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China’s commitments to reach a carbon peak by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060 have shown its firm determination and ambition to mitigate and adapt to climate change, such as in making emission reduction commitments, formulating emission reduction action plans, controlling carbon emissions in the energy sector and protecting ecological carbon sinks. However, at the same time, in the key area of climate change education to ensure capacity-building and youth participation, China has not formulated practical action strategies and policies, nor has it the relevant resources such as teachers and teaching materials.

As one of the biggest threats to the world's sustainable development, the solution to climate change needs the concerted cooperation and efforts of mankind at all levels. It has become the consensus of the international community to strengthen capacity-building related to climate response and wider participation of communities and youth. As the basis of capacity-building, climate change education will ensure their meaningful participation and voice by providing citizens, including community residents and youth, with knowledge, skills, values, and attitudes that match climate change response.

Against such background, since 2022, under the sponsorship of the China Youth Development Foundation Mercedes-Benz Star Fund, the UNESCO Regional Office for East Asia (hereafter UNESCO Beijing) launched the “Accelerating Carbon Neutrality: Innovative Actions for Sustainable Development” Project (17th June 2022- 30th June 2025). The project aims to promote the children and youth’s capacity building, exchanges of knowledge, and technological innovations through sustainable development education, climate change education, environment education, and global citizen education, to raise their awareness of carbon footprint reduction, ecological environment protection, biodiversity conservation, and the harmonious coexistence between man and nature, and to consolidate good practices and case studies that could be shared and adapted on an international scale. The overall purpose of the Project is to promote the practical action of ecological civilization, enhance the relationship between people and their environments, and build a sustainable development and shared future for all life in China and the whole world. This goal was attained through activities in three areas: “Accelerating Youth Climate Action”, “Forest Protection Action” and “Tropical Rainforest Biodiversity Conservation Action”. Partners of the project include universities, government agencies, public institutions, national parks, universities, senior high schools, and middle and primary schools.

Through the Accelerating Youth Climate Action, UNESCO cooperated with Tsinghua University to promote youth's understanding of carbon neutrality, enhance their sense of social responsibility and mission towards climate change, and help achieve the goal of carbon neutrality through a variety of youth actions, such as volunteer preaching/support education, climate change lecture halls, hackathon climate innovation marathons, and mock negotiations of the United Nations Climate Change Conference. Other stakeholders include Global Alliance Universities on Climate Change, Beijing 101 Middle School, Beijing NO.35 High School, Beijing Fangshan UNESCO Global Geopark Management Office, International Centre on Space Technologies for Natural and Cultural Heritage (HIST), Chebaling Reserve Administrative Bureau, the Northeast Institute of Geology and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Xingkai Lake Wetland Ecological, and International Centre for UNESCO ASPnet (ICUA）etc. As one of China’s most prestigious and influential universities, Tsinghua University was selected as the major partner of this part due to its solid academic competence, research ability and rich experiences in project implementation, and unique networks and resources to access intended beneficiaries, such as the Global Alliance of Universities on Climate (GAUC) and the Horizon Global Youth Development Program at Tsinghua University.

Through the Forest Protection Action, UNESCO collaborated with the National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA) to mobilize the whole society to actively participate in ecological environment conservation, afforestation, and forest resource protection, engage students from primary and secondary schools and universities in research and promotion activities themed on forests, organize knowledge competitions and social welfare practices, to promote practical actions for ecological civilization construction. Meanwhile, in combination with the 300 million Youth Forest Research and Education Activities led by the NFGA, this project is cooperating with the NFGA on carrying out youth forest nature education activities in the national parks, to expand the scope and impact of these activities and facilitate integrating the forest protection into primary and secondary school education. NFGA which is also called the National Park Administration, a vice-ministry-level governmental agency under the Ministry of Natural Resources in China, that is in charge of the administration of forestry and grassland, as well as the five national parks that were established in the year 2021, including the Giant Panda National Park, the Wuyishan National Park, the Three-River-Source National Park, the Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park, and Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park. As the top-level forestry and national park administration, NFGA was selected as the major partner of this part.

Through the Tropical Rainforest Biodiversity Conservation Action, UNESCO collaborated with the Hainan Institute of National Park (HINP), to provide capacity building for the establishment of a World Biosphere Reserve in Hainan with guidance from the UNESCO Beijing Office and cooperation with the China National Commission for UNESCO and Chinese National Commission for the Man and Biosphere Programme (MAB), so as to increase its influence and recognition at the national and international levels and make Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park a member of the global community of UNESCO World Biosphere Reserves. In addition, this project supports academic researchers in monitoring and evaluating wildlife and their habitats and innovations of ecological products and eco-tourism in the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park, to facilitate local sustainable livelihoods and help Hainan establish a low-carbon and sustainable development island. This project also receives support from the Forestry Department of Hainan Province (Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park Administration), Hainan Provincial Department of Education, Hainan Provincial Committee of the Communist Youth League, Hainan Federation of Literary and Art Circles. HINP was established in November 2019, as an important measure by the Hainan Provincial Government to implement President Xi Jinping’s eco-civilization concept and the Central Government’s Pilot Program of Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park. It also serves as an effective measure to strengthen Hainan’s advantages as an ecological island, and to boost the development of the Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park and the National Pilot Zone for Eco-civilization in Hainan Province. As the only research institute on tropical rainforests in Hainan Province, HINP was selected as the major partner of this part.

2.1 Purpose 

The evaluation findings are expected to provide a detailed analysis and evidence-based information on project’s key accomplishments and any shortcomings based on the given findings to provide key guidance and practical recommendations clearly defining the stakeholders targeted at, to assist in refining activities, the overall planning and implementation modality for a potential Phase II.
 

2.2 Potential uses of the evaluation

The findings and recommendations of the evaluation will provide evidence to UNESCO, the donors, and the key partners on the Project’s key achievements and a detailed data review tracking and resource allocation analysis for better ways forward. More specifically, users include the following: UNESCO HQs and UNESCO Beijing, National Forestry and Grassland Administration (NFGA), Chinese National Commission for UNESCO, the donors China Youth Development Foundation Mercedes-Benz Star Fund, project partners including Tsinghua University, Hainan Institute of National Park (HINP), Heilongjiang Forestry and Grassland Administration and Fujian Forestry Society, the wider policy and academic community in the field of science education and climate change education.

2.3 Evaluation questions

The main questions of the evaluation will be further refined in the evaluation’s data collection plan. Indicative questions are provided below: 

2.3.1 Relevance 

a) To what extent was UNESCO’s project designed in line with the real needs of the main beneficiaries namely the youth, including primary, middle school, and university students; teachers; local professionals; and staff of national parks, government agencies, and research institutes, considering the performance and influence of the Project based on the quantitative and/or qualitative key performance indicators (KPI)? For example but not limited to the extent/number of beneficiaries of primary, middle school, and university students who directly attended or indirectly benefited through media platforms from the relevant activities, such as the volunteer preaching/support education, climate change lecture halls, hackathon climate innovation marathons, and mock negotiations of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, on climate change and environmental protection; the extent/number of beneficiaries of youth’s participation in forest protection and nature education activities; and the extent and the impact of the monitoring and assessment of wildlife, in particular one of the most endangered species, the Hainan gibbons and their habitats in tropical rainforest restoration and biodiversity conservation in Hainan Province.

2.3.2 Coherence

a) Internal coherence

To what extent have the project’s main activities in each of the three areas (“Accelerating Youth Climate Action”, “Forest Protection Action” and “Tropical Rainforest Biodiversity Conservation Action”) been aligned with:

• UNESCO’s priorities and policies (from the perspective of UNESCO 41C/5 and 42C/5 and Natural Sciences Sector’s Expected Results (Major Programme II)?

b) External coherence 

i. To what extent have the project’s main activities in each of the three areas (“Accelerating Youth Climate Action”, “Forest Protection Action” and “Tropical Rainforest Biodiversity Conservation Action”) been aligned with:

• China’s Fourteenth Five-Year Plan 2021-2025 and China’s Strategy and Action Plan of Carbon Peak before 2030 and Carbon Neutrality before 2060
• The UN Sustainable Development Agenda 2030

ii. What has been the comparative advantage of the Project, in consideration of the donors, involving partners?

• If compared with those carried out by other institutional actors, including UNESCO Category II Centres, and why?
• If compared with those carried out by the private sector’s CSR projects such as BMW China Culture Journey, and why?

2.3.3 Effectiveness

a) What have been the main results, intended and unintended based on the project outcomes and outputs?

i. Outcome 1: Accelerating Youth Climate Action

• Output 1.1 Capacity-building materials in Chinese and English on ESD
• Output 1.2 Volunteer preaching / supporting education
• Output 1.3 Climate change lecture hall
• Output 1.4 Hackathon Climate Innovation Marathon
• Output 1.5 Mock negotiation of the United Nations Climate Change Conference
• Output 1.6 Global Youth Summit on Net-zero Future

ii. Outcome 2: Forest Protection Action

• Output 2.1: Investigation and survey in National Parks and World Biosphere Reserves
• Output 2.2 Forest theme publicity
• Output 2.3 Ecosystem protection and biodiversity conservation knowledge competition

iii. Outcome 3: Tropical Rainforest Biodiversity Conservation Action

• Output 3.1 Establishing Practical Education Base

• Output 3.2 Monitoring and Evaluation on Wildlife and their Habitat

   

b) What were the main factors that have enabled or hindered the achievement of UNESCO’s priorities and policies? How is the effectiveness of the data tracking and monitoring system in place that contributed to the programme.
 

2.3.4 EFficiency
 

a) What were the inputs (resources) invested in the project and were the project activities implemented efficiently?

b) If not, how was the project’s corrective activities implemented and then monitored to ensure corrective actions have been taken?

c) What are the major factors influencing the achievement or non-achievement of outcomes?

d) Who are the Project’s main institutional partners?

e) How does the Project collaborate with and leverage resources and in-kind contributions form national and local governments’ priority programmes and work plans?

f) How does the Project collaborate with and leverage resources and in-kind contributions from other key stakeholders including the donors?

g) What are the main challenges and opportunities associated with the Project’s coordination with its main partners?
 

2.3.5 Sustainability
 

a) What is the likelihood that the benefits of the intervention will continue after UNESCO’s work ceases?

b) To what extent was the capacity of beneficiaries developed, the awareness raised, the gender balance increased to ensure sustainability of the benefits in aspects of the following three working areas?
 

i. Outcome 1: Accelerating Youth Climate Action

• Targeted beneficiaries of all level students, including pre-school, primary, middle school, and university students, faculties, young researchers, young entrepreneurs.

ii. Outcome 2: Forest Protection Action

• Targeted beneficiaries of primary and middle school students, staffs and professionals and officers from research institutions and forestry departments of government agencies.

iii. Outcome 3: Tropical Rainforest Biodiversity Conservation Action

• Targeted beneficiaries of primary, middle school and university students, local communities in Hainan Province, researchers and staffs from peer organizations, research institutions, local universities, and Hainan Tropical Rainforest National Park Administration. 

The evaluation will include the following suggested methodological elements (tasks):

3.1 Desk-based review

a) Literature review of topical issues and global trends in Education for Sustainable Development, climate change education, environment education, and global citizen education, and other innovative interventions of capacity building for Carbon Neutrality realizationb) Analysis of project documents to identify interventions, strategies, activities, and reported results and monitoring documents, review the results framework to understand the linkages of the Project’s main areas of work with key outputs and expected outcomes as well the major assumptions underlying these linkages.c) Review and analysis of national policy documents, statistics and trends

3.2 Field-based data collection

a) Using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods to obtain primary data from multiple sources including but not limited to interviews, focus groups, as well as surveys as appropriate. The targeted stakeholders will be divided into students, representatives from local partners, donors and representatives from other participatory organizations.b) Semi-structured interviews (face to face/phone/WeChat) with a number of key stakeholders: UNESCO staff (SC), National  Forestry and Grassland Administration, Tsinghua University, Hainan Institute of National Parks, Heilongjiang Forestry and Grassland Administration, Fujian Forestry Society, other relevant government agencies and schools that participated in the project activities (Northeast China Tiger and Leopard National Park Administration, Wuyishan National Park Administration, Beijing No. 101 Middle School, Hainan Nongken Experimental Middle School), the project donors and etc.

The evaluation will include a mission of 3 days, as necessary, to a selected pilot site from one of the outcomes of the project either with the activities with THU or with NFGA. The site will be selected based on the suggestion of the evaluator, in consultation with UNESCO and the project partners.

The evaluation will be managed by the Natural Sciences Unit of UNESCO Beijing (SC/BEJ) and conducted by an external evaluator/a external team.

An Evaluation Reference Group (ERG) will be established by inviting evaluation stakeholders which may include representatives from UNESCO, the donors, key partners of NFGA, Tsinghua University, HINP, Heilongjiang Forestry and Grassland Administration, and Fujian Forestry Society to steer the evaluation.

SC/BEJ will have a management and quality assurance role of the evaluation process. In addition, SC/BEJ will assist in the process of evaluation and provide relevant data/documents as required by the evaluator. Broadly the division of labour in data collection, analysis and reporting is presented in the Table below (Table 1). The precise division of labour will be determined during the finalization of the data collection plan.

SC/BEJ will assist in the preparation and organization of the evaluation exercise and will facilitate the activities of the external evaluator (including access to documents and contact information of stakeholders, logistical and coordination support in Beijing and mission sites).

Table 1. Division of evaluation tasks and responsibilities

The evaluation will have four main deliverables: an evaluation inception report (including a working Theory of Change and the related evaluation matrix) in English and Chinese, a draft evaluation report in English, and a final evaluation report and PowerPoint presentation in English and Chinese (Table 1) during the validation workshop. These deliverables are the responsibility of the external evaluator (with comments from the evaluation reference group, see above), and UNESCO shall have all the copies of deliverables, and owns the rights to disseminate summary materials among relevant stakeholders. The following guidelines apply:

5.1 The evaluation inception report in English and Chinese (max. 12 pages excluding annexes) will include: refined evaluation questions, the methodological framework for the evaluation, and a detailed activity schedule. The data collection plan will include a simple evaluation matrix that shows the relationships between the main evaluation questions and the methods of data collection and analysis.
 

5.2 The draft evaluation report in English (between 25-35 pages excluding annexes) will present in a concise manner the following elements:

• Executive Summary (2- 4 pages)
• Project description and Theory of Change
• Evaluation purpose and scope
• Methodology
• Main findings
• Conclusions and Recommendations
• Annexes including TOR, interview list, data collection instruments, key documents consulted
• And preliminary findings sharing with stakeholders

5.3 The final evaluation report in English and Chinese (between 25-35 pages excluding annexes) integrating UNESCO’s feedback and comments will present in a concise manner the following elements:

• Executive Summary (2- 4 pages)
• Project description and Theory of Change
• Evaluation purpose and scope
• Methodology
• Main findings
• Conclusions and Recommendations
• Annexes including TOR, interview list, data collection instruments, key documents consulted

5.4 A PowerPoint Presentation in English and Chinese (of max. 100 slides), which is a visual summary of the final evaluation report, with emphasis on diagrams, pictures, charts, graphs, anecdotal information gathered from the field, fiche/2pager summary. It should not be text-heavy and it will be the support material for presenting the result of the evaluation.

Table 2 Tentative schedule (to be finalized in the data collection plan)

The external evaluator / team of external evaluators / non-profit organization or private company can be selected. The selected candidate(s) will possess the following qualifications.

Mandatory qualifications:

• Be eligible to undertake paid work in the People’s Republic of China or be legally registered as an enterprise or organization or an individual with suitable experience;
• Main personnel responsible for the evaluation should have advanced degree in science or education-related subjects, social sciences, management and economics, and other relevant fields;
• At least ten years of working experience in leading evaluations (for the lead evaluator, if it is an organization) acquired for an international organization;
• Understanding and knowledge of the Carbon Neutrality strategies, climate change education status in China;
• Understanding and knowledge of the UN system;
• 10 years of experience in evaluation, project and/or programme planning and management;
• Knowledge of and experience in applying qualitative and quantitative data analysis techniques and RBM principles;
• Excellent analytical and demonstrated drafting skills in English and Chinese (writing work samples to be submitted);  
• No previous involvement in the implementation of the activities under review.

Desired Qualifications:

• 5 years of work experience in the UN or experience with assignments for the UN;
• Experience with assignments focusing on multi-stakeholder partnerships, and/or science education and climate change education
• Provide when possible samples of reports in both English and Chinese.

The Expression of Interest and accompanying documents including technical and financial proposal following the template attached in annex and CV in English must be received by UNESCO no later than 14 February 2025 (Midnight Beijing Time), Expressions of Interest shall be sent by e-mail to UNESCO Beijing office jobvacancy@unesco.org with the quote MBSC_EVA_2025 in all correspondence.

This request for Expression of Interest does not constitute a solicitation. No further details of the planned solicitation can be made available prior to issuance of the solicitation documents.

UNESCO reserves the right to change or cancel the requirement at any time during the EOI and/or solicitation process. UNESCO also reserves the right to require compliance with additional conditions as and when issuing the final solicitation documents.

Submitting a reply to a call for EOI does not automatically guarantee receipt of the solicitation documents when issued. Invitations to Bid or Requests for Proposals and any subsequent purchase order or contract will be issued in accordance with the rules and procedures of UNESCO.

UNESCO Contact Information

UNESCO Beijing office 

jobvacancy@unesco.org

The template of submission for EOI and other details is provided below: