MEAL Associate at Ghali Humanitarian Aid Initiative (GHAI)

A MEAL Associate (Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning) provides technical and operational support to ensure that humanitarian or development projects are high-quality, effective, and accountable to both donors and communities. While a MEAL Officer often leads strategy and system design, the Associate focuses on field-level execution, data collection, and managing feedback mechanisms. 

Key Responsibilities

• Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E): Conducting regular field visits to track project progress against targets. They support baseline, midline, and endline assessments by administering surveys and validating data.
• Data Management: Collecting, cleaning, and entering data into databases. They maintain the Indicator Performance Tracking Table (ITT) to provide real-time updates to program teams.
• Accountability: Establishing and managing Community Feedback Mechanisms (CFMs), ensuring beneficiary complaints and suggestions are documented, followed up, and resolved confidentially.
• Learning: Documenting success stories, case studies, and lessons learned to inform future project improvements. They often facilitate reflection meetings to share these insights with the wider team.
• Capacity Building: Training community volunteers or enumerators on how to use digital data collection tools. 

Core Requirements

• Education: A Bachelor’s degree in Statistics, Economics, Social Sciences, or a related field.
• Experience: Typically requires 2–3 years of experience in MEAL within the NGO sector. For some organizations, a minimum of 1 year is acceptable for entry-level associate roles.
• Technical Skills: Proficiency in Microsoft Excel and mobile data collection tools like KoboToolbox or ODK is mandatory. Knowledge of data visualization tools like Power BI or statistical software like SPSS is highly desirable.
• Languages: Fluency in English and local languages (such as Hausa or Kanuri in Northeast Nigeria) is often essential for field-based community engagement.