Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Officer -Yabello, Ethiopia

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CARITAS Switzerland (CACH) has been working in Ethiopia for more than 45 years. Currently CACH cooperates with four partners in Ethiopia. CACH has successfully been registered as an International Non-Government Organization in Ethiopia and has therefore become operational at project implementation level. CACH’s main working fields are: Climate, Income, Migration as well as Humanitarian Aid Responses. CACH current working areas are in Oromia, SNNPR and Tigray. CACH supports and implements currently about ten projects in these regions.  CACH supports and implements different projects in these regions.

Summary of Duties

The Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning (MEAL) Officer is a key position for project staff capacity building, data quality assurance, accountability, documentation, and learning. The position holder will provide bilingual Oromiffa and English support to the Entrepreneurship and Market Inclusion for the Transformation (EMIT) of Livelihoods of Extreme Poor Project Team in Borana, and its Field Officers and Mentors at woreda and kebele in design, planning, and execution of monitoring and evaluation activities while ensuring quality in accordance with accepted standards, providing essential feedback for learning, accountability and decision making. S/he will be responsible for providing input on M&E system design and adaptation, capacity building for partner staff on monitoring and evaluation, and capturing learning in line with project and organizational learning agendas. Under the overall leadership and direction of the Project Manager, the MEAL Officer will also receive technical guidance from the CACH CO and the BOMA Project MEAL Managers, and in close collaboration with before mentioned MEAL Managers, the position holder will be developing team capacity in monitoring, evaluation, reporting, and learning and ensuring effective field-level collaboration

Main Area of Responsibility

• Organize and lead implementation of project level MEAL activities – including but not limited to evaluations, surveys, assessments, and routine monitoring – in line with project standards, CACH policies, and practices, as well as with regards to donor requirements, and industry good practices.
• Support development and adaptation of monitoring and evaluation procedures, data collection tools, and reports in line with specific project and partner needs.
• Ensure alignment of MEAL activities with project objectives and development of monthly, quarterly, and annual work plans.
• Perform data quality management strategy and routine data quality assurance for assigned projects.
• Support monthly Key Performance Indicator (KPI) analysis and use of data for adaptive management for assigned projects.
• Ensure learning properly accompanies project activities throughout the project cycle.
• Support research, evaluations, and other learning initiatives, including development and pursuit of learning agendas, identification and documentation of lessons learned, after action reviews, midterm reviews and final evaluations.
• Assist the preparation of case studies and promising practices.
• Support CACH and its partners in the preparation of monthly, quarterly, and/or annual activity reports and verification of reported data.
• Ensure timely documentation of MEAL activities is completed, reviewed, and submitted in line with CACH, partner, and donor requirements.
• Ensure consistent utilization of the BOMA Performance Insights database for all M&E data submissions, where relevant.
• Where relevant, support partners to use their existing ICT4D systems to support project MEAL systems and activities.
• Build capacity of project staffs to ensure MEAL project activities are implemented per guidelines and standards, including use of digital data collection and data quality assurance procedures.
• Coordinate MEAL-related working relationships among project collaborators and stakeholders.
• Facilitate in-person and remote support on MEAL to project staffs.
• Coordinate provision of MEAL-related logistical and administrative support to project staffs.

Qualification

The ideal candidate represents the majority of the below mentioned areas:

• University Degree in Project Management, Economics, advanced certificate in M&E or very similar with clear links to Monitoring and evaluation Learning; with excellent and proven communication and writing skills (report and proposal elaboration).
• At least minimum of 5 years and above relevant work experience in a similar position Monitoring and evaluation, reporting level and practical experience at field level (expert, officer etc.);
• Experience in relevant working areas with other international organizations in Ethiopia; work experience with relevant donor organisations is an asset;
• Knowledge in participatory approaches, Problem resolving capacity and very strong reporting and communication/writing skills.
• Excellent command of English, both, in writing and spoken is absolutely mandatory; a good knowledge of Oromiffa is a strong asset.