Biodiversity Conservation in Coffee Consultancy

Type: 
Consultant Opportunities
Location: 
Costa Rica - San José
Commitment: 
44 days
Project: 

In accordance with United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and Global Environment Facility (GEF) policies and procedures, full sized projects implemented by UNDP and financed by GEF are required to undergo a Terminal Evaluation (TE). The TE will be conducted according to the guidance, rules and procedures established by UNDP and GEF as reflected in the UNDP Evaluation Guidance for GEF Financed Projects.

This project seeks to promote biodiversity conservation by generating demand for coffee produced in compliance with the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SAN) standards. In order to satisfy this demand, it is focused on building supply of Rainforest Alliance certified coffee in six coffee producing countries - Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Peru - thereby contributing to the conservation of the Atlantic Forest, Cerrado, Mesoamerican, and the Tropical Andes biodiversity hotspots. As the project seeks to transform the coffee sector to provide market incentives through certification, it expects in addition to produce conservation benefits in other coffee growing regions across the globe. In 2013, the project aims to result in the certification of 1,500,000 ha of coffee from which 500,000 metric tons (t) of RA certified coffee will be sold to more than 300 coffee companies (roasters).

Rainforest Alliance in coordination with UNDP will hire two international experts to conduct the TE exercise. The evaluators will assess the achievement of project results under the program strategies and interventions executed by Rainforest Alliance from 2007 to 2013. As part of this objective, the evaluators will also collate and analyze specific lessons and best practices which may be of relevance to other projects in the six target countries, and would aid Rainforest Alliance in the implementation of UNDP supported, GEF financed projects elsewhere in the world. The evaluators will also assess the key financial aspects of the project, including the extent of co-financing planned and realized. Project cost and funding data will be required, including annual expenditures. Variances between planned and actual expenditures will need to be assessed and explained. Results from recent financial audits, as available, should be taken into consideration.

Responsibilities: 

 

*When submitting the final evaluation report, the evaluator is required also to provide an 'audit trail', detailing how all received comments have (and have not) been addressed in the final evaluation report.

 

The evaluators are expected to deliver the following:

DELIVERABLE

CONTENT

 

 

 

TIMING

 

 

 

RESPONSIBILITIES

 

 

 

Inception Report

 

 

Evaluator provides clarifications on timing and method

 

 

No later than 2 weeks before the evaluation mission.

 

 

Evaluator submits to UNDP CO

 

 

Presentation

 

 

Initial Findings

 

 

End of evaluation mission

 

 

To project management, UNDP CO

 

 

1ST draft of the TE report

 

 

Full report, (per template) with annexes

 

 

Within 3 weeks of the evaluation mission

 

 

Sent to CO, reviewed by RTA, PCU, GEF OFPs

 

 

Final TE report

 

 

Revised report

 

 

Within 1 week of receiving UNDP comments on draft

 

 

Sent to CO for uploading to UNDP ERC.

 

 

 

Qualifications: 

The candidates must present the following qualifications:

Expert in Market-driven Conservation Strategies (team leader).

The candidate should be very familiar with market-driven conservation strategies, with strong knowledge of certification systems. It is important that s/he understands how companies (particularly food companies) and markets work and of the opportunities and limitations of working with a supply-chain approach . Knowledge of the coffee industry is required. 3

Expert in Biodiversity Conservation in Productive Landscapes

. The candidate should be very familiar with the challenges of conservation in productive landscapes and have an advanced understanding of the agricultural sector in tropical countries particularly in Latin America. In addition, the candidate must be sufficiently strong in the Natural Sciences that s/he will be able to review and understand the conclusions of a number of studies that aim to document the impact of the project on biodiversity.

TIMELINE

The total estimated duration of the evaluation will be 44 days according to the following plan:

ACTIVITY

PLACE

COMMENTS

Planning (Due Date 07 June; Days Allocated 4)

Initial mission to BCC Headquarters

Costa Rica

In-depth briefing and scoping of key issues to be addressed with full participation of the project team

Initial interview with UNDP CO and UNDP/GEF Regional Technical Advisor

Remote

In-depth briefing and scoping of key issues to be addressed

Review of documents provided by the project team

Remote

Listed in Annex 2

Review and analysis of financial information

Remote

Provided by the Project Administrator

Inception Report

Guatemala

Evaluator submits to UNDP and RA no later than two weeks before the evaluation mission

Evaluation (Due Date 17 July; Days Allocated 28)

Telephone interviews with key actors

Remote

Includes coffee company representatives, industry experts, policy makers, as well as RA and SAN staff

Field Visits

Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras

Visit coffee farms to inspect farm management practices, and interview farmers and key stakeholders

Visits to coffee roasters / retailers

North America and Europe

Interview key individuals to examine the perceived benefits of RA certification, extent of cofinancing / leveraging, etc

One-day lessons learned workshop

Guatemala

Present and discuss initial findings with UNDP, project team, SAN partners prior to the preparation of a full first draft

Draft report (Due Date 31 July; Days Allocated 10)

Final interviews / cross checking

Guatemala, Costa Rica

Cross checking with UNDP, and project team

Presentation of draft report

Guatemala, Costa Rica

Presentation of draft report for comments and suggestions

Presentation of final report (Due Date 02 Aug; Days Allocated 2)

Notes: 

An overall approach and method for conducting TEs of UNDP supported, GEF-financed projects has developed over time. Within this framework the evaluators are expected to frame the evaluation effort using the criteria of

Relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, sustainability, and impact, as defined and explained in the UNDP Guidance for Conducting Terminal Evaluations of UNDP-supported, GEF-financed Projects.

  • Relevance. The extent to which a development initiative and its intended outputs or outcomes are consistent with national and local policies and priorities and the needs of intended beneficiaries.
  • Effectiveness. Is a measure of the extent to which the initiative´s intended results (outputs or outcomes) have been achieved or the extent to which progress toward outputs or outcomes has been achieved.
  • Efficiency: Measures how economically resources or inputs (such as funds, expertise and time) are converted to results. An initiative is efficient when it uses resources appropriately and economically to produce the desired outputs.
  • Sustainability. Measure the extent to which benefits of initiatives continue after external development assistance has come to an end. Assessing sustainability involves evaluating the extent to which relevant social, economic, political, institutional and other conditions are present and, based on that assessment, making projections about the national capacity to maintain, manage and ensure the development results in the future.
  • Impact: measures changes in human development and people’s well-being that are brought about by development initiatives, directly or indirectly, intended or unintended.

A set of questions covering each of these criteria has been drafted and is included with the full TOR document. The evaluators are expected to amend, complete and submit this matrix as part of an evaluation inception report, and shall include it as an annex to the final report.

The evaluation must provide evidence‐ased information that is credible, reliable and useful. The evaluators are expected to follow a participatory and consultative approach ensuring close engagement with key stakeholders, in particular the GEF operational focal point, UNDP Country Office, project team, UNDP GEF Technical Adviser based in the region, and key participating actors. The evaluators are expected to conduct a field mission to Brazil, Guatemala and Honduras, including the project sites and the organizations/individuals detailed in the full TOR document.

The evaluators will review all relevant sources of information, such as the project document, project reports – including Annual APR/PIR, project budget revisions, midterm review, progress reports, GEF focal area tracking tools, project files, national strategic and legal documents, and any other materials that the evaluator considers useful for this evidence-based assessment. A list of documents that the project team will provide to the evaluators for review is included in the full TOR document.

Application: 

For more information and to receive a copy of the full TOR please contact: Oscar Maroto, Project Manager, Sustainable Landscapes, Rainforest Alliance. Email: omaroto@ra.org or Flor de Maria Bolaños, UNDP Regional Office, Country Office Guatemala (flor.bolanos@undp.org) or Nely Herrera, UNDP Country Office, Guatemala (nely.herrera@undp.org)

The Rainforest Alliance is an equal opportunity employer.