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.

Reporting directly to the Executive Director, the Independent Evaluation Office of UN Women serves as the custodian of the evaluation function in line with United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) Norms and Standards. It deploys quantitative and qualitative approaches to evaluate transformative changes in gender equality and human rights and UN Women’s contribution therein. It undertakes corporate evaluations and promotes their use at decision making levels; supports decentralized evaluations for improved programming and evidence generation on what works for gender equality; supports evaluation capacity development within the organization and of regional and country partners, and promotes coordination with the UN system on joint evaluation of gender equality and the inclusion of gender in system wide evaluation.

The Evaluation Specialist will be based in the Evaluation Office in New York. Under the supervision of the senior Evaluation Specialist, the Evaluation Specialist will support the implementation of the Independent Evaluation Office work programme in the areas of corporate strategic evaluations, coordination on evaluation in UN System, and evaluation knowledge management and capacity development.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of key functions:

• Conduct and/or manage evaluations that are impartial, independent, credible and meet professional standards;
• Promote coordination on evaluation that is gender responsive;
• Facilitate knowledge management and promote capacity development;
• Contribute to the effective deployment of human and financial resources of the Evaluation Office.

Description of Functions:

Conduct and/or manage evaluations that are impartial, independent, credible and meet professional standards:

• Manage corporate evaluations and assist in carrying out evaluations of country programmes and strategies;
• Support effectively evaluations conducted by staff members and consultants;
• Apply high professional standards in line with Evaluation Policy and UN Evaluation Norms & Standards;
• Apply evaluation quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis tools, techniques and approaches;
• Prepare reports, analysis and synthesis to management on findings and recommendations of evaluations;
• Keep abreast of developments in the area of evaluation, exploring innovative approaches in the area of gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Promote coordination on evaluation that is gender responsive:

• Support M&E frameworks of One UN programmes and Joint programmes;
• Represent UN Women in the task forces of the United Nations Evaluation Group;
• Promote the generation of knowledge on gender responsive evaluation and support the establishment of knowledge management systems on evaluation findings with UN agencies and national partners.

Facilitate knowledge management and promote evaluation capacity development:

• Support the development and implementation of evaluation knowledge management products of Independent Evaluation Office;
• Support Evaluation Officers in the production of knowledge and information products related to evaluations as well as dissemination strategies for the evaluation;
• Prepare synthesis reports of corporate and decentralized evaluations, around areas of focus to distil common lessons learned and good practices;
• Develop evaluation guidelines in line with UN Women evaluation policy and United Nations Evaluation group norms and standards;
• Provide and/or assist in the provision of training on evaluation, self-evaluation, monitoring and results based management within the Independent Evaluation Office and in other organizational units.

Contribute to the effective deployment of human and financial resources of the Evaluation Office:

• Plan evaluations and prepare evaluation budgets for individual evaluations;
• Manage effectively and efficiently the use of resources for evaluations;
• Select evaluation consultants based on post requirements;
• Assist in the supervision of evaluation consultants.

Evaluation Specialist will perform other related duties and assignments as and when required.

Impact of Results:

The key results have an impact on the successful implementation of the Evaluation Office strategy and the utilization of evaluations in the organization.

Competencies

Core values and Guiding principles:

Integrity:

• Demonstrate consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct.

Professionalism:

• Demonstrate professional competence and expert knowledge of the pertinent substantive areas of work.

Cultural sensitivity and valuing diversity:

• Demonstrate an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrate an international outlook, appreciating difference in values and learning from cultural diversity.

Core Competencies:

Ethics and Values:

• Demonstrate and safeguard ethics and integrity.

Organizational Awareness:

• Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment.

Development and Innovation:

• Take charge of self-development and take initiative.

Work in teams:

• Demonstrate ability to work in a multicultural, multi ethnic environment and to maintain effective working relations with people of different national and cultural backgrounds.

Communicating and Information Sharing:

• Facilitate and encourage open communication and strive for effective communication.

Self-management and Emotional Intelligence:

• Stay composed and positive even in difficult moments, handle tense situations with diplomacy and tact, and have a consistent behavior towards others.

Conflict Management:

• Surface conflicts and address them proactively acknowledging different feelings and views and directing energy towards a mutually acceptable solution.

Continuous Learning and Knowledge Sharing:

• Encourage learning and sharing of knowledge.

Appropriate and Transparent Decision Making:

• Demonstrate informed and transparent decision making.

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge of UN context and gender equality:

• Has a detailed knowledge of the role of the UN and its components and UN Women’s mandate with the UN system. Has a detailed understanding of the Organization, funds and programs and the distinctions between them. Has a good knowledge of key UN topics. Has competencies to support the supervision of evaluation staff in the evaluation of gender equality and women's human rights activities, projects and programmes.

Technical and professional skills:

• Evaluation design - Has the required competencies to develop well-focused Terms of Reference that includes a complete background, addresses salient issues, and identifies potential impact, with minimal guidance. Has a good understanding of various methodologies in evaluation, both qualitative and quantitative, such as surveys, record reviews, focus groups and case studies and is able to contribute to the development of the most efficient and effective methodology for the design, with minimal guidance. Has a good understanding of various sampling techniques and their applications and is able to develop the most accurate sampling technique for the methodology. Has grounded knowledge of how to address gender equality on evaluation design;
• Data collection and analysis - Has the required competencies to collect reliable, valid and accurate information in an objective way. Masters effective interviewing skills and is able to conduct interviews independently. Has a good understanding of questionnaire design and is able to develop questionnaires and other review instruments that will address issues identified in the design, independently. Masters effective interviewing skills and is able to conduct interviews independently. Has the skill to use programme data and documents and to design and conduct case studies independently. Is able to guide and direct junior staff in data collection and to ensure the data analysis addresses evaluation issues;
• Gender analysis – has experience in conducting gender analysis; has grounded knowledge of gender equality and women’s human rights.

Oral and written communication:

• Has the required competencies to: articulate relevant subject matter in a clear and concise way; pose basic questions and contribute information appropriately in formal settings; effectively use appropriate support items, including charts, graphs, audio-visual techniques, and hand-outs; conceptualize ideas and issues during the evaluation reporting process; and use critical thinking to formulate findings and recommendations based on the results of both qualitative and quantitative data, and the broader context of evaluation issues.  Is able to develop clear, concise and compelling evaluation reports that meet UNEG reporting standards, with minimal guidance.

Evaluation process management:

• Masters the skills of evaluation management, including developing a plan and schedule, assigning tasks, ensuring milestones are met on a timely basis, ensuring project costs are within and approved budget and ensuring evaluation objectives are adequately addressed. Is able to independently assume responsibility for managing complex evaluation projects and to supervise evaluation team members. Has skills to negotiate outside the organization on issues related to evaluations and conflict resolution skills.

Ethics:

• Acts according to the standards of ethical conduct for evaluators, including policies on receiving and giving gifts, conflicting financial interests, outside employment and activities, misuse of position, impartiality in performing official duties and related statutory authorities. Acts with integrity and honesty in relationships with all stakeholders.

Knowledge Management and Learning:

• Shares knowledge and experience;
• Encourages office staff to share knowledge and contribute to UN Women practice areas;
• Develops substantive knowledge of one or more Practice Areas;
• Promotes a learning environment in the office;
• Provides helpful feedback and advice to others in the office;
• Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more practice areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills;
• Background in international relations, proven knowledge of gender equality analytical work and programming, knowledge of current development issues.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

• Ability to perform a variety of specialized activities related to HR management, including  performance evaluation, learning and  reporting;
• Strong IT skills;
• Ability to provide input to business processes re-engineering, implementation of new systems.

Leadership and Self-Management:

• Focuses on result for the client;
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
• Responds positively to critical feedback and differing points of view.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in in social science international relations or related field, or combination of first level degree with relevant experience.

Experience:

• A minimum of 5 years professional experience in evaluation of programmes preferably in the development context;
• Experience working on gender equality and human rights;
• Proven field work experience;
• Experience related UN Women’s mandate and activities an asset.

Languages:

• Fluency in English;
• Working knowledge in any other UN official language desirable.

Application:

• All applications must include (as an attachment) the completed UN Women Personal History form (P-11) which can be downloaded from http://www.unwomen.org/about-us/employment;
• Kindly note that the system will only allow one attachment. Applications without the completed UN Women P-11 form will be treated as incomplete and will not be considered for further assessment.

Note:

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.