Consultancy (International Consultant)

Terms of Reference for the Terminal Evaluation of Sustainable Land Management Project, Vanuatu

Title: Team Leader for UNDP/GEF Project Evaluation

Project: Building Capacity and Mainstreaming Sustainable Land Management in Vanuatu

Duration: 25 days to be completed by June 5th, starting no later than May 4th

Supervisor(s): UNDP Multi Country Office (Fiji) in coordination with national executing agency (Department of Lands)

Duty Station: Vanuatu

Contractual Modality: Individual Contract

Project Background

The Medium Sized Project (MSP) on Building Capacity and Mainstreaming Sustainable land management in Vanuatu is a Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded project through the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The project is implemented by the Department of Lands. The project commenced in April 7th, 2008 and due for completion on April 7th, 2011 but was granted an extension until June 2012 (following a project mid-term evaluation in 2011).

Despite the growing official recognition of the problem of land degradation in Vanuatu, SLM objectives have not been adequately mainstreamed into policies, regulations, strategies, plans and educational systems. There is a lack of understanding of on the part of decision makers that land degradation is significant barrier to sustainable development. Although integrated farming systems are a way of life for local communities, the planning of local resource utilization is mostly guided by more specific sectoral objectives and policies. This suggests a strong need to create awareness and build capacity for integrative dialogue and land use planning among all stakeholders.

The capacity gaps in land degradation include: i) individual level –lack of technical capacity (district level and community level for implementation); ii) institutional level – financial and human resources, monitoring capacity for enforcement of its rules and regulations); iii) lack of baseline data state and national level); iv) systematic level – there is a lack of common understanding and mechanisms to coordinate and address common land management issues.