Evaluation Officer (Partnership), P2, 364 days, Evaluation Office, NYHQ

Contract

This is a P-2 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 2 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 108,633 USD and 147,551 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

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 Evaluation Office (EO) commissions and manages independent corporate evaluations, Level 3 humanitarian evaluations, impact evaluations and other evaluative exercises (e.g., evaluability assessments, syntheses, reviews). The EO also leads on the development and implementation of evaluation policy, strategy and systems; pilots innovative data and methodological approaches; oversees evaluation quality assurance processes; and undertakes evaluation capacity development activities within and outside UNICEF. It actively promotes an enabling environment for evaluation and a strong evaluation culture and ensures transparent access to evaluation information. The EO works closely with the Regional Evaluation Advisers and multi-country evaluation specialists in each of the seven UNICEF regions to ensure a well-coordinated, collaborative, whole-of-organization evaluation effort and to continue to build the organization’s community of practice. Working in a complementary manner with other data, evidence and research functions within UNICEF, the Evaluation Office aims to deliver consistently timely, credible and useful independent analyses that harness knowledge to help the organization deliver results for children.

The Evaluation Office has recently launched the UNICEF Evaluation of Impact | UNICEF Evaluation in UNICEF, which sets the institutional priorities and vision for a harmonized and strategic approach to the generation and use of impact evidence at UNICEF. We are seeking an Evaluation Officer (Partnership) to support the Evaluation Office and the Methods, Impact, Innovation and Learning (MIIL) team in implementing the Impact Strategy through a global, five-year evidence partnership with BMZ (Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development), with the focus on strengthening rigorous evidence on adaptive social protection. The partnership – which will be implemented in close collaboration with the UNICEF Social Protection team, the Division of Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring and the Global Office of Research and Foresight – aims to support adaptive social protection systems and their capacity to improve child well-being outcomes and build the resilience of families and communities.

How can you make a difference?

Under the direction of the Director of Evaluation and the supervision of the Senior Evaluation Specialist (Impact and Methods), the Evaluation Officer will be responsible for the monitoring, coordination, consolidation and sharing of programme activities and outputs of the global BMZ-UNICEF Evaluation Office evidence partnership. Specifically, the incumbent will be required to monitor the progress of all aspects of the programme (and its individual components) and identify operational and financial problems at the project level, with a focus on the grant management process, timely project implementation, budget management and reporting. The incumbent will also be responsible for supporting the project governance structure, including through stakeholder management, coordination and liaison. Knowledge management and innovation to promote better use of evidence programme outputs.

In accordance with the UNICEF mission, guiding principles, standards, commitments and accountability framework, and under the revised United Nations Evaluation Group norms and standards, the Evaluation Officer will ensure that all outputs and processes are delivered in accordance with UNICEF operational, ethical, legal, financial standards and policies support the organizational learning and accountability needs of UNICEF and its stakeholders in achieving results for children. The incumbent will also contribute to cross-cutting initiatives within the Evaluation Office and the wider evaluation function within UNICEF, including broader partnership engagement, capacity building, learning activities and communication and advocacy efforts.

Key functions/accountabilities:

• Programme monitoring and reporting: Support the Evaluation Office and, in turn, the global evaluation function in programme monitoring and reporting, including for all sub-project activities, outputs, and budget expenditures.
• Stakeholder coordination: Support stakeholder management, coordination and liaison in accordance with the programme governance structure.
• Knowledge management. Contribute to knowledge management and innovation within the scope of the programme and broader MIIL section portfolio.
• Partnerships. Actively support other internal and external partnerships with other UNICEF evidence divisions, multilateral and bilateral organizations, other United Nations agencies and academic institutions.

Programme monitoring and reporting :

• Develop and regularly update the programme work plan in coordination with technical leads and sub-project managers and/or technical leads of the Evaluation Office and other UNICEF divisions.
• Review the grant budgets and financial reports against the approved budget on regular basis and provide critical feedback to the Senior Programme Manager, technical coordination group and Evaluation Office operational team, as relevant.
• Consolidate and review analytical outputs of all contributing UNICEF divisions and teams against the work plans, facilitate and review narrative progress reports against donor reporting requirements, and provide critical feedback to all technical teams and the Evaluation Office operational team, as relevant.
• Follow up and work with all technical teams (evaluation, research, data) to monitor implementation of activities based on the approved work plan and timeline, and proactively highlight anticipated implementation risks and propose mitigations.
• Work with the Evaluation Office operational team to develop periodic summary reports of financial commitments and expenditures for financial monitoring of the grant/s. Review financial information with the relevant project team to identify bottlenecks and recommend corrective actions.
• Work across teams in the programme (and work packages) to develop annual reports and support preparations for the steering committee and donor meetings.
• Assist the Senior Programme Manager in setting implementation processes in compliance with contractual obligations.
• Advise the programme team and broader Evaluation Office teams on partnership management and implementation.
• Execute any other tasks as needed for the effective implementation of the grant.

Stakeholder coordination

• Coordinate and facilitate stakeholder engagement in all governance structures of the programme and ensure proper documentation of agreements and follow-up actions.
• Liaise and build relationships with other donors and partners in the thematic area at the global and regional levels.
• Liaise with the in-house partnership, legal, communication and procurement teams, among others, on relevant UNICEF standards and procedures, donor visibility and other aspects of programme implementation.
• Support the coordination and management of the programme communication strategy internally and externally.

Knowledge management

• Develop and maintain effective documentation and an archive structure for the programme (and its sub-projects) in Microsoft SharePoint, making regular updates and improvements.
• Support the compilation of lessons learned from evidence-related activities and contribute to their dissemination to the wider internal and external audiences.
• Contribute to the dissemination of analytical outputs of the programme (and its sub-projects) and to the consistent visibility of programme achievements in evidence uptake and use.
• Support other knowledge management tasks within the MIIL portfolio, as directed.4.Partnership
• Coordinate and provide substantial analytical input into developing new evaluation partnership documents. Support budget projections for new donor proposals.
• Represent the Evaluation Office and UNICEF at internal and external events, disseminate Evaluation Office products and advance the Evaluation Office’s contribution to international impact evaluation standards and practice.
• Contribute to other Evaluation Office and inter-divisional evidence initiatives and to United Nations Evaluation Group working groups, as relevant.

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s) in social sciences (e.g., economics, public policy, evaluation or a related field).
• A minimum of three years of experience in monitoring, management or audit of complex, multi-stakeholder evidence (research or evaluation) programmes within an international organization, development agency, academia, government or the private or non-profit sectors.
• Proven record of engagement in and excellent understanding of social sectors relevant to UNICEF programming, with a particular focus on (adaptive) social protection, gender and child outcomes.
• Solid track record of managing/monitoring multi-stakeholder programmes with strong data /cost monitoring requirements and multi-level coordination and communication needs.
• Familiarity with UNICEF or other UN agency financial monitoring and grant management requirements is highly desirable.
• Willingness/ability to keep up to date with the latest skills and organizational guidance in the fields of partnership, financial and evaluation management.
• Willingness/ability to explore innovative and creative approaches to improve the process and quality of output generation.
• Demonstrated track record of working collaboratively in a multicultural team environment to contribute positively to shared results.
• Fluency in English; knowledge of another United Nations language (French in particular) is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact (4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others.

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.

We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. 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 is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position, eligible and suitable [Insert diversity profile] are encouraged to apply.

[If Applicable] Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

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