Small Grants Cluster. Funded by the Global Environment Facility, the Small Grants Programme efficiently channels direct grants to non-governmental and community-based organizations to help them cope with climate change; conserve biodiversity; protect international waters; reduce the impact of Persistent Organic Pollutants; and prevent land degradation. Helping communities with their initiatives for sustainable livelihoods while generating global environmental benefits is the core inspiration of the Small Grants Programme.