PURPOSE OF THE POST
Under the guidance of the Programme Specialist (NO-D) ensures that the UNICEF Country Office has useful, valid and reliable information and recommendations for adjustments on;
- the situation of protection and fulfillment of children’s and women’s rights;
- the performance of UNICEF-supported programmes vis a vis baselines and against milestones and targets, including their relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability, and in emergency contexts, their coverage, coordination, coherence, adherence to core commitments for children in emergencies.
- implementation and effectiveness of cross cutting strategies and strategic shifts, including equity in use of services and protection of rights, human rights based approach, gender equity, disaster risk reduction, programming for young people, and programming for multiply deprived children in urban areas, especially mega cities.
The incumbent will be expected to;
- work within the One UN Programme to support achievement of Strategic Priority and Outcome level results, by delivering valid and reliable information on progress, constraints, and coherence of joint programming.
- Be a leader within UNICEF Pakistan on monitoring, research and evaluation for the equity approach to programming
- -Coordinate closely with regional office, other country offices, and headquarters staff in programme division and evaluation office
- Work effectively with all programme staff and operations staff for a well-established realistic plan of research, assessment and evaluation, outlined in a regularly updated IMEP
- Take on a leadership role in guiding evaluation within the One UN Programme, to maximize synergy on research and evaluation, and be well informed on how UN programmes can benefit from research and evaluation by other development partners, in order that funds and time spent on research and evaluation are cost effective
- assist in the development of national capacities for assessment, evaluation and research, with special attention to the interest, concern and participation of government, community, and civil society stakeholders.
- assist in creating a learning environment and creative knowledge through sharing relevant information/studies based on the outcomes of research and evaluation that would also enhance better planning, cross sector coordination and monitoring for reviewing.
MAJOR DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
1. Integrated Monitoring, Evaluation & Research Plan (IMEP)
Linking it to IMEP, ensure that the Unicef Offices and national partners use a well-prioritised and realistic plan of research, 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·
Make professional contributions to and provide technical assistance for the planning and establishing the major assessment, research and evaluation objectives, priorities, and activities in UNICEF’s multi-year and feed into UNICEF’s annual IMEPs.
· Working closely with PME, coordinate and compile all major components in IMEP through contact with all key Unicef staff and the government. Ensuring that the plan is clear, practical and approved by the Country Management Team and is managed properly taking into account any modifications that are necessary due to changes in the programme plans.
· Likewise, support the development of UNDAF M&E Plans for SPA outcomes that Unicef is engaged in, from a sound results-based programming process.
· Identify the research and evaluation objectives, priorities, and activities required for effective CO and partner Emergency Preparedness and Response and outcomes.
· 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, keeping in view Unicef’s Core Commitments to Children.
· After the initial humanitarian response, support and advise management of the medium-term response with a research and assessment plan on key issues pertaining to Strategic Priority Areas and provide the results in consice manner for effective decision-making.
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2. Situation Assessment
Ensure that the Country Office and national 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
· In coordination with other stakeholders, support the collection of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and other key social development indicators (through MICS or other surveys) to improve national planning.
· Participate in and use information from the Situation Analysis, Common Country Assessment, Early Warning Monitoring Systems, and Mid-Term, Mid-Year and End-Year Reviews, collaborate with Section Chiefs and advise on further research/assessment on key areas that further define Unicef’s comparative advantage in priority areas. Advise
· In humanitarian response situations, provide professional support and guidance to emergency departments for one or more rapid assessments (inter-agency or independently if necessary) to be carried out within the first 48-72 hours.
3. Evaluation
Ensure that UNICEF-supported evaluations are designed and implemented to established UN quality standards, and the results are disseminated in a timely fashion to stakeholders in order to improve programme performance and contribute to wider learning.
Duties & Tasks
- Contribute or lead One UN Programme evaluations with other UN agencies, related to UNDAF SPAs and outcomes that Unicef is involved in,
- Participate/contribute to global and/or regional evaluations and researches studies ensuring that the tasks are well coordinated taking into account all existing data/information available. All such tasks to be based on timely planning and coordination with key programme staff and partners.
- Use strategic support and guidance from MoRES which is based on equity principles to ensure that EQUITY is at the forefront when planning, implementing and finalising all major evaluations on Strategic Results Areas, Programme Components, Programme Component Results and Organisational Targets. This will be highly critical especially when evaluating effectiveness of all important components under the MTSP.
- Technically support programme partners to formulate Terms of Reference and evaluation designs of high quality in compliance with the organization’s programme evaluation policies and guidelines.
- Monitor and ensure the quality of the field work and data management during the implementation phase, and the quality of the analysis and ease of understanding during the report writing phase.
- Disseminate evaluation findings and recommendations to the intended audiences in user-friendly methods. In particular, to ensure that effective participatory feedback is provided to community and civil society stakeholders.
- Monitor and ensure that a management response to the findings and recommendations of the evaluation is completed, recorded, and followed up for implementation. Most specifically, ensure that evaluation recommendations are submitted to the Country Management Team and follow-up actions recorded in CMT minutes. Submit electronic copies of all evaluations to NYHQ via the Evaluation Data Base web portal, with full accompanying documentation.
- If outsourcing, manage the consultants/team of evaluation researchers, while coordinating with Section Chiefs/programme staff to ensure the objectives of the evaluations are clearly defined and the stakeholders understand their respective roles and responsibilities. Develop evaluation workplan and timelines and act as a focal person of contact facilitating timely coordination mechanism for productive outcome.
- Drawing on information from internal and external monitoring and analysis of key program performance and management indicators, use the data into relevant research, assessments and evaluations and provide professional input to management reports, including relevant sections of the annual reports.
4. Capacity Building
Ensure that capacities of Country Office staff and national partners – government and civil society – are strengthened enabling them to increasingly engage in and lead during relevant research, assessments and evaluation processes.
Duties & Tasks
- Promote the awareness and understanding of the shared responsibilities during relevant research studies amongst relevant staff members, government officials and partners through effective communication, orientation, training, learning and development activities organization-wide.
- In close collaboration with partners, ensure that research, assessment and evaluation plans are shared in timely fashion, so that relevant members can plan logistics accordingly. Pay particular attention to training/orientation of the stakeholders such as professional evaluation associations so that their capacity will be strengthened by involvement in evaluation processes.
- Collaborate to implement capacity building strategies as a joint commitment with other developmental partners. Utilize a range of appropriate skills building strategies including self-learning, seminars and workshops and practical experience in order that UNICEF and UN staff have the basic knowledge and skills in understanding and applying evaluation standards and policies, tools, methods to fulfil their responsibilities. Similarly, design and implement strategies suited to the skills needs of national partners.
5. Knowledge Creation through Coordination and Networking
Ensure that the UNICEF office is effectively linked to wider UNICEF research and evaluation developments in a way that both contributes to and benefits from organizational learning on effective programme planning and management.
Duties & Tasks
- Collaborate with Regional and HQ Research and Evaluation Advisers for overall coordination of priority quality research, monitoring and evaluation activities, especially those of regional scope requiring the coordinated effort of multiple countries.
- Partner with the Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Adviser to ensure that current and accurate data and results are included in regional reports, multi-country studies, and knowledge sharing networks.
- Undertake lessons-learned reviews on successful and unsuccessful practices and experience at the national level that are drawn from relevant reach and evaluation reports, and ensure they are shared as appropriate with relevant key stakeholders. Similarly, pay attention to knowledge management and store information for easy access and ease of use informing staff on accessibility in timely fashion. Share information in concise and easy to understand form with relevant persons as and when necessary especially when needed for specific purpose such as contribution to UNDAF, annual reports and management reports and meetings.
- Make use of technology and on-line networks to maximise learning and contribute to the overall information management network at regional and global level.
Required Skills
