This role will be a one-year consultancy position.

Responsibilities & Deliverables

Design of Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Systems (20%)�

• Support country MEL managers in preparing their MEL plans and using digital tools for data collection and management.
• Support evidence-gathering to inform the design and implementation of Rwanda and Tanzania Signature Programs.
• Support the dvelopment of a MEL strategy for the Africa Region that will guide operations.
• Ensure alignment of country/project M&E plans with organizational standards.
• Collaborate with the SP Technical Director in networking with other organizations to promote Heifer’s development model and initiatives.
• Lead the development of the Africa Region database to serve as a warehouse for all program/project performance data, including historical data.
• Create a Collaborating, Learning and Adapting Plan that will guide the Africa Signature Program portfolio.
• Design a data flowchart illustrating how the SP performance data across the region will be collected, analyzed, and utilized.

Implementing Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning, and Systems (MELS) (30%)�

• Provide technical assistance to country MEL teams during the collection and analysis of data to inform project design, the development of logical frameworks and/or results frameworks with defined indicators (Global Indicators, Project-Specific Indicators, Progress Report or Nested Indicators, Business Transformation Model Indicators, Household Transformation Model Indicators), target setting, monitoring, and progress reporting.
• Support country-specific internal data quality assurance exercises.
• Update the aggregated record of Africa Region’s local leverage resources by the end of each quarter.
• Support country MEL managers during project baseline surveys, progress monitoring, and evaluations in line with their MEL plans.
• Conduct periodic field monitoring visits to the country signature projects.
• Support country program teams as they facilitate “Pause and Reflect” sessions, which provide an opportunity to reflect on previous reporting periods’ achievements, challenges, and lessons learned.
• Elevate MEL-related challenges to the Signature Program Technical Director for coordination with the HQ MEL team.

Data Management (Collection, Collation, Curation, Analysis, Quality Assurance) and Utilization for Reporting and Learning (20%)�

• Coordinate with MEL managers for timely project data entry into Heifer’s Integrated Program Management System (IPMS).
• Lead in summarizing and aggregating data across the Africa Region for organization-wide use.
• Support Country MEL Managers to collect, collate, clean, and analyze Regional-level data for project management, learning, and reporting needs.
• Develop and implement the Africa Regional-level learning-to-action agenda.
• Support documentation of Africa Regional-level lessons learned, successes, challenges, and best practices via case studies.
• Lead the integration of Geographical Information Systems (GIS) with the existing MEL system to enhance its functionality.
• Collaborate with the IPMS Business System Manager (BSM) to support country and project-specific development of interactive dashboards using Power BI to enhance data visualization in support of management and visualized data-driven decision-making.

Capacity Development (15%)�

• Conduct MEL staff capacity gap assessments and collaborate with the SP Technical Director to implement capacity-building initiatives to fill identified gaps.
• Equip MEL staff and implementing/project partner staff with the necessary skills for MEL activities.
• Build the capacity of project partners in record-keeping and data management.
• Support capacity-building of MEL staff to improve efficiency and compliance with Heifer’s and donors’ standards.
• Assist in recruiting, training, and supervising external consultants for surveys and studies.

Fundraising Support (10%)�

• Contribute to project design through the development of Theory of Change, Results Framework, and the selection of Heifer and donors’ standard indicators, and formulate appropriate Project-Specific Indicators for review and incorporation by the country program teams.
• Support the development of concept notes and project proposals by contributing to the development of the results framework and theory of change.
• Support in-country research and evaluation initiatives.

Other Tasks (5%)�

• Support other MEL-related tasks as assigned by the Signature Program Technical Director.

Key Behavioural Competencies   �

• Accountability�
• Professional Excellence�
• Humility�
• Customer Orientation�
• Empathy�
• Innovation