Deputy Director, Independent Evaluations Office

UNDP is the UN’s global development network, an organization advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help build nations that can withstand crisis, and drive and sustain the kind of growth that improves the quality of life for everyone. UNDP works in nearly 170 countries and territories, helping to achieve the eradication of poverty, and the reduction of inequalities and exclusion. We help countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities and build resilience in order to sustain development results. UNDP is working to strengthen new frameworks for development, disaster risk reduction and climate change. We support countries’ efforts to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and achieve the new Sustainable Development Goals, which will guide global development priorities for the next 7 years.

UNDP’s Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) works to enhance UNDP’s development effectiveness through independent thematic and programmatic evaluations and contributes to organizational learning, accountability and transparency. IEO assures the quality and use of UNDP evaluations by establishing norms, standards and guidelines and by knowledge sharing and networking with both internal and external partners.
 

The Deputy Director reports to the Director of the IEO and holds key oversight, managerial, and supervisory responsibilities over the entire team of evaluation and operational staff. Operating with an explicit delegation of authority from the Director for operations, the main responsibilities of the incumbent will be in the following key areas:

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 the 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.

The Deputy Director’s key results also have a considerable impact on overall economy, efficiency, and effectiveness of office operations as it relates to the use of corporate resources in the following areas:

• Financial services
• Human Resources
• Procurement and logistical services 
• Information and Communications Technology for Development Evaluation
   

1. Leadership and Strategic Planning

The Deputy Director supports the Director in providing organizational leadership and strategic guidance to UNDP’s evaluation function and implementing the UNDP evaluation policy. He/she develops the IEO’s annual workplan, which encompasses all workstreams, including approximately 15-35 Independent Country Program evaluations, 2-3 thematic evaluations, synthesis, corporate learning, engagement and knowledge management. He/she is responsible for fostering an environment of methodological rigor and professional empowerment of IEO’s team to live up to the high standards expected by the stakeholders. He/she supports the Director in managing interactions with the UNDP’s Senior Management, the Executive Board, and other external/ internal stakeholders.

2) Management Oversight and Supervision

The incumbent exercises management oversight in the implementation of the substantive overall programme of work of the office. The Deputy Directors supervises and provides guidance to the senior staff including team leaders regarding the operational aspects of their work. He/she is responsible for early and consistent engagement in evaluation processes to assure quality and substance, provision of substantive guidance as the work progresses and project management of issues relating to political sensitivity, credibility, timeliness and use of evaluations. 

3) Administrative, Financial and Human Resource management and accountability

The incumbent is responsible for oversight and accountability of core resources and extra-budgetary funds mobilized from donors. In securing the accountability and smooth functioning of the office, the incumbent exercises oversight and executive responsibility over the office budget, recruitment of staff and consultants, all financial expenditure and procurement, and operations support, in line with the direction of IEO’s Director. He/she directly supervises the Operations Manager, and the Chief of Sections.

4) Other Specific duties and responsibilities

Specific duties include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Maintain and ensure adherence to UNDP’s Evaluation Policy 
• Supervise evaluations or assessments of UNDP programmes, themes or policies of key importance at the corporate level.
• Support the implementation of ccutting-edge evaluation methodologies to enhance the rigor of evaluations carried out by the IEO.
• Ensure the IEO’s high quality methodological and process standards through strict guidance to the IEO’s professionals and evaluation consultants.
• Foster and sustain productive partnerships for evaluation with UN system evaluation offices/units and multilateral institutions on the one hand, and with leading evaluation institutions, networks and regional/national professional associations on the other. 
• Provide strategic advisory support and guidance on evaluation matters to country offices and HQ units, as required.
• Coordinate responses to any corporate requirements or demands from external parties.
• Coach and mentor staff as required, more particularly the mid managers, to maintain a sustainable delivery capacity in the IEO.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organisation
 

Core Competencies – UNDP Core Competencies can be found here.

• Thorough and nuanced understanding of the UN and multilateral context, as well as extensive familiarity of relevant UN values and topics, such as human rights, human development, gender, environment, and results based management, in order to provide effective leadership for all levels and all types of evaluation.
• Ability to provide overall strategic direction to evaluation staff for all levels and all types of evaluation, taking into account the broader goals, objectives and needs of UN and UNDP programmes and activities, as well as new directions and cutting-edge methods in evaluation.

Evaluations

• In-depth professional knowledge of the different components of the evaluation practice, including evaluation design, data collection and analysis, and reporting, and the skills needed to provide substantive guidance to staff on evaluation design methodology and reporting.
• Ability to plan and implement an effective office strategy for systematic follow-up to evaluation recommendations and in developing an effective dissemination and outreach strategy for evaluation reports.
• Ability to guide the distilment, communication and reporting of best practices and lessons learned.
• Excellent presentation skills and the ability to represent the evaluation office at the Executive Board, senior level meetings and other high-level fora.
• Excellent proven knowledge of emerging global development issues and evaluation trends that impact on the work of the Independent Evaluation Office and the skills necessary to advance the evaluation profession as part of the United Nations team as well as within the larger evaluation community.

Inter-personal skills:

• Excellent proven oral and written communication skills, and the ability to effectively communicate complex information in a clear and concise manner to all audiences, as well as to provide guidance to staff on all written products and oral presentations.
• Demonstrated leadership competencies in understanding and respecting for differences in culture, local customs, religious beliefs and practices, gender roles, disability, age and ethnicity, and be skillful in incorporating these when undertaking and managing evaluations as well as when leading staff.
• Excellent negotiation skills that can be applied to complex situations, within and outside the office, on all issues related to evaluation.
• Excellent facilitation skills that can be employed in high level meetings and other interactions with colleagues, peers, and other internal and external partners.

Personal attributes

• Thorough understanding of the Standards of ethical conduct for evaluators, be able to promote a strong ethic work environment in the office, have integrity and honesty in all working relationships and act as a role model for staff with regard to ethical behaviour.

Management Skills

• Strong management skills to effectively monitor the flow of the office’s evaluation work and products and to oversee the following office management tasks: organizing effective evaluation work, assigning evaluation tasks, setting up evaluation priorities, monitoring major project milestones, reviewing evaluation products for quality, establishing output goals and schedules, developing quality products, ensuring timeliness of products, and ensuring effective dissemination and utilization of evaluations.
• Excellent coaching and mentoring competencies.
• Strong networking skills, representing the office at senior level meetings, and cultivating good relationships with Member States, donors, and programme managers, while maintaining accountability and independence.
• Demonstrated leadership skills in promoting a positive work environment in the Evaluation Office by empowering staff, fostering creative problem-solving, ensuring transparent communication and participatory decision-making, and promoting open and effective interpersonal relationships among staff.

Strong administrative skills needed to effectively manage and mobilize office resources so as to maximize efficiencies and effectiveness, including procurement, budget formulation, staff allocations and other administrative procedures.

Required Skills and Experience