Planning and Monitoring Specialist, NO-C, Fixed Term Appointment, Mogadishu, Somalia, SOMALIA NATIONALS ONLY

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, Hope.

How can you make a difference?

Purpose for the job:

Under the guidance of the Chief of Planning and Monitoring, the Planning and Monitoring Specialist ensures the following;

• Ensure that all programme outputs of the Programme have robust programme results frameworks aligned with the principles, standards of performance and accountability framework of Results Based Management and the results framework of the UNICEF Ethiopia Country Programme and UNICEF’s Strategic Plan.
• To ensure that there is a system in place for systematic and quality biannual and annual reporting to UNICEF (notably the Results Assessment Module, the Strategic Monitoring Questions (SMQs), and Annual Management Plan (AMP) indicators) aligned to the results frameworks.
• To assist in the development of national and regional capacities for monitoring, evaluation and research, with special attention to the interest, concern and participation of government, community, and civil society stakeholders on Programme issues and strengthening routine administrative data collection of counterparts.
• To work within the UN country team to support UNCT goals for delivering valid and reliable information on the attainment of the SDGs and other goals, and on the performance of UN-supported programmes.
• To assist in the establishment of monitoring tools which enhance partnership between the UNCT, government and other key players to collectively track progress on the Sustainable Development Goals and other international commitment for children.

Key function, accountabilities and related duties/tasks

Situation Monitoring and Assessment

• Provide technical support to UNICEF Programme staff and partners to develop and regularly update the Situation Monitoring and Assessment system on Programme issues. This is to help ensure the availability of timely, accurate and disaggregated (where possible) measurement of change in the conditions or region, including monitoring of socio-economic trends to facilitate wider planning and to draw conclusions about the impact of the programme or policies. Help ensure systems are in place so that the Country and Field Offices, national and regional partners have timely and accurate measurements of change in conditions of children, women, and their families in the country or region. Put in place systems to help ensure this information is available to facilitate planning and measure Programme results and impact.
• In coordination with UNICEF Programme and relevant staff at national and regional level and other key partners (both government and civil society and NGO), support partners in the establishment or strengthening and management of Programme related national and regional routine administrative data collection systems to collect regular data to track changes in the Programme situation and also to facilitate reporting against relevant indicators in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and other key social development indicators (through EDHS or other surveys) to improve national planning related to Programme.
• Support partners in the strengthening or establishment and management of national and regional routine administrative data, including data collection, use and reporting; helping ensure that key indicators are readily accessible, have appropriate data protection mechanisms and are used by key stakeholders to inform planning and programming investments and to help facilitate UNICEF’s own internal and regular monitoring.
• In humanitarian response situations, provide technical support for rapid and other Programme assessments (inter-agency or independently if necessary) to be carried out within the first 48-72 hours (as required), and working in close collaboration with the relevant humanitarian clusters partners at federal and regional level.

Programme Planning and Development

• Support the work planning process for UNICEF Programme. This includes technical support for the allocation of funds to Programme result areas in line with guidance from the Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Section (PME) in UNICEF and RBM principles.
• Support the development of programme guidance to assist in development of annual workplans aligned with relevant programme theories of change, UNICEF guidance and RBM principles.
• Provide technical expertise to programme reviews and annual reviews with government and other counterparts to assess progress and to engage stakeholders to take required action/interventions to achieve results.
• Provide timely and quality review of draft Programme workplans at national and regional levels for adherence/consistency with UNICEF and partners’ guidelines.

Programme Performance Monitoring and Reporting

• Technical support is provided to help ensure that the Programme has quality information to assess progress towards expected results established in annual work plans.
• Provide technical support to ensure that a quality set of programme performance indicators and means of verification are identified and adjusted as necessary, aligned with an evidence-based theory of change, national and global indicators to facilitate SDG reporting where/as appropriate. These are to be developed with the inputs of all concerned partners in the context of the multi-year and annual IMEPs, the Annual Management Plan and Annual Work Plans, indicator definitions and guidance provided by UNCEF Headquarters, RBM principles and as outlined in the Programme Policy and Procedures Manual and UNICEF Programme Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Resource Pack.
• Coordinate with UNICEF Programme staff and partners to help ensure that programme monitoring systems are properly designed, aligned with the relevant theories of change and national and global indicators.
• Coordinate with UNICEF Programme staff and partners to help ensure that data collection efforts and analysis from field visits are coordinated and standardized across programmes to feed into regular programme performance monitoring, with special attention to humanitarian response. This includes through development of appropriate programme monitoring guidance for each of the UNICEF Programme result areas.
• Prepare/assess programme monitoring and evaluation guidance and reports to identify gaps, strengths/weaknesses in program and management, identify lessons learned and use knowledge gained for development planning and timely intervention to achieve goals.
• Provide guidance and quality assurance to monitoring products by staff and third-party monitors (TPM).
• Drawing on monitoring and analysis of key program performance and management indicators, provide professional input to management and donor reports, including relevant sections of the Country Office Annual Reports.
• In collaboration with UNICEF Programme staff at national and regional level, plan, and/or collaborate with monitoring, reporting and evaluation initiatives to establish benchmarks, performance indicators and other UNICEF/UN system indicators, to assess/strengthen performance accountability, coherence and delivery of concrete and sustainable results for the Programme.

Planning and Monitoring Capacity Building

• Support capacity building of UNICEF Programme staff and partners in Programme P&M and to integrate results-based management into programme implementation. Provide technical support to help ensure that the planning and monitoring capacities of the Programme and national and regional partners – government and civil society – are strengthened, enabling them to increasingly engage in and lead programme monitoring and evaluation processes.
• Promote the awareness and understanding of the shared responsibility of the P&M function among all UNICEF Programme staff members through communication, training, learning and development activities organization-wide.
• In close collaboration with partners, help ensure that Programme P&M capacity building strategy exists in the context of the IMEP, or UNSDCF M&E plan. Pay particular attention so the capacity needs of national partners such as professional evaluation associations are 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, webinars, seminars and workshops and practical experience in order that UNICEF and UN staff have the basic knowledge and skills in understanding and applying new P&M policies, tools, methods to fulfil their responsibilities (i.e. the Programme Planning and Monitoring Resource Pack and latest RBM guidance). 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

• Technical support to help ensure that the Programme is linked to wider UNICEF P&M developments (including in Programme P&M such as the network of UNICEF Programme Analysis, Planning and Monitoring Specialists) in in way that both contributes to and benefits from organizational learning on effective P&M and Results Based management.
• Collaborate with Regional Chief of Programmes and P&M and consultants, the UNICEF HQ Programme Section, and the UNICEF Network of Programme Analysis, Monitoring and Planning Specialists for overall coordination of priority programme analysis, research, monitoring and evaluation activities, including those of regional scope requiring the coordinated effort of multiple countries.
• Participate in relevant UNICEF Country Office task forces, including the Monitoring and HACT Committee, and the Research and Evaluation Task Force and represent the Programme section.
• Partner with the Regional Chief of Programme Planning and Monitoring to ensure that current and accurate monitoring data and results are included in regional reports, multi-country studies, and knowledge sharing networks.
• Undertake reviews of evaluations and lessons-learned on successful and unsuccessful Programme P&M practices and experiences at the national and regional level, and ensure they are shared as appropriate. Similarly, engage in P&M knowledge networks to identify innovations and lessons learned that may be relevant for the Country Office and partners to improve their P&M function.

Support to implementing partnership management

• Provide technical support to the country office in the formalization of implementing partnerships with government, civil society organizations and other implementing partners in line with relevant policies, procedures and guidelines, including the CSO Procedure and guidance on work plans.
• Provide technical and administrative support in the implementation of HACT in line with the HACT policy and procedure and other relevant organizational policies, procedures and guidelines, including the DFAM Policy 5: Cash Disbursements Supplement 3-Cash Transfers (HACT). This includes coordinating the preparation of CO annual assessments and assurance plan, facilitating its execution and coordinating with other adopting agencies as appropriate.
• Coordinate with and/or seek technical support of the Regional Office on implementation of the CSO and HACT procedures.
• Contribute to the design of and implement quality assurance strategies/processes for the implementation of the CSO procedure. This includes processes to ensure that implementing partners are selected and assessed in accordance with the CSO procedure and that all documentation is in line with corporate standards as stipulated in the CSO procedure.
• Contribute to the design and implementation of quality assurance strategies/processes to ensure that HACT assessments and assurance activities are undertaken in accordance with corporate terms of reference and guidance and that appropriate follow-up action and escalation steps are taken as needed.

Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Planning

• Support UNICEF Programme staff and partners at national and regional level (where appropriate) to develop a well-prioritized and realistic plan of research, monitoring and evaluation activities, developed collaboratively that provides all the relevant and strategic information needed to manage the Programme, and in accord with UNICEF guidance and guidelines on monitoring, evaluation and research including the UNICEF Programme Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Resource Pack.
• Provide technical support to UNICEF Programme staff and relevant national and regional partners to develop and use a well-prioritized and realistic Integrated Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Plan (IMERP) that will provide the most relevant and strategic information to manage the Programme, including tracking and assessing UNICEF’s distinct contribution.
• Provide 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 Integrated Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Plan (IMEP), in consultation with Programme partners.
• Serve on relevant IMEP and research-related task forces to provide peer review and technical support for office-wide M&E and research related products.
• Identify the M&E objectives, priorities, and activities required for effective Programme and partner Emergency Preparedness and Response Plans,
• In humanitarian response situations, within the first month, and together with the Emergencies response draft and recommend a simple one-month data-collection plan to cover key data gaps as required for the initial emergency response, working in close collaboration with the Programme Coordinator of the CP-GBV sub-cluster.
• After the initial humanitarian response, support management of the medium-term response with a revised IMEP.
• Support the dissemination of research and evaluation findings and recommendations to the intended audiences in user-friendly methods. In particular help 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.
• Support the design and collection of documentation on evidence-based results of ‘what works’ on Programme interventions to inform advocacy, programming, work planning, implementation and scale up.

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

• An Advanced University degree in relevant disciplines of Social Sciences (international development, statistics, economics, or other social science field) is required.
• A minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible professional experience in development programming, programme design, planning, management (including data management) and results reporting is required.
• Knowledge of good practice in programme monitoring (including developing indicators) and evaluation is essential.
• Knowledge of project evaluation is essential.
• Professional technical knowledge/expertise in evaluation process management.
• Prior experience in Programme monitoring, evaluation and programming and related areas is a strong asset.
• Professional technical knowledge/expertise in M&E including quantitative and qualitative and mixed methods.
• Field work experience is essential.
• Relevant experience in Programme and related areas, results-based program/project development and management in a UN system agency or international development organization is an asset.
• At least one instance of exposure to emergency programming, including preparedness planning.
• High level of expertise in MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint and other presentation or statistical software.
• Experience in both development and humanitarian contexts is an added advantage.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, and Accountability (CRITA) and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are...

• Leading and supervising (II)
• Formulating strategies/concepts (II)
• Analyzing (II)
• Applying Technical Expertise (II)
• Planning and Organising (III)

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

Click here to learn more about UNICEF’s values and competencies.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.

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 also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. 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:

• The positions are open to all (Internal and External candidates).
• UNICEF only considers Higher education qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU), United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process