Consultant – Supporting UNCCD Reporting on Strategic Objective 5 (SO5)

The final outcome of the consultancy is smooth delivery of SO5 training during the capacity building workshops and presentation of reported results at CRIC25 through official documentation and other outreach material. Recommendation for incorporation of reporting results in UNCCD implementation.

Home-based.

12 month between May 2026 and April 2027.

Background note: Desertification, along with climate change and the loss of biodiversity were identified as the greatest challenges to sustainable development during the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. Established in 1994, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management. The Convention seeks to support countries to address Desertification, Land Degradation, and Drought (DLDD). (www.unccd.int) At UNCCD COP13, countries agreed (decision 7/COP.13) on a new global roadmap to address land degradation. The new UNCCD 2018-2030 Strategic Framework (“The Strategy) includes a set of 5 “strategic objectives” adopted to guide the actions of all UNCCD stakeholders and partners in the period 2018–2030. The Strategic objective 5 (SO5), in particular, aims at mobilizing substantial and additional financial and non-financial resources to support the implementation of the Convention by building effective partnerships at global and national level. The work on tracking financial flows for the implementation of the Convention has been guided by a series of UNCCD COP decisions over the past years. For instance, Decision 11/COP.14 requests the Global Mechanism to develop an integrated financial monitoring framework for tracking and better monitoring the resources for interventions under the Convention, including progress indicators in terms of technology transfer. It also requests to explore options to strengthen coordination with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to provide improved quantitative information from reporting on SO5. Decision 12/COP.16 establishes the mandate to develop more quantitative information on financial flows, to enhance collaboration on sourcing financial data with international partners, and to strengthen financial tracking mechanisms. Specifically, Decision 12/COP.16 requests the Global Mechanism to continue improving the tracking of financial flows, including by integrating a good practice guide on tracking financial flows on SO5 for future reporting rounds. The Objective of this consultancy is to provide support to the Parties and the regional centres for reporting against Strategic Objective -5 for the 2026 reporting cycle which was launched in July 2025. The consultant will participate in select regional capacity building workshops to deliver the module on SO5 and assist in providing technical assistance to Parties and official documentation for CRIC 25. Duties & Responsibilities: Under the overall supervision of the Managing Director of the Global Mechanism and the direct supervision of relevant Programme Officer and in close collaboration with Global Mechanism and UNCCD Secretariat, the consultant will: - Deliver SO5 training to the Country Parties in the regional capacity building workshops - Provide technical backstopping to the Parties during the reporting period and facilitate in addressing the queries raised by the Parties either directly or through Helpdesk. - Develop the quality criteria for SO5 reports submitted by country Parties and finalize in coordination with GM and UNCCD colleagues. - Check the country reports on PRAIS4 portal against the established quality criteria and provide feedback to the countries through the portal and finalize submission. - Provide assistance and address queries to help countries in developing and finalizing their reports. - Develop an analytical framework for conducting the detailed analysis of the data and information received from the countries through reporting. - Conduct analysis of the information and data received from the Parties and develop the trends in the form of graphical presentation. - Development of CRIC official documentation and assistance in presentation of information, data and trends of global financial and non-financial funds for UNCCD implementation. - Provide recommendations on incorporating Parties feedback and reporting results in future reporting and implementation mechanisms.

- A first-level university degree in environmental sciences/management, development economics and finance or related discipline. - A minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible experience related to environment, natural resource management, development economics or related field.

- Fluency in spoken and written English is required. Knowledge of an additional official UN language is an advantage.

Only individuals who can act as independent, individual economical operators are qualified to apply. Individuals who can provide their services only on account of an institution or enterprise are not eligible under this procedure. Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations Secretariat and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultant and individual contractor is responsible for determining tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. For remote consultancies, the selected candidate will be required to have a laptop or desktop PC (with Windows 11 or newer) or Mac (with the latest MacOS update), as well as a reliable, high-speed internet connection. An Office 365 license will be provided by the UNCCD to enable the candidate to access official emails, SharePoint, OneDrive and other office applications, such as Word and Excel. Further computer requirements: An antivirus application which receives regular updates; Browsers must be a newer version with regular updates enabled; Regular Windows 11 updates should be enabled with Windows laptop or PC. In addition, a mobile phone will be required to enable Multifactor Authentication (MFA) through SMS or the Authenticator App.