Policy Specialist, Evaluation and Analytics – UNDP jobs in the USA
- Location: New York City, USA
- Vacancy No: N/A
- Salary: N/A
- Organization: UNDP
- Gender: Both
- Deadline: 2024-03-23
Job Description
UNDP is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development in the UN Development System and serves as the integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). UNDP’s policy work carried out at headquarters, regional and country office levels, forms a contiguous spectrum of deep local knowledge to cutting-edge global perspectives and advocacy. In this context, UNDP invests in the Global Policy Network (GPN), a network of field-based and global technical expertise across a wide range of knowledge domains and in support of the signature solutions and organizational capabilities envisioned in the Strategic Plan.
Within the GPN, the Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has the responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. BPPS’s staff provides technical advice to country offices; advocates for UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora, government and civil society dialogues and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas. BPPS works closely with UNDP’s Crisis Bureau to support emergency and crisis response. BPPS ensures that issues of risk are fully integrated into UNDP’s development programmes. BPPS assists UNDP and partners to achieve higher quality development results through an integrated approach that links results-based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working. BPPS supports UNDP and partners to be more innovative, knowledge and data driven including in its programme support efforts.
The Effectiveness Group assists UNDP and partners to achieve higher quality development results through an integrated approach that links results-based management and performance monitoring with more effective and new ways of working. It seeks to do so by enabling UNDP and others to be more innovative, knowledge and data driven by identifying, testing, learning, sharing and institutionalizing what works. It acts as a hub on quality UNDP programming, all aspects of results-based management and development performance monitoring, analysis and evaluation, south-south cooperation and global effectiveness partnerships (including the Global Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation and the International Aid Transparency Initiative). The Effectiveness Group is composed of the following teams:
- Quality programming
- Results and performance analysis
- Global partnerships
The teams work closely together to understand and deepen UNDP’s and the international community’s understanding of what works and what does not work in effecting development change at country level in UNDP’s Strategic Plan programme priority areas, and how this understanding can drive knowledge creation and dissemination, innovation and scaling up, and more productive partnerships.
Policy Specialist, Evaluation and Analytics, will work under the direct supervision of the Team Leader for Development Results and Performance Analysis and when required with the Head of the Effectiveness Group. Key responsibilities included:
- Liaison with Independent Evaluation Office, Bureaus and country offices on all aspects of the evaluation function. Ensure that bureaus are implementing decentralized evaluation strengthening strategies.
- Strategic and technical advice on independent evaluations.
- Support development of management responses to independent evaluations.
- Technical guidance and support to UNDP units on decentralized evaluations to improve coverage, quality and usage of evaluations for learning, decision making and programming.
- Development of tools, guidance materials and undertaking capacity building efforts.
- Data analysis, monitoring, and reporting on performance against the strategic plan and performance monitoring on evaluation. Support the unit in developing management commentary to Annual report on evaluation.
- Support the unit in the high-level meetings on evaluation agenda- OPG meeting, EB sessions etc.
UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. This is a recognition of interconnected nature of development risks & crises that the world is facing and that call for assembling of multidisciplinary teams for an integrated & systemic response. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across issues, units, functions, teams and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration
- Work with monitoring and evaluation (M&E) staff of the regional bureaux, central bureaux and country offices to strengthen UNDP decentralized evaluation function through compliance monitoring and capacity development.
- Provide guidance on the analysis, use and dissemination of evaluation findings and lessons to improve organizational decision-making and accountability and synthesizes evaluation lessons for institutional learning at global, regional and country levels.
- Develop management responses to independent evaluations as well as remarks, briefs and reports as requested by UNDP senior management.
- Monitor the implementation of management responses to independent evaluations and decentralized evaluations.
- Provide technical support to UNDP on the content and quality of independent evaluations (thematic evaluations and Independent Country Programme Evaluations-ICPEs) produced by the IEO from the reviewing of TOR and fact checking to drafting of management responses.
- Coordinate with the IEO on the proposed evaluations, timing and strategic direction of the plans prior to submission to the Executive Board as required.
- Ensures that management responses to independent evaluations are monitored and implemented in a timely manner.
- Ensure the effective use of evaluation findings to inform policies and programmes.
- Develop UNDP’s response to the annual report on evaluation.
- Build and manage partnerships to support evaluation practices in UNDP with relevant institution through a strong partnership with the IEO.
- In partnerships with M&E focal points, ensure that sensible evaluations plans are prepared at country, regional and global levels.
- Ensure the quality of country programme document (CPD) evaluation plans for robust, timely and relevant decentralized evaluations.
- Coordinate with and support central and regional bureaux to ensure that responses to evaluation findings and recommendations are complete and properly recorded in the Evaluation Resource Centre.
- Support relevant bureaux to make evaluation findings inform programme design, monitoring and reporting, including the Annual Reports of the Administrator.
- Help strengthen evaluation capacities of headquarters, regional and country office staff to manage evaluation processes.
- Promote peer-to-peer networking and information on evaluation related topics.
- Contribute to the effective use, timely and clear communication and dissemination of data and evaluative evidence analytics and performance monitoring products across the organization, for lesson learning to inform policy and programming. Contribute to data analytics and research on evaluation and development performance using the Strategic Plan Integrated Results and Resources Framework (IRRF), Results Oriented Analysis Report (ROAR) and other performance management systems.
- Network with analysts in BPPS and other Central and Regional Bureaux on performance analyses to support knowledge exchange and to devise innovative approaches to data capture, analysis and research on results and performance.
- Support the production of strategic materials (briefs, proposals and/or position papers) for senior management on evaluation, data analysis and evidence.
- Keep abreast of what other agencies and organizations are doing in the areas of evaluation, business analytics and performance monitoring to inform UNDP’s research agenda.
- Provide support to relevant work of the Effectiveness Group and other corporate functions as required.
Core:
Achieve Results:
- Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact.
Think Innovatively:
- Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems.
Learn Continuously:
- Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences.
Adapt with Agility:
- Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands.
Act with Determination:
- Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results.
Engage and Partner:
- Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration.
Enable Diversity and Inclusion:
- Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity.
Cross-Functional & Technical:
Planning – Development planning:
- Knowledge of development planning processes at the national and local level and the ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situations.
Analytical – Data analysis:
- Ability to evaluate, transform and model data to derive relevant findings- undertake & provide analysis of data to assess Org performance and or global trends.
Management – Data management:
- Ability to develop and execute architectures, policies, practices and procedures in order to manage the information lifecycle needs of UNDP.
Monitoring and Evaluation – Monitoring and evaluation:
- Knowledge of methodologies, tools, systems and apply practical experience in planning, monitoring, evaluating and reporting and ability to apply to practical situations.
Measurement – Data measurement:
- Ability to set goals and indicators and to interpret and synthesize results into usable information to inform policy, strategy, and/or action.
Engagement – Partnerships:
- Ability to engage with other agencies, donors, and other development stakeholders and forge productive working relationships.
Reporting and Communication – Brief writing:
- Ability to prepare quality briefs and/or speeches.
- At minimum, master’s degree or equivalent in development, evaluation, social sciences, economics or related field OR a first-level university degree (Bachelor’s or equivalent) with two additional years of relevant work experience.
- Practical training in programme management and/or evaluation is an asset.
- Required: A minimum of five years of demonstrated experience in evaluation, data analysis, programme management in the international development arena. Candidates in possession of only a first-level university degree require seven (7) years of relevant experience to be eligible for consideration.
- Required: A track record of national/international working experience in the development field some of which should be in UNDP or other UN organization in the areas of organizational strategic planning, evaluation, programme management and innovation, including on-the-ground experience.
- Required: Experience of conducting and/or managing evaluations at country level for UNDP or a similar organisation.
- Required: Solid experience in using a range of software, especially MS Excel and PowerPoint.
- Desirable: Strong oral and written communication skills, including ability to present complex information to non-specialist audience.
- Desirable: Knowledge of the role of evaluation in UNDP and important directions in evaluation and key partnerships.
- Desirable: Familiarity with the standard evaluation guidance criteria and frameworks from UNDP policy and guidance and elsewhere (e.g. UNEG, EC and relevant national and regional standards).
- Desirable: A good understanding of evaluation design including relevant quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods.
- Asset: Solid analytical skills using quantitative and/or qualitative data, ideally on evaluations and development results.
- Asset: Knowledge of capacity development and of the current efforts in evaluation capacity development.
- Required: Fluency in English, both written and oral;
- Working knowledge of another UN language is an asset.
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