Result of Service

The evaluator is expected to work between January 2025 and July 2025 (7 months). A final evaluation report is expected on 31 July 2025. Payments will be made based on delivery of outputs: the inception report; and the final evaluation report.

Work Location

Remote

Expected duration

7 months

Duties and Responsibilities

Background: In 2019, the Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) commenced a large-scale reform (the Reform) of the organization’s structure and methods of delivery, to better support member States in their efforts to deliver on their development visions and achieve the SDGs. The Reform was presented to the Economic and Social Council’s sixth special session in December 2019, and implementation of the Reform commenced in 2020. In 2022, the Organization for Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), delivered an audit of financial and administrative management at ESCWA. As part of this audit, the OIOS found that ESCWA needed to evaluate whether the Reform was delivering as anticipated, as it had implemented significant structural changes that considerably impacted the delivery model of work outputs. The OIOS recommended that ESCWA initiate an independent evaluation of the Reform program, as well as digital portals and processes that were launched in support of the new operating model. In its response to the audit, ESCWA agreed to the recommendation, and to provide an action plan to conduct the evaluation by 31 October 2024. About the Reform: The Reform at ESCWA aimed to create a smarter and more agile organization, which delivers and generates more value and impact with available resources. The Reform proposed a five-fold transformative change: to improve the operations of ESCWA, making it more dynamic, vibrant, efficient, impactful and responsive to member States; to significantly empower employees; to create a culture of continuous learning and collaboration; to improve morale and ownership within the organization; and to advance the vision of ESCWA through knowledge and energy. The overall objective of the Reform was to support member States in adapting and implementing policies and programmes towards achieving the SDGs, with special interventions be tailored to target least developed and conflict-affected countries. In response to the Secretary-General’s call for a more nimble, efficient and effective organization, ESCWA consolidated its programme plan into six subprogrammes, with an emphasis on the 2030 Agenda and on integration and complementarity between all its areas of work. Moreover, in response to the Secretary-General’s call for a stronger focus on delivery rather than process to empower people over bureaucracy, ESCWA transitioned to an agile, decentralized, results-oriented way of working, that centres on empowering staff while focusing on outcomes rather than procedure. Noting the time that has passed since the initiation of the ESCWA Reform, and the recommendation provided by the OIOS, now is a pertinent time to evaluate the ESCWA Reform to ensure that good practices developed through its implementation can be captured and leveraged. Duties and Responsibilities: This evaluation will aim to determine the extent to which the Reform achieved its intended objectives, the pathway to these objectives, the elements that contributed most significantly to the achievement of these objectives – including the digital portals and processes that were launched in support of the new operating model – and how these elements can be leveraged to enhance ESCWA’s work into the future. In addition, it will also consider how the implementation of the Reform brought about any additional changes to the organization that may have occurred. The evaluation will serve four main purposes: • It will provide a basis for evidence-informed decision-making, strategic planning, and risk management. • It is a means to demonstrate accountability to ESCWA’s governing bodies and member States for performance, relative to ESCWA’s mandate and strategic objectives. • It will inform and facilitate organizational learning by identifying evidence-based findings, lessons to be learned, and identify areas of strength and areas for improvement. • It will produce clear, actionable, and forward-looking recommendations.

The evaluation will therefore take both a summative and a formative approach. It will look at results achieved or not achieved so far (summative) with a view to inform ESCWA’s work in the future (formative). The evaluation will be conducted in line with ESCWA’s Evaluation Policy (2023), the UNEG Norms and Standards for Evaluation, and the Development Account Evaluation Guidelines where applicable. The evaluation will strive to employ development best practices with regard to promoting gender equality and a human rights-based approach, including the rights of persons with disabilities. The evaluator is expected to identify the main objectives achieved through the implementation of the Reform, intended and unintended, as established by key stakeholders in the organization and relevant documentation, and the pathways that led to achieving them, with particular focus on innovative practices and initiatives that can be leveraged to further enhance the new operational model. The evaluator is expected to ensure a mixed method (qualitative and quantitative), inclusive, and participatory approach, with adequate triangulation across methods, to arrive at credible, reliable and unbiased findings. The evaluator will also ensure that all aspects of the evaluation are gender and human rights sensitive (including a special focus on the rights with person with disabilities). In addition, the evaluator must ensure that they always comply with the UNEG Ethical Guidelines for Evaluation during the conduct of the evaluation. The evaluation will produce the following major outputs, all of which will be grounded in UNEG Norms and Standards and good evaluation practice, to be disseminated to the appropriate audiences. Inception Report: The evaluator will submit a draft Inception Report totalling not more than 10 pages, in addition to associated annexes. The Inception Report will summarize the desk review and propose the evaluation methodology and sampling strategy/ies to be used in the evaluation, along with a detailed workplan, draft evaluation matrix, stakeholder matrix, and quality assurance mechanism. Any revisions to the Inception Report will be implemented no later than one week following receipt of comments. The Inception Report shall, where relevant, address the integration of human rights, disability inclusion, gender equality, and environmental issues. The Inception Report should contain ideas for further exploration to support organisational learning, to be done either as part of this evaluation or separately by ESCWA itself. Debriefing Meeting: Following the completion of the data collection and field mission phase, and prior to the delivery of the draft evaluation report, the evaluator should hold a debriefing meeting for the presentation of the preliminary findings to the Core Reference Group, and the senior Executive.

Draft Final Evaluation Report: Following data collection and the analysis of findings, the evaluator will submit a Draft Evaluation Report. The Draft Evaluation Report will be user-friendly, well-structured and evidence-based, totalling not more than 40 pages, in addition to a 2-page Executive Summary and associated annexes. The Draft Final Evaluation Report will summarize the agreed-upon methodology listed in the Inception Report, describe the evaluation’s data collection and analytical approach, and present findings. In addition, the evaluator should develop clear action-oriented recommendations, which are forward-looking and will enable ESCWA to leverage and capitalize on innovative practices emerging from the Reform. The Draft Final Evaluation Report will be reviewed by ESCWA’s SPARK Section, and the Core Reference Group, before being discussed with the evaluator. Final Evaluation Report: The Final Evaluation Report that should incorporate the comments and feedback from the Evaluation Manager and the Core Reference Group, is expected in July 2025. The Final Evaluation Report shall, where relevant, address the integration of human rights, disability inclusion, gender equality, and environmental issues. The Final Evaluation Report shall contain information (data, findings, expert views) that may allow ESCWA to identify lessons for wider organisational learning or for potential changes to relevant organisational policies, irrespective of the extent to which the evaluation recommendations make reference to such information. The three deliverables should be submitted in English.

Qualifications/special skills

An advanced-level degree in management, evaluation, or related area is required. All candidates must submit a copy of the required educational degree. Incomplete applications will not be reviewed. A minimum of 10 years of experience conducting assessments, reviews or evaluations of projects, programs or policies in the UN or international context, including of organizational reform and change management, is required. A high level of knowledge in the distilling, communication and reporting of findings, forward-looking recommendations, best practices, and lessons learned is required. Knowledge of organizational reform and change management is required. Excellent oral and written communication skills and the ability to effectively convey complex information in a clear and concise manner to both governmental and UN audiences is required. Experience with process tracing analyses is desirable. Knowledge on information management tools, e.g. databases, platforms, remote monitoring, visualizations, etc., is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat; and Arabic is a working language of ESCWA. For this position, fluency in English and Arabic is required. Note: “Fluency” equals a rating of ‘fluent’ in all four areas (speak, read, write, and understand) and “Knowledge of” equals a rating of ‘confident’ in two of the four areas.