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Monitoring Specialist

Addis Ababa

  • Organization: UNDP - United Nations Development Programme
  • Location: Addis Ababa
  • Grade: Mid level - P-3, International Professional - Internationally recruited position
  • Occupational Groups:
    • Monitoring and Evaluation
  • Closing Date: 2024-12-27

Background

 
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion are core principles at UNDP:  we value diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate, we foster inclusion as a way of ensuring all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, and we ensure equity and fairness in all our actions. Taking a ‘leave no one behind’ approach to our diversity efforts means increasing representation of underserved populations. People who identify as belonging to marginalized or excluded populations are strongly encouraged to apply. Learn more about working at UNDP including our values and inspiring stories.

 
UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.
 

The Regional Service Center for Africa (RSCA) is one of five UNDP Regional Service Centers globally, developing high-quality knowledge and policy for UNDP in Africa. The RSCA is situated in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as the organization’s main interface with continental and regional bodies such as the African Union, and Regional Economic Communities and serves 46 UNDP Country Offices. Under the overall authority and guidance of the RSCA Director, the RSCA is sub-regionally and thematically divided into the UNDP Sub-Regional Hub for West and Central Africa, based in Dakar Senegal, UNDP Resilience Hub for Africa, based in Nairobi Kenya, and UNDP Africa Sustainable Finance Hub based in Pretoria South Africa. In addition to the four Hubs, the RSCA currently has 10 policy and programmes teams operating across the Hubs including the HIV and Health team operating out of Istanbul. They include Country Support Team (CST); RBM, M&E and Accelerator Labs; The Regional Programme for Africa; Inclusive Growth; Gender and Women’s Empowerment; HIV, Health and Development; Nature, Climate and Energy; Governance and Peacebuilding; Disaster Risk Reduction and Resilience Team; and Finance and Private Sector.

The Monitoring Specialist is a member of RBA’s RBM & Evaluation Team in the Regional Hub and provides specialized technical support and advice for monitoring practices across the region. S/He advises on the planning of monitoring plans and the collection of reliable, accurate and coherent information to assess the performance and impact of programmes and projects. S/he ensures quality and timely performance reporting, confirming that results are evidence-based and supported by relevant data. S/He promotes integrated monitoring activities through exchanges of experience and good practices between COs, Regions, national partners, the UNSDG and the international community and advises and trains on monitoring functions, including how to quality assure results framework, M&E, IWPs, etc.

The Specialist is based in the Regional Hub in Addis Ababa. S/He works closely with the Evaluation Specialist. S/He reports to the RBM and Evaluation Advisor and Team Leader.
 

 

Position Purpose

The Monitoring Specialist promotes integrated monitoring activities through exchanges of experience and good practices between COs, regions, national partners, the UNDG and the international community and advises and trains on monitoring and evaluation functions, including how to quality assure results framework, M&E, IWPs, etc.

UNDP adopts a portfolio approach to accommodate changing business needs and leverage linkages across interventions to achieve its strategic goals. Therefore, UNDP personnel are expected to work across units, functions, teams, and projects in multidisciplinary teams in order to enhance and enable horizontal collaboration.

 
 
Duties and Responsibilities 
 
Provision of Technical Guidance, Advice and Support:
  • Providing technical advice to RBM Team and the Regional Bureau on the design of monitoring and evaluations plans in compliance with the organization’s M&E policies and guidelines and bringing the latest tools and insights from UNDP’s internal network of M&E advisors and the Regional Community of Practice.
  • Based on requests from the CO Support Team, providing advice on the design of the CO and national monitoring systems, as well as the design of the qualitative and quantitative data collection methods to provide evidence of the effect and contributions of the UNDP interventions to the national development priorities.
  • Analyzing CO and regional evaluation findings in order to identify lessons and trends for the regional Bureau and UNDP on operational performance and programme impact, sharing insights with the Evaluation Specialist and the RBM and Evaluation Advisor in order to draw lessons and recommendations from across RBA.
  • Contributing to the formulation of the Regional Programme Document drawing upon the analysis of programme interventions in the region and lessons learnt from the regional projects and establishing the RPD indicators’ database.
 
Ensure Quality Assurance:
  • Adjusting and revising the RPD results framework and monitoring plan according to management’s recommendation.
  • Collecting, aggregating and analyzing data and information for the Regional Programme to draw recommendations for the overall programme and project quality improvement.
  • Quality assuring of internal results reporting and donor reporting through accurate and comprehensive technical documents.
  • Leveraging knowledge of programme and project teams about monitoring, evaluation and quality assurance methodologies and ensuring alignment of country-level and regional activities with UNDP’s Strategic Plan.
  • Proposing adjustments to established guidelines and policies through focused feedback and synthesis of relevant findings and recommendations by project teams and national counterparts.
 
Ensure Integrated Monitoring:
  • Facilitating the identification of linkages between monitoring and evaluation strategies/frameworks with the UNDAF, CPDs and AWPs monitoring and evaluation plans.
  • Providing technical data for briefs and reporting on the use of evaluation findings in the region, including lessons learned in coordination with the Regional Hub and Country Offices.
  • Disseminating surveys, data collection protocols and other tools or instruments to better capture information on policy/guidance effectiveness, enhanced coordination and innovative approaches.
 
Facilitate Capacity Building and knowledge sharing: 
  • Facilitate strengthening  monitoring and evaluation capacities of country and regional office staff to engage in and lead monitoring and evaluation processes with particular focus on the participation of primary stakeholders.
  • Providing hands-on training to COs and relevant partners on use of M&E tools and methodologies.
  • Collaborating with the RBM and Evaluation team in the planning of workshops and development of training materials to address the need to improve performance in areas identified in the monitoring and evaluation reports.
 
Building strategic partnerships:
  • Under the guidance of the RBM and Evaluation Advisor, provide innovative solutions and strengthen partnerships to support monitoring and evaluation practices in the region with relevant institutions; and
  • Promotes peer-to-peer networking and information sharing among evaluation practitioners by leading the facilitation of Regional Communities of Practice and other knowledge management mechanisms on evaluation, and by creating updating and maintaining repositories of evaluation expertise, lessons learned, good practices and practical tools and methodologies for Country Offices and other members of the Community of Practice.
  • Perform other relevant duties, in connection to this assignment, as required by the RBM and Evaluation Advisor. 
 
The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization
 
Supervisory/Managerial Responsibilities: None
 
 
Competencies
  • Core Competencies:

Achieve Results: LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact.

Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems.

Learn Continuously: LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences.

Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands 

Act with Determination: LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results.

Engage and Partner: LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration.

Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity.

  • Cross Functional and  Technical Competencies:
Partnership Management - Strategic Engagement: Ability to capture and sustain attention, interest and agreement of high-level, influential policy and decision makers and secure their buy-in of high-level vision and objectives. 
 
Business Management - Portfolio Management: Ability to select, prioritise and control the organization's programmes and projects in line with its strategic objectives and capacity Ability to balance the implementation of change initiatives with regular activities for optimal return on investment. Knowledge and understanding of key principles of project, programme, and portfolio management.
 
Policy and Programme - 2030 Agenda: Engagement and Effectiveness: Decentralized Evaluations.

Policy and Programme - 2030 Agenda: Engagement and Effectiveness: IRRF design, implementation and monitoring. Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning for Portfolios.

Digital - Developmental Evaluation: 
  • Learning and adaptation focused: ability to promote and facilitate ongoing reflection and adaptation; aimed at informing learning and portfolio related decision making. Being comfortable with unknown, uncertainty and understand the traits and value of working with emergence. 
  • Being able to give direction rather than destination: monitor and learn about how we understand the present and our direction towards something better (general intent) – not measuring progress and milestones towards a specific pre-defined goal.
  • Being able to carry out evaluation thinking in complex systems and adapting evaluation strategies to vhanging realities.
  • Being inclusive, collaborative and co-creative: being able to design and implement evaluation frameworks with the variety of stakeholders and beneficiaries involved. 
  • Being flexible and able to use of a mix of methods, having a high tolerance for ambiguity and can draw on a variety of qualitative and quantitative evidence, is open to unorthodox types of evidence.
  • Ability to set up the structures, conditions, rituals to create a culture for curiosity, reflection and learning and promote evaluation results and insights from a learning perspective. Understand key principles of systems and complexity theory. 
Data - Data Analaysis: Ability to extract, analyse and visualize data to form meaningful insights and aid effective business decision making.
 
Business Direction & Strategy - System Thinking: Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system.
 
 
 
Required Skills and Experience

 
Education:
  • Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in Statistics, Monitoring & Evaluation, Social Sciences, Economics, or in a related area is required. Or
  • A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s degree)in the areas mentioned above,  in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree
  • Practical training/ Certification  in programme management, monitoring and evaluation, survey and research analysis, or applied statistical data is an advantage.
Experience:
  • Minimum 5 years (with master’s degree) or 7 years (with bachelor’s degree) of relevant experience at the national and/or international level in result-based monitoring and reporting of development projects/programmes is required
  • Excellent knowledge and experience of programme formulation and implementation, monitoring and evaluation and Results-Based Management is desired;
  • Experience developing outcome-oriented monitoring and evaluation systems is required.
  • Excellent knowledge of evaluation design, monitoring, data collection and analysis, and reporting is desired; 
  • Proven ability to synthesize program performance data and produce analytical reports is desired; 
  • Excellent analytical and report-writing experience and skills is desired
  • Strong and proven knowledge of UN programme management systems is desired

Language:

  • Fluency in English and French is required.
  • Working knowledge of Portuguese is an asset.
 
Please note that continuance of appointment beyond the initial 12 months is contingent upon the successful completion of a probationary period.

 
Disclaimer
 
 
Under US immigration law, acceptance of a staff position with UNDP, an international organization, may have significant implications for US Permanent Residents. UNDP advises applicants for all professional level posts that they must relinquish their US Permanent Resident status and accept a G-4 visa, or have submitted a valid application for US citizenship prior to commencement of employment. 
 
UNDP is not in a position to provide advice or assistance on applying for US citizenship and therefore applicants are advised to seek the advice of competent immigration lawyers regarding any applications.

 
Applicant information about UNDP rosters 
 
Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

 
Non-discrimination
 
UNDP has a zero-tolerance policy towards sexual exploitation and misconduct, sexual harassment, and abuse of authority. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles.  
 
UNDP is an equal opportunity and inclusive employer that does not discriminate based on race, sex, gender identity, religion, nationality, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, disability, pregnancy, age, language, social origin or other status.

 
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