Call for Editorial Experts - Independent Evaluation Unit (IEU)

Korea

Organization: GCF - Green Climate Fund
Location: Korea
Grade: Consultancy - Consultant - Contractors Agreement
Occupational Groups:
- Communication and Public Information
- Translations and Languages
- Monitoring and Evaluation
- Scientist and Researcher
Closing Date: Closed

Call for Editorial Experts - Independent Evaluation Unit (IEU)

Date: Jul 10, 2020

Location: Korea (KOR), KR

Company: Green Climate Fund

Introduction

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 Board. 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 activities;
(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 discharging an accountability function and supporting a learning function. 2 These are central to the GCF being a learning organization as laid out in its Governing Instrument and its initial strategic plan.3 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.4 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.

The IEU is also mandated to independently peer review and attest the quality of GCF self-
evaluation;5
(e)   Advisory and capacity support: The IEU 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.6 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 functioning and processes.7 This includes recommending possible improvements to the GCF performance indicators and its initial results framework, after accounting for international experience and the results of evaluation;8
(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.9 In addition, the IEU will support knowledge hubs of low-emission and climate-resilient pathways.10

Role

The Editorial Expert is responsible for providing high quality editorial and proofreading services for communication products developed by the Independent Evaluation Unit relating to publication, brochure, paper, etc. S/he will be remote-based and will provide substantive matter knowledge and experience in various evaluation products for the Independent Evaluation Unit’s activities and outcomes. S/he reports to Head of Independent Evaluation Unit and the Principal Officer of the Workstream, and works closely with Communications consultant and other IEU staff to express ideas clearly and amplify IEU’s mission.

Duties and responsibilities

Under the overall guidance of the Head of the IEU, s/he will be responsible for but not limited to:
•   Edit, review and proofread a diverse range of IEU communication products to ensure that they express ideas clearly, are of a consistently high standard and adhere to IEU brand and editorial style;
•   Provide guidance to IEU staff for all matters relating to documentation, editorial and layout matters with profound knowledge of evaluation products;
•   Work closely with responsible IEU staff members to develop texts and make recommendations for any editing and formatting action required in order to emphasize evaluation outcomes;

•   Supervise and train staff to conduct documentation quality control, including formatting, assigning
and verifying documentation codes, and the proper transmission of Board documents to the Board and wide public;
•   Organize workshop or training sessions on documentation to IEU staff; and
•   Performing other related duties, as required

Required experience and qualifications

•   An advanced university degree in English, literature, linguistics or journalism and/or substantial experience in a similar post. Additional relevant years of experience may be considered in the absence of advanced degrees;
•   At least 8 years of relevant work experience;
•   Experience in communication products of evaluation field is highly desirable;
•   Proven drafting and editorial skills, along with a knowledge of editorial policies and practices at international organizations;
•   Ability to exercise good judgment, meet tight deadlines and maintain required productivity without compromising quality;
•   Precision and attention to detail. Ability to spot errors and inconsistencies in large volumes of text;
•   Proficiency in use of commonly used word-processing software;
•   Strong competence and autonomy in the use of standard software programmes: Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access;
•   Able to work independently and efficiently with limited guidance in a deadline-driven environment; and
•   Ability to read and communicate fluently in English; the ability to read and communicate in one or more other major languages (French, Spanish, Russian, Chinese, Arabic) is desirable.

*“Additional relevant years of experience may be considered in the absence of advanced degrees”

Shortlisting will begin on 27 July 2020 (KST). Applicants who meet the requirements above will be added to the IEU Editorial Expert Roster. Depending on needs, candidates on the roster may be contacted to ascertain their availability, following which contractual arrangements on various durations will be made accordingly.
Applications from women and nationals of developing countries are strongly encouraged.

The 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).
Board document B.16/18
Annex I to decision B.12/20.
Annex I to decision GCF/B.05/03.
Decisions B.12/12 and 20.
Annex III to decision B.06/09
Syntheses 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.
Annex III to decision B.06/09
See note 7 above
Annex I to decision GCF/B.05/03.