Organization: UN Children's Fund
Country: Bangladesh
Closing date:
26 Dec 2016If you are a committed, creative professional and are passionate about making a lasting difference for children, the world's leading children's rights organization would like to hear from you. For 70years, UNICEF has been working on the ground in 190 countries and territories to promote children's survival, protection and development. The world's largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.
Purpose of the Position
Under the overall guidance of the Chief in the SPE&R Section and in support of the Government of Bangladesh – UNICEF Country Programme, aligned with the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), Sector Programmes, MDGs and Sustainable Development Goals, the incumbent of the post is responsible for ensuring that the country programme has valid, reliable and quality evidence on the programme interventions including their relevance, efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability, and in emergency contexts, their coverage, coordination and coherence. The incumbent will also monitor and report timely results-based management decisions regarding the situation of children's and women's rights impacted by the Country Programme.
Key Accountabilities and Duties & Tasks1. Quality assurance of evaluation and research activities
Ensure that evaluation and research activities led and supported by the Country Office comply with methodological standards as well as organisational policies and guidelines.
Technically support programme partners to formulate Terms of Reference and evaluation designs of high quality in compliance with the organization's programme evaluation policies and guidelines.Provide oversight and quality assurance of UNICEF-commissioned research and evaluation activities in compliance with Country Office Standard Operating Procedures for the Planning, Management and Quality Assurance of UNICEF-supported Evaluations, Surveys, Studies, and Research.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.If outsourcing, manage the consultants/team of evaluation researchers, while coordinating with Section Chiefs/programme staff to ensure the objectives of the evaluations are clearly defined and the stakeholders understand their respective roles and responsibilities.Act as a focal person of contact facilitating timely coordination mechanism for productive outcome.Participate/contribute to global and/or regional evaluations and researches studies ensuring that the tasks are well coordinated taking into account all existing data/information available.Act as Section focal point for mid-year and end-year reporting on results and for the Annual Report.2.Support to thematic research on generating evidence for SDG monitoring, child poverty, and social protection
Ensure that the office generates quality evidence to monitor the SDGs on trends and patterns in child poverty and to support the implementation of social protection interventions.
Provide methodological and technical support to thematic research on priority areas for the SPE&R Section, with a particular focus on generating evidence for SDG monitoring, child poverty and social protection.Support the identification of partners and the establishment of research partnerships around these thematic areas.Conduct quality assurance of data collection, management, analysis and report-writing for thematic research products.In coordination with other stakeholders, support the collection of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) and other key social development indicators to improve national planning.3.Evaluation and research planning
Ensure that the Country Office and national partners use a well-prioritised and realistic plan of research and evaluation activities that will provide the most relevant and strategic information to manage the Country Programme, including tracking and assessing UNICEF's distinct contribution. Specifically:
Lead the planning and establishing of the major assessment, research and evaluation objectives, priorities, and activities in UNICEF's multi-year and feed into UNICEF's annual IMEPs. Ensure that the plan is clear, practical and approved by the Country Management Team and is managed properly taking into account any modifications that are necessary due to changes in the programme plans.Identify the research and evaluation objectives, priorities, and activities required for effective CO and partner Emergency Preparedness and Response and outcomes.Participate in and use information from the Situation Analysis, Common Country Assessment, Early Warning Monitoring Systems, and Mid-Term, Mid-Year and End-Year Reviews, collaborate with Section Chiefs and advise on further research/assessment on key areas that further define UNICEF's comparative advantage in priority areas.In line with the organisation's Research Policy ensure that principles and standards that should guide research are upheld; identify emerging and strategic issues for further research; support the development of a well-prioritised research agenda for UNICEF Bangladesh.4.Partnerships and capacity-building for evaluation and research
Ensure that the Country Office builds sustainable partnerships for research and evaluation and engages in capacity-building on research and evaluation for partners as well as UNICEF staff.
Establish and maintain a network of partnerships with research organisations, think tanks and academic institutions to generate quality research that can support policy, programming and advocacy on behalf of children and contribute to further knowledge on children in Bangladesh.Collaborate with Regional and HQ Research and Evaluation Advisers for overall coordination of priority quality research, monitoring and evaluation activities.Partner with the Regional Evaluation Adviser to ensure that current and accurate data and results are included in regional reports, multi-country studies, and knowledge sharing networks.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 evaluation/research standards and policies, tools, methods to fulfill their responsibilities. Similarly, design and implement strategies suited to the skills needs of national partners.Engage in partnerships to build national capacity on evaluation and research standards, policies tools and methods and institutional arrangements to facilitate the use of evaluations for enhance institutional accountability and learning.Qualifications of a Successful Candidate
An advanced university degree (Master's) in Social Sciences, Demography, Development, Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation, Statistics or related field(s) is required.A PhD in the same fields is an added advantage.A minimum of give (5) years of relevant experience, at the national and international levels, in research, monitoring and evaluation is required.Previous experience in designing, managing, and providing quality assurance for research and/evaluations as well as in evaluation capacity-building is required.Previous work experience in an emergency duty station and exposure to emergency programming is considered an asset.Fluency in English (written & verbal) is required. Knowledge of an additional UN Language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, Spanish) and the language of the duty station is considered an asset.Competencies of Successful Candidate
Core Values
CommitmentDiversity and InclusionIntegrityCore competencies
Communication (Level 2)Working with People (Level 2)Drive for Result(Level 2)Functional Competencies
Leading and Supervising (Level 2)Formulating Strategies and Concepts (Level 2)Analyzing (Level 2)Applying Technical Expertise (Level 2)Planning and Organizing (Level 3)To view our competency framework, please click here.
UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization.
How to apply:UNICEF is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce, and encourages qualified female and male candidates from all national, religious and ethnic backgrounds, including persons living with disabilities, to apply to become a part of our organization. To apply, click on the following link http://www.unicef.org/about/employ/?job=501896