Monitoring & Reporting Associate

Job ID/Title :Monitoring & Reporting Associate
Brand :UNWOMEN
Application Deadline :14-Sep-12
Duty Station :Jerusalem & Ramallah with frequent travel within the West Bank
Type of Contract :Service Contract
Languages Required :Arabic, English,
Starting Date :01-Nov-12
Duration of Initial Contract :6 months renewable
Expected Duration of Assignment : One year
 

Background:
UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. Placing women's rights at the centre of all its efforts, UN Women will lead and coordinate United Nations system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world. It will provide strong and coherent leadership in support of Member States' priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships with civil society and other relevant actors.
The Fund for Gender Equality (FGE) is a multi-donor initiative managed by UN Women that is dedicated to the advancement of high-impact gender equality programmes that focus on women’s economic and political empowerment at local and national levels.  The Fund is unique in its focus on sustainable strengthening of organizations that promote women’s human rights at the country level, building their capacity to drive and monitor the agenda for advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment in line with national development strategies.  It provides a mechanism for stimulating geared collaborative investment in gender equality and offers an opportunity to test out modalities for fast-tracking implementation.  It prioritizes support for women’s economic and political empowerment and the link between the two areas, which are often under-funded world-wide.
UN Women office in the oPt has been performing a focal point function to assist in the monitoring of the project.  Due to the catalytic nature of the projects funded through FGE and the need for contextualized follow-up of grantees and the large Portfolio for the Fund covering several countries in the region, , the FGE brought on board a full-time Regional Programmespecialist stationed in Jordan to track progress and provide technical support to fast track implementation of the various FGE grant projects in the region as a whole and as much-needed support to the field offices.  Within the context of the oPt, due tothe complicated political situation and difficulties in movement and access issues, and the fact that the oPt received the largest amount of grants for the current FGE 2011-2012 grant making cycle , it became thus pivotal appointing a FGE focal pointto work with the UN Women office in the oPt and liaise with the  Regional FGE  specialist to field monitor and backstop implementation of the FGE Portfolio in the oPt with 5 new partnerships are soon to start-up actual implementation.
Description of Responsibilities:

Duties and Responsibilities
The M&RAssociate will be working under the overall supervision of the UN Women oPt Special Representative and technical supervision of the FGE RegionalSpecialist, the objective of the assignment is to monitor, backstop and report on initiatives funded by the FGE in the oPt, and align  them with UN strategic priorities.
The Associate will undertake the following tasks, duties and responsibilities:
-Read and review all the documents related to the FGE Funded projects in the oPt (including, but not limited to, the original project proposal, monitoring reports, performance monitoring framework, etc.);
-Meet and liaise with the UN Women office in the oPt to understand issues that arise in the course of implementation of the project that require follow-up;
-Continuous liaisingwith the FGE RegionalSpecialiston implementation,technicalitiesand assigned deadlines in alignment with the FGE global timeframes and reporting requirements.;
-Meet with the Directors and project staff of Palestinian Organizations under the FGEto be briefed and update on project progress;
-Collect and review all the literature and Knowledge Management material produced by Palestinian FGE Partners through this project;
-Conduct joint meetings as necessary with the,Palestinian FGE Partners;
-In coordination and with the support of the UN Women office in the oPt, conduct field visits to the beneficiaries of the project anddevelop a workplan for field monitoring visits;
-Keep the UN Women Special Representative and  FGE RegionalSpecialist  updated on the progress made towards the achievement of results and advise if the results contribute to the Agency’s overall goals;
-Immediately flag issues of concern in the implementation of the project and interfere in consultation with the FGE Regional Specialist to overcome hurdles and ensure effective and timely implementation.
-Review and provide feedback on upcoming monitoring reports produced by Palestinian FGE Partners;
-Provide back-stopping for any field visits conducted by the UN Women FGE staff from HQ and/or Regional Office to Special Representative/Regional  Specialist;
-Assess performance in terms of the relevance of results, sustainability, shared responsibility and accountability, appropriateness of design and resource allocation;
-Facilitate and participate, when necessary,at national, regional and international FGE meetings and Workshops.Review and  approve financial reports of the grantees before submission to the FGE Regional Specialist through the Special Representative;
-Review and ensure timely submission of audit reports in conformity with  UNW audit guidelines
-Validate and participate when necessary in Grantees programmed activities i.e. workshops, events, etc..
-Ensure adequate Fund visibility and proper acknowledgment of all related outputs in connection to the FGE Programmes in the oPt.
-Support the FGE Management team in extracting critical lessons learned, good practices, and innovations from monitoring and final evaluation reports;
-Facilitate communications and transactions as needed;
-Follow up grantee management response to evaluations and support with inputs any evaluation activities that will be undertaken by FGE;
-Support the Regional FGE Specialist to identify good practices and select knowledge products;
-Contribute to continued learning between FGE programmes and other UN WOMEN initiatives;
-Produce Field Visit Reports of all programmes. The FGE Secretariat will develop terms or reference and template report to conduct the visits in a coordinated and systematic manner to maintain the same methodology that will facilitate a comparison of analysis and interpretation across all visits. Field Visit Reports will be submitted, throughout the year, and will be made in close consultation with the Special Representative and the FGE Regional Specialist.
-Produce Two (2) Brief Assessment Reports based on the monitoring reports sent by the grantees, with general remarks and inputs to be followed. This short reports will be prepared twice a year every second and fourth quarter at the same time that Grantees Reports are submitted(January to June, to be submitted between 1 and 20 July and July to December to be submitted between 1 and 20 January);Details and deadlines will be communicated by the FGE.
-Keep an electronic version of correspondences/reports/ documents, as well as a hard copy filing in accordance with UN Women filing system;

Competencies :
Competencies
CORE VALUES / GUIDING PRINCIPLES:
-Integrity: Demonstrating consistency in upholding and promoting the values of UN Women in actions and decisions, in line with the UN Code of Conduct;
-Cultural Sensitivity/Valuing diversity: Demonstrating an appreciation of the multicultural nature of the organization and the diversity of its staff. Demonstrating an international outlook, appreciating differences in values and learning from cultural diversity.

CORE COMPETENCIES:
-Ethics and Values: Demonstrating / Safeguarding Ethics and Integrity;
-Organizational Awareness: Demonstrate corporate knowledge and sound judgment;
-Developing and Empowering People / Coaching and Mentoring: Initiative-taking; coaching and mentoring ability;
-Working in Teams: Acting as a team player and facilitating team work;
-Communicating Information and Ideas: Facilitating and encouraging open communication in the team, communicating effectively;
-Self-management and Emotional intelligence: Creating synergies through self-control.
-Conflict Management / Negotiating and Resolving Disagreements: Managing conflict;
-Knowledge Sharing / Continuous Learning: Learning and sharing knowledge and encourage the learning of other.

FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES:
-Substantial previous experience in design and development of M&E frameworks and tools;
-Demonstrated experience in developing and managing M&E activities;
-Understanding the context of conflict and the oPt;
-Sound understanding of issues related to development in crisis and post-crisis situations;
-Demonstrated strong, coordination and facilitation skills;
-Strong communication skills in English and Arabic(oral and written);
-Results oriented, flexible and problem solving skills.

Qualifications :

Required Skills and Experience
Education:
High school with 4-6 years of experience or BA degree university in Statistics, Social Science, and Social Policy, Monitoring and Evaluation or related fieldwith 2-3 years of experience.

Experience:
-At least 4 years of relevant professional experience with High School Diploma or at least 2 years of relevant professional experience with BA degree.
-Extensive professional experience in monitoring, reporting and evaluation;
-Professional experience in addressing initiatives on gender equality and women’s empowerment;
-Ability to interact with both organizations and general public, good interpersonal skills and organizational proficiency;
-Knowledge of the Security Sector in the occupied Palestinian territory will be an added advantage;
-Experience with UN Agencies will be an advantage.

Language Requirements:
-Very good communication and drafting skills and fluent in English (comprehension, written, and spoken).

-Communication skills in Arabic.
“UNDP/PAPP is an equal opportunity employer: applications from both internal and external men and women will be considered equally”
UNDP actively supports the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities adopted by the United Nations General Assembly
Important message to all applicants!
-Please be aware that the UNDP/PAPP will review your application only if you have uploaded Personal History Form (P.11) to your application. Please download the form from the following link: http://jobs.undp.ps.
-You will get the opportunity to upload the P-11 at when you apply for the position.
-Incomplete applications or applications received after the closing date will not be given consideration. Please note that only applications that are under consideration will be contacted.
-For more detailed information about UNDP/PAPP please visit our website at www.undp.ps.