Lead Evaluation Officer (Global & Regional Partnership Programs)

Summary: The Country, Corporate and Global Evaluations department (IEGCC) of the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) of the World Bank Group (WBG) seeks a lead evaluation officer, among whose principal responsibilities will feature the coordination and oversight of, as well as direct engagement in, the evaluation and review work that IEG conducts on WBG involvement in global and regional partnership programs (GRPPs).

Background

IEG is an independent unit within the WBG. It reports directly to the Board of Executive Directors, which oversees IEG’s work through its Committee on Development Effectiveness (CODE). IEG’s mission is to help improve development results through excellence in evaluation. It is responsible for: (a) assessing the results of WBG programs and activities, including its involvement in GRPPs; (b) making recommendations to help improve the development effectiveness of WBG programs and activities; (c) appraising the WBG’s self-evaluation and development risk management; (d) cooperating with the evaluation units of other international financial institutions and development assistance agencies; and (e) assisting developing countries to build effective monitoring and evaluation systems. IEG also aims to identify and disseminate lessons from experience that can help improve WBG effectiveness

The role and visibility of IEG has grown in recent years and the trend is expected to continue as the WBG and the broader development community place increasing emphasis on targeting and assessing results. IEG’s work on WBG involvement in GRPPs has similarly been growing in visibility, and IEG management is committed to ensuring the highest level of quality, relevance, professionalism, and integrity in this work, and to attracting top-quality staff to that end.

The Position

IEGCC is responsible for the evaluation of WBG country programs, including reviews of all Country Assistance Strategy Completion Reports (some 20 each year), evaluations of corporate-level initiatives and processes, and evaluations and reviews of WBG involvement in GRPPs.

The department seeks a Lead Evaluation Officer among whose principal duties and responsibilities will be to coordinate and oversee, as well as directly engage in, the evaluation and review work that IEG conducts on WBG involvement in GRPPs. The successful candidate will work alongside the current incumbent through June 2013, taking over full responsibilities thereafter.

In the recent past, IEG has reviewed about four GRPPs annually in which the World Bank is a partner: (a) to help improve the relevance and effectiveness of the programs being reviewed; (b) to identify and disseminate lessons of broader application to other programs; and (c) to contribute to the development of standards, guidelines, and good practices for evaluating GRPPs. IEG is currently initiating Global Program Reviews (GPRs) of the WBG’s partnership with two large programs — the Global Environment Facility and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization — and managing a joint evaluation of the Climate Investment Funds that is being conducted by the evaluation departments of the five multilateral development banks involved in this program.

IEG also prepares a periodic report (every 2-3 years) to the Board which synthesizes its findings from the most recently completed GPRs, and which assesses the Bank’s performance in managing and overseeing its portfolio of GRPPs. The most recent such report was published in 2011.

IEG is also playing a leading role, in conjunction with the OECD/DAC Network of Development Evaluation, in developing international standards and good practices for the evaluation of GRPPs.

The job holder will report to the Senior Manager of IEGCC. In addition to the incumbent’s principal responsibility for GRPP-related work, and depending on consequent workload, s/he will also be expected to contribute to IEG’s core mandate in various ways (for example, by reviewing and preparing comments on individual program reports, trust fund updates, and the annual report of the Development Grant Facility) as well as to IEG’s broader work program, by preparing, contributing to, or reviewing other IEG evaluation products such as project Implementation Completion Report Reviews, and country, sector, or thematic evaluations.

Note: If the selected candidate is a current WBG staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, s/he will retain his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment. All others will be offered a three-year renewable term appointment.

Note: If the selected candidate is a current Bank Group staff member with a Regular or Open-Ended appointment, s/he will retain his/her Regular or Open-Ended appointment. All others will be offered a 3 year term appointment.

The duties and responsibilities of the Lead Evaluation Officer for GRPPs will include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Planning, coordinating, and overseeing the evaluation and review work that IEG conducts on WBG involvement in GRPPs, including recommending the programs to be reviewed each year.

• Overseeing and/or leading the preparation of individual GPRs, including identifying IEG staff and consultants to undertake (appropriate parts of) the recommended reviews as well as exercising rigorous quality assurance to ensure that the GPRs meet IEG’s quality standards and “branding” requirements for GPRs.

• Leading the preparation of periodic reports to the Board on WBG involvement in GRPPs.

• On a continuing basis, leading efforts to improve IEG guidelines and methods for evaluating/reviewing GRPPs, and contributing improvements in IEG evaluation methods and guidelines more broadly.

• Working with global partners of the WBG to promote international standards for the evaluation of GRPPs, including periodic updating of the IEG/DAC GRPP Evaluation Sourcebook.

• Liaising with WBG staff working on GRPPs in the Concessional Finance and Global Partnerships Vice-Presidency as well as other central, network, regional, and practice units.

• Providing informal advice to WBG task team leaders who are initiating independent evaluations of partnership programs in which they are involved.

• Workload permitting, leading and/or contributing to the preparation of other IEG evaluation products.

• Leading and/or participating in IEG outreach efforts, with both within-WBG and external stakeholder audiences.

• Contributing to the preparation of IEG's standard reports to the Board, such as reports on specific evaluations and IEG’s annual Results and Performance of the World Bank Group report, as well as the annual budget work program and budget document.

• Mentoring and helping to fulfill learning goals of other IEG staff in their review of WBG self-evaluation products and their preparation of IEG evaluations.

Some evaluations and other activities may involve extensive operational travel. However, this is not expected to exceed some 4–5 weeks per year.

Lead Evaluation Officer (Global & Regional Partnership Programs)