Evaluation Officer

Date: 13 February 2023
Grade: IS-2
Deadline: 06 March 2023 (11:59 PM KST)
Job Category: International
Salary: USD 91,970 net (plus attractive benefits, that include the following allowances (as appliable): Relocation, dependency, education assistance and home country travel)

Contract Duration: 36 months

Introduction

The mission of the Green Climate Fund (“GCF”, “Fund”) is to assist developing countries to respond to climate change while bringing prosperity to their peoples.

Established in 2010, the GCF invests in transformational climate projects in the developing world. The Fund makes an ambitious contribution to global climate action and channels significant financial resources into developing countries to help build low-emission and climate-resilient societies. It is country-driven and undertakes actions that reflect the circumstances of each country concerned and its national aspirations. The GCF is a key enabler of the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

The GCF’s diverse workforce is advancing its mission from its headquarters in South Korea. Our talented staff makes unique contributions to the Fund, enriching the institution through their combined expertise and professional commitment.

The Independent Evaluation Unit (IEU) of the GCF is mandated by the GCF Board under paragraph 60 of its Governing Instrument to inform its decision making. The IEU has a mandate for both an accountability function and for supporting learning. These are central to the GCF as a learning organization as also laid out in its Governing Instrument.

The IEU has several objectives:

• Inform decision-making by the Board and identify, disseminate lessons learned; contributing to guiding the GCF and stakeholders as a learning institution, providing strategic guidance;
•  Conduct periodic independent evaluations of GCF performance to objectively assess the results of the GCF and the effectiveness and efficiency of its activities;
• Provide evaluation reports to the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement for purposes of periodic reviews of the Financial Mechanism.

Position Objective

The Independent Evaluation Unit (“IEU”) of the GCF is seeking to recruit an Evaluation Officer with a focus on data. Under the overall guidance of the Head of IEU and supervision of the DataLab team lead, the Evaluation Officer will be supporting the DataLab workstream in carrying out its responsibilities. The incumbent will provide technical data analysis guidance for conducting evaluations for GCF projects and programmes and other core tasks of DataLab, which would include learning papers and methodologies inputs to evaluation policy, evidence gap maps, thematic and strategic evaluations, synthesis and related products, user’s manual and data guidelines, business processes and standard operating procedures.

S/he will be responsible for supporting the IEU in building and strengthening data system and their use in evaluation. The role requires an excellent grasp of quantitative methods including meta-data analyses. The candidate will need to demonstrate an exceptional understanding and mastery of data collection and management and ability to apply quantitative methods to complex settings are a must as well as experience in deploying various evaluation methodologies and approaches.

As part of a strong team, s/he will also be responsible for supporting the IEU’s external relations strategy, by supporting the development and dissemination of key messages to be conveyed to partners and stakeholders internal and external of the Green Climate Fund.

Duties and Responsibilities Purpose

• Work closely with the team and management to ensure alignment of data analysis with evaluation needs;
• Ensure consistent, high-quality analytical support for evaluations and other outputs of the IEU; ensuring backstopping;
• Conduct qualitative and quantitative data analysis and extraction, ensure the quality of data-related outputs in IEU
• Design survey instruments and execute survey design, facilitate data collection;
• Effectively communicate data and analysis results: both as data visualizations and in writing;
• Ability to spot and troubleshoot data collection, analysis, and reporting problems.

Engagement

• Identify issues and operational factors which impact the consistent delivery of objectives set in IEU’s work plan; advise on possible remedial approaches to sustain and advance quality;
• Inform process owners on experience-based improvement opportunities for data and evaluation process refinement;
• Engage with consultants, experts, and stakeholder groups for surveys both on- and offline, (phone) interviews, and other types of data collection;
• Undertake basic tasks such as data extraction, and general evaluation support and also work with consultants and interns for this purpose as well as to do sophisticated analyses;
• Deliver background support to IEU’s external consultant projects, including initial screening and review of project/programme funding proposals and concept notes, interactions with accredited entities in bilateral meetings, preparation of assessment findings, maintenance of the operations database;
• Support any additional analytical and operational tasks as assigned by the IEU; and
• Perform other related duties, as required.

Delivery

• Effectively delivers evaluations that are robust with high-quality data analysis, within the timeline and resources established
• Identify methodological opportunities arising from a better data management, as well as data needs with improved methodological uptake.
• Perform quality assurance for evaluations and other output products of the IEU in the field and at headquarters;
• Provide organizational and substantive support for DataLab core activities
• Ensure lessons learned from ongoing and past evaluations are identified and implemented.

Requirements (Education, experience, technical competencies required of the job

• Master's Degree in qualitative and quantitative methods, applied statistics, climate sciences or related fields.
• At least four years of relevant work experience in a professional capacity, such as experience in evaluating programmes addressing climate change, development and economic sector, within an international organization, development agency, governmental, private sector or non-profit sector;
• Proven track record in data collection, analysis, and statistical skills for assessment and evaluation work.
• Strong skills in using statistical, visualization and geospatial software packages, such as R,  Excel, Tableau, Power BI  and have experience in applying such software in evaluation contexts.
• Proven track record in development and environmental projects, including field experience and experience with larger panel datasets;
• Ability to articulate complex issues verbally and in writing in a concise manner;
• Mature judgment and absolute commitment to confidentiality;
• Familiarity with climate change topics, public health, and international politics is desirable;
• Knowledge of another UN language is an advantage. Fluency in French and/or Spanish would be considered an asset.

The closing date for application is 06 March 2023. Applications submitted after the deadline may not be considered.

*The person assessed by the Selection Panel as most suitable for the position will be proposed for appointment. Selection among short-listed candidates will also take into account performance at interview, appropriate testing, and references. 

Applications from women and nationals of developing countries are strongly encouraged.