Readvertised: Planning, Monitoring & Evaluation Specialist, (Ethiopian Only)

UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for personal and professional development that will help them develop a fulfilling career while delivering on a rewarding mission. We pride ourselves on a culture that helps staff thrive, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

For every child, a champion

Ethiopia is situated in the Horn of Africa and is the second most populous country on the continent with an estimated population of 115 million. It borders six African countries: Djibouti, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, and Sudan, and covers 1,104,300 square kilometers. Approximately 85 percent of the population lives in rural areas. Ethiopia represents a melting pot of ancient cultures with Middle Eastern and African cultures evident in the religious, ethnic, and language composition of its people.

Over the past two years, children and their families across Ethiopia faced multiple and complex emergencies, such as the conflict in the northern Ethiopia and the drought, which resulted in millions of people in need of urgent humanitarian assistance. UNICEF has programmes in Child Protection, WASH, Health, Nutrition, Social Policy, and Education and serves over 15 million children in Ethiopia. Join UNICEF Ethiopia to contribute to improving the lives of children and women.

How can you make a difference?

Roles and responsibilities:

1. STEP for Girls and Learning Programme planning, engagement, and coordination with authorities.

Collaborate closely with UNICEF Country and Field Offices and Implementing Partners including MoE, REBNs and CSOs to plan and execute key interventions agreed in the STEP for Girls and Learning programme financed by GPE’s System Transformation Grant (STG) and Girls Education Accelerator (GEA).

Contribute to the full integration of STEP for Girls and Learning Activities into MoE and REBs Rolling Work Plans with clear breakdown of targets, budget, micro plans and M&E framework as well as financial oversight of STG and GEA grants, including HACT risk assurance activities and DCT management.

Establish clear timelines for monitoring and data compilation at the national, regional and district level, ensuring accurate results-based progress reporting at the different levels of STEP for Girls and Learning Programme implementation.

Provide the STEP for Girls and Learning programme with data needs and review donor reports for quality assurance.

In collaboration with the GPE Programme Management Office team: support in capacity building of Programme Management Office staff, technical staff of the Ministry of Education, regional Education Bureaus Targeted Woreda Education Offices and CSO implementing partners in proper planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation and results-based reporting of the GPE funded STEP for Girls and Learning Programme.

Take initiatives to drat and refine based on inputs to field monitoring tools, methods and templates, databases, dashboards, templates etc. to facilitate more real-time tracking of implementation progress, expenditures, supplies etc. against the STEP for Girls and Learning Programme.

1. STEP for Girls and Learning Programme Management, Budgeting, Monitoring and Reporting.

Liaising and communicating with PMO and UNICEF Country and Field Office staff in relation to budget breakdown by Implementing partners, cash forecasting, financial management and tracking of expenditure (such as soft and hard commitments, for example) for improved grant management, monitoring and reporting.

In collaboration with focal points from the relevant PMO, UNICEF Country and Field Offices, other programme Sections such as Construction Unit, Supply and Logistics Units within the UNICEF Country Office, support the management and operational aspects of different strategies such as teacher training, curriculum reform, secondary school reco0nstruction, digitalization of EMIS etc. activities of the STEP for Girls and Learning Programme.

Plan, organize and participate in joint field monitoring and supportive supervision, monitoring and evaluation exercises, programme reviews and annual sectoral reviews with national and sub-national level implementing partners and CSO partners and prepare reports for the GPE Programme Manager, Chief of Section and Output Leads of the Education Section.

Set up a system to further strengthen STEP for Girls and Learning data collection and analysis, monitoring

and reporting.

Analyses of data from multiple sources to identify child deprivations related to education indicators outlined in the STEP for Girls and Learning Programme document.

Lead the timely drafting of high-quality review of periodic reports, programme monitoring and reviews for the STEP for Girls and Learning reports due for GPE on a timely manner.

Prepare and update the repository for information for field visits, repository for photo collections and human-interest stories to showcase effectiveness of education programme support and implementation.

1. Networking and partnership building especially with Implementing Partners (IPs).
   • In collaboration with relevant PMO, UNICEF Country and Field Offices and other Programme Sections focal points (Nutrition on school feeding, Child Protection on accelerated learning programme, WASH for school WASH and MHM facilities in schools, Construction Unit for secondary school reconstruction, etc.) for STEP for Girls and Learning Programme, engage with national implementing partners (IPs), and relevant government counterparts (e.g., Executive for Strategic Affairs of the Ministry of Education to address issues related to quality programme planning, monitoring, evaluation and results-based periodic reporting challenges and bottlenecks and build on existing partnerships and networks to accelerate programme implementation and attainment of expected results.
2. Innovation, knowledge management and capacity building.

Support the PMO, UNICEF CO and Field Office staff education specialists to socialize all innovative systems and solutions developed internally for better monitoring of programs, expenditure tracking etc. within all government partners at national sub-national, district level and CSOs implementing partners as needed.

In collaboration with relevant focal points within the education section at country and field office level and other programme section colleagues and focal points (such as Nutrition on school feeding, Child Protection on accelerated learning programme, WASH for school WASH and MHM facilities in schools, Construction Unit for secondary school reconstruction, etc.), engage with and strengthen partnership, programme alignment with major education sector partners such as the World Bank, other UN agencies and NGOs to operationalize GPE funded STEP for Girls and Learning Programme.

Support the capacity building of the planning, monitoring and evaluation as well as EMIS experts of the Ministry of Education, Regional Education Bureaus, District Education Offices and CSO partners on evidence based and equity-focused education sector planning, monitoring and evaluation, and results-based reporting with a focus on STEP for Girls and Learning Programme results.

To qualify as an advocate for every child you will have…

The following minimum requirements:

• Education:

Advanced university degree in Education, Statistics, Population Studies, Monitoring and Evaluation, Social Sciences, or a related technical field is required.

*A first-level university degree in a relevant field combined with at least seven additional years of professional experience may be accepted in lieu of an advanced university degree.

Training and/or familiarity with information systems and communication technologies is highly desirable.

• Work Experience:

Minimum of five years of experience in designing, managing, implementing, and monitoring education programmes in developing countries, with expertise in systems design and research using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences or Microsoft Access is required.

Experience in education programme planning, monitoring, and reporting is required.

• Language Requirements:

Strong communication skills, including strong written and spoken English language appropriate for diverse audiences and purposes is required. Knowledge of one or more of the local languages of Ethiopia is an asset.