Result of ServiceMid-Term Evaluation for the USD 21.7 million project “Enhancing Early Warning Systems to build greater resilience to hydro-meteorological hazards in Timor-Leste”, funded by the Green Climate Fund. Work LocationHome-based Expected duration9 months Duties and ResponsibilitiesBackground and Organisational Settings 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. 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 managed by UNEP’s Climate Early Warning and Capacity Building Unit in the Early Warning and Assessment Division. The Early Warning and Assessment Division is responsible for analyzing the state of the global environment, providing early warning information, and assessing global and regional environmental trends to catalyse and promote international cooperation and action on the environment. The consultant will report to the Task Manager of the Climate Early Warning and Capacity Building Unit of the Early Warning and Assessment Division, UNEP. The consultant will work to provide a Mid-Term Evaluation (MTE) for the USD 21.7 million project “Enhancing Early Warning Systems to build greater resilience to hydro-meteorological hazards in Timor-Leste” (Timor-Leste CIEWS Project), funded by the Green Climate Fund. This MTE will provide an assessment of project performance at the Project’s mid-point and will be a formative exercise, covering whether the Project is on track, what problems and challenges the Project is encountering, and what corrective actions are required so that the Project can achieve its intended outcomes by Project completion in the most efficient and sustainable way. The MTE will be conducted in accordance with the GCF and UNEP requirements. The MTE must provide evidence-based information that is credible, reliable and useful. The consultant will review all relevant sources of information including documents prepared during the proposal phase, including the Funding Proposal submitted to the GCF. The consultant is expected to follow a collaborative and participatory approach ensuring close engagement with relevant Project focal points, the Project Management Unit (PMU), Executing Entities, Technical Partners, National Designated Authority (NDA) focal points, government counterparts, National Service Providers (NSPs), UNEP, and other key stakeholders. Stakeholder involvement should include interviews with stakeholders who have project responsibilities. Additionally, the consultant is expected to conduct field missions to the project beneficiary country, to be decided in consultation with UNEP. The MTE report should describe the full MTE approach taken and the rationale for the approach, making explicit the underlying assumptions, challenges, strengths and weaknesses about the methods and approach of the review. The MTE should be conducted in line with the “Evaluation Policy for the GCF”, “Evaluation Operational Procedures and Guidelines for Accredited Entity-led Evaluations”, “Green Climate Fund Evaluation Standards”, UNEP requirements, and other relevant policies and procedures. The evaluator will provide an independent and rigorous evaluation function, designing and implementing a framework which will assess the project along the GCF evaluation criteria and consistent with the GCF Evaluation Policy. The evaluator will report the findings and lessons learned and provide recommendations. The evaluation should be rigorous allowing for verification and triangulation of findings. It will seek, to the extent possible, to be inclusive and participatory, involving principal stakeholders and beneficiaries in the analysis. As per the policy, a mixed methods approach is recommended, which at a minimum will include: 1. Desk review of relevant documents including baseline studies, progress reports and any records of surveys conducted during the project, stakeholder maps, etc. 2. Qualitative methods such as interviews and focus group discussions to explore and explain observed changes. The type of methods used may vary depending on the cultural constraints or opportunities presented by the project’s context. 3. Quantitative methods such as survey or secondary data analysis to assess and validate reported results. Other data collection should be undertaken as needed (government data/records, field observation visits, CDM verifications, public expenditure reporting, GIS data, etc.) to validate evidence of results and assessments (including but not limited to assessment of the TOC, activities delivery and results/changes occurred Project Information: The project “Enhancing Early Warning Systems to build greater resilience to hydro-meteorological hazards in Timor-Leste” was approved by the Green Climate Fund Board in October 2021, with a total budget of USD 21.7 million. UNEP serves as the Accredited Entity for the project. Activities will be executed by the Executing Entities in Timor-Leste and UNEP. The project will be implemented across five years and aims to deliver transformative impact to the entire population of Timor-Leste, including 80% of the populations as direct beneficiaries, directly contributing to the attainment of selected targets and indicators of Article 7 of the Paris Agreement, Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 13 on Climate Action, SDG 3 on Good Health and Well-Being and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction. The project will address the urgent need for accurate, timely and actionable information and early warnings on local weather, water, climate and ocean conditions and related risks to human and environmental health. This will be achieved through four inter-related components – the Project Results: Result 1. Strengthened delivery model and legislation for climate information and multi-hazard early warning services; Activity 1.1 Establish institutional and policy frameworks, legislation and delivery models for climate services Result 2. Strengthened observations, monitoring, analysis and forecasting of climate and its impacts; Activity 2.1 Enhance infrastructure and technical support for observations and monitoring Activity 2.2 Strengthen climate modelling and impact-based forecasting Activity 2.3 Establish climate services for health Result 3. Improved dissemination and communication of risk information and early warning; Activity 3.1 Establish targeted multi-hazard early warning information systems Result 4. Enhanced climate risk management capacity Activity 4.1 Build capacity to prepare for and respond to climate risks and hazards Activity 4.2 Establish Forecast-based Financing (FbF) Local Context: Timor-Leste is a Least Developed Country (LDC), a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) and a post-conflict newly independent country whose infrastructure and governmental systems have been devastated by a 25-year war of independence. It is ranked 131 out of 189 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI) and over 70% of the population is classified as living in or vulnerable to multidimensional poverty. Climate change presents serious challenges to Timor-Leste’s development, including increased climate-related risks to lives, livelihoods, biodiversity, food security, water supply and economic growth. The country is increasingly under threat from climate change impacts common to tropical SIDS – rising mean temperatures, warming and rising seas, ocean acidification and deoxygenation, less predictable and more extreme rainfall, tropical cyclones, flooding, landslides and prolonged droughts. Climate variability and change has direct impacts on the health and well-being of Timor-Leste’s population – for example, deaths from extreme weather events, wildfires and emerging infectious diseases – with disproportionate impacts on women and girls. Health and well-being are further affected by climate-related ecosystems degradation, associated biodiversity loss and worsening air quality. In 2019, the World Risk Index identified Timor-Leste as the 15th most at risk country in the world to natural disasters, as result of its location, geography and very limited capacity to prepare for and recover from climate impacts. As the effects of climate change manifest and the frequency and intensity of climate-related hazards increases, Timor-Leste needs accurate, timely and actionable information and early warnings on local weather, climate and ocean conditions and related risks to human and environmental health. Specific tasks and responsibilities: Under the supervision of the Task Manager, Climate Early Warning and Capacity Building Unit, in the Early Warning and Assessment Division, the specific duties and responsibilities of the incumbent will be as follows; • Review and fully understand GCF policies and procedures for Mid-Term Evaluations • Gather information and consult with key stakeholders including the project beneficiaries, stakeholders, Executing Entities, Technical Partners, Project Steering Committee (PSC), National Service Providers (NSPs), and the Accredited Entity • Prepare the following documents and send them for review: o inception report; o summary of initial findings; o draft Mid-Term Evaluation report; o final Mid-Term Evaluation report including all activities conducted for the exercise; o responses to comments and queries from the GCF • Deliver virtual presentations to relevant stakeholders throughout the consultancy • Incorporate comments received from project beneficiaries, stakeholders, Executing Entities, Technical Partners, PSC, NSPs and UNEP, when finalizing all documents mentioned above. Qualifications/special skillsAdvanced university degree in any of the areas such as Environmental studies, environmental management, environmental protection, climate change, environment, governance, landscape, rural management, business administration or related field is required At least 7 years of experience in monitoring and evaluation and project delivery, including experience in Monitoring and Evaluation for various environmental and climate change-related projects is required. Experience in Timor-Leste is desirable. Experience conducting evaluations for GCF projects is desirable. LanguagesEnglish and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the consultancy, fluency in oral and written English is required. Additional InformationNot available. No FeeTHE 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.