Background

The Sustainable Land Management Programme (SLMP) will assist the Government of Pakistan in implementation of United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and Pakistan’s National Action Programme (NAP) to achieve the long-term goal – “to combat desertification and land degradation” with the primary objective - “to promote sustainable management of land and natural resources in arid and semi-arid regions of Pakistan in order to restore degraded ecosystems and their essential services; reduce poverty and increase resilience to climate change. The specific objectives of the programme are as follows:

 

  1. Creating enabling environment at national, provincial and local levels to support up-scaling of Sustainable Land Management (SLM)practices;

  2. Developing and implementing SLM Land Use Planning & Decision Support System;and

  3. Up-scaling climate-resilient SLM activities across larger landscapes to combat land degradation anddesertification.

Duties and Responsibilities

 

The MTR team will assess the following four categories of project progress. See the Guidance For Conducting Midterm Reviews of UNDP-Supported, GEF-Financed Projects for extended descriptions, and this guide should be used in the course of the MTR exercise.

i.    Project Strategy

Project design:

  • Review the problem addressed by the project and

  • Review the relevance of the project strategy and Were lessons from other relevant projects properly incorporated into the project design?

  • Review how the project addresses country priorities. Review country ownership. Was the project concept in line with the national sector development priorities and plans of the country (or of participating countries in the case of multi-country projects)?

  • Review decision-making processes: were perspectives of those who would be affected by project decisions, those who could affect the outcomes, and those who could contribute information or other resources to the process, taken into account during project design processes?

  • Review the extent to which relevant gender issues were raised in the project design. See Annex 9[1] of Guidance For Conducting Midterm Reviews of UNDP-Supported, GEF-Financed Projects for further guidelines.

  • If there are major areas of concern, recommend areas for improvement.

 

Results Framework/Log frame:

  • Undertake a critical analysis of the project’s log frame indicators and targets, assess how “SMART” the midterm and end-of-project targets are (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound), and suggest specific amendments/revisions to the targets and indicators as necessary.

  • Are the project’s objectives and outcomes or components clear, practical, and feasible within its time frame?

  • Examine if progress so far has led to, or could in the future catalyse beneficial development effects (i.e. income generation, gender equality and women’s empowerment, improved governance etc...) that should be included in the project results framework and monitored on an annual basis.

  • Ensure broader development and gender aspects of the project are being monitored effectively.Develop and recommend SMART ‘development’ indicators, including sex-disaggregated indicators and indicators that capture development benefits.

 

 

Competencies

 

  • Competencies:

  • Excellent communication skills;

  • Demonstrable analytical skills;

  • Project evaluation/review experiences within United Nations system will be considered an asset;

Required Skills and Experience

Academic Qualification:

  • A Master’s degree in Agriculture, Forestry, Natural Resources, or other closely related field

Years of Experience:

  • Work experience in relevant technical areas for at least 10 years including recent experience with result-based management evaluation methodologies;

  • Experience applying SMART indicators and reconstructing or validating baseline scenarios;

  • Competence in adaptive management, as applied to one of the five GEF Thematic Areas, Sustainable Land Management;

  • Experience working with the GEF or GEF-evaluations;

  • Experience working in Pakistan;

  • Demonstrated understanding of issues related to gender, Sustainable Land Management and Biodiversity; experience in gender sensitive evaluation and analysis.