Evaluation Team Leaders (x2) At Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Organizational Setting

The Regional Office for Africa (RAF) of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is conducting final evaluations of two national projects in Cameroon financed by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The projects are titled

1. “Disposal of POPs and Obsolete Pesticides and Strengthening Sound Pesticide Management in Cameroon” GCP/CMR/031/GFF – being implemented between March 2015 and February 2022, and
2. “Sustainable Management of Forests under the Authority of Cameroonian councils” GCP/CMR/033/GFF – being implemented between June 2015 and December 2021.

GCP/CMR/031/GFF is financed by the Global Environment Facility and co-financed by FAO and other partners (Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MINADER), Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development (MINEPDED), CropLife, Research and Education Centre for Development (CREPD), Association of African Honest Women for Research and Development (AFAIRD)). It is implemented and supervised by FAO in collaboration with the government. The project was launched in July 2015 through a launch workshop involving project stakeholders. This project aims to support the government in the disposal of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) and obsolete pesticides and to build national capacity for their management at the community and institutional levels.

GCP/CMR/033/GFF is financed by Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), operated by the Global Environment Facility and co-financed by FAO and other partners. The project is implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in close collaboration with the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF), the Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development (MINEPDED), and the Association of Forest Councils of Cameroon (ACFCAM). The project targets 561,825 hectares (ha) of forests – 17 CFs totalling 416,901 ha and covering 21 councils, 33 forest reserves transferred to councils totalling 137,738 ha, and nine reforestation areas in the CFs totalling 7,186 ha. The global environmental objective of the project is to reduce deforestation and forest degradation in council forests (CFs) in order to improve biodiversity conservation, reduce emissions and enhance carbon stocks. Its development objective is to improve the livelihoods of local communities by promoting sustainable income-generating activities in Cameroon.

Reporting Lines

The Team Leaders will each respond to the RAF Evaluation Specialist (RES) (who is also the Evaluation Manager) under the general responsibility of the Regional Office for Africa. The FAO Representation in Cameroon will provide administrative oversight.

Technical Focus

For each of the projects, the RES/Evaluation Manager will recruit a team composed of one international evaluation team leader for each of the , as well as one national evaluation consultant based in Cameroon. This vacancy is for the position of international consultant team leaders.

The team as a whole will be qualified in the following areas:

• Project evaluation, particularly evaluation of agricultural development and GEF-funded projects is an asset;
• Technical understanding of agriculture, biodiversity and traditional agro-ecosystems management;
• Familiarity with the region’s/country’s biodiversity, socio-economic and legislative context, problems of traditional agro-ecosystems management and agriculture;
• Results-based Monitoring systems, surveys, data-collection and analysis.

Tasks and responsibilities

FAO Regional Office for Africa with support from Office of Evaluation (OED) will guide this evaluation. The team leaders’ responsibilities are to coordinating the contribution of the respective evaluation teams. Their respective mandates as Team Leaders is derived from and must fully comply with the overall Terms of Reference for the Evaluation. They will each will report to the Evaluation Manager.

Each Team Leader will coordinate the evaluation team’s activities, ensure that the methodology foreseen in the ToR is fully implemented and organize the division of labour within the team according to respective areas of expertise. He/she will also cover in detail the analysis of the project relevance, changes brought about by the project, sustainability and partnership aspects of the project and the following sections of the ToR: context, methodology and evaluation questions.

Specific Roles include:

• Review relevant background documentation made available by RAF and the project team, including the project document, the project’s logframe, progress and final reports, workshop and technical reports, among others;
• Review and complement the methodology described in the TORs, prepare an evaluation matrix and contribute to the field work design if needed.
• In accordance with the evaluation ToR: produce an evaluation Theory of Change, the Evaluation matrix and the Inception Report; further develop the evaluation methodology; contribute to the preparation of data collection tools, including questionnaires, check-lists and interview protocols as appropriate; insofar as possible, participate to the finalization of the team’s work programme;
• Lead and coordinate the collection of primary data by the evaluation team through, inter alia, interviews and meetings, face to face or virtual, with FAO concerned officers in HQ and the country office, GEF project coordination unit, and during the country visits, with key stakeholders including the Government, the FAO Representation, external partners, project teams and ultimate beneficiaries as appropriate;
• Coordinate the collection of primary data by the evaluation team during the briefing and the country visits through, inter alia, interviews and meetings, face to face or virtual, with key stakeholders such as the government entities, the FAO Representative, international organizations, information firms, private sector, civil society, academia and research institutes;
• Lead and coordinate the collection of relevant secondary data, in addition to the initial desk reviews carried out by OED, as required and identified in the evaluation matrix;
• Ensure that all the primary and secondary data collected are recorded during the evaluation process, and organized in a structured format agreed with RAF;
• Lead the analysis and discussion of findings within the evaluation team to reach preliminary conclusions that answer all evaluation issues and questions, as well as to formulate preliminary recommendations in line with findings. Ensure that all the findings are sufficiently triangulated and validated.
• Lead, coordinate and prepare all deliverables planned in the evaluation Terms of Reference. These include: preparing the final draft report according to specifications provided in the ToRs, integrating comments and suggestions received during the stakeholder meetings, and after circulation to OED, FAO and other stakeholders, as appropriate; finalize the evaluation report; prepare the comment matrix.
• Coordinate the participation and contribution of team members in all deliverables as required.
• Present the evaluation findings to key stakeholders as required; and
• Provide specialised expertise in stakeholder engagement, team management, assessing outputs, deliverables and activities carried out under his/her specific area.

Expected timeframe

The core phase of the evaluation exercise is expected to take place between October 2021 – January 2022 and will comply with global, regional and national COVID-19 guidelines.**

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• University degree in evaluation, agriculture, (agro-)economics, environmental studies, development studies, or another related field;**
• A minimum of 5 years of relevant experience in leading project evaluations, preferably of rural/agricultural development projects and/or programs **
• Working knowledge of French and English, which are the official languages of the country and through which all the evaluation communication, documents and reports are expected. Specifically, the inception and final reports will be in French and later translated to English in line with GEF evaluation policy;**
• Work experience in Cameroon or the region will be an asset.

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Extent and relevance of experience in conducting project evaluations;
• Experience in evaluating projects at field level and facilitating evaluation processes. In particular, good capacity to carry out remote and/or in-person interviews with different types of project stakeholders in Manila and in the project provinces (e.g. Government officials, project [implementation] partners, local beneficiaries, etc.), conduct focus group discussions (COVID-19 restrictions permitting);
• Experience in evaluation report writing and interviews/presentations on Zoom;
• Extent and relevance of technical experience in agricultural development, agro-biodiversity and traditional agro-ecosystems management;
• Familiarity with the country’s biodiversity, socio-economic and legislative context, problems of traditional agro-ecosystems management and agriculture;
• Proficiency in French and English;
• Knowledge of or working experience in the Cameroon is an asset;
• Familiarity with Global Environment Facility (GEF) projects and evaluations is an asset.

Additional Selection Criteria

The evaluation team members must be independent from both the formulation and implementation of the project. Therefore, applications will not be considered from evaluators who have had any direct involvement with the design or implementation of the project. Any previous association with the project, the executing partners, and other partners/stakeholders must be disclosed in the application.