Consultant Monitoring and Evaluation Technical Assistant Position to Support DMDP Programme in Taveta at Micro Enterprises Support Programme Trust (MESPT)

Programme Goal: 

• The overall objective of the proposed activities is to contribute to poverty reduction, climate adaptation and mitigation by embedding sustainability and green growth practices in the banana value chain in Taita Taveta County leading to increased income and employment opportunities.

Programme Outcomes: -

• Improved competitiveness and Market access of the Banana value chain.
• Enhanced biodiversity, climate resilience and reduced emissions in the banana Value chain.
• Sustainable business case and partnerships for socially & environmental responsible enterprises and investments

Rationale

• The DMDP needs additional technical support to drive implementation of MEAL related processes. Due to lack of a staff directly undertaking MEAL activities, the programme is experiencing significant gaps related to data quality audits and verification, digitization/ consolidation of programme databases; indicators performance tracking through continuous data analysis and reporting, as well as documentation of impact/ case/ impact stories. The MEAL technical assistant will be engaged for a period of 6 months as a stopgap measure to fast-track key MEAL results aligned with programme data and reporting requirements.

Key roles and responsibilities of this position

• Undertake data audit and verification exercise on reported programme results to ascertain quality and compliance with programme data requirements.
• Develop and maintain an up-to-date programme beneficiaries’ datasets into an integrated/ centralized programme level database for analysis and reporting on monthly basis.
• Undertake field monitoring mission to assess quality of programme results and implementation strategies/ approaches. These include documentation of good practices, gaps, and recommendation on corrective measures.
• Undertake rapid surveys and document outcome of various planting technologies and productivity levels at both demo plots and individual farms level.
• Work with the programme team in review and digitization of programme field monitoring tools in line with programme data and reporting requirements.
• Undertake further analysis and reporting on GIS and beneficiaries mapping data.
• Develop and up-to-date programme recommendation tracker on a monthly basis.
• Assist in documentation of case studies, impact, and success stories.
• Train, mentor, and coach staff, BSP and partners organization staff on data collection tools, and quality check and M&E processes
• Support the Programme Manager in planning and execution of MEAL activities including review of periodic programme reports.

Monthly milestones and deliverables

• At least 2 data audits/ verification exercise undertaken.
• Up-to-date programme database collated on monthly basis.
• 6 monthly reports developed and submitted with data analytics.
• 2 rapid surveys reports developed and finding disseminated.
• 4 monitoring missions reports prepared and disseminated.
• All data collection tools reviewed, digitized and rolled-out.
• Programme recommendation tracker developed and up to date.
• 1 Advanced GIS Mapping report submitted.
• 4 Training done and reports submitted.
• At least 4 case studies/ impact stories documented and submitted.

Core qualifications and Requirements:

• A minimum of a bachelor’s degree in Monitoring and Evaluation, Project Management, Agricultural Economics, Applied Statistics, Development studies and Social sciences or Related Field.
• At least 3 years of experience in the design and implementation of MEAL process and tools in development projects.
• Professional Certification in Monitoring and Evaluation qualification will be an added advantage.
• Background knowledge in agriculture/agribusiness programs will be added advantage.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access).
• Demonstrated expertise and experience in mobile data collection applications, statistical packages and database management.
• In depth understanding of principles and current approaches and changes into MEAL systems and standards.
• Good critical thinking skills, with a proven capability to provide gainful insight, practical and pragmatic solutions to programme challenges with a bias towards action and resolving issues quickly.