Monitoring and Evaluation Officer, (NO-2), Dominican Republic

If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you. For 70 years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

Post Title: Monitoring and Evaluation Officer
Proposed Level: NO-2
Duty Station: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Supervisor: Representative

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.

For every child, a champion

The Monitoring and Evaluation Officer is accountable for the accomplishment of the stated key end-results by providing professional expertise and assistance in information/data collection, statistics and data analysis, monitoring & evaluation (M&E), preparation of reports, communication and partnership, and in implementing training programmes for national and sub-national data collection, monitoring, evaluation and research capacity building with special attention to the interest, concern and participation of primary stakeholders. 

How can you make a difference?

We are looking for a dynamic and innovative Monitoring and Evaluation Officer to support UNICEF’s Dominican Republic offices in the areas described below, seasoned professionals are encouraged to apply!

• Integrated Monitoring, Evaluation & Research Planning (IMEP)
• Situation Monitoring and Assessment 
• Programme Performance Monitoring 
• Evaluation
• M&E Capacity Building
• Communication and Partnerships

 Integrated Monitoring, Evaluation & Research Planning (IMEP)

• Provide technical support to 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 the major research, monitoring and evaluation activities in multi-year and annual IMEPs, which is to be reflected in UNDAF M&E Plans.
• Participate in management studies and support/participate in thematic/strategic evaluations to improve development & organizational effectiveness.
• Support and contribute to effectively joint evaluations with developmental partners, including joint evaluation of UNICEF or of multi-partner programs.
• In close consultation with management and liaison with partners, make a professional contribution to formulation of the IMEPs from a sound results-based programming process and collaborative working relations with partners
• In a close coordination with partners, ensure that the IMEPs include data collection activities that provide accurate and relevant data on key activities and results, including results for children.
• Contribute to the incorporation of M&E tasks in the IMEPs which were identified within the CO Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan, in order to anticipate and prepare for the information needs and operational modalities of an emergency, in consultation with humanitarian partners.
• 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, working in close collaboration with the humanitarian clusters partners. After the initial humanitarian response, support management of the medium-term response with a revised IMEP. 

Situation Monitoring and Assessment

• Provide technical support to ensure that the Country Office and national partners have 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 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) indicators (through MICS or other house hold surveys) and other data sources, including administrative data, to improve integrated national planning.
• Support management of available baseline information on national statistics and key indicators through established databases for easy access and use. Prepare country level statistical reports on the status of children’s and women’s human rights issues, and provide a technical support to global reporting obligations including national reports on progress toward the SDGs, toward CRC fulfilment, and toward CEDAW fulfilment.
• Keep monitoring the situation of children’s and women’s rights with national partners and keep updated with the information of the quality research that address issues and challenges affecting children and their families.
• Coordinate with the Country Office and partners and provide assistance in their using up-to-date information in, inter alia, Situation Analysis, Common Country Assessment, Early Warning Monitoring Systems, Annual Reviews, Mid-Term Reviews, and Annual Reports or other progress reports.
• In humanitarian response situations, provide technical support for a rapid assessment (inter-agency or independently if necessary) to be carried out within the first 48-72 hours. Provide rapid and accurate information on emergency programme’s coverage, coordination and coherence in close collaboration with partners and in line with the core commitment on children (CCCs).
• Provide technical support to ensure that the CO has information necessary for UNICEF to effectively report on and advocate for children’s rights through the appropriate channels and to enhance partnerships with key players in monitoring collectively progress on child focused international commitments, including SDGs.
• Support the CO in collecting and interpreting existing early warning data effectively to guide the adjustment of programmes and operational approaches when and as country contexts deteriorate.

Programme Performance Monitoring

• Provide technical support to the programme results managers to ensure that the Country Office has the tools for obtaining quality information to assess progress towards expected results established in annual work plans.
• Provide technical support as necessary to identifying and adjusting a set of programme performance indicators, in the context of the multi-year and annual IMEPs, the Annual Management Plan and Annual Work Plans, as outlined in the Programme Policy and Procedures Manual (especially, Chapter 6, section 6: IMEP).
• Provide technical support to ensure that monitoring system are in place and that key annual programme indicators are tracked and analysed, including those related to partnerships initiative, and provided regularly to the Country Management Team/ Senior Management Team to guide programme and management decisions.

Evaluation

• Provide technical support to ensure that a well-prioritised and strategic selection of evaluations at programme or Country Office strategy level is managed in order that each evaluation is designed and carried out with quality process and products and that evaluation results are useful to the intended audience.
• Provide support to ensure that the relevant programme partners participate and formulate Evaluation Terms of Reference and design of high quality.
• Provide technical support to ensure that evaluation design and management meet quality standards as outlined in UNICEF Programme Policies and Procedures and related stand-alone Evaluation Technical Notes, when necessary seek expertise of knowledge institutions. Facilitate and take part in producing Evaluation Office’s responses on specific and substantive issues.
• Review and provide technical comments on draft evaluation reports. Contribute to the effective dissemination and sharing of knowledge, findings, conclusions, recommendations and lessons from evaluation to the intended audience as described in the Terms of Reference with a view to improving programme performance and contributing to wider learning. Specifically, assist in feeding evaluation results into key UNICEF programme planning processes including the Annual Reviews and the Mid-Term Reviews, and formulation of the Country Programme Document, the Country Programme Action Plan and the Annual Work Plans. Support effective participatory feedback, including to community and civil society stakeholders.
• Provide assistance in tracking to 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 recorded in CMT minutes.
• Submit electronic copies of all evaluations to NYHQ via the Evaluation Data Base web portal, with full accompanying documentation. 

M&E Capacity Building

• Provide technical support to 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.
• Contribute to the collaboration of an M&E capacity building strategy for national partners and institutions and corresponding activities for implementation in the context of the IMEP or UNDAF M&E plan. Provide technical support for implementation of capacity building strategies as a joint commitment with other developmental partners with special attention to the interest, concern and participation of primary stakeholders.
• In close consultation with senior managers, contribute to formulation of staff capacity development strategy and plans, and exercise effective leadership in implementing them, ensuring that Country Office staffs have the basic knowledge and skills to fulfil their monitoring and evaluation responsibilities, and training is planned and carried out to fill identified gaps.
• Promote and provide support to ensure that Country Office staff and national partners are aware of and have access to UNICEF monitoring and evaluation learning resources.
• Contribute to facilitate that Evaluation capacity of national partner organisations is strengthened through their involvement in evaluation processes and possibly through specific capacity building initiatives.
• Contribute to liaise with knowledge institutions to seek partnerships for the identification of capacity gaps and the development of strategies to address them.

Communication and Partnerships

• Provide technical support to ensure that all of the above tasks are carried out and accomplished through effective communication and partnerships.
• Facilitate or contribute to integrated planning of research, monitoring and evaluation activities within the Country Office, with national partners, the UN Country Team and the wider international community, in the context of internal office management plans, the country programme process, the UNDAF and sector wide approaches respectively, in consultation with child-right partners.
• Facilitate or contribute to joint monitoring and evaluation activities with national partners, the UN Country Team and the wider international community, wherever possible in the context of the above processes.
• Provide technical support to Country Office staff and national partners on data collection, data management and data analysis for basic monitoring and evaluation.
• Provide synthesis of M&E results to the country office senior management, the Country Management Team and key programme and operations staff.
• Ensure that evaluation recommendations are communicated to the relevant partners for implementation, with advice on the Implementation Plan and follow-up action for future programming.
• Facilitate learning from the results of monitoring and evaluation within the Country Office and more widely within UNICEF in the region and globally, as well as among national partners and other key stakeholders, engaging more expertise from knowledge institutions.
• Seek advanced or in-depth technical support on monitoring and evaluation from the Regional M&E Advisors and headquarters advisors on monitoring and evaluation as necessary.
• Collaborate with the Regional M & E Adviser to ensure the availability of current and accurate monitoring and evaluation data and results.
• Collaborate with Regional M&E Advisers and HQ Officers for overall coordination of priority research, monitoring and evaluation activities.

For every Child, you demonstrate:

Core Values:

• Commitment
• Diversity and inclusion
• Integrity

Core competencies

• Communication (I)
• Working with people (II)
• Drive for results (I)

Functional Competencies

• Formulating Strategies and Concepts [ I ]
• Analyzing [ II ]
• Applying Technical Expertise [ II ]
• Planning and Organizing [ II ]

To qualify as a champion for every child you will have:

Education: 

• University degree in social sciences, development planning, planning, evaluation, survey implementation, advanced statistical research.
• Degrees and professional courses in mathematics, statistics and economy are an asset.

Experience:

• Professional work experience in programme development and implementation including monitoring and evaluation activities.
  At least 2 years of relevant professional work experience. Developing country work experience or field work experience.
• 5-10 years of monitoring and evaluation experience providing support, advise and guidance to senior managers, national partners and or government entities is considered a very strong asset.
• At least one instance of exposure to emergency programming, including preparedness planning. Active involvement in a humanitarian crisis response programme preferred.
• Experience working with statistics, designing implementing surveys, data analysis with organizations associated to investigations.
• Experience working with data collection and motoring and evaluation studies.
• Work experience in an international organization or UN agency is desirable.

Language:

• Fluency in Spanish and English is required.
• Additional UN language(s) are an asset.

* Post subject to PBR approval

Candidates must be a citizen of Dominican Republic to be considered eligible for this post. Please note that the National Officers (NOs) are locally recruited staff and therefore, candidates are personally responsible for any travel and accommodation arrangements.

UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organisation.