Job Opening: Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning (MEL) and Reporting Officer, Mara- Africa Help International (AAH-I)

Africa Help International (AAH-I) is a regional African-led non-governmental organization that supports livelihood-challenged communities in East and Southern Africa to sustainably improve their well-being and standard of living. With Country Programmes in South Sudan, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda, Zambia, and Ethiopia.

AAH-Kenya, an affiliate Country Program of AAH-I, addresses development challenges in partnership with marginalized communities in Arid and Semi-arid areas (ASALs) and low income urban and rural settings. AAH-Kenya supports pastoral communities in Narok West Sub County to sustainably improve their social and economic livelihoods.

AAH-I Kenya is currently recruiting a Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning (MEL) and Reporting Officer, who will be responsible for establishing an appropriate and functioning institutional Monitoring and Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) system and generating internal and external program reports. Periodically review and revise the system so that it is adapted appropriately to changing operating contexts. Lead in supporting culture and practice of reliable planning, monitoring, evaluation, reporting, and accountability for the AAH-I Kenya programs.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:

Meal system

a) Lead in updating the institutional MEL system incorporating objectives, procedures, and tools;

b) Assist the Project Coordinator to align MEL schedules with annual work plans and budgets;

c) Develop sustainability indicators with the programme teams and use the indicators to monitor the sustainability of the project’s results;

d) Develop M&E plans for all projects and proposals and ensure the same is followed up during implementation;

e) Ensure all grants have updated work-plan and performance management plan (PMPs) in tandem with all approved proposals, regularly reviewing and updating as needed;

f) Lead in collecting information to clarify core information needs of the Board members, senior management; programmes/projects and staff; donors; networks and referral partners;

Monitoring and reporting

a) Supporting the Programmes team in preparing quarterly, bi-annual and annual reports on the progress of implementation of the strategic plan and specific projects, and monitoring the project activities regularly;

b) Oversee and execute MEL activities included in the annual work plan, with particular focus on results, mainstreaming issues, impact as well as in lesson learning, in particular:

c) Lead in collecting all activity reports, filing and collating them into quarterly progress reports

d) Assist the project team in analyzing all concepts and activity reports to ensure inclusion of gender sensitivity programming in planning, budgeting, implementation and reporting

e) Advising the projects team on progress, gaps, and measures for improvement

f) Collect, collate and or write up case studies or success stories for inclusion in quarterly and grant reports, and use for social media communications and campaigns;

g) Suggest strategies for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the programmes by identifying bottlenecks in completing project activities and developing plans to minimize or eliminate such bottlenecks;

h) Undertake regular field visits if required to support implementation and identify needs.

i) Carry out data quality assessments/ audits regularly for MEL data based on agreed indicators to guide decision making;

j) Ensure relevant and timely M&E information is provided in user-friendly formats to key stakeholders, including beneficiary communities, board, donors;

k) Provide regular management information highlighting areas of concern

Assessments, surveys, and evaluation

a) Compile lessons learnt, success and impact stories which can be included in to the programming.

b) Assist the Project managers in coordinating all project assessments, evaluations, and performance evaluation tasks including planning and reporting on the same in the development of TOR for external surveys and consultant recruitments/ selection;

c) Support the project team to coordinate the review of all survey reports prepared to ensure quality and accurate reporting;

d) Planning and preparing timely surveys and evaluations and preparing electronic tools and training enumerators in digital data collection

Learning, accountability, and capacity building

a) Conduct all project implementation and post-implementation monitoring that meets AAHI and donor standards regularly;

b) Developing and sharing impactful stories of change for use in resource mobilization

c) Provide relevant evidence for learning from projects;

d) Share learning and provide constructive comments to colleagues to ensure program quality

e) Ensure disaggregated data on sex, age, disability, gender standards consistently adhere in programme delivery

f) Check that monitoring data are discussed in appropriate forums and in a timely fashion in terms of implications for future action. If necessary, create such discussion forums;

g) Build capacity of staff through training to ensure adoption of new data monitoring tools and quality of data collected;

h) Effectively addressed/ mainstreamed in all project implementations as part of ensuring accountability according to the AAHI strategic plan

i) Review activity and quarterly progress reports and ensure they have evidence to back-up delivery of results/envisaged change;

j) Provide alerts to the program teams on corrective actions required to avoid delays in implementation, including flagging operational issues and risks requiring timely actions

k) Keep abreast of new approaches and tools on M&E, and provide training to AAHI staff as requested

l) Other tasks may be assigned as necessary according to organizational needs.

The Minimum Qualifications and Experience

• A post-graduate degree in Monitoring and Evaluation, Social sciences or related course.
• Experience in designing strategies and tools for data collection, analysis, and production of reports
• Demonstrated understanding of the project cycle management
• Demonstrated experience in data collection, analysis synthesis, and preparation of strategic information for decision-makers
• Proven track record of successful experience in writing reports and reviews, delivering presentations and defending recommendations
• Experience in working in a multi-cultural environment, INGO or CSO set up.
• A good understanding of results-based programming
• Strong training & facilitation skills and ability to be part of the team
• At least 5 years of experience leading research or monitoring and evaluation in the CSO sector, human rights, or governance programmes
• Works independently and requiring minimum supervision.