Result of Service

The Evaluation Team will submit a concise evaluation report. Actual duration of the assignment is 50 days (within a period of 6 months) to be delivered as follows: Inception Report Draft report Final Report

Work Location

Home-Based

Expected duration

6 Months

Duties and Responsibilities

ORGANIZATION SETTING. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the United Nations systems 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. This consultancy is located at Headquarters in the Evaluation Office which reports directly to the Executive Director. The consultant reports to the Evaluation Manager and the Director of the Evaluation Office. THE EVALUATION The Terminal Evaluation will be an in-depth evaluation using a participatory approach whereby key stakeholders are kept informed and consulted throughout the evaluation process. Both quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods will be used as appropriate to determine project achievements against the expected outputs, outcomes and impacts. It is highly recommended that the consultant(s) maintains close communication with the project team and promotes information exchange throughout the Evaluation implementation phase in order to increase their (and other stakeholder) ownership of the evaluation findings. Where applicable, the consultant(s) will provide a geo-referenced map that demarcates the area covered by the project and, where possible, provide geo-reference photographs of key intervention sites (e.g., sites of habitat rehabilitation and protection, pollution treatment infrastructure, etc.) THE PROJECT The Tana Delta is located in the coastal region of Kenya at the end of Kenya’s longest and largest river; the Tana River. Approximately 90% of the delta lies in Tana River County and about 10% lies in Lamu County. The delta covers a surface area of over 100,000 hectares (or 225,000 ha, including the adjacent terraces) with a population of about 102,000 people. The delta is an Important Bird Area (IBA); a Ramsar Site; a Key Biodiversity Area (KBA); a Global Biodiversity Hotspot; and part of the Coastal Forests of Eastern Africa Hotspot. The natural resources of the delta include its soils, vegetation, and wildlife on which many economic activities are based. A rich mosaic of habitats found in the delta include riverine forests, oxbow lakes, lakes, swamps, open water, river channels, mangrove forests and grassland. All of these habitats depend on the continuing flow of the Tana River. Rapid population growth coupled with rampant poverty and limited livelihood options in Tana River and Lamu Counties force communities to depend heavily on natural resources, often through destructive harvesting, leading to widespread land degradation and deforestation. The increasing threats arising from various development projects such as large-scale irrigation agriculture, upstream damming for hydro-electric power generation, livestock grazing, water abstraction for rural and urban development, among others, mean that the Tana River Delta will continue to be degraded to the point where it will cease to provide essential goods and services. This will have severe consequences at county, regional, national, and global levels. The current conservation initiatives in the Delta are limited and are largely insufficient to effect significant reversal of the degradation of the landscapes and forests. The project therefore sought to reverse this trend through restoring the ecosystem function to the Tana Delta and improving livelihoods through restoration of priority degraded and deforested landscapes, strengthening policy and regulatory frameworks, building the capacity for landscape restoration and provision of alternative livelihood systems to the local communities to reverse degradation of the Delta and conserve biodiversity. The project is part of The Restoration Initiative (TRI) Program whose aims is to make a contribution to restoring ecosystem functioning and improving livelihoods through the restoration of priority degraded and deforested landscapes, in support of the Bonn Challenge. The TRI program consists of 11 national Child projects in 10 countries in Africa and Asia, and it is supported by a Global Learning, Financing, and Partnerships project (GCP) to develop and disseminate best-practices and tools, catalyze investment in restoration, expand the scope of countries and actors engaged in forest and landscape restoration, and realize benefits at scale. The Tana Delta project is one of the TRI national Child projects. THE EVALUATION TEAM For this Evaluation, the Evaluation Consultant will work under the overall responsibility of the Evaluation Office represented by an Evaluation Manager, in consultation with the UNEP Task Manager, Project Manager, Fund Management Officer, the Sub-programme Coordinator for Nature action. SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES In close consultation with the Evaluation Manager, the Evaluation Consultant will be responsible for the overall management of the Evaluation and timely provision of its outputs, data collection and analysis and report-writing. More specifically: 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 (if relevant);
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;
(where appropriate and agreed) conduct an evaluation mission(s) to selected countries, visit the project locations, interview project partners and stakeholders, including a good representation of local communities. 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;
keep the Project/Task Manager informed of the evaluation progress. 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 a consultancy contract. Comprehensive terms of reference will be shared with the consultant separately.

Qualifications/special skills

Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in environmental sciences, international development or other relevant political or social sciences area is required. A first level university degree (Bachelor's degree or equivalent) in the same areas in combination with two (2) additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced degree. A minimum of 10 years of technical / evaluation experience preferably including evaluating large, regional or global programmes and using a Theory of Change approach is required. A good/broad understanding of Integrated Natural Resource Management (INRM) is desirable. Knowledge of the UN system and specifically the work of UNEP is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this consultancy, fluency in English is required and fluency in Swahili is desirable.

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.

Evaluation Consultant for the Terminal Evaluation of the UNEP/GEF project Enhancing Integrated Natural Resource Management in the Tana Delta, Kenya