UNICEF works in over 190 countries and territories to save children’s lives, defend their rights, and help them fulfill their potential, from early childhood through adolescence.

At UNICEF, we are committed, passionate, and proud of what we do for as long as we are needed. Promoting the rights of every child is not just a job – it is a calling.

UNICEF is a place where careers are built: we offer our staff diverse opportunities for professional and personal development that will help them reinforce a sense of purpose while serving children and communities across the world. We welcome everyone who wants to belong and grow in a diverse and passionate culture, coupled with an attractive compensation and benefits package.

Visit our website to learn more about what we do at UNICEF.

For every child, for every child, the right to results

The increasing complexity of humanitarian crises in the LAC region—characterized by political instability, rising violence, climate-related emergencies, and large-scale migration—demands stronger evidence-based planning and response.

To ensure UNICEF’s interventions are relevant, efficient, and impactful, there is a pressing need for dedicated expertise in humanitarian performance monitoring. This post will provide technical guidance to Country Offices to generate and analyze reliable data about the situation of children and women, strengthen regional and national capacities for humanitarian planning and monitoring, and ensure the effective use of diverse data sources to inform decision-making. The Monitoring Officer will also provide oversight, guidance, and quality control for the Humanitarian Performance Monitoring (HPM) function.

By enhancing data integration, performance monitoring, and collaboration with partners, this Officer will enable UNICEF to better anticipate risks, measure results, and improve the quality and accountability of its emergency preparedness and response across the region.

How can you make a difference? 

Under the general guidance of the Regional Emergency Advisor and working in close collaboration with the LACRO Planning and Monitoring team, the Monitoring Officer (Humanitarian Performance Monitoring) may be assigned the primarily, shared, or contributory accountabilities for all or part of the following areas of major duties and key end-results.

1. Humanitarian Planning and programming
Ensure that the Regional Office, Country Offices, and national partners use a well-prioritised and realistic plan, monitoring and evaluation activities that will provide the most relevant and strategic information to manage the Country Programme, including tracking and assessing UNICEF’s distinct contribution.

Duties & Tasks

• Make professional contributions to and provide technical assistance for planning and ensure where possible linkages between HPM indicators and long-term programming indicators (CSI), as well as HACs and interagency planning processes.
• Likewise, support the development of Interagency Plans from a sound results-based programming process.
• Identify the M&E objectives, priorities, and activities required for effective RO, COs and partner Emergency Preparedness and Response Plans,
• In humanitarian response situations, within the first month, draft and recommend a simple one-month data-collection plan to cover key data gaps as required for the initial emergency response, working in close collaboration with the humanitarian clusters’ partners.
• After the initial humanitarian response, support management of the medium-term response with a revised IMEP

2. Situation Monitoring and Assessment
Ensure that the Regional Office, Country Offices, and national partners have timely and accurate measurements of change in conditions in the country or region, including monitoring of socio-economic trends and the country’s wider policy, economic or institutional context, to facilitate planning and to draw conclusions about the impact of programmes or policies.

Duties & Tasks

• In coordination with other stakeholders, implement tools, procedures, processes, and workflows for information management, encompassing data gathering, consolidation, verification, documentation, processing, analysis, and reporting.
• Support partners in the establishment and management of national statistical databases (e.g., DevInfo), ensuring that key indicators are readily accessible by key stakeholders. Potential uses include Situation Analysis, Common Country Assessment, Early Warning Monitoring Systems, and Mid-Term Reviews.
• Develop a collectively Situation Monitoring and Assessment system owned by all key partners which supports the preparation of country level statistical and analytic reports on the status of children’s and women’s rights issues; and which allows, when opportunities emerge, to influence developmental and social policies.
• In humanitarian response situations, provide professional support for one or more rapid assessments (inter-agency or independently if necessary) to be carried out within the first 48-72 hours, working in close collaboration with the humanitarian clusters’ partners.

3. Humanitarian Performance Monitoring
Ensure that the Regional Offices and Country Offices have quality information to assess progress towards expected results established in annual work plans.

Duties & Tasks

• Ensure that timely updating of information on progress and results, as well as the quality of the information flow from source to reporting – including Humanitarian Performance Monitoring (HPM) reports (as per agreed frequency) - is available by compiling, organizing, analyzing and preparing data for reports, planning, management, monitoring and evaluation purposes as needed.
• Coordinate with partners to ensure that monitoring systems are properly designed, and that data collection and analysis from field visits are coordinated and standardized across programmes to feed into to programme performance monitoring, with special attention to humanitarian response.
• Drawing on monitoring and analysis of key program performance and management indicators, provide professional input to management reports, including relevant sections of the annual reports.
• Support the production of UNICEF Situation Reports (SitReps) and Sectorial SitReps (for which UNICEF is responsible).

4. Multi-country support
Ensure that UNICEF Country Offices (COs) and programme specialists responsible for implementing the Emergency Response Plans (ERPs) have access to improved alternatives for performance monitoring, field monitoring, and other data-related mechanisms.

Duties & Tasks

• Provide Remote and On-site Technical Assistance: Deliver remote and face-to-face technical support to country and regional offices to strengthen Humanitarian Performance Monitoring (HPM) and data preparedness.
• Develop Regional Assets for HPM/IM/M&E: Support and advice for the creation of regional resources, such as Long-Term Agreements (LTAs), technical rosters, standardized templates, tools, and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
• Provide Surge Support During Emergencies: Offer surge capacity in the initial phases of a crisis to establish or strengthen HPM and Information Management (IM) systems. This includes on-the-ground or remote support to set up data collection processes, reporting mechanisms, and coordination structures to ensure timely and accurate data for decision-making.

5. M&E Capacity Building
Ensure that the monitoring and evaluation capacities of Regional Office and COs staff and national partners – government and civil society – are strengthened enabling them to increasingly engage in and lead monitoring and evaluation processes.

Duties & Tasks

• Promote the awareness and understanding of the shared responsibility of M&E function among all staff members through communication, training, learning and development activities organization wide.
• In close collaboration with partners, ensure that an M&E capacity building strategy for UNICEF/UN staff national partners and institutions exists in the context of the IMEP, or UNDAF M&E plan. Pay particular attention so the capacity needs of national partners such as professional evaluation associations will be strengthened by involvement in evaluation processes and possibly through specific capacity building initiatives.
• Collaborate to implement capacity building strategies as a joint commitment with other developmental partners. Utilize a range of appropriate skills building strategies including self-learning, seminars and workshops and practical experience in order that UNICEF and UN staff have the basic knowledge and skills in understanding and applying new M&E policies, tools, and methods to fulfil their responsibilities. Similarly, design and implement strategies suited to the skills needs of national partners.
• Actively seek partnerships with knowledge institutions for the identification of capacity gaps and development of strategies to address them.
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  6. Coordination and Networking
  Ensure that the UNICEF Regional Office is effectively linked to wider UNICEF M&E developments in a way that both contributes to and benefits from organizational learning on effective M&E management.

Duties & Tasks

• Collaborate with Regional M&E Advisers and HQ Evaluation Office for overall coordination of priority research, monitoring and evaluation activities, especially those of regional scope requiring the coordinated effort of multiple countries.
• Partner with the Regional Monitoring and Evaluation Adviser to ensure that current and accurate M&E data and results are included in regional reports, multi-country studies, and knowledge sharing networks.
• Undertake lessons-learned reviews on successful and unsuccessful M&E practices and experience at the national level, and ensure they are shared as appropriate. Similarly, pay attention to M&E knowledge networks to identify innovations and lessons learned that may be relevant for the RO, COs and partners to improve their M&E function.

If you would like to know more about this position, please review the complete Job Description here: Monitoring Officer NOB

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

Minimum requirements:

• Education: A university degree in social sciences, statistics, planning development, planning.
• Work Experience: Two (2) years of relevant professional experience in program development and implementation, including planning, monitoring, and evaluation activities
  • Proven experience in information management, data analysis, and the development of surveys or information systems is required.
• Language Requirements: Fluency in English and Spanish is required. 

Desirables:

• At least one instance of exposure to emergency programming, including preparedness planning, is desirable.
• Active involvement in a humanitarian crisis response program is an asset.
• Working experience in contexts of volatility, uncertainty, ambiguity, complexity, and institutional fragility is an asset.
• Relevant experience at country level, particularly in development, fragile settings and humanitarian contexts. 

For every Child, you demonstrate...

UNICEF’s Core Values of Care, Respect, Integrity, Trust and Accountability and Sustainability (CRITAS) underpin everything we do and how we do it. Get acquainted with Our Values Charter: UNICEF Values

The UNICEF competencies required for this post are…

(1) Builds and maintains partnerships

(2) Demonstrates self-awareness and ethical awareness

(3) Drive to achieve results for impact

(4) Innovates and embraces change

(5) Manages ambiguity and complexity

(6) Thinks and acts strategically

(7) Works collaboratively with others 

Familiarize yourself with our competency framework and its different levels.

UNICEF promotes and advocates for the protection of the rights of every child, everywhere, in everything it does and is mandated to support the realization of the rights of every child, including those most disadvantaged, and our global workforce must reflect the diversity of those children. The UNICEF family is committed to include everyone, irrespective of their race/ethnicity, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, socio-economic background, minority, or any other status.

UNICEF encourages applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of gender, nationality, religious or ethnic backgrounds, and from people with disabilities, including neurodivergence. We offer a wide range of benefits to our staff, including paid parental leave, breastfeeding breaks and reasonable accommodation for persons with disabilities. UNICEF provides reasonable accommodation throughout the recruitment process. If you require any accommodation, please submit your request through the accessibility email button on the UNICEF Careers webpage Accessibility | UNICEF. Should you be shortlisted, please get in touch with the recruiter directly to share further details, enabling us to make the necessary arrangements in advance.

UNICEF does not hire candidates who are married to children (persons under 18). UNICEF has a zero-tolerance policy on conduct that is incompatible with the aims and objectives of the United Nations and UNICEF, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination based on gender, nationality, age, race, sexual orientation, religious or ethnic background or disabilities. UNICEF is committed to promote the protection and safeguarding of all children. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks, and will be expected to adhere to these standards and principles. Background checks will include the verification of academic credential(s) and employment history. Selected candidates may be required to provide additional information to conduct a background check, and selected candidates with disabilities may be requested to submit supporting documentation in relation to their disability confidentially.

UNICEF appointments are subject to medical clearance.  Issuance of a visa by the host country of the duty station is required for IP positions and will be facilitated by UNICEF. Appointments may also be subject to inoculation (vaccination) requirements, including against SARS-CoV-2 (Covid). Should you be selected for a position with UNICEF, you either must be inoculated as required or receive a medical exemption from the relevant department of the UN. Otherwise, the selection will be canceled.

Remarks:

As per Article 101, paragraph 3, of the Charter of the United Nations, the paramount consideration in the employment of the staff is the necessity of securing the highest standards of efficiency, competence, and integrity.

UNICEF is committed to fostering an inclusive, representative, and welcoming workforce. For this position, eligible and suitable candidates from underrepresented groups are encouraged to apply.

Government employees who are considered for employment with UNICEF are normally required to resign from their government positions before taking up an assignment with UNICEF. UNICEF reserves the right to withdraw an offer of appointment, without compensation, if a visa or medical clearance is not obtained, or necessary inoculation requirements are not met, within a reasonable period for any reason. 

UNICEF does not charge a processing fee at any stage of its recruitment, selection, and hiring processes (i.e., application stage, interview stage, validation stage, or appointment and training). UNICEF will not ask for applicants’ bank account information.

Humanitarian action is a cross-cutting priority within UNICEF’s Strategic Plan. UNICEF is committed to stay and deliver in humanitarian contexts. Therefore, all staff, at all levels across all functional areas, can be called upon to be deployed to support humanitarian response, contributing to both strengthening resilience of communities and capacity of national authorities.

Visa residence requirements: i.e.: UNICEF shall not facilitate the issuance of a visa and working authorization for candidates under consideration for positions at the national officer and general service category.

All UNICEF positions are advertised, and only shortlisted candidates will be contacted and advance to the next stage of the selection process. An internal candidate performing at the level of the post in the relevant functional area, or an internal/external candidate in the corresponding Talent Group, may be selected, if suitable for the post, without assessment of other candidates.

Additional information about working for UNICEF can be found here.