Research and Evaluation Officer

Contract

This is a UNV National Specialist contract. This kind of contract is known as National UN Volunteer. It is normally only for nationals. More about UNV National Specialist contracts.

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 nation. UNICEF Afghanistan Country Office (ACO) Context: Afghanistan has been in a protracted conflict environment for the past two decades and the humanitarian situation has deteriorated further since the withdrawal of foreign troops in August 2021. Since this time, there has been a rapid decline in health and nutrition services, a disastrous food crisis, drought, disease outbreaks, as well as disruption of education, especially for girls. These issues compounded by the Covid-19 pandemic that’s been raging around the world over the past 2 years have had a disproportionately adverse effect on women and children who are at an increased risk of starvation and death, infectious diseases from poor sanitation and inadequate health services, loss of learning opportunities due to school closures and heightened risk of violence and vulnerability. It is within this context that the incumbent is expected to contribute to providing technical support and guidance to UNICEF office, UN agencies, implementing partner organisations, government counterparts and line ministries in generating evidence from studies, research and evaluations to inform UNICEF ACO’s programmatic response during the ongoing crisis. This position will be situated within the Social Policy, Evaluation, Analytics & Research (SPEAR) Section which is responsible for supporting the government and partners in generation, analysis, use and dissemination of data on the situation of children, with particular focus on poverty, equity and gender dimensions. The section also oversees the Country Office research and evaluation function and manages a number of programmatic evaluations and supports government on social protection system strengthening and evidence generation on social protection. The position will be under the direct supervision of the Research & Evaluation Specialist.

Within the delegated authority and under the supervision of Research & Evaluation Specialist or his/her designated mandated representative(s), the UNV Research and Evaluation Officer will:

1- Evidence Planning

Support the evidence agenda of the Country Office by participating in the creation of well-prioritized and realistic plans of research, monitoring and evaluation activities, developed in collaboration with national partners, which provide strategic evidence base needed to manage Country Programmes and influence national policies and strategies. These include Costed Evaluation Plans (CEP) to plan for strategic evidence needs over the entire programme cycle and Integrated Monitoring, Evaluation & Research Plans (IMERP) for shorter-term evidence planning. IMERP follow-up is done on a quarterly basis to update the status all major evidence activities. 2- Research

Contribute to UNICEF-supported research in Afghanistan to make sure that it attains established high-quality standards, the results are disseminated in a timely fashion to stakeholders for improving programme performance and contributing to national and corporate learning. • Provide technical support and quality assurance of draft inception and final reports for research and studies commissioned by programmes. • Provide technical advice on research design and methodologies to programme staff and external partners. 3-Evaluation

Provide oversight to UNICEF-supported evaluations to make sure they 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. • Monitor and ensure the quality of the data management during the implementation phase, and the quality of the analysis and ease of understanding during the report writing phase. • Disseminate research 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. • Regularly update Evidence Information Systems Integration (EISI), the global online database for disseminating evidence outputs and report on the implementation of agreed management response actions required for full utilization of evaluation outputs. 4- Field Monitoring

Conduct field visits during the implementation of research, studies and evaluation to ensure adherence to agreed protocols, assure quality of field team training and data collection, verify ethical conduct of fieldwork, scrutinize data and catch inconsistencies early in the process, and so on.

5- Evidence Capacity Strengthening

Provide support in building technical capacity in studies, evaluations and research capacities of ACO staff, national implementing partners – government entities, UN partner agencies and civil society. • Any other related tasks as may be required or assigned by the supervisor.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UN Volunteers programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities in the course of their work. As such, UN Volunteers should dedicate a part of their working time to some of the following suggested activities:

• Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day); • Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country; • Provide annual and end of assignment self-reports on UN Volunteer actions, results and opportunities.
• Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.; • Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly-arrived UN Volunteers; • Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.

Core competencies • Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (1) • Works Collaboratively with others (1) • Builds and Maintains Partnerships (1) • Innovates and Embraces Change (1) • Thinks and Acts Strategically (1) • Drive to achieve impactful results (1) • Manages ambiguity and complexity (1)

Functional Competencies: • Formulating Strategies and Concepts (I) • Analyzing (II) • Applying Technical Expertise (II) • Planning and Organizing (II)

data management including collecting, storing, cleaning, and analyzing data to generate information products. • Demonstrated understanding of different data collection methodologies and proven ability to clean data and conduct basic analysis and produce summary statistics using standard tabulation and statistical software packages (Stata, R, SPSS). • Ability to translate data into technical briefs for data capture and analysis, and draft precise and credible reports is preferred. • Experience with mobile data collection platforms such as kobo toolbox, ODK etc. is an advantage. • Previous field-based development programme planning and monitoring or research experience in Afghanistan or similar emergency contexts is an asset. • Willingness to travel to the field for extended periods during data collection or programme monitoring is essential.

This position is open for local applicants and UNICEF will not provide any accommodation facilities.