Evaluation Specialist, P-4 Evaluation Office, NYHQ, USA

Contract

This is a P-4 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 7 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 171,387 USD and 220,969 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 fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does - in programs, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children's rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life - in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions - her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society's most disadvantaged citizens - addressing inequity - not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. Therefore, the focus on equity is vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

Equity also applies to UNICEF's work in humanitarian settings. During emergencies and humanitarian contexts, children are especially vulnerable to disease, malnutrition and violence. Children living in conflict areas are worst off. The chaos and insecurity of war threatens or destroys access to food, shelter, social support and health care, and results in increased vulnerability in communities, especially for children. Of the populations without sanitation and safe drinking water globally, approximately half live in countries affected by conflict. UNICEF focuses on these children and their families to provide them with the essential interventions required for protection, to save lives and to ensure the rights of all children, everywhere. UNICEF's humanitarian action is guided by the UNICEF Strategic Plan and its Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action (CCCs) which outlines what UNICEF commits to do across all sectors - health, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), child protection, and education - as part of any humanitarian response. The CCCs are aligned to international standards and guided by humanitarian principles.

The position is located within the NYHQ Evaluation Office, which serves as steward of UNICEF's evaluation function, steering the development and implementation of the organization's evaluation policy. Its Director reports to UNICEF's Executive Board through an annual report on the evaluation function, which includes information on selected evaluations, including humanitarian evaluations. The Evaluation Office also focuses on the promotion of an enabling environment for evaluation and the provision of ready access to evaluation evidence and information. The Evaluation Office commissions and manages independent corporate evaluations and other more agile exercises yileding evaluation evidence usually conducted in collaboration with external consultants but sometimes embedding Evaluation Office staff in the evaluation teams.

How can you make a difference?

Humanitarian action is a centerpiece of UNICEF's programmatic activity for children and women. The Organization also features actively in the inter-agency arena of humanitarian action, working with partners and serving as lead or co-lead agency in more sectoral clusters than any other agency. UNICEF is counted as a major actor in the humanitarian realm and has invested considerable resources to help it successfully live up to this role.

Evaluation plays a pivotal role in assessing UNICEF's humanitarian work. Evaluation seeks to answer, as objectively, systematically and impartially as possible, whether UNICEF is achieving results in humanitarian action, and why or why not, so that the Organization can improve its response in emergencies. The results of the Specialist's work will be critical for measuring the outcomes of UNICEF's investments in humanitarian action, particularly in those clusters and sectors where UNICEF has taken a global leadership role. The results obtained will be considered by UNICEF and partners when determining strategic investment to reach the revised Core Commitments for Children in Humanitarian Action (CCCs) and other global commitments.

Under the supervision and guidance of the Senior Evaluation Specialist - Humanitarian, the incumbent is responsible for managing a series of projects in the evaluation portfolio related to humanitarian action. The scope of work covers primarily evaluations, but may also include other projects, such as reviews, research studies, meta­ analysis and surveys that draw on the same technical and project management skills. S/He will work closely with the Senior Evaluation Specialist - Humanitarian, the Evaluation Director and other members of the humanitarian evaluation unit to shape the strategic direction of the portfolio, maximizing its utility as a source of both accountability and learning to UNICEF and its partners.

Key functions/accountabilities:

2. Ensure the implementation of Humanitarian Evaluations

Manage corporate-level thematic evaluations that cover emergency preparedness, humanitarian response, early recovery, rehabilitation , reconstruction, and transition to development; and country/regional specific Level 3 emergencies that are impartial, independent, credible and that meet professional standards. This includes undertaking background document review, development of terms of reference, consultant recruitment and interviews, selecting appropriate evaluation design, facilitation of team meetings, consultant management, review of and feedback on project outputs, internal and external liaison to elicit feedback on evaluation outputs and supporting dissemination of evaluation to various stakeholders.

2. Provide technical support to regional and country offices undertaking humanitarian evaluations

Support regional and country offices to evaluate the organization's response to other levels of emergencies including L2 and L1 contexts; and in other country/regional thematic evaluations of humanitarian action.

3. Support Inter-Agency Humanitarian Evaluations

Participate in, and on a high-priority basis co-manage, inter-agency and joint humanitarian evaluations together with partners, providing feedback on specific evaluation outputs and liaising with internal colleagues and interagency counterparts to convey feedback on these outputs

4. Lead and Support efforts on humanitarian themes complementary to discreet evaluations.

This includes but not limited to methodological development, reviews, research studies, meta-analyses, surveys, and developing good governance structures for humanitarian evaluation work

5**. Contribute to the development of approaches, guidance, capacity development, strategies and overall strategic direction in the area of humanitarian evaluations**

This area of activity ranges from developing guidance, approaches and innovative data collection systems during humanitarian evaluations that enhances how humanitarian evaluations are undertaken; to systematic strengthening (i.e., technical support and the development of effective and efficient capacity development initiatives for all UNICEF staff engaged with EHA, supporting efforts of national evaluation capacity development related to EHA that are promoted at Regional and Country levels

6. Ensure Delivery of EO Work Plan

Participate in the development of the Evaluation Office work plan, including assistance in developing and piloting a risk-based approach to planning for the humanitarian portfolio, ensuring the achievement of specific assigned objectives, and in progress reporting.

7. Undertake other projects, including field missions to undertake or contribute to ongoing evaluations, as may be assigned by the supervisor and by the Director of the Evaluation Office

The efficient result delivery against the key functions/accountabilities identified above will contribute to improved understanding of UNICEF programmes implemented in Humanitarian settings and enhances UNICEF's accountability, knowledge management, and utilization. In turn, the enhanced knowledge management through documentation of lessons learnt and ensuring the utilization of the evaluation's recommendations will lead to improved outcomes for children in emergency settings. The efficiency of the incumbent will lead to improve value for money in the Humanitarian Evaluation efforts of the EO in particular and UNICEF in general. Finally, the improved accountability, in conjunction with improved results stated, will lead to better relations with donors.

Incumbent’s ability to conduct and supervise consultants in producing the timeliest and most relevant, credible and useful institutional effectiveness evaluations possible, will also generate evidence-based recommendations that are meaningfully acted on by UNICEF and its partners, thus reinforcing its organizational accountability and generating ever-better results for children.

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

• Education:

  An advanced university degree (Master's) in a social science, public policy, international affairs, public health or a field related to the sectors that covers humanitarian programmes is required.

  Exerience:

  A minimum of eight years of professional experience in humanitarian evaluation with knowledge of inter-agency evaluations is required. Experience related to UNICEF's mandate.

  Knowledge of current knowledge of: designing and implementing inter-agency and rapid and timely humanitarian evaluations.

  Previous evaluation work experience in a developing country and in a humanitarian, context is an asset.

  Demonstrated experience in conducting humanitarian evaluations as well as leading humanitarian evaluation teams is highly desirable

  Ability to work at a fast pace on multiple evaluations within the scope of a continuing evolving portfolio is highly desirable

  Willingness/ability to keep up to date with the latest skills and organizational guidance in the field of evaluation.

  Knowledge of working modalities of UNICEF in humanitarian settings is desirable.

  Prior working experience as an evaluation specialist or multi-country evaluation specialist is highly desirable.

  Language Requirements :

  Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of other official UN languages 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.

Core Values

• Care
• Respect
• Integrity
• Trust
• Accountability

Functional Competencies****:

• Demonstrates Self-Awareness and Ethical Awareness (II)
• Works Collaborative with Others (II)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (II)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (II)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (III)
• Drive to Achieve Impactful Results (II)
• Manage Ambiguity and Complexity

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 is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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:

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.