Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) Assistant at Concern for Women and Children Development Foundation (COWACDI)

Concern for Women and Children Development Foundation (COWACDI) is a woman-led organization born out of passion for the well-being of Women and Children in Nigeria. It has a special interest in mitigating the suffering of vulnerable persons (mostly Women & Children) in times of crisis. Currently, the organization has focused its attention on the North East of Nigeria with special emphasis on Borno, Yobe, and Adamawa states (the BAY states) due to the decade-old crises.

COWACDI intervenes through a community-based approach in addressing Gender-Based Violence prevention and response programmes, child protection, peace-building programmes, and empowerment of youth and women. COWACDI operates with full respect for humanitarian law and works with concrete policies and principles of international standards such as humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence, and accountability to the affected population.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) Assistant

Location: Yobe
Job Type: Full Time

The Overall Purpose of the Role

• The Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) Assistant is responsible for monitoring operations of the project’s MEAL system to support program management and accountability functions.
• He/she contributes toward the relevance, effectiveness, and efficiency of the Monitoring, and Evaluation unit as well as the overall COWACDI vision programming.

Specific Responsibilities

• Assist in developing project monitoring plans and operational monitoring tools (e.g., checklists, questionnaires, interviews survey forms, etc.) with clear and concise roles, timelines, and targets.  
• In close coordination with the MEAL Coordinator and Project Manager support data collection through household surveys, key informant interviews, and focus group discussion in a timely manner and assist in translating data collection tools including post-intervention monitoring tools, baseline, mid-term, end-line, and impact evaluation methodologies.
• Participate in strengthening existing MEAL systems for the projects and keep records of MEAL documents in hard and soft copies, organize them based on the activity related upload them into the organization storage cloud according to the data management system, and present them when required.  
• Support in assessing the validity of monitoring and evaluation data through a review of activities, completed monitoring forms/databases, and a review of aggregate level statistics reported.  
• Conduct periodic field monitoring visits to maintain current information for accurate documentation and reporting, coordinate logistics, and play a key role in all internal and external assessments.  
• Assist in collecting and presenting relevant information and support in the project reporting by closely coordinating with project teams and focal persons to assist the program implementation teams.
• Provide timely and accurate reports and draft forms that harmonize field needs and database reporting.  
• Work closely with the project staff to document accurate and concise success stories / human interest stories and record also share lessons learned from project evaluations to all project team members.
• Closely follow up with complaints, response, and feedback mechanisms.
• Coordinate on designing pre- and post-training evaluation questionnaire that responds to the needs of the project
• Coordinate data gathering for reviews and evaluations and contribute to project evaluation processes, monitor and evaluate overall progress on the achievement of results
• Supervise all MEAL casual workers (Enumerators and Data Entry clerks), and conduct training for casual workers on data collection methodologies also supervising quantitative data collection activities
• Conduct data quality checks in the field and ensure the accuracy and completeness of survey questionnaires, provide supervision for data entry of quantitative data, clean data, and conduct data analysis.
• Ensure that hard copies and soft copies of data collected are kept at project sites, develop and maintain database backup and filing systems for program data 
• Prepare informative field reports, identify shortcomings, and make relevant recommendations on a regular basis
• Assist in the implementation of monitoring and evaluation activities and ensure that strategies are implemented according to plan
• Report monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, and annual progress on all project activities to the program manager and Coordinator.
• Participate in annual project reviews and planning workshops and assist the program manager/officer in preparing relevant reports;
• Prepare work plans, budgets, MEAL plans, data capture, and reporting using monitoring tools to track project indicators as per the performance framework 
• Support the project implementation team to document and disseminate lessons learned and best practices. 
• Participate in operation research within the project and in other continuous quality improvement initiatives within the project.
• Perform any other tasks assigned by the MEAL Coordinator/Officer or her/his designate.

Education and Working Experience

• B.Sc or HND in related Development Studies, Social Sciences, etc., with at least 2 years of working experience in a similar role
• Demonstrate excellent writing and analytical

Essential:

• Excellent understanding and practical experience with MS Office applications, especially MS Word and Excel.
• Knowledge of simple Excel functions, including formulas and creating graphs from data sets.
• Strong commitment to gender equality and social justice
• At least 2 years’ experience of work in emergency or development context projects, preferably in monitoring and evaluation roles (MEAL) or in project management roles.
• Basic understanding of Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning.
• Background on database management
• Experience in MEAL concepts and tools
• Must demonstrate the ability to handle multiple tasks produce reports on time and work both independently and in a multi-disciplinary and multicultural team environment
• Experience in working with quantitative and qualitative data.

Skills and Competences:

• Experience in monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning, including knowledge of remote implementation.  
• Experience producing MEAL reports including baselines, endlines, FGD reports, and post-intervention monitoring.  
• Experience supervising a team and coordinating with different stakeholders for the implementation of MEAL activities.  
• Excellent and demonstrable analytical, communication, and writing skills.
• Knowledge of the usage of Kobo collect for MEAL data collection and MS Office software packages (Word, Excel, etc.) and knowledge of spreadsheet and data analysis.
• Analytical and attention to details 
• Excellent computer skills 
• Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines with minimal supervision  
• Good analytical and presentation skills 
• Strong team- player  
• Good interpersonal, oral, and written communication and presentation skills
• Problem-solving skills.

Languages:

• Fluency in English and working knowledge of the local language.

Other:

• Any offer made to the candidate in relation to this vacancy notice is subject to funding confirmation.
• This is a national position and only candidates residing in the location of the duty station within commuting distance will be considered.
• Appointment will be subject to certification that the candidate is medically fit for appointment.

Application Closing Date
27th September, 2023.

Method of Application
Interested and qualified candidates should forward their Cover Letter and CV in a single PDF format to recruitment@cowacdi.org using the Job Title as the subject of the email.