Monitoring and Evaluation Assistant SC5 Bishkek and Osh

Monitoring and Evaluation Assistant (SC-5 level)

WFP Kyrgyz Republic

Location: Bishkek, Osh

Contract length: 6 months with possible extension, subject to performance and funding availability.

Organisational Context:

The Kyrgyz Republic is a small, landlocked, mountainous country bordered by China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan with a population of just over 6.2 million people, mainly living in rural areas. After it gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the economy grew, poverty fell, child mortality declined and life expectancy increased. However, since 2008 there have been a series of economic and political setbacks, and now the pandemic increased the number of poor people in the country, because of reduced economic activities, decreased remittances, price spikes and a growing fiscal gap.

WFP has laid the foundations for a programme of support through social protection, rural development, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation with a view to supporting policy development and institutional capacity strengthening, establishing pilot productive safety nets and optimizing school feeding modalities to bring immediate and longer-term benefits for food-insecure, vulnerable and poor communities. Activities under the Country Strategic Plan (CSP) 2018-2022 are aimed at strengthening the national capacities with a view to institutionalizing and scaling up WFP’s interventions with complementary government resources and promoting comprehensive food security governance at all levels to address food insecurity and malnutrition.

WFP is committed to attaining the highest standards of accountability by optimizing its performance management system to realize the most effective and efficient use of resources, conducting monitoring to generate evidence for decision-making and supporting effective activity level and donor reporting.

Job purpose:

The M&E Assistant is responsible for developing and maintaining data relevant to monitoring and evaluation activities of the WFP Office in the Kyrgyz Republic.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES (not all-inclusive):

Under the supervision of the Head of M&E and in close coordination with other programme assistants, monitoring assistants and the colleagues in support functions (supply chain, finance, and budget) under the general supervision of the Deputy Country Director, the M&E Assistant will be responsible for the following:

1. Establish and maintain an efficient M&E information management system:

• Support the Country Office in implementing a mobile data collection and analysis using the corporate systems and tools (MODA, Survey Designer) by developing and adjusting monitoring forms, data extraction and processing and providing training and coaching to the users (field monitoring assistants, programme assistants, programme managers, as well as external government and non-government partners);
• Maintain the functionality of the Feedback and Complaints Mechanisms and its tracking system to record and address incoming feedback from beneficiaries and partners;
• Support in managing, harmonizing and updating the monitoring and reporting tracking sheets for process, output and outcome level monitoring for optimized data flow and reporting in liaison with programme assistants and Budget and Programming Unit;

• Archive data and maintain key monitoring datasets synchronised and compatible with other datasets used by the Country Office, Regional Bureau and Headquarters (COMET, Excel datasheets, SPSS databases, MODA, mTRACK, Survey Designer, Tableau, etc);

• Support in optimization of tools and systems used in monitoring data collection, processing and reporting.

2. Support in providing analysis of monitoring data to be used for programming:

• Regularly update the tools and sampling applied for the outsourced monitoring (Food Security Outcome Monitoring, Post-Distribution Monitoring) using the corporate guidance and considering the Country Office specific requirements, provide training and coaching to the outsourced third-party monitoring agencies in data collection, cleaning and handling, conduct quality checks of the data collected, update SPSS syntaxes and perform descriptive and comparative statistical analysis;
• Assist programme staff in conducting basic analysis of the process (activity-level) monitoring data (MODA) to inform on whether the assistance is targeted at the right people and if the activities are implemented in a timely and quality manner (including cross-cutting issues of accountability to beneficiaries, beneficiary protection, gender and environment);
• Assist .

3. Monitoring field visits and reporting as required:

• Implement regular oversight monitoring visits to check if field project activities are implemented as planned and in quality manner, and if regular monitoring activities are progressing as planned;
• Conduct systematic random monitoring of project sites that were supported by WFP in the previous years to assess sustainability and benefits;

4. Other deliverables
5. Provide administrative and logistics support during outsourcing of M&E activities, procuring goods/services for M&E related processes and events and document translation;
6. Support any other monitoring, evaluation, research and assessment activities in the Country Office.

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE:

• Previous work experience to provide effective M&E assistance: Proven experience in supporting the design and implementation of project monitoring, including understanding of the M&E chain in programming, ability to design monitoring tools (questionnaires, instructions, sampling, analysis plan, etc), data cleaning and processing (using basic statistics), and overall familiarity with qualitative data collection methods.

• Proven ability to communicate effectively in writing.

• Ability to plan and organize work under tight deadlines.

• Ability to work independently and efficiently.

• Strong teamwork and knowledge management skills.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED:

Education: Completion of secondary school education. A post-secondary certificate in the related functional area is desirable.

Computer skills:

Literacy in Office365 applications, incl. collaborative working through MS Teams.

Excellent knowledge of data processing software (Excel), database management and data visualization skills (tableau) are considered an asset.

Basic/intermediate knowledge of statistical software (SPSS or alternative).

Language: Fluency in English, Russian and Kyrgyz.

TALENTED WOMEN ARE ENCOURAGED TO APPLY

We look for applicants with the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian values. We commit to promote diversity, gender parity and equality between men and women.

WFP strives to build a work environment that is safe and respectful, and free of sexual harassment and abuse of authority. We believe in open communication, and every individual at WFP is treated with respect regardless of gender, age, ethnicity, religious and political beliefs, etc.

Closing date: 24 August 2021

This position is open ONLY to Kyrgyz citizens or those authorized to live and work in the Kyrgyz Republic according to national regulations. Applicants who do not meet this criterion will not be considered for this position.

WFP does not charge any fees at any stage of its recruitment process.

Only candidates who are short-listed will be contacted.