Job Openings at United Nations Environment Programme

 This consultancy is located at Headquarters in the Evaluation Office which reports directly to the Executive Director. The consultant reports to the Evaluation Officer managing the project and the Director of the Evaluation Office (EO).

The Terminal Evaluation is undertaken at 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, UNDP, UNEP-WCMC, and the Secretariat to the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) and the participating Parties. 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.

The Evaluation Consultant will be responsible, in close consultation with the Evaluation Office of UNEP for overall management of the evaluation and timely provision of its outputs. The Evaluation Consultant will ensure that all evaluation criteria and questions are adequately covered.

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, data collection and analysis and report-writing. More specifically:
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);
• plan the evaluation schedule;
• prepare the Inception Report, incorporating comments until approved by the Evaluation Manager
• 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;
• interview project partners and stakeholders. 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.
• 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)
• 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 its independence;
• communicate in a timely manner with the Evaluation Manager on any issues requiring its attention and intervention.

Qualifications/special skills

• Academic Qualifications: A university degree in environmental sciences or other relevant sciences area is required and an advanced degree in the same areas is desirable.
• Experience: A minimum of 5 years of technical or evaluation experience is required, preferably including evaluating large, regional or global programmes and using a Theory of Change approach; and a good/broad understanding of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and/or biodiversity and/or biosafety management is desired.
• Working knowledge of the UN system and specifically the work of UNEP and other international organizations is an added advantage. The work will be home-based with no field visits.
• Language: English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this consultancy, fluency in oral and written English is a requirement.

go to method of application »

UNEP's Science Division is responsible for analyzing the state of the global environment, providing early warning information and assessing global and regional environmental trends to catalyze and promote international cooperation and action on the environment.

The Big Science Branch of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Science Division (thereafter, the Branch) produces a broad range of integrated and thematic assessment reports as part of Subprogramme 7 (Environment Under Review) and Subprogramme 1 (Climate Change). Under the biennial Programme of Work 2020-2021, the Branch is expected to deliver a number of key assessment reports, such as derivative products of the sixth Global Environment Outlook, the annual Emissions and Adaptation Gap Reports, the Frontiers report on emerging issues of environmental concern, among several other reports developed on a needs basis. These products aim to provide evidence-based scientific assessments of the state of the environment and emerging environmental problems of international significance as a basis for informed decision- and policy-making on environmental matters.

Effective science communication is an important foundation for evidence-based decision-making. Communicating evidence in an understandable and practically relevant way for stakeholders has shown to increase an audience’s engagement, willingness to act upon the knowledge and use the evidence as a basis for their decisions. Against this backdrop, it is critical for the Branch to strengthen its efforts in communicating the findings of its scientific assessment reports to non-expert audiences in a more effective and impactful manner.

The Branch is recruiting an experienced and talented consultant to work as an illustrator to produce visually attractive, modern, and easily interpretable infographics, illustrations and other types of visualizations to draw attention to and facilitate the understanding of the content, key findings, and key messages of the various reports.

This is a home-based assignment.

Specific tasks and responsibilities

Under the supervision of the Chief, Big Science Branch, Science Division, the consultant will work closely with Project Managers of various reports to produce relevant infographics, illustrations and other types of visualizations, layout of the reports, or other materials as required. The consultant will be required to deliver work according to the timelines required by the Branch with the duration of the consultancy contract. The specific timelines of each product will be discussed and agreed in advance with the consultant. For each agreed report, specific tasks and responsibilities may i.e. include the following:

• Design front and back report covers
• Design and layout each report according to required formats
• Design and layout the GEO newsletter
• Design logos for specific reports when required
• For each infographic, provide a graphic interpretation of technical information to produce a modern, visually attractive and easy-to-interpret infographic for discussion with Project Manager.
• Report on copyright issues in case of redrawing illustrations previously published.
• Submit the preliminary design for feedback and revise the design for approval by Project Manager.
• Submit drafts to Project Manager for proofreading (as many rounds of corrections as needed to meet UNEP requirements)
• In case of revision, ensure all corrections have been incorporated.
• Prepare electronic files for the printer according to format required by specific printers
• Make available all design files to Project Manager.
• Make available graphics in required formats
• Any other related assignment related to the development of illustrations and visuals, as required by the Branch

Qualifications/special skills

Academic Qualifications:

First level academic degree in design, illustration, visual arts or equivalent required. Practical knowledge in various design software applications such as Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, or similar tools required. The applicants will be required to send to UNEP 10 diverse examples of his/her illustrations to demonstrate their experience and knowledge in graphic design in addition to their Personal History Profile (PHP), as part of the selection process.

Experience:

A minimum of seven years of experience working on similar assignments required. Proven experience in commercial print management from start to end as well as color scheme management, and practical experience in designing multiple communications products required. An illustration portfolio must be provided of at least 10 distinct top graphic pieces from previous works which showcase clear and simplified communication of knowledge and information published in technical reports or similar materials. Desirable: it will be an advantage to have practical experience with materials related to different fields of science, the environment, and/or environmental sustainability. Proficiency with data visualization/analytic software is also highly desirable.

Language:

• English and French are the two working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this post, fluency in English (both Oral and written) is required