Project Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Officer

Tiered Approach

In line with the commitment to safeguard capacity and support personnel already in the Organization, a majority of UNDP UNCDF/UNV vacancies are advertised using a tiered application process whereby:

• Tier 0: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV IP staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments, whose posts will be abolished, or contracts will be terminated or not renewed during 2026.
• Tier 1: Other UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding permanent (PA) and fixed-term (FTA) appointments
• Tier 2: UNDP/UNCDF/UNV staff holding temporary appointments (TA), personnel on regular PSA contracts, and Expert and Specialist UN Volunteers
• Tier 3 or no tier indicated: All other contract types from UNDP/UNCDF/UNV and other agencies, and other external candidates

Please make note of the Tier(s) indicated in the vacancy title, if any, and ensure that you satisfy the eligibility to apply.

Background

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence.  

UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.  

UNDP is the leading United Nations organization in fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries, we help nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and planet. Learn more at undp.org or follow at @UNDP 

UNDP is the knowledge frontier organization for sustainable development within the UN development system and an integrator for collective action to realize the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through its Pacific MultiCountry Office (MCO) based in Fiji, UNDP supports ten countries—Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Palau, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu—as well as regional initiatives. The current Multi Country Programme Document (MCPD, 2023–2027) aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (UNSDCF, 2023–2027) and regional priorities under the 2030 Agenda and the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent. UNDP’s strategic focus is organized under three outcome areas: Planet, Prosperity, and Peace.  

The Pacific Digital Economy Programme (PDEP)—a joint initiative of UNCDF, UNDP and UNCTAD—aims to build inclusive, safe, and interoperable digital economies across the Pacific, in line with UNSDCF 2023–2027 and UNDP MCPD Outcome 2/Output 2.1. PDEP addresses persistent gaps in access, usage, and quality of digital financial services, particularly affecting women, rural communities, persons with disabilities, youth, and labour mobility workers. Barriers include limited affordability and coverage of services, low digital and financial literacy, and fragmented enabling environments (e.g., payments interoperability, digital ID, data governance). COVID19 accelerated digital adoption while magnifying exclusion from finance, health, education, social protection and jobs.  

PICAP(Pacific Insurance and Climate Adaptation Programme) is a joint UNCDF–UNDP–UNU-EHS initiative that strengthens Pacific Small Island Developing States’ financial preparedness for climate- and disaster-related shocks. It targets the “protection gap” created by high hazard exposure, low insurance penetration, and limited strategies for rapid disaster financing, which often force households and governments to rely on savings, borrowing, budget reallocation, or aid.  PICAP works through four linked workstreams: enabling policy and regulation (including parametric/index insurance standards and country CDRF/CDRFI strategies); building a digital ecosystem with MNOs and FinTech/InsurTech partners for onboarding, premium collection and payouts; supporting inclusive innovation to design, pilot and scale customer-centric micro- and meso-level CDRFI products, including “macro-to-micro” approaches connected to social protection; and empowering customers via literacy, outreach and tailored communications, prioritising women, youth, persons with disabilities and MSMEs.

UNDP seeks a national MEL Officer to work on MEL, Gender and Safeguards off for PDEP and PICAP from UNDP side. 
 

Duties and Responsibilities

The successful candidate will work under the overall guidance of PDEP and PICAP managers and PDEP Programme Coordinator.  

The Project MEL Officer will have responsibilities for Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL), gender and social development, and environmental and social safeguards to ensure that the project is evidence-driven, inclusive, and sustainable. The MEL Officer will lead efforts to integrate robust monitoring and evaluation frameworks with gender-sensitive and socially inclusive approaches while ensuring compliance with environmental and social safeguard policies. This role will require collaboration across project teams, stakeholders, and communities to achieve project outputs aligned with UNDP and donor priorities.

Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL)

• Design, implement, and refine comprehensive MEL frameworks, systems, and tools in line with UNDP Programme and Operations Policies and Procedures (POPP), corporate standards, and donor requirements.
• Lead development of the project Theory of Change and Results-Based Management (RBM) frameworks to monitor outcomes, outputs, and impacts.
• Ensure timely collection, analysis, and dissemination of data, including gender-disaggregated data, for evidence-based decision-making and reporting.
• Oversee preparation of donor reports, project progress reports, and impact assessments, ensuring adherence to established timelines and quality standards.
• Conduct regular monitoring and evaluation of project activities, outputs, and outcomes, ensuring the integration of gender equality, disability inclusion, and Leave No One Behind (LNOB) principles.
• Provide technical guidance on the design and implementation of mid-term reviews, impact evaluations, and third-party monitoring, ensuring robust methodologies and adherence to UNDP evaluation standards.
• Ensure integration of evaluation findings into project improvement strategies and decision-making processes.
• Ensure provision of top-quality advisory services and facilitation of knowledge building and management.

Gender and Social Development

• Update and refine the project Gender Strategy and Action Plan, incorporating lessons learned, national laws and policies, and UNDP’s Gender Equality Strategy.
• Analyse gender and social inequality issues within project activities and propose strategies to address barriers to the participation of women, girls, and other vulnerable groups.
• Facilitate gender-sensitive and socially inclusive stakeholder consultations, ensuring active participation from women’s groups, NGOs, government agencies, and local communities.
• Implement and monitor gender-related initiatives, including awareness-raising campaigns, capacity-building sessions, and gender equality advocacy, ensuring alignment with project goals and timelines.
• Provide technical support to project teams and contractors in mainstreaming gender considerations, including developing gender-sensitive indicators and action plans.
• Lead the development of training materials and organize training sessions on gender mainstreaming, disability inclusion, and protection from sexual exploitation and abuse for stakeholders, contractors, and community members.

Environmental and Social Safeguards (ESS)

• Oversee implementation of the project’s Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) and Environmental and Social Management Plan (ESMP), including monitoring of proposed social safeguards.
• Identify and address additional environmental and social safeguard risks emerging during project implementation, ensuring compliance with UNDP standards and donor requirements.
• Ensure safe and inclusive working environments, especially for women, and strengthen grievance redress mechanisms (GRM) to address community and stakeholder concerns effectively.
• Support contractors and implementing partners to adhere to safeguards policies and embed gender-sensitive principles into planning and implementation processes.

Stakeholder Engagement and Coordination

• Foster partnerships and maintain a strong network with UNDP colleagues, government officials, donors, civil society organizations, contractors, and communities.
• Coordinate with other UN agencies to ensure alignment and complementarity of monitoring, reporting, and evaluation efforts, especially in the context of the UNSDCF.
• Facilitate participatory planning and decision-making processes, ensuring that stakeholder inputs are integrated into project design and implementation.
  The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.
   

Competencies

Core competencies:

• Achieve Results: LEVEL 2: Scale up solutions and simplifies processes, balances speed and accuracy in doing work
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 2: Offer new ideas/open to new approaches, demonstrate systemic/integrated thinking
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 2: Go outside comfort zone, learn from others and support their learning
• Adapt with Agility:  LEVEL 2: Adapt processes/approaches to new situations, involve others in change process
• Act with Determination: LEVEL 2: Able to persevere and deal with multiple sources of pressure simultaneously
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 2: Is facilitator/integrator, bring people together, build/maintain coalitions/partnerships
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 2: Facilitate conversations to bridge differences, considers in decision making 

People Management 

• UNDP People Management Competencies can be found in the dedicated site

Cross-Functional & Technical competencies:

Business Direction & Strategy    

• System Thinking. Ability to use objective problem analysis and judgement to understand how interrelated elements coexist within an overall process or system, and to consider how altering one element can impact on other parts of the system.    

Business Management    

• Working with Evidence and Data. Ability to inspect, cleanse, transform and model data with the goal of discovering useful information, informing conclusions and supporting decision-making    
• Monitoring & Evaluation. Ability to systematically monitor results of strategies, programmes, and activities with a view to make sure that they are being implemented effectively; Ability to provide managers and key stakeholders with regular feedback and reporting on the consistency or discrepancy between
  planned activities and programme management and results. Ability to make independent judgment of the management and results of strategies, programmes and activities based on set criteria and benchmark, keeping in mind the needs and concerns of client, current and upcoming. Knowledge and understanding of monitoring and evaluation frameworks, concepts, methodologies, systems, processes, and tools. Ability to make an independent judgement based on set criteria and benchmarks. Ability to anticipate client's upcoming needs and concerns.    
• Partnership Management. Build and maintain partnerships with wide networks of stakeholders, Governments, civil society and private sector partners, experts and others in line with UNDP strategy and policies.    

Business Development     

• Knowledge Generation. Ability to research information and to turn it into useful knowledge, relevant for context, or responsive to a stated need. Ability to apply existing concepts to new situations, and to develop new concepts to generate workable solutions and new approaches. Knowledge of relevant concepts, conceptual models, and theories that can be useful in addressing new situations.    

2030 Agenda: People 

• Gender. Monitoring and Evaluation on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment. 

2030 Agenda: Engagement and Effectiveness 

• Effectiveness. Social and Environmental Standards 

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree (master's degree or equivalent) in Development Studies, Gender Studies, Social Sciences, or related field is required; or 
• A first-level university degree (bachelor’s degree) in the areas mentioned above in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• Minimum 2 years (with master’s degree) or 4 years (with bachelor’s degree) of relevant experience in MEL, gender mainstreaming, and safeguards implementation in development projects and working with quality assurance instruments, result-based management models, and multiple stakeholders.

Required skills:

• Experience using office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc.), web-based management systems, and advanced data management tools or database packages.

Desired Skills:

• Experience in designing, implementing, and managing assessments or applied research projects, with the ability to synthesize findings into actionable recommendations.
• Experience on gender equality, women empowerment and social safeguards.
• Experience working with projects funded by the UN and Government agencies.

Required Language(s):

• Fluency in English is required
• Working knowledge of local languages Fiji Hindi or iTaukei will be considered as desired.

Equal opportunity

As an equal opportunity employer, UNDP values diversity as an expression of the multiplicity of nations and cultures where we operate and, as such, we encourage qualified applicants from all backgrounds to apply for roles in the organization. Our employment decisions are based on merit and suitability for the role, without discrimination. 

UNDP is also committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all personnel are empowered to contribute to our mission, are valued, can thrive, and benefit from career opportunities that are open to all.

Sexual harassment, exploitation, and abuse of authority

UNDP does not tolerate harassment, sexual harassment, exploitation, discrimination and abuse of authority. All selected candidates, therefore, undergo relevant checks and are expected to adhere to the respective standards and principles. 

Right to select multiple candidates

UNDP reserves the right to select one or more candidates from this vacancy announcement.  We may also retain applications and consider candidates applying to this post for other similar positions with UNDP at the same grade level and with similar job description, experience and educational requirements.

Scam alert

UNDP does not charge a fee at any stage of its recruitment process. For further information, please see www.undp.org/scam-alert.