Programme Policy Officer - M&E

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.

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.

Given the diverse interventions under the Country Stratagic Plan(CSP) with a focus towards technical support and capacity strengthening for the government, there is a strong need for tracking the progress and generate quality evidence on the outcomes and impact of WFP assistance on the lives of beneficiaries as well as its contribution to achieving Strategic Development Goal (SDG) indicators, particularly in the area of food security and nutrition , partnership and other related SDGs.
For this purpose, as the second year of the CSP is implemented, with resources for the requisite activities being realized leading to project preparation and implementation, WFP Sri Lanka is seeking an experienced and qualified MOnitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Officer to lead monitoring and evaluation activities of the Country Office, ensuring that WFP Sri Lanka programmes generate quality evidence on the outcomes and effects of WFP’s portfolio of activities on the lives of beneficiaries.
This strengthening in M&E is critical to inform operational decision making and strategic reorientation and to report on results.

WFP has been present in Sri Lanka since 1968 and provided assistance to the country in emergency response and protracted recovery interventions in the aftermath of man-made disasters such as the 27-year conflict and recurrent natural disasters (droughts and floods/landslides). Sri Lanka attained lower-middle-income-country status in January 2010 following the end of nearly three decades of armed conflict in 2009. Despite social-economic progresses, scope remains for progress in strengthening food security and nutrition given Sri Lanka’s continued alarming status on nutrition, especially wasting levels, realizing gender equality and eliminating geographic and socio-economic disparities.

A five-year Country Strategic Plan (CSP 2018-2022), developed in consultation with the Government and other stakeholders and informed by contextual, gender and gap analyses, and recommendations from the 2017 National Strategic Review of Food Security and Nutrition towards Zero Hunger, supports Sri Lanka’s national development vision.

The CSP has four major Strategic Outcomes as follows.
 Strategic outcome 1: Crisis-affected people have access to food all year round;
 Strategic outcome 2: School-age children in food-insecure areas have access to food all year round;
 Strategic outcome 3: Children under 5, adolescent girls and women of reproductive age have improved nutrition by 2025; and
 Strategic outcome 4: Vulnerable communities and smallholder farmers have strengthened livelihoods and resilience to shocks and stresses all year round.

In the CSP, and with Sri Lanka being reclassified as upper middle income country as mid of 2019, WFP and government have agreed that WFP shifts its focus from direct delivering to enabling role with more emphasis on technical and capacity support in emergency preparedness and response, food fortification, social and behaviour change communication, nutrition policy formulation, home grown school feeding, early warning and shock monitoring using remote sensing and real-time technology, shock responsive safety net and resilience building for climate shock-affected communities through an integrated nutrition sensitive and climate adaptive approaches.

• Develop and maintain M&E documents and tools for WFP Sri Lanka, in response to changes/needs in the programme, that are compliant with corporate standards and minimum monitoring requirements (MMR)
• Manage performance and process monitoring of all activities within the country office portfolio (school meals programme, nutrition and gender sensitive resilient livelihoods, government capacity strengthening)
• Conduct corporate results-based planning and performance analysis promoted through effective management of M&E system and provide technical support/supervision for Programme Associates/Assistants and other staff with monitoring related duties
• Support Strategic Outcome (SO) Managers, Activity Managers (AM) in working with relevant government ministries (agriculture, health, education and social empowerment etc.) towards an agreed M&E strategy for each strategic outcome for joint monitoring and evaluation
• Coordinate actively with the M&E team of the Regional Bureau for guidance to ensure M&E activities are in line with the Cooperate Result Framework (CRF) and Performance Management Framework
• Manage the beneficiary complaints and feedback mechanism and track issues that require actions
• Conduct field visits and provide recommendations for improvement of project implementation.
• Contribute to evidence-based decision making on programme design and implementation
• Produce quarterly M&E report, covering all activities of the CSP
• Assist in the preparation, data collation, and analysis for the Annual Country Report (ACR).
• Work in close collaboration with internal counterparts and external partners to strengthen the quality, accuracy and consistency of M&E activities in the field
• Support WFP management in addressing recommendations from monitoring, reviews, and evaluations to ensure that follow-up actions are taken as required
• Oversee the development and maintenance of all M&E databases – Excel, Access, SPSS, etc.
• Ensure that COMET (Country Office project management tool) is regularly updated with data available for CO users as well as RB/HQ users
• Support in the management of decentralized evaluations in line with WFP Evaluation Policy and Decentralized Evaluation Quality Assurance System (DEQAS) and in coordination with Regional Bureau and HQ
• Support centralized evaluations managed by the Office of Evaluation, joint UNDAF evaluations and donor-led evaluation in country
• Work closely with SO and AM and M&E focal points to provide guidance, technical support and direction, including guidance and assistance in planning and implementing M&E activities related to the four major outcomes of the CSP 2018-2022
• Provide technical support and capacity development through training and information sharing for WFP and government staff on M&E (data collection and analysis, etc.)
• Assist field office staff in developing regular monitoring plans and build their capacity in monitoring and reporting.
• Serve as a technical resource to Country Office staff on monitoring and evaluation issues
• Work closely with the M&E focal points of other UN agencies to report on SDG progress, based on agreed indicators
• Actively contribute to the SDGF (UNSDF) Driver groups 1 (Data, Knowledge Management) and Human/Socio/Economic Resilience (3)
• Perform other related duties as required

Advanced university degree in one or more of the following disciplines: M&E, Statistics, Nutrition, Economics, Agriculture, International Affairs, Social Sciences, Development Studies, Project Management and/or Bachelors degree with additional years of related work experience.
In addition, the following competencies are required: 

• Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills and proven ability to be flexible in a team-oriented approach with diverse groups of people
• Strong analytic and problem-solving skills
• Excellent planning, organizational and time management skills
• Proven ability to efficiently and effectively handle multiple tasks at the same time
• Strong written and oral communication skills
• Excellent Communication Skills in English – level C (both speaking and writing), and good presentation skills
• Fluency in Local Language/s
• Computer literate

Purpose

• Understand and communicate the Strategic Objectives: Understands WFP’s Strategic Objectives and the link to own work objectives.
• Be a force for positive change: Flexibly adapts individual contributions to accommodate changes in direction from supervisors and internal/external changes (such as evolving needs of beneficiaries, new requirements of partners).
•  Make the mission inspiring to our team: Recognizes and shares with team members the ways in which individual contributions relate to WFP’s mission.
•  Make our mission visible in everyday actions: Sets own goals in alignment with WFP’s overall operations, and is able to communicate this link to others.

People

• Look for ways to strengthen people's skills: Assesses own strengths and weaknesses to increase self-awareness, and includes these in conversations on own developmental needs.
•  Create an inclusive culture: Participates in open dialogue, and values the diverse opinion of others, regardless of background, culture, experience, or country assignment.
•  Be a coach & provide constructive feedback: Proactively seeks feedback and coaching to build confidence, and develop and improve individual skills.
•  Create an “I will”/”We will” spirit: Participates in accomplishing team activities and goals in the face of challenging circumstances.

Performance

• Encourage innovation & creative solutions: Shows willingness to explore and experiment with new ideas and approaches in own work.
•  Focus on getting results: Consistently delivers results within individual scope of work on time, on budget and without errors.
•  Make commitments and make good on commitments: Commits to upholding individual accountabilities and responsibilities in the face of ever-changing country or functional priorities.
•  Be Decisive: Makes rational decisions about individual activities when faced with uncertain circumstances, including in times of ambiguity regarding information or manager direction.

Partnership

• Connect and share across WFP units: Seeks to understand and adapt to internal or cross-unit teams’ priorities and preferred working styles.
•  Build strong external partnerships: Demonstrates ability to understand and appropriately respond to and/or escalate needs of external partners.
•  Be politically agile & adaptable: Portrays an informed and professional demeanor toward internal and external partners and stakeholders.
•  Be clear about the value WFP brings to partnerships: Provides operational support on analyses and assessments that quantifies and demonstrates WFP’s unique value as a partner.

• Knowledge of diverse humanitarian assistance and development practices
• Practical knowledge on how monitoring data is collected, compiled, analysed and presented for management decisions, programme adjustment and donor reporting
• Analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data and effective visual presentation of results
• Knowledge of M&E systems including preparation of data collection tools, development and maintenance of monitoring databases
• Knowledge of facilitation techniques, preparation of training materials, delivery of training and capacity development of partners and external stakeholders
• Knowledge of experiential and adult learning methods and blended training

• Ability to provide technical advice and training in M&E activities
• Ability to communicate and present complex issues clearly and effectively, both orally and in writing
• Ability to meet agreed deadlines
• Ability to work with relevant technology and procedures (e.g.: web-based databases and other statistical applications) to collect, organize, share and use corporate information

Three or more years of progressively responsible, job-related experience with UN agencies or other international development organizations, of which at least one year closely relates to programme design and M&E; has led and/or managed monitoring and evaluation activities in a project or a country office context; is familiar with IT solutions in support of programme and project monitoring.

Please refer attached TOR

19 November 2019

Qualified Female applicants 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.