Monitoring Assistant SC4, Khorog

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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.

ABOUT WFP

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.

BACKGROUND

Despite positive economic growth and progress in poverty reduction, Tajikistan is still facing a challenging food security and nutrition situation. Recent economic challenges compounded by population growth have contributed to the reclassification of the country as low-income in 2018 and have increased household vulnerability. Malnutrition rates remain the highest in Central Asia, and the number of undernourished has remained stagnant. Tajikistan faces different environmental challenges, including environmental and soil degradation and poor natural resource management. Additionally, Tajikistan is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, which has further exacerbated food security and livelihoods of vulnerable communities. Given the above, the government has identified food security and access to quality nutrition as one of its development priorities. 

WFP Tajikistan’s five-year Country Strategic Plan (CSP) 2019 – 2024 focuses on supporting national social protection and safety nets; nutrition; climate change adaptation, resilience-building and disaster risk reduction; and aligning WFP’s support to national priorities and in synergy with the action of other partners. By means of the CSP, WFP is undertaking a strategic shift from direct implementation to enabling and strengthening capacities of national and subnational institutions to deliver on their food security and nutrition priorities. WFP activities support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger) and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). The geographic scope of WFP Tajikistan operations encompasses the entirety of the country. In addition to the country office in Dushanbe, WFP has field offices located in Bokhtar, Gharm, Khorog, and Khujand to oversee operations in those specific regions.

To support evidence-based decision making, WFP collects food security and nutrition data through various platforms and in coordination with the government Agency for Statistics, among other entities. Monitoring of operations in Tajikistan includes monthly process monitoring, biannual post distribution outcome surveys, and, as relevant, baseline surveys and specialized monitoring or surveys. As part of accountability to affected populations, WFP emphasises the creation of a community feedback mechanism (CFM, generally called a complaints and feedback mechanism), which is a formal mechanism for receiving information from and providing information to people and communities where WFP operates.
 

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

The above described initiatives require enhanced capacity at the field office level and strong coordination with internal and external stakeholders. The Monitoring Assistant will support the overall implementation of WFP Tajikistan’s Khorog field office monitoring data needs.

ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES (not all-inclusive)

Working within the Khorog field office’s programme team and reporting directly to the Programme Associate at the Khorog field office, the incumbent is expected to perform the following duties and responsibilities:

• Monitor the implementation of WFP’s resilience and livelihood activities in accordance with the WFP standard guidelines/practices and report progress periodically to the Programme Associate / Head of Field Office for their information, reflections and actions;
• Verify the planned movements and distribution of food or non-food items, reporting issues or discrepancies to the supervisor for timely resolution of problems and ensure that the quantity distributed, and the quality of the operation is in line with WFP standards;
• Monitor and review the overall cash distribution process starting from beneficiary selection, registration and verification to bank cards distribution;
• Maintain information records and monitoring plan documentation, such as records of commodity movements and programme checklists, in order to assist in the effective delivery and distribution of food items or non-food items.
• Collate assistance programme(s) data in accordance with clear direction, in order to support programme reviews and informative decision-making.
• Liaise with cooperating partners and internal counterparts to gather feedback and comments to support programme reviews and improve services.
• Receive and collate comments and feedback from cooperating partners, beneficiaries, and communities, to support identifying programmatic issues with a view to fostering efficient operations.
• Provide guidance for cooperating partners on WFP operational practices, monitoring tools and methods in order to support them to complete self-monitoring tasks and to contribute to the visibility of WFP in the coverage areas.
• Review and make changes in line with established guidelines to the proposals and projects’ related reports provided by the Cooperating Partners 
• Serve as the field focal point to any of WFP’s outsourced monitoring entities by introducing them to local authorities, cooperating partners, and any other stakeholders, providing them with relevant information on WFP projects and schedules, receiving and reviewing their reports, and following up on any issues raised by them.
• Prepare field mission reports to document programme implementation.
• Follow set emergency response processes and procedures for emergency food assistance.
• Support the implementation of the WFP Tajikistan CSP through ensuring cross-cutting efforts such as nutrition-sensitivity, gender and diversity inclusion, protection and accountability, and capacity development, are integrated throughout the portfolio and to ensure equal participation and consideration of women and men, boys and girls, and people living with specific needs and/or disabilities.
• Any other business.

DESIRED EXPERIENCES FOR ENTRY INTO THE ROLE

• Worked within the humanitarian or development context.
• Experience in working with various communities
• Experience collecting primary observational and structured data through various quantitative and qualitative monitoring techniques.
• Experience in analysing quantitative and qualitative process, output and outcome data.
• Working knowledge of international monitoring and evaluation systems and standards.
• Experience working in mountainous and remote regions.
• Proficiency in Windows, MS office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Projects)

Travel Requirements:

• Will travel extensively and regularly throughout the region to remote and sometimes difficult to reach project locations with potentially minimal services.
• Will travel at times to other areas of the country (such as Dushanbe) in the event of meetings or workshops.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Education and Experience:Completion of secondary school education.

Languages: 

• Fluency in oral and written English is required.
• Fluency in oral and written Tajik is required.
• Working knowledge of Russian is an advantage.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Type of Contract: Service Contract (SC)

Duration of Contract: 12 months (with possible extension)

Duty Station: Khorog, Tajikistan

WFP offers an attractive compensation package: 16 weeks of maternity leave is part of the package, a staff member may also avail of special leave with full pay up to 8 weeks following maternity leave. Also 28 calendar days of paternity leave. For more details please visit International Civil Service Commission website: https://www.un.org/Depts/OHRM/salaries_allowances/salaries/tajikist.htm

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS

12 May 2021

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Female applicants and individuals with disabilities 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.