Monitoring & Evaluation Officer NO-1 #, (Múltiples localidades), Venezuela. Temporary Appointment

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 Champion

www.unicef.org/venezuela

How can you make a difference? 

The Monitoring and Evaluation Officer contribute to the PME functions as per indicated in the VCO Accountability Framework. There will be two (2) Officers, one in each Duty Station, reporting to the Chief of Field Office Maracaibo and Chief Field Office Bolivar with technical guidance of the Chief of PME. In close coordination with PM&E section of CO, the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer is accountable for the accomplishment of the stated key end-results by providing professional expertise and assistance in developing of annual work plans, specially the contribution plan of the field office, information/data collection, statistics and data analysis, monitoring & evaluation (M&E), preparation of reports, communication and partnership, and in implementing training programmes for sub-national data collection, monitoring, and research capacity building with special attention to the interest, concern and participation of primary stakeholders. 

This vacancy is a temporary appointment ending on June 30, with possible extensions subject to the availability of funds.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES and DUTIES & TASKS

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. Integrated Monitoring, Evaluation & Research Planning (IMEP)

Provide technical support to ensure that the Field Office and local partners use a well-prioritised and realistic plan of research, monitoring and evaluation activities that will provide the most relevant and strategic information to manage the Country Programme, including tracking and assessing UNICEF’s distinct contribution.

Duties & Tasks

• Contributes to provision of technical assistance for the planning and establishing the major research, monitoring and evaluation activities in multi-year and annual IMEPs, which is to be reflected in UNDAF M&E Plans.
• Participate in management studies and support/participate in thematic/strategic evaluations to improve development & organizational effectiveness.
• In close consultation with management and liaison with local partners, make a professional contribution to formulation of the IMEPs from a sound results-based programming process and collaborative working relations with local partners.
• In a close coordination with local partners, ensure that the IMEPs include data collection activities that provide accurate and relevant data on key activities and results, including results for children.
• Contribute to the incorporation of M&E tasks in the IMEPs which were identified within the CO Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan, in order to anticipate and prepare for the information needs and operational modalities of an emergency, in consultation with humanitarian partners.
• 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 IMEP.

2. Situation Monitoring and Assessment

Provide technical support to ensure that the Field Office and local partners have timely and accurate measurement of change in conditions in the country or region, including monitoring of socio-economic trends and the country’s wider policy, economic or institutional context, to facilitate planning and to draw conclusions about the impact of programmes or policies.

Duties & Tasks

• Support management of available baseline information on local statistics and key indicators through established databases (e.g., DevInfo) for easy access and use. Prepare local statistical reports on the status of children’s and women’s human rights issues
• Keep monitoring the situation of children’s and women’s rights with local partners and keep updated with the information of the quality research that address issues and challenges affecting children and their families.
• Coordinate with the Field Office and local partners and provide assistance in their using up-to-date information in, inter alia, Situation Analysis, Common Country Assessment, Early Warning Monitoring Systems, Annual Reviews, Mid-Term Reviews, and Annual Reports or other progress reports.
• Provide technical support to ensure that the FO has information necessary for UNICEF to effectively report on and advocate for children’s rights through the appropriate channels and to enhance partnerships with key players in monitoring collectively progress on child focused international commitments, including MDGs.
• Support the FO in collecting and interpreting existing early warning data effectively to guide the adjustment of programmes and operational approaches when and as country contexts deteriorate.

3. Programme Performance Monitoring

Provide technical support to ensure that the Field Office has quality information to assess progress towards expected results established in annual work plans.

Duties & Tasks

• Provide technical support as necessary to identifying and adjusting a set of programme performance indicators, in the context of the multi-year and annual IMEPs, the Annual Management Plan and Annual Work Plans, as outlined in the Programme Policy and Procedures Manual (especially, Chapter 6, section 6: IMEP).
• Provide technical support to ensure that monitoring system are in place and that key annual programme indicators are tracked and analysed, including those related to partnerships initiative, and provided regularly to the Chief Field Office.
• Carry out data collection and analysis from field visits, standardising them across programmes, to feed into to programme performance monitoring.
• Keep tracking of follow-up action based on management decisions resulting from Field Office performance monitoring and evaluation.
• Compile monitoring and evaluation information/data and make them available to programme/planning sections. Contribute to the preparation of management reports (e.g., relevant sections of the annual reports), drawing on monitoring and analysis of key management indicators. Assist in the preparation of reports on systemic issues, good practices or any other analysis or data related to programme implementation and/or evaluation, including programme’s performance, relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability, as well as good practices in partnerships and collaborative relationships.

4. Evaluation

Provide technical support to ensure that a well-prioritised and strategic selection of evaluations at programme or Field Office strategy level is managed in order that each evaluation is designed and carried out with quality process and products and that evaluation results are useful to the intended audience.

Duties & Tasks

• Provide technical support to ensure that evaluation design and management meet quality standards as outlined in UNICEF Programme Policies and Procedures and related stand-alone Evaluation Technical Notes, when necessary, provide assistance to seek expertise of knowledge institutions. Facilitate and take part in producing Evaluation Office’s responses on specific and substantive issues.
• Review and provide technical comments on draft evaluation reports. Contribute to the effective dissemination and sharing of knowledge, findings, conclusions, recommendations and lessons from evaluation to the intended audience as described in the Terms of Reference with a view to improving programme performance and contributing to wider learning. Specifically, assist in feeding evaluation results into key UNICEF programme planning processes including the Annual Reviews and the Mid-Term Reviews, and the Annual Work Plans. Support effective participatory feedback, including to community and civil society stakeholders.

5. M&E Capacity Building

Provide technical support to ensure that the monitoring and evaluation capacities of Field Office staff and local partners – government and civil society – are strengthened enabling them to increasingly engage in and lead monitoring and evaluation processes.

Duties & Tasks

• Contribute to the collaboration of an M&E capacity building strategy for local partners and institutions and corresponding activities for implementation in the context of the IMEP or UNDAFM&E plan. Provide technical support for implementation of capacity building strategies as a joint commitment with other developmental partners with special attention to the interest, concern and participation of primary stakeholders.
• In close consultation with senior managers, contribute to formulation of staff capacity development strategy and plans, and exercise effective leadership in implementing them, ensuring that Field Office staffs have the basic knowledge and skills to fulfil their monitoring and evaluation responsibilities, and training is planned and carried out to fill identified gaps.
• Promote and provide support to ensure that Field Office staff and Local partners are aware of and have access to UNICEF monitoring and evaluation learning resources.
• Contribute to facilitate that Evaluation capacity of local partner organizations is strengthened through their involvement in evaluation processes and possibly through specific capacity building initiatives.
• Provide assistance to liaise with knowledge institutions to seek partnerships for the identification of capacity gaps and the development of strategies to address them.

6. Communication and Partnerships

Provide technical support to ensure that all of the above tasks are carried out and accomplished through effective communication and partnerships, as elaborated below:

Duties & Tasks

• Facilitate or contribute to integrated planning of research, monitoring and evaluation activities within the Field Office, with Local partners, in the context of internal office management plans, the country programme process, the UNDAF and sector wide approaches respectively, in consultation with child-right partners.
• Facilitate or contribute to joint monitoring and evaluation activities with local partners, wherever possible in the context of the above processes.
• Provide technical advice to Field Office staff and local partners on data collection, data management and data analysis for basic monitoring and evaluation.
• Provide synthesis of M&E results to the Chief Field Office and key programme and operations staff.
• Ensure that evaluation recommendations are communicated to the relevant partners for implementation, with advice on the Implementation Plan and follow-up action for future programming.
• Facilitate learning from the results of monitoring and evaluation within the Field Office and more widely within UNICEF, as well as among national partners and other key stakeholders, engaging more expertise from knowledge institutions.

Impact of Results

• Integrated Monitoring, Evaluation & Research Planning (IMEP) is prepared and in place to provide strategic priority and realistic plan of activities for M&E.
• Timely monitoring and measurement of changes in conditions due to programme or policies in country or region are conducted with the participation of relevant partners and are provided to the Country Office and national partners to facilitate national planning, and assess the impact of the programmes and policies, and report on the progress being made.
• Field Office Performance are systematically monitored and data for key indicators of the Annual Management Plan and management reports are collected, analyzed and made available to management and the Country Management Team.
• Evaluation is designed and carried out with quality process and products in line with priority and strategy. Evaluation findings, recommendations and reports are used to improve programme performance and are effectively disseminated to the intended audience. Major partners are kept abreast and/or contribute to these exercises as required.
• The monitoring and evaluation capacities of Field Office staff and local partners are strengthened, enabling them to increasingly engage in and lead monitoring and evaluation processes. 6. Effective communication and partnerships are achieved in carrying out integrated planning of research, monitoring and evaluation activities within the Field Office and with all other stakeholders, including national partners, and the results are shared with all partners to stimulate joint engagement.

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

• University degree in social sciences, development planning, survey implementation, statistical research.

• A minimum of one year of relevant Professional work experience in programme development and implementation including monitoring and evaluation activities.

• At least one instance of exposure to emergency programming, including preparedness planning. Active involvement in a humanitarian crisis response programme preferred.

• Experience working within the United Nations System is considered as a strong Asset.

• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset. 

• Fluency in Spanish and intermediate level of English is required, proficiency is desirable. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian) or a local language is an asset.

Skills

Technical Knowledge

a) Specific Technical Knowledge Required

• Knowledge of Project and Activity Evaluation.

• Professional technical knowledge/expertise in Data Collection

• Professional technical knowledge/expertise in Evaluation Process Management, Follow-up on Recommendations and Dissemination of M&E results.

• Knowledge of field monitoring methodologies in humanitarian and development contexts (e.g., community-based monitoring, post‑distribution monitoring, real-time monitoring).

• Familiarity with UNICEF’s Results-Based Management (RBM) principles, including theory of change development and indicator frameworks.

• Knowledge of accountability-to-affected-populations (AAP) mechanisms, including feedback and complaint systems.

For every Child, you demonstrate…

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

• Nurtures, Leads and Manages People (1)
• Demonstrates Self Awareness and Ethical Awareness (2)
• Works Collaboratively with others (2)
• Builds and Maintains Partnerships (2)
• Innovates and Embraces Change (2)
• Thinks and Acts Strategically (2)
• Drive to achieve impactful results (2)
• Manages ambiguity and complexity (2)

During the recruitment process, we test candidates following the competency framework. Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels: competency framework here.

UNICEF is here to serve the world’s most disadvantaged children and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, age, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, or any other personal characteristic.
We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF strongly encourages the use of flexible working arrangements.
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 is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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:

As this is a National Officer position, only nationals of Venezuela are eligible.

This position has been assessed as an elevated risk role for Child Safeguarding purposes as it is:a role with direct contact with children, works directly with children, is a safeguarding response role. Additional vetting and assessment for elevated risk roles in child safeguarding (potentially including additional criminal background checks) applies.

UNICEF’s active commitment towards diversity and inclusion is critical to deliver the best results for children. 

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Appointments are also subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be cancelled.

All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. 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.

UNICEF only considers higher educational qualifications obtained from an institution accredited/recognized in the World Higher Education Database (WHED), a list updated by the International Association of Universities (IAU) / United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The list can be accessed at http://www.whed.net/”

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason.

Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.