Child Rights Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, (NO-3), Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan #96210

Child Rights Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, NO-3, Fixed-term Appointment, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan (Open to Kazakhstan nationals only)

Child Rights Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist, NO-3, Fixed-term Appointment, Astana, Kazakhstan (Open to Kazakhstan nationals only)

Position Level: NO-3
Contract Type: fixed-term
Duty Station: Nur-Sultan

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. To save their lives. To defend their rights. To help them fulfill their potential.
Across 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, every day, to build a better world for everyone.
And we never give up.
For every child, a fair chance

Background

For more than two decades, UNICEF has been working closely with the national government, local representatives and civil society to improve the situation of children in Kazakhstan, ensuring equal access to quality social services, and primarily, healthcare and education.
The Government of Kazakhstan and UNICEF are currently implementing another five-year program of cooperation, based upon national priorities and strategies, for 2016-2020. Along with those national priorities and strategies, however, the country has also taken its international obligations, including attainment of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, into account. The establishment of the Ombudsman for Children, moreover, has presented new opportunities for coordinating activities amongst all organizations dealing with childhood issues. Ensuring equal opportunities for children is the most important task for UNICEF, both in Kazakhstan and around the world. Equality means, that all children are able to survive, develop and fully realize their potential in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Kazakhstan ratified in 1994. The social agenda of the Republic of Kazakhstan is focused on the protection of children’s rights, with close attention paid to children from the most vulnerable groups, including children with special mental and physical developmental characteristics.

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How can you make a difference?

The purpose of the job:
1. To ensure that the UNICEF Kazakhstan 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 producing evidence (statistics, research, evaluation) and for child rights monitoring (accountability mechanisms), with special attention to the interest, concern and participation of government, community, and civil society stakeholders – and groups most at risk of being left behind. 
3. To support the identification, documentation, validation and sharing of lessons learned and good practices related to child rights within the Country Office and beyond.
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.

Key end-results
1. Strengthening child rights systems monitoring. 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. 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 (CRC, SDGs, etc). 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 measurement 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 policies and corporate learning and decision-making. National evaluation capacity (institutional, organizational, individual) is built.
4. Knowledge Management. UNICEF contributes to national, regional and international learning on child rights by a) developing plans for engagement and dissemination of partners from the beginning of all evidence generation work, and b) 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 evaluation, research and knowledge related to children in the country, focusing on disadvantaged and excluded children. UNICEF collaborates systematically in UN efforts to support the monitoring and evaluation of the SDGs.
6. Monitoring, Evaluation & Research Planning. The Country Office and national partners have a well-prioritised 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 and to inform priorities for children. The Country Office contributes to Regional Flagship Results, helping to fill critical evidence gaps.

Duties and responsibilities

Within the delegated authority and under the given organizational set-up, the incumbent may be assigned the primarily, shared, or contributory accountabilities for all or part of the following areas of major duties and key end-results.

1. Strengthening child rights systems monitoring
• Maintain and develop partnerships with relevant stakeholders, the national statistical institute, 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 child-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 evaluate progressive realisation of child rights and reduction of equity gaps and the development of strategies to address them.

2. Situation Monitoring and Assessment
• Support partners in the establishment and management of national statistical databases (e.g. SDG database/dissemination platform); and contribution to regional and international databases (e.g. TransMonEE, HELIX), ensuring that key indicators are readily accessible by key stakeholders. Potential uses include the Situation Analysis, Common Country Assessment, Early Warning Monitoring Systems, SDG reporting/VNR 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 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) and other nationally or internationally agreed key social development indicators (supporting MICS or other relevant 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 
• Technically support programme colleagues and national partners in identifying and designing strategic evaluations that meet UNICEF policy coverage requirements. This may include joint or country led evaluation of public policies and programmes, impact evaluation of models and pilots and participation in strategic multi-country evaluations. Apply UNICEF taxonomy to evidence generation work to determine which activities should be treated as evaluations.
• Technically support programme colleagues and national partners to jointly Formulate evaluation Terms of Reference and evaluation designs of high quality, when relevant drawing on the know-how of knowledge of knowledge institutions in consultation with UNICEF programme staff and external partners, establish evaluation Reference Groups, recruit qualified independent evaluation teams and manages objective and ethical evaluation processes from design to dissemination in line with UNEG evaluation norms and standards and UNICEF’s regional quality assurance procedures. Ensure that evaluations are appropriately budgeted for and are delivered on time.
• Technically support programme partners to formulate Terms of Reference and evaluation designs of high quality, when relevant drawing on the know-how of knowledge institutions, in compliance with the organization’s programme evaluation policies and guidelines.
• Disseminate evaluation findings and recommendations to the intended audiences in user-friendly formats, ensure that effective participatory feedback is provided to community and civil society stakeholders.
• Support the Country Management Team in the preparation of management responses, 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. Update the online evaluation and research database and management response tracker on a quarterly basis.
• Together with other UN agencies, promote evaluation capacity development (enabling environment, organizational capacity and experience, individual knowledge and skills) of national institutions and departments with mandates related to monitoring and evaluation. Joint evaluations of components of the national development agenda/SDGs, particularly those most relevant for children, are encouraged.

4. Knowledge Management
• 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.
• Maintain online UNICEF systems used for gathering and sharing data, evidence and evaluations.

5. Contribution to Networking and Advocacy
• 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.
• Participate in UN M&E and/or SDG M&E related working groups.

6. Monitoring, Evaluation & Research Planning
• Make professional contributions to and provide technical assistance for planning and establishing major research, monitoring and evaluation objectives, priorities, and activities in UNICEF’s 5 year Costed Evaluation Plan (CEP) and CO annual plan for research, studies and evaluations (RSEs), in consultation with child-rights and implementing partners.
• Collaborate with the Regional M&E Adviser 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.
• Support management to track progress in implementing the CEP and annual RSE plan, ensuring that any deviations are documented in CMT meeting minutes.
• 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 RSE plan.

Job grade factors
NOC Level
• Country Program Size: Small to medium CP.
• Risk of Emergencies: Humanitarian crises, if they occur, are expected to arrive in sudden-onset natural disasters or in longer-term recurrent problems like drought.
• Technical Breadth: Must be capable of independent leadership in RSE plan development and management.  Should have significant professional strength and office leadership responsibilities in at least 3 of the remaining 5 functional areas (Statistical data analysis, M&E systems Capacity Building, Results Based Management, Knowledge management and partnerships)
• Sectoral Breadth: Should possess academic or professional work exposure to the SP themes prioritized in the Country Programme. Should be familiar with Child Rights based analysis, monitoring and evaluation and Human Right Based Approach.
• Innovation and Conceptualization: Considered fully competent to advise on standardized approaches and to modelling/piloting; expected to seek support from regional or HQ level when innovating approaches, techniques and policies.
• Technical and Managerial Engagement: Primary roles are in technical support and quality assurance.  Management of all evaluations. Normal counterparts are ministerial and academic/private specialists. Is occasionally a Coordinator/Team Leader with broader managerial roles.
• Capacity Strengthening: Fully competent to undertake capacity gaps analysis, organize and help deliver specialized training, including the design of materials and methods. Not expected to develop capacity strengthening strategies without external support.
• Networking: Ability to effectively liaise with knowledge institutions to seek partnerships in formulating capacity strengthening strategy.
• Supervisory Role: Not expected to supervise more than one professional post at levels 1-2.  May supervise multiple consultants up to Level 4 work. 

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

• Education: Advanced university degree in social sciences, statistics, planning development, planning or related field.
• Work Experience: Relevant professional work experience in programme development and implementation including monitoring and evaluation activities as follows:
- five years of relevant professional work experience;
- Field work experience.
• Language Proficiency: Fluency in English and Russian is required. Fluency in Kazakh would be an asset.   
• Competency Profile:
• Core Values (Required)
Commitment
Diversity and Inclusion
Integrity
• Core Competencies (Required)
       Communication [ II ]
       Working with People[ II ]
       Drive for Result  [ II ]
• Functional Competencies (Required)
       Leading and Supervising [ II ]
       Formulating Strategies and Concepts [ II ]
       Analyzing [ III ]
       Applying Technical Expertise  [ III ]
       Planning and Organizing [ II ] 
• Technical Knowledge  
a) Specific Technical Knowledge & Competencies Required (for the job)
       Human Rights Based Approach to Planning.
       Knowledge of Project Evaluation international norms and standards.
       Professional technical knowledge/expertise in Evaluation Process Management.
       Follow-up on recommendations and dissemination of M&E results.
       Emerging international good practice in monitoring and evaluation partnerships.
b) Common Technical Knowledge Required (for the job group)
       Professional technical knowledge/expertise in demography, statistics, and data management.
      Professional technical knowledge/expertise in methodology of M&E, including theories, standards and models, quantitative/qualitative/mixed methods, validity/reliability testing of data, data analysis and interpretation, and statistical inference methods.
       Professional technical knowledge/expertise in Activity Monitoring & Evaluation, Evaluation Design, data analysis, and reporting.
       Human Rights, Gender equality and diversity awareness
c) Technical Knowledge to be Acquired/Enhanced (for the Job)
       Professional/technical knowledge/expertise in Team Management, Coaching & Training.
       Mastery of UNICEF’s M&E policies and procedures.  
       Latest programme monitoring and evaluation theory, methodology, technology and tools.
       Understanding of UN Mission and system, current key UN topics; SDGs; and International Code of Conduct.
       Understanding of UNICEF Mission Statement and UNICEF Guiding Principles.
       UNICEF strategic framework for partnerships and collaborative relationships.
d) Other skills
       Computer literacy: advanced user of Microsoft Office (or equivalent), Internet/Email;
       Good analytical, negotiating, communication, team-working and report-writing skills.

For every Child, you demonstrate…
UNICEF’s core values of Commitment, Diversity and Integrity and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.
View our competency framework at http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/files/UNICEF_Competencies.pdf

Remarks:
• Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.
• Candidates must be of the citizenship of Kazakhstan.
• UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination. UNICEF also adheres to strict child safeguarding principles. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.
• UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages all candidates, irrespective of gender, nationality, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of the organization.