Mid-Term Reviewer for 7th Country Programme (PNG) - National IC

Description

The Position:

While the UNFPA Papua New Guinea Country Office has made great strides in implementing our 7th Country Programme Cycle (2024–2028), the local landscape is shifting quickly. Important recent developments like the release of the 2024 National Census data, the launch of the National GBV Strategy (2026–2035) with its landmark 180 million Kina annual domestic budget commitment, an emerging rise in HIV/STI trends, and our expanding donor-funded geographic reach mean that our program assumptions need to be thoroughly evaluated.  
As we hit the midpoint of this country programme cycle, we need to look closely at whether our strategic interventions are remaining truly inclusive, equitable, and properly targeted. To do this, UNFPA is launching an independent Mid-Term Review to assess our progress against our three transformative results: ending unmet need for family planning, ending preventable maternal deaths, and ending gender-based violence. To make sure that local socio-political dynamics, provincial field realities, and national stakeholder perspectives are fully captured, we are seeking a Mid-Term Reviewer for 7th Country Programme (PNG) - National IC to support this evaluation alongside our International Team Leader.
You will work under the technical direction of the International Consultant (Team Lead) with a harmonized reporting to the UNFPA Deputy Representative within the overall guidance of the UNFPA Country Representative, and close working with the Programme and Monitoring & Evaluation teams.

How you can make a difference:

UNFPA is the lead UN agency for delivering a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every childbirth is safe and every young person's potential is fulfilled.  UNFPA’s strategic plan (2022-2025), reaffirms the relevance of the current strategic direction of UNFPA and focuses on three transformative results: to end preventable maternal deaths; end unmet need for family planning; and end gender-based violence and harmful practices. These results capture our strategic commitments on accelerating progress towards realizing the ICPD and SDGs in the Decade of Action leading up to 2030. Our strategic plan calls upon UN Member States, organizations and individuals to “build forward better”, while addressing the negative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on women’s and girls’ access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights, recover lost gains and realize our goals.

In a world where fundamental human rights are at risk, we need principled and ethical staff, who embody these international norms and standards, and who will defend them courageously and with full conviction.

UNFPA is seeking candidates that transform, inspire and deliver high impact and sustained results; we need staff who are transparent, exceptional in how they manage the resources entrusted to them and who commit to deliver excellence in programme results.

Job Purpose:

The main goal of this consultancy is to support a comprehensive, independent mid-term assessment of the 7th Country Programme’s progress, relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, and sustainability. As our National Consultant, you will play an instrumental role in bridging international evaluation frameworks with the practical, on-the-ground realities of Papua New Guinea.  
You will be responsible for ensuring that local context and field-level evidence across our five core thematic areas; Quality SRH/MH, Quality Family Planning Services, GBV/SARV prevention and response, Harmful Gender and Social Norms, and Population Data and development—are deeply woven into the review. The findings you compile will directly shape a strategic reset of our Country Programme performance indicators and help us build actionable recommendations to ensure the country office adapts successfully to emerging demographic changes through the rest of the cycle.

You would be responsible for:

• Data Collection & Review: Support the desk review of programme documents including the review of metadata of the 7th Country Programme Document for inconsistencies and gaps, annual work plans, and existing thematic reviews.  
• Stakeholder Consultations: Stakeholder Consultations: Conduct key informant interviews and focus group discussions with UNFPA staff, government counterparts, CSOs, and community beneficiaries.
• Contextual Analysis: Provide vital national perspectives on the local socio-political and cultural nuances that affect programme implementation and sustainability.
• Theory of Change Evaluation: Assist the Team Leader in formulating review questions, reconstructing the Country Programme Theory of Change, and evaluating outcomes.
• Field Logistics & Access: Managing local logistical arrangements, facilitating direct access to key national partners, and coordinating field missions out to selected provinces. 
• Reporting: Contribute to the drafting of the Inception Report, the Draft MTR Report, and the Final MTR Report, ensuring that local perspectives and findings are accurately captured by drafting specific sections as assigned by the Team Leader.  
• Technical Output Review: Jointly evaluate all 5 core outputs (SRHR, Family Planning, GBV/SARV, Gender/Social Norms, Population Data), cross-cutting themes (Youth, Nexus), and the new demographic change outcome .
• Workshop Facilitation: Ensure the evaluation process remains participatory, inclusive, and gender-responsive, and assist in delivering the stakeholder Validation Workshop.

Qualifications and Experience: 

Education:  

• Advanced university degree (Master's degree) in Public Health, Population Studies, Development Studies, Gender Studies, or a related social science field. 

Knowledge and Experience: 

• At least 5–7 years of progressive professional experience in conducting or supporting evaluations or research in the field of development for UN agencies or international organizations. 
• Demonstrated expertise and technical familiarity in the fields of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) or Gender-Based Violence (GBV) prevention and response within the Papua New Guinea context.
• Strong technical and analytical capacities with a firm understanding of the UNFPA mandate or the ICPD agenda. 

Languages: 

• Excellent communication ability with great writing skills in English and knowledge of Tok Pisin

Required Competencies: 

Values:

• Exemplifying integrity, 
• Demonstrating commitment to UNFPA and the UN system, 
• Embracing cultural diversity, 
• Embracing change

Core Competencies: 

• Achieving results,
• Being accountable,
• Developing and applying professional expertise/business acumen,
• Thinking analytically and strategically,
• Working in teams/managing ourselves and our relationships,

Functional Competencies:

• Project Evaluation & M&E: Proven capacity to analyze complex programme performance indicators, thematic reviews, and data sets.
• Local Context & Stakeholder Engagement: Demonstrated ability to navigate the local socio-political landscape and facilitate direct access to key national partners, CSOs, and community networks in PNG. 
• Analytical Writing & Reporting: Strong track record of synthesizing unstructured fieldwork data into high-quality evaluation or institutional reports. 

Managerial Competencies (if applicable):

Compensation and Benefits:

This position offers an attractive remuneration package including leave days, health insurance and additional remuneration for pensions and social security obligations.

UNFPA Work Environment:

UNFPA provides a work environment that reflects the values of gender equality, diversity, integrity and healthy work-life balance. We are committed to ensuring gender parity in the organization and therefore encourage women to apply. Individuals from the LGBTQIA+ community, minority ethnic groups, indigenous populations, persons with disabilities, and other underrepresented groups are highly encouraged to apply. Reasonable accommodation may be provided to applicants with disabilities upon request, to support their participation in the recruitment process. UNFPA promotes equal opportunities in terms of appointment, training, compensation and selection for all regardless of personal characteristics and dimensions of diversity. Diversity, Equity and Inclusion is at the heart of UNFPA's workforce - click here to learn more.

Disclaimer:

Selection and engagement of LSC personnel may be subject to background and reference checks, medical clearance and other administrative requirements. 

UNFPA does not charge any application, processing, training, interviewing, testing or other fee in connection with the application or selection process and does not concern itself with information on applicants' bank accounts.