Background

The Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) carries out Independent Country Programme Evaluations (ICPEs) to assess UNDP’s contributions to national development results and evaluate the effectiveness of UNDP’s strategy. The purpose of the ICPEs is to: i) support the development of the next UNDP Country Programme Document, and ii) strengthen accountability of UNDP to national stakeholders and to the Executive Board.

In 2018, IEO is conducting an ICPE in Venezuela. The IEO is hiring an independent consultant/evaluator to cover the areas of inclusive sustainable development and poverty reduction under the Country Programme.

Click here for full evaluation TOR                            

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the guidance of the Lead Evaluator, the consultant will provide technical expertise and knowledge on the thematic areas of inclusive sustainable development and poverty reduction. In addition, the consultant will also cover cross-cutting issues under the assigned thematic areas such as gender, human rights, South-South Cooperation and capacity development. Click here for full job description and expected outputs.

Specifically, the consultant will:

  • conduct preliminary research and desk review of relevant documents provided by IEO for the assigned thematic area (outcome 39);
  • develop a data collection plan including the data collection instruments to be used and a list of key stakeholders for interviews;
  • collect, analyse and synthesize primary and secondary data for the assigned thematic area, through interviews and meetings (virtual or in person) with relevant UN staff, and key partners such as government counterparts, beneficiaries, local partners, civil society organisations, private sector and academia, to provide the core inputs for the outcome analysis paper;
  • participate fully in the 2-weeks data collection mission in the country;
  • participate and contribute to the team’s working sessions, including the analysis workshop and presentation of preliminary evaluation findings to the UNDP country office in Venezuela at the end of the mission;  
  • prepare an outcome analysis paper for the assigned thematic area and revise it as needed, as per comments received from the IEO, CO, Regional Bureau and other stakeholders,
  • contribute to the preparation of the final ICPE report, as well as the following revisions based on comments received by relevant stakeholders; and
  • contribute and participate in the presentation of evaluation results to main national stakeholders via videoconference, as required.

Competencies

Functional competencies:

  • Excellent analytical skills, including the capacity to synthesize large amount of information from different sources in a limited amount of time while ensuring its quality; and
  • Good knowledge and management of information technologies to present findings of the evaluation.

Corporate competencies

  • Knowledge of the country context, development issues and challenges;
  • Familiarity with UNDP or UN operations in Venezuela, including a good understanding of UNDP’s work in the country and Latin America; and
  • Ability to work in multicultural and multidisciplinary teams, maintaining professionalism, diplomacy, courtesy and being tactful. 

Operational Effectiveness competencies

  • Ability to conduct an evaluation with high ethical standards, ensuring independence and confidentiality;  
  • Ability to manage a substantive workload in an organized manner during a short period of time;
  • Availability to travel and focus on the evaluation as required to meet deliverable deadlines within the agreed timeframe; and
  • Strong oral and written communication skills.

Required Skills and Experience

Education

  • A university degree (Master’s or PhD), in a discipline relevant to the outcome area (inclusive sustainable development and poverty reduction) such as Economics, Political Science or other Social Sciences.

Experience

  • At least seven (7) years of experience implementing and/or evaluating development programmes focused on promoting inclusive sustainable development and poverty reduction;
  • Extensive experience in program evaluation and/or mastery of techniques and methods of data collection, interviews and quantitative and qualitative analysis;
  • Experience in gender-sensitive programming and/or evaluation is a must; and
  • Experience conducting programme evaluations for UNDP or other development cooperation agencies in Venezuela is an asset.

Language

  • Ability to work in Spanish (oral and written) is essential. Ability to work in English is an advantage.

Application Instructions

The following documents should be uploaded to the UNDP Jobs site as one document:

  • Personal CV or P11, indicating all experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of at least three (3) professional references;
  • A brief cover letter (250-400 words) specifying: (a) area(s) of expertise within UNDP’s thematic programme areas; and (b) details of any potential conflict of interest in having worked in a programmatic capacity for UNDP over the last 5 years; and
  • A completed Confirmation of Interest and Submission of Financial Proposal Form that indicates your daily rate for this consultancy.

Please ensure that all required documents are combined and uploaded as one file as the system does not permit multiple uploads.