Senior Evaluation Officer

Org. Setting and Reporting

UNRWA, the largest United Nations operation in the Middle East with over 30,000 staff working across five areas of operation, is looking for highly committed personnel wishing to make a change. If you are looking for a rewarding opportunity to make a tangible difference for one of the most vulnerable communities in the world, UNRWA would like to hear from you. The Senior Evaluation Officer reports to the Chief, Evaluation Division.

Responsibilities

Scopes, plans, develops and leads evaluation assignments of UNRWA activities, including strategic evaluations of programmes (i.e., in-depth evaluations of core programmes, departments, or other organizational units) and thematic evaluations (i.e., evaluations of complex topics that cut across multiple programmes, departments or other organizational units), and carries out all the tasks involved in the assignments, which will include the provision of guidance to external consultants and other evaluation staff. Conducts and manages impartial, independent and credible evaluations applying a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods, data collection and analysis tools, techniques and approaches, and maintains high professional standards in line with UNRWA’s Evaluation Policy and UN Evaluation Norms and Standards, ensuring strong human rights and gender-responsive evaluation methodologies as well as identifying and applying innovative evaluation approaches which support the utilization of evaluation results. Serves as a team leader of evaluations, managing junior Evaluation Division staff, providing guidance and coaching as required to develop staff capacity and support high technical performance. Contributes to the development of the UNRWA evaluation function and the normative standards, evaluation tools and capacity building efforts supporting central and decentralized evaluation management: – Contributes to the review and further development of the architecture, policies, guidelines, systems, procedures and tools related to evaluation. – Reviews central and decentralized evaluation terms of reference, inception and draft evaluation reports for quality assurance purposes. – Provides advice and guidance on evaluation to management and staff and contributes to capacity building of UNRWA staff members on the conduct of decentralized evaluations. – Participates in meetings, workshops and other discussion fora to establish a dialogue on evaluation results. – Keeps abreast of developments in the area of evaluation. Contributes to the effective deployment of human and financial resources of the Evaluation Division: – Plans evaluations and prepares evaluation budgets for individual evaluations, managing the use of available resources effectively and efficiently. – Sources, hires or procures and supervises external consultants and evaluation firms to conduct evaluations that meet UNRWA evaluation requirements. Promotes the use of evaluation evidence internally and externally, including the development of briefs and other learning / knowledge products on evaluations. Participates and represents the Evaluation Division in briefings with management, and donor and host representative groups. Assists the Chief of the Evaluation Division in the development of annual reports on evaluation function activities and results, including the development of special synthesis reports on evaluation results and trends.

Competencies

UN Core Values of Integrity, Professionalism and Respect for Diversity, and Core Competencies of Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results apply by default. Default managerial competencies may apply. Planning and Organizing Delivering Results Applying Technical Expertise Creating and Maintaining Impact and Partnership Learning and Researching For guidance on how to prepare for competency-based interviews: https://careers.un.org/lbw/home.aspx?viewtype=AYI

Education

Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent degree) from an accredited educational institution in social sciences, business administration, public administration, programme evaluation, or in a related field, preferably with emphasis on international affairs and/or development.

Job – Specific Qualification

Not available.

Work Experience

A minimum of seven years of progressively responsible relevant professional experience in the design, monitoring and evaluation of programmes and projects is required. Unless already serving as an international staff member in the UN Common System, a candidate for an international post must have at least two continuous years of relevant international experience outside UNRWA, and outside the country(s) of which the candidate is a national or holds citizenship, a passport, or a national identity number is required. Experience in evaluation design and management in a development context is required. Experience in applying international standards and professional norms in evaluation design, implementation and reporting is required. Experience in the design and implementation of qualitative and quantitative data collection is required. Experience in the management and conduct of evaluations, serving as a team leader is required. Experience related to UNRWA’s mandate and activities, including for example experience in evaluation of human development or humanitarian response is desirable. Knowledge of and practical experience in the application of the norms and standards for evaluation of the United Nations Evaluation Group is desirable. Work experience in the Middle East is desirable. Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent degree) from an accredited educational institution in social sciences, business administration, public administration, programme evaluation, or in a related field, preferably with emphasis on international affairs and/or development is required.

Languages

Excellent command of spoken and written English.

Assessment

Evaluation of qualified candidates may include an assessment exercise which may be followed by competency-based interview.

Special Notice

Type of Contract and duration: 1 year project, subject to funds availability, extendable subject to funds, need and performance. The incumbent will be required to travel, as needed, in the Agency’s area of operations in the Middle East. Only applications that have been fully completed in UNRWA’s online e-recruitment system inspira will be considered and no late applications will be accepted. The Personal History Profile (PHP) should be completed with full work experience under the experience tabs as per the requirements in the Job Opening. UNRWA welcomes applications from qualified candidates with disabilities. A roster may be created from the selection exercise, and successful candidates may become eligible for appointment to the same post or a similar post. Join our eco-friendly organization dedicated to environment sustainability and targeting to be plastic free by 2025. Equivalency: A first level university degree in combination with additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree. NB: work experience alone or formal qualifications with no relevant work experience are not considered an acceptable combination. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN member states, regional bodies, business foundations and individual contributions. The mission of UNRWA is to help Palestine refugees achieve their full potential in human development under the difficult circumstances in which they live. For more details on UNRWA, please visit: https://www.unrwa.org/

United Nations Considerations

Staff members are subject to the authority of the Commissioner-General of UNRWA and to assignment by him or her. UNRWA is committed to achieving gender parity at all levels of staffing under the current UN-wide gender agenda and strongly encourages applications from qualified applicants from under-represented groups. At UNRWA, the paramount consideration in the recruitment and employment of staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity, with due regard to geographic diversity. All employment decisions are made on the basis of qualifications and organizational needs. UNRWA is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. Reasonable accommodation for applicants with disabilities may be provided to support participation in the recruitment process when requested and indicated in the application. UNRWA Considerations UNRWA staff are expected to uphold the highest standards of efficiency, competence, neutrality, impartiality and integrity. This includes respect for and commitment to human rights, diversity and non-violent means of dealing with all kinds of conflict. Only persons who fully and unconditionally commit to these values should consider applying for UNRWA jobs. Candidates will not be considered for employment with UNRWA if they have committed violations of international human rights law, violations of international humanitarian law, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment, or if there are reasonable grounds to believe that they have been involved in the commission of any of these acts. Candidates who have committed crimes other than minor traffic offences may not be considered for employment. The Agency may disqualify applicants who have separated for reason of misconduct, who left a UN Agency while misconduct processes were pending, or who appear on the UN Sanctions List. UNRWA is a non-smoking work environment. Applicants are urged to follow carefully all instructions available in the online recruitment platform, inspira. For more detailed guidance, applicants may refer to the Manual for the Applicant, which can be accessed by clicking on “Manuals” hyper-link on the upper right side of the inspira account-holder homepage. The evaluation of applicants will be conducted on the basis of the information submitted in the application according to the evaluation criteria of the job opening and the applicable internal legislations of the United Nations including the Charter of the United Nations, resolutions of the General Assembly, the Staff Regulations and Rules, administrative issuances and guidelines. Applicants must provide complete and accurate information pertaining to their personal profile and qualifications according to the instructions provided in inspira to be considered for the current job opening. No amendment, addition, deletion, revision or modification shall be made to applications that have been submitted. Candidates under serious consideration for selection will be subject to reference checks to verify the information provided in the application. Job openings advertised on the Careers Portal will be removed at 11:59 p.m. (New York time) on the deadline date.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY FOR PALESTINE REFUGEES IN THE NEAR EAST (UNRWA) DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE OR REQUEST MONEY FROM CANDIDATES AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT AND ONBOARDING PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING, ONBOARDING). UNRWA DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.