Senior Evaluation Consultant (International)

Result of Service

1. Notes and summaries based on the desk review, interviews and focus group discussions, Required completion date 30th September 2024. 2. Inputs for the presentation of preliminary results and on the drafting of the final report, Required completion date 31st October 2024.

Work Location

Headquarter Amman

Expected duration

The consultant is expected to contribute approximately 15 days to the evaluation between September and October 2024. The evaluation report is to be finalized by November 2024.

Duties and Responsibilities

UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to a population of some 5.7 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a just solution to their plight. UNRWA services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance and emergency assistance. UNRWA is the largest UN operation in the Middle East with more than 30,000 staff, most involved in direct service delivery with Palestine refugee communities. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions. BACKGROUND As part of the 2024 work plan, the DIOS Evaluation Division will conduct an independent evaluation of UNRWA’s food and cash assistance interventions under the Social Safety Net Programme (SSNP) and Emergency Appeal Programmes (EA) from 2019 to 2023. UNRWA has provided food and cash assistance to more than two million Palestine refugees, or over one in three of all those registered with the Agency across its five fields of operation. Support has been provided under two interventions: (i) a Social Safety Net Programme (SSNP) that contributes to poverty mitigation, supported by the Programme Budget, which reaches almost 200,000 beneficiaries; and (ii) Emergency Appeal (EA) programmes for victims of humanitarian crisis, through which around 1.7m Palestine refugees are being assisted. While most beneficiaries of emergency assistance are in Gaza and Syria, assistance is also provided to the Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon and the West Bank. The total programme budget allocated annually to the SSNP has been about USD 31 million. At the same time, the SSNP has been increasingly supplemented by emergency assistance interventions with a budget of approximately USD 200 million. UNRWA’s programme budget provides for the most vulnerable that are highly dependent on UNRWA because of their Palestine refugee status while emergency assistance caseloads are determined as populations are impacted by socio-economic crises. The evaluation of UNRWA’s social assistance interventions will serve a dual purpose of accountability and learning. It will build upon prior evaluations to analyze how challenges and lessons identified in those have been addressed. It will also provide insights on the extent to which UNRWA’s food and cash assistance interventions have responded to the needs of Palestine refugees, including men, women, and people with disabilities. Additionally, the evaluation findings will provide further evidence and human rights-based analysis to inform decision-making on the way UNRWA administers its assistance interventions with consideration to current financial realities, global best practice, and parallel social assistance systems in the Agency’s areas of operation. As a key member of the evaluation team, the Senior Evaluation Consultant will provide guidance and technical expertise to assess UNRWA’s livelihood interventions. The consultant will be involved in finalizing the evaluation design, as well as the implementation and reporting phases of the evaluation. The consultant is expected to contribute approximately 15 days to the evaluation between September and October 2024. The evaluation report is to be finalized by November 2024. DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES Under the overall guidance of the Evaluation Team Leader, the consultant will contribute to the evaluation processes, including the development of the evaluation methodology, data collection and drafting of the report. Other duties may be assigned by the Chief of the Evaluation Division, as needed. Specific activities for each evaluation phase include: • Implementation phase: o Provide overall guidance and technical support to the evaluation team. o Support data collection and analysis in relation to the administration of UNRWA’s food and cash assistance interventions. o Support a comparative analysis of livelihood interventions in other UN agencies. o Support country case studies (including review of country documents, travel to one of the field offices, virtual and in-person interviews and focus group discussions with key stakeholders). o Participate in debriefing meetings and workshops as needed. o Contribute to the analysis and discussion of findings within the evaluation team to reach preliminary conclusions and recommendations. • Reporting phase: o Participate in meetings and workshops to discuss preliminary evaluation results, as needed. o Draft specific sections of the report and provide inputs to the overall draft evaluation report.

Qualifications/special skills

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE • An advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) from an accredited educational institution in development studies, social sciences or another field of relevance; • A minimum of 10 years of experience in the conduct of evaluations and/or implementation of livelihoods interventions; • In-depth knowledge and proven experience in designing and applying various quantitative and/or qualitative research methodologies and tools. DESIRABLE QUALIFICATIONS • Professional work experience in the MENA region; • Knowledge of livelihoods interventions for humanitarian and development purposes across governments, United Nations agencies, and NGOs; • Expertise on the use of food assistance and cash transfers in protracted and conflict contexts; • Familiarity with UNRWA and its programmes; and • Understanding of the Palestinian refugee context would be advantageous. COMPETENCIES • Professional foundation and technical skills in evaluation, including quality standards, evaluation approaches, methods and data analysis, reporting findings, conclusions and recommendations; • Management skills including work planning; • Demonstrated communication and facilitation skills; • Excellent analytical, communication and writing skills in English.

Languages

Not available.

Additional Information

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION • No previous involvement in the design and implementation of the UNRWA activities related Relief and Social Services. • The consultant will be home based with no travel.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.