Background

UNDP Afghanistan Mission Statement:
 
UNDP supports stabilization, state building, governance and development priorities in Afghanistan. UNDP support, in partnership with the Government, the United Nations system, the donor community and other development stakeholders, has contributed to institutional development efforts leading to positive impact on the lives of Afghan citizens. Over the years UNDP support has spanned such milestone efforts as the adoption of the Constitution; Presidential, Parliamentary and Provincial Council elections; institutional development through capacity-building to the legislative, the judicial and executive arms of the state, and key ministries, Government agencies and commissions at the national and subnational levels. UNDP has played a key role in the management of the Law and Order Trust Fund, which supports the Government in developing and maintaining the national police force and in efforts to stabilize the internal security environment. Major demobilization, disarmament and rehabilitation and area-based livelihoods and reconstruction programmes have taken place nationwide. UNDP Programmes in Afghanistan have benefited from the very active support of donors. UNDP Afghanistan is committed to the highest standards of transparency and accountability and works in close coordination with the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan and the UN system as a whole to maximize the impact of its development efforts on the ground.
 
Organizational Context:
 
Afghanistan’s justice system faces extraordinary challenges. Justice sector infrastructure has often been destroyed or damaged by fighting or decay during the years of conflict; a large number of Afghanistan’s court houses are in need of construction or rehabilitation. Legal professionals are very often the victims of violence by insurgent groups who target them as agents of the state; threatening of justice officials, particularly in the less secure regions of the country is absolutely commonplace, and assassinations are very common. Corruption is a constant concern; judges and other justice system officials are poorly paid, justice system capacity to prosecute corruption is very limited, and corruption is perceived as rampant both within and outside the justice system. The Government of Afghanistan (GoA) and international community are concerned about bolstering the credibility of the “formal” justice system, recognizing that Afghanistan’s traditional justice system plays a major role in resolving conflicts yet does so at times in violation of national and international human rights obligations, particularly the rights of women.
Following continuous engagement in supporting Afghanistan’s justice sector since 2002, UNDP Afghanistan’s justice sector support has now entered a new phase. The Justice and Human Rights in Afghanistan (JHRA) Project draws on the lessons learned through previous UNDP justice projects– Strengthening the Justice System of Afghanistan (SJSA), Access to Justice at District Level (AJDL) and Justice and Human Rights Phase I.

The 1st phase of JHRA Project was implemented from June 2009 - 30 June 2012. The project was designed to support the achievement of the priorities and benchmarks on human rights, rule of law and justice as highlighted in the Afghanistan National Development Strategy (ANDS) and the Afghanistan Compact. The JHRA project worked to improve access to justice at the national and provincial levels in Afghanistan. Programmatic interventions were undertaken by using human rights based approach that simultaneously strengthened citizens’ capacity to claim their rights and enhanced the capacity of justice delivery system actors to deliver justice in compliance with the rule of law and human rights standards. The Project activities included raising awareness through training of justice officials and community members including school teachers and students, and the general public and villages throughout 11 districts in Afghanistan. It also engaged with the rehabilitation of district justice facilities providing emergency infrastructure works and basic equipment so facilities can function. At the national level, the project assisted the three national justice institutions including; the Ministry of Justice (MoJ), the Supreme Court (SCt), and the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) in strengthening their capacity so as to be able to better contribute to the justice reform process and the realization of human rights in Afghanistan.

The new phase of JHRA, Phase II was initiated in January 2013. JHRA Phase II will leverage on the work undertaken in Phase I and deepen the interventions at the national level and provincial levels and attempt to work across the justice sector, involving the rule of law service providers. The JHRA phase II project represents in particular the Afghan National Priority Plans (NPP 5)Law and Justice for All and (NPP 6), Human Rights and Civic Responsibilities. The project will seek to increase trust in Afghan justice institutions as the necessary foundation and prerequisite for the re-establishment of State legitimacy. Without trust there is no State legitimacy and it is impossible for a Government to guide a country through transition/transformation without conflict. The project assumes a comprehensive approach to trust building composed of increasing service delivery and access to justice and security, in particular for the vulnerable groups, combined with the facilitation of the necessary political leadership; and balanced with structural and institutional mechanisms and safeguards to ensure sustainable transition and development. Similarly, support to justice sector service providers is balanced with support to ordinary people who would normally not be able to circumvent the current justice institutions and its mechanism to access justice, accountability, gain confidence in the formal justice institutions and gain trust in the State.
 
JHRA Phase II has four project outputs:
  • Output 1: High-level coordination mechanisms for developing policy and legislation in accordance with international and national standards are established and functional in State justice institutions;
  • Output 2: Mechanisms for providing quality access to justice services to vulnerable groups are established and functional;
  • Output 3: Public participation processes and knowledge base for improving access to justice and human rights compliance established;
  • Output 4: Project Support Unit: Internal oversight, monitoring and evaluation capacity in place.
Based in Ministry of Justice, JHRA project and as part of the project support structure, the Monitoring and Evaluation Analyst (M&E Analyst) will be working under the direct supervision of the Chief Technical Advisor and coordinate regularly with the National Project Manager and all Component Managers and National Coordinators.

Duties and Responsibilities

Summary of Key Functions:
 
The Monitoring and Evaluation Analyst will undertake substantive duties and responsibilities that are focused on project monitoring and evaluation, implementation of project strategies and capacity building. The M&E Analyst will have overall responsibility for establishing a system to monitor and evaluate JHRA project Phase II implementation processes and results.

The Key functions will be:
 
  • Develop M&E systems to monitor and evaluate project implementation;
  • Organize project monitoring and evaluation activities;
  • Prepare plans, reports and other project-related documents;
  • Undertake training and knowledge sharing;
  • Provide advice for establishment of appropriate monitoring system in Project.
 Develop M&E systems to monitor and evaluate project implementation:
  • Participate and provide inputs to the development of project planning and implementation;
  • Monitor the implementation of the work plan through collection and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data;
  • Prepare analytical reports using relevant information available from project to advise the project management on the implementation of the Work Plan; also provide inputs into the Work Plan reports;
  • Advise the Project and Work Plan partners on the progress of the Work Plan and contribute to analysis as to causes behind the differences between planned and actual achievements;
  • Assist in common data collection strategies between and within projects where appropriate;
  • At key intervals/review periods throughout the year, make necessary arrangements for Mid-YearReview, Work Plan Development, and End-Year Review;
  • Review information provided by stakeholders on indicators and targets to assess progress and identify constraints and gaps in implementation;
  • Develop periodic assessment and reporting template and user guidelines for key institutional actors, partners and stakeholders;
  • Advise on needs assessments for new situations as requested;
  • Along with project components, advise the project management on constraints on implementation of the Work Plan and the impact of the Project activities;
  • In consultation with stakeholders, provide advice on resource allocation;
  • Develop and institute, in consultation with partner agencies and for approval by the Project Management Team, the Project’s M&E system;
  • Advice in coordination with project management on M&E systems in partner agencies where necessary;
  • Develop tools for evaluation and impact assessment of the project;
  • Develop standard M&E instruments and update data in a M&E database;
  • Support in ensuring that the M&E system is gender-responsive.
Organize project monitoring and evaluation activities
  • Plan and implement regular project monitoring and evaluation activities (periodic meetings, annual assessment conferences, etc.) among key institutional actors, partners and stakeholders to provide up-to-date information, feedback on the status of project implementation;
  • Collect, analyze and disseminate in a timely manner project quarterly progress reports in consultation with partners, stakeholders, project specialists, provincial coordinators, partner agencies and other relevant sources of information;
  • Contribute towards the preparation of the situation analysis by compiling;
    data, analyzing and evaluating information;
  • Design data collection methodologies and research protocols;
  • Participate in the development and introduction of new approaches and methods in project monitoring and evaluation;
  • Serve as a focal point on progress review, mid-termexternal and internal evaluations, etc;
  • Organize and conduct necessary training in this regard for project staff, government and civil society partners.
 Prepare plans, reports and other project-related documents
  • Assist the CTA in the preparation of yearly and quarterly work plans, reports, project presentations and other project M&E-related documents and correspondence; reports will be developed with the support and in coordination with other M&E/reporting officers;
  • Prepare high quality reports/ project documentation for dissemination to the stakeholders;
  • Work closely with the technical teams and field offices for collection of the best practices and subsequent implementation across the programme;
  • Assist CTA in extracting critical lessons learned and good practices from final evaluation, audit and monitoring reports.
 Undertake training and knowledge sharing:
  • Contribute in development of the staff capacities on project monitoring and evaluation through facilitation of the trainings for monitoring and evaluation and technical teams;
  • Together with communication officer, produce result-oriented success stories from the field to be shared with donors, partners project staff and UNDP clusters;
  • Work closely with the reporting officer for result-oriented reporting of the programme activities.
Provide advice for better project management and implementation:
  • Assist the CTA, Project Steering Committee and stakeholders in tracking the progress of project implementation, assess progress and identify constraints and gaps in implementation based on NPPs 5 & 6 and provide appropriate responses;
  • Coordinate closely with the governance structures of NPP 5 to ensure that JHRA Phase II Project is in alignment with the national priority plans;
  • Analyze and evaluate data to ensure achievement of objectives and recommend;
    corrective action, when necessary, to meet programme/project objectives;
  • Provide technical support and advise to project staff, government staff, government officials, other counter parts and coordinate &manage the evaluative elements of project’s milestone meetings, such as mid-term reviews, strategy meetings, previews, reviews and annual reviews;
  • Participate at UNDP Cluster meetings and strategic planning processes as required and show case the work of JHRA;
  • Perfom all other tasks that may be assigned by the CTA.

Competencies

 Corporate Competencies:
  • Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values;
  • Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
  • Highest standards of integrity, discretion and loyalty.
Functional Competencies:
Knowledge Management and Learning
  • Promotes a knowledge sharing and learning culture in the office;
  • Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development in one or more Practice Areas, acts on learning plan and applies newly acquired skills.
Development and Operational Effectiveness
  • Ability to lead implementation of new systems (business side), and affect staff behavioral/ attitudinal change.
Management and Leadership
Focuses on impact and result for the client and responds positively to feedback;
  • Leads teams effectively and shows conflict resolution skills;
  • Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
  • Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills;
  • Builds strong relationships with clients and external actors;
  • Remains calm, in control and good humored even under pressure;
  • Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.
  • Ability to lead strategic planning, results-based management and reporting;
  • Ability to lead formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of development programmes and projects, mobilize resources;
  • Good knowledge of the Results Management Guide and Toolkit;
  • Strong IT skills;
  • Ability to lead implementation of new systems (business side), and affect staff behavioral/ attitudinal change;
  • Strong organizational and reporting skills;
  • Results oriented, strong team player with outstanding interpersonal and coordination skills
  • Ability to work independently;
  • Strong managerial competency with experience in results based management and results oriented approach to project implementation;
  • Ability to establish substantive professional relationships with all stakeholders;
  • Familiarity with post-conflict environments.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:
  • Master’s degree in law, human rights, development, social sciences or other relevant fields.
 Experience:
  • 2 years of relevant experience at the national or international level in providing services and hands-on experience in reporting in development projects using results based management tools
  • Previous experience in developing reports and establishing inter-relationships among project stakeholders, international organizations and national governments
  • Strong research background;
  • Knowledge of functioning of Ministry of Justice, Attorney General’s Office, Supreme Court, gender justice and knowledge of working with civil society organisations would be essential
  • Knowledge of Sharia would be an asset;
  • Extensive programming and managerial experience, preferably in conflict and post-conflict;
  • Previous experience in Afghanistan will be an asset;
  • Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages, experience in handling of web based management systems;
    Project implementation experience with the UN system a strong asset
 Language Requirements:
  • Excellent knowledge of English and ability to communicate clearly in written and spoken English; working knowledge of Dari, Pashto is a strong asset.
Interested and qualified international candidates should apply on-line through the UNDP Jobs site athttp://www.undp.org.af/Jobs/index.htm and please ensure that to fill up and upload Personal History Form-P.11 which is available at http://www.undp.org.af/Jobs/index.htm  in the relevant field of the on-line application.
 
Incomplete applications or applications received after the closing date will not be given consideration. Please note that only applications who are short-listed will be contacted.
 
For more detailed information about UNDP Afghanistan please visit our website at www.undp.org.af 
Successful candidates must be prepared to start work within 6 weeks of the offer of appointment.
 
Internal candidates who have served a minimum of 12 months in the current assignment are invited to apply.
 
Female candidates are highly encouraged to apply.