Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor at Cuso International

Job Summary

• Cuso International is currently implementing a five year project titled, Youth Leadership, Entrepreneurship, Access and Development Project (YouLead) funded by Government of Canada through the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development that will support the creation of youth-led enterprises and employment for young women and men in the natural resource sector in Cross River State, Nigeria.
• Cuso International and implementing partners will develop a youth-driven approach to support sustainable economic activities in key sectors (forestry, agriculture, aquaculture and eco-tourism) identified by the CRS government and other key stakeholders.
• The project will also strengthen capacity of government at State and LGA levels, youth serving civil society organizations, training organizations, and financial institutions to develop and implement a gender-responsive NRM ‘green jobs/green economy’ policy framework as the basis of increasing employment, self-employment and secured livelihoods for young women and men in the natural resource sectors.
• Reporting to the Project Team Leader, the Monitoring and Evaluation Advisor ensures that the project continues to monitor, evaluate and report on strategic outcomes based on reliable evidence and engages stakeholders in learning for planning project course corrections and communicating results.

Key Responsibilities
Accounting for Project Outcomes:

• Design and implement appropriate data collection tools and procedures needed to account for project outcomes, in collaboration with all relevant staff, volunteers, and partners.
• Support monthly reporting on activities by project component managers, to ensure effective monitoring and documentation of project progress as per Annual Work Plans and the project Performance Measurement Framework (PMF).
• Supervise and, when necessary, directly manage project data entry, data cleaning and verification and maintain appropriate data and document storage protocols.
• Track and facilitate reporting by project component managers on progress against Cuso International’s gender equality commitments as described in the project Gender Equality Strategy.
• Analyze project data periodically and generate summary reports on project progress against targets, using indicators defined in the project PMF and Cuso International’s corporate monitoring and evaluation system.
• Support internal mid-year and annual reporting requirements, and the needs of external program evaluations.
• Support monitoring and evaluation capacity building initiatives of the project with project partners and stakeholders.

Learning for Planning:

• Design, facilitate and provide internal capacity building support for strategic learning on project results related to gender equity, environmental responsibility and youth-based constraints on business development and employment.
• Support periodic reflection and analysis of lessons learned by project component managers and their teams, internally and through focus-group discussions in collaboration with partners and other stakeholders.
• Inform and advise the Project Team Leader on project strategic directions.
• Carry out other duties as required by the YouLead Project Team Leader, from time to time.

Person Specification
Development knowledge:

• Significant practical, analytical and theoretical knowledge and experience of international development work in Nigeria including:
  • A strong awareness of gender and equity issues and knowledge of issues affecting young women and men (key target groups for YouLead) in the context of GESI [Gender Equality and Social Inclusion]
  • An appreciation of the contribution that the private sector and business development approaches can bring to development
  • Proven ongoing commitment to staying abreast of current development thinking

Technical knowledge and experience in monitoring and evaluation

• Significant proven experience with:
  • Logical framework approach to defining project outcomes and indicators
  • Methods for monitoring and evaluation (including quantitative, qualitative and participatory)
  • Planning and implementation of M&E systems
  • Capacity building in M&E development and implementation
  • Facilitating learning-orientated focus group discussions with multiple stakeholders:
• Demonstrated experience with integrating and measuring gender equality results including:
  • Gender disaggregated and gender sensitive baselines, indicators and targets
  • Gender sensitive data collection & analysis
  • Gender equality objectives in partner’s capacity building plans
• Familiarity with and a supportive attitude towards processes of strengthening local organizations and building local capacities for self-management.
• Demonstrated experience in measuring and tracking vulnerable groups in programs and projects:
  • Good understanding of what determines vulnerability in humanitarian and development context
  • Experience disaggregating information and data by sex, age, social-economic status, marital status, disability, people living is HIV/AIDS

Communication, Representation and Networking:

• Excellent communication skills - the ability to articulate project views efficiently and positively in various formats, including speech, panel, debate and group discussion
• Demonstrated ability to communicate good practices and learning in working with both young women and men that contributes to breaking down negative gender and generational stereotypes
• Ability to present and represent Cuso International to a variety of audiences including government, private sector, donors and civil society
• Strong networking skills and the ability to build relationships, alliances and networks in a fast paced work environment.

Team work:

• Proven ability to work effectively in a number of teams, in a multi-cultural context and where teams may be geographically dispersed

Information Technology:

• Proven ability to be self-serving in IT (Email, Advanced Excel and Powerpoint) and willingness to develop IT skills in Cuso International’s corporate monitoring and evaluation system
• Considerable experience in data entry and data management.
• Proven knowledge of statistical

Personal Skills

• Pro-active approach to work planning
• Considerable problem solving and decision-making skills
• Flexibility and willingness to do any and all tasks needed to meet project goals and timelines
• Good time management in relation to priorities

Qualifications

• A University degree in Statistics, Social Science, Development Studies or a related discipline
• Minimum 5 years working in monitoring and evaluation of funded projects and programs; preferably in the area of natural resources management and/or market systems/enterprise development
• Demonstrated skills in quantitative data management and analysis, preferably in relation to monitoring and evaluation of project results against indicators.
• Proven technical skills in monitoring and evaluation, including experience with multi-sectorial and multi-donor funded programs and experience with qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis;
• Proven abilities in developing monitoring plans, data collection, information management, use of databases, and analysis and performance monitoring;
• Proven expertise in the management and analysis of data for basic statistics and graphic presentations using Excel.
• Demonstrated aptitude for facilitation of focus group discussions and participatory analysis involving community-level stakeholders and vulnerable populations.
• Demonstrated ability to synthesize and present results of development outcomes using narrative and quantitative reporting procedures.
• Knowledge of capacity building approaches applied to monitoring and evaluation for government and community-based organizations
• Proven ability to network and collaborate with government and community-level stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to train and build capacity of others;
• Strong planning, organizational and interpersonal skills;
• Excellent analytical, presentation, and reporting skills
• Excellent database, data management and data analysis skills, with experience using at least 2 software applications such as Microsoft Excel, Access, SPSS, STATA;