Monitoring and Evaluation

Context

The Joint SDG Fund (the Fund) is an inter-agency mechanism for strategic financing that incentivizes transformative policy shifts and stimulates strategic investments required to catalyze and accelerate progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the country level. The UN Secretary-General sees the Joint SDG Fund as a key part of the UN development system reform by providing the “muscle” for the Resident Coordinators (RCs) and facilitating collaboration and coherence of the UN Country Teams (UNCTs). The Fund invests in national priorities as reflected in the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks with a two-folded value proposition:

• Activate integrated policy and financing levers to promote systemic change and innovation at the country level to accelerate the achievement of the SDGs (the “what”), and
• Advance UN Development System reform in terms of enhancing coherence and effectiveness by bringing together the UN system at the country level under the RC’s leadership (the “how”).

As a part of its new 2023-2026 Strategy, the Joint SDG Fund is Incubating funding rounds for the SDG transitions which include Digital Transformation, Food Systems, Decent Jobs and Social Protection, Energy, Education, and Climate. The approach represents a part of the Joint SDG Fund 2.0 focused on a new generation of joint programmes designed to deliver impact at scale in an accelerated manner, ensuring sustainability and integration of policy and financing across SDG transitions. The main implementing framework represent the “engine room actions” for policy and regulatory shifts, mix of development financing (“deal room”, capacity building at scale, and the pipeline of bankable and market-ready project. As part of its Transitional Strategy 2023-2026, the Joint SDG Fund is prioritizing country support to promote transitions towards sustainable, equitable, healthy and resilient food systems as a catalytic investment for SDGs acceleration.

The project: This UNV assignment is part of the United Nations Evaluation Group-United Nations Volunteers (UNEG-UNV) young evaluator programme. The programme seeks to recruit and deploy young monitoring and evaluation (M&E) professionals across the UN system, at national and international levels, to support the effective delivery of Agenda 2030 and enhance national evaluation capacity development.

The young evaluator programme was initiated by the UNEG working group on young and emerging evaluators in 2023 and was endorsed with commitments by the Heads of Evaluation Offices of various UN agencies during the 2024 UNEG Annual General Meeting. This programme represents a renewal of the initial partnership in 2018. The 2018 partnership recognized an opportunity to complement existing M&E capacities in the UN system through the deployment of youth UNVs and advocated for a coalition of UN entities to support this effort. Over 1,800 people registered and submitted applications to volunteer under the 2018 initiative with a representation of over 100 different nationalities and more than 56 per cent of applicants being from the Global South.

The young evaluators programme aims to build upon the achievements of the 2018 coalition, expanding its targets and outreach as more organizations pledge their commitments to building capacities of youth in evaluation.

Task description

Under the direct guidance of the Reporting & Evaluation Specialist/Manager the UNV Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist will undertake the following tasks:

• Support development of results monitoring frameworks, including establishing baselines (based on relevant situational, needs and conflict analysis), setting targets, developing indicators (qualitative and quantitative), identification of data sources and risks and assumptions, identifying staff responsible for monitoring and frequency of monitoring.
• Support evaluations commissioned by the organization.
• Support the planning stage of evaluations by contributing towards the development of evaluation terms of reference, the selection of the evaluation team and establishment of reference groups.
• Provide technical support in appropriate methods of data collection, data analysis information management systems, data processing and analysis relevant to the evaluations.
• Support the dissemination and use of evaluation results.
• As appropriate, assist overall M&E capacity building activities; support for staff to address all issues, challenges and policy questions relating to M&E in the office; when working with national staff or (non-)governmental counterparts, set aside dedicated time for capacity development through coaching, mentoring and formal and on-the-job training.
• Assist with organizing, coordinating and monitoring and evaluation missions.
• Any other related tasks as may be required or assigned by the supervisor.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are encouraged to integrate the UN Volunteers programme mandate within their assignment and promote voluntary action through engagement with communities in the course of their work. As such, UN Volunteers should dedicate a part of their working time to some of the following suggested activities:

• Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day).
• Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country.
• Provide annual and end of assignment self- reports on UN Volunteer actions, results and opportunities
• Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publications/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.
• Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly arrived UN Volunteers.
• Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.

Requirements

Required experience

3 years of experience in relevant M&E experience.

• This initiative is reserved for people aged 35 years or under.
• Strong grasp of Monitoring and Evaluation policies and fundamental concepts of related disciplines.
• Training or certification in monitoring and evaluation (e.g., IPDET, CLEAR, etc.) or equivalent qualification is an advantage.
• Experience in data collection, data analysis, and data management is required.
• Good knowledge of the UN system and functioning of key international donors in post-crisis and crisis settings.
• Ability to work and adapt professionally and effectively in a challenging environment; ability to work effectively in a multicultural team of international and national personnel.
• Excellent oral and written skills; excellent drafting, formulation, reporting skills.
• Solid overall computer literacy, including proficiency in various MS Office applications (Excel, Word, etc.) and email/internet; familiarity with database management; and office technology equipment.
• Fluency in spoken and written English; knowledge of another UN language is an advantage.
• Keen interest to improve as a professionally competent evaluator within the framework of the national evaluation capacity of the country.

Languages

• English, Level: Fluent, Required

Source: https://app.unv.org/opportunities/1772330694213888