Result of Service

The Evaluation Team will submit a concise evaluation report. Actual duration of the assignment is spread over a period of 8 months to be delivered as follows: Inception Report (30%) Draft report (40%) Final Evaluation Report (30%)

Work Location

Home based with field visits

Expected duration

8 months

Duties and Responsibilities

ORGANIZATION SETTING The 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. This consultancy is located at Headquarters in the Evaluation Office which reports directly to the Executive Director. The consultant reports to the Evaluation Manager and the Director of the Evaluation Office. THE PROJECT The Maldives is a coral island nation of 26 natural atolls and an estimated 1,192 islands in the Indian Ocean. The Maldives has a diversity of coastal habitats including mangroves, seagrass beds, intertidal flats and lagoons, in addition to the coral reefs supporting a highly diverse marine fauna. The Maldives society and economy, including its two largest economic sectors tourism and fisheries have been highly dependent on marine natural capital and particularly the diverse values provided by its coral reefs and pelagic fish stocks. However, marine biodiversity has been under significant pressure from a range of stressors, notably climate change impacts (e.g. coral bleaching episodes), infilling of lagoons, coral flats and mangroves for development, damage to reefs from fishing and recreational activities, overexploitation of reef fisheries, and localized land-based pollution from sewage, agro-chemicals, leachates, and solid waste, including plastics). These pressures have been driven by population increase linked to the rapid increase in tourism visitation, and rapid economic development that has focused on infrastructure construction in recent years. The process of coral reef recovery is a long one and depends on the frequency of major bleaching events as well as the intensity of the stressors mentioned above. The situation was adversely affected by barriers, including 1) ineffective local governance of natural resources and insufficient experience with sustainable alternatives to current livelihood practices; 2) poor understanding among key local, national and sector stakeholders of their dependence on natural capital and the options available to sustainably use biodiversity to improve livelihoods; and 3) limited integration of Natural Capital (NC) and biodiversity values in national policies, planning and regulations and in the operations of economic sectors dependent on natural resources. There was a need to remove these barriers to improve the marine biodiversity situation in the Maldives. The projects objective was to enhance reef ecosystem integrity and resilience through sustainable management, reducing development impacts and integrating natural capital accounting into development planning. This project aimed to assist the government of the Maldives in its implementation of new environmental policies and transitions towards national adoption of Green Growth atoll development that would sustain marine NC and strengthen the resilience and recovery of reef ecosystems. This was to be informed by learning from atoll-wide integrated coastal zone management within a Managed Marine Area / Biosphere Reserve framework, and the application of innovative sustainability practices and standards in agriculture, fisheries, tourism and construction sectors as the basis for transforming the human ecological footprint in Laamu Atoll, and taking this up to national level through sector transformation, spatial planning and improved governance based on NC accounting. The intermediate objective of this transformation was to minimize the flows of pollutants from land-based activities into the adjacent marine environment and reduce marine-based drivers of reef degradation, including baitfish and reef fisheries. Overall, the project sought to enhance reef ecosystem integrity and resilience through sustainable management, reducing development impacts, and integrating NC accounting into national planning. THE EVALUATION In line with the UNEP Evaluation Policy and the UNEP Programme and Project Management Manual, the Terminal Evaluation 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 Evaluation 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 main project partners. Therefore, the Evaluation will identify lessons of operational relevance for future project formulation and implementation, especially where a second phase of the project is being considered. Recommendations relevant to the whole house may also be identified during the evaluation process. THE EVALUATION TEAM For this Evaluation, the Evaluation Team will consist of an Evaluation Consultant who will work under the overall responsibility of the Evaluation Office represented by an Evaluation Manager, in consultation with the UNEP Task Manager, Fund Management Officer and the Subprogramme Coordinator. Specific responsibilities for the Evaluation Consultant: In close consultation with the Evaluation Manager, the Evaluation Consultant will be responsible for the overall management of the Evaluation and timely provision of its outputs. More specifically: 1. Inception phase of the Evaluation, including:

• preliminary desk review and introductory interviews with project staff;
• draft the reconstructed Theory of Change of the project;
• prepare the evaluation framework;
• develop the desk review and interview protocols;
• draft the survey protocols (if relevant);
• develop and present criteria for country and/or site selection for the evaluation mission;
• plan the evaluation schedule;
• prepare the Inception Report, incorporating comments until approved by the Evaluation Manager. 2. Data collection and analysis phase of the Evaluation, including:
• conduct further desk review and in-depth interviews with project implementing and executing agencies, project partners, and project stakeholders,
• where appropriate and agreed) conduct an evaluation mission(s) to Georgia, visit the project locations, interview project partners and stakeholders, including a good representation of local communities. Ensure independence of the Evaluation and confidentiality of evaluation interviews.
• regularly report back to the Evaluation Manager on progress and inform of any possible problems or issues encountered and;
• keep the Project/Task Manager informed of the evaluation progress. 3. Reporting phase, including:
• draft the Main Evaluation Report, ensuring that the evaluation report is complete, coherent and consistent with the Evaluation Manager guidelines both in substance and style;
• liaise with the Evaluation Manager on comments received and finalize the Main Evaluation Report, ensuring that comments are taken into account until approved by the Evaluation Manager;
• prepare a Response to Comments annex for the main report, listing those comments not accepted by the Evaluation Consultant and indicating the reason for the rejection; and;
• (where agreed with the Evaluation Manager) prepare an Evaluation Brief (2-page summary of the evaluand and the key evaluation findings and lessons). 4. Managing relations, including:
• maintain a positive relationship with evaluation stakeholders, ensuring that the evaluation process is as participatory as possible but at the same time maintains…