REGIONAL MONITORING EVALUATION AND LEARNING OFFICER

Background

Wetlands International is a global network organisation with 20 offices that share the name and brand ‘Wetlands International’ and implement a joint ‘Strategic Intent’. The organisation has its global office in Ede-Wageningen (Netherlands). Wetlands International works globally, regionally and nationally toward the conservation and wise use of wetlands to benefit biodiversity and human well-being. It is the only global NGO dedicated to the conservation and wise use of wetlands.

Wetlands International in the Eastern Africa region currently has operations in Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Uganda and South Sudan.  Operations are expanding and are expected to continue to grow in the coming years. Wetlands International Eastern Africa office has responsibility for: sub-regional partnerships; communications; network development and nurturing; resources development; programme and project development, execution and reporting; human resources management; and country operations.

Overall purpose of the role

• Wetlands International Eastern Africa is seeking a Regional Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (RME&L) Officer to:
• To assist Country offices and program operations in the region to strengthen and develop ME&L systems and tools, and ensure that these are applied for solid and accountable programming.
• Working with programmatic counterparts and the ME&L staff at the global, regional and country level, the RME&L Officer will engage in policy, strategic as well as programmatic developments to ensure the Wetlands International Eastern Africa office continues to grow the efficiency and effectiveness of their ME&L practices.

Core Functions / Responsibilities:

Technical and systems development

• Contribute to the development and updating of the Regional ME&L strategy and the consolidated ME&L frameworks for all ongoing projects
• Implement the ME&L policies and procedures as described in the ME&L standard guidelines and make sure that the tools are followed as applicable
• Develop/ Adopt an integrated database of all country projects/ programmes and ensure accountability through regular data updates and data integrity
• Work with programme and project officers to ensure the collection of relevant and appropriate data needed for an effective ME&L system which will be utilized in monitoring strengths, weaknesses and gaps in existing projects/ programs and services and for reporting on donor commitments
• Review existing data collection tools for the current country programmes
• Incorporate field and technical team feedback to ensure the continuous improvement of data management systems
• Contribute to an effective roll-out of M&E collection and reporting systems to all staff and partners through training, site visits, manuals, and other technical support as needed.

Monitoring and Reporting

• Maintain and update the overall indicator tracker
• Work closely with programmatic counterparts to ensure that feedback to country offices implementing programmes/projects is within time.
• Develop M&E plans for all projects and proposals and ensure the same is followed up during implementation;
• Carry out data quality assessments/ audits regularly for ME&L data based on agreed indicators to guide decision making
• Provide alert to the respective project/programme officers on corrective actions required to avoid delays in implementation, including flagging operational issues and risks requiring timely actions.
• Review monthly progress reports from partners and ensure they have evidence to back-up and provide feedback to the respective staff
• Collate/ prepare regional reports related to internal reporting such as the quarterly and annual reports
• Ensure that cross cutting issues such as participation, gender, age and disability are effectively addressed/ mainstreamed in all project implementations as part of ensuring accountability

Assessments, Surveys and Evaluation

• Ensure all new and ongoing projects adhere to accountability requirements by initiating baseline surveys for new projects/ programmes and conducting relevant evaluations for ongoing projects
• Develop and oversee the implementation of appropriate data collection and analysis instruments, methodologies (e.g. survey questionnaires, focus group discussions, key-informant interviews) and data/information dissemination/utilization plans;
• Closely supervise data collection activities and ensure that data collection teams are organized and resourced as needed, and that they deliver as per field mission plans and according to data quality standards;
• Ensure that WI Eastern Africa offices learn from all final evaluations of completed projects for decision making and improvement of project designs.
• Lead and/or coordinate all regional/country assessments, evaluations and performance evaluation tasks including planning and reporting on the same.
• Assist in the development of TOR for external surveys and consultant recruitments/ selection.
• Coordinate the review all survey reports prepared to ensure quality and accurate reporting.
• Timely plan and initiate all pre and post intervention assessments

Learning, Accountability and Capacity Building

• Conduct monitoring of implementation and post implementation monitoring that meet laid down standards on a regular basis
• Share learning and provide constructive comments to colleagues in order to ensure programme quality
• Ensure Sex, Age, Disability Disaggregated Data (SADD), Accountability and Gender standards are consistently adhered in programme delivery
• Build capacity of staff through training to ensure adoption of new data monitoring tools and quality of data collected
• Keep abreast of new approaches and tools on M&E, and provide training to staff as requested. Enable staff to monitor and evaluate their own efforts, gather relevant data and  produce required progress reports;
• Contribute to organizing and facilitating learning events in order to capture best practices and lessons learnt when a project closes or as required;
• Document and share the lessons learnt and best practices on time and ensure that the knowledge gained contributes to the improvement of projects and influence the strategic development of future projects and activities;
• Support project implementation and improvement by providing timely information around project successes to be scaled up as well as challenges to allow ‘course correction’ throughout life of the program.

Countries: Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda 

Duty Station: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Reporting to: Regional Program Officer

Type of contract: Initial contract for one year, including a probationary period of 3 months, with a possibility of extension

Education

• Master’s degree in fields related to organizational learning or Monitoring and/or Evaluation or a related field from an accredited academic institution

Experience

• Minimum of seven (7) years of relevant technical experience in MEL in a senior programmatic capacity
• Proven experience in the development, planning and implementation of programme/project M&E systems, M&E methods and approaches at multi-country or multi-project level (including quantitative, qualitative, and participatory approaches), information/data analysis and report writing;
• Extensive experience in conducting evaluations and managing evaluations including in the development of baseline assessments, with Governmental and non-governmental actors, international organizations, academia, consulting, or another;
• Experience in development and delivery of M&E trainings;
• Proven experience in quantitative and qualitative research methods, and development of mixed methods studies;
• Demonstrated experience in survey design, statistical analysis
• Experience working with Program/ME&L Teams at varying technical capacities
• Experience managing ME&L Communities of Practice for learning and sharing
• Experience working in the context of environmental programming;
• Proven experience in report writing;
• Experience working in a non-government organization, non-profit organization or international organization is preferred;
• Experience training or mentoring others; and,
• Experience of working in a multi-cultural setting.
• Skills
• Advanced written and oral English communication skills;
• Proven communication, organizational and interpersonal relationship skills;
• Good team player, dedicated, ability to keep track of work processes requirements and act based upon; and,
• Ability to meet deadlines and work under pressure with minimum supervision.

Languages

• For this position, fluency in English is required (oral and written). Proficiency of language(s) required will be specifically evaluated during the selection process, which may include written and/or oral assessments.

Values:

• Inclusion and respect for diversity: respects and promotes individual and cultural differences; encourages diversity and inclusion wherever possible.
• Integrity and transparency: maintains high ethical standards and acts in a manner consistent with organizational principles/rules and standards of conduct.
• Professionalism: demonstrates ability to work in a composed, competent and committed manner and exercises careful judgment in meeting day-to-day challenges.
• Core Competencies
• Teamwork: develops and promotes effective collaboration within and across units to achieve shared goals and optimize results.
• Delivering results: produces and delivers quality results in a service-oriented and timely manner; is action oriented and committed to achieving agreed outcomes.
• Managing and sharing knowledge: continuously seeks to learn, share knowledge and innovate.
• Accountability: takes ownership for achieving the Organization’s priorities and assumes responsibility for own action and delegated work.
• Communication: encourages and contributes to clear and open communication; explains complex matters in an informative, inspiring and motivational way.

Offer

• Competitive remuneration according to Wetlands International Eastern Africa standards.