Impact Evaluation Specialist

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT:

As the largest humanitarian agency in the world, WFP is committed to generating rigorous impact evaluation evidence to better understand the needs of the people they serve and to support them in transitioning out of food insecurity.

WFP’s 2022 Evaluation Policy defines impact evaluations as measuring changes in development outcomes of interest for a target population that can be attributed to a specific programme or policy through a credible counterfactual.

Impact evaluations have already significantly altered the way the world understands poverty and the effectiveness of development interventions. But humanitarian and transitional development contexts have not yet benefitted from the same level of impact evaluation evidence. The Impact Evaluation Strategy (2019-2026) [SL1] lays out WFP's vision for increasing the coverage and use of rigorous impact evaluations in humanitarian and development settings, highlighting the organization's renewed commitment to generating operationally relevant evidence of global significance.

This position will help WFP respond to growing demand from host countries, donors and policymakers for high-quality impact evaluation evidence. Impact evaluations are delivered by WFP’s Office of Evaluation (OEV) at the request of country offices. They are usually undertaken during programme implementation over a multi-year period.

Impact evaluations are delivered in line with corporate evidence priorities through impact evaluation “windows”. These windows are portfolios of impact evaluations in specific priority evidence areas, agreed with WFP management, which will be updated over time as the organization’s evidence priorities change. Current impact evaluation windows include: 1) cash-based transfer and gender; 2) climate and resilience; 3) school-based programmes; and 4) nutrition. This position will primarily support OEV’s Climate and Resilience Window and the consultant will report to the Evaluation Officer coordinating this window.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES:

The main accountabilities and responsibilities are:

1. Support the coordination and management of WFP’s Impact Evaluation Windows (20%):

• Together with the team and other stakeholders, contribute to defining future evidence priorities and impact evaluation research questions.
  • Gather documents, conduct or outsource literature reviews and data as necessary for preparing activities.
  • Conduct relevant analysis in support of key window and evaluation phases.
  • Develop and maintain IE management tools, data banks, e-library, information, and archive systems for assigned work (including in SharePoint and Teams).

2. Support WFP to learn and use appropriate tools and methods for impact evaluation activities (10%):

• Actively share lessons learned from supported impact evaluations (e.g., measurement tools, data collection protocols, analyses, etc.) with OEV, regional evaluation officers (REOs) and country offices.

3. Support the coordination of impact evaluations delivered through WFP windows (70%):

• Support the design of the impact evaluation in accordance with best practices as well as WFP Process Guide. Impact evaluations should use context appropriate methods of analysis and data collection tools and innovate accordingly whenever necessary.
• Lead or contribute to the procurement of Institutional Review Board (IRB) approvals.
• Support the procurement of data collection firms and support data collection activities in a manner that is best suited for the impact evaluation and has the potential for meeting other WFP monitoring and evaluation needs.
• Assist in the design, revision, and support the programming of household survey questionnaires.
• Lead or support data analysis in accordance with agreed impact evaluation designs and within timeframes that maximise the opportunity for evidence to be used in WFP and other partners decision-making processes.
• Lead the day-to-day engagement with field coordinators and other stakeholders at country and regional office level.
• Produce or review detailed reports that outline impact evaluation activities and findings at the inception, mid-line(s), and end line of each impact evaluation, in accordance with WFP guidance and templates.
• Support the quality assurance and peer review processes for impact evaluation reports.
• Lead or support the design and dissemination workshops and undertake field visits as required to support impact evaluation related activities.

4. Any other duties assigned by the Head of the Impact Evaluation Unit.

DELIVERABLES AT THE END OF THE CONTRACT:

1. Window-level and individual impact evaluation outputs (eg. concept notes, pre-analysis plans, reports);
2. Successful management of impact evaluations;
3. Portfolio of impact evaluation outputs and communication products;
4. Clear and effective impact evaluation communications outputs;

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE REQUIRED:

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