MEAL Officer – Karamoja Programme At ZOA

MEAL Officer- Karamoja

Position : Uganda nationals only

Starting date : May 2022

Reporting to: Programme Manager

Duty station : Amudat

Purpose of the position

The MEAL Officer is responsible for the monitoring and reporting of the output, outcome and impact indicators as defined in Education and Livelihoods projects MEAL Frameworks.

The MEAL officer will identify gaps in information and organise collection of the data for indicators at project level, ensuring that data collection (both in terms of process and content) facilitates accountability and learning as described in the Knowledge Management and MEAL Plans. The MEAL activities shall result in timely tracking and documentation of project activities, quality data collection and processing in support of project reporting, increased project accountability to different stakeholders and uphold learning within the project and the Organisation.

The MEAL officer will support the education and livelihood projects in Amudat

• Embrace education project works to realise three pillars of education which include access, quality and systems strengthening. The three pillars constitute the project’s main outcomes.
• Livelihoods diversification project works to consolidate previous livelihood project gain by strengthening private sector involvement through the creation of linkages with inputs dealers, honey and horticulture products value addition and creating sustainable market access for farmers.

Both projects are funded by FOCO (through ZOA Netherlands). The two projects run until 2024.

Place in Organisation

The MEAL Officer will be employed by ZOA Uganda and is line managed by the PGM Karamoja Programme, with dotted lines to Project manager Education and Project Manager livelihoods based in Amudat. For technical guidance, the MEAL office will have a dotted reporting line to the ZOA MEAL Advisor in Kampala. The post holder will seek sector advice from ZOA Education Advisor and Livelihood Advisor based at ZOA Country Office in Kampala. The MEAL Office will not line manage or supervise any ZOA staff, he or she will work closely with all project team members and other ZOA staff as guided by the ZOA communication flow at all levels.

The position is recruited at Officer level in the ZOA Uganda Salary Scale 1500000 Gross (scale 3).

Responsibilities and activities

Monitoring

• Develop and implement a monitoring plan for project activities
• Ensure joint stakeholder participation in monitoring ZOA work in Amudat
• Strengthen documents of project activities and maintain up-to-date activity reports
• Establish and update routine project databases and conduct data quality assessments
• Strengthen team capacity in collecting project data responsive to key indicators
• Participate in periodic progress reporting of activity implementation
• Design and implement project specific data collection tools including mobile tools i.e., kobo toolbox, in collaboration with the MEAL advisor
• Orient project team/s on utilization of design data collection tools
• Work in close collaboration with project stakeholders (both internal and external) to strengthen the quality and consistency of monitoring project activities
• Conduct routine field monitoring and track performance of key project indicators
• Conduct periodic project performance reviews and identify deviations from project proposal
• Monitoring implementation of recommendations and agreed actions

Evaluation

• Identify project evaluation needs and develop a comprehensive plan to respond to the identified needs
• Assist during project assessments including baselines, mid-term and endline evaluations
• Work in close collaboration with project stakeholders (both internal and external) to strengthen the quality of project evaluations

Accountability

• Follow-up on monitoring and review of findings and ensure corrective actions are taken and/or adjustments are made to programme responses as required.
• Actively participate in roll-out of ZOA accountability framework
• Collect beneficiary feedback on ZOA implementation and adopt approaches to establish a two-way communication channel to project beneficiaries
• Identify project visibility needs and suggest appropriate design
• Support collection of evidence-based reporting materials including activity implementation communicating-photos, location maps among others

Learning

• Ensure proper documentation of project lessons learnt, success story and, or most significant story change.
• Work with MEAL Advisor to develop Karamoja learning agenda for ZOA interventions

Others general roles

• Support unpacking of project activities or writing activity descriptions
• Ensure proper management of mobile devices used for data collection i.e. tablets
• Protect project data from misuse and maintain kobo accounts
• Perform analysis of project data and ensure qualitative & quantitative project information is included in periodic project reports (narrative reports and beneficiary information)
• Perform other duties as assigned by MEAL Advisor at country office in consultation with PGM Karamoja Programme

Characteristics of role

The MEAL Officer will be based in Amudat, Karamoja Programme and shall regularly visit all sub-counties within the Karamoja programme area/the project locations up to 50% field time to provide real time monitoring.

The role is 1.0 FTE (40 hrs/ week). Working hours are outlined in the ZOA Uganda Conditions of Service. Some flexibility on working hours may be required, e.g. for travel at weekends, or during reporting times.

Competencies – knowledge and experience

Graduate degree in a relevant discipline (e.g. Development Studies, social sciences, Education, statistics, economics, Sociology, Anthropology, etc.)

• At least two years’ experience in:
  • Participatory assessment and monitoring
  • (Computerized) data processing and analysis, e.g. statistical software such as SPSS
  • Training of individuals and groups (e.g. for data collection)
  • MEAL design and implementation
• Good understanding of the Uganda context; experience in Karamoja, post-conflict and/or pastoralist community is a plus
• Excellent facilitation and communication skills
• Ability to organize and train project office staff in Amudat
• Good contextual knowledge related to civil society/community assessment (i.e. Local community priorities, social and cultural constraints and local political and economic environment)
• Able to speak Pokot language is a plus

Competencies – Behaviour

• Good interpersonal, organizational and intercultural sensitivity
• Able to plan and coordinate and work in an organized manner
• High level of integrity
• Motivated
• Able to work under supervision