US - Monitoring & Evaluation Data Analysis Officer - Amman, Jordan 1

WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles.

Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis, and we are committed to promoting diversity and gender balance.

This post is a Junior Professional Officer (JPO) Programme sponsored by the Government of The United States of America for exclusively Nationals of United States eligible for the US JPO Programme.

The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide.  The mission of WFP is to help the world achieve Zero Hunger in our lifetimes.  Every day, WFP works worldwide to ensure that no child goes to bed hungry and that the poorest and most vulnerable, particularly women and children, can access the nutritious food they need.

The WFP Country Office (CO) in Jordan is looking for an Data Analysis Officer who will deal with Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) and Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM) units for contributing to the efficient implementation of CO activities under its current transitional Interim Country Strategic Plan (t-ISCP) and in preparation for the forthcoming 2020-2022 Country Strategic Plan (CSP). On-going activities include unconditional food assistance to Syrian refuges in Jordan, a School Meals programme and conditional livelihood-based food assistance programmes.

Under the overall supervision of the Head of Programme and within the Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM) and  the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) unit, the JPO will perform the following responsibilities:

M&E responsibilities:

• Support planning and implementation of monitoring and evaluation activities on effectiveness of all food assistance interventions (e.g. beneficiary needs and status, food security status, programme modalities, implementation challenges, etc.).
• Review and give technical feedback on monitoring and evaluation plans for new programmes and budget revisions to ensure that plans are risk-based and focus on measuring results (e.g. checking monitoring and evaluation budgets are allocated and appropriate log-frame indicators and outcome targets are documented).
• Contribute to the analysis of outcome data and recommend improvements to programme interventions and to enhance WFPs ability to demonstrate outcome focused results.
• Produce frequent monitoring and evaluation progress reports with status of results and implementation of improvements.
• Follow-up on monitoring and evaluation findings to ensure that corrective actions are taken and/or adjustments are made to programme responses as required.
• Train national and partner staff in appropriate monitoring and evaluation techniques to build capacity of staff, increase awareness on the importance of monitoring and evaluation and encourage accountability for demonstrating results.
• Work in close collaboration with internal counterparts and external partners to strengthen the quality and consistency of monitoring and evaluation activities in the field.
• Provide monitoring and evaluation findings and recommendations to support performance planning and risk analysis, emergency preparedness, security risk management and risk mitigation activities.

VAM responsibilities:

• Contribute to the development of VAM projects and activities, plans and processes, ensuring alignment with wider WFP policies and guidance.
• Contribute to refining the targeting criteria for the country office’s general food assistance, resilience and school meals programmes.
• Support VAM data collection projects and activities (the sampling, methodology, tool design, overseeing field data collection, training on data collection tools, data cleaning, and data analysis, etc.), these include annual food security and vulnerability assessments, monthly and quarterly market bulletins, ad-hoc rapid assessments.
• Draft food security reports based on assessment and monitoring data.
• Support the development of systems and tools for the monitoring and assessment of food assistance needs in line with innovative methodologies and best practices.
• Support the development of food security and vulnerability analysis and the preparation of timely reports on food assessment needs in line with wider VAM policies, processes and guidance to enable effective decision-making on the development of country strategy, policies and programmes.
• Provide assistance on the coordination of data gathering and monitoring systems ensuring that rigorous quality standards are maintained.
• Support the capacity building of WFP staff, partners and national government ministries to conduct vulnerability analysis to effectively inform preparedness and response activities.
• Strengthen the capacity of the unit staff in regard to data collection, analysis and reporting.
• Strengthen the linkage of VAM data and analysis among other units in the country office.
• Increase the digitisation of VAM data and the visualisation of such data.
• Provide technical support to relevant partners that are focusing on food security and nutrition issues to enable sharing of experiences, lessons learned and best practices.
• Guide and supervise more junior staff, acting as a point of referral and supporting them with analyses and queries.
• Others as required.

• Advanced University Degree, or University degree with additional experience and training/courses in Food Security, Development studies, Agriculture, Economics, Political Science, Humanitarian Affairs, Statistics, Data Science, Information Technology, Information Systems, Social Sciences or other related field;
• Minimum two to three years post graduate, progressively responsible work related experience 
• Working knowledge of English (proficiency/level C) and intermediate knowledge (intermediate/level B) of another UN official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish) and/or working knowledge of Portuguese.
• Proficiency in Windows, MS Office (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook) and Statistical software package.
• Strong writing skills and ability to synthesize and analyze information.
• Good interpersonal and intercultural skills, excellent team player able to work effectively in a multicultural environment.
• Ability to work with a diverse group of stakeholders, including state actors and local civil society, and develop consensus;
• Knowledge of and experience in using advanced Excel and data analysis and visualization software, including proficiency with databases;
• Ability to present information in understandable tables, charts and graphs.

To perform the wide range of tasks and excel in this position, the ideal candidate would also possess:

• Exposure to the international arena either by direct work for an international institution/organization; or, if working for a national entity, by way of interacting with international stakeholders;
• Experience in humanitarian response including in the food security and nutrition sectors and in an emergency context;
• Understanding of the international humanitarian response architecture, including coordination mechanisms, humanitarian reform and action, donors and funding mechanisms;
• Experience in food security and nutrition information systems and project implementation
• Understanding of M&E information systems, GIS/Cartographic outputs and ability to collect and organize data to support their production (potentially to be produced by others);
• Ability to work productively in a high-pressure environment and to maintain visibly high levels of morale in difficult circumstances;
• Behavioural competencies such as Action Management, Client Orientation, Cognitive Capacity, Innovation, Partnering and Teamwork;
• As WFP’s international professionals are required to serve in different locations around the world during the course of their career (including in hardship duty stations), willingness to be mobile would maximise opportunities for long-term retention into the Organization;

The JPO will report to the Head of the VAM and M&E Unit, under the overall coordination of the Head of Programme.

The JPO will work in the VAM and M&E unit with daily interaction with team members at Country Office and Sub Office level.

Discussions on training needs will be carried out at the beginning to identify areas of possible development in line with the need of the unit and the interest of the candidate and a training plan will be developed and included within the unit plan. This will be monitored on a regular basis to ensure that training needs are achieved.

At the end of the two-year assignment, the JPO should have:

• Very good knowledge of the WFP results framework(s); of its indicators and of the different monitoring tools and procedures applicable to the different food assistance activities.
• Good understanding of VAM scope of work, tools, strategies and best practices.
• General understanding of WFP’s overall operations and activities in Jordan;
• General understanding of WFP’s corporate activities;
• Increased or acquired general knowledge of the UN system and its policies, rules, regulations and procedures.

31 August, 2019

Female applicants and qualified applicants from developing countries are especially encouraged to apply

WFP has zero tolerance for discrimination and does not discriminate on the basis of HIV/AIDS status.

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.