Junior Consultant - Monitoring and Evaluation at SNV Netherlands Development Organisation

Livestock Intensification and Integrated livestock projects-components of ISLA Project

The Initiative for Sustainable Landscapes (ISLA) Kenya is a partnership set up by IDH in 2015 in response to deforestation and forest degradation in the South West Mau Forest block in western Kenya. ISLA aims to conserve 60,000 hectares of the forest by 2030. The partnership is built on the interest of tea and other companies to conserve the forest for its microclimate and of the Kenyan government to improve livelihoods of communities.

The South West Mau is the largest of 22 blocks of the Mau Forests Complex (MFC). The MFC covers over 400,000 hectares and is critical for Kenya and parts of East Africa. More than 10 million people depend on its rivers. The forest also influences the region’s microclimate such as rainfall patterns, creating ideal conditions to produce crops such as tea. Furthermore, the area is one of Kenya’s main water towers and much of its hydroelectric power is generated here.

In recent decades, more than 25% of the forest has either been cut down or degraded, putting tea production, other sectors and community livelihoods at risk. This is caused by growing populations, unsustainable livestock grazing, charcoal burning and timber extraction from the forest.

In response, IDH created a strong coalition of the Nakuru, Kericho and Bomet national government agencies; tea, energy, telecommunications and timber companies; and civil society made up of NGOs and community groups, implementing partners and knowledge institutions to work together across the landscape. Together, we developed an integrated action plan for holistic landscape management in the South West Mau Forest across four key themes: forest conservation, water conservation, sustainable energy with livelihoods as an important cross-cutting theme. The focus of ISLA Kenya is on the northeast boundary of the forest, where threats are highest. Based on baseline and feasibility studies done by IDH, it was clear that overstocking (of livestock) in the forest is a key threat.

The project seeks to fill the position of;

Monitoring and Evaluation Expert (1 position)

Roles and responsibilities

• Develop data collection tools in line with the projects KPIs
• Lead in the collection of baseline data and regular data sets for tracking key indicators
• Generate lessons learnt, case studies and success stories to inform project operations
• Analyse and present data in an easy to interpret format
• Provide a description of trends based on data collected and analysed
• Any other roles assigned by the senior livestock advisor
• Develop an outline of all the categories of data to be analysed in close consultation with the senior livestock advisor.

Expected Profile of Candidate

• A BSC in statistics or in a related field.
• At least 3 years’ experience in monitoring and evaluation in field projects.
• Good data collection, analyses and interpretation skills
• Good communication, negotiation, public speaking, interpersonal and organization skills.
• Good computer skills

Contract duration: 1 year