Planning & Monitoring Manager, P4, Fixed Term, Kabul, Afghanistan

Overview

Lead planning and monitoring for UNICEF Health programme.

You have:

• Advanced university degree in social sciences, statistics, planning development, and planning.
• Eight years of relevant professional work experience, including developing country work experience or field work experience.
• At least one instance of exposure to emergency programming, including preparedness planning.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language or a local language is an asset.

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 124,993 USD and 161,152 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, a future

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbkJiMmvKqk

How can you make a difference?

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

• conduct a regular situation analysis of children’s and women’s rights as these relate to their health and wellness;
• ensure effective and high-quality engagement in all internal UNICEF planning and monitoring functions
• ensure the availability of useful, valid, reliable information to monitor the performance of UNICEF’s Health programme including its relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability,
• ensure the 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 partner's 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 improve the 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, in 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 planning and monitoring tools that enhance the partnership between the UNCT, government, and other key players to collectively track progress on Health Sector Development Goals, MDGs, and other international commitments 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 enabling performance management of large-scale health sector programme interventions.

Summary of Key functions and accountabilities:

1. 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 standardized 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, and management reports, including relevant sections of the annual reports.
• Lead health sector Service Provider's 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 the 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 the 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 that enhance all planning processes in the office (Annual Work Plans, Annual Management Plans, Annual Reviews, strategy meetings, development of PSNs, etc.)

2. 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 of 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

3. Situation Monitoring and Assessment:

Ensure that the Country Office and national partners have a timely and accurate measurement of change in conditions in the country or region, including monitoring of socio-economic trends and the country’s wider policy, economic or institutional context, to facilitate planning and to draw conclusions about the impact of programmes or policies.

• In coordination with other stakeholders, support the collection of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and other key social development indicators (through MICS or other surveys) to improve national planning.
• Support partners in the establishment and management of national statistical databases (e.g., DevInfo), ensuring that key indicators are readily accessible to key stakeholders. Potential uses include Situation Analysis, Common Country Assessment, Early Warning Monitoring Systems, and Mid-Term Reviews.
• Develop a collective Situation Monitoring and Assessment system owned by all key partners which support the preparation of country-level statistical and analytic reports on the status of children’s and women’s rights issues; and allow, when opportunities emerge, to influence developmental and social policies. To include technical support to global reporting obligations including national reports on progress toward the MDGs, and toward CRC and CEDAW fulfillment.
• In humanitarian response situations, provide professional support for one or more rapid assessments (inter-agency or independently if necessary) to be carried out within the first 48-72 hours, working in close collaboration with the humanitarian cluster partners.

4. Evaluation:

Ensure that UNICEF-supported evaluations are designed and implemented to establish UN quality standards and that 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 fieldwork 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 are recorded in CMT minutes. Submit electronic copies of all evaluations to NYHQ via the Evaluation Data Base web portal, with full accompanying documentation.

5. 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 the Health sector, UNICEF/UN staff national partners, and institutions exist 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 apply new M&E policies, tools, and 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 the development of strategies to address them.

6. 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 Monitoring and Evaluation Adviser to ensure that current and accurate M&E data and results are included in regional reports, multi-country studies, and knowledge-sharing networks.
• Undertake lessons-learned reviews on successful and unsuccessful M&E practices and experiences at the national level, and ensure they are shared as appropriate. Similarly, pay attention to M&E knowledge networks to identify innovations and lessons learned that may be relevant for the CO and partners to improve their M&E function.

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

• Advanced university degree in social sciences, statistics, planning development, and planning.
• Professional work experience in programme development and implementation including monitoring and evaluation activities as follows:
  • Eight years of relevant professional work experience. Developing country work experience (for IP) or field work experience (for NO)
  • At least one instance of exposure to emergency programming, including preparedness planning. Active involvement in a humanitarian crisis response programme is preferred.
• 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 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 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.

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 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:

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.

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.

Potential interview questions