Le Bureau des Nations unies pour les services d’appui aux projets est un organe opérationnel des Nations unies soutenant la mise en œuvre des projets d’un large éventail de partenaires, notamment des entités onusiennes, des institutions financières internationales, des gouvernements et divers organismes humanitaires.
Poste 1 : Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning/Knowledge Management (MEAL/KM) Specialist
Since 2010, the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement has inspired a new way of working collaboratively to end malnutrition, in all its forms. With the governments of SUN Countries in the lead, it unites people—from civil society, the United Nations, donors, businesses and researchers—in a collective effort to improve nutrition. The SUN Strategy 2021–2025 (SUN 3.0) prioritises country leadership and focuses on supporting systemic change at the country level. It seeks to capture the ambition of SUN countries and guide the work of all actors at all levels aligning concerted action behind and responding to commonly agreed national priorities set out by governments in SUN countries.SUN 3.0 is committed to fundamental, non-negotiable aspects of effective nutrition action, including equity and the principle of leaving no one behind. For its third phase, the SUN Movement will drive forward gender equality and enshrine youth leadership across the Movement. SUN 3.0 will strengthen partnerships to achieve greater impact on nutrition through food systems, health systems, social protection systems, actions by the private sector and humanitarian and development actors, and through education, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and climate change adaptation.The SUN Movement Secretariat (SMS) plays a central role in enabling the multiple members and structures of the Movement to work together to advance progress on country-level priorities and the global positioning of nutrition.
The SUN Movement Secretariat comprises approximately 35 personnel, based in Geneva and in various regions globally. All parts of the Movement – member governments, the SUN Global Support System – the GSS, consisting of four SUN networks (Civil Society, United Nations, Business, Donors) and the SUN Movement Secretariat, together with the SUN Movement Coordinator, work together to align and focus efforts on priorities within countries.
The SUN Movement Secretariat is hosted by UNOPS.
Role of the MEAL/Knowledge Management Specialist:
The Monitoring Evaluation Accountability and Learning (MEAL)/Knowledge Management (KM) Specialist is part of the Country Action Team of the SUN Movement Secretariat. The purpose of this team is to support SUN Countries in advocacy, positioning, planning, multi-sector/stakeholder collaboration, resource mobilisation, implementation and monitoring and evaluation of their National Nutrition Plans, and accountability and learning..
The MEAL/Knowledge Management Specialist reports to the SMS Regional Representative, Africa Portfolio 1. The purpose of the role is to support and strengthen SUN Countries evidence-based policy making and implementation, including through implementation of the Movement’s Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) system.
This role helps to ensure policy and practice across the Movement is informed by country needs, with a focus on translating the political commitment of SUN Movement actors into coherent action in-country, aligned with national priorities.
This role is based in Dakar, Senegal, and is responsible for the Africa Portfolio 1 geographic region.
1. Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning
- Facilitate and support SUN Countries, within the assigned geographic region, in the implementation of the overall MEAL Framework/Strategy.
- Contribute to the Joint Annual Assessment process in the Region/SUN Countries to ensure it captures progress in institutional and systemic shifts for nutrition, and helps to assess and identify capacity building, training and integration need
- Lead MEAL data analysis, for reports, assessments and data portals.
- Maintain the SUN MEAL database; review incoming data (for quality and programmatic compliance); ensure the quality of the database and ensure that MEAL data are readily available.
- Assist in the development and maintenance of the MEAL dashboard to increase and strengthen the quality and availability of SUN Country and programmatic data.
- Review outcome surveys, independent evaluations, and studies in the Region/SUN Countries to ensure that institutional and systemic change within countries is monitored, assessed and shared, on an annual basis, drawing on qualitative and quantitative data.
- Contribute to a periodic review of the implementation and operation of the monitoring and evaluation system(s); including the preparation of good practices and lessons learned.Organise and oversee field evaluations as required.
2. Pooled Fund
- Serve as a primary MEAL contact point to the assigned SUN Pooled Fund grantees, to support them in developing and implementing a results-based MEAL system in line with the SUN Movement Pooled Fund Global MEAL Framework.
- Ensure that each SUN grantee has a functional result-based MEAL system for the Pooled Fund Project.
- Conduct direct data auditing and verification, as well as programmatic spot check visits to grantees, to assure internal consistency and validity of programme activity monitoring data reported by all grantees.
- Review and verify MEAL findings and follow-up on implementation of the recommendations.
- Assess grantees’ capacity in MEAL systems and ensure adequate feedback to/from the grantees on data obtained from the MEAL system.
- Ensure that all grantees submit timely, regular and structured monitoring reports.
- Prepare quarterly, annual, and ad hoc programmatic progress updates for UNOPS, SUN Movement Secretariat, and donors.
- Supervise and coordinate the review and verification of MEAL funds.
- Advise the Pooled Fund Grant Selection Committee and act as subject matter specialist on grant review processes.
- Participate in grant negotiations, including submission of quality inputs required to ensure the grant agreement signature.
- Implement quality assurance tools (covering both programmatic and financial aspects) suitable to the grant recipient country/regional context.
- Perform strong quality assurance functions to ensure that all the planned project activities and outputs agreed between UNOPS and the grantees on project agreements are delivered on time, maintaining quality and ensuring value for money.
- Conduct field missions to the grant’s recipient countries to carry out direct programmatic and financial data verification as well as programmatic spot checks, and assess project progress, risk, challenges and lessons.
3. Reporting
- Provide guidance and technical assistance to SUN Countries in the areas of planning, performance monitoring, accountability, learning, and reviews and reporting, promoting a “results” mindset.
- Review progress reports submitted by SUN Countries and provide feedback to improve quality and timeliness of reporting.
- Ensure alignment of reports with corporate and donor reporting requirements, templates and regulations
4. Innovation and Knowledge Management
- Implement the knowledge management KM strategy in the Region/SUN Countries, tracking progress made, raising issues and making recommendations to address those issues.
- Collaborate with SUN knowledge management partners in the Region/SUN Counties, to ensure that SUN Country experiences and learning are documented and available to all SUN Countries.
- Develop learning initiatives/training that enhance MEAL capacity across the SUN Movement.
- Participate in the implementation of capacity building courses through workshops and on-the- job training on monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning, and reporting as required for stakeholders including grantees.
- Solicit case studies, lessons learned, success stories, and best practices for internal and external sharing through communication and advocacy channels and products.
- Provide input into success stories and best MEAL practices for inclusion in internal and external communication products.
Education:
- Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in nutrition, public health, international development or other related social science discipline is required.
- A bachelor’s degree with a combination of two additional years of relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of the master’s degree.
Experience:
- Minimum five (5) years working on nutrition, health or related areas within international development is required.
- Demonstrated experience implementing M&E frameworks is required.
- Demonstrated experience in analytics and information management is required.
- Experience in providing monitoring and evaluation of multi partner programmes is desirable.
- Experience in knowledge management related to projects is desirable..
- Strong understanding of the development and communication environment in the Africa Region is desirable.
Language:
- Full working knowledge of English is essential.
- Knowledge of another official UNOPS language is an asset
Poste 2 : Country Action Specialist, Africa Portfolio 1
Background Information – SUN Movement Secretariat
Since 2010, the Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Movement has inspired a new way of working collaboratively to end malnutrition, in all its forms. With the governments of SUN Countries in the lead, it unites people—from civil society, the United Nations, donors, businesses and researchers—in a collective effort to improve nutrition. The SUN Strategy 2021–2025 (SUN 3.0) prioritises country leadership and focuses on supporting systemic change at the country level. It seeks to capture the ambition of SUN countries and guide the work of all actors at all levels aligning concerted action behind and responding to commonly agreed national priorities set out by governments in SUN countries.
SUN 3.0 is committed to fundamental, non-negotiable aspects of effective nutrition action, including equity and the principle of leaving no one behind. For its third phase, the SUN Movement will drive forward gender equality and enshrine youth leadership across the Movement. SUN 3.0 will strengthen partnerships to achieve greater impact on nutrition through food systems, health systems, social protection systems, actions by the private sector and humanitarian and development actors, and through education, water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) and climate change adaptation.
The SUN Movement Secretariat (SMS)plays a central role in enabling the multiple members and structures of the Movement to work together to advance progress on country-level priorities and the global positioning of nutrition.
The SUN Movement Secretariat comprises approximately 35 personnel, based in Geneva and in various regions globally. All parts of the Movement – member governments, the SUN Global Support System – the GSS, consisting of four SUN networks (Civil Society, United Nations, Business, Donors) and the SUN Movement Secretariat, together with the SUN Movement Coordinator, work together to align and focus efforts on priorities within countries.
The SUN Movement Secretariat is hosted by UNOPS.
Role of the Country Action Specialist
The Country Action Specialist, Africa Portfolio 1 reports to the SMS Regional Representative for the region. The SUN Country Action team is critical in supporting the SUN Movement to achieve the objectives set out in SUN 3.0, and provides the capacity to ensure SUN Countries are at the centre of everything the Movement does, empowering SUN Country Focal Points and/or Country Coordinators to act. The team is currently organised into five (5) regions globally, including Africa Portfolio 1, Africa Portfolio 2, Asia, Latin America & the Caribbean, and Europe
The Country Action Specialist, Africa Portfolio 1 is based in Dakar, Senegal, and is part of a small team established to support the development of National Nutrition Plans, facilitate information sharing and knowledge exchange, and identify advocacy opportunities across the countries within the defined portfolio.
The Country Action Specialist will work closely with national counterparts and other stakeholders, including representatives of the SUN Networks, to strengthen the institutional capacity for nutrition by identifying, creating and strengthening opportunities to accelerate progress in countries; identifying successful interventions and moving quickly to scale up results and ensuring effective peer learning and knowledge exchange across the Movement.
The role supports the SMS Regional Representative to build and maintain effective understanding, communication and technical support across the broad national and international community of stakeholders to understand risks and challenges so that resources may be mobilised and technical assistance provided as necessary.
1. Facilitation
- Support SUN Countries to articulate their needs and expectations and seize opportunities to accelerate results at country level.
- Support Countries within the designated region to develop and document appropriate national nutrition policies, strategies, and action plans to scale-up nutrition interventions.
- Support Country Focal Points/or Country Coordinators and partners to cost scale-up and identify resource requirements.
- Track and analyse the challenges, opportunities and progress of the portfolio of SUN countries.
- Facilitate information-sharing of relevant evidence and successful practices from other partners and countries to inform strategic planning processes.
- Identify and facilitate linkages with other initiatives and processes to avoid duplication of activity.
- Support the SUN Country Focal Points and/or Country Coordinators to request technical assistance from the in-country multi-stakeholder team to finance, implement and monitor the country action plan.
- Support the Country Action Facilitator to facilitate requests through the global SUN networks or other global partners for technical assistance to support country action plans, when requests exceed locally available resources.
2. Coordination
- Identify opportunities to enhance collaboration with network focal points locally to integrate for impact and take action as appropriate.
- Support process management and facilitation of multi-stakeholder coordination mechanisms among the various Networks in the Movement.
- Assist SUN countries in the preparation of and implementation of Joint Annual Assessment (JAA) and support the timely reporting on JAA and other MEAL exercises.
- Identify opportunities to strengthen existing resources and infrastructure in regions and make recommendations as appropriate.
- Support analysis and advise on appropriate institutional arrangements for multi-sectoral coordination on nutrition utilising SUN case studies and experience.
- Strengthen process management and coordination skills of national counterparts.
3. Innovation and knowledge management
- Participate in discussion and engagement in an identified thematic area of work directly related to, and critical for advancing the engagement of SUN Countries in the region (e.g. gender, agriculture, food systems etc).
- Interact and follow up with SUN Countries to solicit case studies, lessons learned, success stories, and best practices for internal and external sharing.
- Contribute to the preparation of success stories and best MEAL practices for inclusion in internal and external communication products.
- Contribute to the development and introduction of innovation to ensure the Movement is continually incorporating best practice approaches.
4. Contribute to strategic planning and data analysis
- Monitor and analyse major developments in nutrition action of SUN countries in the designated region and work with the Facilitator to determine how the Movement might respond to such developments.
- Support the Facilitator and Global Technical Advisory Team to monitor and analyse opportunities for engagement of the Coordinator with high level representatives of SUN countries within the designated region, to encourage the implementation of a multi sector, multi stakeholder approach to nutrition.
- Support the Facilitator and Global Technical Advisory Team to identify, analyze and monitor political developments and emerging issues within the designated region in relation to key principles and core themes of the SUN Movement.
- Monitor national and regional political trends that might affect the SUN Movement and report to the Facilitator as appropriate.
Education:
- Advanced university degree (Master’s degree or equivalent) in nutrition, public health, international development, public policy or related field.
- A bachelor’s degree with a combination of two additional years of relevant experience may be accepted in lieu of the Master’s degree
Experience:
- A minimum of five (5) years of experience in international development, public health, nutrition or related field is required.
- Demonstrated professional work experience in an international setting, with at least three (3) years in a field setting is required.
- Experience working in the Africa Region is desirable.
Language
- Full working knowledge of English is essential.
- Knowledge of another official UNOPS language, particularly French, is an asset
