Evaluation Consultant

The GSI Phase II project aims to promote the sustainable development of the Guiana Shield eco-region by means of an integrated eco-regional (policy, institutional and financial) management framework, designed to enable the six countries and their local communities to benefit from their natural resources. Preserving ecosystem functions (e.g. climate and water regulation, biodiversity preservation) will benefit stakeholders at the local, national and global levels and help fulfil national obligations under the MEAs. By preserving nature and therefore natural livelihood resources, a significant contribution will be made towards poverty alleviation and resource management by the local/indigenous inhabitants. Project activities focus on pilot projects, which will enable testing of mechanisms for compensation for provision of environmental services, as well as culturally appropriate ecosystem management contracts, benefit sharing mechanisms and monitoring schemes. This project, which makes up part of the broader Guiana Shield Initiative (GSI), is designed to support activities which contribute to the design of financing mechanisms for forest conservation and management, and innovative financial strategies. The pilot projects aim at setting up an innovative financial mechanism for forest conservation and sustainable management. This project works to influence policies and sectors on forests, such as land tenure, logging and mining. As this is a regional project it is anticipated that results can be fed into both national level policy discussion and international processes for forest policy formulation e.g. MEAs, GEF.  The project supports activities which assist small and community-based enterprises; promote sustainable harvesting, processing and marketing of NTFPs; and support the strengthening of cooperatives concerned with sustainable management of timber and NTFPs. Each pilot project has an element of sustainable livelihood generation. Sustainable use of forest biodiversity, and development of NTFPs are sought within the pilot projects that contribute to both improved livelihoods and conservation of biodiversity.

The project is being directly implemented by UNDP Guyana country office in collaboration with UNDP country offices in other Guiana Shield countries. The IUCN National Committee of the Netherlands (IUCN NL) is the technical implementing partner of the project. There is an 11-member steering committee that provides governance oversight of the project. The project is a multi-donor project with a total budget of €2.24 million and a duration of 42 months.

Objectives of the Mid-Term Evaluation
General objective:
The general objective of the Evaluation is to review the achievements of progress up to date, and to develop a plan of action for the achievement of the remaining activities of the project.
Specific objectives:

The specific objectives of the evaluation are to:

•  To identify project design and implementation issues across the Guiana Shield countries
• To assess progress towards the achievement of the targets, the results, and impact and use of resources
• To review factors influencing the achievement of results
• To identify and document lessons learned
• To assess the contributions of project partners
• To make recommendations regarding specific actions and project adjustments that might be taken to improve the project, and support needed to achieve intended impacts at the end of the project.

Scope of the Evaluation

Topic:

• The mid-term evaluation covers the entire multi-donor project. The evaluation will assess the project implementation progress, achievements and challenges, taking into account the status of the project activities and outputs and the financial disbursements made up to December 31, 2008.

Geography:

• The mid-term evaluation will take place at the UNDP Guyana country office and shall involve travel to other Guiana Shield countries, and to pilot projects.

Actors:

• The mid-term evaluation shall solicit feedback and inputs from all stakeholders involved in the implementation of the project. The stakeholders include governments, NGOs, pilot project partners, local communities, IUCN NL, and UNDP.

Expected Output of the Evaluation
There will be two deliverables:

A detailed report with independent assessment of the relevance, impact, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability of project interventions and contributions of partners. The report may be organized into the following sections:

• Executive summary
• Introduction
• The project description
• Findings and conclusions
• Recommendations
• Lessons learned
• Annexes

•  PowerPoint presentation of the findings of the evaluation

• Advance analytical skills, sound judgement, resourcefulness, ability to take initiative, capacity to work independently and in a multi-lingual, multi-cultural environment.
• Skills in process facilitation, strategic planning and alliance building
  

• Advance University degree and professional experience related to the assignment
• Experience in project cycle management
• Previous experience with evaluation of regional projects and/or DEX projects
• Knowledge of the Guiana Shield eco-region and its key environmental and development issues
• Excellent communication skills and fluency in English and Spanish and working knowledge of Portuguese and French
• Excellent PC user and writing skills