Evaluation Specialist; Common Oceans Programme Evaluation

Organizational Setting

The Office of Evaluation (OED) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) anchors the evaluation function in the Organization. Evaluation in FAO provides results accountability to both member countries and the Director-General, giving more in-depth understanding and objective basis for their decision-making and oversight. Evaluation also contributes to corporate learning, feeding lessons into a robust feedback loop.

Evaluation provides a sound basis for improvements in the Organization's programmes in terms of their relevance to countries, definition of objectives, their design and implementation. The Office also participates in system-wide evaluation initiatives, thereby contributing to assessments of development effectiveness by the United Nations (UN) system.

The Office of Evaluation (OED) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) anchors the evaluation function in the Organization. Evaluation in FAO provides results accountability to both member countries and the Director-General, giving more in-depth understanding and objective basis for their decision-making and oversight. Evaluation also contributes to corporate learning, feeding lessons into a robust feedback loop.

Evaluation provides a sound basis for improvements in the Organization's programmes in terms of their relevance to countries, definition of objectives, their design and implementation. The Office also participates in system-wide evaluation initiatives, thereby contributing to assessments of development effectiveness by the United Nations (UN) system.

The evaluation specialists will work under the direct supervision of the assigned OED Evaluation Manager and Responsible Officer and under the overall responsibility of the OED Director.

OED expects to identify approximately three to four consultants for different roles within the evaluation team. Depending on their qualifications and experience, selected consultants may be considered for a senior evaluator or subject-matter specialist role. The multidisciplinary evaluation team will combine extensive evaluation expertise with complementary technical knowledge across the main key focus areas covered by the Programme.

• International and regional ocean governance and cross-sectoral cooperation
• Sustainable fisheries management
• Integrated ecosystem and precautionary approaches to fisheries management and marine biodiversity conservation
• Prevention and monitoring of illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing
• Marine governance and ecosystem-based management
• Capacity building, knowledge management, partnerships and private-sector engagement related to sustainable marine resource management

• Review relevant programme, child projects’ technical documentation
• Contribute to evaluation design, inception reports and data-collection instruments
• Develop theories of change and support learning activities and the dissemination of evaluation results
• Conduct interviews, consultations, field visits and technical assessments
• Analyse qualitative and quantitative evidence
• Assess programme and child-projects’ performance, including programme-level coherence, integration, results and monitoring and evaluation arrangements
• Lead and/or contribute to the presentation and discussion of evaluation findings
• Lead and/or contribute to the drafting of evaluation reports and other evaluation outputs
• Prepare country studies, technical notes to be included in the evaluation reports
• Contribute to findings, conclusions, recommendations and stakeholder validation processes
• Address comments from stakeholders and OED quality-assurance reviewers

• Advanced university degree from an institution recognized by the International Association of Universities (IAU)/UNESCO in evaluation, social sciences, environmental sciences, fisheries, marine sciences, international development, public policy, economics or another field relevant to the assignment. Consultants with a bachelor's degree need two additional years of relevant professional experience.
• At least 5 years of relevant and proven experience in evaluation and research including in technical area relevant to the GEF Common Oceans Programme (see Technical/Functional Skills below)
• Working knowledge of English (level
  
  C)

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge…