Evaluation Consultant for Performance Assessment for UNEP Project PIMS 2013 ( Value Chains in Haiti) and Terminal Evaluation of UNEP GEF Project 9678 (Political Will for Natural Resource Management) at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Job Description

SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES

Data collection and analysis phase, including: conduct desk review of available secondary data and conduct interviews with the project team, partners and stakeholders, to the extent possible;
ensure independence of the evaluation and confidentiality of interviews; and
regularly report back to the Evaluation Manager on progress and inform of any possible problems or issues encountered. Reporting phase, including:
draft the Final Performance Assessment report, ensuring that, to the extent feasible, it is complete, coherent and consistent with the Evaluation Office guidelines both in substance and style;
liaise with the Evaluation Manager on comments received and finalize the report, ensuring that all review comments have been sufficiently taken into account;
prepare a Response to Comments annex for the report, listing any comments partially/not accepted by the Consultant and indicating the reason for this. GEF 9678 – “POLLITICAL WILL” 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 Consultant shall have had no prior involvement in the formulation or implementation of the project and will be independent from the participating institutions.
The consultant will sign the Evaluation Consultant Code of Conduct Agreement Form.
The Evaluation Consultant 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 and an advanced degree in the same areas is desirable.
A minimum of 9 years of technical / evaluation experience is required, preferably including evaluating large, regional or global programmes and using a Theory of Change approach;
A good/broad understanding of ecosystems management.
Working knowledge of the UN system and specifically the work of UNEP is an added advantage