Result of Service
Completed Mid-term reviews of GEF project:
GEF ID 10932 CBIT Brazil
Strengthening the national transparency system in Brazil under the Paris Agreement (DataClima+)
Expected duration
6 months part-time
Duties and Responsibilities
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. The overall objective of UNEP's Climate Change Division is to deliver effective strategic guidance and high-impact action in support of the transition towards climate stability.
UNEP provides capacity building and technical support to governments to enhance their policy and implementation capacity and helps them access finance to align to the Paris Agreement, decarbonize, anticipate, and adapt to climate impacts. Its work is guided by ambition, innovation, credible science, alignment to global climate goals and needs of individual countries. This consultancy is in UNEP’s Climate Change Division, Global Funds Mitigation and Transparency Section, and will be home based.
UNEP’s Climate Change Division works with a portfolio of Global Environment Facility (GEF) medium-size and full-size climate change mitigation projects in Latin America and the Caribbean. The Climate Change Division, in its role as implementing agency, provides oversight and ensures adherence to GEF guidelines. The Global Funds Mitigation and Transparency Section, of the Climate Change Division has implemented the project “Strengthening the national transparency system in Brazil under the Paris Agreement (DataClima+)”.
The objective of the project is to Strengthen the national transparency system in Brazil (DataClima+) for informing national policymaking and meeting the requirements of the enhanced transparency framework (ETF) under the Paris Agreement.The project has completed two years of implementation and is expected to conclude technical operation in July 2028. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation acts as the Execution Agency, in partnership with Funbio.
The consultant will be responsible, in close consultation with the Task Manager, for overall management of the Mid-term Review and timely delivery of its outputs as described in the overall Terms of Reference of the review. The consultant will also lead the Mid-term Review design, data collection and analysis, and report-writing.
Under the supervision of the Task Manager for Latin America and the Caribbean for UNEP GEF mitigation projects, and in coordination with the Latin America and the Caribbean Global Funds Mitigation and Transparency Section team, the consultant will undertake the Mid-term Review (MTR) for Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency Brazil Project. An MTR is undertaken approximately half-way through project implementation to analyze whether the project is on-track, what problems or challenges the project is encountering, and what corrective actions are required.
Specific tasks and responsibilities
Author and lead of the mid-term review for the aforementioned project in accordance with GEF and UNEP policies.
Overall responsibility for undertaking the review and preparing the final report in English.
Undertake interviews with all key stakeholders, including in-person interviews in Brasilia.
Review and assess (evaluation) all elements of the project in accordance with UNEP evaluation office guidance documents.
Deliverables to be prepared in accordance with UNEP evaluation office templates. The consultant will develop mid-term review findings and recommendations based on sound evidence and analysis, and clearly document these in the final reports. Information will be triangulated (i.e. verified from different sources) as far as possible, and when verification is not possible, the single source will be mentioned (whilst anonymity is still protected). Analysis leading to evaluative judgements should always be clearly spelled out. The consultant shall base the findings of the mid-term and terminal reviews on the following:
a) A desk review of: Relevant background documentation, inter alia: Project document and appendices. This includes, among others, relevant workplans, budget and supervision plans, as well as any revisions introduced after approval. Theory of change, problem tree and logical framework. Project reports, including: half year progress reports, project implementation reports (PIRs), expenditure reports, financial statements, audits, inventory reports, progress reports from collaborating partners, meeting minutes, relevant correspondence and Tracking Tool; Evaluations/Reviews of similar projects.
b) Interviews, both individual or in group, with, including but not limited to: UNEP Task Manager (TM) and team members; UNEP Administrative Officer (AO); Project Manager (PM) and team members; Project steering committee Identified stakeholders, including governmental agencies and officials, representatives from technology and educational institutions, distribution utilities, banks, associations, and NGOs. Other data collection tools: If needed, to be agreed between the Task Manager, the Project Manager and the mid-term review consultant at the inception phase
Qualifications/special skills
A Masters degree in energy, environmental sciences, engineering, international development or related area is required.
A first-level degree with an additional two years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree;
A minimum of 5 years of technical / evaluation experience preferably including evaluating large, regional or global programmes and using a Theory of Change approach is required.
A good understanding of climate change conventions, GHG inventory, and MRV is required;
Experience in drafting project proposals and assessing project documents, including concepts, progress reports, work plans, and financial documents (budgets and expenditure reports) is desirable;
Experience working with GEF or UNEP projects is desirable;.
Experience in working for multilateral or bilateral funding entities in the field of climate change, renewable energy environment or development is desirable;
Languages
English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this consultancy, fluency (both oral and written) in English and Portuguese is required.