The severe escalation of water scarcity due to the key drivers such as demographic growth, tendency to increase food self-sufficiency, urbanization expansion, energy demand and overall socio-economic development, further compounded by the negative impacts of climate change and the considerable degradation of water quality resulted in the Urmia Lake (5’000 km2) intense pressure during the last two decades and it is currently in a state of ecological crisis with major impacts on biodiversity and socio-economic conditions.
In this context, FAO is implementing the project “GCP/IRA/066/JPN – Integrated Programme for Sustainable Water Resources Management in the Urmia Lake Basin”, funded by the Government of Japan. The overall goal of the project is to contribute to more sustainable, productive and climate change resilient agricultural and rural systems with a positive impact on the environment in general and on the water balance (inflow-outflow) of the Urmia Lake. The Project is implementing through an FAO operating and management team, fully integrated within the existing governance of the Urmia Lake Restoration Programme (ULRP) and in close cooperation with different partners, selected on the basis of multidisciplinary requirements.
This project is to support the national endeavor and to provide technical and strategic assistance in implementing an integrated and sustainable management system for the lake Urmia and its basin.
In this project, evaluation services are considered as part of technical support provided by FAO. Such evaluation provides not only accountability on results, but also lessons learned and recommendations to improve the future performance of FAO and an evidence-base for decision-making.” In this regards, a Mid-Term Evaluation (MTE) by an independent consultant/s should be undertaken at the delivery of about 50 percent of the initial total budget to review efficiency and effectiveness of implementation in terms of achieving project objective, outcomes and outputs. The MTE will be instrumental for bringing improvement in the overall project execution strategy by formulating operational and strategic recommendations for the remaining period (including extension time) of the project’s term if necessary.
Reporting Lines
Since an Evaluation is commissioned and managed under the ultimate responsibility of BH, an Evaluation Specialist (EM) is designated by BH to be responsible/managed for delivering the relevant deliverables planned in this TOR under the guidance of the Office of Evaluation. The Evaluation Specialist will be responsible for the timely and quality conduct of the mid-term evaluation of the project. His/her mandate will fully comply with the overall Terms of Reference (ToR) for the Evaluation. S/He will guide and oversee the evaluation team’s activities, and ensure, in collaboration with the evaluation Team Leader, that the methodology foreseen in the ToR is fully implemented.
Strong Managerial and organization skills with knowledge of M&E and experience in Evaluation.
- Review relevant background documentation made available by the project team, including project document, logframe, progress reports, baseline studies, etc;
- Develop the evaluation Terms of References;
- Actively contribute to the recruitment process of the evaluation team, making sure the evaluation team is independent, does not have conflict of interests and includes the best composition of expertise and regional coverage; and is gender balanced.
- Contribute to and review the evaluation methodology and tools, such as evaluation matrix, evaluation questions, checklists, surveys, questionnaires and other data collection tools;
- Contribute to and oversee the collection and analysis of primary and secondary data by the evaluation team through the desk review and during the country visits through, inter alia, interviews and meetings, face to face or virtual, with key stakeholders, including the Government, the FAO Representation, donor’s delegations, external partners, CSOs and direct beneficiaries of the project;
- Participate in the field missions as necessary;
- Review for quality assurance purposes all deliverables planned in the overall ToR. These will include: the final draft report according to specifications provided in the ToRs and integrating comments and suggestions received during the OED quality check process, as well as comments received from the Project Task Force, Steering Committee, donors and others stakeholders, as appropriate;
- Oversee the presentation of findings of the evaluation to key stakeholders during all planned debriefing sessions as required;
- Ensure the report meets evaluation quality standards[1]; is proof read, edited and published;
- Follow up on the preparation, finalization and publishing of the Management Response and Follow up report;
- Undertake any other relevant tasks assigned by the BH and the Evaluation Team Leader as required.
- Advanced university degree in evaluation, agriculture, social and economic development or related fields;
- Five years of relevant experience in managing, designing, planning or conducting development evaluations at the global, regional or country levels;
- Working knowledge of English. Knowledge of Farsi is a distinct asset;
- National of Iran or resident with a work permit.
- Results Focus
- Teamwork
- Communication
- Building Effective Relationships
- Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement
Technical/Functional Skills
- Proven organizational and Specialistial skills.
