Evaluation of FAO’s contribution to Strategic Objective 5 – Increase the resilience of livelihoods to threats and crises **
Call for Expressions of Interest – Senior Technical Experts
(4 positions in: disaster risk reduction; food and nutrition security analysis; livelihoods support; and trans-boundary animal diseases) **
11 February 2016 Background
FAO’s Office of Evaluation (OED) is starting an evaluation of FAO’s contribution to enhanced resilience of livelihoods (Strategic Objective 5), scheduled from December 2015 until summer 2016.
The concept of ‘resilience’ has recently gained currency in humanitarian and development circles. This comes from the recognition that the frequency of natural disasters is growing, that a number of "protracted crises" have persisted for several decades and that investments in development, early warning and humanitarian aid have failed to prevent some countries from being struck by recurrent crises. This, together with the impact of climate change, has led to a realization that crises have to be confronted as a permanent feature of the development landscape.
FAO defines resilience as: "The ability to prevent disasters and crises as well as to anticipate, absorb, accommodate or recover and adapt from them in a timely, efficient and sustainable manner. This includes protecting, restoring and improving food and agricultural systems under threats that impact agriculture, food and nutrition security, and food safety (and related public health)".
In 2013, FAO reviewed its Strategic Framework for 2010-19, stressing the importance of greater focus, collaboration across units to achieve corporate goals, and better response to country needs. The Strategic Framework, approved in June 2013, outlined five new Strategic Objectives, including "Increase the resilience of livelihoods to threats and crises" (Strategic Objective 5). Objectives
The objectives of the evaluation are to:
- Help FAO management and governing bodies assess progress made towards implementing the new FAO vision and the new orientations that are embedded in Strategic Objective 5;
- Examine how the reviewed strategic framework has added value to FAO’s efforts to enhance the resilience of rural livelihoods to vulnerabilities and crises;
- Based on the above, provide strategic recommendations for FAO and the Strategic Programme Management Team, and in particular help shape the next MTP outcomes and outputs under Strategic Programme 5.Methodology
The evaluation will rely on multiple sources for data collection and mixed-methods for analysis, validation and triangulation of evidence against the evaluation questions. Sources of data and methods of collection will include: document review and administrative data analysis; meta-synthesis of evidence from independent evaluations conducted by OED and some decentralized evaluations
commissioned by FAO country or regional offices and headquarters units; interviews and survey of FAO staff and partners involved in resilience work as well as a smaller number of interviews with country staff not involved in resilience work; and approximately 3 country case studies to complement the desk study of past and present evaluations, e.g. to highlight the kind of results achieved by the most innovative approaches. Timetable
The evaluation will require most inputs from the technical experts during the period April-July 2016, with some contributions to the final report to be delivered by 30th August 2016. At this stage, a contract duration of 75 days is envisaged for all four experts. Composition and profile of the evaluation team
The evaluation will be led by the appointed FAO-OED evaluation manager, and will avail itself of the inputs of four senior technical experts that will provide inputs into specific areas of the evaluation, as follows:
Disaster risk reduction in agriculture and related sectors
Food and nutrition security analysis
Livelihoods support in agriculture and food security
Trans-boundary animal diseases
Female candidates and candidates from developing countries are encouraged to apply. Essential qualifications of the experts
Postgraduate degree (MSc or PhD) in relevant disciplines (Economics, Development Studies, Social Sciences, Agriculture in its broad understanding, Food and Nutrition Security);
At least 15 years of relevant experience at international level in their fields of expertise;
Excellent analysis, writing and verbal communication skills;
Previous experience in conducting/taking part in independent evaluations.
Relevant country or regional experience
The working language will be English. Knowledge of other official FAO languages (particularly French and Spanish) will be advantageous for some of the case studies.
HOW TO APPLY:
Interested candidates should send their application by 1st March 2016 to Opportunities-Eval@fao.orgwith copy to Manar.Abdelmagied@fao.org. Please specify "Evaluation of SO5 - Senior Technical Experts" in the email subject line.
Applications should include a detailed Curriculum Vitae containing:
Information on gender, age, current residence and nationality;
Expected daily fee rate (exclusive of expenses); and
Availability between April-August 2016.
Potential candidates will be contacted in March 2016 for interviews. Short-listed candidates will be requested to register in the FAO iRecruitment platform.
