GEF planetGOLD Mid Term Review Consultant At UN Environment Programme

Result of Service

The ultimate result of services is the final Midterm Review reports.
The reports should follow the templates and approaches as detailed in UNEP Evaluation Office

Work Location

Home-based

Expected duration

4 months (from 1st April 2022)

Duties and Responsibilities

a). Organizational setting
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 the UNEP’s Economy Division is to encourage decision makers in government, local authorities and industry to develop and adopt policies, strategies and practices and technologies that promote sustainable patterns of consumption and production, make efficient use of natural resources, ensure safe management of chemicals and contribute to making trade and environment policies mutually supportive. It promotes the development, use and transfer of policies, technologies, economic instruments, managerial practices and other tools that assist in environmentally sound decision making and the building of corresponding activities.

The GEF Chemicals and Waste Unit of the Chemicals and Health Branch is responsible for the development and management of all GEF projects implemented by UNEP in the Chemicals and Wastes focal area. To date, the team has a portfolio of 100 projects represented over $200 mil of GEF investment supporting countries in their implementation of the Stockholm Convention, the Minamata Convention and SAICM.

UNEP is the co-Implementing Agency of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Chemicals and Waste focal area project named GEF GOLD Mongolia-Philippines: Contribution Toward the Elimination of Mercury in the Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) Sector: From Miners To Refiners.

The GEF supported programme “Global Opportunities for the Long-term Development of the ASGM sector (GEF GOLD)” has been designed to address the key issues linked to continued mercury use and provide sustainable development opportunities for the communities involved. The Programme is composed of 8 child projects consisting of 7 country projects where the programme components will be implemented in the field (of which this is one) and one global project which will sustain knowledge and improve replication potential. This document concerns the country project in Mongolia and the Philippines which is co-implemented by UN Environment and UNIDO.

The selection of the Philippines and Mongolia in this two-country GEF GOLD country project is based on the countries’ demonstration of their commitment to the Minamata Convention on Mercury, including their past and current efforts to formalize and support ASGM. The project has four components (Formalization, Access to finance and markets, Mercury-free technology transfer, Communications and Knowledge sharing). The project is jointly implemented by UN Environment for components 1, 2 and 4 on formalization, finance and market access and knowledge management respectively and UNIDO for component 3 on technology transfer.

This child project will contribute to magnify the global environmental benefits of the entire GOLD Programme through sharing results achieved and knowledge gained with the global project for recording into the knowledge management platform.

The project started in Q4 2018, and having completed 3 years of implementation, is now required to have a mid-term review (MTR) of its implementation.

In line with the UN Environment Evaluation Policy and the UN Environment Programme Manual, the Mid-Term Review (MTR) is undertaken approximately halfway through project implementation to analyse whether the project is on-track, what problems or challenges the project is encountering, and what corrective actions are required.

The MTR will assess project performance to date (in terms of relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency), and determine the likelihood of the project achieving its intended outcomes, including their sustainability

b)Specific tasks and responsibilities

1. Draft Inception Report and submit to Task Manager for review and approval
2. Desk review and analysis of project documentation
3. Online interviews and other consultations with stakeholders, surveys etc.
4. Prepare presentation on preliminary findings and recommendations
5. Draft MTR report submitted to Task Manager following the outline to be provided in the detailed MTR TOR
6. Draft Report shared with the wider group of stakeholders
7. Final Main Review Report
8. Final Main Review Report shared with all respondents
   c) Reporting lines
   The consultant/individual contractor will report to directly to Senior Task Manager and the overall supervisor will be Senior Portfolio Manager.

Qualifications/special skills

Academic Qualifications: An advanced university degree in environmental or physical sciences, waste management, economics, international relations, or other relevant scientific or social sciences area is required. A first level degree with an additional two years of relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced degree.
Experience: A minimum of 5 years of evaluation experience of projects in developing countries is required and familiarity with the GEF funding mechanism and experience of evaluating or working with at least 1 GEF project and Understanding of Minamata Convention and their requirements on mercury usage reduction for the signatory parties is an advantage.
Language: Fluency in written and oral English with strong writing and editing skills is required.