Mixed-methods Impact Evaluation Consultant – Adolescent girls & violence against children Evaluation Office, New York, United States, remote, with travel to project locations 12 months, # 595428

About the role

UNICEF’s Evaluation Office (EO) supports the organization’s 135+ country offices in finding evidence-based solutions for the world’s most vulnerable children. The EO conducts strategic global, institutional effectiveness, humanitarian, and impact evaluations, and assures the quality and use of UNICEF evaluations by establishing norms, standards, guidelines, as well as knowledge sharing and networking.

The purpose of this consultancy is to support the implementation of the Impact Catalyst Fund (ICF) thematic windows on child marriage and social norms, violence in schools, and the demand-driven portfolio under Power4Girls. The consultancy will also undertake activities central to the scoping, development, and accompaniment of broader impact evaluation opportunities with an adolescent girls, violence, and child protection lens, if required.

Responsibilities

• Lead or contribute to rigorous impact evaluations, including design, preparation, and study implementation in low-income settings.
• Collect primary data (quantitative and/or qualitative) on violence against children topics, ensuring adherence to ethics and referral protocols to safeguard children during data collection.
• Support the scoping, development, and accompaniment of impact evaluation opportunities focused on adolescent girls, violence, and child protection.
• Collaborate with regional evaluation teams and UNICEF country offices to align evaluations with programmatic priorities.
• Contribute to the dissemination of findings and recommendations to inform UNICEF programs and policies.

Requirements

• Advanced university degree (Masters or above) in economics, public health, public policy, political science, evaluation, development studies, or sociology.
• Over 5 years of professional experience leading or contributing to rigorous impact evaluations, including design, preparation, and study implementation in low-income settings.
• Experience collecting primary data (quantitative and/or qualitative) on violence against children topics, including understanding of ethics and referral protocols needed to safeguard children during data collection.
• Basic ethics certificates to facilitate primary studies on Human Subjects (e.g., CITI certificates or similar).
• Familiarity with UNICEF programmatic mandate and understanding of evidence generation standards and processes for child-focused impact evaluations.

Skills

• Solid technical expertise in both quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods used for identifying and measuring impacts and complementarity evaluation questions, including cost-effectiveness.
• Proficiency in using statistical analysis software packages, including Stata/R and NVivo/ATLAS.ti.
• Demonstrated knowledge of the current evidence and previous research on child marriage, violence against children, and adolescent girls.
• Track record of authorship/co-authorship in peer-reviewed journals.

Language Requirements

• Fluency in English is required.
• Proficiency in French, Spanish, or Arabic is an asset.

Desirable Attributes

• Ability to deliver data analysis and evaluations under tight deadlines and through multi-stakeholder consultative processes.
• Excellent ability to present technical information to a non-technical audience, including strong drafting and presentation skills in English.
• Willingness to coordinate and work across relevant time zones, primarily including Rome and Nairobi, as well as Beirut and Kolkata.