Organizational Setting

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations is a specialized 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 evaluates the strategic alignment, implementation, efficacy, and efficiency of its portfolio of work through its independent Office of Evaluation (OED), which is led by a Director who reports to the FAO Governing Bodies and to the Director-General.
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 provides results accountability to both Member nations and the Director-General. 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!

Reporting Lines

The Senior Researcher will work under the supervision of an Evaluation Officer.

Technical Focus 

The Senior Researcher will provide guidance to OED personnel in research design and analysis for rigorous evaluations concerning various areas of FAO’s mandate, including, among others, food security, resilience, agrifood systems, climate change, natural resource management, nutrition, in both developmental contexts, fragile settings and protracted crises.

Tasks and responsibilities

The Senior Researcher will contribute to the successful conduct of FAO evaluations. Some specific tasks include:
•    Provide intellectual leadership to design impact evaluations, computable general equilibrium models, or other rigorous evaluations seeking to establish causal relationships
•    Provide detailed quality assurance of designs, analyses, and intermediate and final deliverables (such as final reports and papers)
•    Oversee teams of personnel collecting data, conducting analyses, and drafting reports; for example, oversee micro-econometric analysis of both primary and secondary data for selected impact evaluations
•    Serve as a senior advisor to OED personnel to consult with seasoned researchers with expertise as they design evaluations, troubleshoot threats to their design due to (for example) data collection challenges, and so on
•    Present findings at informal seminars within FAO and, as requested, at external meetings (such as conferences) on behalf of OED
•    Promote use of evaluation findings
•    Other tasks as agreed with the supervisor.

The position may include international travel in support of project activities.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

•    Advanced University Degree in Economics, Econometrics, Agricultural/Development Economics or in any other social science field (such as sociology and public policy) with graduate-level econometrics.
•    At least ten years of experience in either the academic sector or research institutions
•    Solid publication record in peer-reviewed journals
•    Working knowledge (level C) of English

FAO Core Competencies

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

Technical/Functional Skills  

•    Extent and relevance of experience in managing household surveys, longitudinal surveys, spatial data
•    Extent and relevance of experience evaluating projects funded by international cooperation;
•    Knowledge of quantitative impact evaluation methods, computable general equilibrium models, spillovers analysis
•    Familiarity with FAO’s technical areas of work is desirable

Selection Criteria

•    Excellent knowledge of Stata, R, GAMS or Phyton.
•    Working knowledge of any other UN official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an advantage.