Planning & Monitoring Officer (NO-1) Bucharest, Romania, open for citizens of Romania only

Contract

This is a NO-1 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-1 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, care.

Why working for UNICEF video

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.

Purpose for the job: Under the guidance and supervision of the Deputy Representative, the Planning & Monitoring (P&M) Officer will provide support to and facilitate the planning and monitoring functions for the country programme. This will be done in close collaboration with other country office team members and sectoral programme staff. In addition, the P&M Officer will work with other UN agencies, Government and Civil Society Organizations (CSO) partners to assist in the development of national capacities for planning, monitoring, evaluation and research, with special attention to the interest, concern and participation of government, community, and civil society stakeholders.

Key functions, accountabilities and related duties

1. Programme Planning****. The Country Office and national partners have well-prioritized and realistic planning & monitoring activities, developed collaboratively, that provide all the relevant and strategic information needed to manage the Country Programme.

2. Programme Monitoring. Programme monitoring of the Country Programme yields quality information, collected and disseminated with the participation of all concerned partners, to assess progress towards expected annual and multi-year results.

3.Planning and Monitoring Capacity Building. The RBM and evidence-based planning and monitoring capacities of the Country Office staff and national partners – government and civil society – are enhanced with the contribution of UNICEF knowledge partners to meet the requirements of their positions.

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

5. Information Management. The incumbent will support the CO in information management activities, including humanitarian performance monitoring/reporting (HPM) related to the ongoing refugee crisis as well as with regards to the implementation of the 2023-27 Country Programme of Cooperation.

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.

1. Programme Planning

• Provide support to Deputy Representative and wider team in preparation, review and analysis of strategic programme planning documentation, including but not limited to the Country Programme Document (CPD) and related package (TOCs, strategy notes, costed evaluation plan, Country Programme Management Plan etc).
• Support and facilitate development of equity-focused, results-based, risk-informed annual and rolling work plans and review exercises of the same.
• Provide support to the Deputy Representative in all aspects of the yearly mid- and end-year reporting.
• Work in close collaboration with the different programme and other teams to provide technical support for establishing quality assurance mechanisms related to improved planning and effective use of planning, monitoring and reporting tools in line with the results-based management principles and standards.
• Support the Deputy Representative and different teams to conduct periodic programme reviews internally as well as with government counterparts and other partners to identify problems and/or alternative courses of action to accelerate/improve programme delivery.

2. Programme Monitoring

• Provide technical support to the programme staff to establish and roll-out programme monitoring mechanisms including mid-year and annual reviews, mid-term reviews, strategic moments of reflection, to record the progress and identify potential bottlenecks to be addressed by the programme sections and field offices.
• Provide technical support and inputs on setting up programme monitoring systems/tools for data collection and analysis using digital platforms, including UNICEF internal and external platforms (Insight, RAM, EISI, eTools, etc)
• Support programme staff in the implementation of the programme monitoring system, data collection and analysis and provide inputs for regular adjustment of the standard operating procedures to ensure optimal monitoring results.
• Work in close collaboration with other sections of the CO to ensure that HACT monitoring and field monitoring make integral parts of the CO comprehensive monitoring system.

3. Planning and Monitoring Capacity Building

• Promote the awareness and understanding of the shared responsibility of RBM among staff members, and national partners through communication, training, learning and development activities organization-wide.
• Support the programme teams in the development and implementation of a strategy/approach for RBM capacity building through a participatory process with sectoral and regional staff as well as national partners.

4. Coordination and Networking

• Collaborate with regional advisors, peers from other UNICEF offices as well as with the UN agencies in the duty station, zonal offices and national partners for overall coordination of priority planning and monitoring activities, especially those of national/subnational scope requiring the coordinated effort of multiple stakeholders.
• Partner with the relevant regional staff 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 planning and monitoring practices and experience at the national and subnational level, and ensure they are shared as appropriate.
• Liaise with UNICEF and other professional PM(&E) knowledge networks to identify innovations and lessons learned that may be relevant for the CO and partners to improve their PME function.

5. Information management

• Provide support to programme teams to set up and maintain information management system to collect, use and disseminate data related to the ongoing crisis response (as well as in relation to the implementation of the CPD) in close collaboration with relevant UNICEF partners and other key stakeholders.
• Consolidate data from different sources by harmonizing labels, flagging out outliers and cleaning data.
• Ensure quality of collected and reported data, by setting and implementing regular quality checks for validation, consistency and reliability of data and information.
• Provide technical support and guidance to UNICEF and relevant stakeholders to collect, process and manage data.
• Develop guidelines, SOPs, documentation and other training materials, and provide training as needed.
• Support the establishment of new knowledge sharing networks and continue to strengthen and build on best practices documented from existing networks and knowledge sharing forums.
• Manage an inventory of relevant documents on the humanitarian situation – as well as on significant changes in the child rights situation in the country (in collaboration i.a. with the Child Rights Monitoring Specialist).

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

• Education: A University Degree in public administration, sociology, statistics or other social science field is required.
• Experience: A minimum of one year of professional experience in social development analysis and programming at the international and/or in a developing country is required.
• Relevant experience in programme/project monitoring and evaluation in a UN system agency or organization is an asset.
• Language Requirements: Fluency in English and Romanian is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, 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) 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.

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, eligible and suitable males and females are encouraged to apply. 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.

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