Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Expert

Cities and Infrastructure for Growth Zambia

Position: Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Expert
CIGZambia Project: Business Development Support to Lusaka Water Security Initiative (LuWSI)
Location: Lusaka, Zambia
Start Date: 04 January 2021
Contract Duration: Up to 40 days over a five-month period (up to 3 June 2021), with the bulk of the work within the first two months. There may be a possibility of contract extension.

Note: CIGZambia is likely to require M&E specialists for other assignments in the coming months and may reach out to applicants regarding other CIGZambia Project opportunities. If you would also like your CV to be considered for other roles, please state this in your cover letter.

About Cities and Infrastructure for Growth Zambia (CIGZambia)

CIGZambia is a facility that provides high-quality independent technical advice and assistance to Zambian government bodies and private sector organisations engaged in projects/programmes that help harness the potential of Zambia’s cities and towns to act as drivers for economic growth and job creation. CIGZambia is funded by the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).

The overall programme objectives are to:

• increase urban productivity;
• improve inclusive access to urban economic infrastructure services;
• increase investment into urban economic infrastructure services; and,
• enhance national and regional integration between cities.

Lusaka Water Security Initiative (LuWSI)

Many factors threaten Lusaka’s water security, including rapid population growth, industrial expansion, encroachment of the recharge areas, contamination of ground water, climate variability and climate change. These threats jeopardise the health, productivity and prosperity of Lusaka’s businesses and residents. Recognising that cooperation is crucial to address water security, the Lusaka Water Security Initiative (LuWSI) was established in 2016 as a multi-stakeholder collaboration between the public and private sectors, civil society and international actors that aims to deliver more effective leadership, analysis, advocacy and project development to improve water security. The partnership is coordinated by a Secretariat staffed by two full-time positions: The Coordinator and the Monitoring, Evaluation and Communications (M&E-Comms) Officer.

CIGZambia has been supporting LuWSI since October 2019 through a technical advisory services to the Secretariat, with the aim of strengthening the long-term sustainability of LuWSI and its capacity to act as a convener and project enabler.

At present LuWSI does not have a comprehensive M&E system. A robust M&E system is vital to LuWSI being able to demonstrate evidence of results, learn and improve, and demonstrate added value in the water security sector. Based on an initial scoping assessment conducted with the LuWSI Secretariat, CIGZambia will contract an M&E Expert to facilitate the development of LuWSI’s M&E system and deliver M&E capacity building to the Secretariat and its members.

About the Role

The objectives of the M&E Expert’s technical support are to:

• Establish a realistic and effective M&E system for LuWSI, taking into consideration the available resources and capacity within the Secretariat. The proposed system should be clearly aligned with the LuWSI Strategy and focus on monitoring both processes and results. The system should use available and actionable information to show the added value of the LuWSI partnership, rather than monitoring all activities.
• Provide on-the-job training/capacity building to the Secretariat, in particular the M&E-Communications Officer. Coordination of the M&E system will be the responsibility of the LuWSI Secretariat, therefore it must have sufficient capacity to play this role effectively.
• Build the wider M&E partnership, including with the LuWSI Steering Board and committees, to buy into and contribute to the LuWSI M&E system. While the Secretariat is responsible for coordination of M&E, implementation of the M&E system is a joint responsibility of all LuWSI partners. This will involve engagement and training with key LuWSI members who will contribute to LuWSI M&E activities.

Project Responsibilities

The successful applicant will:

• Work in close coordination with the LuWSI Secretariat and CIGZambia, responding promptly and flexibly to the needs and demands of the project.
• Maintain engagement with the LuWSI Steering Board, LuWSI Committees, and wider partnership to ensure on-going buy-in to M&E objectives.
• Provide high-quality inputs to written and verbal reports to LuWSI and CIGZambia, as well as other stakeholders.
• Deliver the activities listed below:

Activity and Description

1) Draft Results Framework

In collaboration with LuWSI M&E-Comms Officer and wider partnership the Expert will develop:

• A Theory of Change;
• A logframe, incorporating all levels of results and SMART indicators.

This will go to the LuWSI Secretariat Board for review/approval.

2) Develop an outline of the M&E Manual, and support the M&E-Comms Officer to fully draft the manual

The M&E system, and hence the Manual, should be relatively simple and not require a huge amount of work or technical expertise to implement. Additionally, this Manual will include:

• Indicator guidance sheets and reporting templates;
• M&E implementation budget.

3) Collect and publish output data In collaboration with the M&E-Comms Officer:

• Establish and support the activities of a LuWSI M&E Task Force.
• Apply the mechanisms described in the M&E Manual to collect output level monitoring data (through the LuWSI partnership).
• Publish data through existing LuWSI data sharing methods (e.g. digital atlas)

4) Carry out outcome and intermediate impact monitoring

In collaboration with the M&E-Comms officer, and the M&E Task Force:

• Plan data collection activities;
• Collate and analyse data and identify channels for sharing results;
• Carry out contribution analysis.

5) Support M&E-Comms officer in preparing the LuWSI Annual Report

The M&E Expert will provide oversight and advice to the M&E-Comms Officer, who will carry out the report preparation:

• Design the structure/content of the annual report, keeping it simple;
• Presentation of M&E results through data visualisation/infographics;
• Identify lessons learnt based on monitoring process and results to date and recommendations for further improvement.

Immediate Requirements

The successful applicant will need to gain a comprehensive understanding of the LuWSI partnership structure and associated policy documents. This includes:

•  LuWSI Draft Strategy 2021-23: the main reference document for development of the M&E system.
• Draft LuWSI Business Plan and Implementation Plan.
• Water Security Action and Investment Plan (WSAIP): the strategic framework that outlines the long-term objectives and strategies needed to achieve water security for Lusaka by 2035.

Key Qualifications

Applicants must have:

• Extensive (6+ years) of relevant work experience on M&E of development programmes.
• Experience establishing/creating an M&E system and processes.
• Experience developing and delivering training and capacity building on M&E system implementation, particularly mentoring/on-the-job training.
• Full proficiency in English, with excellent demonstrable skills in written and verbal communication.

Preference will be given to applicants who have:

• A demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with, and through, a diverse range of stakeholders (e.g. governmental, private businesses, NGOs, and development agencies) to develop a shared understanding of M&E systems and processes.
• Experience of working in the water security sector, particularly in Zambia.
• An understanding of the importance of promoting and monitoring gender and social inclusion in the water security sector.
• Experience of working within a Human Rights Based Approach (LuWSI platform is guided by this framework).

Applications

Please send your CV and Cover Letter to [email protected]. For application to be considered, subject line in email must be completed as follows: LuWSI Monitoring and Evaluation Expert – Candidate Last Name, First Name

Deadline for Applications: 1 December 2020