Monitoring Evaluation and Reporting Officer (SC10) - PREP

 Somalia has been moving on the path of development, when the country faces myriad of challenges, emerging from decades of conflicts, terrorism, coupled with the natural disasters. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has been supporting the governments’ efforts in effective implementation of the National Development Plan (NDP), which is aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), in collaboration with the stakeholders, in Somalia. In order to effectively support the NDP of the Federal Government of Somalia, UNDP Somalia has aligned its interventions in main thematic areas, such as (i) Poverty Reduction and Environment Protection, (ii) Democratic Governance, (iii) Rule of Law and Security, (iv) Human Development and Economics, and (v) HIV/AIDS. It supports to the governments in developing strategies and policies that translate into a number of programmes and projects, being implemented, in collaboration with the governments, private sector, civil society as well as bilateral and multilateral agencies. As a result, UNDP has been contributing to achieving the overall national goal of socioeconomic transformation for poverty reduction, economic revival and societal transfer in a socially just and gender equitable manner.

UNDP Poverty Reduction and Environment Protection (PREP) Unit is responsible for promoting inclusive and environmentally sustainable growth, economic development and jobs creation in Somalia.  Through its ongoing programmes and projects in the areas of youth employment, affordable clean energy and recovery, UNDP has been supporting Somalia for addressing the causes of poverty and continued vulnerability to economic shocks and climatic change. In Somalia, over 60% of population are young people and around 70% of them are unemployed or underemployed. Considering the priority needs of the total population and aligning with the NDP, UNDP/PREP, in collaboration with FAO, ILO, UN-Habitat and UNIDO, has been implementing a Federal Government of Somalia (FGS)-UN Joint Programme on Youth Employment Somalia (YES), since June 2015, in Mogadishu and several regional states. The programme, funded by Italy, Sweden, Denmark, UN Peace Building Fund (PBF) and UNDP, aims at creating employment opportunities for young men and women in Somalia. To address the nation’s priority issue of youth unemployment, the JP YES has been working with the federal and local stakeholders, for creating short- and longer-term employment opportunities for youth and women, through value chain development, market-oriented skills development and labour-intensive public infrastructure rehabilitation. At present, JP YES has been operational in Mogadishu, Puntland, Somaliland, Jubaland, and SWS; and is expected to be scaled up in other Federal Member States in its 2nd generation of intervention. Due to the prevailing security situation and limited capacities of the local authorities, it is more challenging to implement the activities in Mogadishu and the Federal Member States. After almost 2 ½ years of implementation of UN JP YES, an evaluation exercise of Joint Programme is being commissioned and would inform the future direction of the intervention, as the ongoing programme will end in June 2018.    

UNDP/JP YES has been implementing a number of activities in the areas of fish and renewable energy value chain development, short-term and longer-term jobs creation for youth, skills development, socio-economic rehabilitation of youth at risk, rehabilitation of infrastructure, institutional capacity development and early recovery initiatives in the aftermath of the devastated explosion in October this year and natural disasters. The JP YES has also been supporting the FGS for the development of policies, such as the National Employment Strategy and others, as well as undertaking mid-term evaluation exercise of JP YES. In light of this, UNDP intends to recruit a highly qualified Somali national as an M&E and Reporting Officer who will be based in Mogadishu for the effective monitoring of the programme activities and evidence-based reporting.

Under the direct supervision of Project Manager, JP YES and overall guidance of the Portfolio Manager as well as in close working relationship with other PREP team members and Implementing Partners (IPs), the M&E and Reporting Officer will be responsible for the development of a YES JP M&E framework and its effective implementation. This needs to be aligned with the UNDP programme policies and procedures. The M&E and Reporting Officer will also compile quarterly and annual report for internal monitoring purpose and as part of donor reporting. The incumbent will also develop capacity of the project team members and IPs where necessary to ensure the effective implementation of the M&E framework. The incumbent will promote a team-based leadership, client-oriented and problem-solving approach, consistent with UNDP rules and regulations.

Summary of Key Functions:

• Ensure the results-based, engendered M&E and reporting integrated in programme and projects
• Ensure effective monitoing of results and development effectiveness
• Improve compliance with donor requirements and reporting of results and development effectiveness
• Improve review and evaluation of programme and projects at federal and local levels
• Develop knowledge sharing and management as well as advocacy for gender equality

Roles and Responsibilities:

Ensure the results-based, engendered M&E and reporting integrated in programme/project planning

• Participate actively in the planning process of programme/projects/activities
• Draw, document, disseminate and apply good practices and lessons learnt in programming
• Provide feedback as needed into project design, including comments on project documents, theory of change and results matrixes from PME perspective
• Reinforce budgeting for PME during the programme/project planning
• Assess the adequacy of performance-based monitoring, review reporting arrangements and provide support to the Team to adopt improved PME system.

Ensure effective monitoing of results and development effectiveness

• Develop the monitoring and review framework and plan for the programme/project and operationalize it
• Develop monitoring and review guidelines, formats and tools
• Conduct trainings and orientations for project staff and IPs in Results-Based Management (RBM), especially M&E and reporting for building their capacities
• Undertake field visits to the project sites and monitor the project performance progress, against the set targets by using SMART indicators and baselines
• Collect relevant evidence-based data and information on the project performance progress, including risks, issues/challenges, lessons learned and good practices, by using log sheets
• Analyze collected data and information and inform the management for improving planning and decision making
• Develop and share with the stakeholders Back to Office Reports timely
• Manage the risks and challenges by taking timely actions for addressing the challenges and mitigating the emerging risks
• Provide regular training and orientation to the Area Managers in developing capacity in effective M&E and reporting
• Facilitate organizing monitoring visits of the governments and donors to the project sites and participate as a resource person in these missions.

Improve compliance with donor requirements and reporting of results and development effectiveness

• Review the donors’ contracts and their requirements and develop a tracking sustem to meet the requirement in a timely manner
• Provide technical support to the Area Managers and Implementaing Partners (IPs) to develop high quality, results-based and engendered reporting skills
• Analyze and compile the quarterly, annual and final project reports, and take direct responsibility of their finalization and quality before submission to the project management
• Together with the programme staff, track the spending of the funds transferred to IPs; and where necessary, prompt the Project Manager about seeking amendment or no-cost extension in timely manner
• Assist in filling the quarterly progress as well as lessons learned, challenges and risks logs in the system.

Improve review and evaluation of programme and projects at federal and local levels

• Assist in planning, designing and implementation of evaluations and reviews including management of the evaluation/ review process (drafting of TOR, identification of consultants etc.)
• Follow up with the Project Team and IPs to ensure that management responses to evaluations are drafted and implemented
• Guide the Project Team in the implementation of evaluation findings
• Plan and organize review exercises of the projects and activities on a periodic basis (quarterly and annual) to assess the progress against the agreed results/targets, efficiency, and development effectiveness and need to take corrective measures at all levels
• Support the Project Manager in reviewing the delivery rate of the programme/projects against the budget as well as developmentof strategies and their implementation for accelerating the project/activity delivery
• Develop capacity of the IPs for holding effective review and evaluation exercises
• Organize and manage logistics of reviews and evaluations

Develop knowledge sharing and management as well as advocacy for gender equality

• Collect, document and share good practices and lessons learned, emerging from the ongoing programme/ projects/activities and share them timely, for learning and corrective measures
• Develop and establish the M&E database and ensure the usage of the database for the quarterly results monitoring.
• Ensure that all relevant M&E data and information regularly communicated among the Project Team and IPs
• Advise the Project Team on the efficient and effect ways to share learning with partners and staff in the country and with others in the Sub-region
• Identify scale up/optimization opportunities in projects and share them with staff and the Project Manager to inform adaptation of ongoing programmes, development of new component in the projects and/or inform new programme/activities
• Identify and document human-interest stories that reflect the intended or unintended changes and/or Programme’s impact

Impact of Results 

The key results have an impact on the overall effectiveness of UNDP´s development results in Somalia. The efficient and timely achievement of project´s results will strengthen UNDP’s position as a strong and reliable development partner in the regions as well as in the country as a whole. In particular, the key results will have a direct impact on the effectiveness on the design, implementation and outcome of key project activities’ results.

Corporate Competencies:

• Demonstrate integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards
• Promote the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP
• Display cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
• Treat all people fairly without favoritism

Functional Competencies:

• Knowledge Management and Learning;
• Promotes a knowledge-sharing and learning culture in the office.
• Understanding of how to make knowledge easily accessible to country offices.
• In-depth knowledge on development issues.
• Ability to advocate and provide policy advice.
• Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in the office.
• Knowledge of UN policies and programmes.
• Knowledge of UN regulations, rules, policies, procedures and practices.

Technical Knowledge;

• knowledge of M&E and its applications.

Development and Operational Effectiveness;

• Ability to perform a variety of research and administrative support tasks in a fast-paced
• Good technical skills in monitoring and evaluation, including strong understanding of the methodological and operational dimensions of the project
• Good knowledge of the Results Management Guide and Toolkit
• Excellent reporting, drafting and editing skills
• Excellent organizational skills.
• Ability to lead implementation of new systems and processes.

Leadership and Self-Management;

• Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback.
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.
• Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure.
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.
• Leads teams effectively and shows conflict resolution skills.

Management and Leadership

• Build strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback
• Consistently approach work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude
• Demonstrate openness to change and ability to manage complexities
• Lead teams effectively and shows mentoring as well as conflict resolution skills
• Demonstrate strong oral and written communication skills
• Demonstrate ability to work with government institutions (including labor, youth, municipality) as well as other stakeholders including UN agencies, NGOs, training institutions and the media

Education:          

• Master’s degree or equivalent in development, economics, social development, public administration, agriculture development, development evaluation, or other related field.
• Bachelor degree in any of the above subjects, with additional 7 years’ experience will be considered, in lieu of an advanced university degree

Experience:       

• Minimum 6 years experience in monitoring, evaluation and results-based management
• Experience in reporting (internal and donors) using results based management principles
• Experience of supporting capacity of the partner organizations in the areas of M&E and reporting
• Demonstrated knowledge of bilateral and multilateral donors’ reporting
• Experience of producing M&E guidelines, frameworks and tools
• Experience of assessing progress and sustainability of programme/projects
• Experience of building and maintaining a reliable M&E database on the status of project implementation, delivery, evaluation and reporting
• Experience of evaluating the effective and efficient use of project inputs and impact is desirable
• Experience of working in a team and coordinating with project/programme personnel, located in distant offices
• Demonstrated experience in capturing learning and documenting knowledge
• Good computer literacy – MS office applications, web-based management information system.

Language Requirement:              

Fluency in oral and written English and Somali required

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

Qualified women are strongly encouraged to apply.