Program Specialist - MEAL

Position Title:            Program Specialist Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning

Duty Station:             Head Office, Islamabad with frequent travel to field

Reporting to:             Chief Executive Officer

Introduction:

Human Development Foundation (HDF) was founded in 1997 by Pakistani diaspora in North America as a gift to homeland on its 50th anniversary, with a passion to pay back to the communities they belong to. Over past 24 year, HDF has positively impacted lives of 3.4 million fellow countrymen through direct service delivery in the areas of Education & Literacy, Primary Healthcare, Livelihood & Food Security, Sustainable Environment and Disaster Response with its physical footprint in 91 Tehsils of 53 Districts from AJK till Tharparkar.

Position Description:

The Program Specialist MEAL will bring significant experience and fresh ideas to lead on MEAL system implementation, review and evaluations, MEAL budgeting, as well as support to proposal writing and recruitment. The post holder will ensure quality, effectiveness and appropriateness of HDF’s programs and projects. It will be important for the post-holder to capture lessons learned, case studies and communicate this information in various capacities to improve on-going and future programs. S/he will guide HDF teams to maintain an effective monitoring system across all sectors and regions, including the use of beneficiary feedback data, to assure the quality of interventions. The MEAL Manager will lead on building capacity of staff and partners on MEAL but particularly on accountability and participation, in line with the organizational and program goals.

Key Responsibilities

1.               Lead on the development and oversee the roll-out of an organizational MEAL system ensuring accountability to donors and beneficiaries

2.               Promote all aspects of MEAL to support the creation of an organizational culture which prioritizes quality programming

3.               Build strong relationships with colleagues and provide support as required to ensure MEAL system is understood and supported at Head office and regional level

4.               Work closely with the program teams to ensure that MEAL becomes an integral element of program and project implementation leading to enhanced quality, accountability, management, and impact.

5.               Lead and manage all major MEAL tasks, including designing monitoring and evaluation processes, strategies, and tools, setting learning objectives, designing research studies and training staff and counterparts on data capture, collection, and evaluation.

6.               Develop and roll-out a comprehensive MEAL plan for all program areas, including collection, evaluation and reporting against program deliverables, outcomes, and targets.

7.               Develop tools for data collection, storage, and analysis, training of staff on M&E system operations, collection methods, and tools.

8.               Ensure quality and accurate compilation of data and database management.

9.               Manage and oversee MEAL program staff, building technical and operational capacity to manage and implement critical and detailed processes.

10.            Analyze program data using Power BI and help management in ensuring impactful program implementation by presenting analytical indicators dashboard.

11.            Develop and implement effective monitoring and reporting systems, tools and templates that systematically track partnership activities and outputs, including training materials and integrating technologies as needed

12.            Support HDF staff to measure, evaluate and actively monitor progress on key initiatives, as needed.

13.            Coordinate and plan strategic and operations planning review meetings quarterly and annually.

14.            Develop and share Monthly/Quarterly Progress Report, Annual report and updation of reporting formats.

15.            Ensure monthly progress review and planning meetings are held at Regional and Head Office on monthly basis.

16.            Translate data from measurement activities into infographic and summary formats that illustrate key findings for internal and external audiences, and support teams to integrate these findings (e.g., into communications materials, newsletters, annual reports, academic papers, donor reports, internal presentations).

17.            Ensure that donor feedback and complaints are received, appropriately recorded and responded to in a timely manner.

18.            Ensure that an accurate and secure archiving system for both quantitative and qualitative data is in place, accessible and being used appropriately.

19.            Ensure continuous generation of accurate beneficiary data.

20.            Strengthen systems and procedures that measure performance and achievements towards outcomes (using the outcomes & evidence framework core indicators and other methods as appropriate) and strategic and organizational commitments.

21.            Lead on planning and handling internal or external program evaluations and support sharing and use of research/learning within HDF’s program areas.

22.            Ensure technical oversight of sector specific M&E staff embedded in program teams.

23.            Provide technical assistance to program teams and inputs in development stages of program proposals, budgets, log frames, indicators, and measurement methodologies, plans and tools.

24.            Ensure documentation and dissemination of key findings stemming from monitoring, assessment, and other learning activities.

25.            Ensure that all field-based MEAL staff receive technical support and supervision.

26.            Ensure & conduct regular visits to field sites to ensure that M&E and accountability tools and strategies being implemented optimally.

27.            Ensure that MEAL resources are included in proposal development and work creatively to secure funding from diverse sources, to ensure that MEAL is integrated in emergency and development programs in a sustainable way.

28.            Responsible for effectively managing the annual MEAL budget.

Minimum Requirement

Qualification:                       

Masters in Statistics, Social Sciences, Project Management and/or bachelor’s in data sciences with

minimum of 5-7 years of experience in management and/or MEAL experience in a both emergency and development contexts.

Skill Set:                               

       i.          Must experience and knowledge of Power BI, ArcGIS, KOBO Toolbox, Survey CTO, Dev results and mobile applications for data collection.

     ii.          Must be experienced in data analytics, program monitoring, evaluation and learning.

   iii.          Strong writing skills and ability to synthesize information into clear, concise summaries

   iv.          Demonstrated understanding of project handle and direct monitoring and evaluation experience, specifically in the humanitarian and development context.

     v.          Demonstrated experience developing tools and systems for and building capacity of others related to program tracking and documentation.

   vi.          Knowledge of monitoring and evaluation methodologies, including logical models, conceptual frameworks, and assessment/evaluation.

  vii.          Demonstrated experience in designing and rolling out feedback/accountability mechanism and data management systems.