Background

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a UN agency that works in about 170 countries and territories, helping eradicate poverty, reduce inequalities and exclusion, and build resilience. It thereby helps them sustain progress and achieve Sustainable Development Goals. In Ukraine, UNDP operates in three programme priorities: Democratic Governance and Inclusive Social Fabric, Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Recovery and Growth, and Sustainable Environment and Energy Transformation.

Since the start of the hostilities in 2014 and the full-scale invasion in 2022, UNDP in Ukraine has been present on the ground, through its hubs around the country, supporting regional and local authorities and civil society partners in their emergency response and crisis management.

Lessons from the past years informed the development of UNDP’s Country Programme Document (2025-2029) and the scale-up of the Area-Based Recovery (ABR) Framework. The Framework’s programmatic pillars of Reconstruction, Returns, Resilience, and Reforms are focused on ensuring community recovery and creating conditions for the return to a development pathway in Ukraine.

Addressing the country’s complex reconstruction and recovery requires a holistic, systems-based response that empowers all parts of society — including government, local authorities, the private sector, and citizens — with the capacity and resources to respond effectively. To ensure a whole-of-society approach, the framework offers an integrated, participatory, and inclusive methodology to advance recovery in communities most affected by the war.

Duties and Responsibilities

The work of the Monitoring, Reporting and Research Specialist is required at all stages of project implementation and will cover responsibilities related to project management, overseeing of the monitoring, reporting, knowledge management, evaluation support, and research processes. The position will include, but will not be limited to, the following tasks:

Reporting:

• Oversee preparation and submission of corporate, donor, and government reports based on collected inputs from the ABR team. This includes overseeing the input verification process for narrative and data for project indicators received from colleagues.
• Organize report content finalization, including fact-checking, proofreading, editing, and translation (if needed), ensuring accuracy of data, clarity of language, and compliance with UNDP reporting SOPs, editorial style, and terminology.

Monitoring:

• Lead the data сollect, analysis, and cleaning processes for project indicators in a timely manner, ensuring accuracy and consistency for reporting. This includes ensuring that the ABR Monitoring, IM and Knowledge Unit is maintaining data records, identifying gaps, and providing clear feedback to ABR team members to improve data quality.
• Coordinate regular reporting in UNDP’s corporate monitoring systems, including IMRP and Quantum, ensuring that entries are complete, up to date, and compliant with corporate guidelines. 
• Manage the quality assurance process for inputs received from the ABR team for updating project dashboards (e.g., ABR Activity Monitoring), ensuring that submissions meet required standards and are correctly reflected in dashboards used for management and reporting.
• Organize field monitoring visits for ABR projects, supporting arrangements with partners, overseeing preparation of follow-up feedback, and short monitoring reports for internal use.
• Ensure a systematic collection of lessons learned related to project implementation within the team for reporting purposes.

Knowledge management and learning:

• Ensure that the Monitoring, Information Management and Knowledge Unit provides technical support to the ABR team during the development of concept notes for planned knowledge products, including assistance with structure, data requirements, and alignment with project objectives.
• Coordinate the knowledge products communication and dissemination processes with the ABR team.
• Ensure that support is provided to the ABR team in preparation of briefing notes and presentations for donors and external partners.

Evaluation and audit support:

• Develop terms of reference for planned project and programme evaluations.
• Oversee the preparation of data and information requested for evaluations and audits.
• Manage the provision of support for the ABR team in reviewing evaluation reports.
• Ensure use of data from evaluations for corporate and donor reporting purposes.

Research:

• Manage the development and implementation of online and offline data collection tools, ensuring that they meet the monitoring, evaluation, and reporting needs of the ABR team and comply with UNDP Quality Assurance (QA) standards.
• Oversee the organization of surveys (both in-house and with partners), including assistance with survey design, and coordination of the data collection, clean up, and analysis processes. 
• Support SCORE implementation through overseeing the hiring of a fieldwork company and experts, provision of support to contractors, and the reviewing, clearing of analytical products, and data management processes.
• Ensure that in-house research projects are enriched with visualizations and summarised key findings, including basic graphs, summaries, presentations, and analytical notes. Additionally, ensure that feedback is provided on externally produced research materials to ensure relevance and clarity.

Team Supervision:

• Lead and supervise the Monitoring, IM and Knowledge Unit, providing guidance, mentoring, and support to team members.
• Facilitate a collaborative and productive work environment, promoting teamwork and professional development.
• Conduct regular performance evaluations and provide feedback to team members, fostering continuous improvement and accountability.

Ensuring the mainstreaming of gender equality and women’s empowerment considerations in the field of expertise, and promoting a safe and enabling environment free of discrimination and abusive behaviour corporate standards:

• Ensure that gender equality is pursued in all project activities and reflected in work plans, budgets, reports, research, analyses and, where specifically relevant, analysed in detail.
• Ensure gender-responsive results-based management, promotion of a safe and enabling environment free of any kind of discrimination and abusive behaviour, and gender-responsive communications based on corporate principles.
• Support the promotion of team culture of gender equality and zero tolerance to any sexual misconduct in the team through leadership and personal example.
• Demonstrate respect for gender equality in professional interactions, identify and address sexism and gender discrimination.

The incumbent performs other duties within their functional profile as deemed necessary for the efficient functioning of the Office and the Organization.

Institutional Arrangement

The Specialist will work under direct supervision of the Head of Area-Based Recovery. The incumbent will be supervising a team of functional experts.

Competencies

Core Competencies

• Achieve Results: LEVEL 3: Set and align challenging, achievable objectives for multiple projects, have lasting impact 
• Think Innovatively: LEVEL 3: Proactively mitigate potential risks, develop new ideas to solve complex problems 
• Learn Continuously: LEVEL 3: Create and act on opportunities to expand horizons, diversify experiences
• Adapt with Agility: LEVEL 3: Proactively initiate and champion change, manage multiple competing demands 
• Act with Determination: LEVEL 3: Think beyond immediate task/barriers and take action to achieve greater results
• Engage and Partner: LEVEL 3: Political savvy, navigate complex landscape, champion inter-agency collaboration
• Enable Diversity and Inclusion: LEVEL 3: Appreciate benefits of diverse workforce and champion inclusivity

People Management Competencies

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

Cross-Functional & Technical Competencies

Business direction and 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 Development           

• Collective Intelligence Design            
  • Ability to bring together diverse groups of people, data, information, ideas, and technology to solve problems and design solutions or services. Knowledge and understanding of Collective Intelligence Design principles, methodology and practices.

Business management           

• Project Management                
  • Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and control resources, procedures and protocols to achieve specific goals.
  • 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. 
  • Knowledge and understanding of monitoring and evaluation frameworks, concepts, methodologies, systems, processes, and tools. 
  • 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.

2030 Agenda: People                

• Gender               
  • Gender digital divide

Data     

• Data analysis 
  • Ability to extract, analyse and visualize data to form meaningful insights and aid effective business decision making

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in Sociology, Psychology, Social Sciences, Research, Monitoring and Evaluation Public administration or related field is required, or
• A first-level university degree (Bachelor’s degree) in the areas stated above in combination with additional two years of qualifying experience will be given due consideration in lieu of the advanced university degree.

Experience:

• Minimum 5 years (with Master’s degree) or 7 years (with Bachelor’s degree) of relevant experience at the national or international level in monitoring, reporting, evaluation, research, or data management within development, humanitarian assistance, or early recovery projects.

Experience, Knowledge and Skills:

• Experience in coordination and communication, including the ability to liaise effectively with project teams, partners, and service providers.

Desirable Criteria:

• Proven experience with field monitoring, surveys, or online/offline data collection tools.
• Proven experience supporting the preparation of knowledge products, research outputs, evaluations, or audits.
• Experience in collecting, analyzing, cleaning, and managing quantitative and qualitative data for monitoring and reporting purposes.

Required Languages:

• Fluency in English and Ukrainian is required.

Other:

• Availability and readiness to travel to communities in target oblasts on a regular basis.

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.