Background and Justification

• Programme Monitoring is an increasingly strategic area within UNICEF, with its importance widely acknowledged across the organization. The adoption of the UNICEF Monitoring Procedure, along with the accompanying Guidance and Checklist, has further clarified standards and expectations for programme monitoring. However, the level of adoption and implementation varies across Country Offices, influenced by contextual factors and capacity.
• To address these disparities, the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office (ESARO) Planning, Monitoring, Data and Research (PDMR) team is prioritizing support to Country Offices in strengthening their programme monitoring systems and practices in alignment with ESARO Programme Monitoring Framework. This support aims to enhance the generation and use of reliable monitoring data for strategic decision-making and adaptive programming.
• In response to growing demands, ESARO seeks to recruit a consultant to assist with strengthening programme monitoring and analytics across the region. The Consultant’s deliverables will directly contribute to improving Country Office monitoring systems and practices, ultimately supporting more effective and responsive programming aligned with UNICEF’s Strategic Plan and regional priorities.

Scope of Work

• Goal and objective: Under the supervision of the Monitoring Manager, the Consultant will work on deliverables related to strengthening programme monitoring in the region
• Provide details/reference to AWP areas covered: The deliverables will support ESAR Country Offices on strengthening monitoring systems and practices in the region.
• The deliverables contribute to the following ROMP Outcome: ESAR Country Offices are supported to accelerate the advancement of Child Rights through strategies that transform gender and social norms, builds evidence-base and its use in advocacy, promotes partnerships, and responds robustly to crises, and regional stakeholders are influenced to advance child rights at scale through normative and intellectual leadership, policy dialogue, evidence-based advocacy and regional partnerships.

Related AWP Output WBS: 240R/A0/11/880/030 PPM GRP 2024-2025

Activities and Tasks:

• The consultant will support key deliverables to advance UNICEF ESARO’s programme monitoring agenda, with responsibilities spanning analytical work, direct support to Country Offices and knowledge management.

Key areas of support include:

Review of Results Based Management (RBM) application and regional dataset for new Strategic Plan Results Framework (10%)

• Review the application of Results-Based Management (RBM) in selected 2025 Country Office (CO) Annual Reports
• Support COs in collecting and validating baseline, milestone, and target data for the new Strategic Plan Results Framework
• Provide quality assurance of the regional dataset for the baselines, milestones and targets of the new Strategic Plan Results Framework

Assessment of Programme Monitoring in ESAR (20%)

• Assess the state of Programme Monitoring across 23 Country Offices using the standardized checklist and the Programme Monitoring Framework (PMF) Maturity Model.
• Identify and categorize key gaps in CO programme monitoring systems and practices; develop actionable recommendations to address these gaps
• Highlight best practices for replication and knowledge sharing.

Support COs on Strengthening Programme Monitoring (50%)

• Provide targeted support to Country Offices in addressing key gaps in CO Programme Monitoring, including: developing Monitoring Strategies, Frameworks and Plans; establishing systems for triangulating implementation and results monitoring with budget utilization; creating samples and tools for quality assurance of results monitoring data.

Documentation of programme monitoring strengthening in ESAR (15%)

• Document support efforts and outcomes as case studies to showcase successful approaches and lessons learned.

Knowledge Management (5%)

• Support the implementation for the global Knowledge Management (KM) Strategy within the region
• Contribute to regional KM platforms

Desired competencies, technical background and experience

• Education: Bachelor’s Degree in the social sciences, data science, management, development sciences, public health, education, economics, public policy, statistics, research methods or similar is required.  

Work Experience

• A minimum of three years of professional experience with data analysis, monitoring and / or evaluation is required.
• Technical knowledge and and skills in the development and use of PowerBI dashboards is required
• Existing knowledge of UNICEF systems and datasets is an advantage
• Competencies

The candidate is expected to uphold UNICEF's values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust, Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) and the following competencies

• Drive to achieve results for impact 
• Manages ambiguity and complexity 
• Thinks and acts strategically 
• Works collaboratively with others 
• Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness
• Innovates and embraces change 

Language Proficiency 

• Fluency in oral and written English is required. Fluency in another language is an asset.
• Deadline: 26 Nov 2025