Evaluation Officer (Turkey, Istanbul)

The Executive Director's division (EDD) provides the vision and leadership through which country offices and technical divisions are supported in the efficient delivery of the General and European Programme of Work (GPW/EPW) and the WHO Programme Budget. It encompasses the functions of programme and resource management, resource mobilization, external relations and communications, and support to governing bodies of the European Region.

Within the EDD Division, Programme and Resource Management (PRM) aims to support the establishment and creation of a culture of evaluation in the European Region (Regional Office and country offices), ensuring evaluation plays a central role in the regional efforts to increase accountability for results, to make evidenced-based policy, to promote organizational learning and to improving corporate performance through the systematic implementation of evaluation findings and lessons learnt. In addition, PRM has the overall responsibility for the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of WHO programmes at the regional and country levels and in strengthening the alignment and joint work across the three levels of the Organization. It is also responsible for the management of corporate resources and the effective and efficient allocation of such resources to achieve the results laid out in the GPW/EPW.

The Evaluation Officer provides high level expert technical and operational leadership to the evaluation function in the WHO Regional Office for Europe aiming to enhance and strengthen regional evaluation practice. The Evaluation Officer coordinates the development of regional and country evaluation plans, contributing to the promotion and operationalization of a quality evaluation culture and ensures the timely planning, management, reporting and both internal and external evaluation of EURO's technical work within the framework of the WHO Evaluation Policy. Evaluation is a critical function for the European Regional Office's implementation of the European Programme of Work (EPW), the General Programme of Work (GPW) and the Programme Budget.

Capacity building, advice, and guidance 

1. Provide strategic, policy and operational advice, information and guidance to evaluation managers at regional and country levels on the conduct of decentralized evaluations through application of the Framework of the WHO evaluation policy; 

2. Support evaluation capacity development in the region, e.g., through the development of relevant materials, conducting a variety of briefings and trainings. Prepare all the briefings and reports related to the evaluation function as requested by EDD/PRM for the governing bodies and other relevant meetings. 

Management of the evaluation function

3. Coordinate the development and implementation of regional and country evaluation plans (including budget considerations), to ensure adequate evaluation coverage of the most salient topics in the region (including tracking where donor proposals and agreements mandate evaluations) in overprogrammed budget cycle. Manage these monitoring and evaluation plans, budget, and funds to successful completion so that all evaluations are relevant, timely, credible, and useful to the region. 

4. Oversee the application of an organization-wide quality assurance system to ensure that regional and country-level evaluations are conducted in accordance with the most updated/applicable WHO Evaluation Policy and UNEG Norms and Standards for evaluation. 

5. Initiate, design and conduct individual decentralize devaluations both internal and with external evaluators including preparation of the terms of reference, facilitating access to all relevant documents, stakeholders and secondary data. Oversee the recruitment and management of the external evaluation team. Manages all external contracts for evaluations, including issuance of bid solicitations, development of contracts, provision of adequate administrative and logistical support (travel, meetings, and field visits). 

6. Ensure that evaluations are impartial, independent, and credible and are of excellent quality and contribute to corporate accountability, evidence-based policymaking, organizational learning, and performance improvement.

7. Support EDD in the commissioning and manage independent evaluations of WHO strategic contributions at the country level (CSE)with the WHO Evaluation Office, in close collaboration with the respective WHO country office, the Country Support and Partnerships (CPA) division and the Country Support Unit Network and through application of the CSE framework. 

8. Facilitate the European Region Organization-wide thematic evaluations led by the WHO Evaluation Office and support such evaluations., through facilitation of data collection in the region, liaison with key stakeholder in the regional office and with its partners, and provision of technical and strategic inputs into these evaluations. 

9. Manage the draft report review process by stakeholders aiming to create agreement and commitment on the way forward. 

10. Review and make recommendations on inception reports and verify the satisfactory submission of evaluation reports, their issuance, publication, and dissemination. 

Organizational learning 

11. Prepare periodic and ad-hoc reports for the senior leadership evaluation-related issues of organizational and region-wide importance and, in coordination with relevant PRM team functions, contribute to the periodic and ad-hoc monitoring exercises. Ensure the explicit link between evaluation findings and corporate planning, monitoring, and reporting.

12. Maintain an online inventory of all evaluations performed in the European Region and maintains a system to track evaluation findings and management responses to evaluation.

13. Ensure that all applicable findings and recommendations emanating from both regional (decentralized) and corporate evaluations are followed up on in the region, e.g., by organizing meetings, workshops, and other discussions on evaluation results, advising key stakeholders in the management response process, and assisting with efforts to follow up on management responses and their associated action plans.

14. Develop material to promote transparent and effective communication of WHO's evaluation work and findings in support of organizational learning, including preparation of an annual progress report to the Regional Committee on evaluative activities of the European Region.

Global networks 

15. Contribute, together with counterparts from other regions (evaluation officers and/or advisers) and the WHO Evaluation Office, to strategies, approaches, guidance, procedures and tools for strengthening the evaluation function and evaluation practice in the Organization. Contribute to the work of the United Nations Evaluation Group and regional evaluation network activities, as appropriate.

Other duties

16. Support PRM essential operations and assume temporary/acting duties, as part of the PRM team, as and when needed, to ensure uninterrupted business continuity of the PRM functions.

Full details on the WHO website . Application deadline 22 December.

220 East 42nd Street, Room 2036
New York, NY 10017, USA