Chief Evaluation Division

Org. Setting and Reporting

UNRWA, the largest United Nations operation in the Middle East with over 30,000 staff working across five areas of operation, is looking for highly committed personnel wishing to make a change. If you are looking for a rewarding opportunity to make a tangible difference for one of the most vulnerable communities in the world, UNRWA would like to hear from you. The Chief Evaluation Division reports to the Director, Internal Oversight Services.

Responsibilities

Leads, conducts and manages evaluations that are impartial, independent, credible and meet professional standards: - Carries out evaluations of complex programmes, strategies, policies and cross-cutting themes and leads evaluation teams. - Effectively supervises evaluations conducted by staff members, consultancy firms and individual consultants. - Ensures that evaluations meet high professional standards in line with UNRWA’s Evaluation Policy and with the norms and standards for evaluation in the UN system. - Keeps abreast of developments in the area of evaluation. - Ensures that up-to-date evaluation techniques and approaches are applied. - Cooperates with other UN evaluation units and professional evaluation bodies. - Leads and promotes the evaluation function in UNRWA, and reviews and further develops the architecture, policies, guidelines, systems, procedures and tools for quality assurance within the Agency’s central and decentralized evaluation functions. - Designs and implements evaluation capacity development initiatives within the Agency. - Provides leadership to the UNRWA decentralized evaluation function and provides technical guidance to staff planning and managing decentralized evaluations (in UNRWA fields of operations and with headquarter departments). - Establishes and maintains effective relationships with UNRWA management and evaluands, partners of the Agency, and the DIOS Audit and Investigation Divisions. Ensures that evaluations are useful and that evaluation findings and recommendations are followed up: - Prepares reports and briefings on evaluation activities and results for the Agency’s Commissioner General and Senior Management, representative bodies of the Agency and the UNRWA Advisory Committee on Internal Oversight. - Organizes meetings, workshops and other discussion fora to establish a dialogue on evaluation results (recommendations/lessons learned). - Ensures that management responds to recommendations and monitors the follow up on evaluations. Effectively deploys human and financial resources of the Evaluation Division: - Develops the evaluation work plan, including evaluation activities agreed with field offices during the annual planning process. - Plans the human and financial resources needed for the Evaluation Division in close collaboration with the Director, Department of Internal Oversight Services. - Supervises and coaches evaluation staff. - Selects and supervises evaluation consultants and firms.

Competencies

UN Core Values of Integrity, Professionalism and Respect for Diversity, and Core Competencies of Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results apply by default. Default managerial competencies may apply. Leading and Supervising Creating and Maintaining Impact and Partnership Deciding and Initiating Action Persuading and Influencing Formulating Strategies and Concepts Creating and Innovating For guidance on how to prepare for competency-based interviews: https://careers.un.org/lbw/home.aspx?viewtype=AYIely.

Education

Advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) from an accredited educational institution in Social Sciences, Business Administration, Statistics or a related field.

Job - Specific Qualification

Not available.

Work Experience

A minimum of ten years of progressively responsible and relevant professional experience in evaluation is required. Unless already serving as an international staff member in the UN Common System, at least two continuous years of relevant international experience outside UNRWA, and outside the country(s) of citizenship is required. Advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) from an accredited educational institution in Social Sciences, Business Administration, Statistics or a related field is required.

Languages

Excellent command of spoken and written English.

Assessment

Evaluation of qualified candidates may include an assessment exercise which may be followed by competency-based interview.

Special Notice

Type of Contract and duration: 2 years, with the possibility of further extension. The incumbent will be required to reside in the field of assignment and travel in the Agency’s area of operations. Applicants have to complete the Personal History Profile (PHP) in inspira in order to be considered. The PHP should be completed with full relevant work experience as per the requirements in the Job Opening, in order to be considered. A roster may be created from the selection exercise, and successful candidates may become eligible for an appointment to the same post or a similar post. UNRWA welcomes applications from qualified candidates with disabilities. Join our eco-friendly organization dedicated to environment sustainability and targeting to be plastic free by 2025. Equivalency: A first level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree. NB: work experience alone or formal qualifications with no relevant work experience are not considered an acceptable combination. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions from UN member states, regional bodies, business foundations and individual contributions. The mission of UNRWA is to help Palestine refugees achieve their full potential in human development under the difficult circumstances in which they live. For more details on UNRWA, please visit: https://www.unrwa.org/United Nations

United Nations Considerations

Staff members are subject to the authority of the Commissioner-General of UNRWA and to assignment by him or her. UNRWA is committed to achieving gender parity at all levels of staffing under the current UN-wide gender agenda and strongly encourages applications from qualified applicants from under-represented groups. At UNRWA, the paramount consideration in the recruitment and employment of staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence and integrity, with due regard to geographic diversity. All employment decisions are made on the basis of qualifications and organizational needs. UNRWA is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment of mutual respect. Reasonable accommodation for applicants with disabilities may be provided to support participation in the recruitment process when requested and indicated in the application. UNRWA Considerations UNRWA staff are expected to uphold the highest standards of efficiency, competence, neutrality, impartiality and integrity. This includes respect for and commitment to human rights, diversity and non-violent means of dealing with all kinds of conflict. Only persons who fully and unconditionally commit to these values should consider applying for UNRWA jobs. Candidates will not be considered for employment with UNRWA if they have committed violations of international human rights law, violations of international humanitarian law, sexual exploitation, sexual abuse, or sexual harassment, or if there are reasonable grounds to believe that they have been involved in the commission of any of these acts. Candidates who have committed crimes other than minor traffic offences may not be considered for employment. The Agency may disqualify applicants who have separated for reason of misconduct, who left a UN Agency while misconduct processes were pending, or who appear on the UN Sanctions List. UNRWA is a non-smoking work environment. Applicants are urged to follow carefully all instructions available in the online recruitment platform, inspira. For more detailed guidance, applicants may refer to the Manual for the Applicant, which can be accessed by clicking on “Manuals” hyper-link on the upper right side of the inspira account-holder homepage. The evaluation of applicants will be conducted on the basis of the information submitted in the application according to the evaluation criteria of the job opening and the applicable internal legislations of the United Nations including the Charter of the United Nations, resolutions of the General Assembly, the Staff Regulations and Rules, administrative issuances and guidelines. Applicants must provide complete and accurate information pertaining to their personal profile and qualifications according to the instructions provided in inspira to be considered for the current job opening. No amendment, addition, deletion, revision or modification shall be made to applications that have been submitted. Candidates under serious consideration for selection will be subject to reference checks to verify the information provided in the application. Job openings advertised on the Careers Portal will be removed at 11:59 p.m. (New York time) on the deadline date.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY FOR PALESTINE REFUGEES IN THE NEAR EAST (UNRWA) DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE OR REQUEST MONEY FROM CANDIDATES AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT AND ONBOARDING PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING, ONBOARDING). UNRWA DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.