Monitoring, Evaluation & Learning Manager (WN/R/01/010) at West Africa Network for Peace-building (WANEP)

West Africa Network for Peace-building (WANEP)Abuja, Nigeria Data and Artificial Intelligence

Full Time

WANEP-Nigeria is the Nigerian Country Office of the West Africa Network for Peacebuilding (WANEP), a Sub-regional NGO with regional secretariat based in Accra, Ghana, whose mission is to enable and facilitate the development of mechanisms for cooperation among civil society-based peacebuilding practitioners and organizations in West Africa by promoting cooperative responses to violent conflicts; providing the structure through which these practitioners and institutions will regularly exchange experience and information on issues of peacebuilding, conflict transformation, social, religious and political reconciliation; and promoting West Africa’s social and cultural values as resources for peacebuilding.

General Job Summary

The MEL Manager will be supporting an Early Warning, Early Response System strengthening program in Nigeria on a full-time basis. The general duties and responsibilities of the MEL Manager are to provide oversight of project-level monitoring and evaluation activities within the program, ensuring the quality of the project’s MEL activities, and information management via the programs reporting system (which may be tied with WANEP proprietary Tech systems), and geographic information systems (GIS), where applicable.
The MEL Manager’s role is to also oversee and ensure coordination of the various technical areas across the MEL staff of the Project, and other relevant Project staff and components. The MEL Manager is responsible for the capacity building and mentoring strategy for program staff on themes related to monitoring, evaluation, accountability, reporting and learning.
The MEL Manager provides strategic guidance, vision and management for successful monitoring and evaluation of the activity. This individual also supervises MEL staff and ensures the strategic and functional integration of all MEL activities as well as active collaboration with sub-awardees and USAID. The Manager oversees all MEL activities, provides technical direction and support, and ensures the accurate reporting of results for program activities.

Essential Job Responsibilities
Program Management:

Set up the MEL system, including all tools and data collection processes for program activities.
Develop and review frequently the Project’s MEL Plan including Data Management Plan
Oversee the implementation of the MEL System.
Plan and lead all MEL activities including the baseline, midterm, and final evaluations, and develop standards for data collection.
Supervise all sub-contractors involved in data collection activities including the baseline, midterm, and final evaluation teams, and review their standards for data collection.
Train project team members and partners on their ME&L responsibilities
Directly manage MEL staff in day-to-day MEL activities, as well as provide technical oversight of additional MEL staff located in field offices.
Update MEL and project management systems to reflect program progress and needs; enforce proper usage of these systems by program staff.
Collect, analyze, and validate information and data on the performance indicators
Present data analysis and periodic reporting in consultation with technical staff
Ensure that lessons learned throughout the project are captured and communicated to internal and external stakeholders through appropriate channels
Liaise with various stakeholders and project-related donors on relevant program MEL concerns.
Take on overall responsibility for project reporting including Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Annual, Final, and ad-hoc reports.
Address any other task assigned by the COP/Director of Programs.
Given the nature of the work, staff are expected to be flexible and may be asked to carry out duties which are not specifically listed above. The job description may be revised after discussion between the staff member and the organization.

Team Management:

Develop the capacity of the team, deepen understanding of their roles and assist with career development.
Assist team members with information, tools and resources to improve performance & reach objectives.
Promote accountability, communicate expectations and provide constructive feedback informally and formally via regular one on ones and performance reviews.
Create and sustain a work environment of mutual respect where team members strive to achieve excellence.
Hire, orient and lead team members as necessary.

Security:

Ensure compliance with security procedures and policies as determined by Nigeria leadership.
Proactively ensure that team members operate in a secure environment and are aware of policies.

Organizational Learning:

As part of our commitment to organizational learning and in support of our understanding that learning organizations are more effective, efficient and relevant to the communities they serve, we expect all team members to commit 5% of their time to learning activities that benefit WANEP as well as themselves.

Accountability to Beneficiaries:

WANEP team members are expected to support all efforts toward accountability, specifically to our beneficiaries and to international standards guiding international relief and development work, while actively engaging beneficiary communities as equal partners in the design, monitoring and evaluation of our field projects.

Knowledge and Experience

BA/S or equivalent in any of the following or related fields: Social Science, International Development, Evaluation Research, Statistics, or Economics.
At least five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in designing, managing, and implementing results-based MEL activities.
Demonstrated relevant technical skills in analyzing quantitative and qualitative data, with excellent organizational as well as English oral and written communication skills.
Extensive knowledge of reporting procedures, best practices, guidelines, and tools for monitoring, evaluation, and learning
A minimum of 4 years of experience in monitoring and evaluation management for international development programs; USAID or another donor, or NGO preferred.
Experience with ArcGIS or other geographic information systems is preferred but not required.
A high degree of computer literacy; Excel and Word skills are essential.
Ability to manage and meet deadlines.
Ability to work independently on multi-task load.
Excellent Communication and organizational skills.
Basic mathematical skills and ability to perform job-specific mathematics with experience in statistical analysis and statistical software.
Should also have experience in the experimental design of evaluations.

Success Factors:

The ideal candidate will have a strong curiosity for understanding and working effectively within the complex cultural, political, security and social environment of Nigeria.
He/She will be an excellent communicator, multi-tasker, and able to work in ambiguous situations.
He/She will be a tolerant and flexible individual able to work in difficult and stressful environments and follow procedures.
The successful candidate will be focused on team building and capacity-building of national staff; be a strategic thinker, have strong skills in design monitoring and evaluation of development programs and maintain a sense of humour.