Invitations to specialists/agencies for external evaluation of Capacity Building Program

CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAM – EXTERNAL EVALUATION – TERMS OF REFERENCE

About the Organization WRI India, an independent charity legally registered as the India Resources Trust, provides objective information and practical proposals to foster environmentally sound and socially equitable development. WRI India’s mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations. Through research, analysis, and recommendations, WRI India puts ideas into action to build transformative solutions to protect the earth, promote livelihoods, and enhance human well-being. We are inspired by and associated with the World Resources Institute, a global research organization. Currently over 400 researchers are working with WRI India in our offices at Delhi, Mumbai and Bengaluru.

About the program: The Leaders in Climate Change Management (LCCM) program is a practice-based learning program developed to build state capacity in climate action and aid India’s ambitious climate targets by translating commitments into actions on the ground. The program was developed by WRI India, National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) and United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and delivered in partnership with the Administrative Training Institute (ATI) Mysuru. The program was launched in June 2022 by the Hon’ble Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs, Shri Hardeep Singh Puri. The pilot (1st) cohort started its learning in September 2022. As on 10th March 2024, the 3rd Cohort is underway with a target completion date in Jun 2024. The program content is focused on the urban sector, and has seen participation mainly from public-sector officials, working in the cities and towns. Since inception, the program secretariat has been managed by WRI India. Refer for more information on LCCM at www.lccmindia.org.

Program participants, profile and status (as on date) The program has currently trained 65 participants across 3 cohorts and 22 faculty members from ATI Mysuru. Amongst the participants, majority (~90%) are from Karnataka state. Within Karnataka, most participants are from Mysore (32%) and Bangalore (30%). Other cities include Hubbali-Dharwad (12%), Kalaburagi (5%) and Attibele, Begalkote, Bidar, Chamrajnagara, Gundulupete, Mangaluru, Nelamangala, Sandoor, Shivamoga, Sirsi and Tumkur (all 1~3%). Outside Karnataka, participants are from Amritsar (Punjab), Vishakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh), Kochi (Kerala) and Chennai (Tamil Nadu). All ATI faculty are based out of Mysuru (Karnataka). Cohort 1 (Pilot) Cohort 2 Cohort 3 ATI Faculty Training No. of participants 18 23 24 22 Program start date Sep’22 Jan’23 Dec’23 Aug’23 Current status Completed Completed Ongoing Ongoing

Learning Design The program offers a blended learning design starting with self-paced e-learning modules (Phase I) followed by one week in-person residential workshop (Phase II) at ATI Mysuru. After that, participants pursue a capstone project on a topic relevant to their area of work with mentorship support and submit a project report in approx. 6 months’ time (Phase III). Once participants graduate the LCCM program, they remain in contact with their peer and exchange learning though a discussion forum/platform (platform not yet setup).

Program Objectives The program aims to facilitate a better understanding of climate change and how India’s economic growth can move ahead in a climate-positive way. The participants are expected to understand basics of climate science, and how various sectors are impacted by climate change within an urban setting. During the residential program, participants are encouraged to learn from each other, work with incomplete data and build rudimentary climate action plan for cities that are inclusive, and resilient. Through Capstone projects, participants learn to plan and apply solutions that are climate positive.

Scope of work WRI India plans to conduct a third-party evaluation or assessment of the LCCM program which has so far, been conducted for public-sector officials working in the urban sector, from different cities of the country. We are seeking proposals from program/project monitoring and evaluation professionals/ agencies for the same. The evaluation aims to address the following broad questions- (a more detailed evaluation methodology will be jointly developed with the selected evaluator)

• Do the learning outcomes of the curriculum meet the objectives of the program?
• Has the program been able to create any traction in participants, raising their interest and ability to own climate action in their work?
• Has the program been able to effectively capacitate other delivery institutions (ATI Mysuru) to continue offering the program with their own resources (as a means to sustain and scale)?
• Is the overall model or approach suitable for meeting the stated objectives?

  Approach The evaluation process will require but not be limited to: (a) Pre-work: a review of all documents including training reports and feedback compiled from the program so far (b) Suggest an appropriate evaluation framework (based on similar studies) which will be finalized in discussion with the LCCM team (c) Define the scope of the study, including stakeholders to be consulted, methodology and design

  Deliverables (a) Plan of action report detailing the finalized evaluation methodology along with timelines (b) Comprehensive evaluation report (c) Formal presentation of the key findings of the evaluation to the LCCM Core Partners.

  Duration: We aim to complete the evaluation within 3 months of selecting a suitable agency/ professional. Stage Tentative Timeline Deadline for submission of proposal 22 Mar 2024 Selection of evaluation partner 02 Apr 2024 Signing of Agreement 12 Apr 2024 Evaluation period 15 Apr ~ 15 Jul 2024 Formal conclusion of engagement upon completion of deliverables 31 Jul 2024

  Selection Criteria We are looking forward to receiving proposals to undertake the evaluation study. The proposals will be selected based on the following criteria:

• Technical ProposalThe technical proposals will be assessed on the following criteria:
• The rigor and quality of the methodology proposed.