Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Assistant

Job Purpose

The Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning Assistant supports the Sr. MEAL Officer and MEAL Officers in developing and implementation of appropriate and viable Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning systems that are in line with ACTED’s global MEAL procedures, and support in ensuring that programs are implemented as per existing MEAL frameworks and utilize standard tools for measurement.

Objectives

1. Assist the Sr Officer in the implementation of solid MEAL systems and mechanisms that are in line with the global MEAL procedures and deliver effective research/outputs so to inform timely decision making and the adoption of sound corrective measures.
2. Ensure that the lessons learnt and the best practices are discussed and documented.
3. Contribute to theeffective functioning of Acted’s beneficiary complaints and response mechanism in order to enhance the trust and confidence of beneficiaries, identify areas of our work which need to be improved and ensure that Acted learns from the feedback provided through this process.  

Duties and Responsibilities

1.    Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning Appraisal Systems

1.1.     Technical and Systems Development

a)   Assist in updating MEAL work plan and MEAL frameworks for all ongoing projects.

b)   Support the MEAL Officer/Sr Officer to implement the MEAL policies and procedures as described in the Acted MEAL standard guidelines and make sure that the tools are followed as applicable.

c)   Contribute to an effective roll-out of M&E collection and reporting systems to all staff through training, site visits, manuals, and other technical support as needed.

d)   Support in preparing documents and tools to support the necessary MEAL training and capacity development activities.

1.2.     MEALImplementation and Management

a)   Support the Field Team in the development of ToRs and mission plans for assessments, monitoring and evaluations (baselines, mid-terms, endlines);

b)   Assist in the development of appropriate paper and/or electronic data collection and analysis instruments, methodologies (e.g. survey questionnaires, focus group discussions, key-informant interviews) and data/information dissemination/utilization plans.

c)   Assist in the analysis of MEAL data and help produce reports, factsheets with useful statistical analysis and presentation (charts, tables, histograms, box plots) as necessary in a timely manner.

d)   Assist in tracking indicator measurement in the MEAL frameworks.

e)   Provide data to the Project Development Team for use in preparation of reports to donors and other stakeholders, as required.

2.    Learning

a)   Contribute to proactive dissemination and use of knowledge gained through MEAL activities among relevant Acted stakeholders.

b)   Contribute to organizing and facilitating learning events in order to capture best practices and lessons learnt when a project closes or as required;

c)   Document and share the lessons learnt and best practices on time and ensure that the knowledge gained contributes to the improvement of projects and influence the strategic development of future projects and activities.

d)   Support project implementation and improvement by providing timely information around project successes to be scaled up as well as challenges to allow ‘course correction’ throughout life of the program.

3.    Beneficiary Complaints and Response Mechanism

a)   Support in building the capacity and understanding among Acted staff and contractors on beneficiary accountability and AFM.

4.    Other

a)   Provide regular and timely updates on progress and challenges to supervisors and other team members.

b)   Participate in MEAL-related conferences and workshops when possible and stay up to date with best practices and new knowledge created in the field of MEAL.

Perform any other related activities assigned by immediate supervisor. 

Key Performance Indicators

• Number of tasks and responsibilities completed within deadlines.
• Functional Mechanism in place and to assure that all final versions of reports and databases are saved to Acted SharePoint.
• Mechanism in place and functional to provide data on project indicators to PDD in a timely manner
• Number of positive feedback instances from internal and external stakeholders.
• Number of MEAL systems/tools successfully implemented as per ACTED’s guidelines.
• The number of lessons learned clearly documented at project key events and uploaded to Learnings database.