Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist (Child Rights Monitoring), NOC, FT, Cairo– Egypt, MENA

Contract

This is a NO-3 contract. This kind of contract is known as National Professional Officers. It is normally only for nationals. It's a staff contract. More about NO-3 contracts.

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.

Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.

And we never give up.

For every child, protection

The fundamental mission of UNICEF is to promote the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything the organization does — in programs, in advocacy and in operations. The equity strategy, emphasizing the most disadvantaged and excluded children and families, translates this commitment to children’s rights into action. For UNICEF, equity means that all children have an opportunity to survive, develop and reach their full potential, without discrimination, bias or favoritism. To the degree that any child has an unequal chance in life — in its social, political, economic, civic and cultural dimensions — her or his rights are violated. There is growing evidence that investing in the health, education and protection of a society’s most disadvantaged citizens — addressing inequity — not only will give all children the opportunity to fulfill their potential but also will lead to sustained growth and stability of countries. This is why the focus on equity is so vital. It accelerates progress towards realizing the human rights of all children, which is the universal mandate of UNICEF, as outlined by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, while also supporting the equitable development of nations.

Egypt suffers from a limited availability and access to robust, disaggregated and timely data on children rights. Updated figures are currently available for less than half (47.5 %) of the SDG indicators. Data on child-related indicators are available just for 31 of 44 measurable indicators(Child diagnostic paper).

Data gaps have been exacerbated by delays in conducting major national socio-economic surveys and by inconsistency in reporting as per global standards. Available data is also not fully utilised due to limited capacity for data collection and analysis and limited accessibility to data sources.

In recent years UNICEF-Egypt has expanded its engagement in analysis and advocacy around multidimensional poverty. UNICEF has provided technical and strategic support to the new social protection system and to the generation and management of knowledge and data to monitor changes in the main rights deprivations.

Increased knowledge and understanding of the poverty dynamics and their multidimensional manifestations is a crucial element to foster a more conducive policy environment while at the same time informing and guiding the development of policies and programmes. This requires joint efforts and improved Government capacity to produce and analyse high-quality data and evidence and an improved and simplified access to data through better data sharing frameworks. This, in turn, will also contribute to improving political accountability and will support vulnerable children and their families to increasingly benefit from evidence-driven and effective anti-poverty interventions, including social protection, and increasingly practice behaviors that reduce the transmission of poverty across generations.

How can you make a difference?

The Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist (Child Rights) is responsible for strengthening child rights systems monitoring, quality of SitAn, documentation and establishment of data analysis, situation assessments and monitoring and reporting systems for high impact interventions, and in support to sector’s needs. Facilitates application, adaptation and operationalization of UNICEF data strategy, directives and standards in close collaboration with relevant Office counterparts.

Incumbent will assist in the development of national capacities for producing evidence (statistics, research, evaluation) and for child rights monitoring (accountability mechanisms), with special attention to the interest, concern and participation of government, community, and civil society stakeholders – and groups most at risk of being left behind. The incumbent will support the availability of quality and up-to-date, evidence, data and analysis on child deprivations and well-being, including relevant SDG indicators. He/She will support government agencies to be better equipped to generate and use new evidence for more inclusive and equitable decision-making and public debate.

Incumbent will lead the establishment and strengthening of research collaborations with external government, other UN agencies, and non government partners to build a nexus between research, evidence and advocacy and policy support. Incumbent will also support the identification, documentation, validation and sharing of lessons learned and good practices related to child rights within the Country Office and beyond.

Summary of key results:

1. Situation Monitoring and Assessment Duties & Tasks § In coordination with other stakeholders, support the collection of SDGs and other key social development indicators through national surveys such as Multi-Indicator Cluster Surveys and other surveys to improve national planning. § Support partners in the establishment and management of national statistical databases, ensuring that key indicators are readily accessible by key stakeholders. Potential uses include the Situation Analysis, Common Country Assessment, and Mid-Term Reviews. § Develop a collective Situation Monitoring and Assessment system owned by key partners at national, regional and local level which supports the preparation of country level statistical and analytic reports on the status of children’s and women’s rights issues; and which allow, when opportunities emerge to influence developmental and social policies. To include technical support to global reporting obligations including Responsible Data for Children Initiative, national reports on progress toward the SDGs, and toward CRC and CEDAW fulfilment. § Support the work led by UNICEF programme managers in their efforts to strengthen sector-specific administrative data and statistical systems and capacities. § Generate and analyse real time information using innovative mobile technology-based approaches, to monitor children’s access to social services.

   2. Strengthening Child Rights Monitoring and Reporting Systems Duties & Tasks § Collaborate to implement capacity building strategies as a joint commitment with other developmental partners. Utilize a range of appropriate skills building strategies to develop a nationally owned child rights monitoring systems generating high quality evidence on the situation of children for use by policy makers, implementers and development partners. § Actively seek partnerships with knowledge institutions at national, regional and local level for the identification of capacity gaps and development of strategies to address them, ensuring that capacities to monitor child rights are developed.

   3. Coordination, Networking and Knowledge Management Duties & Tasks § Lead the establishment and strengthening of research collaborations with external government, other UN agencies, and non government partners to build a nexus between research, evidence and advocacy and policy support. § Represent UNICEF in external networking meetings and events on data and evidence for children. § Collaborate with Data, Analytics, Planning and Monitoring at RO and HQ for overall coordination of priority research, and monitoring activities. § Support to ensure that current and accurate child rights monitoring data and results are included in country reports, studies, and knowledge sharing networks. § Undertake lessons-learned reviews on successful and unsuccessful data monitoring practices and experience at the country level, and ensure they are shared as appropriate. § Develop and sustain learning through external data and evidence knowledge networks to identify innovations and lessons learned that may be relevant for the CO and partners to improve their monitoring and reporting functions. § Coordinate office wide initiatives to use mobile technology to generate and analyse real time information on child rights to influence child rights programming and policy making.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

Education: Advanced university degree in social sciences, statistics, planning development and social/public policy.

Experience: A minimum of five years of professional experience in child rights monitoring and research.

Experience in Knowledge Management is required.

Experience in managing large databases on social indicators is required.

Experience in managing/facilitating national surveys, including MICS, DHS, HIECS is a desirable.

Experience in working in Government and/or UN agencies is desirable.

Experience or knowledge in working with the National Statistical Office (CAPMAS) is desirable.

Fluency in English and Arabic is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Nurtures, leads and manages people (2) Builds and maintains partnerships (3) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (4) Drive to achieve results for impact (5) Innovates and embraces change (6) Manages ambiguity and complexity (7) Thinks and acts strategically (8) Works collaboratively with others.

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements. UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. For this position males are encouraged to apply.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance. Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station, which will be facilitated by UNICEF, is required for IP positions. Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Government employees that are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.