Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Specialist - SAY WEE Project at TechnoServe

TechnoServe works with enterprising people in the developing world to build competitive farms, businesses, and industries. We are a non-profit organization that develops business solutions to poverty by linking people to information, capital, and markets. Our work is rooted in the idea that given the opportunity, hardworking men and women in even the poorest places can generate income, jobs, and wealth for their families and communities. With more than four decades of proven results, we believe in the power of private enterprise to transform lives.

We are recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Specialist

Location: Kano
Requisition Number: MONIT004527
Employment Type: Full Time
Project: Skilling Adolescents and Young Women for Entrepreneurship and Employability (SAY-WEE)

Job Summary

• Under the overall guidance of the Program manager and a dotted to the Senior MEL Specialist, the MEL Specialist will perform activities related to monitoring, evaluation and learning for the project, including organizing and implementing data collection and analysis for the project.
• He/she will serve as a point of contact for data collection and aggregation that supports project reporting and will provide inputs to inform project decision-making and adaptive management.

Program / Practice / Department Overview

• The project seeks to address unemployment in Nigeria through four pathways namely: self-employment, micro and small growing business acceleration, job readiness and ecosystem development. 
• With a strong learning agenda, the project will pilot methodologies that drive behaviour change and successfully link women and youth to relevant and lasting jobs.
• To achieve its objectives, the project will leverage existing infrastructure, institutions, and organizations where possible.
• It will also apply lessons learned from other initiatives in the entrepreneurial ecosystem support space by adopting multiple proven approaches.
• The design will follow a common set of principles, such as being market-driven to help entrepreneurs tap into high-growth sectors, build youth skills, and facilitate linkages to drive job placement for targeted youth.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities
The MEL Specialist will support MEL implementation for the project, including:

• Coordinate data collection from primary data sources to final reporting and reporting against project performance indicators and emergent project information needs
• Support the application of qualitative and quantitative methods to inform knowledge gaps
• Contribute to the design of forms, surveys, and indices as well as the data management system
• Perform regular development of databases and dashboards
• Perform regular data quality assessments, data cleaning, and data analysis
• Conduct field visits to understand the context and identify additional data needs
• Provide ongoing technical assistance and training to project technical staff on their role in performing data collection, basic analysis, and data review and use
• Coordinate the project’s learning agenda through data collection, analysis and reporting and in the mobilization of consultants and other experts for specific learning questions
• Ensure that project’s monitoring system captures impact of project activities on women and other disadvantaged groups
• Become familiarized with the applicable donor rules and regulations, including the donor’s evaluation guidelines and indicator handbook
• Understand the specific MEL deliverables that the project is contractually responsible for, and manage their development

Provide Inputs to Data-Driven Decision-Making:

• Assist in the process of adaptive management in the project using project MEL data
• Support the documentation of best practices and production of information to capture and share lessons learned
• Support information flows across the implementation team and the sharing and analysis of new information
• Actively engage with project staff on areas for course correction, serving as a collaborative and reflective source of information to inform project progress
• Assist in the development of all project reports

Participate in the broader MEL ecosystem at TechnoServe:

• Attend capacity-building meetings and other relevant events related to MEL as directed.
• Support access to and insight into the project’s MEL approach to facilitate the Regional MEL’s assessment of the project against organizational standards and annual impact reporting.
• Assist in the development of corporate measurement reports as required.

Basic Qualifications
These are the requirements that any qualified candidate must meet. Typically includes

• Bachelor's Degree in Business management, agribusiness, project management, social sciences or related discipline with 3 years’ experience (alternatively Master's Degree + 1 years’ experience) in monitoring and evaluation with at least 1 year in donor funded programming.
• Experience utilizing M&E methods and methodologies (including qualitative, quantitative, and participatory methods as well as the use of causal logic in designing, planning, implementing, and evaluating projects).

Preferred Qualifications:
Additional qualifications that would make a candidate more desirable:

• Experience working on FCDO/UN funded projects in Nigeria.
• Has worked in project(s) with award over $1 million.
• Experience working with an INGO.
• Experience working on an entrepreneurship donor funded project.
• Demonstrable critical skills in data collection, analysis and reporting, and performance monitoring of donor funded projects.
• In-depth knowledge and understanding of the enterprise development landscape in Nigeria.
• Ability to work in a multicultural context as a flexible and respectful team player.
• Proficient in MS Office: MS Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Excel.

Application Closing Date
Not Specified.