MEAL Officer at CARE International

Job Summary

• CARE is seeking a MEAL Officer to support the successful implementation of an anticipated social cohesion project to facilitate gender responsive and inclusive community development planning processes in Mayo Belwa and Toungo LGAs as well as promote peaceful transhumance (i.e. peaceful movement of herders and their herds of animals) in the 10 wards of Toungo Local Government Area of Adamawa State. The MEAL Officer will be responsible for designing, coordinating, and implementing the monitoring and evaluation framework of the project. The role includes managing the collection, analysis, and reporting of data to measure the performance and impact of project activities. He/She will work closely with project staff, partners, and stakeholders to ensure the effective implementation of the project's M&E plan, provide feedback on project strategies, and contribute to the continuous improvement of project outcomes.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS:

Monitoring and Evaluation of SUCCOR activities

• Develop and implement the M&E framework and system for the SUCCOR Project.
• Identify and contextualizes key indicators from the National Standard TPs including target indicators that relate to project objectives and activities.
• Identify and contextualizes key indicators from CARE Vision 2030 impact indicators that relate to project objectives and activities.
• Ensure MEAL activities include women and girls by collecting sex-disaggregated data, assessing impacts on them, and integrating their perspectives into assessments, reporting, and learning.
• Lead local level learning and reflection on the project
• Coordinate and conduct regular data collection, ensuring data quality and integrity.
• Analyse data and generate timely and accurate reports on project performance and impact.
• Work collaboratively with project teams to integrate M&E findings into project planning and decision-making.
• Train and support project staff and partners in M&E methodologies and best practices.
• Ensure compliance with donor requirements and reporting standards.
• Collect and collate field level data needed for reporting output and outcome and impact indicators.
• Support the MEAL Coordinator to implement the Data Quality Assurance system including the conduct of data quality assessments according to the M&E plan.
• Support in conducting assessments as needed, facilitate focus groups and other qualitative data collection exercises.
• Facilitate routine field visits to project sites, collect project data, track key performance indicators against targets, and engage project participants and stakeholders in MEAL activities.

Data System Management 

• Responsible for record keeping and maintaining MEAL team updated data for the project.
• Develop and implement robust data management systems and databases tailored to the needs of the SUCCOR Project.
• Support the MEAL Coordinator in data management for assessments, analysis, surveys, evaluations, and other research as required.
• Ensure the data management system is user-friendly and accessible to all relevant project staff and stakeholders.
• Oversee the collection, entry, and maintenance of data, ensuring accuracy and consistency.
• Develop and enforce data entry protocols and standards to maintain high data quality.
• Train staff and enumerators on data collection tools and processes.
• Ensure that all data management activities comply with data protection and confidentiality standards.
• Implement security measures to protect sensitive data from unauthorized access or breaches.
• Implement data quality assurance processes, including regular data audits, to ensure the reliability and validity of data.

Accountability & Compliance

• Lead Feedback and Accountability mechanisms assessments with the community to ensure efficient use of preferred feedback channels by the community.
• Maintain regular contact with beneficiaries, community leaders, municipality representatives and other (I)NGOs, inviting them to participate in monitoring and assessment processes and sharing the results with them.
• Inform target beneficiaries of their rights, the intended results and impact of the project, the monitoring and evaluation processes, and the feedback and accountability Mechanism of CARE Nigeria 
• Conduct community visits, feedback and accountability assessments, AAP activities including focus group discussions with project participants and stakeholders on project activities.
• Participate in dissemination of program information to communities, project participants, and other stakeholders through regular feedback mechanism.
• Maintain the complaints and feedback received and ensure a timely and appropriate follow-up or referral if needed.
• Clean and validate data received from beneficiaries for complaint and feedback database and generate weekly summaries.

Learning, Reporting and Documentation

• Work with the project team to ensure documentation of programme learning initiatives and outcomes (case studies, photos, lessons learnt, most significant change stories, etc.)
• Participate in the dissemination of learning to other team members to ensure that good practice is understood and adopted.
• Ensure compliance with CARE’s Program Quality Standards by integrating these considerations into MEAL activities, tracking progress against the markers, and supporting the project team in meeting CARE’s standards for gender equity and climate resilience.
• Extract action points from field/ Activity reports and maintain and consolidate monthly action plan/feedback trackers.
• Develop data visualizations and infographics to effectively communicate project results and impact to potential donors and partners.
• Support the dissemination and use of evaluation and research reports and propose changes for improvement to the project team.
• Support coordination of consortium projects monthly, quarterly, biannual and annual reviews and reports as required.
• Participate in dissemination of program information to communities, beneficiaries, and other stakeholders through regular feedback mechanism.
• Contribute to the timely and quality compilation and submission of project periodical reports (Weekly, monthly, quarterly, Annual, and special reports) to the project Manager. 
• Assist in the preparation of the project’s operations plans/work plans & reviews.
• Ensure all project data are up to date update and report in humanitarian update and PIIRs reporting platform timely.

Resource mobilization

• IContribute to CARE’s resource mobilization efforts by providing data and analysis to support the development of grant proposals and funding applications.
• Ensure that proposals are backed by accurate, up-to-date, and relevant data on project outcomes and impacts.
• Ensure that lessons learned from M&E activities inform future resource mobilization strategies and project planning.

Support other activities as assigned

Requirements

QUALIFICATION/EXPERIENCE/TECHNICAL SKILLS:

Required

• Minimum of a bachelor’s degree in Development Studies, Social work, Statistics, Economics, Information Management and Technology, or its equivalent.
• At least 3-5years’ experience of working in M&E system preferably with experience in the sectors: Food Security and Livelihoods, Cash for food/work, Agricultural systems, and nutrition, or Governance. 
• Previous field experience in assessments, data gathering, interviews and information triangulation/verification.
• Experience in setting up and/or managing M&E systems, preferably in NGO setting.
• Knowledge and/or experience of working on accountability initiatives, such as information sharing and complaints response mechanisms.
• Proficiency in MS Office applications, Skills in Word, Excel, Power Point, spread sheets and other Statistical software e.g. SPSS, STATA and QGIS, PBi, and design of MEAL tools including ITT, MEAL plan, RF.
• Experience in implementing knowledge management and learning/ adaptive management approach in MEAL.
• Previous work experience in hardship areas or emergency setting.
• Experience in documentation, data analysis and reporting. 

Desired

• Working knowledge and experience of humanitarian principles, and standards – Core Humanitarian Standards (CHS), Sphere Minimum Standards, Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA), Gender in Emergencies.
• Excellent communication skills including excellent written and verbal skills in English; fluency in Hausa will be desirable.
• Good understanding of the Northeast Nigeria social and operational environment.
• Good experience in implementing governance and resilience building projects
• Disciplined and able to work and arrive at decisions autonomously and with minimal guidance.
• Extensive knowledge and understanding of Microsoft Office suit, mobile applications e.g. Kobo tool, SurveyCTO, and statistical analytical software SPSS, STATA
• Knowledge and understanding of qualitative and quantitative data collection methodologies.

Competencies:

• Approachability                               
• Building Effective Teams
• People centered
• Integrity and Trust
• Drive for Results
• Comfort around Higher management.
• Business Acumen
• Negotiating
• Organizational Agility