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Senior Evaluation Specialists

Multiple locations

  • Organization: FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
  • Location: Multiple locations
  • Grade: Consultancy - Consultant - Contractors Agreement
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Monitoring and Evaluation
    • OED
  • Closing Date: Closed

IMPORTANT NOTICE\: Please note that Closure Date and Time displayed above are based on date and time settings of your personal device

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FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender and nationality

People with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply

All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality

The incumbent may be re-assigned to different activities and/or duty stations depending on the evolving needs of the Organization

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Organizational Setting

Background

The Office of Evaluation (OED) of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is starting an evaluation of the Food and Nutrition Security Impact, Resilience, Sustainability and Transformation (FIRST) Programme.

The FIRST Programme is a joint initiative between the EU and FAO, to provide on-demand policy support to selected FAO and EU priority countries and regional bodies (i.e. ECOWAS). The Programme was launched mid-2015 to support governments with strengthening the enabling policy and institutional environment for food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture.

In mid-2018, the Programme was extended to December 2022, with the purpose of also addressing key bottlenecks that limit effective implementation of policy instruments for Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture (FNSSA). This strategic reorientation towards strengthening policy implementation capacities begun in 2018, as FIRST started carrying-out country-level analyses aimed at identifying key policy design gaps and implementation bottlenecks (institutional, organizational, political and financial) and options for relieving these.

The Programme’s primary mode of delivering policy assistance and capacity development is through seconding Policy Officers (POs) and Technical Experts (TEs) to work directly with governments and key stakeholders. The resulting network of POs and TEs work in partnership with the EU, FAO, and host-country government ministries as well as with development partners to\:

  • Develop coherent sectoral and cross-sectoral policy and programme frameworks;
  • Strengthen human and organizational capacities;
  • Support inclusive and evidence-based governance and stakeholder coordination mechanisms.

Objectives of the evaluation

The objective of the Evaluation is to inform FAO, in particular the Programme Management Team, the European Commission, and other stakeholders about the programme’s progress and performance towards attaining the expected outputs and outcomes. Since the Programme has undergone several reviews over the past years, which have given a great attention to assessing its relevance, this evaluation will focus more on assessing the effectiveness, impact as well as the sustainability of achieved results. On a strategic level, the evaluation will inform the evolution of the EU-FAO partnership around food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture.

Methodology

The evaluation will address a set of evaluation questions, which will be contextualized according to the countries, and stakeholders involved. The evaluation team will gather and triangulate information from a number of sources, including FAO staff, EU delegations, Government counterparts, development partners as well as distil evaluative information from relevant programme documentation. The evaluation will also make use of previous FIRST evaluations – including the mid-term review. Moreover, the evaluation team will carry out field visits to a purposely selected sample of beneficiary and partner countries.

Timetable

The evaluation will be conducted between July 2019 and February 2020. The country missions will be carried out between August and October 2019 and the evaluation findings will be presented around mid-November 2019. The first draft of the report will be produced by December 2019.

Reporting Lines

The evaluation specialists will be recruited as team leader or members, and will report to the relevant project evaluation manager.

Technical Focus

The FAO Office of Evaluation is seeking evaluation specialists with knowledge and expertise in the following fields\:

  • Policy development and implementation;
  • Food security and nutrition;
  • Sustainable agriculture;
  • Political economy
  • Knowledge management and learning
Tasks and responsibilities
Evaluation Team Leader
  • Contribute to the Evaluation methodology and lead the finalization of the evaluation tools, such as evaluation matrix, evaluation questions, checklists, surveys, questionnaires and other data collection tools.
  • Lead and coordinate the collection and analysis of primary and secondary data by the evaluation teams.
  • Lead, coordinate and prepare all deliverables planned in the evaluation Terms of Reference. These includes the final evaluation report to be prepared according to specifications provided in the ToRs, and the integration of comments and suggestions received by the relevant stakeholders.
  • Present findings of the evaluation to key stakeholders during all planned debriefing sessions as required.
  • Coordinate the participation and contribution of team members in all deliverables as required.
Evaluation Team members
  • Follow the methodological approach described in the evaluation Terms of Reference\: contribute to finalizing evaluation tools including questionnaires, check-lists and interview protocols as appropriate and agreed with the team leader;
  • Provide specialised expertise in assessing outputs, deliverables and activities carried out under his/her specific area
  • Participate actively in the collection of primary data through, inter alia, interviews and meetings, face to face or virtual, with FAO concerned officers in HQ, and during the country visits, with key stakeholders including government members, FAO staff, external partners, project teams and beneficiaries as appropriate;
  • Participate actively in the collection of relevant secondary data, in addition to the initial desk reviews carried out by OED, as required and identified in the evaluation matrix;
  • Contribute to the consolidation of all evidence collected during the evaluation process in a structured format following the key evaluation questions and criteria;
  • Deliver written inputs on the specific areas of assessment, as per the evaluation Terms of References, in all deliverables and support the Evaluation Team Leader in finalizing the report and integrating the comments as may be required.
CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING
Minimum Requirements
  • Advanced University degree (MSc or PhD) in relevant disciplines (Nutrition, Food Security, Political Economy, Development Studies, Social Sciences, Agriculture in its broad understanding);
  • At least 10 years of relevant experience at international level in their fields of expertise;
  • Working knowledge of English, French or Spanish and limited knowledge of one of the other two or Arabic, Chinese, Russian. (for PSA it can be required only one language)
FAO Core Competencies
  • Results Focus
  • Teamwork
  • Communication
  • Building Effective Relationships
  • Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

  • Previous experience in conducting/taking part in independent evaluations;
  • Relevant country or regional experience;
  • Excellent analysis, writing and verbal communication skills;
  • Experience in designing, implementing and evaluating policies;
  • Fluency in English and in other official FAO languages (French and Spanish) would be an asset;
  • Knowledge of FAO’s mandate and work in the region will be a plus

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Please note that all candidates should adhere to FAO Values of Commitment to FAO, Respect for All and Integrity and Transparency

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This vacancy is now closed.
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