UNDP Jobs - 52226- Monitoring & Quality Assurance Specialist

Monitoring & Quality Assurance Specialist

Location :

Amman, JORDAN

Type of Contract :

FTA International

Starting Date :

01-Feb-2015

Application Deadline :

22-Dec-14 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

P-3

Duration of Initial Contract :

1 year

Languages Required :

Arabic English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

The Monitoring and QA Specialist provides technical support and advice for monitoring and quality assurance practices across the region. S/He works closely with the RBM and Evaluation Specialist in supporting the Country Support Team and the Regional Programme Coordinator to ensure that monitoring and quality assurance practices are applied at country and regional levels. S/he provides technical guidance and support for the collection of reliable, accurate and coherent information to assess the performance and impact of programmes and projects, and quality assures performance reporting, confirming that results are evidence-based and supported by relevant data. S/he promotes integrated monitoring activities through exchanges of experience and good practices between COs, Regions, national partners, the UNDG and the international community and advises and trains on monitoring and evaluation functions, including how to quality assure results framework, M&E, IWPs, etc. S/he supports the RBM and Evaluation Specialist in advising COs on managing evaluations, including preparation of TORs, and developing rosters of evaluators.

The Specialist is based in the Amman Regional Hub, reports to the RBM and Evaluation Specialist P4.

Duties and Responsibilities

Effective implementation of corporate tools and initiatives

Working closely with the RBM and Evaluation Specialist to support the roll-out of corporate initiatives and tools, such as the alignment process, IRRF BMT exercise and ROAR etc.

Enhanced Technical Guidance and Support

Supporting the RBM and Evaluation Specialist in reviews to improve the quality of CPD evaluation plans, costings, compliance and implementation to ensure strategic, robust, timely, and relevant decentralized evaluation for learning and programme effectiveness;
Based on requests from the CO Support Team, providing advice on the design of the CO and national monitoring systems, as well as the design of the qualitative and quantitative data collection methods to provide evidence of the effect and contributions of the UNDP interventions to the national development priorities;
Researching innovative monitoring tools and practices, including remote monitoring that can inform programme implementation at country level and make these available to country offices;
Based on request from the regional programme, supporting monitoring and evaluation of the regional programme,
Advising on selection of consultants to ensure independence, cost-effectiveness, quality and utility of all evaluations and support development of a regional roster for evaluation experts;
Supporting the RBM and Evaluation Specialist in advising Country Offices on the completeness of their responses to evaluation findings and recommendations, and ensuring that they are recorded and monitored in the Evaluation Resource Center (ERC);
Identifying and documenting key lessons derived from evidence monitoring, on what works, what does not work, and feedback to the central HQ units (RBAS/ Regional Strategic Planner and BPPS/Development Impact Group), on the necessary adjustments and improvements of the corporate policies and guidance and documents particularly effective and/or innovative monitoring and evaluation practices and approaches for wider dissemination and sharing across the region.

Enhanced Quality of Programme Evaluations and Monitoring Plans

Quality assuring COs data collection strategies to ensure the right balance of qualitative and quantitative evidence and advising on data analysis to assess programme results, improve programme quality and inform future decision making processes;
Reviewing and providing technical advice to improve the quality of results based management, including planning, monitoring and reporting on annual workplan and other corporate tools;
Quality assuring of performance reporting and providing advice on strategy development for strengthening the monitoring and quality assurance functions and capacities in the region, including to national counterparts upon requests from the COs in the region.

Enhanced Integrated Monitoring

Building, nurturing, and promoting linkages between evaluation strategies/frameworks with the UNDAF, CPDs and/ AWPs;
Developing briefs and reports on the use of evaluation findings in the region, including lessons learned in coordination with the Regional Hub and Country Offices;
Facilitating learning from evaluation results with the Regional Hub and COs and UNDP globally, and among national partners and other key stakeholders;
Supporting the M&E function in the COs, including establishment and strengthening of the M&E positions and units.

Enhanced M&E capacity of CO and Bureau staff

Helping to strengthen monitoring and evaluation capacities of country and regional office staff to engage in and lead monitoring and evaluation processes with particular focus on the participation of primary stakeholders;
Providing hands-on training to COs and relevant partners on use of M&E tools and methodologies;
Collaborating with the RBM and Evaluation Specialist and the Country support Unit in the planning of workshops and development of training materials to address the need to improve performance in areas identified in the monitoring and evaluation reports

Enhanced partnerships

Promoting peer-to-peer networking and information sharing among RBM practitioners by contributing to Regional Communities of Practice and other knowledge management mechanisms, and by maintaining repositories of quality assurance expertise, lessons learned, good practices and practical tools and methodologies for Country Offices and other members of the Community of Practice;
Promoting cross-unit team work and works in close collaboration across teams in the Regional Center;
Establishing working relations with key functional units in HQ and liaise with HQ colleagues on a regular basis.

Competencies

Core Competencies

Innovation

Ability to make new and useful ideas work.

Leadership

Ability to persuade others to follow.

People Management

Ability to improve performance and satisfaction.

Communication

Ability to listen, adapt, persuade and transform.

Delivery

Ability to get things done.

Technical/Functional Competencies

Primary

Monitoring and Evaluation

Knowledge of methodologies, tools, systems and apply practical experience in planning, monitoring, evaluating and reporting and ability to apply to practical situations.

Strategic Planning

Ability to make decisions that align with strategy and vision.

Results Based Management

Ability to synthesize monitoring data and make changes throughout the life of the programme or project.

Development Planning

Knowledge of development planning processes at macro and sectoral levels and the ability to apply to strategic and/or practical situations.

Data Measurement

Ability to set goals and indicators and to interpret and synthesize results into usable information to inform policy, strategy, and/or action.

Secondary

Partnerships

Ability to engage with other agencies, donors, and other development stakeholders and forge productive working relationships.

Relationship Management

Ability to engage with other parties and forge productive working relationships.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Master’s Degree or equivalent in Statistics, Evaluation, Social Sciences, Economics or related field;
Practical training in programme management and evaluation, survey and research analysis, or applied statistical data.

Experience:

Five years of relevant professional work experience, including both international and national work experiences;
Experience managing evaluations of various types (project, outcome, thematic, strategic, organizational) and developing outcome oriented monitoring and evaluation systems;
Experience working on Results Based Management, including effective planning, monitoring and reporting of results ;
At least one instance of exposure to emergency programming, including preparedness planning, and active involvement in a humanitarian crisis response programme, an asset.

Language Requirements:

Fluency in English and Arabic, both written