Planning and Monitoring Manager, P4, Fixed-Term, Kabul, Afghanistan, Open to Non-Afghan Nationals

Contract

This is a P-4 contract. This kind of contract is known as Professional and Director staff. It is normally internationally recruited only. It's a staff contract. It usually requires 7 years of experience, depending on education.

Salary

The salary for this job should be between 134,999 USD and 174,054 USD.

Please keep in mind that the salary displayed here is an estimation by UN Talent based on the location and the type of contract. It may vary depending on the organization. The recruiter should be able to inform you about the exact salary range. In case the job description contains another salary information, please refer to this one.

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, support

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43aiG4w2q_M

With significant changes in the architect of health services’ provision in Afghanistan with political changes of August 2021, the United Nation and NGO sector’s role in general and UNICEF’s role has undergone drastic changes. These changes entail high-level expertise in public health and in managing sector wide partnership and service delivery networks to contribute towards sustaining the health system in the country, engaging with the new de facto government, and advocating for effective health services, particularly to children and women. In this regard, UNICEF is a key player, jointly with WHO in the new architecture of the national health system.

UNICEF Afghanistan, in its instrumental role, in provision of primary and secondary healthcare across the country requires a strong and dedicated planning monitoring and to some extent evaluation capacity within the country office in general and within the health team. Within this context, a planning and monitoring unit within the health section will provide the necessary support to the UNICEF Afghanistan health team, other related sectors, and two health athletes and health implementing partners in managing the planning and monitoring needs of the UNICEF health program, extending to supporting partners as and when required.

Planning and monitoring manager will lead the P&M unit within the health section, liaise with PMD for internal P&M needs, with SPEAR team for revaluation needs, with PMU for contracts management related monitoring, and 3rd party monitoring and with WHO, health authorities and implementing partners for sector wide needs.

At present the P&M Manager is expected to manage a team of a P3 Monitoring Specialist, NOB IMO, NoA IMO and a GS staff and also manage the third-party HR cadre of extenders with 2 national extenders directly reporting to this post.

How can you make a difference?

Under the direct supervision of the principal advisor health, the P&M manager will ensure that the Health Section in UNICEF Afghanistan Country Office is well-equipped to deliver on the following:

• Conduct regular situation analysis of children’s and women’s rights as these relate to their health wellness;
• Ensure effective and high-quality engagement in all internal UNICEF planning and monitoring functions
• Ensure availability of useful, valid, reliable information to monitor the performance of UNICEF’s Health programme including its relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability, and
• Ensure availability of needed information on UNICEF 's emergency response and health sector given the emergency contexts, and coverage, coordination and coherence of the same.
• Ensure sound planning and monitoring of UNICEF and its partners performance as per the commitments made by UNICEF in undertaking all significant health projects
• Support performance monitoring of UNCEF- supported service providers, including the capacity to improving volume and quality of Health and Nutrition services
• Support management of contracts and contracted partners including any of the various monitoring requirements of the UNICEF health program or projects including but not limited to third party monitoring.

In addition, this position, under the supervision of the principal advisor health, and in close coordination but the PMD chief and PMU deputy chief we'll also support, when needed, the following:

• Work within the UN country team to support UNCT goals for delivering valid and reliable information on the attainment of the MDGs and other goals, and on the performance of UN-supported programmes.
• Assist in the establishment of a planning and monitoring tools which enhance partnership between the UNCT, government and other key players to collectively track progress on Health Sector Development Goals, MDGs and other international commitment for children.
• Assist in the development of national capacities for Health Sector Planning, monitoring, evaluation, and research, with special attention to the interest, concern and participation of government, community, and civil society stakeholders.
• Assist in building national capacities to strengthen Health Sector Information Management systems, including to enable performance management of large-scale health sector programme interventions.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

1. Programme Planning and Performance Monitoring: The planning function of the Health Sector has quality information collected and disseminated with the participation of all concerned partners to assess progress towards expected annual and multi-year results.

2. Monitoring, Evaluation & Research Planning: The Country Office and national partners have a well-prioritised and realistic plan of research, monitoring and evaluation activities, developed collaboratively that provides all the relevant and strategic information needed to manage the Country Programme.

3. Situation Monitoring and Assessment: A collective Situation Monitoring and Assessment system owned by all key partners is in place, through which the Country Office and national partners have timely and accurate measurements of change in conditions of children, women, and their families in the country or region; this information is available to facilitate planning and measure program impact.

4. Evaluation: UNICEF-supported evaluations attain established UN quality standards, and the results are disseminated in a timely fashion to stakeholders for improving programme performance and contributing to national and corporate learning.

5. M&E Capacity Building: The monitoring and evaluation capacities of Health Sector staff and national partners – government and civil society – enhanced with the contribution of UNICEF knowledge partners meet the expectations and requirements of their positions and responsibilities.

6. Coordination and Networking: The UNICEF Health Section is linked to wider UNICEF M&E developments in way that both contributes to and benefits from organizational learning on effective M&E management.

KEY DUTIES & TASKS:

Within the delegated authority and under the given organizational set-up, the incumbent may be assigned the primarily, shared, or contributory accountabilities for all or part of the following areas of major duties and key end-results.

Programme Planning and Performance Monitoring: Ensure that the Country Office has quality information to assess progress towards expected results established in annual work plans.

• Coordinate with Health Sector partners to ensure that monitoring systems are properly designed, and that data collection and analysis from field visits are coordinated and standardised across programmes to feed into to programme performance monitoring, with special attention to humanitarian response.
• Drawing on monitoring and analysis of key program performance and management indicators, provide professional input to Health Sector Service Providers, management reports, including relevant sections of the annual reports.
• Lead health sector Service Providers performance management and related capacity development initiatives focusing on improving Quality of Care
• Provide technical support to ensure that a set of programme performance indicators are identified and adjusted as necessary, with inputs of all concerned partners in the context of development of large-scale donor funded projects, including in the scheme of payment for performance modality.
• Lead Health Section’s Annual Work Plans and relevant sections of the Annual Management Plan, as outlined in the Programme Policy and Procedures Manual/PPPX.
• Lead in preparation of Health Sector Humanitarian Action for Children Appeal (HAC) on an annual basis Situation analysis, in collaboration with the health cluster and partners.
• Support the development of United Nations Sustainable Development Coordination Framework (UNSDCF) from a sound results-based programming process
• Provide technical support to Country Programme Development
• Support processes related to COAR, CRAVE and all programme related end of year processes.
• Lead in the establishment of and maintenance of Health Sector planning tools which enhance all planning processes in the office (Annual Work Plans, Annual Management Plans, Annual Reviews, strategy meetings, development of PSNs, etc.).

Integrated Monitoring, Evaluation & Research Plan (IMEP): Ensure that the Country Office and national partners use a well-prioritised and realistic plan of research, monitoring and evaluation activities that will provide the most relevant and strategic information to manage the Country Programme, including tracking and assessing UNICEF’s distinct contribution.

• Make professional contributions to and provide technical assistance for the planning and establishing the major research, monitoring and evaluation objectives, priorities, and activities in UNICEF’s multi-year and annual IMEPs, in consultation with child-rights and implementing partners.
• Likewise, support the development of UNDAF M&E Plans from a sound results-based programming process.
• Identify the M&E objectives, priorities, and activities required for effective Health sector Emergency Preparedness and Response Plans,
• In humanitarian response situations, within the first month, draft and recommend a simple one-month data-collection plan to cover key data gaps as required for the initial emergency response.
• After the initial humanitarian response, support management of the medium-term response with a revised IMEP

Situation Monitoring and Assessment: Ensure that the Country Office and national partners have timely and accurate measurement of change in health conditions in the country or region to facilitate planning and to draw conclusions about the impact of programmes or policies.

• Support partners in the establishment and management of national statistical databases (e.g., DevInfo), ensuring that key indicators are readily accessible by key stakeholders. Potential uses include the Situation Analysis, Common Country Assessment, Early Warning Monitoring Systems, and Mid-Term Reviews.
• In humanitarian response situations, provide professional support for rapid assessments (inter-agency or independently if necessary), working in close collaboration with the humanitarian clusters partners.

Evaluation: Ensure that UNICEF-supported evaluations are designed and implemented to established UN quality standards, and the results are disseminated in a timely fashion to stakeholders in order to improve programme performance and contribute to wider learning.

• Technically support programme partners to formulate Terms of Reference and evaluation designs of high quality, when relevant drawing on the know-how of knowledge institutions, in compliance with the organization’s programme evaluation policies and guidelines.
• Monitor and ensure the quality of the field work and data management during the implementation phase, and the quality of the analysis and ease of understanding during the report writing phase.
• Disseminate evaluation findings and recommendations to the intended audiences in user-friendly methods. In particular, to ensure that effective participatory feedback is provided to community and civil society stakeholders.
• Monitor and ensure that a management response to the findings and recommendations of the evaluation is completed, recorded, and followed up for implementation. Most specifically, ensure that evaluation recommendations are submitted to the Country Management Team and follow-up actions recorded in CMT minutes. Submit electronic copies of all evaluations to NYHQ via the Evaluation Data Base web portal, with full accompanying documentation.

M&E Capacity Building: Ensure that the monitoring and evaluation capacities of Country Office staff and national partners – government and civil society – are strengthened enabling them to increasingly engage in and lead monitoring and evaluation processes.

• Promote the awareness and understanding of the shared responsibility of M& E function among all Health Sector staff members and service providers through communication, training, learning and development activities organization wide.
• In close collaboration with partners, ensure that an M&E capacity building strategy for Health sector, UNICEF/UN staff national partners and institutions exists in the context of the Health Sector Plans, IMEP, or UNSCDF M&E plan. Pay particular attention so the capacity needs of national partners such as professional evaluation associations will be strengthened by involvement in evaluation processes and possibly through specific capacity building initiatives.
• Collaborate to implement capacity building strategies as a joint commitment with other developmental partners. Utilize a range of appropriate skills building strategies including self-learning, seminars and workshops and practical experience in order that UNICEF and UN staff have the basic knowledge and skills in understanding and applying new M&E policies, tools, methods to fulfil their responsibilities. Similarly, design and implement strategies suited to the skills needs of national partners.
• Actively seek partnerships with knowledge institutions for the identification of capacity gaps and development of strategies to address them.

Coordination and Networking: Ensure that the UNICEF office is effectively linked to wider UNICEF M&E developments in a way that both contributes to and benefits from organizational learning on effective M&E management.

• Collaborate with Health Sector M&E working Groups, Regional M&E Advisers and HQ Evaluation Office for overall coordination of priority research, monitoring and evaluation activities, especially those of regional scope requiring the coordinated effort of multiple countries.
• Partner with the Regional Planning and Monitoring Adviser to ensure that current and accurate planning and monitoring data and results are included in regional reports, multi-country studies, and knowledge sharing networks.
• Undertake lessons-learned reviews on successful and unsuccessful PM&E practices and experience at the national level, and ensure they are shared as appropriate. Similarly, pay attention to PM&E knowledge networks to identify innovations and lessons learned that may be relevant for the CO and partners to improve their M&E function.

Specific Technical Knowledge & Competencies Required:

• Knowledge of Project Evaluation.
• Professional technical knowledge/expertise in Evaluation Process Management, Follow-up on Recommendations and Dissemination of M&E results.
• Emerging international good practice in monitoring and evaluation partnerships.

Common Technical Knowledge Required:

• Professional technical knowledge/expertise in demography, statistics, and data management.
• Professional technical knowledge/expertise in methodology of M&E, including theories, standards and models, quantitative/qualitative/mixed methods, validity/reliability testing of data, data analysis and interpretation, and statistical inference methods.
• Professional technical knowledge/expertise in Activity Monitoring & Evaluation, Evaluation Design, data analysis, and reporting.
• Gender equality and diversity awareness

Technical Knowledge to be Acquired/Enhanced:

• Professional/technical knowledge/expertise in Team Management, Coaching & Training.
• Mastery of UNICEF’s M&E policies and procedures.
• Latest programme monitoring and evaluation theory, methodology, technology, and tools.
• Understanding of UN Mission and system, current key UN topics; and International Code of Conduct.
• Understanding of UNICEF Mission Statement and UNICEF Guiding Principles.
• UNICEF policies, strategies promoting and supporting gender equality and diversity
• UNICEF strategic framework for partnerships and collaborative relationships

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

• Advanced university degree in social sciences, statistics, planning development, planning, Health, or another relevant technical field.
• Professional work experience in programme development and implementation including monitoring and evaluation activities
• A minimum of 8 years of relevant professional work experience, including experience in developing country.
• Experience in programme planning, monitoring, reporting of International Financial Institutions (IFS) preferred
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language or local language of the duty station is considered as an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, 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) Builds and maintains partnerships (2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness (3) Drive to achieve results for impact(4) Innovates and embraces change (5) Manages ambiguity and complexity (6) Thinks and acts strategically (7) Works collaboratively with others (8) Nurtures, Leads and Manages People

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.

Remarks:

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

Mobility is a condition of international professional employment with UNICEF and an underlying premise of the international civil service.

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). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be cancelled.

All selected candidates will 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.

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.

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