Monitoring, Evaluation , Accountability and Learning Advisor

Job Description

Trócaire works in partnership with local and church organisations,supporting communities in developing countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East to bring about lasting change. Trócaire envisages a just and peaceful world where people’s dignity is ensured, and rights are respected; basic needs are met, and resources are shared equitably; people have control over their own lives; and those in power act for the common good. The Zimbabwe Programme Team is headed by the Programme Manager. The Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Advisor will support the work of the Programme Team in-country.

Background to the role:

The MEAL Advisor will be responsible for providing strategic direction and technical advice on all aspects of MEAL for Trócaire’s programming, helping to ensure that Trócaire and its partners are implementing high quality programmes, are striving for excellence, and are fostering a culture of learning and continuous improvement.

Reporting to: Programme Manager
Contract type: Fixed term with a possibility of extension
Location of position: Harare, with frequent travel within Zimbabwe and occasional international travel.

Safeguarding

Trócaire is committed to safeguarding people within our programmes from exploitation and abuse and has specific policies on this commitment (including a Global Code of Conduct) which outlines the expected behaviour and the responsibility of all staff, consultants, and other organisational representatives. Any candidate offered a job with Trócaire will be expected to sign Trócaire’s Safeguarding Policies and Global Code of Conduct as an appendix to their contract of employment and agree to conduct themselves in accordance with the provisions of these documents. All offers of employment will be subject to pre-employment checks including satisfactory references and appropriate screening. Trócaire also participates in the Inter Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme and all employees will be subject to this as part of contract of employment.

Scope of the role:

The MEAL Advisor will be responsible for ensuring a systematic approach to Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) in the Country Programme and will lead the implementation of the country programme M&E system, track outputs and outcomes throughout the project lifespan and manage data effectively, thus contributing to quality reporting, continuous learning, programme adaption, innovation, and increased visibility of the impact of Trócaire’s work. The MEAL Advisor will work closely with partners on improving their internal M&E systems, providing coaching and accompaniment to partner staff in MEAL capacity, skills, and tasks. The MEAL Advisor will support the country office to increase accountability to project participants, partners, donors and other stakeholders, guided by Trócaire’s Accountability & Programme Quality Framework (APQF), and contribution to embedding the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS) benchmarks in the country programme.

Key duties & responsibilities:

Overarching:

• Develop and oversee a robust MEAL system across all programmes to measure achievement and progress toward organisational and country-level programme goals and results, to ensure compliance with relevant donor requirements, and to assess the overall performance and impact of Trócaire’s programmes.
• Co-ordinate and provide technical support to the Country Programme Team, in the development and roll out of comprehensive Programme and project MEL frameworks.
• Work closely with Programme/Project technical/Advisors (and partners when relevant) to strengthen MEL – related partner capacity.
• Utilise appropriate technology where and when relevant to increase programmatic efficiency and effectiveness.
• Document learning in the area of MEAL with a view to sharing this with other Trócaire offices and donors
• In conjunction with the programme team, provide support to the Programme Manager and the Regional Business Development and Grants Manager in managing and coordinating programme development processes.

This role will involve the following components:

Programme development, Implementation, learning, and reporting

• Provide technical support to the programme team to design, improve and update programme and project MEL frameworks, including refinement of indicators, monitoring and evaluation plans, and collection, management, analysis and reporting of performance data as well as digital data collection.
• Support Programme Advisors in conducting timely monitoring and learning activities, including oversight and quality assurance of field data collection, data management and analysis which will contribute to quality reporting increased accountability, visibility of programme impact and continual programme improvement.
• Support the use of Trócaire’s global indicators including country specific indicators, monitoring tools and methodologies in programmes and the effective use of results-based management.
• Adopt & promote the use of organisational data collection and visualisation software for data collection and analysis.
• Support the development, design and management of programme or project evaluations, baselines, or research.
• Support the development of the country’s accountability and programme quality framework, including feedback and complaints mechanisms, to ensure the sharing of monitoring information with programme participants and other stakeholders.
• Provide technical support on measuring REACH including the annual collection and reporting of REACH at country level.
• Support the programme team and partners in strategic targeting of programme participants in line with organisational standards.
• Support programme staff to use M&E learning to inform and adapt programme implementation.

Capacity Strengthening to Trocaire programme Staff and Partners

• Co-ordinate the MEAL team to train programme staff regularly on M&E concepts and methodologies and generate training materials and resources for this.
• Co-ordinate the MEAL team to develop and implement a partner M&E capacity strengthening plan, generating training materials and resources where needed.
• Work with Programme/Project Technical Advisors to support partners’ use of results-based management and engagement with programme learning and review processes.
• Co-ordinate the MEAL team to train Trócaire colleagues and partners on survey design & data collection using organisational data collection software CommCare.
• Through training and coaching support partner staff to develop skills and competencies to gather, manage and analyse quality gender-sensitive, conflict sensitive and inclusion sensitive data.
• Train partners on using analysed data to inform programme quality control, to produce quality donor reports, to document lessons learned and programme impact and to inform future project development.
• Support partners to implement quality monitoring in a manner that is sensitive to the different needs, responsibilities and capabilities of vulnerable female and male programme participants.
• Support monitoring and audits of policies and processes for keeping programme participants safe from exploitation and abuse.
• Support partners in establishing their accountability practices, including safeguarding, complaints and response mechanisms, participation and information sharing mechanisms.

Documenting and Sharing

• Sharing of partner M&E tools and training resources developed;
• Share learning from use of Trócaire global indicators, tools, and methodologies;
• Capture lessons from partner capacity strengthening to share at country and organisational level;
• Actively engage with Global MEAL Team sharing learning from Zimbabwe
• Learn from other organisational and external documented learning in rolling out new approaches and methods (e.g. digital data monitoring and innovative participatory M&E methods) and explore how to apply these in the context of Zimbabwe.

Collaborating and Coordinating

• Assist in the development of institutional funding applications (concept notes and full proposals) in close coordination with Programme Managers, Regional Business Development and Grants Manager, Programme Advisors, Institutional Funding Unit, and partners,
• Contribute to the proposal content particularly, log frame and M&E sections of proposals.
• Participate in inception workshops and support the development of M&E framework of newly acquired funding proposals.
• Assist in the development of donor reports in close coordination with Programme Manager and Programme Advisors.
• Ensure alignment of all organisational MEAL tools with those of the national/provincial government as well as various clusters

Other

• Ensure that gender, conflict sensitivity and protection issues are addressed in all aspects of M&E work, in relation to partners and in working with colleagues in Trócaire. Champion monitoring and learning approaches which engage with issues of Humanitarian, Sustainable Livelihoods, Resource Rights, SGBV and Women’s Empowerment.
• Active involvement in the preparation/review of the country strategic plan/operational plan and other tools relevant for the strategic outline of the Zimbabwe programme, with particular focus on programme quality, systems and impact.
• Participate in wider organisational planning and review work, as and where appropriate.
• Any other reasonable duty as may be assigned by the line manager that is consistent with the nature of the job and its level of responsibility.

Requirements

• Third level qualification (preferably Masters) in any relevant social science
• At least 5 years’ experience in programme monitoring, evaluation and/or development work;
• Experience in implementing results focused monitoring, evaluation and learning systems, and using results or logical frameworks;
• Previous experience of quantitative/ qualitative data management and analysis including digital data collection;
• Experience with digital data collection software, such as CommCare or similar software.
• Experience in participatory MEL approaches.
• Previous experience working with local partner organizations and in facilitating trainings.
• Demonstrated commitment to international development work.
• Thorough knowledge of institutional donor grants policies, procedures, project management, and reporting requirements.
• Experience with FCDO, SIDA, EU, or Irish Aid grants would be an advantage.
• Excellent leadership skills, including ability to lead and influence, and to motivate staff to align behind a shared vision and objectives.
• Technical skills to implement M&E in a gender-sensitive manner, including tool design, sampling, data collection, analysis, participatory rural appraisal, and report writing.
• Proposal development and writing skills.
• Computer Skills: High level of proficiency in Excel, PowerPoint. Good knowledge of IT systems such as cloud platforms, apps, Excel, databases and online data collection systems such as CommCare
• Facilitation, coordination and communication skills, with an ability to communicate to a variety of audiences;
• Ability to synthesize large amounts of data into different formats (e.g., reports, short summaries, presentations);
• Experience leveraging performance monitoring data for improving ongoing project management.
• Empathy with the ethos of Trócaire as a Catholic organisation.
• A leader, but a team player with strong commitment to working with others to achieve mutual objectives.
• Availability to travel extensively within the country and to work outside normal hours when necessary.
• Strong commitment to respect of human rights, democracy, women’s empowerment, and gender equality.
• Understanding of programme cycle management and Programme Quality theories, including MEL systems and Results Based Management and impact assessment;
• General understanding of development issues and contexts, preferably in the areas of Humanitarian, Sustainable Livelihoods, Resource Rights, SGBV, and Women’s Empowerment.

Benefits: Trocaire offers competitive remuneration in line with Trocaire Zimbabwe salary scale.

Closing date for applications – Friday 10th February 2023.