Monitoring and Evaluation Officer - Emergency Crisis Response for Prevention of Famine Project

Yemen’s current multi-dimensional war is now entering its fourth year.  This conflict has exacerbated the Yemen’s chronic vulnerabilities, leaving an estimated 22.2 million people (or more than 75 percent of its population) in need of humanitarian assistance, including an estimated 11.3 million children and 2.9 million IDPs.

Yemen is one of the most food insecure countries in the world. Around 20 million people (70 percent of the population) are facing hunger, a 13 percent increase from 2017. The current conflict has led to a decline in the national economy. Gross Domestic Product was cut in half since 2015, and more than 80 percent of the population living below the poverty line. The fighting around the country’s seaports and the ensuing suspension of commercial imports and supply shortages, the depreciation of the Yemeni riyal, which is now worth barely a third of 2015 level, have combined to push the food prices up.

Only half of health facilities are functioning, and many Yemenis in need of critical treatments especially for malnutrition are too poor to access the ones that are open. Beyond those at risk of famine, many millions with only emergency food assistance to survive, face a collapse in their immune systems – especially children and the elderly – increasing their vulnerability to malnutrition, cholera and other diseases. Chronic water shortages exacerbate food insecurity and risk of famine in areas where people depend on agriculture for food and income.

Against this background, UNDP’s strategy to mitigate the impact of the current crisis, including the risk of famine, is anchored on a two-pronged approach: on the one hand to addressing immediate needs – leveraging and enhancing endogenous support mechanisms to populations at-risk that can complement and safeguard the gains made through the humanitarian response – and on the other hand for the need to maintain the existing capacities and mechanisms at local and national level to maintain the foundation for future reconstruction and recovery.

UNDP will contribute to and complement the overall collective efforts for the prevention of Famine in Yemen. Based on the its comparative advantage and demonstrated results, UNDP’s Famine Response will address the following key critical drivers of food insecurity: 1) lack of income and weak purchasing power of households; 2) deteriorating public infrastructure and community assets creating a gap in the delivery of critical services for famine prevention including Health/Malnutrition, Roads and  (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene ( WASH)  , and 3) lack of local capacities for food production. 

The Project is expected to achieve the following results:

• Enhanced Income for Vulnerable Individuals and Households at Risk of Famine
• Rehabilitation of Key Community Assets for Famine Response (Roads, Health, WASH and Solar Systems)
• Increased Capacities for Local Food Production

In delivering these outputs, UNDP will be able to ensure that Yemeni households and communities will effectively cope with the current severe food insecurity and mitigate the risk of starvation and be strong drivers of the resilience-building and recovery efforts.

As such, the project contributes towards Outcome 6 of the UNDP corporate Strategic Plan: Early recovery and rapid return to sustainable development pathways are achieved in post-conflict situations.

UNDP Yemen now seeks to hire a Monitoring and Evaluation Officer to provide results-based project management for the project based in the UNDP Country Office in Sana’a.

Under the guidance of the Team Leader, Economic Resilience and Recovery, direct supervision of the National Coordinator, and close cooperation with M&E Specialist, the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Officer will be responsible for the following:

Summary of Key Functions:

1. Ensure project monitoring and evaluation with focus on measuring progress towards results
2. Ensure effective management of project monitoring and evaluation activities/processes
3. Manage project monitoring and evaluation information and data for quality reporting
4. Knowledge building and management in the areas of monitoring and evaluation

Roles and Responsibilities:

1) Ensure project monitoring and evaluation with focus on measuring progress towards results

• Provide technical support to ensure all required M&E information is incorporated in designing, implementation and monitoring of Annual Work Plans;
• Review and provide technical feedback on monitoring and evaluation plans to ensure focus on measuring results;
• Provide technical assistance to the M&E activities for Implementing Partners (IPs) to ensure project’s M&E requirements are integrated into their M&E frameworks.  

2) Ensure effective management of project monitoring and evaluation activities/processes

• Coordinate planning and implementation of monitoring and evaluation activities with Implementing Partners and Third Party Monitoring (TPM) agent on the effectiveness of all Project interventions;
• Review IP progress and results to ensure all components are properly aligned with the project requirements, properly reviewed and monitored for quality and used for timely reporting to the donors;
• Contribute to the analysis of output and outcome data and recommend improvements to project interventions, and enhance project ability to demonstrate output and outcome focused results;
• Facilitate and support TPM agent in utilizing appropriate monitoring and evaluation techniques to capture all required M&E information and data with evidence from Project intervention sites;
• Follow-up with IPs on internal and external (TPM) monitoring and evaluation findings and recommendations to ensure that corrective action is taken and/or adjustments are made to project responses as required;
• Provide monitoring and evaluation findings and recommendations to Project Management for corrective action on project implementation procedures and processes including planning and risk analysis, security risk management and mitigation;
• Facilitate and coordinate Project evaluation in accordance with UNDP evaluation policy and guidelines.

3) Manage project monitoring and evaluation information and data for quality reporting

• Establish and maintain Project M&E information and data management systems;
• Coordinate with relevant IP units to ensure availability of all required M&E information and data, and timely progress reports;
• Provide technical support in the preparation of M&E progress reports on status of results and implementation for improvements;
• Work in close collaboration with external partners (Implementing Partners and TPM) to strengthen the quality and consistency of M&E activities for Project interventions, especially strengthening data quality, accuracy and consistency for credible evidence and quality reports.

4) Knowledge building and management in the areas of monitoring and evaluation.

• Provide coaching and guidance to the IPs and TPM agent(s) as required to ensure appropriate development for high performance in the areas of monitoring and evaluation;
• Participate in, and contribute to monitoring and evaluation activities, training and orientation for IPs M&E staff, and TPM orientation and training for survey/research teams;
• Collaborate and coordinate with other UN agencies, government agencies and other organizations on M&E issues. 

5) The incumbent of the position should avoid any kind of discriminatory behavior including gender discrimination and ensure that 

• Human rights and gender equality is prioritized as an ethical principle within all actions;
• Activities are designed and implemented in accordance with “Social and Environmental Standards of UNDP”;
• Any kind of diversities based on ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, disability, religion, class, gender are respected within all implementations including data production;
• Differentiated needs of women and men are considered;
• Inclusive approach is reflected within all actions and implementations, in that sense an enabling and accessible setup in various senses such as disability gender language barrier is created;
• Necessary arrangements to provide gender parity within all committees, meetings, trainings etc. introduced.

Education:

Master’s Degree in Development Studies, Economics, Statistics, Social Development, Public Administration, or other related field.

Education:

• A minimum of 5 years relevant work experience in monitoring and evaluating programmes/projects in the field of development, crisis prevention and recovery and/or humanitarian settings;
• Good knowledge of results-based planning, monitoring, reporting; evaluation and programme/project management;
• M&E training experience.
• Experience in developing practical guidance and tools on M&E activities including M&E data management;
• Knowledge of UN system programming is desirable;
• M&E experiences in UNDP and/or other UN agencies are desirable;

Language Requirements:

Fluency in English and Arabic, both written and oral.

Important applicant information

All posts in the SC categories are subject to local recruitment.

Applicant information about UNDP rosters

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Workforce diversity

UNDP is committed to achieving diversity within its workforce, and encourages all qualified applicants, irrespective of gender, nationality, disabilities, sexual orientation, culture, religious and ethnic backgrounds to apply. All applications will be treated in the strictest confidence.

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