Senior Evaluation Officer

The Senior Evaluation Officer is responsible for leading and managing evaluations within the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva. The role ensures evaluations are impartial, credible, and meet UN standards, providing guidance and technical support, and integrating evaluation results into strategic decision-making and programme management.

Responsibilities

• Ensures evaluations are conducted in an impartial, independent and credible manner.
• Leads the design and management of all process and programme evaluations in collaboration with the relevant Divisions/Branches.
• Ensures the integration of gender and other cross-cutting issues into the OHCHR's evaluation System.
• Provides guidance and technical support to staff members for conducting evaluations, assessments and reviews and conducts them when required.
• Ensures that evaluations meet the highest professional standards, in accordance with the United Nations evaluation Norms and Standards and are informed by emerging innovative evaluation practices.
• Participates in Human Rights and OHCHR performance and impact evaluations conducted by other entities when appropriate, e.g., donor evaluations.
• Cooperates with other UN evaluation units and professional evaluation bodies and networks to ensure the sharing of lessons learned and good practices, including representing OHCHR in the United Nations Evaluation Group (UNEG).
• Ensures evaluation results are systematically used to inform decision-making at the strategic and programme levels; prepares reports and briefings to the Senior Executive Team (SET) on evaluation recommendations and lessons learned of strategic importance.
• Coordinates with relevant Divisions to prepare and finalize all management responses to evaluation results.
• Prepares follow-up action plans to closely monitor the implementation of evaluation recommendations across OHCHR.
• Maintains effective liaison with all Divisions and Branches responsible for implementing evaluation recommendations.
• Prepares progress reports to the SMT and other relevant entities such as the General Assembly when required on progress made towards the implementation of evaluation recommendations.
• In collaboration with Divisions and Branches, ensures that evaluation results are taken into account for the design and appraisal of strategies, policies and new projects/programmes.
• Ensures evaluation principles, prerequisites and benefits are widely known and recognized in the organization.
• Designs and implements an evaluation capacity development programme as part of the OHCHR capacity building strategy on Results Based Management (RBM).
• Participates in conducting the RBM training for staff Office-wide; ensures continuous methodological improvement of and support to self-evaluation.
• Contributes to maintaining a network of evaluation focal points across the organization.
• Provides effective supervision for evaluation colleagues, assists in planning the human and financial resources needed for a fully operational monitoring and evaluation function.
• Selects and supervises evaluation consultants effectively.
• Provides leadership, guidance and direction for the effective application of the evaluation function at the strategic and policy-related levels.
• Ensures that the evaluation function serves as an effective feedback loop, within OHCHR’s RBM system, supplementing the self-assessment in the Performance Monitoring System with office-wide evaluative evidence.
• Ensures the effective linkage and synergies between information provided through the Performance Monitoring System and the evaluation functions.
• Provides guidance and support for the Office-wide implementation of the Performance Monitoring System.
• Supports field presences and Divisions at the headquarters level with the design of baseline studies, action research and surveys to systematically collect data/evidence for reporting on progress.
• Leads the preparation and update of evaluation tools and guidance for all staff.

Requirements

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or Doctorate degree, or equivalent) in social sciences, international relations, development studies or related fields is required.
• A first-level university degree in combination with two additional years of qualifying work experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
• A minimum of ten years of progressively responsible experience in programme management is required.
• A minimum of seven years of recent experience as an Evaluation Officer within the UN system or similar international organization is required.
• A minimum of five years of experience related to evaluation and programming in the field of human rights is desirable.
• Experience in knowledge management, results-based management (RBM) and organizational change is desirable.
• English is required at UN Level III proficiency.
• Either French or Spanish is desirable at UN Level III proficiency.

Skills

• Programme Management
• Evaluation
• Human-Rights-Based Evaluation
• Knowledge Management
• Result-Based Management
• Organizational Change
• Evaluation Guidance
• Technical Support
• Strategic Decision Making
• UN Evaluation Standards

Languages

English, French, Spanish