MEL OFFICER- VOLUNTEER at Save the Children Tanzania (Dodoma) July 2020
TITLE: Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Officer -Volunteer
TEAM/PROGRAMME: MEAL/Lishe Endelevu
LOCATION: Dodoma
GRADE: NIL
CONTRACT LENGTH 3 Months
Child Safeguarding:
Level 3: the role holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work in country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process of staff.
SUMMARY OF THIS ROLE
Save the Children seeks a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer for the USAID-funded Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Activity in Tanzania to be responsible for providing technical guidance on project activities in Iringa Region. The incumbent will serve as a key M&E Officer with the overall responsibility of operationalizing the Lishe Endelevu MEL system and SCI MEAL approach in Iringa office. Besides rolling out the Lishe Endelevu MEL Plan, the officer supports the integration of quality benchmarks and accountability initiatives. The MEL Officer will be responsible for ensuring that CSOs, and Lishe Endelevu collect quality data that meets the USAID data requirements including the different levels of disaggregation (sex, age and geographic disaggregation). The MEL Officer will also manage data collection, storage of paper-forms (supporting documents), and data entry into Lishe Endelevu Management Information System (LEMIS), perform data analysis and visualization using Power Bi and other visualization tools. To meet the data quality standard around data integrity, the MEL Officer will be expected to securely store Activity data in a lockable filing cabinet. The filing system should be well labelled with clear naming protocol e.g. Region Name, County Name, Activity, Year and Month.
The MEL Officer will be expected to lead MEL capacity building of technical and CSO staff and partners on MEL. Oversee incorporation of MEL throughout the Activity Cycle, manage Activity-level evaluation, and refine the program’s approach to MEL and/or MEL systems as appropriate in consultation with the regional manager and technical team.
Recommended:
SCOPE OF ROLE:
KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:
Together with the MEL Manager and in collaboration with the Regional Managers and partners, the MEL Officer will be responsible for establishing and promoting the use of Lishe Endelevu MEL systems as a management tool with an aim of taking corrective action and adaptations.
Is informed on the extent to which interventions are affecting the lives of the targeted populations (women of reproductive age, Children under 5, and Adolescents).
Receives regular, timely and context-specific, meaningful feedback from o community members (who are or are not targeted by our interventions) partners, staff and that feedback effectively informs and signals areas where strategic attention is required.
There is evidence-based knowledge on the positive and negative impact that both the emergency response and development interventions are having over the communities where SCI works
PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES: Lead the MEL team in supporting the Lishe Endelevu Iringa regional office in tracking and measuring achievement and progress toward Activity goals and results;
Maintain the Indicator Performance Tracking Tool (IPTT) and Output reporting tracker providing updates on a monthly basis
Lead roll out of a robust Lishe Endelevu MEL Plan and systems and processes to measure achievement and progress towards achieving Activity objectives/outcomes and results/outputs against indicators (indicator performance tracking tables, quality checklists, etc.).
Lead monitoring of program quality using quality bench marks and ensure that findings are shared with relevant stakeholders and explicitly fed back into programme decision making, incorporating accountability and learning.
Ensure implementation and integration of regular monitoring systems in the Iringa Region Activity management and at various levels of Activity implementation (monitoring of inputs, outputs, outcomes, etc.);
Contribute to child-focused and child-led programme implementation, by ensuring children’s participation, reporting back to children, and child-led M&E in the area;
Maintain a Workplan tracker bringing to the attention of the regional manager key issues that need action and appropriately sharing them with the MEL Manager at Dar es Salaam Office
Support internal and external Activity evaluations as necessary
Lead the management of information systems and roll out of mobile data collection using KoboCollect Tool box and DHIS2;
Lead compilation of data and reporting on, Lishe Endelevu indicators and SCI total reach reports
Lead in data quality management for Lishe Endelevu partners and CSOs by regularly verifying and validating data reported monthly, quarterly and annually.
CSO/Partner Management
Offering technical assistance in the development, selection, and application of MEL processes and tools;
Overseeing and advising colleagues on information management processes by reviewing CSO/Partner data collection efforts, overall data reliability, consistency, and quality;
Training partners, and CSO staff where required, on key MEL requirements, tools, and processes;
Undertaking periodic site visits to project locations to collect data and/or oversee data collection efforts.
Supporting the Regional Manager to prepare performance data for the “pause and reflection” meetings
Accountability and Organisational Learning
Support the MEL Manager with learning activities. For instance, support planning of Activity review workshops, prepare lessons learnt reports;
Ensure participation of beneficiaries and children in monitoring and evaluating Save the Children development interventions This includes roll out of Complaints and Response Mechanism (CRM);
Ensure accountability systems are established engaging beneficiaries and stakeholders in evaluations, impact assessments and research.
Staff Management, Mentorship, and Development
Building capacity and knowledge of staff and partners on MEL systems, strengthening organizational knowledge and understanding of effective programming through networking, experience sharing and searching for innovative ideas;
Identify training needs of staff in respect to applying monitoring plans/tools; collect, analysis and report on findings periodically and conduct trainings to address the capacity gaps;
Support the development of an organisational culture that reflects our dual mandate values, promotes accountability and high performance, encourages a team culture of learning, creativity and innovation, and frees up our people to deliver outstanding results for children and excellent customer service for our members and donors.
COMPETENCIES AND BEHAVIOURS (our Values in Practice)
Applying Technical and Professional Expertise:
Makes decisions based on professional expertise and experience without deferring unnecessarily to others
Shares knowledge and best practice on technical solutions so that others can make best use of that expertise
Actively seeks new ways to develop the application of technical and professional standards within the team
Developing self and others:
Gives regular positive and constructive feedback to others
Identifies clear development needs and development
plans through regular constructive reviews of their own performance (and their team’s where appropriate)
Creates space for others to learn and provides challenging and stretching tasks and assignments when people are ready for them
Coaches others to learn from their experiences on the job and to use the resources available to them
Problem Solving and Decision Making:
Gathers the right information and uses critical thinking to make effective and timely decisions
Knows when to involve others in a decision
Demonstrates awareness of the wider external influences that impact on decision making
Analyses and exercises judgment in challenging situations in the absence of specific guidance or knowledge of the full facts
Evaluates the opportunities and risks of each idea and solution to make informed strategic decisions
Working effectively with others
Actively listens to new and different perspectives and experiences of those they work with
Proactively supports team members and trusts their capabilities
Demonstrates understanding of their skills and how they complement those of others within diverse teams and groups
Clarifies their role and responsibilities within the team to maximise impact
Delivering Results
Delivers timely and appropriate results using available resources
Takes responsibility for their work and its impact on others
Plans, prioritises and performs tasks well without needing direct supervision
Understands the link between their work and the organisation’s objectives
QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE
A degree in an area of social development or equivalent.
Minimum one (1) year practical experience in M&E system coordination/implementation in non-governmental organisation or other international relief/development body;
Demonstrable track-record in data tracking and evaluation, with the ability to support staff and partners on M&E methodology and analyse and disseminate complex information to a range of stakeholder audiences;
Relevant MEL experience as relates to data analysis (qualitative and quantitative), documentation and report-writing and skills, data collection methods;
Ability to write clear and well-argued assessment and project reports. A high level of written and spoken English
Computer literacy, particularly in Microsoft Suite (Word, Excel, MS Access, PowerPoint, and outlook), Statistical Packages;
Excellent planning, coordination, and reporting skills, with the ability to organise a substantial workload comprised of complex, diverse tasks and responsibilities;
Strong communication and interpersonal skills in English, with experience working in multicultural, multi location, values driven teams;
Ability and willingness to dramatically change work practices and hours, and work with incoming surge teams, in the event of emergencies
Commitment to and understanding of Save the Children International’s aims, values and principles
Additional job responsibilities
The duties and responsibilities as set out above are not exhaustive and the role holder may be required to carry out additional duties within reasonableness of their level of skills and experience.
Equal Opportunities
The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures;
Child Safeguarding:
We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.
Safeguarding our Staff:
The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI anti-harassment policy
Health and Safety
The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.
Date advertised: 23 Jul 2020
Closing date: 31 Jul 2020 – 23:59 EAT
Location: Dodoma, Tanzania, United Republic of
Department: Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning
Type: Contingent
Schedule: Full-time
