Project Officer – MEAL At Catholic Relief Services

Title: Project Officer – MEAL

Department: Programs – Restore Africa

Report to: Program Manager II – MEAL

Job Location: Kampala/Uganda

Vacancies: One (1)

About CRS

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance, and peacebuilding.

CRS has been working in Uganda since 1965 and has a vibrant portfolio of projects, serving over a million vulnerable Ugandans and refugees each year through the Country Program 2030 Strategy. CRS programs in Uganda currently support five strategic priority areas, including Health and Social Services Systems Strengthening, Resilient Food Systems, Emergency Preparedness and Management, Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation, and Local Leadership. CRS Uganda implements its programs through partnerships with local organizations, including international and local NGOs, Ugandan government departments and ministries, the Catholic Church, and community-based organizations for maximum impact and sustainability.

Background:

Under the Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation strategic priority area, CRS aims to ‘drive uptake and scaling of nature-based solutions and novel financing mechanisms to support national and community level efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change’. Within the Program Management Unit focused on scaling nature-based solutions and novel financing mechanisms, CRS is establishing a Market System Development unit. This will oversee the FCDO-funded project entitled ‘Market Linkages for Livelihoods and Land Restoration (M4LLR)” (2024-2027). The specific objective of the M4LLR project is to establish market linkages for smallholder farmers participating in land restoration initiatives in Uganda.

The project will strive to facilitate the integration of climate-smart and sustainable land restoration practices within profitable and diversified agroforestry production systems. The M4LLR project will concentrate its efforts on 17 districts located in the Midwest, Rwenzori, and Elgon regions of Uganda, and links closely with the Climate Asset Management funded ‘Restore Africa’ Initiative. These areas present substantial opportunities to involve private sector participants and farmers in both landscape restoration and the development of sustainable and diversified production systems across a variety of value chains, leveraging and building on CRS and consortium partner activities, structures, and partnerships.

Job Summary:

As a member of the M4LLR project team, you will implement MEAL activities, provide MEAL technical support, monitor and report on all project monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning activities in support of Catholic Relief Services’ (CRS) work serving the poor and vulnerable. Your MEAL knowledge and support will contribute to determining how effective, adaptive, and innovative CRS Uganda’s programming is and thorough and service-oriented approach will ensure that the project consistently applies best practices and constantly works towards improving the impact of its benefits to those we serve.

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

• Support the coordination and implementation of all assigned M4LLR project MEAL activities as outlined in the Detailed Implementation Plan in line with CRS program quality principles, standards and ensure compliance to the MEAL policies, procedures, and practices; donor MEAL requirements; and industry good practices.
• Provide input to and support M4LLR project MEAL system design and data collection tools to measure program/project impact and progress.
• Monitor and report any M4LLR MEAL-related challenges and gaps identified to inform adjustments to plans and implementation schedules. Assist partners in their efforts to reflect on project experiences.
• Lead the roll-out and implementation of the project’s feedback and response mechanism (FRM). Support actively seeking and responding to feedback from all members of targeted communities and other stakeholders as defined by the FCRM.
• Support field-level M4LLR project MEAL activities (including digital data collection) and assist partners in their efforts to collect and ensure timely analysis of project data per specified mechanisms and tools. Collaborate with local partner(s) to prepare MEAL-related aspects of reports per established reporting schedule.
• Conduct data quality assessment from the Restore Africa project activity data collected.
• Collect information on M4LLR project staff MEAL capacity needs and technical assistance needs of partner organizations and monitor MEAL capacity building and technical support activities to ensure effective impact.
• Complete project documentation for assigned M4LLR project MEAL activities. Assist with identifying information for case studies and reports on promising practices.
• Support program learning and decision making by posing thoughtful questions, engaging with project data, reflecting upon, and sharing with project management the information gathered from community members and partners.
• Lead the preparation of M4LLR progress reports as per the formats provided and ensure timely submission.

Basic qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in international development, Social Sciences, Statistics or in the field of MEAL required. Additional experience may substitute for some education.
• Minimum of 2 years of work experience in project support. Experience in the field of MEAL and for an NGO is preferred.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in participatory action planning and community engagement.
• Experience monitoring projects and collecting relevant data preferred.
• Experience in digitized data collection using recommended applications or software.
• Experience in data management, analysis and reporting and visualization.
• Experience using MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint).

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Observation, active listening, and analysis skills with ability to make sound judgment.
• Good relationship management skills and the ability to work closely with local partners and community members.
• Attention to details, accuracy, and timeliness in executing assigned responsibilities.
• Proactive, results-oriented, and service-oriented.

Required Languages: English fluency, including excellent oral and written skills, required.

Travel: Must be willing and able to travel up to 40%.

Key Working Relationships

• Supervisory: None
• Internal: Coordinates closely with ICT4D Officer, Learning Technical Manager, Restore Africa project staff and other CRS MEAL staff.
• External: Works closely with Partner staff, MEAL staff from other peer agencies.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)

Agency competencies clarify expected behaviors and attitudes for all staff. When demonstrated, they create an engaging workplace, help staff achieve their best, and help CRS achieve agency goals. These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Personal Accountability – Consistently takes responsibility for one’s own actions.
• Acts with Integrity – Consistently models values aligned with CRS Guiding Principles and mission. Is considered honest.
• Builds and Maintains Trust – Shows consistency between words and actions.
• Collaborates with Others – Works effectively in intercultural and diverse teams.
• Open to Learn – Seeks out experiences that may change perspective or provide an opportunity to learn new things.

Agency Leadership Competencies:

• Lead Change – Continually looks for ways to improve the agency through a culture of agility, openness, and innovation.
• Develops and Recognizes Others – Builds the capacity of staff to reach their full potential and enhance team and agency performance.
• Strategic Mindset – Understands role in translating, communicating, and implementing agency strategy and team priorities.

Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.

CRS is an Equal Opportunity Employer

Our Catholic identity is at the heart of our mission and operations. Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. We welcome as a part of our staff people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and our commitment to serving those in need. CRS’ processes and policies reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.

By applying to this job, I understand and acknowledge that CRS requires its staff to treat all people with dignity and respect and to actively prevent harassment, abuse, exploitation, and human trafficking. Further, I understand that if I am a successful candidate, I will be subject to a comprehensive background check, and my personal/professional references will be asked to evaluate my behaviours related to the above safeguarding related topics.