Arkadi Toritsyn (He / Him)

Arkadi Toritsyn is an award-winning evaluation specialist and senior policy advisor with more than 20 years of experience leading complex evaluations, analytical work, and policy advisory assignments for UNDP, UNICEF, and international partners worldwide. He has delivered 40+ evaluations across fragile, transition, and middle-income contexts, including Country Programme Evaluations, portfolio and outcome evaluations, joint programme evaluations, and large donor-funded project evaluations. Arkadi has conducted 29 evaluations for UNDP and 10+ evaluations for UNICEF, with additional assignments for UN Women, UNOSSC, OSCE, and Save the Children. His work is recognized for methodological rigor, strategic insight, political acuity, and practical relevance for management decision-making, learning, and accountability. In 2023, his evaluation work in Libya received the UNDP Headquarters Evaluation Excellence Award for Outstanding Evaluations, and his evaluation of the Ukraine Country Programme was recognized by UNICEF HQ as one of the best globally. His sector experience spans governance and public sector reform, public finance and social protection, livelihoods and resilience, climate and environmental sustainability, education, health and nutrition, disability inclusion, youth programming, and the humanitarian–development nexus. He has worked extensively across Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the Middle East, South and Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and conflict-affected settings, where political economy analysis, stakeholder sensitivity, and diplomatic judgment are essential. In addition to evaluation leadership, Arkadi brings rare experience as an evaluation commissioner and policy user. Since 2003, he has served as Senior Policy Advisor with the Ministry of Education, Government of Ontario (Canada), applying evaluation evidence to budgeting, system reform, and results-based management. He has authored or co-authored 80+ analytical reports, including Human Development Reports and Situation Analyses, and has successfully led UNDP project design and resource mobilization, mobilizing approximately USD 25 million from key donors.