Purpose of the job

Join our team to provide support to and facilitate the planning and monitoring functions for the field office. This post is also expected to lead the field office HACT as well as providing support to the Chief of Field Office in the programme coordination. This will be done in close collaboration with the programme officers/specialists and the Planning and Monitoring section at the country office – including Chief of Planning and Monitoring unit, Monitoring Specialist, Budget Officer, Programme Specialist/Officer (HACT) – and sectoral programme staff at the field office.

How can you make a difference?

Key functions, accountabilities and related duties/tasks:

Programme Planning

• Support the Country Office and national partners to develop an equity-focused and results-based and measurable Country Programme and rolling workplans that provide the basis for implementation, performance monitoring and reporting.

Duties & Tasks

• Provide support to the Chief of Field Office and to the Planning and Monitoring Chief in preparation, review and analysis of strategic programme planning processes and documentation, including the conduct of Situation Analyses, Mid-Term Reviews, the development of the Country Programme Document (CPD), Programme Strategy Notes (PSNs), and facilitate field office mid/end year reviews.
• Supports the development of the country programme framework at the level of the field office, including indicators, baselines and targets, the identification of PIDB codes, and quality assures its reflection in VISION.
• Support and facilitate development of equity-focused, results-based, risk-informed, and rolling work plans and review exercises of the same.
• Work in close collaboration with the staff of the field office and P&M section and other sections to provide technical support for establishing quality assurance mechanisms related to improved planning and effective use of planning tools in field office in line with the results based management principles and standards.
• Support the Chief of Field Office to conduct periodic programme reviews internally as well as with government counterparts and other partners.  Identifies problems or alternative courses of action to accelerate/improve programme delivery.
• Support and facilitate the regular conduct of the Zonal Management Team meetings, with two monthly meetings – including KPIs and thematic areas.
• Support planning and reporting of joint UN initiatives and processes relating to the UNDAF or One UN, including Pillar 2 on Basic Social Services.

Programme Monitoring

• Ensure that the Country Office has quality information to assess progress towards expected results established in annual work plans.

Duties & Tasks

• Provide technical support to the programme staff of the field office to establish and roll-out programme monitoring mechanisms including mid-year and annual reviews, mid-term reviews, strategic moments of reflection, to record the progress and identify potential bottlenecks to be addressed by the programme sections and field offices.
• Provide technical support and inputs on setting up programme monitoring systems/tools using digital platforms.  This includes field-monitoring, third-party monitoring (TPM) – including the management of TPM contracts – humanitarian performance monitoring and community-based monitoring.
• Support programme staff in the field office in the implementation of the programme monitoring system and provide inputs for regular adjustment of the standard operating procedures to ensure optimal monitoring results.
• Lead HACT activities at the field office and provide technical support to the programme staff to ensure that HACT monitoring makes an integral part of the ECO comprehensive monitoring system.

Planning and Monitoring Capacity Building

• Ensure that the planning and monitoring capacities of field Office staff and national partners – government and civil society – are based on evidence and the RBM principles thus enabling them to more effectively engage in planning and monitoring processes.

Duties & Tasks

• Promote the awareness and understanding of the shared responsibility of RBM among staff members, and national partners through communication, training, learning and development activities organization-wide.
• Support the field office and the Monitoring and Planning section in development and implementation of a strategy/approach for RBM capacity building through a participatory process with field office programme  staff as well as national partners.
• Work closely with programme sections in conducting quality reviews of field office’s input into donor proposals  and reports, as well as draft PCAs, from an RBM perspective.

Coordination and Networking

• Ensure that the UNICEF field office is effectively linked to the national ECO and wider UNICEF M&E developments in a way that both contributes to and benefits from organizational learning on effective M&E management.

Duties & Tasks

• Provide regular support to the Chief of the Field Office in the coordination activities to ensure field office programme results and targets are well monitored and on track. 
• Collaborate with Field Office staff, Planning and Monitoring Section team, peers at other UNICEF field offices and country office sections as well as with the UN agencies in the duty station, and national partners for overall coordination of priority planning and monitoring activities, especially those of national/subnational scope requiring the coordinated effort of multiple .
• Partner with the relevant staff to ensure that current and accurate planning and monitoring data and results are included in regional reports, multi-country studies, and knowledge sharing networks.
• Undertake lessons-learned reviews on successful and unsuccessful planning and monitoring practices and experience at the national and subnational level, and ensure they are shared as appropriate.
• Liaise with UNICEF and other professional P&M knowledge networks to identify innovations and lessons learned that may be relevant for the field office, CO and partners to improve their P&M function. 

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

• An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in social sciences, statistics, planning development, planning.
• A first University Degree in a relevant field combined with 2 additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an Advanced University Degree.
• A minimum of 5 [Five] years of relevant professional experience in programme planning, implementation, monitoring, budget monitoring. Practical experience in monitoring large programmes will be an asset.
• Field work experience.
• At least one instance of exposure to emergency programming, including preparedness planning. Active involvement in a humanitarian crisis response programme preferred.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency is considered an asset.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language is an asset.

Source:https://jobs.unicef.org/en-us/job/540696/planning-monitoring-specialist-no3-mekelle-ethiopia-for-ethiopian-nationals-only-90524