West Africa MEL Advisor at TechnoServe

TechnoServe, Inc. (www.technoserve.org) is an international nonprofit development organization founded in 1968. TechnoServe works with enterprising people in the developing world to build competitive farms, businesses and industries. We are a nonprofit organization that develops business solutions to poverty by linking people to information, capital and markets.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: West Africa MEL Advisor

Location: Abuja

Position Description

• The Regional Monitoring Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Advisor provides technical assistance, M&E systems development and capacity building across TechnoServe’s West Africa portfolio.
• The Advisor ensures that the foundational building blocks for managing to impact are in place within program, country and regional teams.
• The primary internal ‘customers’ for the position include Program Managers and Country Directors, for whom the Advisor will ensure that local M&E / Program staff and systems are able to produce M&E data in a timely and relevant manner for project decision-making.
• The Advisor will collaborate closely with regional backstopping and program development teams, and have an indirect reporting relationship to the West Africa regional director and will directly report to the Director of Impact at headquarters.

Impact:

• As a result of the Regional MEL’s leadership, projects in the West Africa region will be managed more efficiently and effectively, allowing TechnoServe to generate deeper impact among the populations it seeks to serve.

Duties and Responsibilities

• The primary responsibility of the West Africa MEL Advisor is to ensure the availability of timely, high quality data and analysis to enable adaptive management across the region.

In particular the Advisor will:

• Advise on theories of change and logical frameworks. Provide M&E plans as part of project proposals, and ensure proposals have sufficient resources to adequately and cost-effectively perform M&E,
• Ensure best of class M&E implementation
• Inventory the M&E status of each project and ensure they meet organizational standards, including best practices in measuring gendered impact
• Provide direct support at critical project junctures, in particular project inception, to establish the mechanisms for data-driven decision-making and feedback
• Supervise external consultants performing M&E tasks as required Collaborate with country directors and regional management to systematically improve the structures, processes and resources that enable application of good MEL practices, including standardization of tools and technology use
• Supervise Regional Database Administrators to ensure the build-out of data management technology that supports real-time data collection and reporting,
• Support the hiring, supervision and performance evaluation of project and country-level M&E staff,
• Support the exchange of information and knowledge to improve project implementation by participating and contributing to internal and external fora.
• Shepherd annual impact reporting from their regions; Co-present the results (with Country Director) to the Impact team for review.
• Required Skills& Experience:
• Soft skills, including the ability to influence and build capacity as well as excellent causal logic thinking, are as important to the success of this role as quantitative and analytical skills.

General requirements include

• A Bachelor's degree in relevant field, such as Economics, Business Administration, Statistics or others and a minimum of 5 years of experience designing, managing and implementing multidisciplinary and results-based M&E systems in an international context OR a master's degree and 3 years of similar experience
• Experience integrating gender into measurement and evaluations
• Background in a range of monitoring and evaluation methodologies, including both quantitative and qualitative research approaches
• Experience in building logical models and revising them periodically through a project’s life cycle.
• Proven ability to translate research, methodologies, and data into accessible formats for colleagues with non-technical backgrounds
• A commitment to coaching staff to support their development.
• Outstanding written and oral communication skills and a demonstrated track record of producing high quality, well-written deliverables
• A demonstrated capacity for management. Examples include successful project management, personnel management, work plan management, and/or financial management
• A demonstrated ability to coordinate and communicate effectively and diplomatically with a range of external and internal colleagues including donors, partners and senior and junior team members across diverse cultures
• Inherent value and respect for voices of staff at all organizational levels, external stakeholders, and the women and men we work with.
• Fluency in English strongly preferred; proficiency in French and local languages desirable.

Physical Requirements
The person in this position must be able to:

• Travel, both domestic and international;
• Remain in a stationary position for an extended number of hours throughout the day using a computer, frequently communicating by telephone or Skype, and meeting with others;
• Occasionally move items weighing up to 20 lbs. and able to transport and position their luggage when traveling;
• Occasionally ascend/descend stairs; and Frequently move about inside the office to access files, cabinets, office machinery, and meeting rooms.

Application Closing Date
30th January, 2019.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should submit a Word-formatted single document consisting of a Cover Letter and CV to: nigeriajobs@tns.org  Please identify the position for which you are applying in the subject line.

Note: Due to a high volume of applicants, please understand that we are able to contact only those who meet the minimum qualifications. No phone calls, please.