Background

This is the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the UNDP-GEF Midterm Review (MTR) of the full-sized Project titled “Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions for Low-carbon Urban Development in Kazakhstan”  implemented through the Ministry of Investment and Development, which is to be undertaken in 2017. The Project started in April 2015 and is in its third year of implementation. In line with the UNDP-GEF Guidance on MTRs, this MTR process was initiated before the submission of the second Project Implementation Report (PIR). This ToR sets out the expectations for this MTR.  The MTR process must follow the guidance outlined in the document Guidance For Conducting Midterm Reviews of UNDP-Supported, GEF-Financed Projects (http://web.undp.org/evaluation/documents/guidance/GEF/mid-term/Guidance_Midterm%20Review%20_EN_2014.pdf).

The Project was designed to support identification, prioritization, design, financing and implementation of Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs)/low-carbon actions and projects in the urban sector in Kazakhstan. This five-year project was designed in five components to:

• Improve the capacity of municipalities to carry out integrated municipal planning, make targets and prioritize urban mitigation actions (Component 1),
• Support the creation and strengthening of institutional structures that will allow public and private sector investments in identified infrastructure and technical assistance (Component 2),
• Provide facilitation of financing of urban NAMA through creation of a dedicated fund (Component 3),
• Piloting of an urban NAMA through investments in modernization and upgrading of the urban infrastructure (Component 4),

Linking the project with the national GHG mitigation efforts, including through standards, rules and procedures for monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV), promoting better information dissemination to stakeholders, and linking the NAMA process with the domestic Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) for industrial emitters (Component 5).

Duties and Responsibilities

Project Inception Report, PIRs, Finalized GEF focal area Tracking Tools, Project Appraisal Committee meeting minutes, Financial and Administration guidelines used by Project Team, project operational guidelines, manuals and systems, etc.) provided by the Project Team and Commissioning Unit. Then they will participate in a MTR inception workshop to clarify their understanding of the objectives and methods of the MTR, producing the MTR inception report thereafter. The MTR mission will then consist of interviews and site visits to project beneficiary and partners. The MTR team will assess the following four categories of project progress and produce a draft and final MTR report. See the Guidance For Conducting Midterm Reviews of UNDP-Supported, GEF-Financed Projects (http://web.undp.org/evaluation/documents/guidance/GEF/mid-term/Guidance_Midterm%20Review%20_EN_2014.pdf) for requirements on ratings. No overall rating is required.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

The MTR consultant/team shall prepare and submit:

- MTR Inception Report: MTR team clarifies objectives and methods of the Midterm Review no later than 2 weeks before the MTR mission. To be sent to the Commissioning Unit and project management. Approximate due date: 15-17 December 2017

- Presentation: Initial Findings presented to project management and the Commissioning Unit at the end of the MTR mission. Approximate due date: 15-22 January 2018

- Draft Final Report: Full report with annexes within 3 weeks of the MTR mission. Approximate due date: 25 – 29 January 2018

- Final Report*: Revised report with annexed audit trail detailing how all received comments have (and have not) been addressed in the final MTR report. To be sent to the Commissioning Unit within 1 week of receiving UNDP comments on draft. Approximate due date: 1-2 February 2018

*The final MTR report must be in English. If applicable, the Commissioning Unit may choose to arrange for a translation of the report into a language more widely shared by national stakeholders.

!!! For more details please see the Terms of Reference 

Competencies

- Recent experience with result-based management evaluation methodologies; 

- Experience applying SMART targets and reconstructing or validating baseline scenarios; 

- Competence in adaptive management, as applied to climate change mitigation; 

- Demonstrated understanding of issues related to gender and climate change mitigation; experience in gender sensitive evaluation and analysis

Required Skills and Experience