Evaluation Consultant

Result of Service

The work of the consultant will contribute to the implementation of the UN Development Account-funded project on ‘Financing NbS for Green and Inclusive recovery,’ which seeks to support Colombia and Brazil in delivering the SDGs and the commitment under the Paris Climate Agreement and the Kunming- Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework while promoting the socio-economic objective of poverty reduction and food security for all. In this regard, the work of the consultant will also contribute to UNEP’s ‘Nature’, and ‘Finance and Economic Transformation’ Programmes.

Work Location

Remote

Expected duration

5 months

Duties and Responsibilities

UNEP is the voice for the environment within the United Nations system, acting as a catalyst, advocate, educator, and facilitator to promote sustainable development through the effective use of the global environment. Its Industry and Economy Division plays a leading role in the Green Economy Initiative, which aims to shift national economies towards a sustainable trajectory. By doing so, it seeks to ensure that growth is driven by increased investment in green sectors and a transition of consumers’ preferences to sustainable goods and services. Located within this Division, the Economic and Fiscal Policy Unit examines the manner in which economics, and finance interact with the environment, thereby contributing to sustainable development at the local, national, regional, and global levels.

As the largest global food exporter and the region with the greatest biodiversity, sustainable agriculture is particularly important in LAC. However, food systems in the region are dominated by unsustainable production models that exacerbate greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss. This can be affirmed as, in 2019, agri-food systems accounted for more than 70% of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in South America, the highest among all regions. Therefore, it is imperative to facilitate transformational change in food production systems in the region by addressing the underlying drivers of greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss.

A leading structural driver is the misallocation of public finance, which crowds in nature-negative finance. This results in a global nature finance gap of 700 billion USD. Estimated to annually total 650 billion USD at the global level, agricultural subsidies warrant further attention. This is because they distort markets to prioritize unsustainable practices over sustainable ones and reduce fiscal space for sustainable investments, with over two-thirds being estimated to be harmful to the environment. Comprising 87 percent of all public support to agriculture, this worsens the regional financing gap for agriculture and rural development goals, which stands at 98 USD billion per year.

This context is particularly relevant to Colombia and Brazil. Despite hosting approximately 10 and 20 percent of the world’s biodiversity, up to 68 and 80 percent of their greenhouse gas emissions can be attributed to the Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use sector, respectively. Among other reasons, this is because of an annual nature finance gap of 250 and 200 million USD, respectively. Thus, given its mandate to support partner countries to align their public finance flows with the Sustainable Development Goals, UNEP’s Economic and Fiscal Policy Unit designed and implemented the UNDA project. In this regard, it is seeking to hire a consultant to evaluate it, so as to ascertain lessons learned for future programming.

Roles and responsibility: - Draft and revise the inception report for the evaluation. - Collect related documents and conduct a synthesized desk review. - Prepare and revise an interview guide, using it as a basis to conduct semi-structured interviews. - Prepare and present preliminary findings to the project team. - Draft and finalize evaluation report based on feedback from various partner stakeholders. - Disseminate the evaluation report to related stakeholders. - Support with any other task deemed to be relevant to the successful completion of the evaluation

Qualifications/special skills

An advanced university degree in environmental sciences, international development, economics, finance, public policy, statistics, or another relevant political or social sciences area; A minimum of seven years of technical/evaluation experience, preferably including use of a Theory of Change approach; and technical knowledge of sustainable public finance/fiscal policy, nature-based solutions, and sustainable agriculture Working knowledge of the UN system and specifically the work of UNEP is an added advantage.

Languages

For this consultancy, fluency in spoken and written English is required. Knowledge of Spanish and Portuguese is desirable.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

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.