Monitoring and Evaluation Senior Officer

The Asia Pacific Regional Office, based in Bangkok, Thailand, provides strategic leadership and oversight for UNOPS operations across 17 countries, ensuring high performance, operational excellence, and alignment with organizational goals. Operations currently span Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Pacific Islands. Across these countries, we work closely with key stakeholders to strengthen partnerships and maximize impact through five main operating units: Afghanistan (AFCO), Myanmar (MMCO), South Asia Multi-Country Office (SAMCO), East Asia and Pacific Multi-Country Office (EAPMCO), and the Asia Regional Health Cluster (ARHC). Through these entities, we provide agile, client-focused service delivery across diverse sectors - including infrastructure, health, procurement, and project management - supporting the implementation of sustainable development solutions across the region.

The South Asia Multi-Country Office (SAMCO) supports UNOPS operations across six countries: Bangladesh, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. SAMCO delivers a broad range of services and technical expertise in climate change, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH), infrastructure, procurement, human resource management, and fund management. Each country office is staffed with local technical experts and maintains strong partnerships with national governments, ensuring context-specific solutions and effective project implementation.

The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Senior Officer plays a crucial role in planning, development, and implementation of a comprehensive Monitoring & Evaluation Framework for UNOPS Sri Lanka projects. The M&E Senior Officer’s primary focus is to systematically track progress, assess performance, generate evidence for impact and identify areas for improvement throughout the project lifecycle. Aggregating programme-level results, ensuring robust data management and helping to prepare analysis and reports as needed. The M & E Senior Officer will report to the Head of Programme.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Senior Officer directly impacts the achievement of UNOPS Sri Lanka's program and project results by coordinating the collation, reviewing, and analyzing of data from projects and programmes. This contributes towards improved performance through enhanced data management, an effective monitoring system through systematic tracking of progress and performance at programme and project levels, facilitating informed decisions at both project and programme level, and supporting communication and marketing initiatives to promote the visibility of UNOPS in Sri Lanka. Key outcomes will be improved quality, consistency, and effectiveness of project delivery, data management, and knowledge management. This consequently reinforces the visibility and image of the UNOPS as an effective service provider in project services and management; and strengthens its competitive position as a partner of choice in sustainable development and project services.

1. Portfolio level Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Responsibilities

• Define and introduce UNOPS Sri Lanka's  M&E approach to all projects and programme stakeholders.
• Put a robust M&E system that is aligned with UNOPS' corporate M&E standards and guidelines.
• Coordinate and oversee the development, piloting and maintenance of databases and dashboards to accurately track data from various interventions across program activities.
• Ensure the implementation and maintenance of data back-up and retrieval systems.
• Develop performance metrics, collect and analyze key data to support timely and informed decision-making by UNOPS Sri Lanka management.
• Support the documentation of challenges, lessons learnt and recommendations to inform future learning and organizational development.
• Lead or support the preparation of Terms of Reference (ToRs) for procured services, including baseline surveys, mid-term reviews, end-of-project evaluations, annual reviews, and related reporting requirements.
• Lead the training and capacity development of programme and project staff, with a primary focus on Monitoring and Evaluation.
• Take minutes, manage records and documentation, and ensure accurate and organized documentation management
• Support various external and internal assessments, evaluations, and data requests.

2. Program/ project Monitoring, Evaluation & Reporting

• Coordinate the development of project logical frameworks, including the hierarchy of objectives, indicators, means of verification, assumptions, and risks. Provide strategic advice during project design to enable effective and comprehensive monitoring and measurement of project achievements.
• Ensure that sufficient resources are allocated for the defined M&E scope of work.
• Establish an M&E system that includes clear guidelines, implementation arrangements, and an M&E plan aligned with the project’s logical framework, financing agreement, and implementation plan.
• Design and implement data collection tools and methodologies (e.g., surveys, interviews, focus group discussions, site visits) to gather data on project activities, outputs, outcomes, and impact.
• Document lessons learned, good practices, and innovations to support continuous improvement in project implementation.
• In coordination with the Head of Program, PMO, and Project Managers, develop an evaluation framework to measure project outcomes and impact. Prepare Terms of Reference (ToRs) for baseline, midline, and endline studies, as well as annual reviews and associated reporting requirements.
• Provide guidance to project teams and coordinate with Project Managers to ensure understanding of and compliance with reporting standards.
• Support the recruitment of M&E personnel at both UNOPS Sri Lanka and field office levels, including field enumerators, as necessary.

3. Communication and Knowledge Management

• Integrate knowledge management into the overall M&E framework, including the systematic recording and dissemination of lessons learned and best practices.
• Contribute to knowledge building and the dissemination of lessons learned across UNOPS Sri Lanka's projects and programmes.
• Work closely with the Communications Unit to support the development of periodic publications, such as annual reports, monthly newsletters, and other communication and marketing materials.
• Actively engage with project and programme personnel to share case studies, lessons learned, and best practices.
• Support Engagement Developers in incorporating lessons learned from previous experiences into the design of new projects.
• Collaborate with the Communications Unit to disseminate evidence of project and programme impact to donors, partners, and beneficiaries.

4. Capacity building on M&E

• Develop a comprehensive M&E capacity-building plan for UNOPS Sri Lanka and lead its implementation across Sri Lanka
• Provide training and technical assistance to project staff on M&E tools, processes, and dashboards.
• Conduct regular capacity assessments to identify gaps and training needs within project teams.
• Train project staff on the use of dashboards, databases, OneUNOPS Collect, or any other M&E platforms used for data management.
• Mentor and coach project personnel, including field-level M&E teams, on M&E concepts, tools, and Methodologies.

Required

• Master’s degree (or equivalent) in any of the above or related fields with 2 years of relevant experience OR
• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in Management, Development Studies, Social Science, Research, Monitoring and Evaluation, Statistics, Economics or related fields with 4 years of relevant experience is required.

Required

• Relevant experience is work in Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E).
• Experience in design, development, and/or implementation of monitoring and evaluation systems.
• Data management skills including the use and maintenance of databases.

Desired

• M&E/research design skills.
• Experience in Data analysis and reporting, conducting impact evaluations.
• Expertise in both quantitative and qualitative research design and data analysis is highly desirable.
• Experience delivering capacity building in M&E, including the development of guidance documents, the provision of technical assistance, and the delivery of training to a range of audiences, would be an asset. 
• Experience of working in multicultural environments or UN system organizations in a developing country is desired.

• Please note that UNOPS does not accept unsolicited resumes. 
• Please note that UNOPS will at no stage of the recruitment process request candidates to make payments of any kind.
• Applications to vacancies must be received before midnight Copenhagen time (CET) on the closing date of the announcement. Applications received after the closing date will not be considered. 
• Please note that only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process, which involves various assessments. 
• UNOPS embraces diversity and is committed to equal employment opportunity. Our workforce consists of many diverse nationalities, cultures, languages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, and abilities. UNOPS seeks to sustain and strengthen this diversity to ensure equal opportunities as well as an inclusive working environment for its entire workforce. 
• Qualified women and candidates from groups which are underrepresented in the UNOPS workforce are encouraged to apply. These include in particular candidates from racialized and/or indigenous groups, members of minority gender identities and sexual orientations, and people with disabilities. 
• We would like to ensure all candidates perform at their best during the assessment process. If you are shortlisted and require additional assistance to complete any assessment, including reasonable accommodation, please inform our human resources team when you receive an invitation.

• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post. 
• For retainer contracts, you must complete a few mandatory courses (they take around 4 hours to complete) in your own time, before providing services to UNOPS. Refreshers or new mandatory courses may be required during your contract. Please note that you will not receive any compensation for taking courses and refreshers. For more information on a retainer contract here. 
• For more details about the contract types, please click here.
• All UNOPS personnel are responsible for performing their duties in accordance with the UN Charter and UNOPS Policies and Instructions, as well as other relevant accountability frameworks. In addition, all personnel must demonstrate an understanding of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a manner consistent with UN core values and the UN Common Agenda. 
• It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential personnel. Recruitment in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.