Planning & Monitoring Specialist

Under the supervision of the Regional Chief of Programme and Planning, the incumbent of the post will guide the regional office in quality assurance, planning, and oversight processes; maintain effective knowledge of innovation and key planning products in the region; support preparation of UNICEF key planning and programming events included but not limited to preparation of submissions of Country Programme Documents (CPDs), and related documents for submission to the Executive Board, syntheses/writing of key programme and planning documents: Country Offices Analysis Reports (COAR), Regional Office Analysis Reports (ROARs), Workplans, Annual Management Plans (AMPs); contribute & support to the regional office planning such as Mid-Year Reviews (MYRs), End-Year Reviews (EYRs), development of and Mid-Term Reviews (MTR) of the Regional Office Management Plan (ROMP), analysis and reporting of the regional and country offices KPIs in the context of management for results.

The post will significantly contribute the rollout of the UN-Reform including support to the design and quality assurance of Common Country Analysis (CCAs), and United Sustainable Develop Cooperation Frameworks (UNSDCFs), and especially to UNICEF COs to ensure the road-maps of CPDs are aligned with the UNSDCF, and that the SitAns contributes to the CCAs.

Contribute to the preparation and design of the Regional Management Team meeting and support preparation of reports with key action points, including monitoring and reporting on the progress.

Summary of key functions/accountabilities:

Strategic Planning, knowledge management and capacity building

Provide technical guidance and strategic inputs to the design of key regional meetings (Regional Management Team (RMT); Deputy Representatives and Operations (DROPS); Planning, Monitoring, Data and Analysis network) as well as of staff trainings on UNICEF Programme, Policies and Procedures (PPP, RRBM) ensuring that these learning events contribute to the development and implementation of policy and programmatic standards and priorities across UNICEF Programmes in the region.

Support Country Programme Planning processes (midterm reviews, country programme preparation, Situation Analysis) with a focus on regional quality assurance mechanisms to ensure that Country Programme Planning exercises are in alignment with the latest guidance and organizational priorities.

Provide inputs to UNICEF country offices for the development of UNSDCFs and participate in inter-agency meetings and missions as required to support UN coherence initiatives, particularly as they relate to the integration of RRBM into CCA, Strategic Prioritisation Retreat (SPR) and in line with the Sustainable Development Goals through the Regional UNDG Peer Support Group.

Ensure capacity skills building in RRBM for UNICEF staff and partners and skills building related to overall strategic planning.

 

Support to regional office planning, monitoring and reporting

Make professional contributions to and provide technical assistance for the planning objectives, priorities, and activities in UNICEF’s multi-year and annual planning in consultation with child-rights and implementing partners. This includes coordinating the development, planning and monitoring of the Regional Office Management Plan, including preparation of the Regional Office annual planning and reporting exercises, regional review of Country Office Annual Reports and preparation of the Regional Office Annual Report, as well as overall guidance for knowledge management services within the Regional Office.

Contribute to the preparation of Regional Strategic documents, including briefing documents, statements and information for the Regional Director for the Executive Board sessions and other missions as required.

Contribute to country office preparedness for the Executive Board sessions.

 

Setting regional standards for programme performance, planning, and monitoring

Provide technical guidance to Country Offices and contribute to policy dialogue on key UNICEF policies and procedures to ensure the highest standards in programme design, implementation and reporting.

Coordinate with COs and partners to ensure that monitoring systems are properly designed, and that data collection and analysis from field visits are coordinated and standardized across programmes to feed into to programme performance monitoring, with special attention to humanitarian response.

Drawing on monitoring and analysis of key programme performance and management indicators, provide professional input to management reports, including relevant sections of the annual reports.

Coordinate the analysis and presentation of the KPIs for COs and RO, and contribute to the preparation of the Regional Office Management Meetings (ROMTs)

Contribute to the development and Mid Term Review of the ROMP

Planning & Monitoring Internal Planning and Reporting

Coordinate internal planning and reporting for the Planning, Monitoring, Data and Analysis section.

Networking and partnership building

Interact as needed with key relevant divisions in UNICEF Headquarters and Planning Units in the other UNICEF Regional Offices to exchange knowledge and ideas and to contribute to global and regional learning focusing on effective approaches, challenges and lessons learned in programme planning, monitoring, review and reporting

• Technical and administrative decisions are regularly made to ensure timely and appropriate inputs to country offices on programme planning, including quality assurance issues through coordination and consolidation of regional office inputs to key Country Programme planning documents so as to ensure that these meet quality standards and that they are aligned to organizational policies and priorities. Judgement, analytical capacities and drafting skills are required to prepare high quality documents for presentation to the Executive Board; to ensure Regional Office oversight to Country Office Annual Reports; to prepare the Regional Office Annual Reports and other strategic documents of relevance to the region.
• Recommendations are made on the quality of official documents such as CPDs, UNDSDCFs, Work Plans, CCAs, Situations Analysis, Country Office Annual Reports. Such recommendations have a direct impact on the effectiveness of resources. Collaboration with Regional Institutions, design and support for regional and sub- regional initiatives involve regular decisions which are directly linked to the use of UNICEF resources including staff time.
• Misinterpretation of country situational analysis and trends can lead to wrong direction of the country programme resulting in country objectives not being met and a significant proportion of UNICEF resources misappropriately spent. Ineffective coordination and interaction with regional advisors, country offices and regional partners, UN and other, will negatively affect the credibility and acceptability of UNICEF interventions. Ineffective support of capacity building  and training activities can adversely affect UNICEF capacity for programme planning and implementation.
• Supervision is limited to guidance on overall regional framework and organizational policy and priorities from the Regional Programme and Planning Chief. Within these limits, the incumbent is expected to perform independently and consults with supervisor when major decisions and actions must be undertaken.

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

Minimum requirements:

• Education: Advanced university degree in social sciences, international relations, public administration, public policy, community development or another related field.
• Work Experience: Eight years progressively responsible professional work experience at the national and international levels in social development, management, planning, monitoring or other related field required.
• Relevant experience/exposure to emergency is an asset.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English required. Knowledge of another UN language is an asset.

Source: https://jobs.unicef.org/cw/en-us/job/572649