Evaluation Specialist (Team Leader and Team Members for the Evaluation of FAO’s Country Programme in Nigeria) at Food and Agriculture Organization Of the United Nations

Location: Nigeria (Home Based)
Organizational Unit: OED
Job Type: Non-staff opportunities
Type of Requisition: Consultant / PSA (Personal Services Agreement)
Duration: From 40 - 70 days, spread over 4-6 months
Grade Level: NA

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 Nigeria.
• OED is seeking qualified national and regional consultants, with demonstrated evaluation experience and a background in sectors related to FAO’s areas of work in Nigeria (rural development, food systems, agricultural policy and governance, value chain development, equity, social inclusion approaches and gender; Resilience building, early warning and disaster risk reduction; natural resource management, climate change) to join the evaluation team.

Reporting Lines:

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

Technical Focus

• The Federal Republic of Nigeria has been a member state of FAO since 1960, and the organization strengthened its presence in the country through the establishment of a fully-fledged Representation in 1978. FAO's collaboration with Nigeria is guided by the priorities set out in the Country Programming Framework (CPF), a document jointly developed by FAO and the Government.
• The current CPF, covering the period 2018-2022, identifies as main priority areas for cooperation the following:
  • Strengthen National Food and Nutrition Security through enhanced nutrition and risk-sensitive and climate-smart food systems.
  • Support for appropriate and operationally effective agricultural policy and regulatory frameworks.
  • Support to Nigeria Economic Diversification Agenda and Promotion of Decent Employment for Youth and Women in the Agriculture Value Chains.
  • Improve Efficient and Sustainable Management of Natural Resources and Ecosystem.
  • Enhance Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Management through strengthening the Humanitarian Development Peace Nexus for resilience Building.
• The results of the evaluation will contribute to FAO’s next programming cycle in Nigeria.
• Purpose and Objectives of the evaluation:
• This evaluation is part of a series of Country programme evaluations (CPEs) conducted by the Office of Evaluation of FAO. Its main purpose is to contribute to increase the relevance and strengthen the impact of FAO’s efforts at the country level.

Main Objectives
The main objectives of the evaluation are to:

• Evaluate FAO’s strategic positioning to assess to what extent FAO's programme meets Nigeria's priorities and needs;
• Assess FAO's contributions in the CPF priority areas;
• Identify good practices, and opportunities for improved collaborations and results delivery. The evaluation will be conducted from November 2021 to June 2022. The field visits will be carried out in February-March 2022, if conditions allow.

Composition and Profile of the Evaluation Team:
OED is looking for consultants to join the evaluation team with expertise in the following areas:

• Food systems, agronomy, value chain development;
• Rural development, agricultural policy and regulatory frameworks;
• Equity, social inclusion approaches and gender;
• Food security and livelihood support, resilience building, early warning and disaster risk reduction, Humanitarian Development Peace Nexus;
• Natural resource management, climate change.
• Candidates should have not been involved in the formulation, implementation or backstopping of FAO’s projects in Nigeria.

Tasks and Responsibilities

• Contribute to the evaluation in their areas of expertise. Their terms of reference will derive and must conform to the terms of reference of the evaluation.
• Be responsible for conducting the evaluation and contributing to the development of the methodology in consultation with and under the supervision of OED.
• The team will participate in information sessions, interviews, field visits and will support OED in writing the final evaluation report.
• OED is responsible for the final report drafting, and will ensure its compliance with applicable evaluation standards. Individual terms of reference will be provided to the selected team members.

Candidates Will Be Assessed Against The Following
Minimum Requirements:

• University Degree in a relevant discipline: Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Security, Veterinary Science, Forestry, Climate Change, Economics, Development Studies, Social Sciences, etc.;
• A minimum of 10 years of professional experience in the respective fields of specialization;
• Working knowledge of English and limited knowledge of another FAO official language (French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, Arabic). For PSA.SBS only working knowledge of English will be 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, facilitation skills and Interviewing skills
• Demonstrated experience of working in Nigeria and/or of conducting evaluations in the country.
• Demonstrated experience in evaluation. In particular, good experience in conducting evaluation interviews and focus group discussions, and in report writing. Knowledge of participatory evaluation techniques is strongly desired.
• Excelled knowledge of the Nigerian context.