UNDP Jobs - 49992- Research Assistant/Consultant

Research Assistant/Consultant - Utility of Evaluations for United Nations Evaluation Group

Location :

Home-based

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

20-Oct-2014

Application Deadline :

06-Oct-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

Contract will be completed by mid-March 2015

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG) is a voluntary network that brings together units responsible for evaluation in the UN System. UNEG helps advance the effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of the UN System’s work by promoting and strengthening evaluation. The group’s central role has been to develop and advocate for common Norms and Standards for all UN evaluations. UNEG enables UN organizations to continuously learn and improve organizational effectiveness and responsiveness.

The demand for evaluation is growing. In the context of declining resources, UN entities are being challenged by Member States and donors to provide evidence that they are achieving results and that they are becoming more efficient. By assessing the results that the UN has achieved and by making recommendations that feed into policy and programme development, evaluation plays an integral role in helping the UN system become more effective overall.

To better support evaluation functions in UN organizations in view of the increasing demand and higher profile of evaluations, UNEG has developed its first multi-year strategy UNEG Strategy 2014 – 2019. To achieve its mission, UNEG’s work is focused on four strategic objectives: 1) Evaluation functions and products of UN entities meet the UNEG Norms and Standards for evaluation; 2) UN entities and partners use evaluation in support of accountability and programme learning; 3) Evaluation informs UN system-wide initiatives and emerging demands; and 4) UNEG benefits from and contributes to an enhanced global evaluation profession.

The consultant’s role is to assist the UNEG Working Group on Strategic Objective Two. The work on Strategic Objective Two for the year 2014-2015 has so far focussed on a compilation of literature relevant to the use of evaluations, and is now entering a phase where primary data from relevant stakeholders of evaluations will be collected and analysed.

The information collected from primary stakeholders will need to be systematically analyzed and prepared in a format that will enable evaluation functions in the UN system to use it as inspiration and reference. This includes identification and categorization of challenges and success factors, prioritization of issues that arise in selected case studies and the preparation of accessible documentation of findings. The outcome of the consultant’s work will feature at the next UNEG Evaluation Practice Exchange seminar in March 2015, detailing good practices in the use of evaluation in evaluation functions in the UN system. It will also serve as the theoretical background that will enable the UNEG working group on Strategic Objective Two to produce additional material relevant to the use of evaluations (potentially webinars, success stories, a final report, etc.).

Duties and Responsibilities

The consultant will provide support to the working group on UNEG strategic Objective two (utility of evaluation) and will be required to:

Read and critically analyze the information from relevant literature that has already been collected – evaluations, case studies, and other relevant documents;
The consultant will support data collection and analyze the survey data to be collected by members of the Strategic Objective Two working group;
Categorize and select cases studies most relevant for presentation; and
Categorize the information from this analysis and present it in a suitable format that can be accessed by UNEG members within the UN context.

Drawing from these insights, the consultant should deduct and summarize the trends and good practices, and draw conclusions and lessons learned that enhance the use of evaluations in the UN system. This information will be provided to the representative of Strategic Objective Two prior to the meeting in March 2015. The representative of Strategic Objective Two is the Vice Chairman of that group and currently the Evaluation Division Chief, Department of Internal Oversight Services, UNRWA in Amman Jordan. Deliverables include:

Summary of all analyses done;
A document describing the key determinants of successful utilization of evaluations in the UN system;
A document listing good practice examples and approaches for typical evaluation settings that evaluation functions in the UN system encounter;
A final report documenting the steps taken during the life of this consultancy;
Timeframe: the deliverables will be submitted in draft to the representative of Strategic Objective Two by February 1, 2015. The final document will be submitted by March 1st, 2015.

The consultant will report to the UNEG Vice-Chair on Strategic Obejctive for technical matters and to the UNEG secretariat for administrative matters.

Competencies

Corporate competencies

Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Highest standards of integrity, discretion and loyalty.

Functional competencies

Strong analytical skills and the ability to quickly grasp and synthesize information;
The ability to work interactively with a team, often responding to varying requests under pressure;
Good mastery of information technology required for the organized presentation of information, including quantitative information and graphical presentations, and for organizing information and materials from different sources (internet, publications, meetings, etc.).
Excellent drafting skills in English;
Specific technical knowledge related to the evaluation and previous evaluation experience is not required but would be an advantage.
Familiarity with the UN system and its challenges would be desired.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

A graduate degree with a focus on social science, or organizational analysis.

Experience

Two year of experience in research;
Proven excellent analytical ability;
Previous evaluation experience is desired;
Familiarity with the UN system and its challenges is desired.

Language

Excellent language skills in English (oral communication and report writing);
Proficiency in French (oral communication) is desired but not required.

Submission details

Qualified candidates are invited to apply by submitting a CV including a proposed financial rate per day combined in one document for uploading.