BACKGROUND
Effective agriculture has the power to change lives. It underpins prosperity, food security and stability the world over. Farm Africa focuses on transforming agriculture and managing natural resources sustainably. We champion a holistic approach that boosts yields, protects the environment and connects smallholder farmers to thriving markets.
Farm Africa has been implementing a project titled ‘Integrated approach to improve rural livelihoods, empowering communities and partners programme’ which is funded by SIDA (The Swedish International Development Agency). This project has been implemented by Farm Africa and the Union of Ethiopian Women Charitable Associations (UEWCA).
The overall goal of the programme is to contribute to achievement of the Ethiopia's Growth and Transformation Plan II (GTPII) through agriculture business development, capacity building in project implementation and delivery, civil society strengthening and embedding climate smart practices in identified development interventions. This overarching programme is divided into three key projects:
Project 1: Delivery of institutional capacity building services to local institutions and partners contributing to Ethiopia’s GTPII. This will involve the development and delivery of bespoke training packages for institutional development for government institutions and civil society organisations.
The project is operating in different regional state and Farm Africa is taking a lead role for the programme implementation, quality assurance, technical backstopping, monitoring and evaluation, partner management and donor reporting.
PURPOSE OF THE ROLE
The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Expert is a technical post responsible for ensuring consistent and high quality collection, use and reporting of results data across the SIDA programme. The post holder will ensure that all projects within the SIDA programme develop and implement appropriate MEL plans, based on robust logical frameworks, and adhering to Farm Africa’s core standards and approaches, including the global indicators.
Within the programme, the MEL Expert will work with the Programme Manager and Project Coordinator, to ensure management decision making is evidence based. The MEL Expert will work with the Project Officers and Community Development Staff to ensure a clear understanding of the programme’s MEL framework at the field level, with all methods and tools clearly understood and communicated. The post holder will develop appropriate tools, systems and training to support SIDA field teams to understand and use robust evidence of project results as a vital input to management decision making. The MEL Expert will provide technical as well as capacity building support to partner organisations, including the UEWCA; ensure use of relevant FA’s standard data collection tools; provide critical analysis and technical input to project evaluation processes, ensuring Farm Africa can maximise the learning potential of all studies and evaluations undertaken within the project.
The role also acts as an interface between the SIDA programme and Farm Africa’s Country Office on issues relating to results measurement and reporting, working closely with country office MEL coordinator and the Programme Manager to ensure continual improvement of organisational systems and processes
KEY TASKS AND RESPONISBILITES
Key areas of responsibilities are:
Planning
Implementation
Reporting
Capacity building
Provide technical as well as capacity building support to partner organisations, including the UEWCA; ensure use of relevant FA’s standard data collection tools
These essential functions are not to be interpreted as a complete statement of all duties performed. Employees will be required to perform other job related duties as required. All work responsibilities are subject to having performance goals and/or targets established.
DURATION & HOURS: One and half year with probation period of 45 days
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Education, qualifications & other knowledge
Essential
Desirable
Experience
Essential
Desirable
Skills & abilities
Desirable
Investing in smallholder farming is the number one way to combat poverty in rural Africa. Farm Africa is a leading NGO specialising in growing agriculture, protecting the environment and developing businesses in rural Africa.
EXPERT. Deep expertise and insightful evidence-based solutions are at the heart of everything Farm Africa does.
GROUNDED. Positive change starts with Africa’s people, so our experts work closely with local communities, engaging them in every level of decision-making.
IMPACTFUL. We take a long-term view so we can deliver lasting changes for farmers and their families.
BOLD. We model innovative new approaches and are not afraid to challenge strategies that are failing.