Preparation of capacity building material for UNCCD reporting (in English and Spanish)

Result of Service

The ultimate result of this consultancy is the delivery of coherent, high-quality capacity-building resources that strengthen national stakeholders' technical capacity to produce accurate, consistent, and comparable UNCCD and SDG 15.3.1 reports.

Work Location

Home-based.

Expected duration

November to 31 December 2025.

Duties and Responsibilities

Background: Established in 1994, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the sole legally binding international agreement linking the environment and development to sustainable land management. The vision of the UNCCD and its 197 Parties is to realize "a future that avoids, minimizes, and reverses desertification/land degradation and mitigates the effects of drought in affected areas at all levels - and to achieve a land degradation-neutral world consistent with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development." The objective of the Convention is to support countries and communities with the rehabilitation, conservation and sustainable management of land and water resources, leading to improved living conditions. Implementation is steered through the UNCCD 2018-2030 strategic framework which comprises five strategic objectives and an underlying indicator framework, and an implementation framework. Implementation is periodically monitored through the UNCCD national reporting process during which Parties report on national level implementation to the COP. Since the adoption of the UNCCD 2018-2030 strategic framework, country Parties have reported twice in a harmonized way on progress made towards the strategic objectives, in 2018 and in 2022. Results of the 2022 reporting process can be visualized on the UNCCD Data Dashboard (https://data.unccd.int/). The 2026 reporting process has been launched in August 2025. The tentative deadlines for the submission of national reports are: November 2026 for national reports on Strategic Objective 1, and February 2027 for the remaining Strategic Objectives. In accordance with the procedure established in decision 22/COP.11, reporting is facilitated through the provision of default national estimates based on available global data sources. These default datasets are made available to country Parties through the UNCCD reporting platform, the Performance Review and Assessment of Implementation System (PRAIS). In addition, software tools such as Trends.Earth, developed by Conservation International, enable country Parties to access and analyze global datasets, and to calculate SDG indicator 15.3.1 (i.e. proportion of land that is degraded over total land area), its sub-indicators (namely land cover, land productivity and soil organic carbon), as well as indicators related to drought hazard and exposure, prior to submitting their reports through PRAIS. As part of the capacity building for UNCCD reporting, technical assistance to all Parties will be provided throughout the reporting process by a combination of regional support centers and international consultants to backstop the reporting process under the oversight of the UNCCD secretariat. This technical backstopping team will be tasked with facilitating in person regional workshops, conducting online webinars, support countries with data interpretation and processing, as well as responding to questions and queries submitted by Parties via PRAIS, the online Helpdesk and other communication channels. The overall objective of this consultancy is to prepare capacity building material for the 2026 reporting process. Specifically, the consultant will prepare materials in both English and Spanish to support the regional capacity-building workshops scheduled for the first quarter of 2026. The primary audience includes UNCCD National Focal Points, national reporting officers, and other national technical experts. Accordingly, the guidance should be designed to address the needs of both technical and non-technical audiences. Duties and Responsibilities: Under the oversight of the Science, Technology and Innovation unit Chief, and the direct supervision of an assigned Programme Officer, the consultant will: • Familiarize themselves with the available methodological documents, beginning with the reporting manual (https://prais4-reporting-manual.unccd.int/en/latest/index.html), followed by version 2 of the Good Practice Guidance for SDG Indicator 15.3.1 and its Addendum; the Good Practice Guidance for National Reporting on Strategic Objective 3; and metadata documents of other SDG indicators used in UNCCD reporting (i.e. SDG indicator 1.1.1, 6.1.1, 15.1.2 and 15.5.1); • Familiarize themselves with PRAIS, including its reporting forms, quantitative and qualitative tables, geospatial data viewer, revision system and communication features; • Familiarize themselves with the default data and other data sources available via Trends.Earth and conduct test calculations for SDG Indicator 15.3.1, its sub-indicators as well as indicators of drought hazard and exposure; • Attend a two-day in-person Training of Trainers event in Panama at the end of November 2025 to further their understanding of UNCCD reporting requirements, indicators and tools; • Attend in-person and help facilitate a one-day Small Island Developing States (SIDS) workshop to be organized back-to-back with the Training of Trainers in Panama; • Prepare an evaluation report from the Training of Trainers that includes: - Evidence-based insights on learning effectiveness; - Recommendations for improvement; - Use of feedback tools (e.g. surveys, quizzes) to assess learning outcomes during and following the event. • Support UNCCD staff and experts from regional centres for the 2026 national reporting in designing a program for regional capacity building workshops with clear learning objectives, mixing theoretical instruction with hands-on demonstrations and activities, and incorporating opportunities for interactive feedback and knowledge sharing; • Develop a framework or curriculum that outlines key thematic areas, learning objectives, and capacity-building materials tailored to the target audience; • Based on the curriculum and experience gained at the Training of Trainers and SIDS workshop, draft, design, and finalize capacity-building materials in English and Spanish to be used during the regional workshops in the first quarter of 2026; this may include, among others, presentation slides, interactive exercises and hand-outs; • Coordinate with other consultants recruited for this project to ensure that the capacity-building materials developed in different languages are coherent and aligned. Integrate feedback to ensure relevance and usability of the materials.

Qualifications/special skills

Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in data science, soil science, environmental science, geography or related discipline is required. A first-level university degree in combination with qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree. - Five or more years of work experience related to the above disciplines, including experience in processing, managing and analyzing Earth Observations data for land surface analysis is required; - Experience in developing capacity-building material and delivering in-person training events is required; - Excellent written and oral communication skills, including ability to present ideas in user-friendly language is required; - Familiarity with the UNCCD reporting process and the use of PRAIS and Trends.Earth would be a strong asset. - The consultant should also have: Flexibility and ability to work to tight deadlines; Demonstrated ability to work independently; Experience working in a team-oriented, collaborative environment. Competency in collaborative working online using the Microsoft suite of tools: Excel, Word, SharePoint (for file sharing), Teams (for video calls and messaging) and willingness to travel.

Languages

Fluency in English and Spanish (both oral and written) is required.

Additional Information

Only individualswho 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.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS' BANK ACCOUNTS.