Evaluation Officer: Decentralized Offices - FAO

FAO is a specialised agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Our goal is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. With 195 members (194 countries and the European Union), FAO works in more than 130 countries worldwide.

FAO implements a wide portfolio of projects, programmes, and initiatives across multiple sectors. These include animal production and health, fisheries, food and nutrition, food systems and safety, forestry, social protection, inclusive rural development, information management systems/data systems for monitoring and decision making, land and water, plant production and protection, and others. FAO has a growing portfolio of work in the development and humanitarian (emergency and resilience) sectors.

FAO evaluates the strategic alignment, implementation, efficacy, and efficiency of its portfolio of work through its independent Office of Evaluation (OED), which is led by the Director of OED who reports to the Director-General and the FAO Programme Committee. OED evaluates FAO strategies, initiatives, programmes, and projects at global, regional, and national levels. OED seeks to generate credible and useful evidence and insights to inform decisions, support oversight, and help FAO achieve its mission.

In so doing, OED advances knowledge and provides results accountability to both the Director-General and Member Nations. OED also participates in system-wide evaluation initiatives, thereby contributing to assessments of development and humanitarian effectiveness by the UN system.

OED values candidates who are highly motivated to excel and want to join OED colleagues in generating transformative knowledge for FAO, its Member Nations, and others working in the fields in which FAO operates to achieve its mission of ending hunger!

The position is located in FAO Regional Office for Africa (RAF) in Accra, Ghana.

Reporting Lines

The Evaluation Officer (Decentralized Offices) reports to a more senior Evaluation Officer in OED.

Technical Focus

Evaluations.

Key Results

Planning, designing, conducting and promoting the use of evaluations, thereby contributing to enhanced results-accountability to the Director-General and the Governing Bodies, and enriched learning by the Organization; and improved results-based management.

Key Functions

• Designs and conducts evaluations of projects, programmes, and thematic or geographic areas focused on measuring impacts.
• Prepares evaluation reports and related materials, such as briefs, papers, and presentations.
• Applies (and enforces in others) rigorous analytical thinking in leading/conducting analyses (qualitative and quantitative) and preparing dissemination materials (reports, papers and journal articles, presentations, and so on).
• Ensures the quality of the work conducted or managed, including reports and presentations, and assists in quality enhancement of evaluations conducted by others.
• Presents findings, conclusions and recommendations of evaluation reports to relevant audiences.
• Promotes the use of evaluations so that their results are taken into account for the design and implementation of strategies, programmes and projects.
• Keeps abreast of methodological developments in evaluation and contributes to the development of evaluation methodologies and tools.
• Participates actively and productively in multidisciplinary evaluation teams, often with internal and external partners.
• Effectively liaises with other units of the Organization with a view to promoting results-based and evaluation culture, and enhanced learning from evaluations.
• Performs other duties as required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Advanced university degree focused on research and evaluation methods and in one of the following fields: data science, economics, econometrics, geography, political science, public policy, sociology, or statistics.
• Five years of relevant experience in conducting and managing development evaluations at the global, regional or country levels.
• Working knowledge (proficiency – level C) of English and intermediate knowledge (intermediate proficiency – level B) of another official FAO language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).

Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Ph.D. degree is highly desirable.
• Extent and relevance of technical expertise in leading and conducting impact evaluations (that is, using designs that establish cause and effect relationships rigorously) and designing and analysing panel surveys, as demonstrated by at least three publications in peer-reviewed journals.
• List of peer-reviewed publications must be uploaded as a separate document and excluding articles published in predatory journals (document #1 to be uploaded).
• Proven ability to deliver clear and concise reports and presentations as demonstrated through a writing sample of an impact evaluation conducted (document #2 to be uploaded), a brief justification/rationale for the writing sample selected (document #3 to be uploaded), a presentation based on that writing sample (document #4 to be uploaded), and a cover letter (document #5 to be uploaded).
• Work experience in multiple locations or areas, particularly in field positions, as well as in fields related to FAO’s mission (such as agriculture, nutrition, emergency and resilience, climate mitigation and resilience, and others), is highly desirable – as demonstrated in the CV (document #6 to be uploaded).
• Analytical skills and ability to write clear and concise reports in English.

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