Specialist in Research, Monitoring, and Evaluation

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) is the United Nations frontline agency against world hunger. It is the largest and longest serving humanitarian agency in Benin. Currently WFP activities are: Nutrition sensitive school meals activities; Institutional capacity strengthening; Nutrition treatment; Malnutrition prevention; Asset creation and livelihood support. WFP has operations in various parts of the Country. WFP cherishes and takes pride in fostering a working environment of high capacity, diversity and innovation.

The World Food Program is implementing in Benin its Country Strategic Plan covering the period 2019-2023. It includes four components:
• i) integrated school feeding based on local production;
• ii) prevention and treatment of malnutrition;
• iii) capacity building and
• iv) emergency response and coordination.

The Republic of Benin is a lower-middle-income country in West Africa, ranked 166th out of 191 countries in the 2021 Human Development Index report. The estimated population of 11.8 million is predominantly rural and youthful, with an average age of 21 years. The quality of education and the school environment is average, and in many rural districts, primary school enrollment rates remain below 50%, particularly for girls. The agricultural sector, mainly consisting of small, fragmented, low-productivity farms, employs about 70% of the population and contributes 33% to the national gross domestic product. On average, households spend 63% of their budget on food. Food insecurity primarily affects poor rural households, worsens during the lean season, and increases after natural disasters such as the severe floods that hit the country every rainy season. Benin is ranked by RISK INFORM as the 36th most vulnerable nation to climate change out of 191.
In this context, WFP is committed to supporting the government’s priorities in terms of food and nutritional security, education, emergency preparedness and response, and resilience to shocks through an integrated approach. WFP also supports the government’s capacity-building efforts to manage its own programs contributing to the fight against hunger, particularly the National Integrated School Feeding Program.
The school meals program is a flagship government program, and investments in this area have gradually increased over the years. The government’s budget allocation to WFP for school feeding has increased from USD 473 million in 2017 to USD 849 million in 2021. For the next five years, the government has committed to supporting the school meals program with USD 270 million. From 620 initial schools, WFP received an additional 1,579 schools from the government in 2017 and currently covers 5,708 public primary schools in the 12 departments and 77 communes (75% of all public primary schools).

Beyond meals, WFP uses the platform offered by the school as an entry point for an integrated school meals approach, with the vision of combining an effective safety net for children, farmers, and communities with the potential to foster long-term development and well-being.

Given the importance of the National Integrated School Feeding Program, WFP is working on the quality and sustainability and transition of the program to the government. WFP and ANAN are currently ensuring the implementation of the roadmap related to the program’s transfer to the government.
These terms of reference have been developed to enable the country office to have more capacity to monitor the implementation of its strategic plan and produce evidence on the results achieved.

Under the direct supervision of the RAM Unit Manager, the United Nations Volunteer will perform the following tasks:

Monitoring the implementation of the country strategic plan
• Provide support to the coordination of the implementation and/or update/strengthening of an effective monitoring and evaluation system.
• Support the establishment or strengthening of systems and indicators, particularly qualitative ones, with particular attention to cross-cutting issues and complementary interventions as well as links and resilience approaches and ensure that systems are in place to collect the necessary data.
• Provide support to ensure the monthly analysis of collected data, facilitate the production of analytical reports, and support the adjustment of planning.
• Provide support for regular performance analyses on program implementation and support the organization of information-sharing sessions;
• Monitor the implementation of the country strategic plan as it unfolds;
• Contribute to the development of regular monitoring reports, including current data analysis with the status of results and implementation progress;

Contribution to the monitoring of UN joint programming and other partners and UN reform
• Assist in coordinating WFP’s role in monitoring national development plans and Sustainable Development Goals, particularly SDG 2 (Zero Hunger).
• Support WFP’s participation in inter-agency and multi-partner monitoring and evaluation activities, ensuring that WFP’s contributions are included in joint reports and reviews. Support the coordination of joint monitoring and reporting mecha-nisms within the framework of UN programs and other joint programs.

Evaluation
• Support the coordination of the data analysis component in the various studies and analyses planned within the program framework.
• Contribute to mid-term and thematic reviews and evaluations aimed at internal and external learning, as well as strategic and operational decision-making.

Expected results:

Monitoring the implementation of the country strategic plan
• Support for the coordination of the implementation and/or update of an effective monitoring and evaluation system using innovative approaches is provided through the contribution of the UNV.
• The establishment or strengthening of systems and indicators, particularly qualitative ones, with particular attention to cross-cutting issues and complementary interventions as well as links and resilience approaches, and ensuring that systems are in place to collect the necessary data is provided to the country office.
• Support for ensuring the monthly analysis of collected data and producing analytical reports and supporting planning ad-justments is provided.
• Regular performance analyses carried out on program implementation and support for organizing information-sharing ses-sions are conducted with the UNV’s support.
• The country strategic plan is monitored in its implementation.
• Regular monitoring reports, including current data analysis with the status of results and implementation progress, are de-veloped.
• The national office’s monitoring systems and tools are used in accordance with corporate standards, including minimum monitoring requirements (MMR), standard operating procedures (SOP), and the establishment of baselines and targets in line with the updated corporate results framework (CRF).

Contribution to the monitoring of UN joint programming and multi-partners
• WFP’s contribution to national mechanisms for monitoring Sustainable Development Goals and development plans is en-sured; adequate indicators and systems are in place concerning Sustainable Development Goal 2.
• Inter-agency UN tasks and other multi-partner monitoring and evaluation mechanisms are regularly monitored; WFP’s con-tributions are provided and taken into account.
• The coordination of joint monitoring and reporting mechanisms within the framework of UN programs and other joint pro-grams is ensured.

Evaluation
• Coordination of the data analysis component in the various studies and analyses planned within the program framework is ensured.
• Support for mid-term and thematic reviews and evaluations aimed at internal and external learning, as well as strategic and operational decision-making, is ensured.