Evaluation Specialists (Evaluation Team Leader and team members)

Organizational Setting

The Office of Evaluation (OED) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is launching an independent evaluation of the FAO project titled “Zimbabwe Livelihoods and Food Security Programme (LFSP): Agriculture Productivity and Nutrition (APN) component”. The Agriculture Productivity and Nutrition component is one of the components of the Livelihoods and Food Security Programme (LFSP) implemented in Zimbabwe and funded by the Government of the United Kingdom through the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office.

The project aimed at:

• Raising smallholder farm productivity by promoting improved and climate appropriate agricultural practices.
• Increasing access by smallholder farmers and their value chain actors to rural finance.
• Fostering innovative ways of linking farmer groups and commercial markets.
• Stimulating production and consumption of safe and more nutritious food including bio fortification.
• Generating and communicating evidence to influence policy and private sector investments.
• Mainstreaming gender and youth across the programme.

Reporting Lines

The evaluation team will work under the overall responsibility of OED Director and the close technical and methodological guidance of the OED Evaluation Manager.

Technical Focus

The evaluation will take place between February and June 2021. The data collection and field visits will be carried out in March/April 2021.

OED is looking for independent consultants to join the evaluation team as Evaluation Team Leader and evaluation team members. Candidates should have demonstrated evaluation experience and a background in sectors relevant to the project (agriculture extension and advisory services, nutrition and bio fortification, rural finance and agribusiness). Candidates should have not been involved in the formulation, implementation or backstopping of the project or any of the activities to be evaluated and will be required to sign a declaration of conflict of interest.

Tasks and responsibilities

The evaluation will be managed by the FAO Office of Evaluation (OED). The evaluation team leader and team members will:

• Contribute to the Evaluation methodology and the finalization of the evaluation tools, such as evaluation matrix, evaluation questions, checklists, survey and other data collection tools.
• Participate actively in the collection of primary data through face to face or virtual interviews with key stakeholders including government members, external partners, project teams and beneficiaries as appropriate.
• Participate actively in the collection of relevant secondary data, as required and identified in the evaluation matrix.
• Contribute to the consolidation of all evidence collected during the evaluation process in a structured format following the key evaluation questions and criteria.
• Deliver articulate and written inputs on the specific areas of assessment, as per the evaluation Terms of References.
• Prepare the evaluation draft report according to specifications provided by OED.
• Present findings of the evaluation to key stakeholders during all planned debriefing sessions as required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Advanced university degree in a relevant discipline (evaluation, agriculture, food and nutrition security, public policy, economics, development studies, social sciences, etc.).
• A minimum of 10 years of evaluation experience or professional experience in areas related to the project (agriculture extension and advisory services, nutrition and bio fortification, rural finance and agribusiness).
• Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of another FAO language (French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, and Arabic).

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills

• Previous experience in conducting/participating in the evaluation (independent) of strategic and complex capacity development programmes or projects.
• Strong stakeholder engagement, facilitation skills and Interviewing skills.
• Excellent knowledge of the Zimbabwean food and nutrition security context.
• Demonstrated experience in evaluation. In particular, good experience in conducting evaluation interviews and focus groups and in report writing. Knowledge of participatory evaluation techniques is strongly desired.