Evaluation Specialist (R-WASH), P-3, Nairobi, Kenya, Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO)

Contract

This is a P-3 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 5 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 111,152 USD and 145,545 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, water.

The East and Horn of Africa and Great Lakes region currently hosts 4.6 million refugees and asylum seekers, the majority, (over 4 million), are from South Sudan, Somalia, Sudan, and Burundi. A further population of 8.1 million are internally displaced in the region as a result of conflict and natural disasters. This has led to increased pressure on WASH infrastructure in the hosting communities. The most affected countries are South Sudan, Somalia, Kenya, and Uganda with the current crisis in Ethiopia resulting in high numbers of both IDPs and refugees in Sudan. The presence of refugees/IDPs has attracted the attention and concern of international donors and agencies (The Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)/ Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (KFW), UNICEF, UNHCR, etc.) which has created a favourable environment for sustained funding beyond the immediate emergency response activities and the short-term needs.

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programmes, in advocacy and in operations. 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. UNICEF and cooperating partners and stakeholders work to secure the rights of each child and the surrounding families, communities and nations.

UNICEF East and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) and the UNHCR regional office in Nairobi have secured a 3-year regional WASH programme termed R-WASH. R-WASH stands for Regional WASH Programme for Refugees, IDPs and Host Communities in East Africa (R-WASH). The programme covers 4 major refugee/IDP and host community locations in Somalia, Ethiopia and Sudan. The programme is managed by a Programme Management Unit (PMU), which is coordinated by the R-WASH Programme Manager and involves Senior Representation from UNHCR regional staff and UNICEF ESARO specialists.

Evaluation is a critical function for understanding if development objectives have been met in a way that contributes to the progressive realization of children’s rights. To this end, evaluations assist programme managers to make necessary adjustments or to confirm that the programme can continue to advance to scale. Evaluations have an accountability objective, to assure partners that resources guided through UNICEF are used effectively and efficiently, and that there is a willingness to change when results can be improved. Furthermore, evaluation, together with other sources of evidence, contributes to country, organizational and global learning. Evaluation also supports civic empowerment and behavioral change goals when it is implemented in a participatory way that allows stakeholders and rights holders to acquire the skills to assess development initiatives and to hold duty bearers to account. In UNICEF ESARO, evaluation is managed by a Section that is independent from programme, reporting directly to the Regional Director and UNICEF’s Evaluation Office.

The R-WASH programme has two main evaluation strands, with the first being a rigorous impact evaluation building primarily on a quantitative approach. KfW, in partnership with UNICEF and UNHCR, have commissioned an impact evaluation of the R-WASH programme. The evaluation began in late 2021 and is planned to continue throughout the different phases of the programme till 2027. The purpose of the impact evaluation is to assess the extent of the transformative effects of R-WASH activities on social cohesion between refugees and host communities, within these groups, and how social cohesion impacts stability and peace in the intervention areas. The second evaluation strand is a process evaluation building primarily on a qualitative approach. The process evaluation will accompany the R-WASH programme over the coming few years and will assess the extent to which R-WASH programme results, as outlined in the theory of change, are being achieved and are contributing to higher-level outcomes.

How can you make a difference?

The Evaluation Specialist works with the UNICEF Evaluation Section, and in close coordination with the R-WASH PMU, in implementing and supporting the generation of evaluative evidence on the R-WASH programme. The Evaluation Specialist also works with KFW, UNHCR Programme and Evaluation Team of the R-WASH Programme, to ensure that programmatic perspectives of KFW and UNHCR are factored into evidence generation activities.

The Evaluation Specialist ensures credibility, impartiality, and independence of the evaluation function with special focus on WASH and climate change programmes. He/she supports the development and implementation of evaluation workplans for WASH and climate change programming and evaluation proposal development. As a member of the UNICEF ESARO Evaluation Section, the Evaluation Specialist also supports UNICEF’s broader evaluation function in the Regional Office and across the region.

The Evaluation Specialist helps UNICEF to manage its evaluation partnerships, including inter-agency relations within the UN, and collaboration with Headquarters. The Evaluation Specialist may also be assigned more specific duties that enable her/him to be a resource person across the ESA region, including methodological work, resource mobilization, and procurement support for evaluations.

The Evaluation Specialist is responsible for contributing to the design and effective conduct and uptake of evaluations in accordance with the UNICEF Evaluation Policy. He/she ensures that the UNEG Norms and Standards for evaluation as well as well UNICEF evaluation coverage benchmarks and quality standards are upheld.

Note: The term ‘evaluation’ in this JD refers to the range of evaluation products listed in Table 2 of the UNICEF Evaluation Policy.

Major Duties and Responsibilities

• Design and Management of the R-WASH Process Evaluation

Support the design, management and coordination of the R-WASH process evaluation and ensure its implementation in line with established UN quality standards, dissemination of results in a timely fashion and use by stakeholders in order to improve programme performance and contribute to wider learning.

• Coordination and Support to the R-WASH Impact Evaluation

R-WASH Evaluation coordination with KFW, UNHCR, UNICEF ESARO and Country Offices

• Support to the Regional Evaluation Function, with a Focus on WASH and Climate Change Evaluations

Ensure that evaluations are planned, designed and implemented in accordance with established UN quality standards, and the results are disseminated in a timely fashion and used by stakeholders in order to improve programme performance and contribute to wider learning.

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in social sciences, statistics, public policy or related technical field. Relevant formal training in evaluation will be a significant advantage
• A minimum of five of progressively responsible professional experience in research and evaluation design and in conducting evaluations as per UNICEF and UNEG norms and standards for evaluation in the UN system.
• Demonstrated familiarity with, and experience in applying, both quantitative and qualitative methods is essential. Understanding of methods used in conducting both ‘up-stream’ evaluations (e.g. focusing on policies, strategies and systems), as well as ‘down-stream’ evaluations (e.g. focusing on delivery of programmes and projects) is advantageous.
• Experience in related evidence functions including social policy, public policy, quantitative and qualitative data analysis, programme audit, programme planning and monitoring is an asset.
• Familiarity with, and work experience, in sub-Saharan African countries, with a particular focus on humanitarian settings, is an advantage; as is familiarity with WASH and climate change-related issues.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another UN language spoken in the Eastern and Southern African Region would be 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.

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

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.

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

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.