MEAL Officer at American Friends Service Committee

The MEAL Officer will be an integral part of the AFSC Somalia team with a specific lens on Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning for the program interventions. Their work will largely be based on the AFSC global, regional, and country strategic plan for the period 2019-2029. S/he will be based in AFSC’s office in Nairobi and will undertake some travel in Somalia with the aim of supporting AFSC’s programs and partners across the country as required. The MEAL Officer will also support report writing, development of peacebuilding tools, monitoring and evaluation frameworks, take an active role in needs assessments, baseline studies, stakeholder analyses, and situation/conflict analyses. S/he will also support the organization’s fundraising efforts; document best practices and lessons learnt, and ensure the cooption of research and project outcomes in future proposal applications. S/he will also take a leading role in ensuring both donor and internal compliance-related aspects of the Somalia country program. S/he will also work closely with other AFSC programs in Africa. 

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS / RESPONSIBILITIES

• Support the AFSC Somalia program team to develop a Monitoring and Evaluation plan in line with the results to be attained in the framework of AFSC's current program cycle.
• Responsible for the fine-tuning and operationalization of the developed log frame together with any other MEAL aspects of the country program’s current and future work.
• Responsible for ensuring partner compliance with project agreements and AFSC compliance with internal and back donor reporting timelines, templates, and achievement of program results. 
• Develop and periodically review and update Standards of Conduct to ensure continuing project viability and relevance in providing guidance to management, partners, and project beneficiaries.
• Responsible for the training and coaching of the implementing partners, to ensure that they build capacity to collect, analyze, reflect, and use the monitoring data for quality improvement of the program. 
• Responsible for aggregating the monitoring data and liaising with the AFSC Program team to enter data into the country program system, and also generally updating the AFSC internal database for its past and current projects
• Together with the finance and administration officers, process award documents, drafts sub‐agreements, MOUs, and similar documents to local partners to ensure that key compliance requirements are reflected
• Responsible for facilitation of use of monitoring information, evaluations for learning & accountability at both partnership and AFSC country program team level on an ongoing basis and during organized learning events
• In collaboration with the Program Team, responsible for the coordination of the work of external consultants involved in the baseline, mid-term, and final evaluations, to ensure consistent, high-quality evaluations to enable organizational learning, accountability, and visibility
• Responsible for making MEAL results visible via brochures, AFSC and partners’ websites, stakeholder meetings, and other relevant visibility/communication channels. Integration of this learning into funding proposals, whilst ensuring monitoring and evaluation aspects are adequately represented in proposals.
• Provide periodic Monitoring and Evaluation briefing of AFSC program implementation internally and to stakeholders as appropriate.
• Provide guidance regarding identifying capacity building needs for participants and partner organizations, with special attention to Monitoring and Evaluation of projects and activities, using active accompaniment of program activities
• Participate in planning and implementing Dialogue and Exchange Programs organized by AFSC Somalia by enhancing the Monitoring and Evaluation aspect of DEPs.
• Assist with inputs into quarterly reports, biannual and annual reports, and review narrative and financial reports of grants to partners from a monitoring, accountability, and evaluation lens
• Develop relevant tools, training modules, curricula, and courses for enhancing monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning systems of the organization, pre-test/test/review/update tools for relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, impact, and sustainability.
• Articulate AFSC’s values and principles, including its commitment to peace and nonviolent approaches to social justice and peacebuilding at external meetings and when required
• Formulate performance objectives and personal development plan
• Meet regularly with the line manager to review performance objectives and exchange feedback.
• Perform any other duty as assigned by the supervisor from time to time.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

• Bachelor’s degree in social sciences, information management, statistics, economics, or in a related field relevant to AFSC’s work on peace, social justice, and humanitarian assistance. Specific training in M&E will be an added advantage.
• At least 5 years of experience in Program/Project cycle management, organizational development, evaluation, and monitoring in an international organization, preferably an NGO or a civil society organization
• Knowledge and experience in Grant management and exposure to multiple donor agencies.
• Knowledge and experience in documentation and database management 
• Experience with research methods, data management, and analysis in development programming
• Knowledge and experience in peace-building approaches will be an added advantage. 
• S/he must be fluent in spoken and written English. 
• Willingness and ability to travel, sometimes on short notice, to project locations and partner sites.
• Ability to work effectively independently and within a team environment.
• Must be capable of working under tight time constraints in a high-volume environment with multiple priorities.
• Understanding of and commitment to the principles, concerns, and considerations of AFSC in regard to issues of race, class, nationality, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation, and disabilities. 
• Demonstrated ability to work and communicate with diverse staff.
• Commitment to Quaker values and testimonies. Understanding of and compatibility with the principles and philosophy of the American Friends Service Committee, including non-violence and the belief in the intrinsic worth of every individual.