JOB DESCRIPTION

Background:

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.

The mandate and functions of UN Women call for the promotion of organizational and UN system accountability on gender equality through evaluation, strengthening evaluation capacities and learning from evaluation, and developing systems to measure the results and impact of UN Women with its enhanced role at country, regional and global levels. The purpose and role of evaluation in UN Women is to enhance accountability, inform decision-making and contribute to learning on the best ways to achieve women’s empowerment and gender equality through operational and normative work.

The UN Women Independent Evaluation Service (IES) of the Independent Evaluation, Audit and Investigation Service (IEAIS) evaluates the work of UN women to enhance organizational accountability, provide evidence-based information for decision-making and to contribute to learning on gender equality and the empowerment of women.

As part of its evaluation plans, IES conducts evaluations under the leadership of evaluation specialists. Evaluation Specialists from IES are supported, where needed and where relevant, by thematic and methodological consultants as well as research assistants that adhere to UN Women’s Evaluation Policy and UNEG Norms, Standards, Ethical and other relevant guidelines.

Quality assurance of outputs and deliverables are measured against the UN Women’s Evaluation Policy and UNEG Norms, Standards, Ethical guidelines as well as guided by the UN Women Global Evaluation Reports Assessment and Analysis System (GERAAS) available at https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/accountability/evaluation/decentralized-evaluations.

Under the supervision of the Chief of Evaluation, the Evaluation Consultant will support the conduct of evaluations and other corporate tasks undertaken by IES. As assigned by the Chief of IES, the Consultant will be expected to support the overall implementation of the corporate evaluation plan, including conduct of evaluations, synthesis and rapid assessments. The consultant will also support other corporate tasks, as assigned. The Consultant will need to connect with the IES team during New York working hours via online platforms.

Duties and Responsibilities

Lead and support impartial and independent evaluations (and or synthesis products) meeting the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) professional standards:

• Support ongoing IES-led evaluations, promoting stakeholder’s ownership and learning, alignment with country evaluation systems and partners participation;

• Support evaluations conducted by staff members and consultants;

• Ensure high professional standards in line with UN Women Evaluation Policy and UN Evaluation Norms & Standards are applied;

• Apply evaluation quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis tools, including impact evaluation and contribution analysis techniques and approaches.

Manage evaluations and ensure that the findings and recommendations of evaluations translate into action:

• Prepare reports to senior management on a periodic basis on findings and recommendations of evaluations;

• Organize meetings, workshops and other discussion fora to establish a dialogue on evaluation results and the evaluative knowledge management;

• Coordinate with project / program managers on the project design, implementation and appraisal to ensure that evaluation results are taken into account;

• Liaise with project/programme managers regarding to the recommendations and monitor the follow up on evaluations.

• Promote UN coordination on evaluation that is gender responsive:
• Serve as secretariat (help desk, reviewer) for the UN-SWAP Evaluation Performance Indicator and support preparation of annual UNEG report on the UN-SWAP Evaluation Performance Indicator
• Collaborate with other UN evaluation units on joint evaluation initiatives;
• Collaborate with professional evaluation bodies in the area of gender responsive evaluation in support of the Independent Evaluation Service strategy and plan.
• Provide support to quality assurance of Independent Evaluation Service evaluations.
• Perform other related duties and assignments as requested by the supervisor.

Key Performance Indicators:

• Evaluations are completed on time, are of high quality, and are impartial, independent, credible, meet UNEG professional standards;

• Timely and quality advice provided to UN Women stakeholders;

• Timely provision of quality capacity development leading towards improved capacity amongst UN Women’s staff and partners;

• Evaluation recommendations informing programme design, implementation and results;

• Quality and timely collaboration with other UN agencies.

Competencies :

Core Values:

• Integrity;
• Professionalism;
• Respect for Diversity.

Core Competencies:

• Awareness and Sensitivity Regarding Gender Issues;
• Accountability;
• Creative Problem Solving;
• Effective Communication;
• Inclusive Collaboration;
• Stakeholder Engagement;
• Leading by Example.

Please visit this link for more information on UN Women’s Values and Competencies Framework:

Functional Competencies:

• Strong technical knowledge of the different components of leading and conducting evaluation and synthesis, including evaluation design, data collection and analysis and reporting;
• Substantive knowledge and experience conducting gender-responsive evaluations, respective methodological approaches, including impact and contribution analysis, and demonstrated knowledge of human rights-based approach;
• Ability to conduct strategic, institutional and thematic evaluations;
• Ability to synthesize evaluative information and to write succinct quality evaluation reports within time frames;
• Broad and in-depth knowledge in political and social development issues particularly those pertinent to UN Women strategic priorities on gender issues and women’s rights;
• Ability to plan and manage tasks and supervise evaluation teams;
• Good knowledge of Results-Based Management principles and approaches;
• Excellent oral skills and written communication skills;
• Strong people management skills

Payment plan:

The consultant will work on a full-time basis remotely, and a monthly rate will be paid upon satisfactory completion of tasks and deliverables.

Required Qualifications

Education and Certification:

• Advanced university degree in evaluation, social science or related field, or combination of first level degree with relevant experience.

Experience:

• A minimum of 7 years of professional experience in conducting evaluations in the area of normative, coordination and/or operational development;
• Proven experience in conducting and managing complex evaluations;
• Experience working on gender equality and human rights;
• Experience in gender equality analytical work and programming, and current development issues;
• Experience implementing normative, coordination or development programmes an asset.
• Experience related to UN Women’s mandate and activities an asset.

Languages:

• Fluency in English is required.
• Fluency in French and/or Spanish, or knowledge of another UN official working language is an asset.

Statements :

In July 2010, the United Nations General Assembly created UN Women, the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women. The creation of UN Women came about as part of the UN reform agenda, bringing together resources and mandates for greater impact. It merges and builds on the important work of four previously distinct parts of the UN system (DAW, OSAGI, INSTRAW and UNIFEM), which focused exclusively on gender equality and women”s empowerment.

Diversity and inclusion:

At UN Women, we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. UN Women recruits, employs, trains, compensates, and promotes regardless of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, ability, national origin, or any other basis covered by appropriate law. All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, competence, integrity and organizational need.

If you need any reasonable accommodation to support your participation in the recruitment and selection process, please include this information in your application.

UN Women has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UN Women, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to UN Women’s policies and procedures and the standards of conduct expected of UN Women personnel 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.)

Note: Applicants must ensure that all sections of the application form, including the sections on education and employment history, are completed. If all sections are not completed the application may be disqualified from the recruitment and selection process.