IUCN logo

Human Resources
Management System

content-background
pdf
Organisation Logo

Head, Programme Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation

Vacancy #:   5366
Unit:   Institutional Performance Management and Evaluation Unit (IPME)
Organisation:   International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)
Location:   Headquarters, Gland, Switzerland
Reporting to:   Deputy Director General, Corporate Services
Work percentage:   100%
Grade:   M1
Expected start date:   01 March 2021
Type of contract:   Indefinite
Closing date:   25 June 2020
BACKGROUND
The Institutional Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation Unit (IPME) is a team situated in the Corporate Services under the Deputy Director-General. The unit's purpose is to support IUCN's strategy and programme execution at all levels. As such, it drives greater accountability, performance, assurance and overall organisational effectiveness.

As the organisation's centre of expertise and excellence on programme, portfolio and project management, strategic planning and implementation, performance management, assurance, and risk management, the unit leads on these functions from establishing normative and operational frameworks to ensuring their optimal implementation. The unit is therefore the custodian of many IUCN policies, normative/operational frameworks and guidelines. It is responsible for ensuring their relevance to institutional needs through continuous monitoring, improvements and change management. It ensures that owned policies and frameworks are appropriately implemented by monitoring their respective level of compliance, making continuous improvements, and providing direct support and capacity building to relevant IUCN staff.

The unit takes a holistic approach by addressing staff skills, mindsets, and behaviours alongside processes, methodologies and tools through the use of business analysis, solution development and monitoring and evaluation. Through the development of performance and assurance management capability, the unit assists IUCN in achieving greater impact.

The Planning, Monitoring, Evaluation and Risk Management Unit is concerned with the institutional policies, structures, systems and processes required to manage and measure IUCN’s performance in delivering its quadrennial Programme. Its aim is to promote results-based accountability and transparency, and to manage the systems needed for continually improving IUCN’s Programme performance.

Programme performance measurement is key to IUCN’s effective management, namely planning, monitoring, evaluation and reporting, and to facilitating institutional learning processes. It is therefore crucial for ensuring the effective execution of IUCN's mandate.

Overview of the Position:

The Head of Programme Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation’s role is to lead corporate efforts for high quality monitoring, evaluation and learning (knowledge management) and risk management, at the level of the IUCN Programme. The Head of Programme Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation will take part in the management and improvement of IUCN’s operational plan, systems and procedures that ensure that the IUCN Programme is delivered in an effective, efficient and consistent manner, and against a high benchmark of accountability.

Together with other senior managers, the Head of Programme Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation will lead efforts to ensure good Programme performance and ‘programme integrity’ which entails ensuring that the IUCN Programme is delivered in practice as intended in theory and design, and in accordance with institutional policies, guidelines and standards.

The Head of Programme Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation will seek ways to improve the quality, transparency and effectiveness of Programme delivery, which includes providing the foundation for systematic institutional learning and continuous improvement, as well as advancing data quality and access to information in relation to IUCN’s project portfolio.

The Head of Programme Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation will work with the Leadership Team (LT) to implement IUCN’s strategies and vision, and continue building an IUCN culture for Programme monitoring, evaluation, learning, and results-based accountability, and with this, for Programme integrity. The Head of Programme Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation will work closely with other units, in particular units of IUCN’s Global Finance Group, to systematically address key issues relating to IUCN processes and systems for improved Programme delivery and transparency.

The Head of Programme Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation will keep senior management informed, coordinate with the LT to prepare work plans and implement programmatic monitoring and evaluation, and will play a formative role in building the culture of IUCN around accountability, transparency, risk management, continuous learning, compliance and measurable results. She/He will be an internal advocate for efficiency, productivity, programmatic coherence and alignment, quality assurance, and integrity.

The Head of Programme Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation will monitor and assess ongoing strategies, recommend midcourse corrections, and generally seek to raise the levels of programmatic performance and integrity, through the application of: IUCN’s Project Appraisal and Approval System (PAAS), Environmental and Social Management System (ESMS), Enterprise Risk Management system (ERM), Project Risk Management system (PRM), monitoring, evaluation and reporting cycles, compliance monitoring, institutional learning, and quality control. The Head of Programme Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation will also lead the development of new online systems to integrate Union-wide contributions to the IUCN quadrennial Programme, and to permit the public disclosure of basic IUCN project portfolio data.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Reporting Relationships:

The Head of Programme Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation reports directly to the Deputy Director General of IUCN, or to the Director General in the absence of a Deputy Director General, and serves as a member of IUCN’s LT.


Core Responsibilities:

The Head of Programme Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation will:
• Identify and implement opportunities for organisational development to raise the quality, transparency and accountability of IUCN’s work;
• Work collaboratively with senior management to ensure that IUCN strategies, policies, guidelines and standards are periodically reviewed, improved, and put in place as an integral part of programme management (i.e. filter into day-to-day management).
• Oversee and coordinate the work of Unit staff, ensuring timely work planning and performance appraisals, alignment with corporate priorities, and smooth working relationships and intra-Unit communication.
Planning:
• Participate in strategic and annual planning processes at IUCN and actively support the preparation of IUCN’s quadrennial Programme;
• Support the annual results-based planning cycles of component programmes (IUCN Secretariat units and Commissions) through guidelines, review and coordination, as well as the Annual Workplan and Budget approval process in collaboration with the Director General’s Office and the Global Finance Group.
Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning:
• Implement an IUCN Programme monitoring and evaluation system to report on the achievement of intersessional results and Annual Workplans, and facilitate continuous improvements to the quality and effectiveness of Programme delivery.
• Set Programme performance standards, build capacity and exercise quality assurance for a coherent and systematic approach to “output to outcome” monitoring and evaluation across the IUCN project portfolio;
• Provide technical support to component programmes in order to build IUCN’s monitoring, evaluation and learning culture, by raising monitoring and evaluation standards (for e.g. in impact evaluations and risk management) and ensuring the systematic uptake of lessons learnt and key findings from independent reviews and evaluations.
• Manage strategic and corporate evaluations, including External Reviews commissioned by Framework Partners and/or the DG, ensuring the necessary scheduling, coordination, procurements, drafting of management responses, and reporting on progress to the DDG and senior management.
• Promote the effective dissemination of knowledge related to Programme implementation and results-based approaches across the organization, in coordination with global teams and Regional Offices.
Reporting and Accountability:
• Lead on the preparation of Annual Reports to Council and Framework Donors, ensuring timeliness and quality in Programme reporting to meet IUCN’s statutory and donor reporting requirements; demonstrating IUCN’s contribution to the global development agenda, including the Sustainable Development Goals; and focusing on programmatic learning and performance, including relevant successes, challenges and priorities related to Programme delivery.
• Work closely with the Communications Unit to contribute to the best presentation of high-level reports and technical documents.
• Lead the ongoing development and further expansion of the “Programme and Project Portal”, ensuring data quality, compliance, the development of performance metrics and improvements in regards of usability.
• Lead the novel development of an online “Open Portal” for public access to information on IUCN’s project portfolio, as well as an online mechanism to register the IUCN membership’s contribution to the IUCN quadrennial Programme, which will include managing the development teams and budget.
• Provide on a regular basis to the DDG, controls and performance measures (for individual managers) based on the Programme and Project Portal and Project Appraisal and Approval System.
Risk Management:
• Develop and recommend policies and procedures for business continuity management, as well as maintain a register of all business continuity plans.
• Coordinate the development, maintenance and incremental implementation of IUCN’s risk management system (PRM and ERM policies, procedures, tools and activities), including its alignment and mainstreaming within existing systems.
• Ensure the Unit coordinates the periodic updating of IUCN’s corporate risk register and subsidiary risk registers for component programmes, supports the work of the Risk Management Committee, and prepares risk reports to the Finance and Audit Committee of Council in a thorough and timely manner and in coordination with other Units, as needed.
REQUIREMENTS
  • Key Credentials and Requirements:

• Minimum 12 years of work experience, with a minimum of 3 years of successful senior leadership experience.
• Proven global project and/or programme management experience.
• Advanced university degree (Master’s, MBA, PhD) in Business Administration Monitoring and Evaluation, or related areas, or alternatively, a minimum of 3 years work experience relating directly to programme oversight, monitoring and evaluation, risk management, global coordination, and sharing lessons learnt.
• Sound understanding of how nature conservation fits into the global geopolitical, development context.
• Highly proficient in English; knowledge of French and/or Spanish would be an asset.
• Risk Management certification would be an asset.


• Personal Qualities:

• Demonstrated ability to function as a team player within and across teams; strong motivational and leadership skills.
• Demonstrated capacity to lead the drafting of compelling and impactful reports.
• Background of success in process improvement, change leadership or change management.
• Commitment to results; "can-do" mind-set with emphasis on accountability and results oriented.
• Aptitude in decision-making and problem-solving.
• Excellent communication and presentation skills.
• Integrity, impeccable work ethic.
• Capacity to share best practices, trends, knowledge and lessons learned across units and partners, in a clear, creative and compelling way.
• Ability to operate effectively, with tact and diplomacy, in a multi-cultural, interdisciplinary environment in an international setting.
• Ability to work independently on complex tasks on tight deadlines.
APPLICATIONS

Applicants are requested to apply online through the HR Management System, by opening the vacancy announcement and pressing the "Apply" button.

Applicants will be asked to create an account and submit their profile information. Applications will not be accepted after the closing date. The vacancy closes at midnight, Swiss time (GMT+1 / GMT+2 during Daylight Saving Time, DST). Please note that only selected applicants will be personally contacted for interviews.

Other job opportunities are published in the IUCN website: https://www.iucn.org/involved/jobs/


About IUCN

IUCN is a membership Union uniquely composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.

Created in 1948, IUCN is now the world’s largest and most diverse environmental network, harnessing the knowledge, resources and reach of more than 1,400 Member organisations and around 16,000 experts. It is a leading provider of conservation data, assessments and analysis. Its broad membership enables IUCN to fill the role of incubator and trusted repository of best practices, tools and international standards.

IUCN provides a neutral space in which diverse stakeholders including governments, NGOs, scientists, businesses, local communities, indigenous peoples organisations and others can work together to forge and implement solutions to environmental challenges and achieve sustainable development.

Working with many partners and supporters, IUCN implements a large and diverse portfolio of conservation projects worldwide. Combining the latest science with the traditional knowledge of local communities, these projects work to reverse habitat loss, restore ecosystems and improve people’s well-being.

www.iucn.org
https://twitter.com/IUCN