Senior Officer, Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting

Job Purpose

To manage the Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting functions, providing technical advice and follow up to country and country cluster offices, and National Societies in the Americas, with a geographical focus on South America, in compliance with IFRC’s procedures and standards for PMER.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

1. Planning:

• Support the secretariat’s planning process in South America with the selection of global indicators, production and quality check (coherence of information, editing, formatting, etc.) of all plans. This is done in liaison with country cluster and country offices to ensure that they meet required quality standards and that all deadlines are met as per the global PMER unit’s guidelines.
• Contribute to the creation of Emergency Plans of Action (EPoAs) for emergency operations in the sub-region and their subsequent revision, as required.
• Follow-up with plan owners on the revision of operational plans (OPs), which includes the narratives, Monitoring and Evaluation [M&E] plans and Key Data tables, in line with quarterly budgetary revisions.
• Support the revision of plans related to projects, programmes and/or emergency operations in the sub-region.
• Deploy, as required, to the field in emergency operations or for specific projects to support planning activities.
• Publish operational plans and revisions on the IFRC website or FedNet, send out notifications and maintenance of the APPLE system for plans.
• Lead training spaces for National Societies and IFRC to strengthen capacities for better planning of programmatic and emergency operation interventions, giving tools and methodologies for a proper development of a plan of actions and its M&E system, with special focus in key cross cutting themes relevant in the interventions such as protection, gender and social inclusion.
• Support on planning and monitoring of key activities of protection, gender and social inclusion as a core cross-cutting theme of intervention lead in South America.

2. Monitoring:

• Provide technical advise and follow to the South American cluster offices and their staff in the regular monitoring of their projects, programmes and plans, which includes in situ monitoring, as well as distance monitoring. Including the development of monitoring and evaluation systems as required.
• Implement results-based management with the aim to strengthen accountability and evidence-based results.
• Create, implement and disseminate the use of tools such as M&E plans, Gantt charts, indicator tracking tables (ITTs), baseline – endline studies and matrixes to monitor objectives, indicators and activities of programmes, projects and/or emergency operations.

3. Evaluation:

• Lead or support the conducting of evaluations in the projects, plans and/or emergencies in the sub-region.
• Serve as a member of the Real-Time Evaluation (RTE) global pool, participating in RTEs and other evaluations, as possible.
• Serve as South America focal point for evaluation reports database and calendar, by sending regular reminders to country and country cluster offices to share evaluation reports and plans and uploading them on the global database and calendar.
• Update the PMER manager in the ARO regarding planned evaluations, their progress and final reports related to the projects, plans and emergencies in the sub-region.

Job Duties and Responsibilities (continued)

4. Reporting:

• Produce and provide support for the production of narrative reports to the country clusters, country offices and/or ARO. This includes the research, writing, monitoring of coherence, editing, quality control and formatting for the completion of reports for programmes, projects and/or emergencies (i.e. development operational reports, interim and final reports, operations updates, monthly management reports, pledge-based reports, among others) with the appropriate formats.
• Ensure quality control and technical feedback of programme and project proposals with a focus on logical framework quality, and monitoring & evaluation aspects of the proposal.
• Conduct cross-checks and quality control of the programme, project and/or operation narrative reports in coordination with the finance unit.
• Deploy, as required, to the field for emergency operations or for specific projects to support reporting activities.
• Publish Emergency Appeal-based reports and plans on the IFRC website or FedNet, send out notifications, and ensure that status of reports is updated and final versions are uploaded onto the APPLE system.
• Submit finalized pledge-based reports to the resource mobilization team for submission to the donor and provide follow-up information, as required.
• Submit finalized pledge-based reports to the Partnerships & Resource Development (PRD) department for their submission to the donor.
• Responsible for sending reminders to budget holders on pending and overdue reports, in liaison with finance and relationship management teams.

5. Capacity building and general support:

• Train secretariat and National Society staff in PMER issues with the objective of guaranteeing compliance with Federation standards and sharing good practices, tools and lessons learned.
• Participate in hiring processes for PMER positions (i.e. in emergency operations) in the region. In the South America sub-region, provide introductory training, technical guidance and oversight to these positions.
• Act as a reference resource at the country and sub-regional levels in PMER issues and in sharing knowledge in PMER practices, including visits to country or sub-regional offices and National Societies, as needed.
• Maintain the repository of PMER digital resources (guidelines, manuals, guides, SOPs, formats, among others) for the reference and personal use of the Federation staff in the sub-region.
• Maintain the SharePoint section (or other platforms) for countries of the sub-region with the required documents (plans, reports and monitoring).
• Support the establishment of a PMER practioners’ network (National Societies) and share tools, resources and facilitate peer-to-peer support. Contributing to the development of a PMER network and share tools, resources and facilitate peer support.
• Support in situ PMER training, in line with the standard PMER training package, at regional and country level, as needed.
• Work as part of the Americas PMER team, providing support when needed, for example, during periods of emergencies or disasters, of high volume of work or filling in for colleagues on missions or leaves.

6. Additional Institutional Responsibilities:

• Participate and facilitate regional working groups and trainings, as required, with special focus on PMER.
• Other responsibilities delegated by her/his Immediate supervisor.

Education

• Bachelor’s degree and/or can demonstrate equivalent intellectual capacity
• University studies in international development, social sciences, communications, planning or similar area.

Experience

• Manage and provide support to staff and systems
• Solid experience, 5 years, in report writing and editing, with attention to product delivery in accordance with deadlines
• Research, data collection and processing and analysis for complex reports
• Experience in implementation of monitoring and evaluation systems for projects, programmes and emergencies
• Experience in project planning and implementation and results-based project management
• Experience in the implementation and facilitation of training sessions
• Familiarity with financial management systems
• Experience in the International Movement of the Red Cross Red Crescent
• Experience in working in a non-profit organization or humanitarian organization

Knowledge, Skills and Language

• Knowledge of log-frame-based project design, monitoring and evaluation
• Analytical and communication skills and ability to assimilate and process information for wide-ranging audiences
• Advanced skills in computers (Windows package and internet)
• Knowledge of data collection and analysis, as well as of statistical analysis software (Word, Excel, STATA, etc.)
• Ability to work with info graphics such as global information system (GIS)
• Skills in training, coaching and developing staff
• Strong commitment to Red Cross and Red Crescent Fundamental Principles
• Basic understanding of legal framework of humanitarian operations, as well as gender, protection, social or human vulnerability issues.
• Inter-personal skills and cultural sensitivity.
• Edition of texts in English and Spanish
• Able to work independently and as part of a team
• Exceptional organizational ability with an eye for details

Languages

• Fluently spoken and written English and Spanish.
• Good command of another language (French or Portuguese).

Competencies and Values

VALUES: Respect for diversity; Integrity; Professionalism; Accountability
CORE COMPETENCIES: Communication; Collaboration and Teamwork; Judgement and Decision Making; National Societies and Customer Relations; Creativity and Innovation; Building Trust
FUNCTIONAL COMPETENCIES: Strategic Orientation; Building Alliances; Leadership; Empowering Others