Panama: Senior Officer, PMER

Background

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is the world's largest humanitarian organization, with 190 member National Societies. As part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, our work is guided by seven fundamental principles; humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality. Organizational Context

This position is located in the IFRC’s Americas Regional Office within the PMER unit in Panama. The position forms part of the Americas PMER team and therefore of the global PMER team. Under the technical guidance of the Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting team coordinator and under the leadership of the Head of Partnerships and Resource Development, the position coordinates and works closely with programme and service units in the regional, cluster and country offices to uphold accountability standards of the organization and supports National Societies in this endeavor. As a member of the global PMER team, this position works closely with the Planning and Evaluation Department (PED) in the IFRC secretariat in Geneva. Job Purpose

To support the Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting function, providing technical advice and follow up to regional technical teams, country and country-cluster support offices, and National Societies in the Americas, in compliance with IFRC’s procedures and standards for PMER. Job Duties and Responsibilities

1. Planning:
• Support the secretariat’s planning process in Americas Regional Office in the quality check (coherence of information, editing, formatting etc.) of all plans, liaising with regional technical units, country and country-cluster offices, to ensure that they meet required quality standards and comply with deadlines as per the PMER Department guidelines.
• Play a key role in the organization of regional planning events, such as the Annual Planning Meeting, through TORs, methodology development and logistics support.
• Follow-up with plan owners on the revision of operational plans (narratives, M&E plans, activity tables) in line with quarterly budgetary revisions.
• Publish operational plans and revisions on the IFRC website or FedNet, send out notifications, maintenance of the APPLE system for plans.
• Review and provide feedback during the design of plans and logical frameworks with a view to ensure logical coherence, SMART indicators, inclusion of means of verifications, targets and baselines.
2. Monitoring:
• Provide support to the country and country-cluster offices and their staff in the regular monitoring of their projects, programmes and plans to facilitate results-based management and with the aim to strengthen accountability and evidence-based results.
• Ensure that staff are aware of and use tools such as the monitoring and evaluation (M&) plans, Gantt charts, indicator tracking tables (ITTs), baseline – endline studies and matrixes to monitor objectives, indicators and activities, as per IFRC guidelines.
• Act as focal point for Smartsheets queries in relation to PMER.
3. Evaluation:
• Send regular reminders to technical teams and country offices to collect evaluation plans and reports to keep the evaluation database and calendar up to date.
• Update the PMER Manager about planned evaluations, their progress and final reports related to the projects, plans and emergencies in the region.
• Ensure compliance with the IFRC Framework for Evaluations, including completion of management responses, follow-up recommendations, and support in the development of ToRs.
• Upload final evaluation reports and management responses on the global database.
• Advise on the inclusion of lessons learned from past project evaluations into new plans for projects/programmes or operations.

4. Reporting:• Responsible for the country or regional offices in the final editing, formatting and quality control for the completion of reports (quarterly, interim or final) for operational plans, pledges and emergencies, guaranteeing the quality of the information and correct use of formats as required by donor. This includes revising/cross referencing reports together with plans, ensuring reports have a clear link to the plans.
• Conduct cross-check of the programmatic information and financial data in reports jointly with finance unit to ensure coherence.
• 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.
• Publish 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 Partnerships & Resource Development (PRD) department for their submission to the donor.
• Keep the Partnerships & Resource Development (PRD) department and other stakeholders informed about the state of the reports for donors and raise issues with Senior Management Team as required.
• Responsible for sending reminders to budget holders on reports due and overdue in liaison with finance and relationship management teams.

5. Capacity building and general support:
• Make presentations/briefings on the role and the work of the PMER section of the PMER team, at workshops and for new colleagues/visitors to the zone office.
• Conduct brief and debrief of surge staff, when the Disaster & Crisis PMER Senior Officer is on leave.
• Support the training of IFRC’s secretariat and National Society staff in PMER issues with the objective of guaranteeing compliance with IFRC’s standards and procedures, and in line with PMER training package.
• 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 Americas Regional Office. Additionally, maintain the SharePoint section (or other platforms) for countries of the region with the required documents (plans, reports and monitoring).
• 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 when a colleague is on mission or vacation, etc.
• Contribute to the NS PMER network and share tools, resources and facilitate peer support.
• Support the development of regional programmatic dashboards in line with the information strategy for the region.
• Identify and share lessons learned and promote best practices. 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

• 5 years of experience in report writing and editing, with attention to product delivery in accordance with deadlines

• Data gathering, processing and analysis for complex reports

• 3 – 5 years of experience in implementation of monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems for projects/programmes

• Experience in the 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 languages

• 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, word processing, PowerPoint, Excel)

• Skills in training 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 detail

• 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)

Languages
Fluently spoken and written English and Spanish 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

Apply online to the following link:

http://www.ifrc.org/en/who-we-are/working-with-us/current-vacancies/job-description/?id=21955

Comments

Important note: Applicants will need to send their applications together with a letter of motivation, no later than the closing date. For us to assure a proper comparative evaluation of candidates' application for this vacancy and to enable us to consider your profile against other similar current and future vacancies, we ask that candidates submit their application considering the following:

• The incumbent in this position will be hired through a national contract under Panamanian labor law.
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by Federation policies, procedures, plans and local labor laws.
• The closing date is midnight Geneva time.

Applications received after the closing date will not be considered. Only those candidates shortlisted for interviews will be notified. The position will be based in Panama; thus, Panamanian as well as foreign applicants with valid and current residence and work permits in Panama are encouraged to apply.

The Federation is an equal opportunity employer