Evaluation Specialist

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WHY JOIN WFP

• WFP is a 2020 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

• WFP offers a highly inclusive diverse and multicultural working environment.

• WFP invests in the personal & professional development of its employees through a range of training accreditation coaching mentorship and other programs as well as through internal mobility opportunities.

• A career path in WFP provides an exciting opportunity to work across the various country regional and global offices around the world and with passionate colleagues who work tirelessly to ensure that effective humanitarian assistance reaches millions of people across the globe.

• We offer an attractive compensation package (please refer to the Terms and Conditions section of this vacancy announcement).

JOB TITLE: Evaluation Specialist (Consultant Level 1)

TYPE OF CONTRACT: Consultant When Actually Employed

UNIT/DIVISION: Decentralized Evaluation unit/Office of Evaluation

DUTY STATION (City Country): Home based with potential travel to support country offices in Southern Africa if required

DURATION: 65 days between April and December 2026

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

The World Food Programme (WFP) is the worlds largest humanitarian organization saving lives in emergencies and using food assistance to build a pathway to peace stability and prosperity for people recovering from conflict disasters and the impact of changing climate.

In line with WFPs Evaluation Policy 2022 the evaluation function aims to contribute to global knowledge and support decision making and Sustainability Development Goal (SDG) achievement at the global regional and national levels ensuring that evaluation evidence consistently and comprehensively informs decisions on WFP policies strategies plans and programmes. The evaluation function includes evaluations commissioned and managed by various parts of the organization. The three primary categories of evaluation at WFP include centralized decentralized and impact evaluations. Decentralized evaluations are commissioned and managed by country offices (COs) and functions within Global headquarters (other than OEV) and are designed to meet the needs of the commissioning units.

Within the Office of Evaluation (OEV) a dedicated unit is responsible for supporting COs and Global headquarters functions other than OEV in planning commissioning and managing decentralized evaluations. The Decentralized Evaluation Unit is composed of staff based in Rome and Regional Evaluation Technical Teams (RETTs) outposted in five regional offices.

This position is based in the Decentralized Evaluation Unit and reports to the Head of the decentralized evaluation. The purpose of this assignment is to support decentralised evaluations and ensure that they are impartial of good quality and useful. While the consultant will primarily support decentralized evaluations across East and Southern Africa to cover gaps that have emerged due to early reassignment of the regional evaluation officer he/she may be requested to support decentralized evaluation in other regions depending on the operational requirements. The Head of the Decentralized Unit will allocate the evaluations to the Evaluation specialist who will then be expected to work closely with the RETTs yet with a high level of autonomy.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

Within this context the evaluation specialist is required to provide support and contributions to the following workstreams:

Evaluation Planning and Budgeting

In close collaboration with regional program monitoring staff and the regional evaluation officer:

• Review Assessment Monitoring and Evaluation (AME) tools summited by country offices and provide feedback on evaluation plans and budgets across a range of evaluation categories (ongoing/planned centralized decentralized and impact evaluations).

• Review budget revisions to identify implications on planned evaluations and raise any issue with the relevant regional evaluation officer;

• Support other planning and budget tasks as and when appropriate

Support Management and Quality assurance of Decentralized Evaluations

• In consultation with the staff within the DE unit supporting specific DEs review specific draft deliverables and provide timely and quality feedback as appropriate. This includes:

• Check first draft Terms of Reference (TOR) submitted by CO evaluation managers to ensure that they have followed the required template that all elements are present and that the TOR is ready for systematic DE Quality Review and Feedback (DERF);

• Review final TOR submitted by the CO to confirm whether earlier comments (including from the evaluation reference group) were adequately addressed identify potential outstanding issues to be addressed before ToRs are finalized and approved

• Support as appropriate contracting of evaluation teams through reviewing proposals submitted by evaluation firms consultations with Procurement officer and providing documented feedback;

• Check first drafts inception reports (IRs) submitted by evaluation teams to ensure that they followed the required template that all elements are present and that the draft IR is ready for systematic DE Quality Review and Feedback (DERF);

• Review final IRs submitted by the evaluation teams to confirm whether comments provided by evaluation reference group (ERG) were addressed identify potential outstanding issues to be addressed before the IR is finalized and approved.

• Support DE evaluation managers as appropriate to plan for and support evaluation data collection missions

• Check first drafts of evaluation reports (ERs) submitted by evaluation teams to ensure that they followed the required template that all elements are present and that the draft ER is ready for systematic DE Quality Review and Feedback (DERF);

• Review final ERs submitted by the evaluation teams to confirm whether comments provided by evaluation reference group (ERG) have been addressed identify potential outstanding issues to be addressed before the ER can be finalized and approved.

• Support any other DE management tasks as shall be allocated by the officer in charge of ESARETT

Information Management Coordination and Engagement

• Ensure that information on all supported evaluations is up to date in the Management Information System (MIS)

• Attend ESARETT and DE unit monthly meetings as/when appropriate and engage with others to ensure coordinated support to country offices.

• Engage with the evaluation function as appropriate

DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT:

• Timely comments and feedback on Assessment Monitoring and Evaluation (AME) Tools and/or draft country strategic plans and budget revisions

• Written feedback on decentralized evaluations draft TORs on readiness for DERF

• Written feedback on decentralized evaluations draft inception reports (IR) readiness for DERF

• Written feedback on decentralized evaluations draft evaluation reports (ER) readiness for DERF

• Updated TOR comments matrix reflecting whether stakeholder comments were addressed

• Updated IRs comments matrix reflecting whether stakeholder comments were addressed

• Updated ERs comments matrix reflecting whether stakeholder comments were addressed

• Up-to-date information in the Evaluation Management Information System (MIS) for all supported evaluations

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

Education:

University Degree in relevant social science disciplines

Experience:

Five years of relevant professional work experience in Monitoring and Evaluation;

At least 2 years of professional experience managing evaluations preferably at decentralized level

Knowledge & Skills:

• Knowledge of Monitoring and Evaluation approaches including differences and complementarities;

• Solid knowledge of UNEG norms and standards for evaluation

• Quick to learn able to take initiative with minimal supervision.

• Ability to read and assimilate a large amount of information within a short time.

• Ability to draft clear and succinct reports and other products by bringing together information from different sources

• Strong communication skills (oral and written) including ability to present ideas and generate feedback from a variety of audience.

• Ability to work in a multi-cultural environment.

• A strong team player with ability to coordinate and work collaboratively with others to achieve common goals.

• Self-confidence creative and ability to work with minimal supervision

• Demonstrated flexibility and ability to adapt to a changing context.

• Ability to take initiative and be proactive in managing own work as well as raise issues with functional and line managers when needed.

• Commitment to confidentiality and sound understanding of key ethical issues associated with evaluation work

• Fully computer-literate with excellent skills in Word Excel Power Point and database management.

Languages:

Proficiency / Level C English

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