Evaluation Analyst

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Job Title: Evaluation Analyst

Type of Contract: Consultant (CST)

Division: School-based Programmes

Duty Station (City, Country): Rome HQ, Italy

Duration: 11 months

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the leading organization fighting hunger worldwide, working with communities to improve nutrition, build resilience and address the growing challenges posed by climate change and rising inequality.

For more than 50 years, WFP has been the leading organization in supporting countries with their school feeding programmes, which are widely prevalent throughout the world. Almost every country in the world has a national school feeding programme, making it the most widespread safety net. The interventions reach an estimated 418 million children and adolescents globally. Of these, WFP supports about 20 million children annually and also provides technical assistance to governments ensuring the sustainability and effectiveness of government investments.

School feeding is important because it contributes to multiple objectives, including social safety nets, education, nutrition, health, and local agriculture. School feeding may also help leverage global efforts to enhance the inclusiveness of education for out-of-school children, adolescent girls, and disabled persons, as called for in the Sustainable Development Goals.

To strengthen its global support for school feeding, WFP established a new School based Programmes (SBP) division within the Programme and Policy Development Department at its Headquarters in Rome. SBP will have the task of:

1. setting WFP's global strategy and policy on the issue;
2. providing thought leadership and guiding global research;
3. providing technical support to regional bureaux and country offices;
4. establishing partnerships and new coalitions to raise funding and support; and
5. supporting governments with their own school feeding investments.

This consultancy is related to objective 2 and 3 of the Service, described above: “providing thought leadership and guiding global research and "providing technical support to regional bureaux and country offices;". The consultant will support the roll-out of the Theory of Change and Theory of Action, along with advising on the corresponding monitoring framework for the school feeding strategy globally, including but not limited to WFP programmes, providing analyses and quality reviews of data and inputs into relevant Corporate monitoring processes. The Consultant will report to the Evaluation Officer.

ACCOUNTABITLITIES / RESPONSIBILITIES:

• 1. McGovern -Dole Evaluation Guidance and Quality Assurance****:
• Support Country Offices (CO) and Regional Evaluation Units (REU) in preparing for and implementing high quality and credible evaluations of MGD projects. This includes reviewing Terms of Reference (ToR), inception reports, baseline reports, and evaluation reports for the McGovern-Dole (MGD) evaluations; providing comments on these deliverables based on USDA and DEQAS standards; advising COs/Regional Bureaus (RB) on how best to address USDA comments on deliverables and providing final review of all evaluation deliverables before they are submitted to USDA.
• In collaboration with the OEV CapQual team, update guidance documents to improve the quality and utility of MGD evaluations and create new guidance as needed. Disseminate existing MGD evaluation guidance to relevant stakeholders to promote its use.
• Support COs and REUs in formulating high quality and credible M&E plans to include in MGD proposals. Quality assure plans in alignment with WFP’s Decentralized Evaluation Quality Assurance System (DEQAS), USDA NOFO requirements, and USDA's Monitoring and Evaluation Policy. Assist Country Offices to draft and quality assure special study descriptions as needed.
• Update M&E plan and results framework templates, checklists, and guidance as needed to improve the proposal-writing process for future grant cycles.
  2. McGovern-Dole Evaluation Technical Assistance and Coordination:
• Support the coordination and facilitation of USDA-WFP operational meetings to improve communication and foster a strong working relationships between WFP and the UDSA MESP team. Brief USDA on expected deliverables to encourage timely feedback and discuss MGD evaluation questions and concerns raised by Country Offices and other stakeholders. Generate and disseminate meeting Notes for the Record.
• Work with the WFP Washington Office, REUs and COs to ensure MGD evaluation processes are initiated far enough in advance to allow for the completion of timely, high-quality deliverables. Work with the WFP Washington Office (WAS) to consistently update the spreadsheet of MGD evaluation deliverables and timelines.
• Update and maintain the database of comments from USDA on MGD evaluation reports to identify issues and inform evaluation guidance for COs. Track trends over time and periodically update key stakeholders on changes in comment nature or quantity.
• Engage stakeholder groups, both internal and external to WFP, to communicate McGovern-Dole Evaluation priorities and requirements. This includes fostering effective working relationships for McGovern-Dole M&E; maintaining the MGD Evaluation Manager Teams channel; proactively engaging with the OEV CapQual team, COs, REUs, WAS and USDA to identify challenges faced in the planning and commissioning of McGovern-Dole decentralized evaluations and identify solutions; assisting Country Offices to communicate with evaluation teams as needed and responding to McGovern-Dole related queries from Country Offices.
  3. School-Feeding Evaluation Evidence Consolidation and Use:
• Map new and past school evaluations to the Theory of Change Evidence Map. Work with the SBP MERL team to disseminate this information as appropriate.
• In collaboration with the SBP MERL school-feeding evaluation evidence.
• Support the drafting of a summary of evaluation evidence to inform the updated School Feeding policy.
• Support the development of a list of WFP evaluation evidence related to each result within the McGovern-Dole results framework in order to promote the inclusion of evaluation evidence in McGovern-Dole proposals.
• Support the inclusion of school-feeding evaluation recommendations in Country Strategic Plans (CSP) by reviewing CSPs and relevant evaluations and providing talking points for the Division’s sPRP and ePRP feedback.
• Work with the chair of the impact evaluation community of practice (CoP) to coordinate meetings and document notes for the record. Update the SBP MERL team on progress of the CoP.
• Understand the Global SBP Theory of Change and Theory of Action and explain theory to regions and country offices as relevant.
• Support the School-Based Programmes MERL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Research and Learning) team to execute strategically important projects on an ad-hoc basis.

DELIVERABLES QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

1. Quality Assurance of at least two Baseline, mid-term, or final McGovern-Dole evaluations.
2. Quality Assurance of at least five terms of reference or inception reports for McGovern-Dole evaluations.
3. Quality Assurance of evaluation plan and results framework for 3 or more McGovern-Dole proposals.
4. Updated database of USDA comments.
5. Updated tracking document of McGovern-Dole deliverables.
6. Updated McGovern-Dole proposal guidance and templates.
7. Written feedback on 3 or more CSPs.
8. Documentation of USDA and Impact CoP meetings
9. Expanded map of evaluation evidence related to SBP Theory of Change and McGovern-Dole results frameowork, respectively.
10. Summary of Evaluation Evidence to support the School Feeding Policy

QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

First University degree in Economics, Public Policy, International Development or Social Sciences or other relevant field with additional years of related work experience and/or training/courses. Advanced University degree desirable

Experience:

Minimum of 3 years of relevant experience

Knowledge and Skills:

• • • • Has strong evaluation expertise understanding and proven expertise of development evaluation deliverables and working with donors (particularly USDA).
  • Has strong communication skills and is able to communicate with a range of technical experts as well as non-technical staff effectively.
  • Has ability to manage complex projects and multiple stakeholders with competing priorities.
  • A good understanding of school feeding projects is an asset.
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills.
  • Ability to work independently, with minimal supervision and has initiative to propose or initiate activities to the benefit of the team and of WFP

Languages:

English

Terms and Conditions

WFP offers a competitive compensation package which will be determined by the contract type and selected candidate’s qualifications and experience.

Please visit the following websites for detailed information on working with WFP.

http://www.wfp.org Click on: “Our work” and “Countries” to learn more about WFP’s operations.

Deadline for applications: 19 December 2023

All employment decisions are made on the basis of organizational needs, job requirements, merit, and individual qualifications. WFP is committed to providing an inclusive work environment free of sexual exploitation and abuse, all forms of discrimination, any kind of harassment, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. Therefore, all selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.