Impact Assessment Expert

The consultant will develop a high quality Impact Report for the Global EbA Fund that presents evidence of the Fund’s results, innovation, EbA barriers addressed, catalytic influence, and contribution to EbA in a compelling, accessible, and visually engaging format.

Home Based

12 weeks

The Global EbA Fund (GEbAF) is an initiative implemented by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and funded by the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Climate Action, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUKN). The Global EbA Fund is a funding mechanism supporting innovative approaches to Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) for climate change. It aims to overcome barriers to upscaling EbA by catalysing innovative initiatives. The Global EbA Fund has been operational since 2020 and supports innovative initiatives that create enabling environments for the uptake, scaling, and mainstreaming of EbA to climate change. To date, the Fund has supported 63 projects across 39 countries, with 30 projects completed and 15 projects in the pipeline. Funded projects address a range of barriers to EbA, including financial, governance, knowledge, and awareness-related gaps, among others. The portfolio spans diverse ecosystems and landscapes, including coastal and marine areas, drylands, grasslands, forests, mountains, urban areas, river basins, and wetlands, demonstrating the broad applicability of EbA approaches across different environmental and socio-economic contexts. As the Fund continues to expand its portfolio, there is a need to consolidate evidence of its results, effectiveness, and broader influence. The Global EbA Fund seeks to produce a high-quality, evidence-based, and visually compelling Impact Report that effectively communicates its results and achievements to grantees, donors, partners, broader stakeholder groups, and prospective funders, including philanthropic organizations that are increasingly investing in climate adaptation. As the global adaptation agenda places greater emphasis on resilience, locally led action, responsiveness to community needs, and measurable impact, the report will showcase the Fund’s contribution to advancing EbA and its role in delivering wider sustainable development outcomes through addressing barriers to EbA. The overall objective of this consultancy is to develop a Global EbA Fund Impact Report that presents evidence of the Fund’s results, innovation, catalytic influence, and contribution to EbA in a compelling, accessible, and visually engaging format. The report should: • Demonstrate the Fund’s contribution to EbA outcomes, how it addresses EbA barriers, and showcase the catalytic nature of Fund-supported interventions; • Synthesize key lessons and highlight innovation, scalability, partnerships, and leverage, including how projects mobilise additional finance, influence policy, and enable wider uptake and replication of EbA approaches; • Communicate measurable results using accessible high-quality photos, graphic illustrations, infographics, data visualisations, maps, and compelling narrative storytelling; • Present human-centered stories that illustrate how communities and ecosystems have benefited from the funded projects in accordance with the Fund’s inclusive and gender-responsive approach and Environmental and Social Management System; The consultant will design a clear, and engaging Impact Report, organized around the key barriers to EbA addressed by Global EbA Fund. The report should combine portfolio-level analysis with project-level examples to demonstrate the Fund’s contribution to enabling, scaling, and mainstreaming EbA globally. The indicative structure of the publication will be as follows: I. Preface • Executive summary presenting key achievements and lessons from the Fund • Forewords from UNEP, IUCN, and BMUKN/IKI II. Introducing the Global EbA Fund • Background and rationale for the Fund (what makes the Fund unique?) • Overview of the partnership and funding arrangements. • Timeline of key milestones (2020–2026). • Global footprint, including the geographic distribution of projects and countries reached. • Highlights of the Fund’s alignment with UNEP, IUCN, and IKI strategies, as well as relevant global frameworks (drawn from MTR findings). III. The Global EbA Fund Approach • The Fund’s theory of change and strategic objectives. • How the Fund operates, including grant modalities and support mechanisms. • The Fund’s role in creating enabling environments for EbA. IV. Portfolio Overview and Key Results • Summary of the portfolio and key performance indicators. • Funding allocations • Projects funded, countries/regions covered • Diversity of ecosystems and landscapes represented in the portfolio • Overview of beneficiaries • Overview of partnerships generated, including evidence of collective impact across stakeholders. • Highlights of major achievements and emerging trends, including examples of scalability and replication across projects. V. Addressing Barriers to Ecosystem-based Adaptation The report should present results according to the categories of barriers addressed by the Fund: Financial Barriers; Governance and Policy Barriers; and Knowledge, Capacity, and Awareness Barriers and sub-categories under these. Each barriers sub-section should include: • Headline statistics and key metrics; • Analytical narratives demonstrating progress and outcomes; • Illustrative case studies and individual project examples including innovative methodologies, tools, and mechanisms, highlighting enabling factors and success drivers to overcome barriers; The project examples should be usable as standalone project briefs. • Gaps, key lessons learned and emerging opportunities; • Stakeholder quotes and testimonials, where available; • Visual elements, maps, infographics, and photographs. VI. Conclusions and key messages • Summary of good practices and lessons learned • The way forward: key messages for scaling EbA VII. Annexes • Portfolio summary table of all projects funded; • Acronyms and abbreviations; • List of Fund-specific definitions • Fund Secretariat and Steering Committee • List of grantees and project partners. The material for all points will be provided by UNEP and IUCN. The selected vendor will be responsible for the following tasks: 1. Content planning and development • Review materials and project documentation including updated data provided by the Fund Secretariat, support with data analysis to distil relevant information and provide data insights for the report. • Develop draft messages on project impacts, success stories, lessons learned, and best practices from grantees provided by the Fund Secretariat. • Synthesize gathered information into accessible and inclusive language, and draft clear and engaging narratives and draft infographics. • Propose a concept and storytelling approach for the publication. 2. Development of visuals, design and layout • Develop and gather visual elements including photos, illustrations, infographics, and maps, including provision of editable files. • Produce a creative and professional layout and design for the publication. 3. Draft submission, feedback and finalization • Integrate UNEP and IUCN feedback into the draft publication (at least 3-4 rounds of comments). • Provide UNEP with the final publication in both high-resolution PDF and web-optimized formats.

Advanced university degree in communications, journalism, knowledge management, education, environment or related disciplines is required. A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in the areas stated above, combined with an additional two years of experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree. At least 7 years of relevant professional experience in impact assessment, evaluation, data analysis, and results reporting is required. At least 5 assignments producing high-impact, visual publications for international organisations, agencies, NGOs, or donors is required. Strong analytical and data visualization skills is required. Strong experience in knowledge management and storytelling, with a proven ability to capture local impacts and lessons learned into compelling narratives for diverse audiences is desirable Ability to synthesize complex information into clear, engaging narratives is desirable. Strong stakeholder engagement and interviewing skills is desirable.

Fluency in writing and communication skills in English is required

Not available.

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.