Monitoring and Evaluation Officer - UNOPS - Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Vacancy code: VA/2013/B5501/1684

Position title: Monitoring and Evaluation Officer

Level: ICS-10

Department/office: APO, Bangkok

Duty station: Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Contract type: Fixed Term

Contract level: P3

Duration: 1 year with possibility of extension

Application period: 11-Jan-2013 to 27-Jan-2013

Background Information - UNOPS

“UNOPS plays a critical role in providing management services for our life-saving, peacebuilding, humanitarian and development operations. I have seen many examples of how these activities help suffering people in troubled parts of the world.”
-Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary-General

UNOPS mission is to expand the capacity of the UN system and its partners to implement peacebuilding, humanitarian and development operations that matter for people in need.

Working in some of the world’s most challenging environments, UNOPS vision is to always satisfy partners with management services that meet world-class standards of quality, speed and cost effectiveness.

By assisting UN organizations, international financial institutions, governments and other development partners, UNOPS makes significant, tangible contributions to results on the ground.

UNOPS employs more than 6000 personnel and on behalf of its partners creates thousands more work opportunities in local communities. With its headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark, a network of five regional offices and a further 20 operations and project centres, UNOPS oversees activities in more than 80 countries.

UNOPS is committed to achieving a truly diverse workforce.

 

Background Information - APO

Asia and the Pacific Regional Office
The Asia and the Pacific Regional Office is based in Bangkok, Thailand, and was established in 1995 to bring UNOPS closer to partners in the region. The regional office provides implementation support and project management services to operations throughout the region, supplying financial oversight of projects, procuring goods and services, and managing human resources. It helps ensure that projects are executed to the highest standards, ensuring that best practices and lessons learned are shared within the region and beyond.

Background Information - Job-specific

In December 2012, UNOPS was selected by the Cambodia Country Coordinating Mechanism for The Global Fund to Fight AIDS,Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) to become the Principal Recipient (PR) for the Single Stream of Funding (SSF) Malaria grant for Cambodia. The management responsibility for this grant will be handed over to UNOPS on April 1st 2013.
As the designated Principal Recipient for the Global Fund SSF Malaria grant, UNOPS is responsible for the quality financial management, timely procurement of supplies and service delivery as well as efficient monitoring and evaluation of grant implementation activities.  From early 2013 UNOPS will have to complete all the groundwork to start-up the Principal Recipient operations so that there is minimal lag between grant signature and full commencement of operations. 

 

Functional Responsibilities

Under the supervision of the PR Programme Coordinator, the M&E Officer will be responsible for the following specific duties and responsibilities:

• Ensuring the development and maintenance of a functioning monitoring, evaluation and reporting system for UNOPS as Principal Recipient, which will be coherent with national M&E systems, and will generate data that allow for programme analysis and which ensures that all Sub-Recipients (SR) submit timely, quality, regular and structured monitoring reports.
• Ensure an efficient and effective communication and information flows within and between the PRs, SRs, and other implementing partners from government, civil society, academic institutions and international/bilateral/UN Agencies is established.
• Directing data auditing and verification to assure internal consistency and validity of programme activity monitoring data reported by all SRs, through quarterly data verification and auditing visits to SRs at all levels.
• Maintaining the GFATM M&E database; reviewing incoming data (for quality and programmatic); ensuring the quality of database and that M&E data are readily available.
• Reviewing and verifying field team recommendations and following-up the recommendations.
• Assessing SRs capacity in M&E systems; ensuring adequate feedback to/from the SRs on data obtained from the GFATM’s internal M&E system; reviewing partners’ DQA systems, conducting data audits;
• Developing and lead the implementation of a capacity building plan, in consultation with Programme Coordinator, national programmes and the Ministry of Health.
• Ensuring timely completion of the programme section of the Progress Update and Disbursement Request (PU&DR) Global Fund Forms and subsequent submission to the Local Fund agent, including reviewing overall performance of the whole grants and individual indicators against achieved cumulative results and making recommendations to improve performance.
• Preparing quarterly and annual/or ad hoc programmatic progress updates on Global Fund programmes.
• Facilitating the interpretation and use of M&E data, through three to six monthly review meetings between the PR/PMU and SRs.
• Facilitating the identification of SRs with exemplary performance to serve as a positive example to other SRs, as well as those SRs under performing and recommend corrective actions.
• Participating and contributing to the development of Monitoring & Evaluation Frameworks for the malaria programmes of SRs.
• Facilitating the implementation of capacity building courses through workshops and on the job trainings on monitoring, evaluation and reporting as required for SRs.
• Providing technical support to the Ministry of Health to strengthen monitoring and evaluation system for the malaria programme, including the development of a sentinel surveillance system to monitor impact.
• Developing systems and tools, and training materials to train national programme, Ministry of Health and Sub-Recipient personnel.
• Providing technical guidance for the implementation of the M&E plan, through training and other on-site support;
• Facilitating review of progress on a quarterly basis; problem solving and development of remedial actions ensuring any disparity between planned and actual outputs are addressed.
• Assisting UNOPS in the identification of potential implementation problems and bottlenecks.
• Training staff in M&E best practices.
• Assessment and provision of organizational, capacity and technical capacity development needs of Sub-Recipients and coordinating for these from UNOPS.
• Assessments of the quality of SR activities, using agreed quality assurance checklists, through monthly monitoring visits as well as thematic program area reviews.
• Facilitate the interpretation and use of M&E data, through three to six monthly review meetings between the PR/PMU and SRs.
• Other duties as may be assigned by the PR Programme Coordinator for UNOPS Cambodia.

Impact of results:

• Well-coordinated and supervised team of national and international UNOPS M&E Unit Staff.
• Annual Work Plan developed for all grant programme activities and timeframes.

• Technical guidance and on-the-job training provided whereby work standards are achieved,both in terms of quantity/quality of input/output processed.
• Synthesis of lessons learned and best practices in Global Fund Monitoring &Evaluation.
• Sound contributions to knowledge networks and communities of practice.

• Timely, thorough, accurate and high quality reports on the quality of M&E activities undertaken by PRs and SRs using appropriate Global Fund tools. This includes comprehensive & informative reports readily available for monitoring & evaluation of grant programme activities, including compliance requirements and/ or recommendations for strengthening measures, including a timeframe, to resolve identified problems.

Responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.

 

Education/Experience/Language requirements

• Masters degree in the areas of epidemiology, statistics, demography, public health, social science or other relevant area. Bachelors degree with additional years of relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of a Masters degree
• At least five years’ experience in the development, design and implementation of monitoring and evaluation systems in (preferably malaria) public health programmes, with experience in providing strategic direction and developing functional M&E frameworks based on consolidated analytical inputs.
• Out of the five years of work experience required, at least three should be in epidemiological literacy and skills inepidemiological surveillance, quantitative and qualitative monitoring andevaluation methods to facilitate the development and execution of health programmes.
• Experience in managing technical functions,units, and staff highly desirable.
• Fluency in English is a must and knowledge of Khmer language is desirable.

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrated skills, experience, and knowledge in Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E). An in-depth understanding of national and international development issues related to M&E. Experience in M&E for malaria highly desirable.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate technical M&E matters in a simple and clear manner to individuals not well-versed in the intricacies of M&E.
• Demonstrated ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and monitor own work plan and those under his/her supervision.
• Demonstrated ability to develop and maintain effective work relationships with technical counterparts and substantive offices.
• Willingness to travel in area of responsibility, including to hazardous duty stations.
• Demonstrated ability to write in a clear concise manner and to communicate effectively orally.
• Demonstrated ability to seek and apply knowledge, information, and best practices from within and outside of UNOPS.
• Demonstrated ability to work successfully ina challenging environment where resources are accounted for in a transparent manner.
• Demonstrated ability to work with minimum supervision in a decentralised environment.

Skills:

• Proven conceptual analytical and evaluative skills and ability to conduct independent research and analysis, identifying issues, formulating options and making conclusions and recommendations. A complete in-depth grasp of M&E principles and practices.
• Strong interpersonal, co-ordination and negotiation skills, and the ability to establish and maintain effective working relations with people in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity.
• Prior experience in South or South-East Asia would be a significant asset.
• Experience in dealing with international and local NGOs, civil societies and government entities required. Good knowledge of donor organizations, especially the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria desirable. Prior experience and familiarity with the PR would be a significant asset.
• Excellent command of the English language; verbal and oral;
• Sound knowledge of relevant UN rules, regulations and procedures. Knowledge of UNOPS rules and policies is an asset.
• Excellent planning, organisation and problem solving skills;
• Computer literate including knowledge of Word, Excel, PowerPoint &Access.

Contract type, level and duration

Contract type: Staff
Contract level: P3
Contract duration: One year initially, renewable subject to satisfactory performance and funding availability

For more details about United Nations staff contracts, please follow this link:
http://www.unops.org/english/whoweneed/contract-types/Pages/United-Nations-staff-contracts.aspx

Additional Considerations

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time (CET)
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• For staff positions UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

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