Term Review Expert - GF4SL

The Project objective aims at influencing the enabling conditions for commitments toward deforestation-free, sustainable commodity production and other forms of sustainable land use. By doing so, it will contribute to tackling key environmental challenges and barriers. Green Finance for Sustainable Landscapes Joint Initiative of the CPF (GF4SL) is jointly executed by UNEP and CIFOR. Its primary objective is to increase financial flows towards deforestation-free commodity production and sustainable land use.

Home Based - United Kingdom

4 months

The United Nations Environment Programme 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." 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 Ecosystems Division works with international and national partners, providing technical assistance and capacity development for the implementation of environmental policy, and strengthening the environmental management capacity of developing countries and countries with economies in transition. UNEP’s GEF Biodiversity and Land Degradation Unit, under the Biodiversity and Land Branch, serves as the implementing agency for projects within the Biodiversity and Land Degradation Focal Areas funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The Unit currently manages a portfolio of over 200 projects across Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe and West Asia, and Asia and the Pacific regions. The project’s objective is to increase commitments by banks, investors and other relevant institutions to increase flows for and interest in sustainable land use, forest landscape restoration and deforestation-free commodity production. At this high-aggregate level, it is unfortunately not possible to establish direct links of the project’s contribution to the above core indicators or to anticipate related targets in relation to areas under improved practices. However, the project will monitor and report on: • Number of finance institutions and other relevant private entities (incl. across forestry/agricultural value chains) publicly committing to direct capital flows into SLM and/or FLR; • Number of letters of intent for new capital directed towards sustainable land use and their amounts (in USD); • A systematic framework for monitoring & evaluation (M&E) established with finance partners to report on the area of landscapes under improved practices (in ha), e.g. through analyses of tree cover changes in available tools such as Global Forest Watch (GFW-WRI), Global Land Cover (GLC-USGS), and Forest Resource Assessment (FRA-FAO); • Establishment of specifications, or a ‘standard’, for sustainable forestry/agribusiness loans or investments; • Number of community representatives and business entities advised and trained by the project. In addition, based on feedback from the CBD Secretariat, this project’s outputs are directly relevant for Aichi Biodiversity target 3 (“By 2020, at the latest, incentives, including subsidies, harmful to biodiversity are eliminated […]taking into account national socio-economic conditions”) and indirectly it is relevant for Aichi target 2 (“By 2020, at the latest, biodiversity values have been integrated into national and local development and poverty-reduction strategies”) and Aichi target 4 (“By 2020, at the latest, Governments, business and stakeholders at all levels have taken steps to achieve or have implemented plans for sustainable production and consumption […].within safe ecological limits”). In addition, this project indirectly contributes to SDG 13 (climate change; 13.a1 ‘mobilized climate finance to achieve Paris Climate Objectives) and SDG 17 (partnership for SDG goals), as well as the objectives under the NY Declaration of Forests that were signed by +200 stakeholders from governments, business, finance, and civil society to ‘end tropical deforestation by 2030 altogether and half it by 2020’. The Unit seeks to recruit a consultant to conduct the Terminal Review (TR) of the Green Finance for Sustainable Landscapes Joint Initiative of the CPF (GF4SL) . The Terminal Review (TR) is undertaken at operational completion of the project to assess project performance (in terms of relevance, effectiveness and efficiency) and determine outcomes and impacts (actual and potential) stemming from the project, including their sustainability. The Review has two primary purposes: (i) to provide evidence of results to meet accountability requirements, and (ii) to promote operational improvement, learning and knowledge sharing through results and lessons learned among UNEP and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), United Nations Environment Programme World. The TR 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. This consultancy post is located in UNEP / Ecosystems Division / GEF Biodiversity and Land Degradation unit. The consultant will work under the direct supervision of the Task Manager and the overall guidance of the Portfolio Manager of the GEF Biodiversity and Land Degradation Unit based in Nairobi. Specifically, the consultant will be required to complete the following tasks: Inception phase: • Preliminary desk review and introductory interviews with project staff. • Prepare the review framework in line with UNEP's evaluation guidelines. • Identify stakeholders. • Develop the interview/questions matrix. • Plan the review schedule. • Prepare the Inception Report.

An advanced university degree (master’s or equivalent) in environmental sciences, international development or other relevant political or social sciences area is required or a related field is required. A first-level university degree, combined with two (2) additional years of qualifying experience, may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree. Minimum of 7 years of technical / evaluation experience is required, preferably including evaluating large, regional or global programmes and using a Theory of Change approach; and a good/broad understanding of [natural resource management],mountain protection and development is desired. -Hands-on experience in managing national and international natural resources projects, in particular concerning biodiversity, natural resources management, protected area management, environmental information, management, capacity building etc. is required. -Working experience in an international environment is required .i.e UNEP and GEF -Experience in the project target area in Colombia, Indonesia, Kenya and Mexico is an asset.

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this post, fluency in English is required and working knowledge of another UN Language is desirable. I.e Spanish

Not available.

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.