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UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, Evaluate

The mission of the UNICEF Evaluation function is to help drive results for children by fostering evidence-informed decision making. Evaluation in UNICEF supports learning and decision-making which, in turn, support better results for children. Evaluation also helps to hold UNICEF accountable for contributing to results for children, or not doing so. We conduct a diverse set of independent, credible, and impartial corporate thematic, institutional effectiveness, humanitarian, country-led, impact and joint evaluations to ensure UNICEF uses evaluation evidence to improve outcomes for children.

Evaluation at UNICEF is a largely decentralized function with senior-level Regional Evaluation Advisers and multi-country evaluation specialists based in the seven UNICEF regional offices; dedicated country evaluation specialists currently based in fifteen UNICEF country offices around the world, with many additional staff providing part-time support to the evaluation function as part of their broader set of responsibilities. The UNICEF Evaluation Office (EO) serves as the steward of the UNICEF evaluation function and is located at the New York Headquarters. The Director of Evaluation provides strategic leadership to the global evaluation function at all three levels of the organization (global, regional, and country level) including an Evaluation Office.

In 2023, the Evaluation Office launched the UNICEF Evaluation of Impact Strategy and Action Framework 2022–2025, which sets the institutional priorities and vision for a harmonized and strategic approach to the generation and use of impact evidence at UNICEF. The Impact Catalyst Fund is an integral part and the main incentive mechanism of Strategic Pillar I of the Impact Strategy. It aims to build a multi-country impact evaluation portfolio covering new and priority areas of UNICEF programming. We are seeking a Multi-country Impact Evaluation Specialist to support the Evaluation Office and the global evaluation function in implementing the Impact Strategy, with the focus on expanding the initiation and coverage of impact evaluations across UNICEF thematic areas.  EO values highly motivated candidates that strive to excel and stay abreast of the latest evaluative knowledge and methodological innovations.

How can you make a difference? 

Under the direction of the director of evaluation and the supervision of the senior evaluation specialist (impact and methods), the multi-country impact evaluation specialist will identify opportunities to increase coverage of impact evaluations and provide technical leadership in implementing the Impact Catalyst Fund’s multi-country thematic window/windows. Working collaboratively with the evaluation team in UNICEF Regional office in East and South Africa (ESAR), UNICEF country offices, and other UN partners based in Nairobi, the incumbent will support planned and ongoing impact evaluations, contribute to strengthening institutional and national capacities in impact evaluations, and lead on scale-up of innovative approaches in rigorous impact evaluations in fragile and humanitarian settings.

In accordance with the UNICEF mission, guiding principles, standards, commitments and accountability framework, and under the revised United Nations Evaluation Group norms and standards, the Multi-Country Impact Evaluation Specialist will ensure that all evaluations conducted under her/his leadership are of the highest technical quality, relevance, timeliness, credibility and utility possible, and that the evaluations support the organizational learning and accountability needs of UNICEF and its stakeholders in achieving results for children.

The incumbent will also contribute to cross-cutting initiatives within the Evaluation Office and the wider evaluation function within UNICEF, including learning activities, strategic communication, and advocacy efforts.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

1. Technical leadership: 

• Support the Evaluation Office and, in turn, the global evaluation function to develop, design, manage and implement multi-country portfolios of impact evaluations in the programme areas of strategic importance.  Currently, UNICEF Evaluation office implements two ICF thematic windows: in adaptive social protection (UNICEF Goal Area 5) and child protection (UNICEF Goal Area 3). Other thematic areas are being currently considered for the third call of ICF.
• Serve as Principal Investigator and co-Principal Investigator on selected IEs. This includes the design and technical specifications of all impact evaluations and preparation of all activities, including the projects’ timelines, human resource and partnership requirements, the analysis of data collected (qualitative and quantitative) and the preparation of evaluation reports and other materials for dissemination.
• Manage staff and consultants and collaborate closely with regional and country office evaluation specialists and programme practitioners.
• Leverage the capacity and expertise of national partners working in the thematic area and ensure visibility of UNICEF and donor efforts.
• Provide technical assistance to UNICEF regional and COs in developing Terms of Referencing and proposals for rigorous mixed-methods evaluations.

2. Standardization:

• Lead the development and application of the standardized methodological approaches, tools, analytical packages and management approaches in the chosen thematic areas and to ensure cost-effectiveness, replication and harmonization of outcome and impact measurements in a credible manner.
• Contribute to the development of harmonization of questionnaires, outcome indicators, training packages and technical modules across multiple countries in the relevant thematic areas

3. Methodological innovation:

• Contribute to and promote the diversification and innovation of methodological and data approaches to measure outcome- and impact-level change in areas with a particularly sparse impact evidence base particularly in fragile and humanitarian settings.
• Collaborate with global and regional evaluation teams to develop, initiate, test and scale up innovative methods to measure outcome- and impact-level change in fragile and humanitarian contexts and other areas with recognized challenges to construct a counterfactual or reach vulnerable populations.
• Lead the development of technical guidance papers and methodological packages.

4. Learning and capacity development:

• Support the development and rollout of learning and capacity-building activities that raise awareness and promote the initiation, implementation and better use of impact evaluations by UNICEF and its national partners, including academic and research institutions of the global South.

5. Partnerships:

• Initiate and develop internal and external partnerships, including with other UNICEF evidence divisions, multilateral and bilateral organizations, other United Nations agencies and academic institutions to increase the coverage of impact evaluations at UNICEF.

• Fulfil other evaluation functions that strengthen quality, credibility, relevance, and visibility of impact evaluations at UNICEF and United Nations Community.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Education

• An advanced university degree (Master or PhD) in social sciences (e.g., economics, public policy or a related field).

Experience

• A minimum of eight years of technical leadership experience in rigorous impact evaluation (e.g. RCT) within an international organization, development agency, academia, government or the private or non-profit sectors.
• Thematic expertise in areas relevant to the UNICEF core areas – education, child protection, social protection, WASH, health and nutrition with a particular focus on child outcomes.
• Solid track record of leading and managing mixed methods impact evaluations that rely on both qualitative and quantitative approaches and a variety of data collection modalities (mobile surveys, interviews, focus groups, direct and indirect observations, desk reviews).
• Willingness/ability to keep up to date with the latest skills and organizational guidance in the field of evaluation and to explore innovative and creative ways to apply a combination of novel data and methodological approaches.
• Demonstrated track record of working collaboratively in a multicultural team environment to contribute positively to shared results.
• Fluency in English; knowledge of another United Nations language (French in particular) is an asset.

Desirables:

• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency. 

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships

(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness

(3) Drive to achieve results for impact

(4) Innovates and embraces change

(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity

(6) Thinks and acts strategically

(7) Works collaboratively with others 

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

This post will be based in Nairobi, Kenya. Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.