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Request for Expression of Interest (Firms) for: Design Thinking Based Evaluation of Agency Self Evaluation Systems

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) provides support to address global environmental concerns related to biodiversity, climate change, international waters, land degradation, the ozone layer, and persistent organic pollutants. Since its inception in 1991, the GEF has provided developing countries and countries with economies in transition US $ 20 billion in grants. These grants are implemented on ground through a network of 18 accredited agencies (GEF Agencies). The GEF receives its funds through a four-year replenishment.

The GEF Independent Evaluation Office (GEF IEO) has a central role in ensuring the independent evaluation function within the GEF. The GEF IEO is based in Washington DC. It is administered by the World Bank but is independent of its management as well as the management of the GEF.  Its Director reports directly to the GEF Council, the GEF governing body. All contracts with the IEO are World Bank contracts.

The IEO undertakes independent evaluations on issues relevant to GEF’s performance. These cover issues related to GEF policies and processes, and projects and programs funded by the GEF. The GEF IEO is undertaking the Seventh Comprehensive Evaluation (OPS7) to inform the replenishment process for the GEF-8 period. The audience for the OPS7 comprises replenishment participants, the GEF Council, the GEF Assembly, members of the GEF and external stakeholders.

To prepare OPS7, the GEF IEO will draw from various evaluations. This includes the Evaluation of the Agency Self Evaluation Systems <https://www.gefieo.org/evaluations/agency-self-evaluation-systems-2020>, which assesses the quality of systems that the GEF Agencies have put in place for self-evaluation of the GEF supported activities. GEF Agencies vary on characteristics such as the scale of their activities, thematic mandate, business model, and geographical focus. This variation is also reflected in the types of GEF activities implemented by these Agencies and the self-evaluation systems they have put in place. As a result, it is often difficult to compare performance of GEF supported activities across Agencies. It is important that systems put in place by the Agencies evoke trust and are appropriate to meet the Agency and GEF needs – the evaluation of the Agency Self Evaluation Systems seeks to contribute to this goal.

The evaluation seeks to answer the following questions:

  • How do GEF Agencies address self-evaluations through their policy framework?
  • What arrangements are in place in Agencies to conduct self-evaluations?
  • To what extent are the Agency self-evaluation systems meeting the needs of GEF partnership?
  • What are the factors that affect effectiveness of the self-evaluation systems?

The emphasis of the evaluation is on learning more about the agency systems and identifying ways to improve them for GEF supported activities, than on ensuring accountability. The evaluation will follow a systems design thinking approach. It will be conducted in a collaborative manner with a regular consultative process to get Agency inputs, analyze the available information and identify gaps, and to identify corrective actions. The GEF IEO invites expression of interest from firms that have experience in undertaking systems design thinking-based evaluations. The evaluative work will be undertaken from August 2020 to January 2021.

*Responsibilities and Accountabilities*

The firm will perform following tasks:

  1. Establish and implement a consultative and collaborative process based on principles of systems design-thinking to assess the self-evaluation systems of the GEF Agencies.
  1. Through consultations, focus group discussions, and other tools, identify lessons and good practices that may be applied and shared across the partnership.
  1. Prepare a report on the self-evaluation systems of the Agencies outlining the evaluation process, gaps that were found and how these may be addressed.

*Qualifications*

The firm should have following qualifications:

  • A track record of conducting systems design-thinking based evaluations
  • Experience in international development issues
  • Ability to adapt to covid-19 related challenges

*Submission requirements*

Interested firms are hereby invited to submit expressions of interest in English, to gefevaluation@thegef.org <gefevaluation@thegef.org?subject=Design%20Thinking%20Based%20Evaluation%20of%20Agency%20Self%20Evaluation%20Systems> with *“**Design Thinking Based Evaluation of Agency Self Evaluation Systems**” *in the subject. In their application a firm should discuss how it is suited to undertake this task and provide relevant information to support the claim.* The application deadline is June 30, 2020. *Based on the initial expression of interest, the shortlisted firms will be invited to prepare a more detailed proposal.

*Read full description* <https://www.gefieo.org/sites/default/files/ieo/documents/REoI-Firm-Self-Evaluation-JUN20.pdf>