Vacancy Announcement Details

Organizational Setting

The Office of Evaluation (OED) of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations will conduct a final evaluation of the Project “Improving global forest management through improved global forest information” between September 2022 and February 2023. The evaluation will be conducted remotely and will not entail missions.

Reporting Lines

Under the overall responsibility of the Director of OED and under the technical and methodological direction of the Evaluation Manager, the Team Leader will coordinate the work of the other team member, each contributing to the evaluation in his or her area(s) of specialization.

Technical Focus

The specific objective of the Project is to facilitate well-informed and better decision-making related to forests and forestry based on the harmonized, comprehensive, timely and accurate information generated at a national and international level. This will help address challenges which have a profound effect especially on the lives of poor people: rapidly degrading key ecosystems, climate change and poor global environmental governance. The project has 6 outputs:

• High quality data reported to FRA 2020, with fewer expert estimates.
• Country reporting harmonized and streamlined.
• Technology innovations: The Forest Resources Information Management System (FRIMS) and the accessibility to Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) data through multi-purpose outputs in FAOSTAT/ CountryStat improved.
• Technical and organizational capacities strengthened through capacity building.
• Remote Sensing: Improved estimates of forest land use change at the global, regional and ecozone scales.  
• National Networking: Network of National Correspondents enhanced through participation and awareness of the FRA data collection process established within each of the 234 countries and territories participating in the FRA process.

Profile of the evaluation team 

OED is currently looking for 1 evaluation team leader and 1 forestry specialist, to evaluate the project. 

The evaluation team leader should have demonstrated experience in leading remote evaluations, supervising evaluation teams, and have expertise in sustainable forest management. 

The forestry specialist should have expertise in sustainable forest management, in particular knowledge on the process of collecting forestry data (forest resources assessments). Knowledge of remote sensing for forest land use is an asset.

Applicants must clearly indicate in their application for which position they are applying.

The candidates must be independent, meaning no previous direct involvement in the formulation, implementation or backstopping of this project. All will be required to sign a declaration of conflict of interest.

Tasks and responsibilities for the evaluation team leader:

• Review relevant background information and prepare the inception report, which includes (1) a further elaborated project background; (2) refined methodological approach; (3) an evaluation matrix; (4) a stakeholder analysis; (5) a description of limitations and risks; (6) a detailed work plan including the evaluation timeline and deliverables.
• Lead the preparation of data-collection tools and planning.
• Lead the collection of primary and secondary data, which includes: (1) desk review of relevant project documentation;           (2) electronic survey; (3) virtual interviews and focus group discussions with key project stakeholders, partners and beneficiaries. 
• the team leader is responsible for coordinating the division of labour and contributions of the evaluation team member for this evaluation, ensure the quality control of his/her outputs, and to supervise him/her during the data-collection and analysis through regular meetings and updates.
• Lead the final analysis and discussion of findings to reach preliminary findings and conclusions that answer all evaluation issues and questions, and preliminary recommendations in line with the findings and conclusions. Present the preliminary evaluation findings, conclusions and recommendations to key stakeholders post data-collection.
• Prepare the draft and final evaluation report and appendices/annexes, in English.

Tasks and responsibilities for the forestry specialist:

• Review relevant background documentation and contribute to the stakeholder analysis.
• Contribute to the preparation of data-collection tools and the planning.
• Actively participate in the collection of primary and secondary data, which includes: (1) desk review of relevant project documentation; (2) electronic survey; (3) virtual interviews and focus group discussions with key project stakeholders, partners and beneficiaries.
• Contribute to all evaluation products and deliverables outlined in the evaluation Terms of Reference, including contributing to the preparation of, and commenting on the evaluation report.
• Participate and contribute to the evaluation team’s meetings, including the overall analysis and presentation of preliminary evaluation findings to key project stakeholders.

Full details available on the FAO website. Application deadline 31st August.