Summary

• The MEAL Officer will be a part of the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability, and Learning (MEAL) team, supporting implementation of the overall IR MEAL system.
• The MEAL Officer will work as part of the IR Kenya MEAL staff to support a culture and practice of reliable planning, monitoring, evaluation, accountability, Knowledge Management and reporting as well as learning in IRK office.
• This includes developing, updating and coordinating MEAL activities and events, capacity building of IRK staff, network members and partners in MEAL, promoting MEAL knowledge transfer internally and externally.
• He/she will support the MEAL team and programme team to ensure learning and accountability systems are put in place and working effectively in IR projects. He/she will also ensure that there is regular, timely and context-specific, meaningful feedback from our staff, partners, and programme participants which effectively informs and signals areas where strategic attention is required.

Tasks and responsibilities

MEAL Tool Development and Data Management

• Develop and implement a robust monitoring and evaluation system that will ensure tracking of project results at different levels (outputs, outcomes, and impact).
• Develop/adopt an integrated database of all country projects and ensure accountability through regular data updates, data integrity and working in collaboration with the data processors.
• Work with project officers and managers to ensure the collection of relevant and appropriate data needed for an effective MEAL system which will be utilized in monitoring strengths, weaknesses and gaps in existing projects and services and for reporting on donor commitments.
• Review existing/develop data collection tools for the current projects.

Monitoring and Reporting

• Maintain and update the overall indicator results frameworks for the country’s projects and programs.
• Develop Monitoring & Evaluation(M&E) plans for all projects and proposals and ensure the same is followed up during implementation.
• Ensure all grants have an updated work-plan and performance management plan (PMP) in tandem with all approved proposals, regularly reviewing and updating as needed.
• Carry out regular data quality assessments/audits for MEAL data based on agreed indicators to guide decision making.
• Provide alert to the respective staff on corrective actions required to avoid delays in implementation, including flagging operational issues and risks requiring timely actions.
• Review monthly progress reports from network members/partners and ensure they have evidence to back-up and provide feedback to the respective staff.
• Collate/prepare country reports related to internal reporting such as the quarterly and annual reports.
• Ensure that cross-cutting issues such as participation, gender, age, and disability are effectively addressed/ mainstreamed in all project implementations as part of ensuring accountability according to IR SADD (Sex, Age, Disability Disaggregated Data) framework.

Assessments, Surveys, research, and Evaluation

• Adhere to accountability requirements by initiating baseline surveys for new projects and conducting relevant evaluations for ongoing projects to meet IR standards.
• Ensure that IR Kenya office learns from all evaluations of ongoing and completed projects for decision making and improvement of project designs.
• Lead and/or coordinate all country assessments, evaluations, research, and performance evaluation tasks including planning and reporting on the same.
• Assist in the development of Terms of Reference (TOR) for external surveys and consultant recruitment and selection.
• Coordinate the review of all survey reports prepared to ensure quality and accurate reporting.

Learning, Accountability and Capacity Building

• Conduct monitoring of project implementation that meet laid down standards on a regular basis.
• Provide relevant evidence for learning from projects.
• Share learning and provide constructive comments to colleagues to ensure project/program quality.
• Ensure (SADD), Accountability and Gender standards are consistently adhered in program delivery.
• Build capacity of staff through training to ensure adoption of new data monitoring tools and quality of data collected.
• Keep abreast of new approaches and tools on MEAL and provide training to IR staff as requested. Enable staff to monitor and evaluate their own efforts, gather relevant data, and produce required progress reports.

Safeguarding

• IR Kenya is committed to safeguarding the communities with which we work, our partners, staff, and any others who we encounter.

Therefore, you will also be responsible for:

• Preventing harm and abuse from our people, operations, and programs to anyone that encounters our work.
• Reporting all safeguarding incidents, you see, hear, hear about or suspect, using our internal reporting mechanism.
• Complying with all safeguarding framework policies and practices.
• Completing mandatory training courses relating to our safeguarding policy framework and complying with HR vetting procedures.

QUALIFICATIONS AND OTHER REQUIREMENTS

• At least a Bachelor of science degree in statistics, development studies, M&E, social science or equivalent
• At least 3 years’ experience of working in M&E with experience of developing M&E plans, training staff, capacity building, quantitative and qualitative data collection, analysis, and reporting and/or other aspects of M&E development contexts, preferably with solid experience in peace building or any or more than one of the Islamic Relief priority sectors: livelihoods, WASH, education, protection and emergency operations.
• Experience in setting up and/or managing M&E systems, preferably in INGO setting.
• Knowledge and/or experience of working on accountability initiatives, such as information sharing and complaints response mechanisms.
• MS Office applications, Word, Excel, Power Point, Spread sheets and other Statistical software.
• Ability and willingness to travel to field sites and work in remote locations, often for prolonged periods of time.
• Knowledge of IRW donor regulations, procedures, and requirements.
• Full Knowledge and understanding of quality and accountability standards such as CHS among others.
• Experience in and proven ability to support, train and mentor staff and partners in monitoring and evaluation methodology.
• Highly developed interpersonal and communication skills including influencing, negotiation, and coaching.
• Strong results orientation, with the ability to challenge existing mind sets.
• Ability to present complex information in a succinct and compelling manner.
• Knowledge of qualitative and quantitative research methods
• Fluency in English & Kiswahili
• Commitment to and understanding of Islamic Relief strategy, vision, mission, values, and principle.