Catholic Relief Services - Zambia Country Program
About CRS
Catholic Relief Services carries out the commitment of the Bishops of the United States to assist the poor and vulnerable overseas. Our Catholic identify is at the heart of our mission and operations. We welcome as part of our staff and as partner’s people of all faiths and secular traditions who share our values and commitment to serving those in need. Since 2000 CRS Zambia has been implementing a number of programmes to support vulnerable Zambians. Its recent programming areas include: nutrition, agriculture, food security, HIV/AIDS, WASH, financial inclusion, and early child development.
Background
The Food and Nutrition Security for Enhanced Resilience (FANSER) project is an initiative under GIZ for the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation. The project aims to improve the food and nutritional situation of people living in food-insecure households, especially women of reproductive age and children under the age of 2. Since 2015, CRS has been implementing FANSER in Eastern province, deploying integrated multi-sector interventions to reduce malnutrition and stunting in target communities. CRS is now planning an expansion of FANSER activities to two districts of Luapula province, Mwense and Kawambwa, with implementation slated to run from September 2019 to December 2021. Luapula has the second highest rate of child stunting (45%, including 17% severely stunted), wasting (6%) and underweight children (15%) of all provinces (ZDHS, 2018). FANSER aims to build on its experience in Eastern province to meet the critical nutrition and food security needs in Luapula.
Position Summary
Based in Kawambwa, the MEAL (Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning) Manager provides overall guidance and implementation of MEAL requirements for the FANSER project, ensuring compliance to the Country Office MEAL Policies and Procedures and industry best practices. S/he will oversee the management of MEAL in an integrated multi-sectoral project working in close collaboration with local implementing partners and donor/technical partner GIZ based in Kawambwa and Mansa. S/he will work closely with program staff to ensure that the project has user-friendly and robust MEAL systems that promote efficient capturing and management of high-quality data related to project activities and outcomes and provide timely and relevant information for reporting to donors, managing for results internally, learning, showcasing impact and meeting the needs of other stakeholders.
Key Responsibilities
- Oversees the implementation of a robust MEAL system that systematically and efficiently collects, analyses and reports on project results that meet CRS and donor MEAL requirements
- Ensures quality data collection with the use of digital platforms
- Oversees the collection, management, aggregation, reporting of quality data and sharing of information and knowledge with key stakeholders and beneficiaries throughout the life of the project
- In collaboration with local partners and GIZ, designs and deploys participatory processes to strengthen accountability and learning mechanisms
- Supervise activity and outcome monitoring for the project
- Participate in periodical data quality audits at all levels of the data flow
- Coordinate the timely analysis of qualitative and quantitative performance data and support report writing as required
- Ensure deliverables are accurate, complete, and submitted to the donor in a timely manner
- Facilitate review of progress on a quarterly basis, supporting problem solving processes and development of remedial actions ensuring any disparity between planned and actual outputs are addressed
- Work with internal and external teams in the design and implementation of surveys, assessments, studies, and evaluations
- Meet with field staff frequently to jointly analyze and reflect on project monitoring data in order to produce action items with assigned responsibilities
- Conduct regular visits to project sites with partners to provide relevant, clear, high-quality, and timely onsite technical support and mentoring
- Perform periodic data quality audits to ensure that partners are capturing and recording data correctly and in line with donor requirements and CRS standards.
- Organize and facilitate learning meetings to review yearly targets and benchmarks and to promote learning
- Foster active knowledge management and organizational learning based on MEAL findings
- Coordinate with CRS program staff, MEAL staff and local partner organizations to produce human interest stories, articles, working papers, lessons learned, and other publications for internal and external circulation
- Orient program staff on the basic principles and practices of MEAL system, policies and procedures related to the project
- Perform any other function assigned to him/her by the Program Manager
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Social Sciences, Economics or related fields
- Postgraduate certificate in Monitoring and Evaluation
- Minimum 3 years’ relevant work experience
- Strong English writing skills
- Experience working with web-based data collection platforms (e.g CommCare, ODK, KoboToolBox, iFormBuilder)
Personal Skills
- Good relationship management skills with ability to work collaboratively as part of a multidisciplinary and multicultural teams
- Strategic, analytical, problem-solving and systems thinking capacity and skills
- Good writing skills
- Strong data collection and research skills and ability to interpret and analyze data
Travel Required: 50%
Key Working Relationships
Supervisory: None
Internal: Program Manager, MEAL Coordinator, Head of Programs
External: Implementing partners, field officers, donor, host country government agencies, DNCC, WNCCs, international and national non-governmental organizations working in the field of food security and nutrition
Agency-wide Competencies: These are rooted in the mission, values, and principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and to achieve the desired results.
- Trusting Relationships
- Professional Growth
- Partnership
- Accountability
CRS’ talent acquisition procedures reflect our commitment to protecting children and vulnerable adults from abuse and exploitation.
Equal Opportunity Employer
Note: By applying to this job, I understand and acknowledge that CRS requires its staff to treat all people with dignity and respect and to actively prevent harassment, abuse, exploitation, and human trafficking. Further, I understand that if I am a successful candidate, I will be subject to a comprehensive background check, and my personal/professional references will be asked to evaluate my behaviors related to the above safeguarding-related topics.
Applicant Instructions: Please email a cover letter, and curriculum vitae which should include three references to: [email protected]. Please include the position you are applying for in the subject line.
The closing date for applications is 13th June 2020. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an interview.