Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Coordinator

Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Coordinator

Reports to	Head of Programmes	Functional link	Regional MEL
Location	Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (approx. 50% travel)	Contract	Fixed term, full-time
Direct reports	MEL Specialists and M&E Officers (project level, as assigned)
Salary	GBP 2267 (Two Thousand Two Hundred Sixty Seven Pound Sterling)

 

PURPOSE OF THE ROLE

Farm Africa is seeking an experienced and strategic Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Coordinator to lead MEL at country level, providing both strategic direction and hands-on technical oversight across the entire Ethiopian portfolio.

The MEL Coordinator is the most senior MEL professional in-country, sitting above project-level MEL Specialists and M&E Officers. The post holder is responsible for ensuring that the country office meets and maintains Farm Africa’s minimum organisational MEL standards across all projects; that MEL systems, frameworks and digital tools are fit for purpose, consistently applied and continuously improved; and that monitoring data and evaluation findings actively drive learning, adaptive management and strategic decision-making.

The post holder leads the design and rollout of country-level MEL systems including MEL frameworks, standardised data collection tools, digital data management infrastructure (ODK and ONA), and data visualisation solutions such as Power BI dashboards. This ensures the country office has the architecture to generate timely, high-quality evidence at scale.

The Coordinator provides technical line management and capacity building to project MEL staff and implementing partners and works in close collaboration with the Regional MEL to ensure alignment with organisational strategy, global indicators and learning priorities. This is a leadership role that requires both the ability to think strategically across a complex portfolio and the technical depth to support, mentor and quality-assure the work of project-level MEL teams.

KEY TASKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Strategic MEL Leadership and Country-Level Oversight

• Provide strategic direction and overall coordination of MEL at country office level, ensuring Farm Africa achieves its vision, goals and minimum organisational MEL standards across all projects.
• Serve as the primary MEL lead for the Ethiopia country office, including as the key point of contact for the Regional MEL on all country MEL matters.
• Drive the programme MEL cycle, ensuring all project teams adhere to quarterly and bi-annual reporting cycles, and that data is actively used to inform strategic decision-making and adaptive management at country level.
• Coordinate the bi-annual Project Performance Review (PPR) process, ensuring all project teams complete PPRs effectively, and that learning is systematically generated, documented and disseminated across the country office and wider organization.
• Maintain a live overview of MEL system quality across the portfolio, identifying risks or gaps and driving timely corrective action.
• Contribute to the development and continuous improvement of global MEL strategy, frameworks and standards, representing the Ethiopia country office perspective.

2. MEL Systems Design, Frameworks and Digital Infrastructure

• Lead the design, development and country-level rollout of MEL systems and frameworks, ensuring they are aligned to Farm Africa’s minimum MEL standards, global indicators and donor requirements.
• Lead the development and ongoing maintenance of the country MEL minimum standards checklist, ensuring all project teams are assessed against it on a quarterly basis.
• Oversee the development of project Monitoring and Learning Plans (MLPs) across the portfolio, quality-assuring that all components are fully defined, all indicators have practical targets, and plans are aligned to project activities and logical frameworks.
• Lead the design and standardisation of data collection tools across the portfolio, ensuring tools are appropriate for context, harmonised where possible, and aligned to the indicator set.
• Lead the digitisation of data collection tools on Open Data Kit (ODK) and the ONA platform, and provide oversight on the management and maintenance of digital data systems across all projects.
• Design and maintain country-level data visualisation solutions, including Power BI dashboards, to enable real-time tracking of portfolio performance and support evidence-based decision-making by country leadership.
• Ensure robust data management protocols are in place across the portfolio covering data storage, security, quality assurance and version control, and that all project teams adhere to them.
• Lead the development of MEL components for consortium and flagship projects, including multi-partner data sharing agreements, joint indicator frameworks and consolidated reporting approaches.

3. Field-Level MEL Support, Quality Assurance and Evaluations

• Provide targeted, hands-on MEL support to project teams across the portfolio, with particular intensity during project start-up phases, ensuring appropriate MEL plans, tools and skills are in place from day one.
• Supervise and quality-assure data collection exercises in the field, including baselines, midterm and endterm evaluations, monitoring surveys and community feedback sessions.
• Lead and provide technical oversight for key evaluation processes from ToR development through to final reporting and dissemination, quality-assuring all inputs and outputs including ToRs, inception reports, data collection tools, analysis and reports.
• Conduct regular monitoring visits and data verification exercises across project sites to validate the quality and accuracy of data being reported.
• Review existing project MEL systems and provide practical, actionable recommendations to strengthen evidence quality and use.
• Support project teams to establish and maintain effective community feedback and accountability mechanisms, in line with MEL minimum standards.
• Conduct ad-hoc analysis of project monitoring data and communicate key findings clearly to internal and external audiences as required.
• Provide editorial and technical input to evaluation reports, learning products and donor reports, ensuring outputs are of publishable quality.

4. Learning, Knowledge Management and Adaptive Programming

• Support in the rollout and institutionalisation of the organisational learning framework across the country portfolio, in alignment with the approach developed by the Regional MEL, ensuring deep understanding and active application by all field teams.
• Support in the development of knowledge and learning components for consortium and flagship projects, including core learning questions, knowledge management strategies and multi-partner learning agendas.
• Ensure project lessons logs are maintained and updated on a quarterly basis, and that key learnings are systematically fed back into project planning and adaptive management processes.
• Support in delivery of strategic cross-portfolio learning products that synthesise evidence from across the country programme in line with the organisational learning framework.
• Champion a culture of learning and evidence use within the country office, including by facilitating regular reflection sessions, learning events and communities of practice among MEL and programme staff.
• Support communications and programmes teams in gathering evidence for knowledge products such as case studies, learning briefs and success stories.

5. Capacity Building of Project MEL Staff and Partners

• Provide technical line management, mentoring and backstopping to project-level MEL Specialists and M&E Officers across the portfolio, supporting their professional development and ensuring the quality of their outputs.
• Conduct regular MEL capacity assessments of project staff and implementing partners to identify knowledge and skills gaps across the portfolio.
• Develop and deliver targeted, contextualised training programmes for project teams and consortium partners on Farm Africa’s MEL best practices, tools and approaches, including ODK and ONA scripting, Power BI dashboard design, log frame development, data quality assurance and learning facilitation.
• Identify MEL capacity gaps in project teams and jointly develop plans (with Regional MEL) for addressing them.
• Ensure MEL deliverables and expectations are clearly communicated to and understood by project teams and consortium partners on a timely basis.

6. Project Design, New Business and Donor Engagement

• Provide substantive technical input to project design processes, ensuring that MEL considerations including indicator selection, data collection feasibility and evaluation design are robustly integrated from the outset.
• Lead or advise on the development of project logic including log frames, theories of change and indicator frameworks during project design and bid development processes.
• Support in MEL planning and budgeting for new projects and bids, ensuring realistic, appropriately resourced and technically sound MEL systems are proposed.
• Engage with donor MEL requirements and liaise with project managers and the Regional MEL to ensure donor reporting obligations are met to the required quality and on time.

7. Safeguarding & Code of Conduct Responsibilities:

• Comply with and uphold Farm Africa’s Safeguarding Policy, Code of Conduct, and related policies at all times.
• Treat all individuals and communities with dignity, respect, and fairness, promoting a safe and inclusive working environment.
• Ensure that personal and professional conduct does not put beneficiaries, colleagues, or partners at risk of harm or abuse.
• Recognize and report any safeguarding concerns, suspicions, or incidents in accordance with Farm Africa’s safeguarding and reporting procedures.
• Maintain appropriate professional boundaries with beneficiaries, community members, and colleagues.
• Ensure that communications, images, and information about beneficiaries are used responsibly and with informed consent.
• Support the organization’s commitment to preventing sexual exploitation, abuse, harassment, and any form of discrimination.
• Participate in safeguarding training and awareness activities as required.
• Contribute to creating and maintaining a safe working environment for all staff

These essential functions are not to be interpreted as a complete statement of all duties performed. The MEL Coordinator will be required to perform other job-related duties required by the Head of Programmes or the Regional MEL. All work responsibilities are subject to having performance goals and/or targets established.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Essential	Desirable
Education, Qualifications and Knowledge
Post-graduate degree in a numerate discipline (e.g. economics, statistics, applied social sciences, monitoring and evaluation)	Knowledge of and demonstrable interest in agriculture, natural resource management, market systems or private sector development
Academic training in applied econometrics, statistical analysis, MEL or equivalent	Familiarity with project management approaches (e.g. PMD Pro)
Demonstrable understanding of quantitative data collection methods and best practice in international development	Knowledge of FCDO, EU and other major donor MEL and results frameworks
Applied knowledge of qualitative and participatory data collection and social research methods
Fluency in written and spoken English; knowledge of Amharic an advantage
Experience
Minimum 8 years’ experience in MEL, of which at least 4 years’ experience at a portfolio or organisational coordination level managing MEL across multiple concurrent projects	Experience working across multiple countries or in a regional MEL role
Proven experience designing, building and maintaining MEL systems and frameworks, including logical frameworks, MEL plans and indicator frameworks, from project start-up to close	Experience providing remote technical management or backstopping to MEL teams in challenging contexts
Demonstrated experience leading the digitisation of data collection tools using ODK and ONA, including scripting tools and managing data flows	Experience of developing MEL components for consortium bids and multi-partner projects
Demonstrated experience designing and maintaining data visualisation solutions, including Power BI dashboards or equivalent, for programme monitoring purposes
Experience of line managing or providing technical supervision to MEL staff
Significant experience drafting high-quality written reports, evaluation outputs and learning products for both internal and external audiences, including donors
Proficiency in Microsoft Office, particularly Excel; experience with statistical software (SPSS, R, STATA or equivalent)
Skills and Abilities
Highly numerate; confident in synthesising and interpreting complex quantitative and qualitative data to draw actionable, evidence-based conclusions
Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present technical MEL information clearly and compellingly to a wide range of audiences
Ability to manage multiple priorities across a complex portfolio, working under pressure with a methodical approach and strong attention to detail
Skilled in designing and scripting digital data collection tools on ODK and ONA, and in building Power BI or equivalent dashboards for data visualisation
Ability to build strong working relationships across cultures and provide constructive, sensitive feedback to teams of varying technical backgrounds
Confident, flexible and proactive; able to work with minimal supervision and to exercise sound judgement in ambiguous situations
Experience of designing and delivering MEL training and capacity-building programmes for staff and partners
Willingness to travel frequently within Ethiopia and occasionally across East Africa
Commitment to the vision, mission and values of Farm Africa
Values and Behaviours
Holds self accountable for decisions, resource management and role-modelling Farm Africa’s values
Holds teams and partners accountable in a constructive and supportive manner, providing development support and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved
Sets ambitious goals; takes responsibility for own professional development and actively encourages and supports the development of others
Strategic thinker; future-oriented and able to see how country-level MEL connects to broader organisational objectives
Builds and maintains effective, trust-based relationships with colleagues, partners, donors and other stakeholders
Approachable, a good listener, and skilled at creating environments where teams feel safe to raise challenges and share learning

 

OUR VALUES

Investing in smallholder farming is the number one way to combat poverty in rural Africa. Farm Africa is a leading NGO specialising in growing agriculture, protecting the environment and developing businesses in rural Africa.

 

EXPERT	Deep expertise and insightful evidence-based solutions are at the heart of everything Farm Africa does.
GROUNDED	Positive change starts with Africa’s people, so our experts work closely with local communities, engaging them in every level of decision-making.
IMPACTFUL	We take a long-term view so we can deliver lasting changes for farmers and their families.
BOLD	We model innovative new approaches and are not afraid to challenge strategies that are failing.