Monitoring and Evaluation / Child Rights Monitoring Specialist

Local Post

UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN’S FUND

Job Title:  Child Rights Monitoring Specialist

Supervisor Title/ Level: Deputy Head of Office

Organizational Unit: Programme

Post Location: Pristina

Job Level: NOC

 

Organizational Context and Purpose for the job

II. The Harmonization of the administrative data and reporting remains one of the main challenges for Kosovo*. Despite the fact that the Law on Statistics clearly states that Statistical Agency is the only official data producer, this is not the case in practice, with line ministries that do not report to the Statistical Agency but continue to collect and publish data independently.  To address these challenges, this position will contribute:

 

1. To ensure that the UNICEF Country Office and national partners have useful, valid and reliable information on:

• the situation of children and women and on the progress in realizing their rights;
• the reduction of equity gaps within the country;
• the results of UNICEF-supported national public programmes including their evaluation; and
• the contribution of UNICEF to the achievement of the results;

2. To assist in the development of national capacities for child rights monitoring, evaluation and research, with special attention to the interest, concern and participation of government, community, and civil society stakeholders. 

3. To support Country Office’s efforts in knowledge management by identifying, documenting and sharing lessons learned and good practices related to child rights within the Country Office and in the country.

4. Where relevant, to assist in the establishment of monitoring and evaluation tools which enhance partnership between the UN Country Team, government and other key players to collectively track progress made by the country in meeting its international commitments for children. 

III. Key functions, accountabilities and related duties/tasks (Please outline the key accountabilities for this position and underneath each accountability, the duties that describe how they are delivered. Please limit to four to seven accountabilities)

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

1. Strengthening child-rights system monitoring.

Strengthen monitoring and evaluation capacities of national, regional and local partners, from the government, the parliament and civil society as well as the independent child rights institutions and  mechanisms are enhanced and that stakeholders  have at their disposal disaggregated evidence to influence, develop, implement, monitor and evaluate international commitments, national, regional and local policies, allocations of resources and programme implementation models, focusing on child- related disparities and inequities.

Duties & Tasks

* Maintain and develop partnerships with relevant stakeholders, the parliament and civil society to establish and/or strengthen the existing independent monitoring and evaluation systems and processes so that reliable and disaggregated data and analysis on the situation of disadvantaged and excluded are available to, and used by, decision-makers in the development childr-related policies and programmes.

* Systematically promote equity-based child rights indicators and monitoring systems in partnerships

* Actively seek partnerships with centres of excellence for the identification of capacity gaps (in terms of human resources, processes, indicators, etc.) to monitor and evaluation progressive realisation of child rights and reduction of equity gaps and the development of strategies to address them.

2. Situation Monitoring and Assessment 

Ensure that the Country Office and national partners have timely and accurate measurement of change in the conditions of disadvantaged and excluded children 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 on equity for children.

Duties & Tasks

* Support partners in the establishment and management of national statistical databases (e.g., DevInfo); and contribution to regional and international databases (e.g. TransMonEE), ensuring that key indicators are readily accessible by key stakeholders. Potential uses include the Situation Analysis, Common Country Assessment, Early Warning Monitoring Systems, and Mid-Term Reviews. 

* Develop a Situation Monitoring and Assessment  system owned by all key partners which supports the preparation of country level statistical and analytic reports on the status of children’s and women’s rights issues and of equity gaps; and which allow,  when opportunities emerge to influence developmental and social policies.  This is to include technical support to global reporting obligations including national reports on progress toward international commitments for children, and toward CRC  and CEDAW fulfilment.

* In coordination with other stakeholders, where applicable support the collection of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and other nationally or internationally agreed key social development indicators (through MICS or other surveys) to improve national planning.

* In humanitarian response situations, provide professional support for one or more rapid assessments (inter-agency or independently if necessary) to be carried out within the first 48-72 hours, working in close collaboration with the humanitarian clusters partners.

3. Evaluation

Ensures that UNICEF-supported evaluations (such as joint evaluations of public policies and programmes or impact evaluations of pilots) are strategically selected and conducted in accordance with UN quality standards. Ensures that the results of these evaluations are disseminated in a timely fashion to internal and external stakeholders to inform public programme design and performance and contribute to national and corporate learning.

Duties & Tasks

* Technically support programme colleagues and national partners in identifying and designing strategic evaluations. This may include joint evaluation of public policies and programmes, impact evaluation of models and pilots and participation to strategic multi-country evaluations.

* Technically support programme colleagues and national partners to jointly formulate Terms of Reference and evaluation designs of high quality, when relevant drawing on the know-how of knowledge institutions, in compliance with the UNEG evaluation norms and standards.

* Monitor and ensure the quality of the field work and data management during the programme implementation phase, and the quality of the analysis and ease of understanding during the report writing phase as per UNICEF evaluation policy and guidelines.

* Disseminate evaluation 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 jointly developed by all relevant stakeholders, 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.

4. Knowledge Management

Ensure that UNICEF contributes to national, regional and international learning on child rights by sharing knowledge, good practices and lessons and by supporting national partners and civil society to share the same with other countries.

Duties & Tasks

* Coordinates the CO efforts to support the government, the parliament and civil society in the identification of good practices in  and support their dissemination within the country, regionally and internationally (as relevant) by partners themselves.

* Undertake lessons-learned reviews on M&E practices and experience at the national level, and ensure they are shared as appropriate.  Similarly, pay attention to M&E knowledge networks to identify innovations and lessons learned that may be relevant for the CO and partners to improve their M&E function.

5. Contribution to Networking and Advocacy  

Ensure that the UNICEF partnerships, networking and advocacy are effectively supported by relevant and evidence-based research and knowledge related to children in the country, focusing on the most vulnerable children.

Duties & Tasks

* Strengthen the capacity of UNICEF colleagues and national partners, including the media, to generate and use reliable and disaggregated data and analysis on the situation of vulnerable children for their own interventions and advocacy for child rights.

* Link UNICEF’s partnerships and advocacy strategies with the knowledge strategy to ensure that the CO has at its disposal the latest data and analysis on vulnerable children and their families, generated by UNICEF or partners.

6. Integrated Monitoring, Evaluation & Research Plan (IMEP) 

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. 

Duties & Tasks

* Make professional contributions to and provide technical assistance for the planning and establishing the major research, monitoring and evaluation objectives, priorities, and activities in UNICEF’s multi-year and annual IMEPs, in consultation with child-rights and implementing partners.

* Likewise, support the development of UNDAF M&E Plans from a sound results-based programming process.

* Collaborate with Regional M&E Advisers and HQ Evaluation Office for overall coordination of priority research, monitoring and evaluation activities, especially those of regional scope requiring the coordinated effort of multiple countries.

* Identify the M&E objectives, priorities, and activities required for effective CO and partner Emergency Preparedness and Response Plans.

* 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

 

IV. Impact of Results

The expected impact of this position is to mainstream child rights in policy and legislative frameworks at central and local levels; to conduct strategic engagement with policy makers to make institutions of Kosovo more accountable and responsive to issues affecting children and to generate knowledge and evidence to inform policy agenda and public debate; and to provide Kosovo institutions with improved capacities to monitor the impact of relevant policies on the most disadvantaged children.

KEY END-RESULTS

1. Strengthening child rights systems monitoring and institutional capacity development.
The monitoring and evaluation capacities of partners, from the government, the parliament and civil society at national, regional and local level, as well as the independent child rights institutions and  mechanisms are enhanced to ensure that Kosovo Institutions are responsive and accountable for child rights. All stakeholders have at their disposal disaggregated evidence to influence, develop, implement, monitor and evaluate national, regional and local policies, and allocations of resources and models in support of meeting the international commitments focusing on child related disparities and inequities. Advocacy and facilitation of policy dialogue leading to establishment of an independent system for child rights monitoring.

2. Situation Monitoring and Assessment.
A comprehensive situation assessment and monitoring system collectively owned by all key partners is in place.Timely and accurate measurements of changes in the conditions of children, women, and their families in the country or region are available to relevant stakeholders through the system.This information is made publicly available to facilitate evidence-based decision making processes, and the documentation of the progressive realization of child rights and the reduction of equity gaps.

3. Evaluation. 
UNICEF-supported evaluations (such as joint evaluations of public policies and programmes or impact evaluations of pilots) are strategically selected and conducted in accordance with UN quality standards. The results of these evaluations are disseminated in a timely fashion to internal and external stakeholders to inform public programme design and performance and contribute to national and corporate learning.

4. Knowledge Management.
UNICEF contributes to national, regional and international learning on child rights by sharing knowledge, good practices and lessons and by supporting national partners and civil society to share the same with other countries.

5. Contribution to Networking and Advocacy.
UNICEF’s partnerships, networking and advocacy are effectively supported by relevant evidence-based research and knowledge related to children in the country, focusing on disadvantaged and excluded children.

6. Monitoring, Evaluation & Research Planning.
The Country Office and national partners have a well-prioritized and realistic plan of research, monitoring and evaluation activities, developed collaboratively that provides relevant and strategic information (including performance monitoring) needed to manage the Country Programme.

V. Competencies and level of proficiency required (please base on UNICEF Competency Profiles)

Core Values

• Commitment
• Diversity and inclusion
• Integrity

Core competencies

• Communication [ II ]
• Working with People[ II ]
• Drive for Result  [ II ]

 

Functional Competencies:

• Leading and Supervising [ II ]
• Formulating Strategies and Concepts [ II ]
• Analyzing [ II ]
• Applying Technical Expertise  [ II ]   
• Planning and Organizing [ III ] 

  

 

VI. Recruitment Qualifications

Education:

Advanced university degree in social sciences, statistics, planning development, planning.  

Experience:

Relevant professional work experience in programme development and implementation including monitoring and evaluation activities as follows:

Level 3 - Five years of relevant professional work experience. Developing country work experience (for IP) or field work experience (for NO)

Language Requirements:

Fluency in English and fluency in another UN language an asset. Fluency in the national language of the duty station for NO is mandatory for IP an asset.