The latest Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, released in 2022, clearly finds that the impacts from climate change are escalating, underscoring the urgent need for heightened adaptation measures (IPCC 2022). Adaptation policies and planning are therefore vital and a significant number of developing countries are now engaged in some form of national adaptation planning, through National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) and other adaptation planning mechanisms. These forms of adaptation planning play an important role in ensuring the coherent implementation of adaptation actions, aligned with the national adaptation goals articulated in each country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs).

In this context, the monitoring and evaluation (M&E) of national adaptation policies and actions is essential as it enables decision-makers to assess whether a policy is on track to achieving its intended goals and whether it is having any unintended consequences. A robust M&E framework allows decision-makers to better manage policies, by providing information that facilitates strategic adjustments to policies and their implementation, with the aim of enhancing their effectiveness and making them more cost-efficient.

ICAT’s focus is to support the use of data for evidence-based policymaking. Within the ICAT toolbox, there are 10 guides to support policy assessment in various sectors (e.g. agriculture, energy, forestry.) and for a range of cross-cutting topics, including the integration of actions from non-state actors. Policies can be assessed for their effectiveness in terms of meeting GHG emission reduction objectives, their potential to lead to transformational change (or a paradigm shift) and their impacts on socio-economic parameters (or sustainable development impacts). Additionally, the toolbox also includes guides and tools on topics such as article 6, air pollution, adaptation and loss and damage. The toolbox supports countries to better plan their climate policies and measures, implement NDCs, and prepare reports under the Paris Agreement.

As part of an ICAT adaptation project, three guides and one tool on adaptation and loss and damage were developed. The objective of the project was to strengthen the capacity of countries to plan, implement, monitor, and evaluate effective and efficient adaptation actions in a transparent manner. The project also aimed to develop tools and guidance in a bottom-up way, based on country experiences. The project combined methodological work with country support and focused on a limited number of priority areas cutting across aspects of the NDCs of the five partner countries: Bangladesh, Dominican Republic, India, Kenya, and South Africa. Panama was added as a sixth country subsequently.

Based on the work in the adaptation project, the following tool and guides were launched in June 2023:

• Tracking progress on the ground: Guidance and good practices for integrating subnational and non-state actors into M&E systems for national climate change adaptation policies;
• Fostering successful adaptation projects: Guidance for using the ICAT Assessment Tool for Adaptation Project Proposals (the tool can be found here); and
• Assessing climate change-driven losses and damages.

Countries have increasingly been approaching ICAT seeking support on M&E for adaptation, where to start and how to approach the work in order to build a strong national M&E framework. Building on the needs identified in the adaptation project above and the demand from countries for more support on adaptation, the ICAT Secretariat seeks the support of a consultant to scope out the approach that ICAT can undertake to more effectively support its partner countries and regions in planning transparency efforts on adaptation.

Objectives

The aim of the consultancy will be to scope out an approach that ICAT can recommend countries to use when planning their transparency efforts on adaptation. This will include identifying what methodological work is required and which tools could add value. The work should result in a systematic, stepwise approach that can be used by countries when they are planning their adaptation transparency efforts and seeking support in developing an M&E framework for adaptation actions. This would also include recommendations on how ICAT can support countries in this process.

All tasks spelled out below shall be conducted in close coordination with and based on instructions by the Secretariat. The deliverables are subject to a review process involving a range of experts and to final endorsement by the Secretariat.

Tasks and Activities

Task 1: Conduct a review of relevant literature and existing work on M&E for adaptation

The first task is to conduct a review of the relevant literature and existing work on the transparency and M&E of adaptation, including country experiences, the ICAT guides and tools mentioned above, relevant scoping reports, training offerings, academic literature, and other methodological work and guidance from organizations such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), the Global Centre on Adaptation, and the NAP Global Network, as well as multilateral development banks. This must also take into account the requirements of the ETF, including voluntary reporting requirements, and other relevant UNFCCC requirements and IPCC guidance, as well as the work and activities of relevant bodies under the UNFCCC such as the Adaptation Committee. Relevant outcomes from COP28 (and other COPs), the Global Stocktake and discussions related to the Global Goal on Adaptation must also be considered.
The review should also consider tools and approaches at the city or subnational level, which could be scaled up for use at the national level. Different forms of approaches should also be explored, as several countries are moving away from a project-based approach to a pathways-driven approach.
The focus of the review is on what is needed for effective policy frameworks and financing of priority adaptation actions. This task may involve interviews or discussions with relevant experts and other stakeholders to identify and map the relevant methodologies, tools and approaches involved in planning and implementing national adaptation M&E activities.

Task 2: Produce a report that provides an overview of the findings from the review in Task 1 and recommendations

The second task is to prepare a report, which should include both an overview of the findings from the review and discussions in Task 1, reflecting on benefits, gaps and limitations, from the existing work related to the transparency and M&E of adaptation, as well as recommendations.
The report should be concise, focused and clear, and include recommendations:

1. On what (in terms of information and data) is needed from countries at each step of the approach, and what they need to consider, in order to plan an M&E framework that addresses national needs and priorities, and contribution to the Global Goal on Adaptation;
2. On steps countries can take in planning M&E activities, including those needed for tracking adaptation in their NDCs and advancing related adaptation actions; and
3. On how ICAT can support countries in their adaptation M&E efforts, such as in selecting guides and tools to apply, such as the ICAT adaptation guides, and those from others.

Recommendations should consider potential risks where relevant.

Task 3: Develop an approach to adaptation, which countries can use to plan their transparency efforts on adaptation, and develop terms of reference for the recommendations identified

Based on the work completed in Task 1 and Task 2, the third task is to develop a systematic, stepwise approach to planning and developing an M&E framework of adaptation, which ICAT can recommend to countries (see here an example of an approach used in the context of MRV frameworks). This task should be completed in parallel with Task 2.
The approach should include the main elements that need to be addressed and be practical, easy to follow, with built-in flexibility to meet the needs of countries regardless of how much progress they have made on the M&E of adaptation. It should also support countries to understand how to use the resources they already have and build upon the work that has already been done, including their adaptation reports to the UNFCCC, to develop an M&E framework for transparency that is meaningful for their specific country’s context.
The consultant is also required to develop draft terms of reference for additional guides and/or tools that may be recommended as part of this work.
The consultant will provide a draft approach and any resulting terms of reference to the ICAT Secretariat and other stakeholders for review, and implement recommended changes as appropriate. Reviewers will be provided by the ICAT secretariat and should also be suggested by the consultant. The consultant will be required to do a virtual presentation of the draft approach