Monitoring and Evaluation Officer (Open to Ugandan Nationals Only)

PROGRAMME/DEPARTMENT SUMMARY:

Mercy Corps has been operating in Uganda since 2006 and works to catalyze change makers within the Ugandan private sector, civil society and government to create economically dynamic, healthy and secure communities. Our works focus on building resilience and enable economic growth, improve opportunities to attain better health and nutrition, and improved governance and conflict management. We implement programs in the northern districts of Pader, Kitgum, Agago, Lamwo, Kaabong, Abim and Kotido with funding from USAID, USDA, Walmart Foundation, SDC, DFID as well as other private donations.

We were recently awarded a livelihoods focused 3-year Nike Foundation program working in the Karamoja (Uganda) and West Pokot and Turkana (Kenya) regions. The project, called Girls Improving Resilience with Livestock (GIRL) aims to empower pastoralist girls in the Karamoja region to improve their livelihoods and personal agency, as well as increase the food security and adaptive capacity of their households and the resilience of their communities.

Mercy Corps is looking for a qualified Ugandan to fill the position of Monitoring & Evaluation Officer. He/She will be responsible for tracking, monitoring and evaluating GIRL’s livelihood and education-focused activities.

GENERAL POSITION SUMMARY:

Reporting to the Program Manager in Moroto Field Office, this position is a key role in Mercy Corps’ Program quality assurance, accountability, documentation and learning unit. The unit exists to support program design, implementation and utilization of information collected at different stages. The position holder will support program in planning and execution of monitoring and evaluation activities, ensuring quality in accordance with accepted standards, providing essential feedback for learning, accountability and decision making. S/he will be responsible for providing internal capacity building for program staff on monitoring and evaluation activities as well as review and development of necessary tools that feed into needs of Mercy Corps and donor reporting requirements.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS:

§ Generate and implement monitoring and evaluation tools

§ Play key role in the development of intervention designs, sector strategies and M&E frameworks

§ Coordinate assessments, evaluations and monitoring surveys in area of operation. This will entail development of Scopes of Work, development of survey tools, trainings and management of data collectors, report write and facilitating results discussion.

§ Regularly document and share all learnings from program implements Maintain an up to date database that reflects progress (including disaggregated beneficiary counts) and donor indicators

§ Build the capacity of all relevant team members to develop and maintain an excellent M&E system, and facilitate periodic reflection and analysis of program monitoring information that feeds into programming and learning.

§ Participate in on-going M&E training and support for all Mercy Corps programs and partnering private sector staff

§ Visit sites and partners to collect supplementary data, stories and conduct qualitative research both independently and in teams

§ Maintain professional relationships with local government officials, private sector partners, NGOs, other development organizations, and civil society organizations

§ Maintain an active advisory role with each program team to help guide them towards robust and relevant data collection

§ Actively participate in all implementation, providing advice and feedback for quality results at any point

§ Work with program team and other staffs to ensure that activities are implemented on plan and progress towards targets is not compromised.

§ Establish and maintain strong working relationships with partners and government departments

§ Conduct himself/herself both professionally and personally in such a manner as to credit Mercy Corps and to not jeopardize its mission.

§ Perform any other duties as assigned by his/her supervisor or representatives.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

§ Must hold at least a bachelor’s degree in Economics, Agriculture, Demography, Statistics, Business administration or relevant field

§ At least 3 years of program monitoring and evaluation experience

§ Should understand concepts and demonstrate skills in monitoring and evaluation, project cycle, results chain and frameworks, participatory monitoring

§ Should be able to design and implement surveys, have knowledge of commonly used probability and purposive sampling techniques

§ Must have good writing and analytical skills

§ Should have knowledge of quantitative and qualitative data collection, reporting techniques. S/he should understand and be able to apply basic measures of central tendency and spread

§ In addition to Microsoft Excel, the incumbent should demonstrate fluency in use of at least one data management software including Ms Access, SPSS, STATA.

§ Must be fluent both spoken and written English. N’Karamojon Mazeniko, Pei, Bokora, Pökoot language skills is a plus

SUCCESS FACTORS:

The ideal candidate will;

§ Have the ability and curiosity to work comfortably and effectively in the cultural, relatively poor infrastructure of Karamoja sub region.

§ S/he will be an excellent communicator, have a strong sense of humor, multi-tasker, and

§ Be able to work difficult and often stressful environments.