Evaluation Specialist

Organizational Setting

The Office of Evaluation (OED) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is launching an evaluation of FAO's country programme in Namibia covering the period 2019 to 2024. OED is seeking qualified regional and national consultants to join the evaluation team.

Candidates should have demonstrated evaluation experience and a background in sectors related to FAO’s areas of work in Namibia (including agriculture, fisheries, land, water and environment). 

Since establishing a fully-fledged Representation in 1991, FAO has worked closely with the Government of the Republic of Namibia to support the country’s development aspirations within FAO’s areas of work. FAO's collaboration with Namibia is guided by the priorities set out in the Country Programming Framework (CPF), a document jointly developed by FAO and the Government of Namibia. 

The current CPF, covering the period 2019-2024, identifies as main priority areas for cooperation the following: 
1.    Strengthened policy, legal, strategic and institutional frameworks for agriculture, fisheries, forestry, food security and nutrition. 
2.    Improved agricultural production, productivity, food safety and strengthened nutrition sensitive value chains. 
3.    Strengthened capacity for natural resource management and land governance. 
4.    Strengthened capacity for disaster risk reduction, resilience building and climate change adaptation and mitigation.

Purpose and Objectives of the evaluation:
The purpose of the evaluation is formative, to assess FAO’s work and provide feedback to help improve programming, making future efforts more impactful and relevant to the needs of the country. The objectives are to assess the Organization’s strategic positioning and its contributions to identified FAO priorities in the country.

The results of this exercise will contribute to the formulation of FAO’s next Country Programming Framework in Namibia. 

The evaluation will be conducted between July and December 2024, with data collection and field visits tentatively scheduled for end of September 2024. 

Reporting Lines

The Evaluation Specialist will work under the direct supervision and close guidance of the Evaluation Manager and under the overall responsibility of the Director of the Office of Evaluation (OED).  

Technical Focus

OED is looking for consultants with expertise in evaluation and at least one of the following technical areas: 
 
•    Agricultural policy support and institutional strengthening  
•    Livestock production and animal health (including transboundary animal disease management)
•    Natural resource management (including integrated landscape management) 
•    Plant  production and  health (including transboundary plant  pest management) 

Candidates should have not been involved in the design, implementation or backstopping of FAO’s projects in Namibia.

Tasks and responsibilities:

•    Review documents concerning FAO’s activities in Namibia relating to their areas of expertise.
•    Contribute to the development of the evaluation methodology and tools, such as evaluation matrix, checklists and data collection tools.
•    Participate actively in the collection of primary and secondary data through face-to-face or virtual interviews with FAO concerned officers and stakeholders including government, civil society and the private sector, as appropriate.
•    Participate in field missions to selected project sites to meet with local partners and beneficiaries.
•    Consolidate and analyse information collected.
•    Contribute to all evaluation products and deliverables, including drafting sections of the evaluation report according to specifications provided by OED.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

•    University degree in a relevant discipline: evaluations, agriculture economics, environmental sciences, natural resource management, crop science, biological control, animal disease control and/or veterinary medicine.
•    A minimum of seven years of relevant experience in evaluation or respective field of specialization. 
•    Working knowledge (level C) of English and limited knowledge (level B) of another FAO official language (French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian or Arabic). For PSA.SBS working knowledge of English is sufficient. 

FAO Core Competencies

•    Results Focus
•    Teamwork
•    Communication
•    Building Effective Relationships
•    Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills 

•    Previous experience in conducting/taking part in (independent) strategic-level evaluations.
•    Strong stakeholder engagement and interviewing skills.
•    Demonstrated experience of working in Namibia and/or of conducting evaluations in the country.
•    Excellent knowledge of the Namibian context.