Nutrition Specialist (M&E/NIS), NOC at UNICEF

The Nutrition Specialist (M&E/NIS) ensures that the UNICEF Country Office has useful, valid and reliable information on the situation of children’s and women’s rights and on the performance of UNICEF-supported programmes including their relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability, and in emergency contexts, their coverage, coordination and coherence.

Integrated Monitoring, Evaluation & Research Plan (IMEP)

Duties & Tasks

• Make professional contributions to and provide technical assistance for the planning and establishing of major nutrition research, monitoring and evaluation objectives, priorities, and activities in UNICEF’s multi-year and annual IMEPs, in consultation with child-rights and implementing partners.
• Support the development of UNDAF M&E Plans from a sound results-based programming process.
• Identify the M&E objectives, priorities, and activities required for effective CO and partner Emergency Preparedness and Response Plans
• In humanitarian response situations, within the first month, draft and recommend a simple one-month nutrition data-collection plan to cover key data gaps as required for the initial nutrition emergency response, working in close collaboration with the humanitarian clusters partners

Situation Monitoring and Assessment

Duties & Tasks

• In coordination with other stakeholders, support the collection of Millennium Development Goal (MDG) and other key social development indicators (through MICS or other surveys) to improve national & county nutrition planning.
• Support partners in the establishment and management of national & county level nutrition statistical databases (e.g., DevInfo), ensuring that key indicators are readily accessible by key stakeholders. Potential uses include the Situation Analysis, Common Country Assessment, Early Warning Monitoring Systems, and Mid-Term Reviews.
• Develop a common nutrition Situation Monitoring and Assessment system owned by all relevant sectors and key stakeholders which supports the preparation of country level statistical and analytic reports on the status of children’s and women’s rights issues and which allow, when opportunities emerge to influence developmental and social policies. To include technical support to global reporting obligations including national reports on progress toward the MDGs, and toward CRC and CEDAW fulfilment.
• In humanitarian response situations, provide professional support for one or more rapid nutrition assessments (inter-agency and independently if necessary) to be carried out within the first 48 - 72 hours, working in close collaboration with the humanitarian.

Programme Performance Monitoring

Duties & Tasks

• Provide technical support to ensure that a set of nutrition programme performance indicators is identified and adjusted as necessary, with inputs of all concerned partners in the context of the multi-year and annual IMEPs, the Annual Management Plan and Annual Work Plans, as outlined in the Programme Policy and Procedures Manual).
• Coordinate with all 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 programme performance monitoring, with special attention to humanitarian response.
• Drawing on monitoring and analysis of key program performance and management indicators, provide professional input to management reports, including nutrition relevant sections of the annual reports

Evaluation

Duties & Tasks

• Technically support programme relevant sectors and partners to formulate Terms of Reference and evaluation designs of high quality, when relevant drawing on the know-how of knowledge institutions, in compliance with the organization’s programme evaluation policies and guidelines.
• Monitor and ensure the quality of the field work and data management during the implementation phase, and the quality of the analysis and ease of understanding during the report writing phase.
• Disseminate evaluation findings and recommendations to the intended audiences in user-friendly methods. In particular, to ensure that effective participatory feedback is provided to community and civil society stakeholders.
• Monitor and ensure that a management response to the findings and recommendations of the evaluation is completed, recorded, and followed up for implementation. Most specifically, ensure that evaluation recommendations are submitted to the Country Management Team and follow-up actions recorded in CMT minutes. Submit electronic copies of all evaluations to NYHQ via the Evaluation Data Base web portal, with full accompanying documentation

M&E Capacity Building

Duties & Tasks

• Promote the awareness and understanding of the shared responsibility of M& E function among all nutrition section staff members through communication, training, learning and development activities organization wide.
• In close collaboration with multisectoral partners, ensure that an M&E capacity building strategy for UNICEF/UN staff national partners and institutions exists in the context of the IMEP, or UNDAF M&E plan. Pay particular attention so the capacity needs of national partners such as professional evaluation associations will be strengthened by involvement in evaluation processes and possibly through specific capacity building initiatives.
• Collaborate to implement capacity building strategies as a joint commitment with other developmental partners. Utilize a range of appropriate skills building strategies including self-learning, seminars and workshops and practical experience in order that UNICEF and UN staff have the basic knowledge and skills in understanding and applying new M&E policies, tools, methods to fulfil their responsibilities. Similarly, design and implement strategies suited to the skills needs of national partners.
• Actively seek partnerships with knowledge institutions for the identification of capacity gaps and development of strategies to address them.

Coordination and Networking

Duties & Tasks

• Collaborate with Regional M&E Advisers and HQ Evaluation Office for overall coordination of priority research, monitoring and evaluation activities, especially those of regional scope requiring the coordinated effort of multiple countries.
• Partner with the Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Adviser to ensure that current and accurate M&E data and results are included in regional reports, multi-country studies, and knowledge sharing networks.
• Undertake lessons-learned reviews on successful and unsuccessful M&E practices and experience at the national level, and ensure they are shared as appropriate. Similarly, pay attention to M&E knowledge networks to identify innovations and lessons learned that may be relevant for the CO and partners to improve their M&E function.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have

• An Advanced university degree in social sciences, statistics, planning development, planning
• A minimum of five years of professional work experience is required. Field work experience is necessary. Professional work experience in programme development and implementation including monitoring and evaluation activities is required.
• At least one instance of exposure to emergency programming, including preparedness planning. Active involvement in a humanitarian crisis response programme preferred
• Knowledge of Project Evaluation.
• Professional technical knowledge/expertise in Evaluation Process Management, Follow-up on Recommendations and Dissemination of M&E results.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of another official UN language or(Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish) or a local language of the duty station is considered as an asset