Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Officer at Expertise France: (Deadline 17 January 2025)
Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Officer at Expertise France: (Deadline 17 January 2025)
Job description
Job title: Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning
Projects: TEI MAV+ and TVET Agri
Location: Kigali, Rwanda, with occasional travel to the Western and Northern regions
Contract duration: 1 year renewable
Expected starting date: February 2025
Contract type: Rwandan national fixed-term contract (full-time)
General context:
Expertise France is the French public agency for international cooperation. The Agency focuses on four priority areas:
- Democratic, economic and financial governance;
- Stability of countries in crisis/post-crisis situations and security;
- Combating climate change and favoring sustainable urban development;
- Strengthening health systems, social protection and employment.
In these areas, Expertise France engineers and implements capacity-building projects, mobilises technical expertise and acts as a project coordinator, bringing together public expertise and private know-how. With a business volume of 390 million euros and over 400 projects in 145 countries, Expertise France’s activities are part of France’s international cooperation policy and official development assistance.
Overview of the projects:
The Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Officer will work on the following two projects:
TEI MAV+ project (Health / Human Capital and Social Development / September 2024 – August 2028 / 48 Months)
The African Union Commission and the African Centres for Disease Control and Prevention call for local production of 60% of Africa’s needed vaccines by 2040 as well as expanded local manufacturing of other health products. The European Union and Member States are supporting these goals through the Team Europe Initiative on manufacturing and access to vaccines, medicines and health technologies in Africa (TEI MAV+).
The overall aim of the TEI MAV+ project is to strengthen the local manufacture of medicines and healthcare products in Rwanda, and the population’s equitable access to these products, by enhancing the skills of the personnel needed for the various pharmaceutical professions, and by stimulating research and the development of new products and processes. Expertise France’s overall budget to implement the project activities is € 17,000,000 over 4 years.
Expertise France together with the German cooperation (GIZ), the Belgian cooperation (Enabel) and the Swedish cooperation (SIDA) as well as with the support of national institutions (Ministry of Education, Ministry of Health, Universities, Research Centres) and with international support, will help to reinforce and maintain a strong pharmaceutical ecosystem.
TVET Agri project(Human Capital and Social Development / October 2024 – October 2029 / 60 months)
Representing 25% of GDP and 70% of the active workforce in Rwanda, agriculture is a key sector targeted by the Rwandan Government to boost the economy and create jobs. Developing agricultural skills is a priority for transforming the sector, with the national goal of establishing Centres of Excellence for technical and vocational education and training (TVET) in agriculture. These centres aim to develop a new generation of skilled professionals capable of driving sustainable agricultural development and contributing to food security, economic growth, and improved livelihoods for rural communities in Rwanda.
The TVET Agri project aims to support the Rwanda TVET Board (RTB) in establishing Centres of Excellence in agriculture, and to enhance the sustainability, climate resilience, and inclusiveness of agricultural practices by strengthening the skills of women and youth in Rwanda. The project is structured around two specific objectives, with a specific focus on gender:
- Improve women’s and youth’s access to quality skills and formal certification in agricultural practices.
- Enhance the effectiveness of mechanisms to integrate women and youth into the agricultural labour market, with a focus on sustainable agriculture.
The project will be implemented over five years with a budget of €16.2 million from the EU and French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It will include technical assistance at the national level, as well as support to two TVET centres in the Western and Northern regions through technical assistance, infrastructure rehabilitation, and the provision of agricultural equipment. The project will be carried out in collaboration with the beneficiary partner RTB, as well as with donors and project partners.
Job summary:
The MEAL Officer will be assigned to two distinct project teams. His/her working time will be split 50% between the TEI MAV+ project and the TVET Agri project. Under the supervision of the two Project Leaders and in functional liaison with the headquarter-based MEAL Coordinators, he/she will bring his/her expertise to the project teams and to the projects’ institutional and operational partners in the development and use of MEAL tools. He/she will ensure that the projects are documented, monitored, analysed and capitalised on the process, results and lessons learned.
The position is assigned the following objectives:
- Contribute to the management and effective implementation of the projects by ensuring their monitoring and evaluation in accordance with the requirements of Expertise France and the donors (EU and French Ministry of Foreign Affairs);
- Coordinate the overall MEAL strategies of the projects and support their implementation in collaboration with the project teams and partners;
- Ensure the appropriation and use of MEAL tools by the projects’ stakeholders.
Main tasks and responsibilities:
a. Development and implementation of harmonised MEAL frameworks for the projects
- Assess the needs and available resources of the projects in terms of MEAL systems, data collection, reporting within Expertise France and among implementing partners;
- Participate in the development and implementation of participatory MEAL systems/plans adapted to the projects;
- Ensure the quality, consistency and harmonisation of MEAL tools, processes, procedures and methodologies deployed at different stages of the projects;
- Implement data collection and analysis tools (forms, development of rigorous databases, etc.) that facilitate the monitoring activities’ progress and guide decision making on corrective measures;
- Establish a system for filing and archiving digital and paper data (reports, surveys…);
- Classify, archive and organise technical documentation produced and/or used.
- Ensure the confidentiality and security of data.
Leading the projects’ MEAL activities
- Ensure the reliability, quality and relevance of the data collected for objective analysis;
- Monitor indicators, collect data, develop and update data collection and analysis tools, share findings with the Project Leaders and teams, and alert on significant deviations;
- Participate in the preparation and implementation of project reviews (monthly, annual and semi-annual);
- Participate in the preparation of projects’ annual reports for donors by integrating data from the MEAL system;
- Lead projects’ baselines, midterm and final evaluations (develop terms of reference, participate in recruitment processes if needed, reporting, review deliverables, etc.);
- Contribute to the development of terms of reference (ToR) for the recruitment of external MEAL consultants and experts to meet the projects’ needs (evaluations, surveys, capitalisations, etc.);
- Conduct participatory MEAL activities to measure the projects’ impact, using both quantitative and qualitative data;
Technical support to the projects’ partners
- Support the implementation of MEAL plans by the projects’ partners through the development of indicators and MEAL tools with each stakeholder, in line with their specific action plans, and define the terms of use (frequency of completion, collection, sharing);
- Strengthen partners’ MEAL capacity through training and collaborative exchanges, the development of tools and reporting methods;
Learning
- Capitalise, document and share the projects’ best practices, achievements and innovations;
- Assist the Project Leaders in the organisation and facilitation of capitalisation activities such as review meetings, workshops, develop ToR, participate in recruitment if needed etc.;
- Undertake beneficiary and partner satisfaction surveys for project improvements.
Support communication and partner engagement activities
- Participate in coordination meetings, steering committees, brainstorming sessions and workshops at the Project Leaders’ requests;
- Develop communication support to enhance the projects’ and Expertise France’s visibility.
Profile
Qualifications and professional experience
- Post-graduate degree in Social Sciences, Public Health, Economics, Statistics, Sociology, Demographics, or any other field relevant to the role;
- At least 5 years’ professional experience in MEAL functions, including information management, data collection, evaluation and learning activities for donor-funded development activities, preferably in the health or education sector;
- Experience of developing gender-sensitive MEAL frameworks, to measure gender equity and empowerment outcomes;
- Experience in designing, facilitating and evaluating training for adults in MEAL will be considered favourably;
- Experience of working on EU-funded cooperation projectsand knowledge of the Rwandan context are also an asset;
- Mastery of project management fundamentals is an asset.
Technical competencies
- Excellent understanding of results frameworks and indicators, as well as international MEAL standards and applications, particularly for EU-funded projects;
- Excellent knowledge of tools and methodologies for project cycle management, results-based management, quality assurance, data security and gender mainstreaming;
- Mastery of the main MEAL tools and methods (including quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis) and their use in the field;
- Design, database management and data exploitation;
- Good knowledge of data collection software (Kobo Tool Box, Survey CTO, ODK, etc.), data analysis (R, SPSS, Stata, etc.), data visualisation software (Power BI, Tableau etc.) and Excel.
- Experience on capitalisation and learning workshop facilitation;
- Good understanding of gender-sensitive MEAL and programming;
- Good understanding of the impact of gender in access to health, education and/or agriculture.
Skills
- Rigor and organisational skills;
- Excellent coordination and teamwork skills;
- Ability to anticipate and be proactive;
- Ability to work independently on several tasks at once;
- Excellent analytical and writing skills;
- Ability to manage and analyse information in a critical and methodical manner;
- Perfect command of English and Kinyarwanda; Fluency in French is an asset.
Additional information
- Full-time position based in Kigali, with occasional travel to the Western and Northern regions
- Type of contract: Fixed-term contract (Rwandan contract)
- Starting date: February 2025
- Remuneration: according to Expertise France’s salary scale and the candidate’s seniority level
Interested candidates are invited to submit their CV and cover letter mentioning at least 2 references, before January 17, 2025. Candidates should apply on: https://expertise-france.gestmax.fr/12321/1/meal-officer-h-f/en_US
Expertise France reserves the right to pre-select candidates before this date.
The selection process will take place in three stages:
- First, a shortlist will be drawn up freely by Expertise France;
- Secondly, shortlisted candidates will be invited to a take a technical written test;
- Thirdly, shortlisted candidates will be invited to an interview.
