Evaluation Officer, RBN Evaluation Unit, NOC at World Food Programme (WFP)

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

• The Evaluation Specialist at the Regional Bureau Nairobi will work under the direct supervision of the Regional Evaluation Officer to oversee and provide timely support to the planning, commissioning, management, and use of evaluations and related activities across the region. The position will collaboratively support the implementation of the Regional Evaluation Strategy and achievement of its stated goals.

Key Accountabilities

Evaluation Planning & Management

• Contribute to the management of evaluation processes and budgets to support the production of independent, credible evidence that meets high professional standards in line with UN norms and standards and codes of conduct for evaluation in the UN system, embodied in WFP’s Evaluation Quality Assurance System (EQAS). At the regional level, this entails:
• Overseeing and supporting country offices to effectively plan, commission, manage and use evaluations
• Supporting or directly managing multi-country and regional evaluations
• Ensure the consistent application of the Decentralized Evaluation Quality Assurance System (DEQAS) and use of related services across the region by means of coaching, technical support, and learning support to country office and regional bureau colleagues
• Quality assuring evaluation products, including terms of reference, inception reports, and evaluations.
• Supporting and reviewing country office evidence planning and budgeting tools

Evaluation Utilization

• Support WFP’s evaluation culture of accountability and learning, working with internal and external stakeholders to enhance learning from and use of evaluation evidence in policy, strategy and programme design and implementation, seeking advice where appropriate.
• Analyse evaluation evidence and contribute to the preparation of syntheses and/or summaries of evaluation findings and recommendations
• Contribute to the dissemination of and advocacy around evaluations and evaluation products, adapting messages to specific audiences and platforms.

Evaluation Capacity Development, Reflective Practice, & Partnerships

• WFP Evaluation Capacity Development & Reflective Practice
• Contribute to the development of evaluation capacity of WFP staff and partners
• Supporting the implementation of the corporate learning programme on evaluation in the region and strengthening of CO capacity for managing decentralized evaluations.
• Support and/or lead the regional evaluation community of practice and its activities
• Keep abreast of methodological developments in evaluation and contribute to the development of evaluation methodologies and tools to support continuous improvement in evaluation practice.
• Participate in WFP evaluation community webinars or meetings and contribute to the sharing of experience and development of good practices.
• National Evaluation Capacity Development
• Support the development of a regional implementation plan to support national evaluation capacity development goals
• Advise and actively support country offices to identify entry points and implement activities to strengthen national evaluation capacity
• Partnerships
• Support WFP collaboration with counterparts from other UN organizations, especially the United Nations Network of Evaluators in Sub-Saharan African (UNNESSA) Government institutions, academia as well as professional evaluation bodies

Others

• Support the management and use of information management systems for evaluation processes in the organization.
• Responsible for integrating protection and gender perspectives in all areas of work, to ensure equal participation of women and men.
• Contribute to the Evaluation function development and reporting.
• Manage junior staff members and guide as required to enable high performance, as well as act as officer in charge (OiC) in the absence of the Regional Evaluation Officer.
• Others as required.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

• Advanced University degree in International Development, Economics, Social Science or other relevant field, or First University degree with an additional years of related evaluation work experience and/or training/courses.

Experience:

• Minimum of five years of progressively responsible relevant professional work experience related to evaluation in international development or humanitarian work.
• Strong experience using a variety of quantitative and qualitative analytical tools and methods
• Strong experience within monitoring and evaluation, especially supporting and/or directly managing evaluations within WFP, is desired
• Strong experience working with and supporting national or sub-national government entities, especially related to monitoring and/or evaluation
• Experience guiding, supporting, mentoring, and/or coaching individuals to support learning goals
• Experience in knowledge management

Languages:

• Fluency (level C) in English language. Intermediate knowledge (level B) of French is desired.