MEL Specialist (CSO Support) at RTI International

RTI (www.rti.org) is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to conducting innovative, multidisciplinary research that improves the human condition. With a worldwide staff of more than 5,000 people, RTI offers innovative research and development and multidisciplinary services.

RTI International in collaboration with Plan International and other partners are implementing a 4-year USAID funded Effective Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (E-WASH) program. E-WASH will provide technical assistance to and will work in collaboration with state governments to improve urban water service delivery by strengthening the governance, financial, and technical viability of six (6) state water boards (SWBs) in Nigeria. The overall goal is improvement of urban water and sanitation service delivery.

We hereby invites applications from highly resourceful, motivated and experienced professionals to fill the vacant position below:

Job Title: MEL Specialist (CSO Support)

Location: Abuja (FCT)
Employment Type: Full-time

Description

• The MEL Specialist (CSO Support) reports directly to the Sr. MEL Advisor and shall be individually responsible for monitoring all CSO grantees activities (Partnership grantees, capacity building grantees and Innovation grantees) including developing monitoring/progress reports and supporting quarterly/annual reports collation. Routinely upload CSO related data to USAID E-WASH Integrated Database Management System (IDMS) and provide timely Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) updates for onward reporting to USAID MEL MONITOR.
• The MEL Specialist will also support the conduct of targeted CSO activity related studies and research assessments to inform the development of KM/ Learning products. The MEL Specialist will actively collaborate with other members of the MEL and Technical teams (i.e. ACBS, Gender Specialist, CSO Specialist, PMS, MIS Specialist and Senior Media and Communications Specialist); designated STTA MEL Specialists and work alongside members of the E-WASH state program team.

Essential Duties

• Monitor and work closely with the MEL Advisor and other team members to implement the programs MEL plan and systems.
• Support CSO to ensure monthly/quarterly/yearly planned activities are aligned to CSO KPIs and targets
• Support CSO data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Work with CSOs to review performance data on a quarterly basis, while ensuring availability of quality documentation of supporting documents and means of verification to inform onward performance reporting to USAID
• Support implementation of CSO capacity of building plan in alignment with CSO WASHCOAT findings and other routine field-based monitoring findings
• Support the development of learning/KM products to highlight key research findings, implementation lessons and best practices identified during E-WASH CSO program implementation.
• Work closely with respective E-WASH program and CSO staffs to ensure timely upload of performance reporting data; robust grants monitoring and document reviews in E-WASH IDMS.
• Work closely with the ACBS and the PMS to identify issues in the CSO activities and agree on the redress.
• Lead on CSO activity monitoring, performance improvement, learning and adaptive management in the State.
• Actively participate in specialists meetings to ensure adherence to the set indicators and provide technical oversight.
• Collaborate with the Senior MEL Advisor to conduct CSO related field-based assessments and evaluations i.e. Data Quality Assessments (DQA), Collaboration Mapping, Updating Pivot Logs, Political Economy Analysis (PEA) and other rolling assessments to inform program learning and adaptive management measures.
• Ensure compliance with E-WASH Data Risk Mitigation Strategy and work alongside the MEL Manager and designated STTA/USAID representatives to conduct data quality assessments for performance indicators.
• Support conduct of routine field visits and spot checks to support surveys (Gender Assessment, WASHCOAT, Innovation grantees assessment) as well as inform the development of program reports i.e. Key Performance Indicators (KPI) reports, Grants Monitoring Reports (GMRs), Activity Monitoring Reports (AMRs) etc.
• Identify potential research areas of interests related to E-WASH program focus and work to develop evidence-based articles and publications.
• Handle additional ad-hoc responsibilities as assigned by the Snr. MEL Advisor or required by the USAID E-WASH program.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in a Social Science or Education related field.
• A minimum of Master's Degree and 3 years of experience in measuring and evaluating governance or WASH-related programme or a Bachelor's Degree and 6 years of experience or equivalent combination of education and experience in measuring and evaluating governance or WASH-related programming.
• A Master's degree in a relevant professional field and experience working on donor funded projects especially USAID would be most beneficial.
• Familiarity with robust grants reporting protocols (for CSEF grantees) and mobile data collection apps/tools (i.e. Kobo Toolbox, Magpi, CAPI, FS Mobile) for effective performance monitoring of donor funded projects.
• Experience in Monitoring WASH CSO grantees (Partnership/capacity building/innovation) and supporting evaluation, assessment and research activities.
• Strong technical skills in data management, Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), survey and questionnaire design, household surveys and mapping, and/or conducting field-based assessment is required.
• Experience with mobile based data collection tools and grantee reporting is desirable. Skilled proficiency in Excel, Word, and other Microsoft (MS) Office software; data analysis software (such as Excel, SPSS or Stata).
• Experience in knowledge management and communications for outcome reporting including conducting research focused studies and assessments as a basis for developing learning/KM products (i.e. fact sheets, newsletters, outcome journals.
• Knowledge of USAID's Collaboration, Learning and Adaptation (CLA) approach is beneficial.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Possess excellent organizational, analytical, oral and written communications skills in English.
• Ability to work well on a team.

Application Closing Date
2nd November, 2020.