Monitoring and Evaluation Manager Full-Time

Purpose of position

The M&E Advisor will support the 5 year, USAID Community HIV Activity in Zambezia. The Community-based HIV activity is designed to actively engage with the National AIDS Council (Conselho Nacional de Combate ao HIV/SIDA -CNCS) to refine estandardize, comprehensive community programming approaches and tools, to serve as a model for national scale implementation of best practices. The overall goal of the activity in Zambezia is to reduce the risk of HIV transmission and improve health outcomes of people and families affected by HIV in Zambezia Province of Mozambique. This goal will be accomplished through the following objective: Increase coverage of high-impact, evidence-based community HIV services.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor (M&E Advisor) is responsible for all monitoring, evaluation and reporting activities under this award. S/he will lead the development of and manages the Monitoring and Evaluation and Learning Plan (MEL Plan). The M&E Advisor should develop and maintains systems to collect and analyze information on inputs, outputs, outcomes and impact of the program. She/he conducts supportive supervisory visits to districts and district supervisors to observe, monitor, guide, and provide feedback on the use of data and indicators; analyze monthly data, and support training of M&E personnel in quality assurance methods.

Please note that this position is contingent upon donor approval and award of grant.

Major responsibilities

Plan and oversee M&E activities ensuring effective use data in decision-making:

Setting up the system.

Develop the overall framework for project M&E in accordance to the project and document M&E plan.

• Conduct readiness assessment regarding M&E. What are the incentives at the system level, which are the beneficiaries, what is the existing capacity?
• Identify the core information needs of central project management, partners, and funding agencies;
• Identify the requirement for collecting baseline data, prepare terms-of-reference for and arrange the conduct of a baseline survey, as required;
• Clarify M&E responsibilities of different project personnel;
• Contribute to the development of the annual work plan, ensuring alignment with project strategy, agreement on annual targets and inclusion of M&E activates in the work plan;
• Clarify process for monitoring and evaluations on sub-grantees;
• Prepare detail M&E budget;
• Prepare calendar of M&E activities;
• Identify other M&E staff that the project needs to contract. Guide recruitment.

Implementation of M&E

Oversee and execute M&E activities included in the Annual Work Plan, with particular focus on results and impacts as well as in lesson learning.

• Based on the annual work plan and in particular the programs budgets, design the framework for the physical and process monitoring of project activities;
• Promote a results-based approach to monitoring and evaluation, emphasizing results and impacts;
• Assist in the development of project reports.  Guide staff and executing partners in preparing their;
• progress reports in accordance with approved reporting formats and ensure their timely submission. This includes quarterly progress reports, annual project reports, inception reports, and ad-hoc technical reports;
• Prepare consolidation progress reports for project management including identification of problems, causes of potential bottlenecks in the project implementation, and providing specific recommendations;
• Check that monitoring data are discussed in the appropriate forum and in a timely fashion in terms of implications of future action. If necessary create such discussion forums to fill any gaps;
• Undertake regular visits to the field to support implementation of M&E and to identify where adaptations might be needed;
• Foster participatory planning and monitoring by training and involving primary stakeholder groups in the M&E of activities;
• Facilitate, act as resource person, and join if required any external supervision and evaluation missions;
• Monitor the follow up of evaluation recommendations;
• Identify the need and draw up the ToRs for specific project studies. Recruit, guide and supervise consultants or organizations that are contracted to implement special surveys and studies required for evaluating project effects and impacts;
• Organize (and provide) refresher training in M&E for project and implementing partner staff, local organizations and primary stakeholders with view of developing local M&E capacity.

Lessons learned

Design and implement a system to identify, analyze, document and disseminate lessons learned.

• Consolidate a culture of lessons learning involving all project staff and allocate specific responsibilities;
• Ensure that ToR for consultants recruited by the project also incorporate mechanisms to capture and share lessons learned through their inputs to the project, and to ensure that the results are reflected in the reporting system described above;
• Document, package and disseminate lessons not less frequently than once every 12 months;
• Facilitate exchange of experiences by supporting and coordinating participation in any existing network projects sharing common characteristics. These networks would largely function on the basis of an electronic platform but could also entail other methods and tools such as workshops, teleconferences, etc;
• Identify and participate in additional networks, for example scientific or policy-based networks that may also yield lessons that can benefit project implementation.

Knoledge, skills and abilities

List education, knowledge & skills, licenses preferred, and all experiences required to perform this position in a fully competent manner.

Minimum education, training and experience requirements to qualify for the position:

• List academic requirements (if applicable), technical skills, or other knowledge required as a minimum qualification for this position.
• Master’s degree in public health field, social science, economics, or relevant discipline. Significant study in fields relevant to Community-based HIV care and support project, international development and/or program monitoring and evaluation;
• Strong background or formal training in evaluating international development programs such as but not limited to, Social Protection, Community development and HIV/AIDS
• Demonstrated statistical analysis skills and use of relevant software:; knowledge of EPHNFO, LQAS, 30-cluster sampling survey methodology, SPSS, and other statistical tools preferred;
• Minimum of five years field based work experience, related to monitoring, evaluating and reporting on programs related to Community development, HIV care and support, or international development in developing countries;
• Experience working on large, multi-regional public-health programs and working with management to integrate research findings into project direction;
• Knowledge of the logical framework approach and other strategic planning approaches; M&E methods and approaches (including quantitative, qualitative, and participatory).

List additional work experience required as a minimum qualification for this position.

• Experience in design and implementation of M&E systems in the Community development and HIV/AIDS programs in Africa;
• Willingness to undertake regular field visits and interact with different stakeholders, especially primary stakeholders;
• A solid understanding of environmental management, with a focus on participatory processes, joint management and gender issues;
• Demonstrated knowledge of host country management information systems. Proven leadership to support the strengthening of the M&E systems within a host country’s Ministry of Health and other International Organizations to improve the availability and use of data for decision making.

License, registration, or certification required to perform this position:

• Fluency in Portuguese and English required;
• Professional licenses and/or certification, as required in the field and by the donor.

Preferred Skills, Knowledge and Experience:

• Experience leading a Community development and HIV/AIDS program in Africa supporting MEL (monitoring, evaluation and learning) team for a USAID-funded grant of $10 million preferred.

List additional work experience preferred for this position.

• Work experience within same country or similar context required

Work Environment:

Include travel & work environment details.

Complete Travel and/or Work Environment statements if applicable.

• Be prepared to travel to implementation sites and regional, global meetings as required.
• Must be willing to travel and work for periods of time to field project sites, including rural sites with few amentities