Evaluation Consultant, Humanitarian, 6 months (126 days), Evaluation Office, NYHQ

The Evaluation Office is seeking an experienced Evaluation Consultant (Humanitarian) for a 6-month engagement to support the Humanitarian Evaluation Portfolio.

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, evaluate

The consultancy is located within the NYHQ Evaluation Office, which serves as steward of UNICEF’s evaluation function. Its director reports to UNICEF’s Executive Board through an annual report on the evaluation function and on selected evaluations. The Evaluation Office commissions and manages independent corporate evaluations and other evaluative exercises (e.g., evaluability assessments, syntheses, reviews), usually conducted in collaboration with external consultants but sometimes embedding Evaluation Office staff in the evaluation teams. It also leads in the development and implementation of evaluation policy, strategy, and systems; oversees evaluation quality assurance processes; undertakes evaluation capacity development activities within and outside the Organization; actively promotes an enabling environment for evaluation and a strong evaluation culture; and ensures transparent access to evaluation information. The Office works closely with the Regional Evaluation Advisers in each of UNICEF’s seven regions to ensure a well-coordinated, collaborative, whole-of-organization evaluation effort and to continue to build the Organization’s community of practice. Working in a complementary manner with UNICEF’s other data, evidence and research functions, the Evaluation Office aims to deliver consistently timely, credible, and useful independent analyses that harness knowledge to help the Organization deliver results for children.

How can you make a difference? 

The Humanitarian Portfolio of the Evaluation Office will be undertaking several evaluations in 2022-2023. These include: the evaluation of UNICEF’s L3 (Level 3) responses in Yemen, Northern Ethiopia, Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa drought response, the Ukraine response, as well a thematic evaluation on localization.  UNICEF will also serve on the management group of the Inter-Agency Humanitarian Evaluation (IAHE) for several IAHE evaluations. In addition to these evaluations, the portfolio will also undertake a humanitarian evaluation synthesis; finalize a humanitarian evaluation guidance and disseminate it widely; and provide technical support to a number of decentralized L2 humanitarian evaluations. 

The portfolio is now seeking an evaluation consultant to support these activities.  Under the direction of the Senior Evaluation Specialist (Humanitarian), the Consultant will provide technical and managerial support towards scheduled humanitarian evaluations, as well as support other activities to enhance the quality and utility of humanitarian evaluations in UNICEF. 

In accordance with UNICEF’s mission, guiding principles, standards, commitments, and accountability framework, and under United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) revised norms and standards, the humanitarian evaluation consultant will ensure that the humanitarian evaluations managed under her/his leadership are of the highest relevance, timeliness, quality, credibility and utility possible, and that they support the organizational learning and accountability needs of UNICEF and its stakeholders in achieving results for children.

The humanitarian evaluation consultant will support the following key tasks.  

1. Support overall evaluation management (30%) 

• Manage evaluation processes and budgets from preparation and design through to completion to ensure the production of independent, credible evidence that meets high professional standards in line with UN norms and standards and codes of conduct for evaluation in the UN system, embodied in UNICEF’s Evaluation Policy.   
• Engage stakeholder groups, both internal and external to UNICEF, appropriately in the evaluation process and manage communications.
• Provide background research support for the development of evaluation terms of reference, maintain document and data databases.  
• Provide technical inputs to specific humanitarian evaluations – drafting of the Concept Notes, and TORs (outlining the evaluation rationale, purpose and objectives, scope, and propose methodological approaches appropriate for humanitarian and fragile settings, and timeframe of the evaluations) in consultation with CO, RO, and HQ colleagues.
• Assist with the management of reference groups, including taking minutes.  

2. Support the inception phase of the evaluations to ensure that the evaluation design and approach are robust and take into consideration the contexts (25%)

• Provide technical inputs to the evaluation’s key questions, methodology, limitations, and other elements of the inception report.
• Collate data and documentation from UNICEF systems and undertake initial data analysis, and support literature and desk reviews of external and internal documents and data.
• Provide technical input into data collection instruments, such as interview and focus group protocols, ethics protocols, etc. as required.
• Through a consultative process, identify stakeholders (internal and external) to be included in the KII and FGDs. 
• Participate in the inception meetings with key stakeholders and provide inputs towards the finalization of the inception report.

3. Support data collection and field missions (25%)

• Liaise with regional offices and respective country offices to make all the necessary arrangements for data collection and field missions.
• Follow-up and hold regular meetings with the evaluation team during data collection and assist to resolve any issues encountered to ensure timelines are met.
• Participate in field missions and/or debriefings.
• Provide inputs towards the development of data analysis plans to enable the evaluation team to systematically conduct data management and the analysis of primary and secondary datasets.

4. Support the finalization of evaluations and their dissemination (10%)

• Review and provide feedback to the evaluation products, ensuring coherence and consistency, and support the formulation of the recommendations in consultation with RO and CO colleagues.
• Manage the process of finalization of the evaluation report and support the preparation and execution of evaluation dissemination plan.
• Promote the use of evaluation evidence internally and externally, including the development of briefs and other learning/knowledge products related to evaluation, organize meetings, webinars and workshops and other discussion fora to present and promote dialogue on evaluation results, support, and advocate for the integration of evaluation evidence into programmatic and management presentations and forums, and others.
• Advocate for the implementation of the evaluation management response.

5. Contribute to other initiatives within the EO (10%) 

• Contribute to the finalization of the Humanitarian Evaluation Guidance, and its dissemination and use, development of templates, and relevant checklists for UNICEF humanitarian evaluations.
• Promote UNICEF’s evaluation culture of accountability and learning through analyzing evidence and lessons; and preparing presentations of these, tailoring messages to specific audiences and platforms, working with internal and external stakeholders to enhance learning from and use of evaluation evidence in policy, programme, and project design. 
• Support other evaluative activities including evaluability assessments, scoping, and preparing for evaluation implementation.
• Any other duties allocated by the Senior Evaluation Specialist or Evaluation Director during the consultancy.

Timeframe and Key deliverables:

Duration of this assignment is 6 months between January 15 – July 14, 2023. Contractual obligations are based on 21 working days /month. The assignment is based in New York, UNICEF HQ location. A blended approach of remote and face to face (at least two working days per week) working arrangements can potentially discussed with successful candidates.

Payment Schedule:

Payments will be processed on a monthly basis upon acceptance of the corresponding deliverable from the manager of the contract, and against an invoice that will refer to the contract reference and deliverable number. Payments will be formally approved by the supervisor in UNICEF, as the organization holding the contract.

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

• Post-graduate degree (master or doctoral degree) in social sciences, evaluation, operational research, M&E or related field.
• Over eight (8) years of professional experience in development and humanitarian work in monitoring, evaluation, programme management, needs assessment, research, with at least five (5) years of professional experience in leading or engaged in evaluation activities, related to humanitarian action. 
• Good experience in mixed-method evaluations that rely on both qualitative and quantitative approaches and a variety of data collection modalities (surveys, interviews, focus groups, direct and indirect observations, desk reviews), including in humanitarian settings. 
• Familiarity with UNICEF programmatic mandate in humanitarian and fragile contexts and understanding of evidence generation process in this area, including ethics requirements. 
• Good knowledge of human rights, gender equality and other cross-cutting topics, and can ensure that evaluation design, questions and analysis incorporate these dimensions. 
• Solid knowledge about Norms and Standards for Evaluation, can communicate their essentials to others and apply them appropriately.  
• Willingness/ability to keep up to date with the latest skills and organizational guidance in the field of evaluation. 
• Demonstrated track record working collaboratively in a multi-cultural team environment to contribute positively to shared results. 
• Demonstrated track record of delivering data analysis and evaluations under tight deadlines and through multi-stakeholder consultative process. 
• Excellent abilities in presenting technical information to a non-technical audience, including excellent drafting and presentation skills in English. 
• Proficiency in English is required, knowledge of another UN language is an asset.

How to Apply:

Interested candidates must submit the following documents by December 15, 2022:

• CV and Cover letter
• The daily rate should indicate the expected total budget. 
• The application should be accompanied by short examples (through links provided or attached documents) of evaluation reports and other published papers, in line with the required qualifications described above. 
• A test may be administered to shortlisted candidates.

For every Child, you demonstrate… 

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.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants/individual contractors with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment. 

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 also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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:  

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

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. 

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.