Consultancy: Evaluation Synthesis Consultant for Evaluation Synthesis of UNICEF’s Development Effectiveness, January to March 2023, 60 days, Evaluation Office, NYHQ

The UNICEF Evaluation Office plans to conduct an Evaluation Synthesis of UNICEF’s Development Effectiveness. This vacancy is to identify a qualified evaluation synthesis consultant to carry out the review, which is expected to take place between January and March 2023.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential. 

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone. 

And we never give up. 

For every child, evaluate

The context in which UNICEF operates is complex and fast-changing. This is why the UNICEF Evaluation Office, located in New York headquarters, undertake a diverse set of evaluative exercises to ensure UNICEF learns from past and ongoing experiences to improve future outcomes. To provide a systematic overview of the outcomes and impact of UNICEF’s operations, the Evaluation Office is commissioning an Evaluation Synthesis of UNICEF’s Development Effectiveness. The synthesis will build on previous development effectiveness reviews and consolidate evidence from evaluations over the 2018 to 2022 period. The evaluation synthesis and its findings, conclusions and recommendations will provide a synthesis of UNICEF’s performance and identify lessons and systematic challenges. The synthesis will inform ongoing policy, strategy, programme development and guidance, as well as collaborative approaches, with a view to accelerate outcomes for children.

How can you make a difference? 

Under the supervision of a Senior Evaluation Specialist in the Evaluation Office, the Evaluation Synthesis Consultant will utilize their expertise to assess UNICEF’s performance based on the evaluations that have been undertaken between 2018 and 2022 at the global, regional, and country levels, update performance trends based on the previous synthesis and identify lessons from evaluations and systematic issues.

The synthesis must adhere to the revised UNCEF Evaluation Policy, the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Norms and Standards for Evaluation, and it should apply and incorporate the criteria of UNICEF’s Global Evaluation Reports Oversight System (GEROS) standards to the highest degree possible. The Evaluation Synthesis Consultant will be responsible for adhering to the UNEG Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation and will be asked to sign the Pledge of Ethical Conduct in Evaluation.

From the commencement of the contract, the Evaluation Synthesis Consultant’s responsibilities will include:

1. Support the inception phase of the synthesis and the development of the inception report

• Develop methodology and data collection tools
• Identify evaluations in UNICEF’s evaluation reports database
• Develop and test evaluation selection criteria
• Integrate stakeholder feedback into the final inception report.

1. Data collection, evaluation mapping and descriptive analysis

• Collect and compile UNICEF evaluations
• Screen evaluations against selection criteria
• Descriptive mapping and categorization of sample evaluations
• Document lessons learned in the mapping and descriptive analysis process to inform further synthesis analysis.

1. Undertake synthesis and analysis

• Analyze evaluation reports against key synthesis questions
• Participate in team analysis meetings
• Develop preliminary findings and support the development of material for preliminary findings workshops, including creating presentations and data visualization
• Participate in the preliminary results workshops with internal and external stakeholders/reference group members.

1. Support the drafting of the draft and final evaluation synthesis report and annexes

• Draft quality text for full findings, conclusions, recommendations, and other sections of the report and annexes through iterative analysis, technical inputs and quality assurance reviews
• Incorporate stakeholder feedback into the draft report and develop responses for the Audit of Comments.
• Document lessons learned throughout the evaluation synthesis process to inform future evaluation synthesis initiatives
• Support the dissemination of findings through UNEG and other platforms.

A Senior Evaluation Specialist in the Evaluation Office will manage the exercise to ensure impartiality, independence and credibility and supervise the work of the Evaluation Synthesis Consultant who will conduct the synthesis. Furthermore, a reference group will support the synthesis in an advisory capacity. The reference group will consist of internal resource persons as well as external experts as deemed helpful.

A timeline of around three months is envisaged for the synthesis, from January to March 2023.

A lump sum consultancy fee based on UNICEF standard consultancy rates will be paid in three tranches upon satisfactory certification of the following deliverables:

• First tranche to be paid upon completion and acceptance of the inception report (30%),
• Second tranche to be paid upon completion and acceptance of the presentation of the preliminary findings (30%)
• Third tranche to be paid upon completion and acceptance of the final report (40%).

The synthesis report is expected to be in line with UNICEF and UNEG reporting standards, present the evidence found in response to the synthesis questions and be relevant to decision-making needs. The report will include an Executive Summary and evidence-based recommendations that have been jointly developed with key stakeholders and were directly derived from the synthesis findings and conclusions. It will preferably comprise not more than 40 pages (25,000 words), excluding the Executive Summary and annexes, and include infographics.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have… 

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in Evaluation, Public Policy, Social Policy, Economics, or a relevant field across the social sciences (a first university degree in a relevant field combined with two additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree). 
• A minimum of eight years of professional experience in conducting or supporting the synthesis of evaluation results, systematic reviews and/or academic literature reviews related to development cooperation, humanitarian assistance, social sciences, or institutional effectiveness.  
• Experience synthesizing corporate evaluations, thematic evaluations, and/or impact evaluations related to development effectiveness.
• Experience developing and executing methodologies for evaluation synthesis, including the creation of criteria to select and sample evaluations.
• Experience leading or supporting corporate or thematic evaluations related to UNICEF’s work is an asset.
• Strong understanding of the UN system, UN reform processes, UN programming at the country level and the Sustainable Development Goals is preferred.
• Knowledge of UNEG Norms and Standards for Evaluation and the UNEG Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation is desirable.
• In-depth knowledge of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analytical methods.
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to communicate effectively with stakeholders from different backgrounds.
• Excellent report writing skills, being able to write clear and concise analytical reports.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is desirable. 

How to Apply:

For your application to this role, please include an updated CV and a cover letter. Ideally, your cover letter will include the following:

• An outline of why you are interested in this assignment. 
• Specific expertise and experience that qualify you for this assignment.
• References to related studies or reports you worked on (through links provided or attached documents) relevant to this consultancy
• An indication of your daily fee.

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check. 

Remarks:  

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. 

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures 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. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.