Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist, P3 at UNICEF

PURPOSE

Under the guidance and supervision of the Chief of Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation the incumbent Planning Monitoring and Evaluation (PME) Specialist P3 will provide support to and facilitate the planning, monitoring, evaluation, and reporting functions for the country programme. This will be done in close collaboration with other members of the PM&E section – Partnerships Specialist, PM&E Officers in Field Offices, and programme officers and specialists across the different offices in Somalia and the UNICEF Somalia Support Centre (Nairobi) and others under operations for HACT and Budget.

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES AND 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 state. 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 MICS 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 development of programme guidance to assist in development of annual/ rolling workplans aligned with relevant programme theories of change, UNICEF guidance and RBM principles. In the same light, support the quality assurance of draft Programme workplans at national and subnational levels for adherence/ consistency with UNICEF and partners’ guidelines.
• 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.

Programme Performance Monitoring and Reporting

• Ensure that technical support is provided to help ensure that the Programme has quality information to assess progress towards expected results established in annual work plans. This will help 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 programmatic and 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.
• 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.

Data and Statistics

• Systematic collection of qualitative data for the sound and up-to-date assessment of the situation of children and women to provide the baselines for result-based decisions on interventions and evaluations. This will include mining data from primary and secondary sources and reorganizing such data in formats that can be easily read and used.
•  Establish a data repository whereby staff can access all the latest information, research, surveys, data about children and women in Somalia
• Corroborate various data from different tools and sources to facilitate identification of the situation of children and women, programme performance and results, and opportunities for process improvements and strategic reflections.
• Preparing periodic reports for program managers on both humanitarian and development interventions that effectively communicate trends, patterns, and predictions using relevant data. Such reports will include creation of engaging interactive data visualizations including interactive charts, maps and dashboards based on UNICEF’s data work and contribute to publications and media reports.
• Provide technical leadership to support Field Offices and where necessary Partners in the areas of capacity development for responsible data work: data collection, data analysis and data use.
• Establish and nurture a series of opportunities which assist the Country Office to build capacity in Government to identify issues susceptible to being solved using data, and to build the partnerships necessary to access the data, avail of expertise and computing power, and apply the insights for results for children.
• Establish and maintain good working relationships with partners including UN agencies, multilateral and bilateral donors, foundations, private sector organizations, academia, civil society organizations and professional associations.
• Ensure the establishment and delivery of technologies, tools, approaches, and methodologies to unlock the value in UNICEF data, including guiding data use and structures to remove data silos, and ensure responsible cross-fertilization of data across the organization especially between humanitarian and development.

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 Committee and represent the Programme section.
• 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.

Capacity Building for Planning and Monitoring

• Support capacity building of UNICEF Programme staff and partners in Programme P&M and to integrate results-based management into programme planning, implementation, and monitoring. Provide technical support to help ensure that the planning and monitoring capacities of the Programme and national and state level 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.
• 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.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in international development, statistics, economics, or another relevant field.
• A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.
• A minimum of 5 years of practical and analytical work experience in planning, monitoring, data, and statistics including humanitarian settings.
• Relevant experience in a UN system agency or organization is considered an asset.
• 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.

Deadline: 18 Feb 2023