Principal Evaluation Officer, BDEV1 at African Development Bank - AfDB

Reference: ADB/20/058
Location: Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
Position N°: 50000281 / 50083178
Grade: PL4

The Complex

• The Board of Directors provides oversight and strategic direction to the African Development Bank Group. It is composed of Executive Directors who are representatives of the African Development Bank member countries. Specifically the Board is responsible for the conduct of the general operations of the Bank, and carries out the following functions: (1) determine the general structure of the Bank’s services; (2) approve the financing policy and take decisions concerning loans, guarantees, equity investments and fund loans by the Bank; (3) determine the interest rates of loans and guarantee commissions; (4) approve the Bank’s operations program and administrative budget; (5) prepare the work of the Board of Governors; and (6) submit accounts and annual reports, as well as the administrative budgets for the approval of the Board of Governors.
• The Board does its work through a series of permanent Committees that review and discuss policy and program documents and make appropriate recommendations to the whole Board. The Independent Development Evaluation Department (BDEV); Compliance Review and Mediation Unit (BCRM); Secretariat to the Sanctions Appeals Board (BSAB); and the Administrative Tribunal (BATR) report to the Board.

The Hiring Department

• The overarching mission of the African Development Bank’s Independent Development Evaluation is to enhance the development effectiveness of the Bank and foster sustainable growth and poverty reduction in its regional member countries through independent and influential evaluations, oversight over self-evaluation processes and products, and proactive engagement in evaluation partnerships and knowledge-sharing activities. To support the Bank Group in achieving greater development effectiveness, the independent evaluation function has adopted three core objectives:
  • Contribute to enhanced learning in the Bank and regional member countries to improve current and future policies, strategies, programs, projects, and processes.
  • Provide a basis for accountability to the public and to member countries by documenting the use and results of the Bank Group’s assistance.
  • Promote an evaluation culture in the Bank and regional member countries to encourage a focus on development results, learning, and continuous quality improvement.
• The core mandate of the Independent Development Evaluation Department is to conduct independent evaluation studies, provide relevant lessons, develop and harmonize standards and practices, support evaluation capacity development together with partner agencies and attest to the validity of both processes and the results of African Development Bank’s self-evaluation activities. The Independent Development Evaluation Department also collaborates and exchanges information with bilateral and multilateral development agencies’ evaluation departments, and undertakes joint evaluation of co-financed projects and programs.
• The Independent Development Evaluation Department has three divisions: The Power, Energy, Climate Change and Green Growth; Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization; and Integration Evaluations Division (BDEV.1); the Agriculture, Human and Social Development, Country and Corporate Evaluations Division (BDEV.2); and the Knowledge Management Outreach and Capacity Development Division (BDEV.3). The Divisions 1 and 2 focus on undertaking evaluations whilst the Division 3 on Knowledge Management Outreach and Capacity Development.
• The BDEV1 division is mainly responsible for evaluations relating to the private sector, infrastructure (including transport, ICT, urban development, water and sanitation), industrialization, power systems, energy, climate change, and green growth.

The Position

• The Principal Evaluation Officer contributes to the delivery of the division work program by leading moderately complex evaluations, supervising evaluation teams, and mentoring and coaching junior colleagues, and supporting work programme management and the Independent Development Evaluation Department’s quality assurance activities of the Bank’s interventions (including policies, strategies and operations) in the areas covered by the Division, in particular activities related to the private sector, infrastructure (including transport, ICT, urban development, water and sanitation), industrialization, power systems, energy, climate change, and green growth.

Duties and responsibilities
Key Functions:
Under the supervision and guidance of the Division Manager Division.1, the Principal Evaluation Officer will:

• Undertake Evaluation Activities: Design, conduct and report on evaluations in accordance with the Bank’s Evaluation Policy and Manual and international evaluation standards (e.g., OECD DAC evaluation standards and the Evaluation Cooperation Group Good Practice Standards).
• Undertake Meta-Evaluations and Meta-Analyses; Lead, and guide meta-evaluations and meta-analyses including designs, and methods (for literature search, and data collection, analysis and reporting).
• Undertake Evaluation Quality Management: Contribute to updating the Independent Development Evaluation Department evaluation quality standards, and quality assurance processes, tools and capacity.
• Contribute to the capture of learning from evaluation design to evaluation dissemination for use in updating the Independent Development Evaluation Department evaluation manual, and for staff learning events.
• Manage human and financial resources of a multi-disciplinary evaluation team to ensure the delivery of complex and concurrent evaluations that are conducted in an independent, cost-effective, rigorous and timely manner.
• Promote the mandate of the evaluation function and contribute to the creation of an evaluation culture in the Bank and in Regional Member Countries (RMC).
• Contribute to positioning the Independent Development Evaluation Department as an innovator on the leading-edge among other multilateral institutions and to maximizing the effectiveness and efficiency of the Bank’s Evaluation Function.
• Contribute to building strategic alliances and partnerships with key stakeholders within and outside the Bank to further the Evaluation Function’s mandate and engage in evaluation communities of practice within and outside the Bank. Provide substantive input to these communities and share lessons of experience.
• Contribute to the preparation of Independent Development Evaluation Department’s three-year rolling work programme and annual report.
• Perform any other assigned tasks.

Selection Criteria

• Holds at least a Master’s degree or its equivalent in Economics, Development Evaluation, Finance, Business Administration, Sociology, Development, Statistics, Policy Analysis, Public Administration, or other International Development related field. A certificate/diploma in development evaluation, development oriented research and/or program/project planning, management and evaluation is an advantage.
• A minimum of six (6) years’ experience in as a development evaluator/researcher; designing, conducting, managing, and reporting development evaluation/research studies.
• Significant knowledge in quantitative and/or qualitative evaluation methods.
• Broad knowledge of evaluation theories and practice including evaluation needs assessment, design and implementation.
• Proven operational and field experience working in complex development programs.
• Knowledge of operational/policy areas, procedures and practice of the African Development Bank or other multilateral development Banks and/or other international development agencies.
• Operational experience relating, in particular, to areas covered by the Division, such as private sector, infrastructure (including transport, ICT, urban development, water and sanitation), industrialization, power systems, energy, climate change, and green growth.
• Substantial experience in development planning, management and evaluation in Multilateral Development Banks or other international development agencies
• Strong theoretical and operational knowledge of international development issues and theories relating, in particular, to Africa
• Experience in providing strategic advice to senior management.
• Experience in coaching and mentoring staff.
• Substantial experience in evaluation in Multilateral Development Banks or other international development agencies desirable.
• Substantial experience in managing human and financial resources.
• Experience to lead multidisciplinary teams, and work in diverse and multi-cultural settings
• Ability to communicate effectively (in writing and orally) in English or French, preferably with a working knowledge of the other.
• Competence in the use of standard Microsoft Office Suite applications (Word, Excel, Access and Power Point); knowledge of integrated document management system and/or quantitative and qualitative data analysis packages is an added advantage.