Meal Officer(DREAMS) at Ananda Marga Universal Relief Team (AMURT)

MEAL OFFICER /O8/2021

Description

Reporting to the Data Manager, the MEAL officer will responsible for the day-to-day tracking and reporting of activities under the USAID Tujitegemee project. The role includes development of standardized data collection tools and database systems; monthly data collection; verification of results reported; analysis and presentation of findings and project progress; set up of project accountability mechanisms; and the documentation of feedback and response from and to partners and project beneficiaries. The position requires close working with the government departments including Ministry of Health and Department of children services.

The officer will ensure that systems are in place to measure the project’s impact and progress and that data is readily available to be used as a foundation for programmatic adjustments and evidence-based decision-making. The MEAL officer will ensure capacity of partners and staff in MEAL is enhanced, beneficiaries and other stakeholders have opportunity to give and receive feedback, and documentation of project learning is consistent with project learning agenda.

Responsibilities

Monitoring

• Ensure Tujitegemee MEAL systems comply with both AMURT and donor requirements.
• Participate in the development and standardization of forms and tools to collect relevant disaggregated data on project monitoring indicators, effects, and impacts
• Develop data flow and reporting maps, and templates to ensure the appropriate information arrives to the right program staff in a timely and efficient manner.
• Support the development of tools to track progress on sustainability plans at the organizational/institutional levels, and benchmarks for household graduation/transition.
• Systematically collect, validate, and analyze data and ensure that it is accurate and of the highest quality by conducting regular data quality assessments.
• Review relevant data collection systems as implemented by partners, to ensure rigor and appropriateness of practices.
• Work closely with other TUJITEGEMEE staff to produce high-quality data and progress reports as per the reporting intervals (monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, annually) 

Evaluation

• Support Tujitegemee technical staff to design and implement assessments, gender analysis, stakeholder analysis, organizational capacity assessments, and other data collection and analysis activities.
• Participate and support in the Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) to improve effectiveness of service delivery.
• Ensure project evaluations (baseline, mid-term, final) are organized and managed in a timely and quality manner.
• Ensure evaluation results are communicated to project stakeholders and used to enhance learning and improve interventions.

Accountability

• Ensure that all project monitoring arrangements comply with the project and donor agreements and ensure that agreements are concretely operationalized.
• Work with other Tujitegemee staff to identify community defined indicators that will show success in the eyes of the project beneficiaries
• Work with other Tujitegemee staff to set up feedback and response mechanisms that will allow the project to receive and respond to feedback from the project beneficiaries

Learning

• Support Tujitegemee technical staff to develop a learning agenda and design associated operations research.
• Support the documentation of lessons learned, best practices, program data, evaluations, and other information to generate donor communication pieces, success stories, case studies, and other high-quality, results-based documentation.
• Ensure project lessons learned are captured and used in future similar projects.
• Facilitate the use of Tujitegemee project data by partners, staff, and other stakeholders to inform decision-making and to identify lessons learned and promising practices. 

Capacity building

• Participate in the assessment of MEAL capacity of local partner staff, develop and implement capacity improvement plans in line with gaps identified
• On-site capacity building of program and partner staff implementing Tujitegemee project, including but not limited to staff with dedicated MEAL responsibilities, that will include formal and on-the job staff training
• Distance support to field offices and partner teams implementing Tujitegemee project through document reviews, emails and conversations which provide tools, resources, and practical advice on assessments, MEAL system setup, and improvements to MEAL practices

ICT4D

• Assist in developing digital data collection systems, where appropriate.
• Support the use of technology for monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning.

Qualifications

Education

Bachelor’s degree in biostatistics, epidemiology, public health, international development, economics or related field; a Master’s degree in M&E would be an added advantage

Knowledge

• Five years of relevant professional experience in project-level MEAL, including development of data flow maps, data collection tools, reporting forms, and project databases
• Experience in designing and implementation of mixed method evaluation plans
• Thorough familiarity with principles and current approaches to project monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning
• Excellent analytic and computer skills; skilled in MS Office Suite including Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint and Access
• Experience in using data analysis software, preferably SPSS and STATA
• Skills in developing project M&E databases desired. 

Skills and Abilities

• Excellent oral and written communication skills
• Strong interpersonal skills as well as good judgment and vision
• Excellent organizational skills, team work and ability to prioritize tasks in a timely manner
• Sound coordination skills and a demonstrated ability to multi-task
• Demonstrates diplomacy, flexibility, and resourcefulness
• Strong critical thinking and creative problem-solving skills
• Demonstrated ability to work with and in teams.
• Excellent computer skills (Microsoft Office).