Consultancy: Mid-term Review of the GEF7 Sustainable Forest Management Project

IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature), a membership Union composed of both government and civil society organisations, is seeking a consultant or team to conduct the Mid-term Review (MTR) of the GEF-7 project titled "Strengthening Forest Management for Improved Biodiversity Conservation and Climate Resilience in the Southern Rangelands of Kenya" (Project ID: 10292). This full-sized project, implemented through the National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and the Ministry responsible for Environment and Forestry, with IUCN as the GEF Partner Agency, commenced on 24th April 2023 and is now in its third year of implementation. The MTR is scheduled for 2026, in line with the IUCN-GEF Guidance on MTRs, and will be initiated ahead of the submission of the second Project Implementation Report (PIR). The Southern Rangelands of Kenya, covering large areas of Kajiado and Narok Counties, contain globally significant biodiversity, critical forest ecosystems, wildlife dispersal areas, and pastoral production systems that provide essential ecosystem services. These landscapes are increasingly threatened by land degradation, forest loss, unsustainable land-use practices, invasive species, climate variability, changing land tenure, habitat fragmentation, and pressure from agricultural expansion and infrastructure development. Although Kenya has a relatively strong policy framework, implementation is constrained by fragmented institutional coordination, inadequate landscape planning, limited financing for restoration, weak community capacity, and insufficient knowledge management. The project addresses six interlinked barriers: weak integrated landscape governance; limited enabling environment for sustainable forest and dryland management; insufficient investment in restoration; limited adoption of sustainable land and forest management practices; weak knowledge management and monitoring; and market and livelihood constraints. It operates through three components: Component 1 strengthens the enabling environment for sustainable natural resource management; Component 2 invests in scaling up sustainable dryland management; and Component 3 focuses on programmatic coordination, monitoring, and knowledge management. Implementation is led by NEMA, with responsible parties including KARLO, NETFUND, SORALO, ACC, and ILRI, and works closely with county governm...