Research, Assessment & Monitoring Officer (International Consultancy II)

WFP encourages female candidates and people with disabilities to apply.
WFP seeks candidates of the highest integrity and professionalism who share our humanitarian principles. Selection of staff is made on a competitive basis. We are committed to promoting diversity and the principle of equal employment opportunity for all our employees and encourages qualified candidates to apply irrespective of religion or belief, ethnic or social background, gender, gender identity and disability.

JOB RELATED KEY INFORMATION

Job Title:                          Research, Assessment & Monitoring Officer  
Grade:                               CST II     
Type of contract:              Regular Consultancy             
Duration:                           11 months 
Duty Station:                     Dushanbe, Tajikistan
Vacancy Number:             205870
Date of Publication:          28 December 2022
Deadline of Application:   15 January 2023

BACKGROUND

Despite positive economic growth and progress in poverty reduction, Tajikistan is still facing a challenging food security and nutrition situation. Recent economic challenges compounded by population growth have contributed to the reclassification of the country as low-income in 2018 while the COVID pandemic and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine has further increased household vulnerability.  Malnutrition rates remain the highest in Central Asia, and the number of undernourished has remained stagnant. Tajikistan faces different environmental challenges, including environmental and soil degradation and poor natural resource management. Additionally, Tajikistan is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, which has further exacerbated food security and livelihoods of vulnerable communities. Given the above, the government has identified food security and access to quality nutrition as one of its development priorities. 

In Tajikistan, WFP will commence its Country Strategic Plan 2023 – 2026 in tandem with the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF) covering the same period. By means of the CSP, WFP is undertaking a strategic shift from direct implementation to enabling and strengthening capacities of national and subnational institutions to deliver on their food security and nutrition priorities. WFP activities support the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 2 (Zero Hunger) and 17 (Partnerships for the Goals). The geographic scope of WFP Tajikistan operations encompasses the entirety of the country. In addition to the country office in Dushanbe, WFP has field offices located in Bokhtar, Gharm, Khorog, and Khujand to oversee operations in those specific regions.

To support evidence-based decision making, WFP collects food security and nutrition data through various platforms and in coordination with the government. Monitoring of operations in Tajikistan includes monthly process monitoring, biannual post distribution outcome surveys, and, as relevant, baseline surveys and specialized monitoring or surveys.

PURPOSE OF THE ASSIGNMENT

To serve as the head of the Research, Assessment and Monitoring (RAM) team within the programme unit through leading the coordination and implementation of all cross-cutting research, assessments, and monitoring efforts and through the capacity building of WFP staff and government counterparts on food security, inclusive of school-based programmes, nutrition, resilience, climate change adaptation, early warning and emergency response, through both traditional approaches and innovative technological solutions.

KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES/RESPONSIBILITIES (not all-inclusive)

Reporting directly to the head of programme and with the overall guidance of the Deputy Country Director, the incumbent is expected to perform the following duties and responsibilities: 

Team Management

• Create an inclusive work environment through respectful and constructive communication and holding self and other team members accountable for their actions;
• Hold regular meetings and/or use other innovative and effective ways to ensure proper information sharing and communication within the team/staff members under direct supervision or coordination; 
• Actively manage underperformance through regular conversations, providing support/coaching, documenting as required, and proactively seeking supervisor and human resources advice; 
• Ensure substantiated input and completion of all phases in PACE within established deadlines for all team members under direct supervision;

Capacity Development 

• Provide strong strategic guidance, technical support, advice and direction with respect to food security and nutrition strategies, policies, programmes, analysis and reporting; 
• Build capacity of WFP staff, partners and national government to conduct analyses on food security, nutrition, markets, resilience, monitoring, and related topics to effectively inform policies and programmes;
• Provide support to relevant partners focusing on food security and nutrition to enable sharing of experience, lessons learned and best practice;
• Provide training and guidance to junior staff as required to ensure appropriate development and enable high performance;
• Manage and serve as direct supervisor and coach to a team of national staff and indirectly as technical advisor to field colleagues;

WFP Project Monitoring and Evaluation

• Ensure country office monitoring systems and tools are in place and compliant with corporate standards, including the minimum requirements, standard operational procedures and establishment of baselines and targets in alignment with the corporate results framework;
• Support the formation of corporate and donor-driven M&E plans, logframes, and indicator development; 
• Lead the development and updating of monitoring, review and evaluation plans, inclusive of its budget, to provide the most relevant and strategic information toward achieving expected results (as set out in the Country Strategic Plan);
• Finalize and update as required the WFP Tajikistan Monitoring Strategy and coordinate implementation with field offices;
• Function as the country office custodian for the corporate planning and reporting database (i.e., COMET), ensuring regular quality checks and updating of data;
• Provide oversight of data analysis and quality assurance for monitoring of WFP activities, ensuring the production of regular monitoring reports which inform programme learning and design (key deliverables: monitoring coverage/tracking platform; baseline reports; outcome/post-distribution monitoring reports; monthly process monitoring and “other output” reports, or a relevant combination/frequency thereof);
• Facilitate/contribute to mid-term and thematic reviews, intended for internal learning, strategic and operational decision-making (key deliverables: review reports for specific activity areas);
• Manage decentralized evaluations to high professional standards in line with WFP Evaluation Policy and Decentralized Evaluation Quality Assurance System including managing sourcing, hiring and supervising external evaluators; engaging stakeholders appropriately in the evaluation process and managing communications and budgets;
• Contribute and support centralized evaluations managed by the Office of Evaluation, UNSDCF evaluations and donor-led evaluations in country;
• Facilitate the development of a theory of change, outlining how the expected results are likely to occur and listing key assumptions and risks;

Food Security and Nutrition Research / Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping

• Prepare food security and nutrition policy analysis, research papers, and reports (key deliverables: at least two flagship food security and nutrition research papers including one in partnership with University of Central Asia);
• Contribute to the development of systems and tools for the monitoring and assessment of food assistance needs in line with innovative methodologies and best practice;
• Support the development of a minimum food expenditure basket based essential needs and provide guidance on determining appropriate transfer modalities;
• Manage and/or conduct food security, nutrition, markets, and resilience analysis in line with corporate policies, processes and guidance and prepare timely reports on needs and recommendations to enable effective decision-making on the development of country strategy, policies, and programmes. (key deliverables: weekly market monitoring update, quarterly food security situational update, update Integrated Food Security Phase Classification as required, annual update of Integrated Context Analysis);
• Keep up to date with and advise on food security developments and issues and the potential implications for WFP planning and implementation to enable timely and appropriate programme evolution and interventions;

External Cooperation

• Represent WFP during meetings with partners to contribute to technical discussions, exchange of knowledge and experience, and seek for appropriate interventions (based on an evidence base), and areas for potential collaboration;
• Support the development of intersectoral minimum expenditure baskets, especially through the interagency cash working group;
• Contribute to the national Sustainable Development Goals monitoring through participation in technical working groups setup by the UN Country Team, such as the M&E Working Group;
• Serve as main interlocutor with government counterparts in the development of data sharing and capacity development agreements; 
• Develop, foster, and maintain partnerships with national and international institutions in the area of food security analysis, monitoring and evaluation;
• Ensure the documentation of all discussions through provision of official minutes (for discussions with government counterparts) or key highlights (for other coordination meetings), to be shared with the RAM team, supervisor, and management and duly archived;

Cross-Cutting

• Act in an assigned emergency response capacity as required to meet emergency food assistance needs;
• Develop and manage budgets and expenditures for all required costs (both project oriented and human resources), providing monthly updates at the Resource Management Committee meetings;
• Support senior management in addressing recommendations from monitoring, assessments, reviews and evaluations to ensure that follow-up actions are taken as required;
• Support the implementation of the WFP Tajikistan Country Strategic Plan by ensuring cross-cutting efforts such as nutrition-sensitivity, gender and diversity inclusion (including disability), protection and accountability, and linkages with other activities;
• Perform all duties and functions of an activity manager as relevant to internal WFP processes and procedures in accordance with all deadlines (e.g., potential partner proposals, field level agreements, and service provision processes and contracts; invoice/transfers clearances; corporate systems such as WINGS/COMET; monthly deliverables such as mission plans, country brief inputs and bank forecast inputs; responding to official letters requesting support or information; serving as hiring manager; etc.);
• Ensure all RAM team members, including self, conduct regular field visits for capacity development, oversight, and general knowledge gathering/sharing and provide concise back-to-the-office reports following such visits;
• Support in the development of and ensure proper use of a structured information management and archival system for the RAM team, which links to the greater programme unit system;
• Ensure the preparation of human-centred success stories, supplemented by fact sheets and/or short reports (as relevant) suitable for external circulation; support other programmatic teams in such efforts;

Any other tasks as needed.

STANDARD MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Experience:

•    Minimum of five years progressive experience (including internationally) in statistics, quantitative and qualitative analyses, and reporting implications to senior leaders; this will include at least two years of experience in monitoring and/or evaluation;
•    Strong experience with design and coordination of surveys and assessments, including tool design, data collection, analysis, and reporting of geospatial, socioeconomic food security, and nutrition data; (experience with coordination or substantial participation in an Integrated Phase Classification analysis cycle is an added advantage);
•    Led in design and implementation of food security programmes and projects;
•    Excellent analytical and communication skills demonstrated through preparation of well-analysed data, comprehensive reports and infographic dashboards;
•    Provision of sound technical advice, training and guidance to technical colleagues and practical advice to managers for the formation of action plans and strategies;
•    Strong proficiency in MS Office Suite, SPSS/STATA, Tableau, and/or other data analysis and visualization software;
•    Ability to establish and maintain strong partnerships.

Education:

•    Advanced university degree in economics, statistics, data science, food security, international development, social sciences, monitoring, evaluation or other related field; OR
•    First university degree in the mentioned subjects or other related field with additional years of related work experience and/or trainings/courses;

Languages:

• Fluency (level C) in written and spoken English is required; 
• Proficiency in Russian or Tajik is desirable. 

WFP is committed to diversity and inclusion within its workforce. WFP has zero tolerance for sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, abuse of authority or discrimination. All selected candidates will, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.  

No appointment under any kind of contract will be offered to members of the UN Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ), International Civil Service Commission (ICSC), FAO Finance Committee, WFP External Auditor, WFP Audit Committee, Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) and other similar bodies within the United Nations system with oversight responsibilities over WFP, both during their service and within three years of ceasing that service.