Remote/Home-based: Planning, Monitoring, Reporting & Research Consultant (120 working days) – Europe and Central Asia Regional Office (ECARO)

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, access.

Purpose of Activity/Assignment

In ongoing humanitarian situations, robust performance monitoring is a core accountability and is essential to support effective emergency response, aligning to the Core Commitments for Children (CCCs), and enabling course corrections as needed. Thus to ensure effective monitoring of the programme actions is in place, the UNICEF ECA Regional Office seeks support from an experienced professional to lend expertise to the ECARO Programme Planning and Data team in humanitarian planning, monitoring and research to assure quality and performance objectives are met in our humanitarian programmes.

The consultant will support the Planning & Monitoring Manager (Humanitarian Performance Monitoring) in maintaining a functional HPM system that meets the monitoring and reporting requirements, working closely with the Refugee Response and Country Office Teams, the RO Emergency section and Programme sections. S/he will conduct research on the humanitarian-development nexus in high-income countries, focusing on monitoring frameworks, best practices, and opportunities for integration. Additionally, s/he will research ways to integrate the Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) workstream into HPM and research systems for collecting and analysing feedback to inform performance monitoring and strengthen accountability across the region.

Scope of Work

This consultancy aims to strengthen the humanitarian monitoring and reporting framework to ensure timely, accurate, and actionable insights that support evidence-based decision-making. The focus will be on improving data collection, analysis, and visualization systems, aligning them with the latest standards and operational needs, and fostering capacity-building initiatives that empower programme teams to effectively monitor, evaluate, and report on humanitarian interventions. This will be further enhanced with research into systems approaches that will enable UNICEF to monitor and report on humanitarian programmes that contribute to systems strengthening and align with development frameworks, as well as research on how feedback and complaints from beneficiaries can be utilized to monitor performance and inform future planning cycles.

The main responsibilities for this consultancy include:

1. Planning, Monitoring and Reporting of Humanitarian Responses:

• Provide ongoing guidance on methodologies, data collection, and reporting to ensure consistency and effectiveness across the region.
• Lead reporting for ongoing humanitarian responses, primarily to inform SitReps, with a focus on prioritized performance indicators.
• Ensure timely submission and quality of data submitted by countries. Tracking performance trends of indicators (bi-monthly) and highlighting areas where corrective actions may be needed for program consideration.

2. Humanitarian Performance Monitoring Capacity Building:

• Develop the Humanitarian Performance Monitoring and Reporting Package to support rapid, consistent deployment across emergency situations, enhancing the speed and reliability of UNICEF’s response capabilities.
• Deliver Humanitarian Performance Monitoring webinars and workshops covering evidence-based planning, monitoring, analysis, and data visualization, with hands-on training using tools like Excel, ARC, Power BI, and Infogram.

3. Conduct Research and Develop Frameworks to Enhance Monitoring, Accountability, and System Integration:

• Conduct Research on the HDP Nexus System in High-Income Countries:
• Perform a literature review of existing HDP nexus approaches, monitoring frameworks, and best practices from UNICEF offices to understand its specificities, challenges and opportunities in high-income countries.
• Analyze existing frameworks and practices, complemented by stakeholder interviews and focus group discussions, to validate data and gather additional examples of best practices.
• Develop actionable recommendations to enhance the integration of humanitarian and development systems. This includes devising strategies for incorporating diverse data collection methods, such as input from affected populations, and proposing approaches to unify reporting systems into a cohesive framework.
• Develop a Research Framework for Monitoring Feedback and Complaints Mechanisms:
• Develop a structured plan that outlines how feedback and complaints from affected populations will be systematically collected, analyzed, and utilized to inform decision-making and improve accountability.
• Research tools, protocols, and processes to ensure feedback mechanisms are effective, reliable, accessible to diverse populations, and fully integrated with performance monitoring systems.
• Establish clear methodologies for identifying trends, patterns, and anomalies in feedback data, and link these findings to actionable recommendations for program adaptation.

Ensure the framework incorporates mechanisms for safeguarding sensitive information and protecting the confidentiality of respondents.

Work Assignment Overview

Deliverables / Outputs Products Timeline / Deadline Output 1: Planning, Monitoring and Reporting of Humanitarian Responses

• Ongoing Guidance on Methodologies and Reporting: Regular provision of guidance documents, webinars, and one-on-one support to program sections, ensuring consistent methodologies for data collection and reporting throughout the year.
• Regular Humanitarian Response Reporting: Bi-monthly reports on the status of the humanitarian response, focusing on prioritized performance indicators, to inform stakeholders.
• Data Quality Assurance: A system for ensuring the timely submission and quality of data submitted by countries, including regular follow-ups with Country Offices and resolution of data issues as they arise.
• Performance Trend Tracking and Advice: Bi-monthly tracking of performance trends for prioritized indicators, with a focus on highlighting issues for program teams to address to improve response effectiveness.

Standard Operating Procedure for Data Collection and Reporting on Emergencies, ensuring consistency and standardization across all data collection efforts.

10 working days;

By June 2025

Monitoring Table that tracks the progress of key performance indicators, providing a clear overview of humanitarian response status.

6 working days;

By June 2025

Quarterly report with visualizations that highlight performance trends, issues, and areas for improvement to enhance the effectiveness of the response.

8 working days;

By June 2025

Output 2: Humanitarian Performance Monitoring Capacity Building

• Data Collection and Visualization Tools: Develop an integrated set of tools, including a standardized reporting form with reference data reflecting minimum requirements, pre-configured Excel templates for HFI aggregation, validation, bulk upload, and analysis, as well as a dashboard template for data visualization.
• Implementation Guides and Training Resources: Country-specific HPM table templates and tailored training materials, along with a checklist and step-by-step guide for setting up an Information Management Monitoring & Reporting System within ActivityInfo.
• Needs-based Humanitarian Performance Monitoring Training Program: A series of tailored webinars and workshops focused on evidence-based planning, monitoring, analysis, and data visualization, with hands-on training using tools like Excel, ARC, Power BI, and Infogram.

Standardized Regional Reporting Form created on ActivityInfo for consistent data collection and reporting across the region.

5 working days;

By June 2025

Customized Partner Reporting Forms for offices utilizing ActivityInfo for data collection and reporting.

15 working days;

By June 2025

Excel template for automated regional data aggregation, ensuring efficient and accurate consolidation of collected data.

4 working days;

By June 2025

Step-by-step guide for setting up an Information Management Monitoring & Reporting System within ActivityInfo, providing clear instructions for implementation.

20 working days;

By June 2025

Series of 3 webinars focusing on the effective use of Excel, Power BI, and Infogram for data analysis and visualization. (12 days)

12 working days;

By June 2025

Output 3: Conduct Research and Develop Frameworks to Enhance Monitoring, Accountability, and System Integration

• Research the HDP Nexus system in high-income countries, including a literature review and stakeholder consultations. The consultant will identify challenges, opportunities, and best practices, and provide recommendations for enhancing the integration of humanitarian and development systems, focusing on data collection and reporting frameworks.
• Develop a research framework for collecting and analysing feedback and complaints from affected populations. This will include researching tools and processes to ensure the feedback mechanisms are reliable, accessible, and integrated with performance monitoring systems, while safeguarding sensitive information.

Comprehensive analysis of the HPD Nexus, including findings from a literature review and stakeholder consultations, with clear recommendations for next steps.

20 working days;

By July 2025

Report on potential frameworks for Complaints and Feedback Mechanism systems, including recommendations for system design and effective data usage.

20 working days;

By July 2025

Estimated Duration of the Contract

120 working days between February and July 2025.

Consultant’s Work Place and Official Travel

The Consultant will be remote/home-based with no travels foreseen.

Estimated Cost of the Consultancy & Payment Schedule

Payment will be made on submission of an invoice and satisfactory completion of the above-mentioned deliverables. UNICEF reserves the right to withhold all or a portion of payment if performance is unsatisfactory, if work/outputs are incomplete, not delivered or for failure to meet deadlines. All materials developed will remain the copyright of UNICEF and UNICEF will be free to adapt and modify them in the future.

Please submit a professional fee (in USD) based on 120 working days to undertake this assignment.

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

• Bachelors degree (with preference for Masters) in Political Science, International Relations, International Affairs, Statistics, International Development and related areas to humanitarian performance management.
• A minimum of 5 years’ relevant work experience in planning, monitoring and reporting is required.
• Extensive knowledge of M&E principles, frameworks, and best practices, with a focus on humanitarian and development programming.
• Experience in designing and implementing data collection systems, tools, and methodologies, as well as in analysing both qualitative and quantitative data.
• High proficiency in Excel, Power BI/Tableau, and ActivityInfo.
• Prior experience with UNICEF, other UN agencies or similar International Organizations, including first-hand knowledge of humanitarian response frameworks, performance indicators, and internal systems, is a strong asset.
• Experience working in emergency response in Europe and Central Asia a strong asset.
• Strong ability to interpret complex data, identify patterns, and generate actionable insights for decision-making.
• Fluency in English.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s core values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability, and Sustainability (CRITAS), and core competencies in Communication, Working with People and Drive for Results.

To view our competency framework, please visit here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most marginalized children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family 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.

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 be expected to adhere to these standards and principles and will therefore undergo rigorous reference and background checks. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check.

Remarks:

Please include a full CV and a Cover Letter in your application. Additionally, indicate your availability and professional fee (in USD) to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a professional fee will not be considered. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations and UNICEF’s policies and procedures and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultants and individual contractors are responsible for determining their tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws.

The selected candidate is solely responsible to ensure that the visa (applicable) and health insurance required to perform the duties of the contract are valid for the entire period of the contract. Selected candidates are subject to confirmation of fully-vaccinated status against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19) with a World Health Organization (WHO)-endorsed vaccine, which must be met prior to taking up the assignment. It does not apply to consultants who will work remotely and are not expected to work on or visit UNICEF premises, programme delivery locations or directly interact with communities UNICEF works with, nor to travel to perform functions for UNICEF for the duration of their consultancy contracts.

UNICEF offers reasonable accommodation for consultants with disabilities. This may include, for example, accessible software, travel assistance for missions or personal attendants. We encourage you to disclose your disability during your application in case you need reasonable accommodation during the selection process and afterwards in your assignment.

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