Senior Evaluation Officer P5

The Senior Evaluation Officer P5 is a senior leadership role requiring deep technical expertise in evaluation. The role provides independent evaluation evidence assessing the performance and results of WFP's policies, programmes and activities for accountability and learning to inform future direction. The officer leads evaluation activities associated with particular approaches and thematic areas.

Responsibilities

• Contribute to the development of the evaluation function including supporting policy, strategy and plans to ensure timely and effective approaches to evaluating the performance and results of policies, programmes and activities and application of the normative framework, quality support, assessment mechanisms and reporting on evaluation function performance.
• Contribute to OEV’s leadership, management and corporate performance by supporting management planning, staffing arrangements and budgeting, as well as the development and use of OEV’s internal systems.
• Manage high profile and/or highly complex evaluation processes and budgets from preparation and design through to completion, meeting high professional standards in line with norms and standards and codes of conduct for evaluation in the UN system, embodied in WFP's Evaluation Quality Assurance System (EQAS) to ensure the production of independent, credible evidence and recommendations for future directions.
• Lead, motivate and develop a complex team of professionals to enable high performance.
• Drawing from good evaluation practice, contribute to further enhancing EQAS guidance and approaches and methodologies for WFP evaluation.
• Source, recruit, manage and quality assure the work of external consultants to ensure the production of evaluations that meet EQAS requirements.
• Engage stakeholder groups, both internal and external to WFP, appropriately in the evaluation process and manage communications.
• Provide second level quality assurance of evaluations managed by evaluation officers in OEC from the preparation to completion.
• Promote WFP's evaluation culture of accountability and learning through analyzing evidence and lessons; preparing summaries of evaluation findings and recommendations and presenting these, tailoring messages to specific audiences and platforms, and working with internal and external stakeholders to enhance learning from and use of evaluation evidence in policy, programme and project design.
• Strengthen the use of evaluative evidence through preparation and dissemination of innovative evidence products.
• Lead development and implementation of a specific stream of Office of Evaluation work-plan, as assigned by the Director, providing functional supervision and/or line management to other staff working on that stream.
• Provide coaching and guidance to staff to ensure appropriate development and enable high performance, especially for WFP rotational staff.
• Lead specific evaluation expertise group(s) to enable sharing of experience and development of good practice.
• Represent the Office of Evaluation as required in inter-agency forums on monitoring and evaluation issues and in professional bodies and networks, developing strategic relationships, as appropriate, to enhance WFP performance and results.
• Effectively integrate cross-cutting issues related to equity, inclusion, human rights and humanitarian principles into WFP evaluation processes, and support the incorporation of these principles into programme design and implementation to help ensure that the most vulnerable population benefit from WFP services.
• Other as required.

Requirements

• Advanced University degree in International Development, Economics, Social Science or other relevant fields, or First University degree with additional years of related work experience and/or training/courses.
• Fluency (level C) in English language and either French or Spanish is mandatory.
• Intermediate knowledge (level B) of another UN language: Arabic, Chinese, Russian, and/or Portuguese (a WFP working language) is desirable.
• Strong team management skills and proven ability to produce results to deadlines.
• 11 years or more (of which at least four international) of relevant professional experience both in the field and in Headquarters in international development or humanitarian work, evaluation and/or policy studies.
• At least 8 years' experience in conducting / managing complex, global and country-specific evaluations including inter-agency and joint evaluations.
• First-hand experience in managing or conducting as team leader complex global and country-specific evaluations (under time and financial constraints), in diverse contexts, assessing policies and programs including subject areas relevant to WFP.
• Excellent teamworking skills, with proven ability to engage constructively with colleagues and stakeholders at different levels and from diverse professional backgrounds.
• Demonstrated ability to coach, support and guide staff, fostering high performance while promoting and inclusive, equitable and respectful work environment.
• First hand experience in evaluation quality assurance and assessment mechanisms.
• In-depth, up-to-date understanding and knowledge of global geopolitical issues relevant to WFP's mandate such as the UN80 reform and the humanitarian reset and the implications for evaluation policy and practice to achieve Agenda 2030.
• In-depth, up-to-date understanding and knowledge of advancing international professional evaluation standards to define and adapt evaluation functions that support and aligns with WFP's strategic goals.
• Broad knowledge of diverse evaluation practices, concepts, and principles.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate knowledge and skills effectively and remote coaching skills.
• Membership in professional evaluation association and/or professional certificate in evaluation is highly desired.

Skills

• Evaluation Management
• Complex Evaluation Design
• Global Evaluation Experience
• Country-specific Evaluations
• Inter-agency Evaluation
• Evaluation Quality Assurance
• Policy and Program Assessment
• Team Leadership
• Team Coaching
• International Development
• Humanitarian Program Evaluation
• Evaluation Standards
• Evaluation Policy
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Remote Coaching
• Geopolitical Analysis
• Evaluation Reporting
• Professional Evaluation Certification

Languages

English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, Portuguese