MEAL Officer (Monitoring Evaluation Accountability & Learning) At Terre des Hommes Netherlands

Duty Station: Fort-Dauphin-Madagascar

Contract Type: Full time (40 hours per week)

Contract Duration: 12 months renewable

Starting Date: As soon as possible

Permits required: Candidates are required to have the right work and residence permits in the country where the role is advertised.

Compensation: Basic of Euro 772/month

Terre des Hommes NL

Terre des Hommes Netherlands is part of the International Federation of Terre des Hommes organisations, a strategic partnership of member organisations sharing the same brand name and core values for joint lobby and advocacy around children’s rights. Terre des Hommes Netherlands (TdH NL) protects children by preventing and stopping child exploitation, and by empowering children to make their voices count. Our work is grounded in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and seeks to support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Under our new Global Strategy (2023 – 2030), TdH NL is redefining and refining our role as a child rights organisation, with the strategic ambition that “by 2030, Terre des Hommes Netherlands is a catalyst for systemic change to stop child exploitation. We do this by empowering children and their communities, connecting them with those who have power to enact change, and utilising our knowledge and expertise to co-create sustainable, evidence-based solutions.”

TdH Netherlands is led by a two-headed Executive Team: the Executive Director and the Director of Programmes.

The values of TdH Netherlands are: Responsible, Bold, Human-Centred and Playful.

The organisation’s core principles are: (1)Children at the Centre, (2) Intersectionality and Power Awareness, (3) Safety and Wellbeing, (4) Sustainability, and (5) Meaningful and Strategic Partnerships.

In line with our new strategy, TdH NL is in the process of establishing three thematic programmes under which our portfolio of humanitarian and development projects and programmes will be managed. These are: 1. Child Labour, 2. Sexual Exploitation of Children, and 3. Humanitarian Action. Our programmatic work is supported by two cross-programmatic units: Programme Development and Quality (PDQ), and Research, Expertise and Influencing (REI). Aligned to our new strategy, and based on many years of experience as a child rights organisation, we aim to consolidate our expertise and programme management, informed by research, to bring about sustainable and systemic change in the lives of children, and to hold duty bearers accountable.

The focus of TdH NL regarding humanitarian action is on child protection in emergencies (CPiE), with a particular focus on the protection of children from exploitation.

In 2023, TdH NL in Madagascar started to implement FAMAHA 2 in Betroka and ACTE in Ranopiso that will last until 2025. Those two projects aimed to fight against child labour in the mica mine within some villages of those two districts and fields activity will be implemented by local partners.

Purpose of the role

The MEAL Officer alongside the Programme/Project Officers will support the TdH NL Programme Manager in the management, development and delivery of TdH NL´s projects in Madagascar.

Position in the organisation

The MEAL Officer will report to the TdH’s Country Programme Manager in Madagascar. He/She will also work closely with other TdH staff in Madagascar and staff from the TdH Regional Office in Nairobi, Global MEAL team, and local implementing partners to help carry out the activities. This also involves field missions.

Result areas and core activities

Establish and maintain a robust MEAL System

• In collaboration with the Programme/Project Officers, support implementing partners in the design of project quarterly workplans according to budget and project proposal document;
• Establish managing, and ensuring effective utilization of the MEAL system (monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning) by all projects staff and partnersin Madagascar.;
• Works in close collaboration with the Global MEAL team on the implementation of a robust MEAL system, in line with TdH NL MEAL standards and TdH NL Safeguarding policy.
• Design, coordinate and manage baseline, mid-line, and end-line evaluations as required and/or work with project evaluation consultants to ensure evaluations are completed in accordance with the ToR and in line with the TdH NL MEAL guidelines.
• Collaborate with the Project SupportOfficer and Global MEAL team, to correctly report results quarterly in the internal TdH NL Management System.
• Ensure that programme and finance commitments as per partner contracts are being fulfilled. Liaise with the Finance Officer regarding budgets and expenditure;
• Together with the Programme/Project Officers, support implementing partner on the preparation of quarterly project progress reports and on quarterly reporting in the TdH NL Project Management System in line with Terre des Hommes Netherlands reporting guidelines;
• Ensure local partners provide quality and timely technical and finance reports according to TdH NL’s standards;
• Ensure all information required for reporting to donors and other stakeholders are available in a timely and accurate manner
• Contribute to the development of proposals (focusing on the MEAL aspects) for new projects in Madagascar, if opportunities arise;

QUALITY and LEARNING

• Develop and clearly document monitoring tools;
• Clean and analyse MEAL data from local partners;
• Support and monitor the project partners in the implementation of projects activities through regular and well documented monitoring field visits (at least once per quarter) to ensure quality and accountability of the projects;
• Identify alongside implementing partners areas for further improvement on management and/ or programme quality of implementing partners and define steps towards improved organisational and project implementation ;
• Supports the TdH NL team and implementing partners in extracting lessons learnt and good practices, and documenting case studies which demonstrate qualitative and quantitative changes.
• Support TdH NL team and local partners in safe data storage and management, in line with data protection laws;

Capacity building

• Provide MEAL training to TdH NL and implementing partners’ staffs;
• Contribute to partner capacity assessments (PCATs) and the updating of partner capacity development plans (CDPs);
• Support the Programme/Project Officers in implementing the capacity development plan;
• Provide training on TdH NL Project Management Information System (PRIMAS) to implementing partners according to TdH report requirement;
• Provide PRIMAS support to implementing partners;

The responsibilities listed in the job description are not exhaustive and may be readjusted according to operational needs but will remain in line with the overall purpose of the role.

Knowledge and experience

• Bachelor’s degree in Monitoring and Évaluation, Project Management, statistics, demographics, international development or related field;
• Five years of experience working in an NGO;
• Two years of M&E and/or project management experience;
• Excellent written and oral communication skills in English, French and Malagasy;
• Knowledge and practical skills in google docs, google sheets, google drive, word, excel, powerpoint and social media;
• Knowledge and practical skills in training adults;
• Knowledge of database management;
• Great organisational skills;
• Good leadership skills;
• Good communication and social skills
• Able to travel to project locations outside Fort-Dauphin frequently

Competence Profile

• Coordination
• Planning & organising
• Problem-solving ability
• Coaching

Our Commitment to Diversity, Integrity and Child Safeguarding

We are not looking for just one type of person – we want to recruit people who can add fresh perspectives, innovative ideas and challenge our thinking. We are especially interested in people whose lived experiences help us to see things we might otherwise miss, and enable us to do better work with and for children. Whether or not you meet 100% of the criteria, we want to hear from you, because we know that different voices, ideas, perspectives and knowledge, working together will enable us to better the lives of children around the world.

TdH NL is committed to ensuring diversity and gender equality within our organisation. We continue to learn about intersectional considerations and power distribution within our organisation and our work. We are dedicated to preventing and eradicating any type of misconduct including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, any other type of misuse of power, lack of integrity or financial misconduct.

Note: We place a high priority on ensuring that only those who share and demonstrate our values are recruited to work for us, this includes a commitment to diversity and inclusion at all levels of our work. All offers of employment will therefore be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which include a valid criminal record check, terrorism finance checks, and/or integrity screenings/references relating to misconduct and disciplinary actions in prior employment.

TdH NL is particularly committed to keeping children and vulnerable individuals safe, and has zero tolerance on (child) abuse. Every TdH NL employee is bound by the TdH NL Code of Conduct that describes the expected behaviour by staff, in particular with regards to Safeguarding children and (young) adults in our programmes. Child safeguarding measures are part of our selection and recruitment process. By submitting your application you accept that TdH NL will conduct such pre-employment screening for successful candidates. TdH NL participates in the Inter-Agency Misconduct Disclosure Scheme.