Monitoring & Evaluation Programme Officer

Contract

This is a UNV International Specialist contract. This kind of contract is known as International UN Volunteer. It is normally internationally recruited only. More about UNV International Specialist contracts.

The Local Climate Adaptive Living (LoCAL) facility was designed and launched in 2011 with the aim of promoting climate change-resilient communities and local economies by establishing a standard and internationally recognized country-based mechanism to channel climate finance to local government authorities (LGAs) in LDCs and to increase local resilience, thereby contributing to the achievement of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly the specific goals of poverty eradication (SDG1) and climate action (SDG13). LoCAL increases awareness and capacities to respond to climate change at the local level, integrates climate change adaptation into local governments' planning and budgeting systems, in a participatory and gender-sensitive manner, and increases the amount of finance available to local governments for climate change adaptation. LoCAL focuses on the delivery of four outputs that will directly contribute to increasing local governments’ access to climate finance and building resilience to climate change:

• Output 1 – Awareness and capacities to respond to climate change adaptation at the local level are increased; • Output 2 – Climate Change Adaptation (CCA) is mainstreamed into government’s planning and budgeting systems and investments are implemented in line with the Performance-Based Climate Resilience Grants (PBCRG) mechanism; • Output 3 – The PBCRG system is effectively and sustainably established in participating countries and leads to an increased amount of CCA finance available to local government and local economy; • Output 4 – The role of local authorities and of the PBCRGs in addressing climate change are increasingly recognized at international level, through outreach, learning and quality assurance.

LoCAL combines performance-based climate resilience grants (PBCRGs) with technical and capacity-building support. PBCRGs ensure programming and verification of climate change expenditures at the local level and offer strong incentives for general performance improvements targeting areas of importance for enhanced resilience. The PBCRG can be seen as an earmarked cross-sectoral grant with conditions attached to the use of its funding for climate change adaptation beyond business as usual. Combined with regular grant allocations, PBCRGs enable 100 per cent of the investments in climate-sensitive sectors to become climate resilient over time.

The PBCRGs consist of a financial top-up to cover the additional costs of making investments climate resilient and/or of additional investments for climate change adaptation. These grants complement regular allocations made by the central level to local governments through the respective intergovernmental fiscal transfer system. They include a set of minimum conditions, performance measures and a menu of eligible investments.

The Programme operates in three distinct phases: • Phase I: Piloting, consists of an initial scoping analysis, followed by testing in two to four local governments. • Phase II: Consolidating, takes place in 5–10 local governments in a country. It involves collecting lessons and demonstrating the mechanism’s effectiveness at a larger scale. • Phase III: Scaling-up, full national roll-out of LoCAL based on the results of the previous phases and lessons learned.

The Monitoring & Evaluation Programme Officer will be part of the network of 30+ LoCAL country programmes and benefit from the links with this network. As part of the LoCAL Team, working under the direct supervision of the Programme Specialist, the Monitoring & Evaluation Programme Officer will contribute to the effective delivery of the Programme’s activities, covering all the expected results. In carrying out his/her work, the Monitoring & Evaluation Programme Officer will work closely with national and subnational governments and partners to ensure the good delivery of the action, the reporting, and the monitoring and evaluation performing the functions below:

1.) Programme Management:

• Contribute to the development and implementation of assigned LoCAL country programs and conduct monitoring and evaluation of respective workplans, in close collaboration with UNCDF Country Teams, the Global Programme Manager and the Global Project Secretariat; • Contribute to the provision of technical assistance to assigned LoCAL country programs (ex. writing terms of reference, memoranda of understanding, letter of agreement, recruitment and management of consultants); • Contribute to strengthening the quality of monitoring and evaluation systems of program developments and implementation (including preparation and monitoring of the annual work plan, participation in field missions, contribution to the preparation of annual reports), identify problems and issues to be addressed and propose corrective actions, and identify and track follow-up actions; • Liaise with relevant parties and maintain close working relationship with key stakeholders at various levels by building linkages and networks; • Implement the LoCAL LoCAL methodology for private climate finance access for climate smart/resilient investments and development of the investment pipeline; • Collect intelligence on technical and financial partners, identify opportunities for collaboration with key actors and the development of partnerships for LoCAL globally and in assigned countries; • Coordinate the organisation of events, meetings, conferences, etc., including proposing agenda topics, identifying participants, preparation of documents and presentations, etc. • Facilitate the process of preparation, design, submission and approval of programme/project concepts and full-fledged proposals for financing. • Contribute to operations activities, including finance, planning, human resources, procurement, transport, IT, security, administration and ensure they follow UNCDF’s rules, regulations, policies and procedures. • Contribute to the knowledge and communication efforts of LoCAL based on lessons learned and results achieved from target countries (e.g. collecting stories from the field, photos/videos, webpage, as appropriate); • Perform any other duties as it may be required.

2.) Monitoring and Evaluation:

• Participate in the development and implementation of procedures and methodologies for the effective monitoring and evaluation of the LoCAL./LRP Programme, and codevelop and implement LoCAL’s M&E plan, based on LoCAL’s Theory of Change (ToC) and associated Results and Resources Framework (RRF); • Contribute to strengthening LoCAL’s M&E system by providing inputs on LoCAL ToC and RRF, assessing relevance and pertinence of KPIs and M&E system and data collection/analysis tools, identifying and proposing improvements; • Ensure the implementation of the LoCAL Board decision of establishing LoCAL as a standard and recognized country-based mechanism local climate finance in LDCs, including substantive support to the promotion and roll-out of the LoCAL ISO. • Monitor and evaluate progress towards annual work plans, expected outputs, including selecting and monitoring progress in meeting indicators, and ensure timely and complete reporting from LoCAL country teams in accordance with approved reporting formats; • Ensure an effective deployment and use of LoCAL Management Information System (MIS), conduct a review of existing MIS and procedures in place, identify bottlenecks and provide inputs on potential improvements and upgrading, as well as ensure information are constantly updated and available to country teams, the Global Team / LoCAL Secretariat and relevant stakeholders; • Coordinate and provide substantive inputs on the results-based management planning and reporting process, provide advice/information/guidance to LRP Project Secretariat on programme strategies, and coordinate reporting exercises quarterly, half-yearly and annually, in close collaboration with LRP country teams, the Global Team / LoCAL Secretariat and relevant stakeholders; • Provide ad-hoc assistance to LoCAL country teams across the available components of the programme to ensure effective implementation of M&E/MIS/KPIs, including assistance with the deployment of the Assessing Climate Change Adaptation Framework (ACCAF) in LoCAL countries; • Coordinate evaluations (internal and external), including drafting Terms of Reference, liaising with regional/country offices and partners, and independent experts; • Review and provide inputs on evaluation reports for quality control purposes according to international standards and in line with UNCDF’s Evaluation Policy and the UNEG Norms & Standards.

3.) Knowledge Management and Learning:

• Identify key knowledge constraints and organize learning, knowledge exchange, training, workshops, etc. to build awareness and capacities of LoCAL country teams in themes related to the implementation of LoCAL’s ToC, RRF and ACCAF; • Redesign of the LoCAL training curricula so that it becomes a certification of LoCAL consultants, pursuant to the abovementioned LoCAL Board Decision objectives; • Participate in meetings, workshops and other discussion fora to establish a dialogue on evaluation results paying close attention to the different information needs of different audiences for evaluation; • Prepare various written outputs, e.g. draft background papers, analyses, sections of reports and studies, inputs to publications, etc; • Contribute to the implementation of the LoCAL’s Communication and Visibility Plan, in collaboration with Global, Regional and Country Teams, partners and technical consultants; • Identify, collecting and disseminating best practices and lesson learned from the Programme in areas of specialty. • Contribute to the preparation of knowledge products (e.g. reports, technical briefs, articles, etc).

Results/expected outputs:

• As an active UNCDF/LoCAL team member, efficient, timely, responsive, client-friendly and high-quality support rendered to UNCDF and its beneficiaries in the accomplishment of her/his functions, including by pursuing the following key results of the Project and related activity results: o LoCAL in assigned countries is effectively, efficiently and transparently implemented in line with UNCDF project management regulations; o Government partners at national and subnational levels and communities benefit from quality and timely provision of technical assistance and capacity building support; o LoCAL in assigned countries is effectively and efficiently monitored, assessed and reported on; o LoCAL experience in assigned countries is well documented, best practices identified and lessons learned and disseminated through various communication channels; o LoCAL in assigned countries is strengthened as a result of in-country technical and financial partnerships.

• Professionalism: Deep knowledge and understanding of key concepts related to climate change and environment sustainability; Understanding of key concepts related to local government finance including decentralization and local economic development; Experience in policy, regulatory and technical advice and project management related to the fields of climate change and environment sustainability in relation to development; Relevant technical experience with policy and regulatory bodies and central and local governments; Work experience in developing countries; Experience with addressing gender equality as project objective and/or cross-cutting issue; Experience working with local communities, youth and women; • Innovation and commitment to continuous learning: Builds confidence, creating an environment of creativity and innovation; Takes on new approaches and fosters innovative thinking; Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities and resolve problems. • Client-orientation: Strong client orientation, recognizing the importance of providing appropriate, user-friendly and affordable services; Proactively identifies, develops and discusses solutions for internal and external clients, and communicates with management to develop new projects or services; Comfortable advocating and advancing an agenda, including with high level counterparts and other stakeholders; • Integrity: Conducts fair and transparent decision making; Demonstrate the values and ethical standards of the UN and UNCDF in daily activities and behaviours while acting without consideration of personal gains; resist undue political pressure in decision-making; stand by decisions that are in the organization’s interest even if they are unpopular; take prompt action in cases of unprofessional or unethical behaviour; does not abuse power or authority; • Teamwork and respect for diversity: Experience being part of teams, working with other stakeholders to achieve common goals; Experience managing consultants, including recruiting, hiring and managing and evaluating international and national expertise; Proven cross-cultural communication, able to function effectively in an international, multicultural environment; Builds and promotes teams and partnerships; Displays cultural and gender sensitivity and adaptability. • Planning and organizing: Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure; Effective organizational and problem-solving skills and ability to manage a large volume of work in an efficient and timely manner; Ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and monitor (own) work; ability to work under pressure, with conflicting deadlines, and to handle multiple concurrent projects/activities; • Communication: Creates and promotes open communication; Approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude and responds positively to feedback; proven interpersonal skills; Excellent spoken and written communication skills, including ability to prepare clear and concise reports; ability to conduct presentations, articulate options and positions concisely; ability to make and defend recommendations; Capacity to transfer information and knowledge to a wide range of different target groups; • Genuine commitment towards the principles of voluntary engagement: which includes solidarity, compassion, reciprocity and self-reliance; and commitment towards UNCDF’s mission and vision, as well as to the UN Core Values.

progressively responsible positions in implementing and monitoring development projects on climate change and/or environmental conservation, preferably in the context of local development finance and fiscal decentralization. • Work experience with local stakeholders, in particular local governments and local communities, and in addressing gender equality as project objective and/or cross-cutting issue in developing countries, is desirable; • Work experience in programme development and management with demonstrated experience in writing project documents, resource mobilization, staff supervision and management; • Strong awareness of key and emerging issues related to climate change/adaptation is highly desirable; • Desirable knowledge of local public financial management and governance, including decentralization processes and instruments (e.g. performance-based grants, intergovernmental fiscal transfer systems, etc); • Proven/demonstrable networking capabilities and ability to associate him/herself with a range of actors (inter alia central and local governments; policy makers; development partners and donors, local communities, women and youth groups) with a view to building relations and facilitating links is highly desirable; • Experience with a UN organization/agency is desirable but not a requirement. • Experience with UNCDF/UNDP policies, rules and procedures is desirable, but not a requirement.

Kampala city, the capital and largest city of Uganda, occupies a series of hills at an elevation of about 3,900 feet (1,190 metres) and is situated in the southern part of the country, just north of Lake Victoria. Here, the climate is pleasantly warm, with average temperatures ranging between 20 °C and 25 °C (68 °F and 77 °F). Temperature variations throughout the year are little, however, there is a warmer period from December to March. The security situation in Kampala is regularly assessed, with the UN Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) generally categorizing it as having a low security threat level, providing a stable environment for residents and visitors alike.