Chief Evaluation Officer - African Development Bank

THE BANK:

Established in 1964, the African Development Bank (AfDB) is the premier pan-African development institution, promoting economic growth and social progress across the continent. There are 80 member states, including 54 in Africa (Regional Member Countries).  The Bank’s development agenda is delivering the financial and technical support for transformative projects that will significantly reduce poverty through inclusive and sustainable economic growth. In order to sharply focus the objectives of the Ten Year Strategy (2013 – 2022) and ensure greater developmental impact, five major areas (High 5s), all of which will accelerate our delivery for Africa, have been identified for scaling up, namely; energy, agro-business, industrialization, integration and improving the quality of life for the people of Africa.

THE COMPLEX:

The Board of Directors provides oversight and strategic direction to the African Development Bank Group. It is composed of Executive Directors who are representatives of the African Development Bank member countries. Specifically the Board is responsible for the conduct of the general operations of the Bank, and carries out the following functions: (1) determine the general structure of the Bank’s services; (2) approve the financing policy and take decisions concerning loans, guarantees, equity investments and fund loans by the Bank; (3) determine the interest rates of loans and guarantee commissions; (4) approve the Bank’s operations program and administrative budget; (5) prepare the work of the Board of Governors ; and (6) submit accounts and annual reports, as well as the administrative budgets for the approval of the Board of Governors. The Board does its work through a series of permanent Committees that review and discuss policy and program documents and make appropriate recommendations to the whole Board. Independent Development Evaluation (BDEV); Compliance Review and Mediation Unit (BCRM); Secretariat to the Sanctions Appeals Board (BSAB); Administrative Tribunal (BATR) report to the Board.

THE HIRING DEPARTMENT:

The overarching mission of the African Development Bank’s Independent Development Evaluation is to enhance the development effectiveness of the Bank in its regional member countries through independent and influential evaluations, oversight over self-evaluation processes and products, and proactive engagement in evaluation partnerships and knowledge-sharing activities. The core mandate of Independent Development Evaluation is to conduct independent evaluation studies, provide relevant lessons, develop and harmonize standards and practices, support evaluation capacity development together with partner agencies and attest to the validity of both processes and the results of African Development Bank’s self-evaluation activities. Independent Development Evaluation also collaborates and exchanges information with bilateral and multilateral development agencies’ evaluation departments, and undertakes joint evaluation of co-financed projects and programs.

Independent Development Evaluation has three divisions: the Power, Energy, Climate Change and Green Growth; Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization; and Integration Evaluations Division (BDEV.1), the Agriculture, Human and Social Development, Corporate and Country Evaluations Division (BDEV.2) and the Knowledge Management, Outreach and Capacity Development Division (BDEV.3). The Divisions 1 and 2 focus on undertaking evaluations whilst Division 3 works on Knowledge Management, Outreach and Capacity Development.

The BDEV1 division is mainly responsible for evaluations relating to the private sector, infrastructure (including transport, ICT, urban development, water and sanitation), industrialization, power systems, energy, climate change, green growth and regional integration.

The Chief Evaluation Officer leads the design, conduct and reporting of complex and major evaluations of the Bank’s interventions (including policies, strategies and operations) in the areas covered by the Division, in particular activities related to the private sector.

THE POSITION:

The overall objective of the Chief evaluation officer is to contribute to the delivery of the division work program by leading/conducting complex evaluations, supervising evaluation teams, mentoring and coaching junior colleagues, supporting pipeline and work program management, and quality assurance activities.

Duties and responsibilities

The key duties and responsibilities of Chief Evaluation Officer are:

1. Evaluation Activities : Design, conduct and report on evaluations in accordance with the Bank’s Evaluation Policy and Manual and international evaluation standards (e.g., OECD DAC evaluation standards and the Evaluation Cooperation Group (ECG) Good Practice Standards).
2. Synthesis Report and Meta-evaluation; Lead, guide meta-analysis design, evaluation and methods including research protocols for literature search, capturing, organizing, and analysing data and monitoring project level completion reports and other evaluations.
3. Quality Management: Contribute to updating the BDEV evaluation quality standards, and quality assurance processes, tools and capacity as well as establish an effective quality management process and tools including  peer review  terms of reference and checklists for each evaluation
4. Stakeholder Engagement and Communication: Lead engagement and management of relationships with key evaluation stakeholders including investors, promoters, Bank Management and staff throughout the evaluation process and develop appropriate stakeholder engagement and communication strategy, and lead its implementation:
5. Dissemination and Learning: Lead and guide the capture of learning from evaluation design to evaluation dissemination for use in updating the BDEV evaluation manual, knowledge products and staff learning events.
6. Manage human and financial resources of a multi-disciplinary evaluation team to ensure the delivery of complex and concurrent evaluations that are conducted in an independent, cost-effective, rigorous and timely manner.
7. Promote the mandate of the evaluation function and contribute to the creation of an evaluation culture in the Bank and in Regional Member Countries (RMCs).
8. As a recognized authority on evaluation theory and practice, contribute to positioning BDEV as an innovator and leading-edge among other multilateral institutions and to maximizing the effectiveness and efficiency of the Bank’s Evaluation Function.
9. Build strategic alliances and partnerships with key stakeholders within and outside the Bank to further the Evaluation Function’s mandate and engage in evaluation communities of practice within and outside the Bank.  Provide substantive input to these communities and share lessons of experience.
10. Evaluation Cooperation with Experts from other Multilateral and Bilateral Development Institutions. Participate in joint evaluation missions of co-financed interventions, in joint training/seminars/workshops on evaluations, and develop partnerships with Evaluation Units in development agencies and with counterparts in RMCs.
11. Contribute to the preparation of BDEV’s three-year rolling work programme and annual report.

Selection Criteria

1. Holds at least a Master’s degree from a recognized university with specialization in Economics, Finance/Economic Finance/Financial Market Analysis, Business Administration, Development Evaluation, Statistics, Policy analysis, Infrastructure, or Private and Financial Sector Development related field. A certificate/diploma in development evaluation, development oriented research and/or program/project planning, management and evaluation is an added advantage.
2. Holds a minimum of seven (7) years of experience in formulating, implementing and evaluating development interventions –projects/programs, sectors, strategies, policies and processes.
3. Knowledge of quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods.
4. Broad knowledge in all aspects of evaluation theory and practice.
5. Proven operational and field experience in working in private and/or financial sector development and/or complex development programs is an added advantage.
6. Experience working in relevant operational/policy areas of the Bank or in other international development agencies including multilateral development Banks.
7. Operational effectiveness
8. Innovation and creativity
9. Problem-solving
10. Demonstrates professional expertise
11. Communication
12. Client orientation
13. Substantial knowledge of the Bank’s mandate, strategic priorities, policies and operations.
14. Advanced and broad knowledge of evaluation theories including design and analysis of development interventions (policies; strategies; programs; projects)
15. Substantial knowledge of independent evaluation principles, standards, and procedures including OECD DAC Evaluation Standards, ECG Good Practice Standards.
16. Significant knowledge in identifying, designing, conducting and reporting evaluation studies.
17. Significant knowledge in quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods
18. Strong theoretical and operational knowledge of international development issues and theories relating, in particular, to Africa
19. Ability to communicate effectively (written and oral) in English or French, preferably with a working knowledge of the other.

Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office Suite applications (Word, Excel, Access and Power Point); Competence in the use of statistical/econometric packages / softwares