Background

Enhancing Access to Justice through Institutional Reform Project-II (A2J) implementing under Nationally Implemented Modality (NIM), is the second Phase of Access to Justice project closed in 2021. Under the overall leadership of the Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs (MoLJPA), the project will be implemented jointly and in a close partnership with UNDP Nepal.

The A2J Project II aims to enhance access to justice of women and other marginalized communities by strengthening the integrated legal aid services and criminal justice system in Nepal. Furthermore, the project focuses mainly on supporting the implementation of integrated legal aid frameworks by establishing necessary frameworks to deliver the justice at the local level, strengthening justice sector institutions to provide effective remedies to protect and promote the rights of women and marginalized groups as per the national and international commitment and empower women, and other marginalized groups, in particular Dalit, PWD, LGBTIQ + and Poor ones to claim their rights and participate in judicial governance/civic life.

The project will be implemented in a close coordination and partnership with government stakeholders at Federal, Provincial and Local level. The Attorney General Office, Justice sector actors, Nepal Bar, Province and Local Governments including Judicial Committees will be the partners to work in a coordinated manner to achieve overall goals of the project.

The Project aims to be implemented in four provinces namely: Sudurpaschim, Karnali, Madhesh and Koshi. The districts and local level will be selected through a rapid mapping exercise.

The MERL Specialist will work directly under the supervision and guidance of National Programme Manager and collaboration with Project Management Specialsit (PMS) and will assist in developing plans, capturing learnings, and preparing periodic reports of the Project. The incumbent is expected to spend a significant proportion of time in supervising in maintaining quality of works done under the Project. Beside this, s/he should also be responsible to establish and maintain coordination with the concern implementing partner(s) for effective implementation of the Project activities and the timely achievement of its objectives. The incumbent will not only establish and operate going field activities and initiatives, but will coordinate field visits from development partners, implementing partners and UN officials and will generally be responsible for ensuring that local-level initiatives and activities are communicated to central level actors, both at UNDP and within the Government.

Duties and Responsibilities

The overall responsibilities of the assignments are to:

1. Provide technical support to prepare the overall Monitoring,Evaluation, Reporting and Learning frameworks and systems;
2. Develop necessary system to constantly track down the results for overall oversights for better quality of the projects and ensure well documentation by develop Recording and Reporting Forms and Formats.
3. Support to the review of Programme /Monitor, Evaluation, Reporting/Communication and Learning to systematically document lessons and good practices
4. Support the capacity building efforts of the partners on monitoring, evaluation reporting and documentation
5. Collabrate with Project and prepareMonthly, Quaterly and Annual Reports of the project ensuring necessary level of quality;
6. Mainstream gender and social including into planning, monitoring, evaluation as well as reporting by devising necessary forms and formats

1. Provide technical support to prepare the overall Monitoring and Evaluation, Reporting and Learning frameworks and systems;

• Provide strategic support to the NPM and other as required for the Project planning based on Project document, Annual work plan (AWP) and quarterly work plan backed up with M&E / Result frameworks;
• Update the tracking tools to monitor the Project activities at federal, provincial and local level,
• Update as necessary Monitoring and Evaluation plans, consistent with the annual M&E framework, in consultation with all the coordinators including NPM;
• Update the progress and provide timely analysis to develop and update the Project overall strategic framework, impact chains and intervention logics;
• Assist the Project management team in developing sector-wise work plans, overall monitoring framework including capturing of learnings and achievements;
• Assist professional staff in preparing Indicator protocol sheets (indicator description/ profile) of each project indicators mentioned in RRF;
• Develop a comprehensive baseline of basic services and socioeconomic conditions in the target areas and collect periodic data and information against the baseline to assess and report on the overall progress of these areas;
• Coordinate process of the Project target setting in County Office Annual business Plan / integrated Wok Plan (IWP), Result tracker and Annual M&E framework preparation;
• Take lead in developing monitoring evaluation and monitoring tools and process.
• Collaborate with the Project’s information, communications and technology (ICT) related team to develop and maintain the monitoring, reporting and reporting technology system, including updating, troubleshooting, and promptly addressing all problems as they arise.
• Coordinate with Monitoring and Evaluation Unit of the UNDP Country Office and get corporate guidance and updates on the policy and guideline on M&E.

2. Develop necessary system to constantly track down the results for overall oversights for better quality of the projects and ensure well documentation by develop Recording and Reporting Forms and Formats

• Develop and implement an effective M & E mechanism for programme activities;
• Establishment of internal control system and Standard Operating Procedures in Results Management and control of the workflows in the team;
• Ensure quality control of results (from formulation to implementation and to closure) to achieve the stated program results;
• Develop appropriate formats and monitoring toolkits for collecting data from different sources collaborating with PMS;
• Develop effective intranet and the sound database systems of the Project;
• Ensure any disparities between planned and actual outputs are addressed.
• Facilitate review of progress on a quarterly basis and ensure problem solving through remedial actions, and
• Provide technical guidance for the implementation of the M&E plan, through training and other on-site support;

3. Support to Programme Review/Monitor, Evaluation, Reporting/Communication and learning to systematically document lessons and good practices

• Design and conduct a system for field visits, and data verifications in order to ensure that the quality of information that partners are reporting is accurate, timely and relevant;
• Facilitate regular field monitoring visits to the Project locations areas through closely working with regional field coordinators for community mobilization activities and conduct qualitative and quantitative assessment of the implementation status;
• Support for the field level monitoring be undertaken by the Project, implementing partners and UNDP;
• Assists in liaising with development partners in close consultation and coordination with the Project teams in resolving any issues related to results;
• Take the lead role in organizing and facilitating the final Project evaluation, work closely with the monitoring team for communication and public information activities and establish the link to the entire outcome and input for the effective implementation of the Project, undertake other related tasks as instructed by the supervisor;
• Organize and lead the review process of Project results on a regular basis in close consultation with the Project teams and concerned implementing partners.
• Document the learnings and good practices of the Project quarterly basis to systematically inform the project planning process and share the learnings with the project team, partners and stakehonders.

4. Support to build the capacity of the partners on monitoring, evaluation,reporting and documentation.

• Identify needs and capacity gaps of the concerned stakeholders and implementing partners at central and local level and coordinate closely to enhance their capacity in planning, monitoring and evaluation;
• Provide technical support to the implementing partners and local framework of the programme to strengthen their monitoring and evaluation systems;
• Organize trainings and briefing sessions to staff on monitoring and reporting; and orient them on corporate requirements on data collection including gender, sex and social group disaggregation, and reporting requirements;
• Ensure the Project activities are planned and implemented in a gender sensitive and inclusive manner and that all implementing partners are sensitized and trained in monitoring and reporting of gender and social inclusion sensitive results;
• Undertake any other duties as assigned by the National Programme Manager.

5. Collabrate with Project and prepare Monthly, Quaterly and Annual Reports of the project ensuring necessary level of quality

• Collate and compile A2J’s progress reports on activities, outputs and outcomes from the implementing partners and team members;
• Analyze the data and information, prepare monthly progress reports on the major activities and submit to NPM, and others as per the necessity of the Project;
• Producing news letters, write up narrative monthly, quarterly and annual reports including other relevant sectoral reports as the need of the Project under the guidance of NPM;
• Organize the planning for project data quality audits and monitor and coordinate routine data quality audits, compile results at the level of a project and develop actions plans to implement corrective measures;
• Ensure accuracy and timely submission of project reports.

6. Mainstream gender and social including into planning, monitoring, evaluation as well as reporting by devising necessary forms and formats.

• Develop activity log sheet to track disaggregated data to reflect in the planning cycle;
• Highlight GESI related results in monitoring and evaluation plan and reflect them in the reporting;
• Ensure all communications/ documentations produced are GESI sensitive;Actively promote Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) standards within project and amongst its beneficiaries.

Impact of Results

• Legal aid system is strengthened and made readily available for the women, people with disability, and marginalized people at the provincial level
• Coordination and collaboration between all the justice sector stakeholders for the effective functioning of legal aid system is ensured
• Gender and social inclusion is mainstreamed into planning and programming at the province level and strengthen legal aid outreach for women

Competencies

?Corporate competencies

• Demonstrated high moral integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards, sound political judgment as well as diplomacy, impartiality and discretion and proven capacity of initiative, discretion and leadership.
• Displays cultural, gender, religious, race, nationality and age sensitivity.
• Accountability
• Creative Problem Solving
• Effective Communication
• Inclusive Collaboration
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Leading by Example

Functional Competencies

• Strong knowledge of Results Based Management, project cycle management
• Proven ability to conceptualize, develop, plan and manage human rights interventions as well as transfer of knowledge and skills.
• Good interpersonal skills with experience of networking with partners at all level and knowledge of technology and usages of computer applications.
• Good understanding of legal aid, access to justice related stakeholders and issues
• Ability to establish priorities and to plan, coordinate and lead work of others, ability to make timely decisions.
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, and age sensitivity and adaptability and capacity to work effectively in the multicultural environment.
• Ability to coach, mentor, motivate and develop staff and encourage good performance.
• In-depth knowledge of results-based planning, monitoring, reporting, evaluation & programme management.
• Willingness to undertake regular travel to pilot districts, build partnerships with local actors, monitor Project activities and report back to central level programme officials with concise analysis and advice

Development and Operational Effectiveness

• Ability to lead strategic planning, results based management and reporting.
• Ability to lead the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the law and governance related project.
• Ability to implement new systems and affect staff behavioural/attitudinal change.

Management and Leadership

• Builds strong relationships with clients, focuses on impact and results for the client and responds positively to feed-back.
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive, constructive attitude.
• Effective communications skills and ability to establish good working relationships with national and international interlocutors.
• Demonstrated openness to change and ability to manage complexities.
• Ability to work and act under pressure and with discretion in a politically sensitive, fast paced environment with a minimum of comfort.
• Ability to travel under harsh conditions within the country whenever required.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree in Management and Administration, Social Sciences, Economics, communications and Statistics or other relevant field;

Experience:

• At least five years relevant experience in developing project monitoring and evaluation, preferably in the government or international institutions.
• Proven experience in designing M&E and reporting system,conducting evaluations and documentation.
• Proven ability to produce analytical reports with quantitative data analysis.
• Proven experience in documenting learnings of project outcomes.
• Proven ability to organize and present information in an effective manner.
• Sound knowledge of the gender and social inclusion issues and analysis.
• M &E experience in UNDP and/or other international agencies is desirable.
• Excellent report writing skills.
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software packages (MS Word, Excel etc.) and advance knowledge of spread sheet and database packages, experience in handling of web based management systems.

Language requirements:

• Fluency in English and Nepali, both written and oral, at professional level is essential;
• Knowledge of any of the local languages will be an added advantage.