Planning & Monitoring Officer

UNICEF Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (ECARO) is responsible for providing strategic planning support to country offices for developing their Country Programmes (CPs), including both the Country Programme Planning Package, per the global Country Programme Guidance released in October 2022, and the Country Programme Documents (CPD). In addition, ECARO supports the operationalization of the country programmes, focusing on the development of work plans, designing purposeful results and resource frameworks, and guidance on programme and performance monitoring. Moreover, towards the end of 2024, the Regional Office will ignite the preparation of the new RO Management Plan (ROMP) for 2026-2029.   

Within this context, the next 12 months are a critical period for the ECARO Programme Planning and Data (PP&D) team, as eleven + one country programmes (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kazakhstan, North Macedonia, Serbia, Türkiye, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan Country Offices and Kosovo (UNSCR1244) ) and a new ROMP will be developed simultaneously, translating into an evident need for substantial engagement of PP&D team. More specifically, the ECARO PP&D team will provide comprehensive support to country offices in the preparation of the deliverables as outlined in the UNICEF Country Programme Planning guidance (evidence synthesis, theories of change, results and resources plans and explanatory notes) as well as the development of the CPDs, ensuring compliance to the required structure and content. This will be complemented by preparing a set of tools and templates for country offices to use and the organization of presential CP development workshops and thematic online webinars. The PP&D team will also assume a coordinating role in the preparation process of the new ROMP.

Under the guidance of the ECARO Planning Specialist, the Planning & Monitoring Officer (as a temporary appointment for 364 days) will provide technical, operational and administrative assistance throughout the strategic planning process as outlined above. This includes: 

Support preparing the ECARO Country Programme development package (tools, templates, events):

• With inputs from the Planning Specialist, contextualize available tools and guidance on Country Programme Planning, prepare and update templates and communicate their availability to country offices. 
• Coordinate among RO sections the sequencing of thematic webinars (gender, climate change programming, social and behavior change, etc.) and organize e-meetings for country offices’ participants.
• Provide continuous support to COs in the preparation of the CP package, including technical advice on developing theories of change, results and resources plan and selection of adequate indicators. 
• Conduct training/learning sessions with CO staff on use of CPX for CP package development.

Support the technical review of the Country Programme Documents and country offices’ CP planning milestones:

• Coordinate among RO sections the technical review of the draft CPDs and the CP planning milestone products (Evidence Syntheses, Theories of Change, Results and Resources Plans and Explanatory Notes).
• Under the guidance of the Planning Specialist, prepare checklists for the RO quality review of the CPDs and the relevant CP planning milestone products, monitor their completion and ensure timely delivery to country offices.
• Together with the Planning Specialist, set-up a precise workflow to facilitate the review, acting as a point of contact between country offices and the RO programme sections.

Support the quality assurance of UNSDCF milestone documents in the region: 

• Support the Planning Specialist in ensuring timely UNICEF inputs to the Peer Support Group.
• Coordinate with Universalia quality review of milestone documents of the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks

Provide support to the RO on regular performance monitoring, reporting, and developing of a new ROMP:

• Support the development of the agenda and the organization of the ROMP week, including guidance to sections on the preparation of thematic sessions during the week.
• Monitor and ensure timely upload and finalization of all relevant documents in the new ROMP preparation.
• Under the guidance of the Planning Specialist, support RO sections in the creation of new ROMP indicators and addition to RAM catalogue as part of the planning process.

Knowledge management and capacity building  :

• Under the guidance of the Knowledge Management Specialist, maintain and update the ECARO PP&D 2026-2030 Country Programme workspace (SharePoint), ensuring thorough organization of documents and pages.
• Support the set-up and maintenance of corresponding country office workspaces for CP development.
• Support the KM Specialist in setting up and maintaining a dedicated workspace to host all information pertinent to the development of the new ROMP, including the development of an interactive timeline and any other infographics to facilitate the process. 
• Research and suggest good practices for knowledge products intended to contribute to improved planning and monitoring practices.
• Support the implementation of ECARO actions within the Your Foresight Fellowship Programme, in collaboration with UNICEF Innocenti.
• Act as a resource person in capacity-building initiatives to enhance the competencies of planning and monitoring officers across the region.
• Support the development of infographic/visualizations.

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

• A first-level university degree (i.e. Bachelor’s or equivalent) in economics, psychology, sociology, education, or other social science fields is required.
• A minimum of 2 years of professional experience in social development programming, at the international level and in a developing-country context, is required.
• Relevant experience in country programme planning and monitoring in UNICEF is a strong asset.
• Experience working with SharePoint and other Microsoft tools (Lists, Forms, Planner) is a strong asset.
• Knowledge of designing results frameworks and result measurement is a strong asset.
• Knowledge of Results-based approach to programming is an asset.
• Experience working with Power BI and other visualization software is an asset.
• Skills for on-line facilitation are considered an asset.
• Skills for data visualization are considered an asset.
• Developing country work experience and/or familiarity with emergency.
• Fluency in English is required. Knowledge of Russian or a relevant local language* would be considered an asset (*Any of the languages spoken in the twelve countries that will be developing Country Programmes).

Source: https://jobs.unicef.org/cw/en-us/job/574799