Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer - Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services (AEAS) at Winrock International

Location: Warri, Delta
Reports to:  Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Manager

Background

• Winrock International works with people around the world to increase economic opportunity, sustain natural resources, and protect the environment. Winrock matches innovative approaches in agriculture, natural resources management, clean energy, and leadership development with the unique needs of its partners.
• Winrock is seeking a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer to be based in Warri, Delta State (Nigeria) for a long-term assignment for USAID funded Feed the Future Nigeria Agricultural Extension and Advisory Services (AEAS).
• The Activity’s facilitative, market-driven approach builds on the achievements of USAID and Feed the Future in Nigeria, most notably demonstrating to the private sector the win-win benefits of investing in business linkages to smallholder farmers.
• The Activity seeks to increase smallholder farmers’ productivity, incomes, and household nutrition status in seven Feed the Future (FTF) focus states across four geographic zones in Nigeria (Kebbi, Niger, Kaduna, Benue, Ebonyi, Cross-River, and Delta) through strengthening sustainable agricultural extension and advisory services.
• The project will particularly focus on aquaculture, cowpea, maize, rice, and soybean value chains.

Position Summary

• The position holder will support implementation of the Activity Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Plan (AMELP),which complies with standards provided in the Feed the Future Indicators Handbook.
• For a monitoring, evaluation and learning position within an Activity adopting a market systems development approach, it is expected that position holder will play support the implementation team in tracking and reporting systemic change in line with the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED) Standards for Results Measurement1 that guides MEL practice in private sector development.
• The successful candidate will collaborate with the Value Chain Advisor and State Coordinators in measuring and aggregating intervention level results for program-wide reporting.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Support private sector firms, including micro, small and medium sized enterprises (MSMEs) and input firms in the process of pre-registering farmers they mobilize for participation in the planned interventions
• Collaborate with MEL manager in leading the baseline data collection process
• Implement processes
• Take part in organising and carrying out data collection for various programme uses by taking part in periodic field visits
• Collaborate with the Database / GIS Specialist in ensuring proper systems are in place for tracking the Activity’s results in professional and timely manner.
• Assists the MEL manager in developing monitoring and evaluation tools for data collection and quality assurance.
• Create and manage mini-databases at the intervention level, which should be updated frequently (monthly / quarterly) as need arises
• Support capturing of lessons learning that enable analysis of data, context and emerging experiences as well as iterative adaptive management of the Activity’s technical approach and its targets and indicators to unpredicted challenges and opportunities posed by the market, socio-political environment, institutional capacities and other influences
• Ensure regular feedback is provided to the intervention team through an iterative and dynamic learning approach that seeks to fill key knowledge gaps, inform review of interventions and, as needed, refine the Activity’s Theory of Change throughout the implementation process
• Support intervention managers in implementing their monitoring plans at the intervention and output levels by contributing to the development of monitoring and evaluation tools for data collection and quality assurance.
• Support the MEL Manager in ensuring that program performance data are analyzed and used for decision making, learning and planning of strategy; particularly with regards to intervention designs, delivery and results reporting.
• Support MEL Manager in reviewing partners’ approaches and management information systems (if any) and agree on any required changes, support and resources
• Produce and update monitoring information including quarterly statistics for quarterly reports from pilot till the end of the program.
• Support MEL Manager in designing and delivery training workshops focusing on M&E processes and systems
• Provide support to SMEs and input firms in the use of M&E tools and templates.
• Undertakes all other duties and projects as may be assigned from time to time.

Qualifications and Background
Education:

• Bachelor's degree in Agriculture, Agricultural Engineering, Statistics, Economics, Social Sciences or related fields.
• Formal training course in monitoring evaluation is highly desired.

Technical:

• Require at three years’ experience in monitoring and evaluation with at least one year in market systems development
• Experience conducting and supervising field-based research in agricultural development projects.
• Experience working with International development organizations, preferred
• Previous experience with USAID funded projects would be an advantage
• Computer literate in word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation software (Microsoft)
• Professional level written and spoken English