Monitoring and Evaluation Officer. At The African Academy of Sciences

VACANCY DETAILS.

Title: Monitoring and Evaluation Officer

ID:AAS/M&EO/21/01

Department: Programmes

Reporting To: Programme Manager

Duration:3 Years Renewable

Location: Nairobi, Kenya

Organisation Overview

The African Academy of Sciences (AAS) is a non-aligned, non-political, not-for-profit Pan-African organisation headquartered in Nairobi, with a hosting agreement with the government of Kenya. The AAS’s vision is to see transformed lives on the African continent through science. It is the only continental Academy in Africa enjoying the support and recognition of the African Union, and with joint programmes with NEPAD Agency, now the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD), as well as several governments and major international partners. It has a tripartite mandate: to recognise excellence through its highly prestigious fellowship and award schemes; to provide advisory and think tank functions for shaping the continent’s Science, Technology and Innovation (STI) strategies and policies; and to implement key STI programmes aimed at addressing Africa’s developmental challenges

Position Overview

The Monitoring and Evaluation Officer is responsible for the implementation of the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework for the organisation’s projects and contribute to the design and implementation of related core M&E research and development activities of AAS.

The incumbent will work under the guidance of the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Manager to ensure that proper monitoring and evaluation is carried out at outcome level and for ensuring that projects at AAS maintain their strategic vision and that all activities result in the achievement of intended outputs in a cost effective and timely manner.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities

1. Monitoring and Evaluation
2. Operationalise the M&E framework designed for the Academy including and not limited to designing program M&E tools for data collection, verification, and management and reporting as well as data audits;
3. Contribute to the development, design and planning of projects so that projects have a clear and feasible strategy towards impact that is in line with AAS’ mission and strategy, and projects include clearly defined measurable indicators of outputs, outcomes and impact
4. Contribute to outcome- and evidence-based strategic decision-making at AAS and promote a culture of evidence-based learning and adaptation
5. Support Programme Managers to develop systematic and realistic monitoring plans that capture quantitative and qualitative data to report on project performance indicators
6. Follow up on monitoring and evaluation exercises for various initiatives for the Academy;
7. Conduct capacity assessments on existing monitoring and evaluation system
8. Lead the design and implementation of ex-post and ex-ante evaluations of AAS technologies and interventions using robust methods of impact evaluation
9. Monitor and evaluate overall progress on achievement of results as well as the sustainability of the project results and report periodically to management team
10. Participate in multidisciplinary team to develop, implement and evaluate strategic management plans to improve AAS/AESA programming effectiveness
11. Build the capacity of project staff in monitoring and evaluation and specifically how to demonstrate impact
12. Administration
13. Develop and maintain a system for archiving M&E guidelines, tools, data files, analysis files, reports and presentations for major activity undertaken
14. Develop program and operational reporting templates that facilitate the acquisition and aggregation of information in programs, including input for impact related success stories
15. Support in gathering, summarising and disseminating relevant technical updates on program planning monitoring, evaluation and operations research within the programmes;
16. Coordinate mid‐term reviews and evaluation of program activities and ensure proper documentation of innovative approaches and best practices for dissemination and sharing experiences to promote repeat applications or scaling‐up in different community settings
17. Support Programme Managers in preparing quarterly/annual reports on projects progress.

Academic Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in Economics, Business Administration or any other related field; Master’s degree is desired.

Knowledge and Experience

• At least five (5) years relevant experience in monitoring and evaluation
• Proven success in designing, implementing, and operating project M&E systems from project initiation to closeout stages
• Experience in managing M&E database systems
• Expertise in analysing data using statistical software
• Proficiency in computer applications such as Microsoft Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint and Outlook express including financial and statistical packages

Key Competencies

• Communication: Actively shares information and ideas, and encourages others to share their views and concerns
• Teamwork: Works as a supportive team member proactively offer input within own group and shows respect for others opinions by recognising the value of their input
• Planning and organising: Proactively plans and identifies critical inputs for the planning process by analysing historical data
• Achieving results: Proactively identifies and exploits opportunities to exceed goals and recovers from setbacks quickly
• Analytical thinking: Identifies patterns, similarities and differences in information/data and evaluates the implication
• Knowledge sharing and learning: Displays initiative to learn; identifies and communicates strengths and developmental areas in a structured manner
• Judgement/decision making: Uses experience and data available to assess situations and takes decisions with given information, keeping in mind risks and their impact
• Change management: Readily accepts conditions of uncertainty and remains productive in difficult situations;
• Technical/Scientific credibility: Produces work that is accepted and recognised for its credibility and trustworthiness based on best practice, professional theories and standards.
• Commitment to continuous process improvement: Consistently suggests and applies standards improvements in programme evaluation
• Persuasion and influencing: Demonstrates knowledge of work area and appreciation of others’ concerns to build own credibility and influence others
• Resilience: Maintains a focus on key priorities and deliverables, staying resilient in the face of pressure.