Monitoring & Evaluation Officer, P4- FIT Pool at World Food Programme (WFP)

Requisition No: 102445
Location: Nigeria

Background and Organisational Context

• The World Food Programme (WFP) is offering life-changing job opportunities you are unlikely to find in other organizations. Working at WFP will give you the opportunity to work beyond your expectations, to be enriched by truly meaningful work and deepen your professional expertise.
• The Future International Talent Pool (FIT Pool) is an entry point for a professional international career with WFP. WFP is looking to build a pool of highly qualified and dynamic talents interested in going to any of our 80 countries in which WFP operates, including hardship duty stations, when the need arises.
• A FIT Pool member is placed on the pool for a period up to 2 years during which he/ she is considered with priority each time WFP has a specific need for a Fixed Term International Professional staff member in his/her functional area and level.

Job Purpose

• These jobs are primarily found in Country Offices (CO), covering both the Monitoring and Evaluation functions.
• Positions can also be found in Regional Bureaux (RB) and Headquarters (HQ), where some might be specialized in either Monitoring or Evaluation.
• Job holders at P4 level are expected to develop and implement Monitoring, Review and Evaluation Plans aligned to WFP corporate standards to generate quality evidence on the outcomes and effects of WFP’s interventions on the lives of beneficiaries and inform policy, strategy and programme design and implementation.
• This includes coordinating monitoring activities, managing decentralized evaluations, and thematic/mid-term reviews and positioning WFP as a reliable partner for governments to build monitoring and evaluation capacity. They may also formulate country monitoring and evaluation strategies, lead various initiatives and contribute to policy development.
• In COs, the job holder will report to the Country Director or the designate with functional supervisions from the Regional Monitoring Adviser and Regional Evaluation Officer. In RBs, the job holder will report to the Regional Monitoring Adviser and/or Regional Evaluation Officer.
• In HQ, the job holder will report to the Director or his/her designate within the Office of Evaluation or the Performance Management and Monitoring Division or other HQ Divisions.

Key Accountabilities (not all-inclusive)
Monitoring and Evaluation:

• Lead the development and implementation of Monitoring, Review and Evaluation plans that will provide the most relevant and strategic information to manage progress towards achieving expected results (as set out in the Country Strategic Plan (CSP) and other global and regional plans), while being compliant with WFP evaluation and monitoring requirements.
• Ensure that adequate M&E costs are budgeted for and advocate for both appropriate financial and human resourcing.
• Provide inputs to the formulation of Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Strategies and support their operationalization.
• Develop a CO M&E strategy aligned with corporate and regional Monitoring and Evaluation strategies, as well as corporate M&E standards and guidelines.
• Advise and support evidence-based decision-making on programme design and implementation, notably through making monitoring, review and evaluation findings accessible developing innovative, user-friendly and informative products.
• Support WFP Management in addressing recommendations from monitoring, reviews and evaluations to ensure that follow-up actions are taken as required in complex portfolios.
• Build M&E capacity of WFP staff and partners through design and delivery of training and information sharing. Manage junior staff members and guide as required to enable high performance.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of national government and inter-agency monitoring, reporting and evaluation frameworks, including United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) aligned with nationally-owned sustainable development goals.
• Represent WFP at national/ inter-agency meetings to contribute to technical discussions, exchange of best practices, identify opportunities for strengthening national monitoring and evaluation capacity and develop strategic partnerships.
• Take responsibility for integrating protection and gender perspectives in all areas of work, to ensure equal participation of women and men.

Monitoring:

• Facilitate at Country Strategic Plan (CSP) design stage, the development of a Theory of Change outlining how the expected results are likely to occur and listing key assumptions and risks.
• Ensure that CO monitoring systems and tools are in place and compliant with corporate systems, including the minimum monitoring requirements (MMR), standard operational procedures (SOP) and establishment of baselines and targets in alignment with the updated corporate results framework (CRF).
• Coordinate and oversee the production of monitoring reports with status of results and implementation progress.
• Lead mid-term reviews and support thematic reviews which are intended for internal learning, strategic and operational decision-making.

Evaluation:

• Provide oversight and ensure effective management of decentralized evaluations to high professional standards in line with WFP Evaluation Policy and Decentralized Evaluation Quality Assurance System (DEQAS). This entails managing evaluation processes from planning to completion; sourcing, hiring and supervising external evaluators; engaging stakeholders appropriately in the evaluation process and managing communications and budgets.
• Contribute to and support centralized evaluations managed by the Office of Evaluation, joint evaluations and donor-led evaluations in country.
• Other duties as required.

Standard Minimum Requirements
Education:

• Advanced University degree in one of the following fields: social sciences, statistics, development economics, performance management, monitoring and evaluation or other related fields; or First University degree with additional years of relevant work experience and/or training/courses.

Experience:

• A minimum of eight years of relevant professional experience in international development or humanitarian work.
• A minimum of four years of experience in managing complex monitoring and/or evaluation activities spanning a range of policies and programme initiatives.
• Experience in managing diverse teams of M&E staff.

Language:
Fluency (level C) in English language.

• Intermediate knowledge (level B) of a second official UN language: Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish, and/or WFP’s working language, Portuguese. Language will be tested.

Desired Experiences for Entry into the Role

• Strategic Management: Has in-depth knowledge of humanitarian and development actions, global geo-political issues and UN Reform, and applies it to enhance monitoring and evaluation functions that supports WFP’s strategic objectives. Is able to demonstrate to stakeholders the value of monitoring and evaluation for policy and programming in the achievements of the SDGs.
• Performance Management: Has strong performance management cycle skills, and solid knowledge of international norms and standards for evaluation; understands the value of Theory of Change (ToC).
• Methodology, Approaches and Analysis: Has solid knowledge of qualitative and quantitative methods and analytical approaches in order to oversee and guide others in the selection and application of those to WFP monitoring, review and evaluation exercises. Is able to validate data quality and ensure that data collection and analysis have been conducted ethically.
• Communication & Use: Demonstrates active listening, communication and conflict resolution skills to promote constructive engagement of stakeholders and communicate effectively key evidence.
• Ethics: Understands the specific implications of ethics in monitoring, review and evaluation activities; Demonstrates ethical behavior at all times and is able to consistently ensure that appropriate actions are taken to safeguard ethics.
• Experience building strategic partnerships in M&E with multiple stakeholders, including governments, multilateral, bilateral and academia will be an asset.

Terms and Conditions

• Selected candidates will be placed in the FIT Pool and may be contacted as the needs arise for fixed-term international positions in any of the countries in which WFP operates, including hardship duty stations. The FIT Pool membership will last 2 years.
• Mobility is and continues to be a core contractual requirement in WFP. These positions are rotational which means that the incumbent shall be subject to the regular reassignment process unless the position is reclassified as non-rotational. Professional level positions are rotational on a period of 2 to 4 years, mobility is the essence of WFP.
• WFP offers an attractive compensation and benefits package, including basic salary, post adjustment, relocation entitlement, travel and shipment allowances, 30 days’ annual leave, home leave, an education grant for dependent children, pension plan and medical insurance.
• Please visit the following websites for detailed information on working with WFP. Click on: “Where we work” and “Our work” to learn more about WFP’s operations.
• To find out more about:
  • WFPs work, http://www.wfp.org/
  • Compensation https://info.undp.org/gssu/onlinetools/SalCalcInt/SalCalcInt.aspx