Career opportunity: Monitoring Evaluation and Learning Officer (Senegal)

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Organisation

The University of Portsmouth is a public university in the city of Portsmouth, England. The history of the university dates back to 1908, it was previously known as Portsmouth Polytechnic until 1992, when it was granted university status through the Further and Higher Education Act 1992. It is ranked among the Top 100 universities under 50 in the world The University offers a range of disciplines from Pharmacy, International relations and politics, Mechanical Engineering and Paleontology. The Guardian University Guide 2018 ranked its Sports Science number one in England, while Criminology, English, Social Work, Graphic Design and Fashion and Textiles courses are all in the top 10 across all universities in the UK.

Programme: The Girl Generation – Support to the Africa-led movement to end Female Genital Mutilation

The UK Government (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office – FCDO) has a vision of a world free from Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) by 2030, in line with the SDGs. A programme has been established entitled ‘Support to the Africa-led movement (ALM) to end FGM/C’ to contribute to global efforts to achieve that vision. Following a co-creation period, programme implementation began in September 2021.

This programme will support and build the capacity of the Africa Led Movement to end FGM/C at multiple levels and at scale, working in partnership with the rest of the FGM/C movement, complementing UN agencies (such as the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on FGM/C), Saleema initiative, other alliances (such as Girls not Brides etc.) and grassroots Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), women’s and girls’ movements, etc.  

The programme includes two consortia working in close collaboration. Options leads a consortium including Amref Health Africa, ActionAid UK, Orchid Project, ACCAF and University of Portsmouth to implement the ‘Support to the Africa Led Movement to End FGM/C. Population Council is implementing ‘The FGM/C Data Hub: Data and Measurement Support to the Africa Led Movement to end FGM/C’. The consortium’s approach to support the Africa-led movement is girl-centred, recognises the intersecting identities that inform their lives, and aims to empower all girls and women – promoting health, bodily autonomy, and their right to live free from violence. The University of Portsmouth has responsibility for the overall coordination of all monitoring evaluation and learning activities. This includes working with partners offering them technical support, data collection for a range of purposes (baselines, political economy analysis, cross border research). In addition, UoP has responsible to run a number of learning events for consortium partners as well as the wider stakeholder community.

Main purpose of job

The MEL officer will be responsible for supporting the Head of MEL, Technical Lead and Consortium partners in implementing the programme MEL strategy, evaluation framework and mapping data to the results framework.  Working with the MEL team and the programme team, the MEL officer will support the coordination and monitoring of programme MEL activities to ensure data is collected and analysed and that evidence synthesis feeds into the programmes’s adaptive management approach

Main duties

1. Programme Monitoring and Evaluation
   • Support the implementation of the programme’s MEL strategy and evaluation framework working closely with the MEL team
   • Support the refinement of the programme’s Results framework, liaising closely with implementing partners to ensure alignment with expected results
   • Support the development of an overall programme MEL workplan and routinely update it incorporating key partner MEL activities
   • Work closely with the MEL team in the development of a data management system and support its utilisation across the programme, regularly incorporating feedback to ensure continuous improvement of the system
   • Regular follow ups with consortium partners to ensure that results and milestone tracking templates are updated and submitted in a timely manner
   • Take lead in the development of and review of the overall MEL annual workplans
   • Support the design of data collection tools for use by consortium partners and support capacity building for their use by relevant staff
   • Compile, analyse and quality assure MEL data collected by partners ensuring it is systematically filed and stored
   • Routinely review data sources submitted by partners and ensure reporting systems are robust and accurate
   • Work with partners to ensure MEL data is collected in accordance with workplans and the overall MEL framework.
   • Work closely with the Head of MEL to support the small grants team to institute MEL across the grants component of the programme and provide capacity support to grantees as needed ensuring that results from grants activities are incorporated into the mainstream programme reporting templates
   • Undertake regular field visits to programme implementation sites to cross check data accuracy and support field data collection exercises
2. Research, Evidence and Learning
   • Support the development of an adaptive programming mechanism to be instituted across the programme and support its adoption and use by partners
   • Support the Head of MEL in instituting adaptive management tools and processes and integrating successful approaches as part of routine MEL practice
   • Support the process of learning and evidence sharing to ensure partner programme interventions are informed by and reaching decisions based on existing evidence
   • Support research initiatives by the programme – baselines, sub national PEAs, cross border studies as well as longitudinal panel studies, ensuring that partners regularly collect and synthesise longitudinal data
   • Provide support to research firms hired to undertake various assignments as needed
   • Undertake regular MEL data quality assessments/audits for RF indicators to guide decision making
   • Work closely with the MEL team to identify and disseminate good practice and lesson learning through programme learning forums in and across implementing countries, regionally and globally
   • Work closely with consortium partners to ensure data submitted is disaggregated by gender, age group, disability and other inclusion criteria
   • Support MEL capacity building initiatives for consortium partners and small grants recipients as needed
3. Knowledge management and Reporting
   • Support in collating programme quarterly and annual reports ensuring partner reports meet the set standards and output and outcome scoring templates for the annual review process capture impact of interventions.
   • Support in the identification of data generated by the programme for inclusion in the data dashboard developed by the Data Hub
   • Support delivery of UoP’s milestones and support partners in delivering MEL specific milestones
   • Contribute to key learning outputs and communication products working closely with the programme communications team .
   • Share evidence and learning from the programme with the advocacy and communications team for wider dissemination
4. Others
   • Ensure that all work is aligned with the Programme’s Do No Harm, Safeguarding and Emotional wellbeing framework
   • Represent the MEL team in meetings, events or conferences when required
   • In the spirit of teamwork, provide flexible support to colleagues across Options and the consortium

Note: this job description reflects the present requirements of the post. As duties and responsibilities change and develop the job description will be reviewed and be subject to amendment in consultation with the job holder. 

Person specification

Criteria	Essential	Desirable
Qualifications
Degree in a relevant discipline
Experience
Minimum of 5 years’ experience in monitoring and evaluation, data management in a large scale, multi – country development programme	✔	✔
Experience in programme performance measurement and developing monitoring, evaluation and learning monitoring plans
Good understanding of programme and evaluation cycles, data analysis and presentation of results
Experience using major evaluation methodologies (qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods) and data collection and analysis methodologies
Experience in MEL for gender and rights based programmes
Experience working with consortiums
Previous experience in MEL for programmes funded by the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO)
Experience providing MEL training to field officers and sub grantees
Skills and attributes
Proficient in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint)	✔
Excellent English verbal and written communication skills	✔
Ability to multi-task and cover multiple work streams simultaneously, to work independently, and as a team member, under pressure and to deadlines	✔
Strong interpersonal skills, ability to greet and welcome visitors and represent Options’ image		✔
Working knowledge of procurement best practices	✔
Other requirements
Commitment to equal opportunities	✔
Commitment to the principles of safeguarding	✔

How to apply?

Please send a CV and Covering Letter detailing your relevant work experience and how you meet the criteria to chinasa.ezugha@port.ac.uk

Deadline: 4th June 4PM UK Time