Evaluation Associate Consultant

Evaluation Associate (Consultant) - Independent Evaluation Unit (IEU) International

The Green Climate Fund (GCF) is a multilateral fund created to make significant and ambitious contributions to the global efforts to combat climate change. The GCF contributes to achieving the objectives of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement. In the context of sustainable development, the GCF aims to promote a paradigm shift towards low-emission and climate-resilient development pathways by providing support to developing countries to limit or reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt to climate change, while accounting for their needs and supporting particularly those that are vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. The GCF is governed by a Board, composed of an equal number of members from developed and developing countries. It is operated by an independent Secretariat headed by an Executive Director.

The Independent Evaluation Office (IEU) of the GCF, is mandated by the GCF Board under paragraph 60 of its governing instrument inform its decision making. Specifically, the governing instrument states “… the Board will establish an operationally independent evaluation unit as part of the core structure of the Fund. The head of the unit will be selected by, and will report to, the B oard. The frequency and types of evaluation to be conducted will be specified by the unit in agreement with the Board.” The IEU has several objectives:

(a) Informing decision-making by the Board and identifying and disseminating lessons learned, contributing to guiding the GCF and stakeholders as a learning institution, providing strategic guidance;

(b) Conducting periodic independent evaluations of GCF performance to objectively assess the results of the GCF and the effectiveness and efficiency of its activite i s; (c) Providing evaluation reports to the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the Paris Agreement for purposes of periodic reviews of the Financial Mechanism. 1

The IEU has a mandate for both di scharging an accountability function and supporting a learning function. These are central to the GCF being a learning organization as laid out in its Governing 3

Instrument and its initial strategic plan. The responsibilities of the IEU are as follows:

(d) Evaluation: The IEU will undertake independent overall, portfolio, country, thematic, programme evaluations that inform GCF strategic result areas. In key cases, it will also support and undertake project evaluations. The IEU will use relevant and innovative methods and an independent peer-review mechanism that will provide guidance on independent evaluations. The vision, criteria and guidelines for these will be laid out in the Independent evaluation policy.

1The Conference of Parties to the UNFCCC provides the following guidance on the function of the IEU: “The reports of the GCF should include any reports of the independent evaluation unit, including for the purposes of the periodic reviews of the financial mechanism of the Convention” (UNFCCC decision 5/CP19, annex, paragraph 20).

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3Board document B.16/18

Annex I to decision B.12/20.

4 Annex I to decision GCF/B.05/03. The IEU is also mandated to independently peer review and attest the quality of GCF self - evaluation; 5

(e) Advisory and capacity support: TheIEU is required to advise the Board by synthesizing findings

and lessons learned from its evaluations. These findings and lessons learned are expected to

also inform the Executive Director of the Secretariat and other GCF stakeholders. The IEU will

engage closely with the independent evaluation units of intermediaries and implementing

entities of the GCF, including national designated authorities (NDAs) and accredited entities

(AEs). It will provide support to catalyse learning and build and strengthen NDA and AE

evaluation capacity. It will also provide guidelines and support evaluation -related research that

helps produce rigorous evidence in GCF result areas;

(f) Learning: The IEU will support the GCF in its learning function by ensuring that

recommendations from independent evaluations are incorporated into the Secretariat’s

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functioning and processes. This includes recommending possible improvements to the GCF

performance indicators and its initial results framework, after accounting for international

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experience and the results of evaluation;

(g) Engagement:The IEU will actively participate in relevant evaluation networks to ensure that it

is at the frontier of evaluation practice. The IEU will involve its own staff and staff from NDAs

and AEs in evaluations wherever feasible and appropriate. 9In addition, the IEU will support

knowledge hubs of low-emission and climate-resilient pathways. 10

Role

The Evaluation Associate of the Independent Evaluation Unit is responsible for doing the initial due

diligence for scoping out evaluations for the IEU. This consists of reviewing documents, undertaking

initial conversations, preparing the logistics for an evaluation, collecting all documents and data for an

evaluation and undertaking the planning process for an evaluation. The Evaluation Associate should be

diligent, extremely well organized, should be able to use state of the art methods for communication

and engagement, be able t o take notes, analyse qualitative information and present it sensibly and

should be able to act as key liaison for the IEU. The Evaluation Associate will be based at the Fund’s

headquarters in Songdo, Incheon City, Republic of Korea. The position is for a 6-month period with the

possibility of an extension.S/he will provide substantive knowledge and experienceto variousactivities

for the Independent Evaluation Unit ’s achievements. S/he reports to the Head of Independent

Evaluation Unit, and works closely with e valuation officer and other IEU staff to perform evaluation

effectively and amplify IEU’s mission.

Duties and responsibilities

Under the overallguidance of the Head of the IEU, s/he will be responsible forbut not limited to:

5Decisions B.12/12 and 20.

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Annex III to decision B.06/09

7Syntheses will include not just evidence from GCF funded programmes and policies but also from other agencies that are relevant to the GCF’s result areas.

8Annex III to decision B.06/09

9See note 7 above.

10Annex I to decision GCF/B.05/03.• Deliver logistical and operational support on overall evaluation tasks of the IEU including impact evaluation, portfolio evaluation, thematic evaluation, projects/programme evaluations, process

evaluation;

• Work closely with responsible IEU staff members to review, coordinate and plan evaluations as

well as be able to trouble shoot logistical and operational blocks.

• Prepare the terms of reference for independent evaluation and conduct preparation relatedwork

related to evaluationto accomplish the IEU’smission;

• Perform analysis of information collected from various sources and derive findings, conclusions

and formulate recommendations;

• Work closely with responsible IEU staff members to organize workshop or train ing sessions for

evaluation stakeholders in order to ensure high quality evaluation evidence and build stakeholder’s

evaluation capacity;

• Contribute to the evaluation related paperfor the IEU including quarterly and/or yearly reports on

evaluation outcomes;

• Support the drafting of theBoard documents for the Fund and COP reports to the UNFCCCfor the

activities and achievements of the IEU;

• Carry out research and formulate frontier evaluation practice in order to keep up -to-date

strategies, policies, and methodologiesof evaluation;

• Liaise with the similar institutions of the Fund and other relevant evaluation stakeholders to build

and enhance partnerships of the IEU;and

• Perform other evaluation related duties, as required.

• Should be able to work well in teams and keep a good attitude in the face of challenges and other

day to day obstacles.

Requiredexperience and qualifications

• An advanced university degree in climate change related subject, statistics or fields related to

evaluation. Additional relevant years of experience may beconsidered in the absence of advanced

degrees (required);

• At least three years of relevant work experience(required);

• Should be familiar with working in international institutionsand the GCF(desirable).

• Should have experiencewith drafting evaluation related terms of referenceand should be familiar

with building scopes of evaluations and should have a good understanding of OECD DAC criteria

(desirable);

• Experience with climate finance and/or development markets is advantageous;

• Experience with other financial frameworkssuch as UNFCCC CDM projects(desirable);

• Experience with project/programme as project developer or in financial institutions will be

favourably considered;

• Proven ability to collect, manage and analyse data from various sources for evaluate programme

effectiveness, and monitor programme implementation with the useof statistical tools;

• Ability to exercise good judgment, meet tight deadlines and maintain required productivity

without compromisingquality;

• Should be passionate about delivery, resultsdriven and should be able to trouble shoot;

• Ability to work independently and efficiently with limited guidance in a deadline -driven

environmentis required; and

• Fluency in English is essential; knowledge of another United Nations language is an advantage.Applications from women and nationals of developing countries are strongly encouraged. Interested candidates are required to send an-e mail attaching theirCV and a letter of interest in a single

file to:roster@gcfund.organd ieu@gcfund.org

File name: “[last name], [first name]” (e.g. Olsson, Anna)

Subject line: “IEUEvaluationAssociate”

Closing date for applications is30 September2017 (KST). Applications submitted after the closing date

may not be considered.

Upon submission of your application, you will receive an automatic e-mail acknowledging receipt of your

application. Should you not receive a response, however, please check your spam/clutter mail before

resubmitting your application. Please also ensure to use the correct spelling for the subject line of your

email. Thank you.