UNDP Regional Monitoring & Evaluation Officer in Chittagong

Background

The Livelihoods Improvement of Urban Poor Communities (LIUPC) Project (also known as National Urban Poverty Reduction Programme-NUPRP) builds on the experiences of the DFID, UNDP and GoB funded Urban Poverty Reduction Project-UPPR (2007-2015), one of the largest urban poverty reduction intervention in the world which established a community based approach to reduce urban poverty working with more than 2,500 Community Organizations in 20 Pourashavas (Municipalities) and City Corporations. LIUPC will be implemented over a period of five years (2018-2023) to provide support towards contributing to balanced, sustainable growth and reduction of urban poverty in Bangladesh. LIUPC will work nationwide and cover poor people living in slums and informal settlements in selected Pourashavas and all City Corporations in Bangladesh. NUPRP is now in its third year of implementation and is being implemented across 20 Cities and Towns. The programme has deployed 4 Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Officers who are based in 4 major Cities and provide technical support to 4-5 Cities /Towns each.

The programme has five Outputs: –

 Output 1: Strengthened pro-poor urban management, policy and planning;

 Output 2: Strong community organizations and an effective voice for the urban poor built;

 Output 3: Improved economic and social well-being for the urban poor;

 Output 4: More secure tenure and housing finance for the urban poor;

 Output 5: Improved resilient infrastructure in, and serving, low-income settlements.

The ultimate intended beneficiaries of this intervention are the poor and vulnerable urban people, now and in future years. Based on evidence outlined in the previous UPPR reviews and similar types of urban interventions in Bangladesh, the NUPRP reasonably expects a wide range of benefits to result from the interventions at community, municipal and national levels. Given the ever-expanding size of the urban centers and the populations that will be linked to employment opportunities, interventions targeting urban poor people should affect overall economic growth, income inequality, employment and the poverty situation.

The Local Government Division (LGD), Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives and UNDP will be the Implementing Partners.

In each town, the Town Manager leads the Programme Team comprising of programme staff and staff from the local communities.

The programme is managed by a Dhaka based Programme Board with the National Programme Director, Project Manager and UNDP representatives. The regional Monitoring and Evaluation Officer will be part of the Monitoring and Evaluation Unit – Managing for Impact (M4i). The unit comprises of 8 staff including 4 M&E staff based in Dhaka and 4 Regional M&E staff. Each Regional M&E staff being based in four major cities provides technical and operational support to 5 cities each. The Regional M&E officer will report to the Town Manger on administrative areas and to the Head, M4i Unit on Technical areas.

Duties and Responsibilities

The Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Officer will work under the overall guidance of the M&E Specialist with direct supervision of the M&E Coordinator.

Summary of Key Functions:

Assist in the development and roll-out of an online database that will collect information about programme activities and beneficiaries. This will include field testing, training enumerators and providing ongoing quality assurance;
Conduct unannounced spot-checks and guide the Town team to undertake verification of the LIUPC (NUPRP) activities on a regular basis. This will involve activity verification and progress tracking mostly through application of online module as well as need based offline database that explore whether the activity actually took place, whether benefits were received, and an assessment of quality (where possible);
Support in town level data management relating to implementation of different output activities in designated towns/cities;
Day to day assistance and technical support to enumerators on different digital data collection tools and techniques;
Collect beneficiary feedback (initially from members of the community living in urban poor settlements and from local government officials), following a pre-defined questionnaire;
Provide logistical support to assessments, research and evaluations, in particular the Independent Impact Evaluation team;
Provide necessary guidance and support to external monitoring agencies for valid and reliable data collection from programme participants pertaining to impact evaluation, research and other third-party monitoring under his/her operational towns;
Provide necessary guidance and support to Town Teams under her/his jurisdiction for completing tasks related to M4i Unit in timely and proper manner. They will also support Town Managers under her/his jurisdiction for adaptive project management using online database;
Documentation of programme progress and results through monthly case studies and other key methods and facilitate reflection of Town Teams on monitoring findings under her/his jurisdiction;
Support in assessing the capacity of community organization and reporting;
The M&E officer will also undertake functions or responsibilities which may be assigned by the Town Manager of the base city;
Provide technical support to designated town teams to quality assure and submit Monthly Online MIS Reports on time.

Note on the scope of work:

The Regional M&E Officers will be based out of one LIUPC (NUPRP)-supported city. Their work area will however cover five cities. Significant travel will therefore be required. Their core activities will include supporting the development and roll-out of an online database, conducting spot-checks, collecting beneficiary feedback, conducting ad-hoc data collection and supporting (in terms of logistics) assessments, research and evaluations, in particular the independent impact evaluation team.

The Regional M&E Officers will have a dual reporting line. On technical issues they will be supervised by the Head, M4i Unit. For day-to-day operational issues they will report to the LIUPC (NUPRP) Town Manager.

Competencies

Corporate Competencies:

Promotes UN’s values and ethical standards (tolerance, integrity, respect, results orientation, impartiality);
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

Management and Leadership:

Works with energy and a positive, constructive attitude;
Demonstrates good oral and written communication skills;
Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities;
Provides inspiration and leadership to project staff and project partners.

Development and Operational Effectiveness:

Capability to engage in team-based management, experience of leading workshops and being a resource person;
Ability to undertake results-based management and reporting;
Ability to oversee timely project implementation and to provide the necessary trouble shooting to keep project implementation on schedule;
Ability to formulate and manage budgets and work plans;
Ability to implement new systems and positively affect staff behavioural/ attitudinal change.

Knowledge Management and Learning

Promotes knowledge management and a learning environment through leadership and personal example;
Actively works towards continuing personal learning and development;
Excellent communication skills (written and oral):
Sensitivity to and responsiveness to all partners;
Respectful and helpful relations with all UN/UNDP staff.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

Bachelors’ Degree and preferably Masters’ Degree in Statistics, Research, Urban Planning, Geography, and other subjects under Social Sciences or relevant discipline.

Experience:

At least 5 years working experience in the field of monitoring and evaluation preferably with (but not limited to) international organisations and UN Agencies;
Proven experience and skills in developing monitoring, evaluation and research protocols and tools;
Experience in conducting field-level data collection with strong knowledge of survey instruments, including questionnaires;
Experience of designing studies and research, outsourcing the same and monitoring the outcomes;
Skills in developing tools for community-based participatory monitoring;
Ability to communicate effectively with participants from a range of education levels and disciplinary backgrounds;
Preference for those with an in-depth knowledge of urban poverty and best practices in poverty reduction;
Experience in working with local communities, civil society partners, municipal government officials;
Excellent reporting skills

Knowledge and skills

Ability to think clearly and analytically;
Ability to plan own work, setting priorities and complete it under pressure or when faced with competing demands;
Committed to a facilitating working environment;
Ability to use Microsoft Office, SPSS, access and other monitoring and evaluation software.

Personal qualities

A strong commitment to gender sensitive, inclusive and pro-poor development work;
Ability to work within a multi-disciplinary team;
Consultative and empowering management style and willingness to learn from others.

Language Requirements:

Fluency in written and spoken Bangla and English. Excellent English (verbal and written) is a must.

Disclaimer

Important applicant information

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

Applicant information about UNDP rosters

Note: UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement. We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

Workforce diversity

NDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, ethnicity and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and people living with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Only short-listed candidates will be contact and female candidates are encouraged to apply.

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