GEO Evaluation Consultant

Result of Service• A Review Brief (a 2-page overview of the evaluand and review findings) for wider dissemination through the UNEP website. • The Review Consultant will submit a draft report to the UNEP Project Manager and revise the draft in response to their comments and suggestions. Work LocationNairobi Expected duration4 months Duties and ResponsibilitiesBackground and Organizational Settings The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the United Nations system's designated entity for addressing environmental issues at the global and regional level. Its mandate is to coordinate the development of environmental policy consensus by keeping the global environment under review and bringing emerging issues to the attention of governments and the international community for action. UNEP's Early Warning and Assessment Division is responsible for analyzing the state of the global environment, providing early warning information and assessing global and regional environmental trends to catalyze and promote international cooperation and action on the environment. The Branch is expected to deliver a number of major reports, including the Seventh edition of the Global Environment Outlook (GEO-7). Therefore, here is a need to review the projects status since its implementation in 2022 to date and determine how much it has contributed to the sound scientific assessment of the state of the environment. The consultant in charge of the mid-term review should determine to what extent the project contributed to sound scientific assessment and science-based policy options. The consultant should also review how this has assisted in decision-making by policymakers and relevant stakeholders. The consultant should furthermore determine the level of progress towards meeting objectives related to specific and selected environmental themes as requested by governments and stakeholders during the past few years. The consultant should determine the extent to which the project’s delivery, communication and outreach of a demand-driven global assessments have highlighted key environmental issues and at a range of geographic scales. The consultancy will review the environmental assessment carried out to date as part of this project, for its relevance and scope and determine the response options provided to tackle priority areas and robust outlook/s to the future of the issues assessed. The consultant should also review to what extent the components in this project have contributed to several UNEP’s Medium-Term Strategy (MTS) 2022-2025 for Science-Policy Foundational Sub-programme and the Programme of Work 2022-2023, as well as the related PoW for the biennia 2022-2023 and 2024-25. The consultant needs to review the initiation and implementation of the project’s proposed components given below for which a minimum amount of secured funding was raised. These components are: - • GEO-7 is produced and key solutions accessed that inform decisions to act on the triple planetary crisis. • Development of a digital platform for Member States, Experts and other relevant stakeholders to access a digital GEO to increase the ease of producing GEO reports and increase the interactivity and relevance of the GEO findings. • Production of information and knowledge products for the capacity of relevant stakeholders (national and local governments, the UN System and other relevant institutions). • Production of collaboration and data platforms, allowing relevant stakeholders and experts to be supported to generate knowledge to increase collaboration and strengthen the generation of relevant scientific data. • Development of science-policy seminar materials to support dialogues with policymakers and Member States. Noting that securing more funding has been a key challenge, the consultant needs to review to what extent this challenge of securing more funding has affected implementation and delivery of the project in general, and if the funding issue was resolved how much implementation has been carried out. Specific Tasks and Responsibilities Under the overall supervision of the the UNEP Project Manager, Ignacio Sanchez Diaz, the consultant will perform the following tasks; • The consultant will determine the extent to which the project contributed to sound scientific assessment and science-based policy options. • The consultant will review how GEO has assisted in decision-making by policymakers and relevant stakeholders. • The consultant will also determine the level of progress towards meeting objectives related to specific and selected environmental themes as requested by governments and stakeholders during the past few years. • The consultant will also review to what extent the components in this project have contributed to several UNEP’s Medium-Term Strategy (MTS) 2022-2025 for Science-Policy Foundational Sub-programme and the Programme of Work 2022-2023, as well as the related PoW for the biennia 2022-2023 and 2024-25. • The Consultant will ensure the overall quality of the review and timely delivery of its outputs as well as ensure that all review criteria and questions are adequately covered. Qualifications/special skillsAn M.Sc. degree in environmental sciences, natural resources management, monitoring and evaluation, economics or a similar related is required. • A minimum of seven years of technical/evaluation experience is required. Evaluating large, regional or global programmes and using a Theory of Change approach is desired. A good/broad understanding of project development, implementation in monitoring and evaluation frameworks for development projects and evaluation is desired. LanguagesEnglish and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this consultancy, fluency in oral and written English is a requirement and proficiency/knowledge of French is desirable. Working knowledge of the UN system and specifically the work of UNEP is an added advantage. Additional InformationNot available. No FeeTHE 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.