Purpose:
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment.
UNEP's Asia and the Pacific Office geographically serves 41 countries across the region to promote and implement sustainable development solutions. It assists countries of the region pursue sustainability, particularly in their implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development including technical expertise, facilitating access to finance, undertaking cutting-edge science-policy assessments, offering advisory services and strengthening laws, policies, management and governance.
UNEP works with national and local authorities, civil society, other UN organizations, research institutions and the private sector to catalyze the efficient use of the region's natural assets and reduce the degradation of the environment.
In 2019, Japan and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) joined hands in effort to boost information and know-how to develop countermeasures against marine plastic litter in Southeast Asia and India. The project on "Promotion of Countermeasures Against Marine Plastic Litter in Southeast Asia and India" (hereafter referred to as "CounterMEASURE") was officially launched in May 2019 aiming to identify a region-based model for monitoring and assessment of plastic leakage and pollution reduction targeting land-based plastic leakage entering waterways such as rivers and canals or drainages to the sea. This project, funded through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), with the Supplementary Budget of the Government of Japan, was implemented by UNEP Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in collaboration with partners in the region. CounterMEASURE I ended in March 2020.
In May 2020, Japan and UNEP announced their continued cooperation on CounterMEASURE (Phase) II whereby Japan pledged US$ 5,700,000 to fund the second phase of CounterMEASURE. CounterMEASURE II planned to further strengthen the knowledge of science by building on the lessons and results of the work in the Mekong and Ganges to determine the origins of plastic pollution in two of Asia's major rivers and support further understanding of the problems to foster local partnerships for reducing plastic pollution.
CounterMEASURE II's focuses on plastic pollution reduction around interventions in the Ganges and Mekong rivers to reduce spillage of plastics into waterways and coastal areas. More specifically those interventions are to:
i) eliminate unnecessary plastic items in production and distribution ("Less plastic wasted");
ii) promote sound management of plastics in municipal waste streams and wastewaters, and
iii) reduce plastic leakage hotspots along waterways, rivers and coastlines.
The CounterMEASURE II project is coming to an end on 31 March 2022.
UNEP is undertaking a Terminal Review of the CounterMEASURE II project, following key review principles, as well as evaluation criteria indicated in a detailed TOR for the review prepared by UNEP, covering: strategic relevance, effectiveness, financial management, efficiency, monitoring and reporting, sustainability, and factors and processes affecting project performance and cross-cutting issues. Furthermore, the Terminal Review will also help address the following strategic questions:
(i) How well has the project utilised local and regional capacity (including the scientific community, as well as innovative technology such as AI) for gathering and sharing data on plastic pollution in rivers in the region?
(ii) How well has the project highlighted the issue of plastic pollution in rivers in Asia through outreach activities?
(iii) How well has the project been able to inform policy discussions at local, national, regional and global levels through inputs on plastic pollution in rivers in Asia and globally?
The Terminal review will further look at the impact COVID-19 has had on the project: What changes were made to adapt to the effects of COVID-19 and how did COVID-19 impact the project?
The Review has two primary purposes: (i) to provide evidence of results to meet accountability requirements, and (ii) to promote operational improvement, learning and knowledge sharing through results and lessons learned among UNEP and main project partners. Therefore, the Review will identify lessons of operational relevance for future project formulation and implementation, especially for future phases of the project, where applicable.
The Terminal Review will use a participatory approach whereby key stakeholders are kept informed and consulted throughout the review process. Both quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods will be used as appropriate to determine project achievements against the expected outputs, outcomes and impacts. It is highly recommended that the Review Consultant maintains close communication with the project team and promotes information exchange throughout the review implementation phase in order to increase their (and other stakeholder) ownership of the review findings.
Methodology
The TR needs to have the following characteristics:

• The seven UNEP evaluation criteria of relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, sustainability of the outcomes, replication and upscaling and factors influencing performance, are covered. More information can be found at: https://www.unenvironment.org/about-un-environment-programme/evaluation-office/overview.
• Cross-cutting issues, such as gender and environment, are taken into consideration.
• The intervention logic (i.e. logframe) is analysed.

The methodology involves use of UNEP Evaluation Office Project Review guidelines and templates that will be made available as a package of materials to the consultant, including access to the ProDoc, project files, reports and other relevant materials. Contact details of project stakeholders will also be shared with the consultant to conduct interviews and consultations. The evaluation criteria uses a six-point ranking scale grouped in nine categories: (A) Strategic Relevance; (B) Quality of Project Design; (C) Effectiveness, which comprises assessments of the attainment of outputs, achievement of outcomes and likelihood of impact; (D) Financial Management; (E) Efficiency; (F) Monitoring and Reporting; (G) Sustainability; and (H) Factors Affecting Project Performance. Relevant tools and guidance information will be shared. The consultant will also apply quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods as appropriate, to determine project achievements against the expected outputs, outcomes and impacts.
Objective:
To undertake the terminal review of the CounterMEASURE II project.

Skills:

• Excellent communication and inter-personal skills
• Strong team leader/builder
• Excellent analytical, evaluation and report-writing skills
• Qualitative data collection and analysis skills
• Competent in usage of MS Office programmes (MS Word, Excel, Power point)

Academic Qualifications:
A university degree in environmental sciences, international development or other relevant political or social sciences area is required and an advanced degree in the same areas is desirable.
Experience:

• 10 years (post-graduate) work experience with international development assistance experience in relevant fields
• Extensive evaluation/technical experience is required, preferably including evaluating large, regional or global programmes and using a Theory of Change approach;
• A good/broad understanding of thematic areas such as environment, green economy, resource efficiency and natural resource management is desired.
• Process management skills such as facilitation skills and ability to negotiate with a wide range of stakeholders;
• Working knowledge of the UN system and specifically the work of UNEP is an added advantage
• Experience and knowledge of the Asia and the Pacific context is desired

Language:
Fluency in spoken and written English is required. Excellent oral and written communications skills