Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Officer at SOS Sahel Ethiopia (SOSSE)

SOS Sahel Ethiopia (SOSSE) jointly with IIRR & MELCA-Ethiopia is implementing MasterCard Foundation funded “Mass Youth Employment in Apiculture (MaYEA) Program”. The MaYEA is under implementation nationwide, focusing on the ground in 135 Woredas (districts) organized in three implementation hubs: National Hub, North and Northwest Hub (Amhara, Afar, Tigray, and Benishangul Gumuz, regions), and Central, South and Southwest Hub (Oromia, Sidama, South, Central, Southwest, and Gambella regions). The program aims to disrupt the apiculture sector and allied value chains and triples the current annual honey production by 2028 by recruiting 300,000 new beekeepers, increasing the productivity of 350,000 existing young beekeeping farmers, and engaging additional 350,000 young people in integrated value chain activities in the apiculture sector.

SOS Sahel Ethiopia, being part of the Central, South, and Southwest Sub National Hub led by IIRR, is implementing the program in four clusters of 36 woredas in Bale, Sidama, Wolaita, and Kembata Zones. Accordingly, SOS Sahel Ethiopia is accepting applications from qualified, experienced and interested individuals for the positions and implementation areas mentioned here under:

Job Purpose / Summary

The Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning Officer is responsible for implementing its respective Cluster MaYEA Program monitoring, evaluation and learning component in selected Woredas of each zones in each region. He / She will work within the wider MaYEA program team and other SOSSE staff. He / She is accountable to the respective cluster coordinator and coordinates with other program officers within his/her cluster and the other SOSSE cluster office. Moreover, he/she is responsible for the follow-up of the overall MaYEA resource management and communications of the Cluster’s monitoring and evaluation component to adhere to all universal and MasterCard Foundation, SOSSE Federal and Regional Governments, and program-specific standards and procedures.

Duties and Responsibilities

Program and Partnership Management 

• Collaborate with the three cluster officers (Enterprise Development; Gender, Youth and Safeguarding; and Apiculture Development Officers) and the cluster accountant to support and follow up the Woreda program officers as well as other stakeholders in their effort to properly implement the MaYEA program with the required quality and magnitude in their jurisdiction.
• Monitor and evaluate quality of program delivery and efficacy of the program resources and establishes and maintains closer working relationships with relevant program stakeholders at the regional, zonal, cluster and woreda level with regard to the monitoring and evaluation component.
• Monitor all program resources (human, financial, material, time, and other resources) are effectively and properly utilized for better impact and fulfillment of the program objectives.
• Nurture and demonstrate team spirit to create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect that motivates program staff to deliver more.
• Monitor all activities of the cluster respects the law of the land and complies with MasterCard Foundation’s and SOSSE’s rules, regulations, and procedures.

Programming, Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning 

• Based on the program document, with the support of the cluster coordinator, coordinate with the cluster officers and prepare detailed annual implementation plans of the of the cluster for every fiscal year specified on the contract agreement between IIRR and the funder and get the plan approved by the concerned.
• Prepare annual plans of the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning activities within the cluster; implement and follow-up the implementation by others; keep proper records and documentations of activities, outputs and outcomes of the activities; and report the same to all concerned.
• Ensure records of the project implementation are well kept, consolidated cluster-level ad-hoc, quarterly, and annual reports are timely produced and communicated to all concerned.
• Ensure that all critical stakeholder, partners, and program participants’ have access to reflect on interventions of MaYEA, and all programmatic and operational learning and results of the interventions of the cluster are fully documented, shared, and used to facilitate learning, knowledge management, and informed and adaptive management systems across all project components and stakeholders.
• Technically handle and coordinate the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning interventions of the program within the cluster and support cluster technical officers, and Woreda officers.
• Implement the program MEL Plan, including annual work plan preparations, use of MEL tools, platforms and methods, indicator selection, target setting, reporting, database management, that are appropriate to the scope, context, and technical requirements of MaYEP.
• Supervise and support the cluster team and coordinate with sub-national program leads to provide technical training, mentoring, and coaching to project staff, counterparts, and stakeholders as appropriate and provide demand-driven technical support.
• Do the collection, management, and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data, ensuring disaggregated data and the use of age, gender and other inclusion-related indicators to assess how the project is impacting the different target groups
• Work with other technical officers to avail high-quality data, analyze and interpret it and make sure it is utilized for decision-making at all levels of the project.
• Handle data quality assessments of the cluster, strengthen data management and quality improvement systems, ensuring that performance data is accurate, sufficient and timely available.
• Design strong stakeholder, partners, and beneficiary reflection mechanisms to ensure that program interventions within the cluster are effective and ensure down ward, horizontal and upward accountability, interactive learning and knowledge management system across all project components and partners.
• Make sure all programmatic learning within the cluster and results are fully documented, shared, and used to facilitate informed and adaptive management and develop success stories that highlight the cluster’s interventions impact.
• Make sure all the required information is researched, compiled, and submitted, including results and their analysis, for project reports, including the quarterly and annual reports, and respond to requests for data from the Sub-national hub and other stakeholders

Youth Engagement, Gender Equity, and Inclusiveness 

• Monitor that an enabling environment is created and mechanisms are in place in the cluster for real and effective engagement of young people in the apiculture and allied value chains, especially those of young women and other vulnerable groups.
• Coordinate with the other officers of the cluster to plan, implement and continually monitor a youth focused targeting strategy that prioritize young women (at least 80%) and  other vulnerable groups (at least 10%) is followed in the implementation of MaYEA in the cluster.

Networking and  Communication 

• Monitor and evaluate that the program is well networked with all critical actors in apiculture and allied value chains and benefits from networking.
• Actively participate in Participatory Review and Reflection Sessions (PRRS), Multi-Stakeholder Platforms (MSP) and Value Chain Actors Platforms (VCAP), and other arrangements as necessary.
• Monitor and evaluate that the program’s objectives & approaches and standards are well communicated to all stakeholders and program participants.
• Ensure that all periodical and ad hock communications of the cluster are accurate and timely.
• Together with other cluster officers, monitor that feedback about the MaYEA interventions is collected; project gains and progresses are documented and publicized to concerned stakeholders and the wider audience.

Safeguarding and Accountability 

• Integrate safeguarding in the monitoring and evaluation tools and track safeguarding indicators relevant to the project.
• Prepare reports with safeguarding as a key section on the reporting template.
• Serve as a liaison between the cluster and project community on safeguarding matters.
• Ensure the implementation of safe program by being alert and responsive to safeguarding risks in project communities.
• Monitor and evaluate that every activities of the program within the cluster are in line with universally accepted safeguarding principles and SOSSE’s and MasterCard Foundation’s safeguarding policies and procedures.
• Make sure every apiculture related activities of the program in the cluster are in line with universally accepted safeguarding principles and IIRR’s and MasterCard Foundation’s Safeguarding policies and procedures.
• Ensure that project participants are aware of safeguarding policies and how to raise and report concerns.
• Serve as a liaison between the cluster and project participants on safeguarding matters.
• Ensure the implementation of safe apicultural development activities by being alert and responsive to safeguarding risks.
• Ensure appropriate reflection mechanisms are in place for stakeholder, partners, and program participant of the apicultural development program to ensure that program interventions in the cluster are effective and downward, horizontal, and upward accountability among the program stakeholders is materialized.

Duty Stations: Bale Robe Town in Bale Zone, Oromia Region