Monitoring Evaluation and Learning Coordinator – HARVEST Project at Village Enterprise, Ethiopia

Employer: Village Enterprise

Industry: Nonprofit/International Development/Social Entrepreneurship

Job Title: Monitoring Evaluation and Learning Coordinator-HARVEST Project

Reports to: Senior Monitoring Evaluation and Learning Manager

Location: Keffa, Ethiopia

Duration: 2 years’ initial commitment with possibility of extension

Deadline: September 26, 2025

Project Overview:

Village Enterprise and HereWeGrow are partnering to address the interwoven challenges of poverty, gender inequity, and climate vulnerability facing smallholder coffee farmers in Ethiopia’s Keffa Zone. HARVEST – Households Advancing Resilience, Value chains, and Sustainable Transformation is a three-year, integrated project to address the poverty cycle in coffee producing small holder farmers in Gimbo and Shisho Ende districts of Keffa Zone. The proposed project combines Village Enterprise’s proven 12-month poverty graduation model–including seed capital grants, business and financial literacy training, mentoring, and savings groups with tailored climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and market linkage interventions. This integrated model will be delivered to households living in extreme poverty in the coffee-growing Keffa Zone. The project will train 8,100 entrepreneurs to launch 2,700 small businesses, enabling households to improve coffee quality and yields and increase and diversify incomes, ultimately lifting 52,000 individuals from poverty.

Position Overview:

Village Enterprise MEL Coordinator will use his/her expertise to support Village Enterprise’s dynamic field-level Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) team and activities. Program areas of involvement include oversight for implementation of participant tracking systems; data cleaning and analysis; database management; information management; report writing, field visits; staff training; innovations in monitoring and evaluation tools and methodologies; design and oversight of M&E for special projects; participation in organizational research initiatives

Job Description:

1. Regional/Project Specific MEL support

2. Cross-Region/Project MEL support

3. Operations Roles

4. Safeguarding

Regional/Project Specific MEL Responsibilities:

Lead implementation of MEL Team initiatives for region/project(s) including  o Managing data collection budget and timeline

• Measuring and enforce adherence to data quality protocols, including:
  • Supervise Senior Enumerators, ensuring monitoring of data collection and ensuring audits are both carried out accurately and productively
  • Conduct timely data quality assessment of all incoming data and submit data quality reports to supervisor. Supervised DQA may be assigned to advanced Senior Enumerators.
• Timely cleaning of all participants’ tracking and monitoring data
• Analysis of participant tracking and monitoring data when needed
• Maintenance of participant tracking and monitoring dashboards and custom reports; creation of additional internal reports and memos as necessary
• Creation of MEL Reports for funders/stakeholders in line with regional/project specific obligations.
• Train field teams of region/project(s) in data capture responsibilities as they relate to: targeting, participant enrolment, participant tracking, grant applications, and business spot checks
• Supervise Senior Enumerators to ensure high quality training is delivered to enumerators in relation to all data capture responsibilities
• Build and maintain relationships with field staff and consortium team. Coordinate with staff from other teams as necessary towards the following goals:
  • Procurement of enumerator protective gear and data collection equipment as needed
  • Open and clear communication channels are maintained for sharing of MEL findings.
    • Clear timelines are in place for when staff might expect formal reporting (ex., targeting verification reports within 2 weeks of close of targeting; business owner registration statistics available in real time but data fully cleaned within one week of final sync)
    • Additional findings are shared with relevant parties on an ongoing basis
  • Problems are brought forward, lessons learned’ are openly discussed, and innovations/solutions are tested
  • Staff understand why information is needed from them and by when (for example, each cycle BM assignments are needed at least a week before the refresher training so that the database can be prepped and the new targeting forms can be assigned to the Business Mentors in advance of the training)
• Support the MEL Manager in Coordinating MEL activities (with implementing partners) in matters relating to MEL
• Coordinate the documentation of best/promising practices as well as documenting lessons learnt for possible scale up within Village Enterprise areas of operation
• Supervise Senior Enumerators.
• In addition to responsibilities outlined above:
  • Recruit and train new Field Officers as appropriate and under the direction of MEL Manager
  • Support Field Officers in recruitment and training of Enumerators as needed under the direction of MEL Manager
  • Review of Senior Enumerators planned expenses
  • Review Senior Enumerators field activity plans
  • Review Senior Enumerators field activity reports; monthly, aggregate relevant details from reports for sharing with staff (e.g., RMs, CDs, F&A, etc)
  • Host weekly meetings with Senior Enumerators
  • Other monitoring and evaluation tasks as assigned.

Cross-Region/Project MEL Responsibilities 

• In collaboration with other MEL Coordinators and under the guidance of the MEL Manager:
  • Create or maintain high quality training materials (Manuals, PowerPoint presentations, practice TaroWorks forms, etc)
  • Conduct timely updates of targeting data, Business Owner registration, Business Groups, Business Saving Groups, Small Grant data etc in salesforce
  • Design (when necessary), create, and publish, data capture forms
  • For outcome data, assist with data cleaning, analysis and reporting
  • Database management
  • Participate in special project evaluations, and review of M&E tools
  • Develop and maintain templates to be used by Senior Enumerators for planning and reporting
  • Develop, document in MEL Manual, and maintain policies and procedures to be followed by Senior Enumerators
  • Maintenance of MEL Manual
• Other monitoring and evaluation tasks as assigned.

Operations Role 

• Assist in the adaptation, implementation, monitoring, and expansion of the Village Enterprise core program
• Provide support to field management team when needed
• Other operation tasks as assigned

Safeguarding: “Safeguarding at VE is everyone’s responsibility”

• Continuously sensitize program participants about possible risks of child abuse, sexual/financial exploitation, prevention and response mechanisms.
• Ensure compliance with VE’s safeguarding policies and Code of Conduct in all programs, operations and practices.
• Report any incident of child or adult safeguarding in program operations for appropriate action and follow up.

Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s degree in Monitoring and Evaluation, Agricultural Economics, Economics, Statistics, Development Studies, or a related field.
• Training or certification in Impact Evaluation, Social Return on Investment (SROI), or Results-Based Management (RBM) is desirable
• Knowledge of agricultural value chains, preferably coffee, and smallholder farmer livelihoods in Ethiopia

Key competencies 

• Minimum 3 years’ experience in MEL roles within agricultural, livelihoods, or market systems development projects.
• Possess the technical knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in the role, including Strong quantitative and qualitative skills and experience with data analysis, good command of STATA, Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, MS Word, Power BI, and MS PowerPoint, Proficiency with Google Documents, Gmail, and Mobile data collection applications. Experience working with Salesforce is an added advantage.
• Proven track record in designing and managing MEL frameworks for projects testing innovative interventions or pilots.
• Experience conducting economic and cost-benefit analyses, including SROI or similar methodologies.
• Experience with adaptive management, learning agendas, and integrating research findings into program design.
• Demonstrated capacity to translate field data into actionable insights for both program improvement and sector-wide learning.
• Experience working with multi-stakeholder initiatives, including private sector actors, farmer cooperatives, and government agencies.
• Understand the elements of data quality: consistent, complete, accurate, timely, verifiable, valid Proven ability to design monitoring and evaluation plans, including developing theories of change and logical frameworks
• Ability to develop SMART indicators Literacy with the basic methods for data collection: surveys, interviews, performance tests, site visits/observation, focus group discussions, participatory methods, pre-existing data
• Experience conducting data quality assessments and with cleaning data, Experience supervising data collection and teams of field workers
• Possess Training and Communication Skills
• Demonstrate ability to communicate key concepts to people with less than Level 5 education.
• Ability to orally communicate issues, problems, and key information.
• Ability to write clearly, concise memos highlighting issues, problems, and key information
• Experience working as part of a diverse team with the ability to work via email, phone, Teams, Zoom, Google Meet and other virtual communications
• Flexible, self-motivating, able to manage multiple tasks efficiently, and a team player
• Must be a very strong critical thinker able to identify potential solutions to challenges in new environments
• Experience with Salesforce and/or TaroWorks
• Experience working in rural settings especially in Keffa Zone
• Ability to speak major languages spoken in Keffa Zone

Indicators of Success for HARVEST Project MEL Coordinator:

High-Quality, Timely Data Systems

• Participant tracking, monitoring dashboards, and reporting systems are consistently updated, accurate, and accessible within agreed timelines (e.g., targeting reports within 2 weeks, cleaned data within 1 week of sync).
• Data quality assessments (DQA) show high levels of validity, completeness, and timeliness.

Effective Team Supervision and Capacity Building

• Senior Enumerators and enumerator teams demonstrate improved data collection practices, low error rates, and adherence to protocols due to strong training, supervision, and mentoring.

Actionable Insights for Program and Partners

• MEL reports and analyses are regularly produced, not only fulfilling donor obligations but also providing actionable recommendations that influence program adaptations, improve CSA/market linkage strategies, and inform wider learning agendas.

Strong Collaboration and Communication

• Evidence of clear communication and coordination with consortium partners, field officers, and project teams—measured by timely feedback loops, uptake of MEL findings in program decisions, and smooth operations between MEL and other functions.

Safeguarding and Compliance

• Demonstrated adherence to safeguarding protocols, with no reported negligence in handling safeguarding issues.
• Program participants and field staff are regularly sensitized on risks, reporting channels, and data ethics, ensuring MEL operations are safe, ethical, and compliant.

How to Apply:

Please send your Cover letter and CV addressed to the People and Culture Coordinator through: >>https://villageenterprise.careers.flair.hr/positions/a78Jw00000AbXorIAF. Your cover letter should explain why your experience and background make you the ideal candidate for this position and should be no more than one page.

Note: Please do not contact Village Enterprise to enquire as to the status of your application. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

Submit applications until September 26, 2025.

Affirmative Action:

Village Enterprise will provide equal employment and advancement opportunities to all individuals. Employment decisions at Village will be based on merit, qualifications and abilities. Village does not discriminate in employment opportunities or practices on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, national origin, gender identity, age, disability, marital status or any other characteristic protected by the law. Village will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities unless doing so would result in undue hardship to daily operations.

Village Enterprise is a corruption, solicitation or bribery free organization. We or any of our employees or associates do not charge money from job applicants before, during or after recruitment. Please report malpractices through our safeguarding Tollfree hotline 8495.