Background

Project Background

 

With the new 13th Five Year Plan (13th FYP) being announced in March 2016, China is at the crossroads of shifting from its current resource and energy intensive economic growth pattern to a new efficient and clean pattern driven by technology innovation. Low carbon and climate action are expected to have an important role in the new five year plan. Pursuing a low carbon development path is a consensus at the top political level and also a centerpiece of its new development goal of building an “eco-civilization”. Meanwhile, the international community aspires to reach the goal of limiting temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial level.  In this context, China is laying out a massive transformational national low carbon development plan, which is incorporated into its overall socioeconomic development plan. China aims to peak its CO2 emissions by 2030, and is going to cut its CO2 emissions per unit of GDP (carbon intensity) by 40-45% by 2020 and 60-65% by 2030 compared to the 2005 level. To achieve these targets, China has formulated and is planning to formulate a series of policies and measures both at the central and local level.

 

Establishing a national carbon market (also called national ETS) is the central policy instrument for China. Since 2011, China has started to create and test carbon emissions trading scheme in 7 pilots (in provinces of Guangdong and Hubei, and the cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Chongqing, and Shenzhen). Since the launch of the first pilot on June 18, 2013, trading is taking place in the Chinese pilot markets. 42.09 million emissions’ allowances have been traded on the secondary market across the seven ETS pilots, accounting for a total value of US$200.48 million, with an average price of US$4.76/ton. The early operations of the ETS pilots give the opportunity for China to get hands-on experiences on the process, designing and implementation of ETS. Key experiences accumulated from the pilots reveal the “learning by doing” nature of the work, and also prove that the establishment of a functioning and robust ETS requires continuous and dedicated efforts

 

In 2015, a total 24.5 million allowances worth 656 million yuan ($100 million) changed hands via exchanges in China’s seven pilot carbon markets. With the completion of compliance checks in 7 pilots, overall performance in 2015 has been improved compared with the previous year. The designing of ETS is only a part of the overall work needed, and there is much more to do after the launch of national ETS.

 

Work on policy designing and infrastructure building for the national ETS is under good progress, and moving towards a timely launch of the national ETS in 2017. Table 1 captures major progress of the national ETS designing. A lot of achievements have been made till now, in particular the domestic project based offsetting scheme similar to Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) under the Kyoto Protocol. The scheme is called China Certified Emission Reduction (CCER) trading and is managed and regulated by NDRC. Currently more than 478 CCER projects have been approved by NDRC. CCERs were surrendered by covered enterprises for compliance in all seven pilot carbon markets during this compliance year.

 

Project Summary

 

In 2016 China announced that the national Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) will be launched in 2017, while pilots have already started preparation in 7 provinces and cities since 2011 and are in operation since 2013-2014. Amidst existing international projects to support the design of national ETS, this project is a comprehensive package focused on complementing on-going efforts and filling the needs-gaps to create enabling conditions for a successful national ETS. The overall goal of the project is to assist Chinese government and enable it to build and launch a robust national ETS on time and also to ensure the smooth implementation. To achieve the goal, the project is composed of 4 outcomes that will enable: 1) An effective and efficient allowance allocation system for national carbon market 2) Implementation Plans for China’s national ETS on provincial level 3) The supporting activities to deepen and expand capacity building and 4) To support the design of China Carbon Trading Info Platform. 

 

The project will be implemented during 2016 to 2018.

 

Expected outcomes:

  • An effective and efficient allowance allocation system of national carbon market.
  • Implementation plans for China’s national of ETS on provincial level.
  • The supporting activities to deepen and expand capacity buildings.
  • To support the design of China Carbon Trading Info Platform.                       

Duties and Responsibilities

Objectives of the Mid-Term Review

 

The objectives of this Mid-Term Review (MTR) seek to fulfill the following overarching objectives of the monitoring and evaluation:

 

The objective of the MTR is to gain an independent analysis of the progress of the project so far. The MTR will identify potential project design problems, assess progress towards the achievement of the project objective, identify and document lessons learned (including lessons that might improve projects design and implementation), and make recommendations regarding specific actions that should be taken to improve the project. The MTR will assess early signs of project success or failure and identify the necessary changes to be made. The project performance will be measured based on the indicators of the project’s logical framework (see Annex 1) and various Tracking Tools.

 

The MTR must provide evidence based information that is credible, reliable and useful. The review team is expected to follow a participatory and consultative approach ensuring close engagement with government counterparts, in particular UNDP Country Office, project team, and key stakeholders. Interviews will be held with the following organizations and individuals at a minimum:

  • UNDP staff who have project responsibilities;
  • Executing agencies (including but not limited to senior officials and task team/ component leaders: MOA, key experts and consultants in the demonstration areas, PSC members;
  • The Chair of Project Steering Committee 
  • Project stakeholders, to be determined at the MTR inception meeting; including academia, local government and CBOs

The team will review all relevant sources of information, such as the project document, project reports – including Annual APR/PIR, project budget revisions, progress reports, project files, national strategic and legal documents, and any other materials that the team considers useful for this evidence-based review.

 

Scope of the Evaluation

 

The scope of the MTR covers the entire project and its components as well as the co-financed components of the project.

 

The MTR will assess the Project implementation taking into account the status of the project activities and outputs and the resource disbursements made up to the point of the start of the review

 

The evaluation will involve analysis at two levels: component level and project level. On the component level, the following shall be assessed:

  • Whether there is effective relationship and communication between/among components so that data, information, lessons learned, best practices and outputs are shared efficiently, including cross-cutting issues.
  • Whether the performance measurement indicators and targets used in the project monitoring system are specific, measurable, achievable, reasonable and time-bounded to achieve desired project outcomes.
  • Whether the use of consultants has been successful in achieving component outputs.

The evaluation will include such aspects as appropriateness and relevance of work plan, compliance with the work and financial plan with budget allocation, timeliness of disbursements, procurement, coordination among project team members and committees.  Any issue or factor that has impeded or accelerated the implementation of the project or any of its components, including actions taken and resolutions made should be highlighted.

 

On the project level, it will assess the project performance in terms of: (a.) Progress towards achievement of results, (b.) Factors affecting successful implementation and achievement of results, (c.) Project Management framework, and (d.) Strategic partnerships.

 

Progress towards achievement of results (internal and within project’s control)

  • Is the Project making satisfactory progress in achieving project outputs vis-à-vis the targets and related delivery of inputs and activities?
  • Are the direct partners and project consultants able to provide necessary inputs or achieve results?
  • Given the level of achievement of outputs and related inputs and activities to date, is the Project likely to achieve its Immediate Purpose and Development Objectives?
  • Are there critical issues relating to achievement of project results that have been pending and need immediate attention in the next period of implementation?

Factors affecting successful implementation and achievement of results (beyond the Project’s immediate control or project-design factors that influence outcomes and results)

  • Is the project implementation and achievement of results proceeding well and according to plan, or are there any outstanding issues, obstacles, bottlenecks, etc. on the consumer, government or private sector or other organizations that are affecting the successful implementation and achievement of project results?
  • To what extent does the broader policy environment remain conducive to achieving expected project results, including existing and planned legislations, rules, regulations, policy guidelines and government priorities?
  • Is the project logical framework and design still relevant in the light of the project experience to date?
  • To what extent do critical assumptions/risks in project design make true under present circumstances and on which the project success still hold? Validate these assumptions as presently viewed by the project management and determine whether there are new assumptions/risks that should be raised?
  • Is the project well-placed and integrated within the national government development strategies, such as community development, poverty reduction, etc., and related global development programs to which the project implementation should align?
  • Do the Project’s purpose and objectives remain valid and relevant, or are there items or components in the project design that need to be reviewed and updated?
  • Are the Project’s institutional and implementation arrangements still relevant and helpful in the achievement of the Project’s objectives, or are there any institutional concerns that hinder the Project’s implementation and progress.

Project management (adaptive management framework)

  • Are the project management arrangements adequate and appropriate?
  • How effectively is the project managed at all levels? Is it results-based and innovative?
  • Do the project management systems, including progress reporting, administrative and financial systems and monitoring and evaluation system, operate as  effective management tools, aid in effective implementation and provide sufficient basis for evaluating performance and decision making?
  • Is technical assistance and support from project partners and stakeholders appropriate, adequate and timely?
  • Validate whether the risks originally identified in the project document and, currently in the APR/PIRs, are the most critical and the assessments and risk ratings placed are reasonable.
  • Describe additional risks identified during the evaluation, if any, and suggest risk ratings and possible risk management strategies to be adopted.
  • Assess the use of the project logical framework and work plans as management tools and in meeting with UNDP requirements in planning and reporting.
  • Assess the use of electronic information and communication technologies in the implementation and management of the project.
  • On the financial management side, assess the cost effectiveness of the interventions and note any irregularities.
  • How have the APR/PIR process helped in monitoring and evaluating the project implementation and achievement of results? 

Strategic partnerships (project positioning and leveraging)

  • Asses how project partners, stakeholders and co-financing institutions are involved in the Project’s adaptive management framework.
  • Identify opportunities for stronger collaboration and substantive partnerships to enhance the project’s achievement of results and outcomes.
  • Are the project information and progress of activities disseminated to project partners and stakeholders? Are there areas to improve in the collaboration and partnership mechanisms?

Evaluation Methodology

 

The MTR Team is expected to become well versed as to the project objectives, historical developments, institutional and management mechanisms, activities and status of accomplishments. Information will be gathered through document review, group and individual interviews and site visits. Review relevant project documents and reports will be based on the following sources of information: review of documents related to the project and structured interviews with knowledgeable parties

 

The MTR Team will conduct an opening meeting with the National Project Director (NPD), Project Management Office (PMO), the Ministry of Finance, and the China International Center for Economic and Technical Exchanges. An “exit” interview will also be held to discuss the findings of the assessment prior to the submission of the draft Final Report. 

 

Prior to engagement and visiting the PMO, the MTR Team shall receive all the relevant documents including at least:

  • The Project Document and Project Brief
  • Inception Report
  • Annual Work and Financial Plans
  • Annual Project Report/Project Implementation Review (APR/PIR) for 2016

To provide more details, as may be needed, the following will be made available for access by the MTR Team:

  • Executive summary of all quarterly reports
  • Internal monitoring results
  • Terms of Reference for past consultants’ assignments and summary of the results
  • Past audit reports

All additional material related to the project management and implementation and held by the PMO and their subcontracts will be available for review at the discretion of the Evaluation Team.

 

The MTR Evaluation Team should at least interview the following people:

  • National Project Director
  • National Project Coordinator
  • PMO Director
  • International Chief Technical Advisor
  • Project Financial Officer
  • A representative of the Project Steering Committee
  • UNDP Country Office in China in-charge of the Project

It is also anticipated that the MTR will interview a number of sub-contractors and recipients of services, and make site visits to implementation areas. However, the degree to which such interactions are required will be at the discretion of the Evaluation Team.

With the aim of having an objective and independent evaluation, the MTR Team is expected to conduct the project review according to international criteria and professional norms and standards as adopted by the UN Evaluation Group.

 

MTR Team

The MTR Team will be composed of one International Lead Consultant and one National Consultants. The Team is expected to combine international standards of evaluation expertise, excellent knowledge of Energy Efficiency and Climate Change projects and the national context of in which the project is being implemented. The members of the team must be independent from both the policy-making process and the delivery and management of the UNDP assistance to the project. Therefore, candidates who had any direct involvement with the design and implementation of the project will not be considered.

 

This job advertisement is targetting the international consultant.

Responsibilities of the international consultant:

  • Define the evaluation methodology and schedule, and report to the PMO;
  • Documentation of the review;
  • Leading the MTR Team in planning, conducting and reporting on the evaluation;
  • Deciding on division of labor within the team and ensuring timeliness of reports;
  • Use of best practice evaluation methodologies in conducting the evaluation;
  • Leading presentation of the draft evaluation findings and recommendations in-country;
  • Conducting the debriefing for the UNDP China Office and the PMO;
  • Leading the drafting and finalization of the MTR report.

 

Evaluation Schedule and Deliverables

The MTR is provisionally scheduled to commence in July of 2017. The draft evaluation report should be produced with 2 weeks, highlighting important observations, analysis of information and key conclusions including its recommendations. Based on the scope of the MTR described above, the Evaluation Report will include, among others:

  • Findings on the project implementation achievements, challenges, and difficulties to date;
  • Assessments of the progress made towards the attainment of outcomes;
  • Recommendations for modifications and the future course of action;
  • Lessons learned from the project structure, coordination between different agencies, experience of the implementation, and output/outcome and,

The report will be initially shared with UNDP China Office and PMO to solicit comments or clarifications. Consequently, a presentation of the report will be made to an open meeting of all project stakeholders for comment. The final MTR report will then be submitted within 1 month of the initiation of the evaluation. Three copies of the report will be submitted to the UNDP China Office and a copy to PMO.

There will be two main deliverables:

  • MTR report, including an executive summary, fulfilling the evaluation requirements set out in this Terms of Reference (TOR).  The final report (including executive summary, but excluding annexes) should not exceed 50 pages;
  • A power-point presentation of the findings of the evaluation.

Competencies

  • Familiarity with China;
  • Comprehensive knowledge of international project best practices.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

  • Post-graduate in engineering, management or business, or college degree in said areas with at least ten years’ experience of project development and implementation.

Experience:

  • Minimum of ten years accumulated and recognized experience in the Energy Efficiency and climate change area;
  • Minimum of five years experience of project evaluation and/or implementation experience in the result-based management framework;
  • Experience with multilateral and bilateral supported project environments.

Language:

  • Very good report writing skills in English.

Documents to be included when submitting application

Please note that the system will not accept the uploading of more than one document so please merge or scan all your documents into one prior to uploading.

 

Evaluation Criteria

Candidates will be assessed based on the following technical criteria:

Technical Evaluation (70); Financial Evaluation (30)

The final evaluation method will be based on a cumulative analysis of both the technical and financial proposals.