United States of America: Evaluation Specialist, P3

Organization: UN Children's Fund
Country: United States of America
Closing date: 23 Sep 2014

Purpose of the Position

Under the supervision of the Director, the post supports the work of the Director in delivering overall leadership to the Evaluation function globally, including the NYHQ Evaluation Office. The post particularly supports the UNICEF Evaluation Leadership elements of the UNICEF Medium Term Strategic Plan and the associated Evaluation Office Management Plan.
This post concurrently contributes to delivering Independent Global Level Thematic Evaluations, another of the key deliverables of the MTSP and Evaluation Office OMP. The post particularly supports the management of global evaluations in the Thematic Programming Portfolio, one of the three core components of the rolling UNICEF Evaluation Framework.

Key Expected Results

1. Support the role of the Director in providing global leadership in evaluation, using evaluation results to inform work on improved policies and standards at all levels and in all situations, with a focus on encouraging global demand and use of equity-focused data and evidence. Under the guidance of the Director, responsibilities include;
   Provide substantive research, briefs, inputs and editorial support for the production of corporate reports and recommendations, including contributing to environmental scanning to keep abreast of new approaches in evaluation and partnership for evaluation;
   Liaise with all members of the EO, throughout UNICE and throughout the UN, in gathering inputs, research or relevant comments to inform the furtherance of policy positions or directives to be advocated by the EO and UNICEF, and ad-hoc project-based or corporate reporting efforts to advance the role of UNICEF’s Evaluation Leadership;
   Facilitate workplan development and monitoring, managing UNICEF’s process of collecting inputs, gathering comments, liaising when appropriate for deliverables, and coordinating communication internally and externally on behalf of the Director;
   Regularly monitor budget issues and contribute to the presentation and dissemination of costed, results based reporting for the EO overall, and for UNICEF and evaluation specific purposes.
2. Offer concurrent support to 1-3 major evaluations being led by a senior member of the Evaluation Office within the Thematic Programming portfolio. Specific responsibilities include:
   Contribute to the development of ToRs with relevant UNICEF staff and facilitate its advertisement, along with an Expression of Interest, Request for Proposal of Services. Assist throughout the entire procurement process;
   Build an electronic depository of evaluation-related publications, reports and data-sets for use in the evaluation and maintain until project finalization;
   Liaise with NYHQ Divisions, Regional and Country Office to facilitate site visits and interviews. Maintain accurate evaluation calendars, and monitor workplan fulfilment;
   Liaise with consultants and support documentation and guidance needs, providing timely follow-up and coordination when appropriate;
   Facilitate the establishment and smooth functioning of evaluation oversight efforts, including steering committees and reference groups;
   Read and comment on interim products and report drafts as a member of the professional review teams; consolidate comments by all reviewers for transmission to the consultants;
   Contribute to dissemination and management response actions such as preparing reports for publication and administratively organizing debriefings and response meetings.
3. Augment general service staff capacities in duties that require professional support such as managing bids for services, budget review, etc.
4. Perform other tasks as may be directed by the Supervisor.

Qualifications of Successful Candidate

Education
Advanced university degree in social sciences, evaluation or international affairs
Work Experience
Five years of progressively responsible work experience in monitoring and evaluation, operations research or in supporting research/evaluation management.
Experience with UNICEF or any UN organization an asset.
Language proficiency
Fluency in English and another UN language required.

Competencies of Successful Candidate

Communicates effectively to varied audiences, including during formal public speaking;
Able to work effectively in a multi-cultural environment; demonstrates awareness of own strengths and limitations and how these may impact on own work;
Sets high standards for quality of work and consistently achieves project goals;
Has good leadership skills; co-ordinates group activities, ensuring that roles within the team are clear;
Translates strategic direction into plans and objectives;
Analyzes and integrates potentially conflicting numerical, verbal and other data from a number of sources; makes rational judgments from the available information;
Quickly builds rapport with individuals and groups; maintains an effective network of individuals across organizational departments
Demonstrates and shares detailed technical knowledge and expertise;
Gains agreement and commitment from others by persuading, convincing and negotiating
Sets clearly defined objectives and plans activities for self, own team or department;

Remarks

The New and Emerging Talent Initiative (NETI) is an entry point for dynamic professionals interested in an international career with UNICEF. Aside from the qualifications indicated in the job description for this post, all NETI programme applicants must also meet the following minimum requirements:

1. Completion of an advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) at the time of application;
2. Proficiency in English and another official language of the United Nations;
3. Readiness to be assigned to any UNICEF office worldwide, including hardship duty stations;
4. At least 2 years of relevant work experience for functions at the P-2 level, and at least 5 years of relevant work experience for functions at the P-3 level. Relevant experience should include work in developing countries and in multicultural environments.
   All applicants will be required to complete a technical test questionnaire at the time of application. Only shortlisted candidates will be notified and will therefore advance to the next stage of the competitive selection process, which involves various additional assessments including a language proficiency test.
   For more information on the NETI Programme, please visit the UNICEF website: www.unicef.org/neti

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization.

How to apply:

Click here and submit your application through UNICEF's e-recruitment system.