Steel India Mid-Term Evaluation Consultant

• Reports to: Senior Head of Network Learning and Innovation
• Preferred timezone: Based in India
• Budget: ₹ 2,875,000 INR (inclusive of all taxes, fees and expenses)
• Contract: Fixed-term consultant contract from 1 August, 2026 - 31 January 2027 (Estimated ~60-70 days, over 6 months).

About Climate Catalyst

Climate Catalyst is a non-profit dedicated to galvanizing the collective power of business, investors, and civil society to influence and accelerate policy change in Asia and Europe. We work to strengthen collaboration and mobilise new actors on pivotal climate challenges to build power and compel political leaders to act at the speed and scale needed to tackle the climate crisis. We do this by: 

• Working behind the scenes with stakeholders in Europe and Asia to identify critical climate issues where action to date has been limited and collaboration potential is high. 
• Bringing together renowned experts and new entrants to share ideas, and design and deliver creative campaigns that secure decisive changes in national and regional policy to deliver sectoral tipping points and secure significant emissions reductions. 
• Advising on strategy, bringing creative communications, advocacy and movement building expertise to build power across the climate community to catalyse action. 

The Steel India programme works to accelerate the transition to green steel in India. Programme levers include the India Green Steel Network (IGSN), Green Public Procurement (GPP), Sustainable Finance, and narrative change. As the programme approaches mid-term, an independent evaluation will establish a robust evidence base for the next phase of work and lay the foundation for a strong programme close in approximately three years. 

Purpose and Objectives of the Consultancy

• Assess progress and evidence of impact across all programme levers: IGSN, GPP, Sustainable Finance.
• The Steel India programme is a systems-level programme, so the evaluation should capture ecosystem coordination, narrative shifts, and influence-related changes alongside more direct programme outputs and outcomes.
• Provide a clear baseline against which future progress can be measured for new and emerging workstreams, such as narrative change. 
• Generate credible, independent evidence of results to support donor engagement, strengthen partner relationships, and validate the programme’s theory of change. 
• Build internal evaluation capacity within the Climate Catalyst team by making evaluation design, methods, and analytical reasoning transparent and participatory throughout the process, enabling staff to apply similar approaches independently in the future.

The evaluation will specifically address:

1. What impact has the Steel India programme had?
1. Across all levers (India Green Steel Network, Green Public Procurement, Sustainable Finance, Scrap), to what extent has the programme achieved its intended outcomes? This includes how outputs and interventions have been perceived and valued by stakeholders, and what contribution the programme has made to emissions reduction pathways in the steel sector. 
2. How does Climate Catalyst compare to others working on steel decarbonisation in India?
1. Where is Climate Catalyst seen as distinctive and additive, and where is it perceived to be duplicating efforts already underway elsewhere in the ecosystem?
2. When Climate Catalyst exits the steel programme,  which organisations do stakeholders perceive as credible successors to serve as the IGSN secretariat? 
3. How effective are our activities, and where should we focus next?
1. How well have specific activities (including convenings, grantmaking and network support, research, and capacity building) delivered against their goals?
2. Where is the greatest opportunity to increase credibility and impact in the remaining programme period?
4. What does the landscape look like for new and emerging workstreams?
1. What data should be collected to support a robust future end-term evaluation?

What you will do

• Co-design the evaluation framework with the Climate Catalyst learning team, including a working session that explains the rationale behind methodological choices, and facilitating a short internal learning session to build staff understanding of how to design and commission evaluations. 
• Conduct a ‘listening report’: structured qualitative engagement with programme partners and stakeholders (industry, financial institutions, civil society, researchers, philanthropies) to capture perspectives on programme relevance, effectiveness, and influence.
• Gather and synthesise qualitative and quantitative evidence of impact, including from individuals and organisations engaging with programme outputs.
• Assess the effectiveness and value of network-building activities, with specific attention to IGSN’s role in driving ecosystem change. Methods might include ecosystem mapping or network analysis to assess relationship-building and influence pathways. 
• Establish a documented baseline to enable pre- and post-intervention impact assessments for new programme activities from mid-2026 onwards, including baseline indicators and/or frameworks for emerging workstreams.
• Produce actionable recommendations to strengthen programme delivery and maximise impact in the remaining programme period.

What You Would Bring

• Demonstrated experience in programme evaluation, ideally within climate, energy, or industrial transition contexts in India.
• Strong mixed methods research, including stakeholder interviewing, and experience producing accessible, evidence-based reports.
• Familiarity with theory of change approaches and systems/network evaluation methodologies.
• Excellent written English; ability to translate complex findings into clear, credible narratives for donor and partner audiences.
• Ability to work in a participatory and capacity-building oriented way, making methods and reasoning transparent to internal teams, not just producing outputs. 
• Knowledge of the emissions modelling and/or the Indian steel sector is an advantage.
• Experience assessing narrative change and conducting narrative analysis is highly desirable.

The budget for this consultancy is ₹ 2,875,000 INR, inclusive of all taxes, fees and expenses.

Equal Employment Opportunities

Climate Catalyst is an equal opportunity employer and complies with all applicable employment opportunity laws prohibiting discrimination. We welcome applications from all qualified candidates regardless of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin, citizenship status, disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other basis protected by applicable law.

How to Apply

To apply, please upload CV, a brief expression of interest (maximum two pages) outlining your approach and relevant experience, and a proposed budget summary to this application page by June 12, 2026.