Mid Term Review (MTR) of project performance will assess project performance to date (in terms of relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency), and determine the likelihood of the project achieving its intended outcomes and supporting their sustainability. The MTR will analyze whether the project is on-track, what problems or challenges the programme/project is encountering, and what corrective actions are required. The MTR will also advise on the best approach to address the programme vis-à-vis the project relationship and theory of change.
This Consultancy is home based.
Tentative start date: ASAP
Tentative end date: 40 days after start date.
Organizational Setting and Reporting:
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.
The InforMEA Initiative brings together over 20 Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) Secretariats and their hosting institutions to enhance knowledge-sharing across MEAs for the benefit of Parties and the environment community at large. It promotes harmonized voluntary standards and horizontal interoperable information systems as it steers the development and evolution of the project.
The Information Portal on Multilateral Environmental Agreements, InforMEA, is the online home of MEAs. It seeks to do justice complexity and broad range of information available from MEAs and intends to reduce the time effort by stakeholders to obtain relevant knowledge and process available information. It is entirely committed to horizontal interoperability” of information and knowledge systems among MEAs and organizations, a key principle in the Secretary General’s Data Policy in overcoming misaligned standards, and mixed quality data. By building a sustained and reliable shared knowledge base for better analysis and policy information it contributes to greater coherence to the implementation and enforcement of international environmental law.
This position is located in the InforMEA Phase III project of the Law Division at the Nairobi Duty Station and reports to the Project Manager of the InforMEA Phase III project.
Responsibilities:
1. Partnership and Coordination: The Mid-Term Review (MTR) will assess the effectiveness and appropriateness of the implementation partnerships and approaches that were established to deliver the project and the engagement with MEAs and other international organizations.
2. Monitoring, Evaluation and Risk Management: A further focus of the MTR will be on the extent to which adequate monitoring has been undertaken throughout the period. The review will assess how lessons learned have been captured and operationalized throughout the period under investigation. It will examine how effectively the project management incorporated relevant technical knowledge on good practices.
3. Gender Mainstreaming: The MTR will assess the extent to which the project sought to strengthen the mainstreaming of gender into project implementation. The Review will weigh measures taken to this end and how successful those have been in addressing specific rights- and gender-related aspects.
Specific Tasks and Responsibilities:
Strategic Positioning, Concept and Design: The Mid-Term Review Consultant will assess the concept and design of the overall scope of the InforMEA Phase III project, including an assessment of the appropriateness of the objectives, planned outputs, activities, and inputs as compared to cost-effective alternatives. Identify niche areas where UNEP can further add advantage and efficiency to the programme/project. The strategic positioning and design of the project will also be reviewed against the strategic questions of interest to UNEP and to which the project is believed to be able to make a substantive contribution. The questions are structured to address two levels:
1) Addressing the InforMEA Project, and the balance between its components.
2) Addressing the question of strengthening the Environmental Treaties Programme and making it genuinely an umbrella programme for activities under UNEP’s Environmental Governance and Conventions branch at the Law Division.
The Mid-Term Review consultant will also be forward-looking and explore opportunities for UNEP to position itself as the anchor for cooperation and synergies among the Multilateral Environmental Agreements.
Reporting lines:
Under the overall supervision of the Director, UNEP Law Division, the Consultant shall report directly to and take day-to-day direction from the InforMEA III Project Manager.
Academic Qualifications: An advanced university degree in environmental sciences, international development or other relevant political or social sciences as well as experience in project monitoring and evaluation. A first degree may be accepted in lieu of a master’s degree with 5 years of experience.
Experience:
Minimum 15 years of professional experience in environmental policies, environmental
governance, and Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) is required.
Familiarity with Knowledge and Information Management policies, practices,
approaches, and systems is desirable.
Working knowledge of the UN system and specifically the work of UNEP and MEA
Secretariats is desirable.
Minimum 7 years of professional experience in Project Management, Monitoring and
Reporting of environment-related projects is required.
Proven experience of evaluating multi-donor projects and using the theory of change
and result-based logical framework approach is desirable.
Language:
Excellent written and spoken English is required for this post.
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.