Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning Officer At Catholic Relief Services

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States of America. CRS works to save, protect, and transform the lives of people in need in more than one hundred (100) countries, regardless of race, religion, or nationality. CRS’s relief and development work is accomplished through emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance, and peacebuilding programs. CRS has worked in Cameroon since 1960. Responding to the country’s strategic needs, early interventions focused on reducing child mortality and increasing food security. These projects have strengthened local capacity for health care and emergency response, including the Anglophone crisis in the Northwest and Southwest regions, the Lake Chad Basin crisis in the Far North, and the influx of refugees from the Central African Republic. In collaboration with local partners, CRS provides direct services and addresses structural barriers affecting populations living in vulnerable conditions. In fiscal year 2023, CRS Cameroon reached and served 138,381 people across Cameroon’s 10 regions.

CRS is currently developing a 24-month project to improve the living conditions of refugees in the Far North of Cameroon. This project, targeting youth and women, will provide integrated interventions in agriculture, non-farm livelihoods and market recovery. The objective is to increase agricultural incomes, diversify assets and reduce dependence on humanitarian aid by strengthening households’ adaptive capacities and economic resilience. As a Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Officer, you will facilitate the achievement of project objectives by monitoring and reporting on all project activities and providing technical advice to staff to advance CRS’s work to serve the poor and vulnerable. Your role will be to strengthen the project’s MEAL (monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning) system to ensure high-quality data and build the capacity of program teams while working closely with project staff and partners. Your flexibility, adaptability and relationship management skills will enable you to apply best practices and continually improve the impact of its benefits on those we serve.

The position is based in the North Cameroon/Maroua region.

Job Responsibilities:

• Organize and lead the implementation of all MEAL activities assigned to the project, as outlined in the detailed implementation plan, in accordance with CRS program quality principles, standards, and MEAL policies, procedures and practices; donor MEAL requirements and industry good practices.
• Ensure that learning adequately accompanies project activities throughout the project cycle. Support accountability by coordinating project evaluation activities and guiding partners in their efforts to reflect on project experiences. Analyze implementation challenges and flag inconsistencies and gaps to inform adjustments to implementation plans and schedules.
• Lead the deployment and implementation of the project’s Feedback, Complaints, and Response (FCPR) mechanism. Actively support the seeking and response to feedback from all members of targeted communities and other stakeholders as defined by the FCPR.
• Implement monitoring activities and processes in accordance with the detailed project implementation plan and the MEAL system. Ensure the quality of monitoring data through annual data quality assessments.
• Lead the use of information and communication technologies (CommCare, Power BI) for data collection and analysis, and promote and support the use of monitoring data for adaptive project management.
• Coordinate and oversee MEAL-related working relationships with all local project stakeholders and serve as a liaison between them and the project team to engage local stakeholders and promote project activities and impact. Identify and respond to the information needs of key stakeholders in MEAL activities, using a range of appropriate communication methods.
• Supervise and conduct ad hoc inspections of various MEAL processes and resources at project sites to ensure timely implementation of project activities and adherence to established process standards and procedures. Ensure proper monitoring of resource utilization for MEAL project activities through periodic budget reviews and monitoring and assistance to the implementing partner.
• Support and coordinate MEAL capacity building and technical support activities to ensure that MEAL activities assigned to the project are implemented in accordance with project guidelines and standards. Maximize partner engagement and capacity development in the implementation of MEAL systems.
• Coordinate the provision of all MEAL-related logistical and administrative support to staff and partners.
• Ensure timely project documentation for assigned MEAL activities is complete with all required documents and is filed according to agency and donor requirements. Assist in the preparation of trend analysis reports and documentation of case studies and promising practices.

Qualifications and experience:

• Bachelor’s degree required. A higher degree (Master’s) in the field of statistics, humanitarian aid or demography would be a plus.
• Minimum of 4 years of professional experience in project support, ideally in the field of humanitarian aid or development. Minimum of 2 years of work in the field of SERA for an NGO or the UN.
• Experience working with partners, participatory action planning and community engagement.
• Experience in project monitoring and collecting relevant data.
• Experience in using MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).

Language required/desired

Excellent oral and written communication skills in French required. Fluency in English an asset. Knowledge of other local languages ​​such as Fulfulde Mafa; Mandara or Kapsiki a plus

Qualifications, knowledge and skills

● Relevant experience in grant management, especially from the United States government, is a plus.

● The ability to contribute to the development of technical project documents is a plus.

● Experience working with stakeholders at various levels and strengthening community partnerships.

● Skills and experience in MEAL/SERA desired.

● Experience in using MS Office software (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), online conferencing applications, information management systems.

Personnel in this position must have basic knowledge and skills and, with guidance, be able to apply the following skills in common situations that present limited difficulty:

• Follow up
• Accountability
• Analysis and critical thinking

Additionally, each staff member in this position must have a basic understanding of and demonstrate a willingness and potential to learn about:

• Assessment
• Learning
• ICT4SERA
• Management in SERA

Personal skills

• Analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to make good judgments.
• Good relationship management skills and ability to work closely with local partners.
• Proactive, resourceful, solution and service oriented
• Attention to detail, accuracy and punctuality in carrying out assigned responsibilities

Travel Required: Willing and able to travel up to 25% of working time**.**

NB: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skills, work, duties and responsibilities associated with the job.