Senior Monitoring Evaluation & Learning Coordinator

Title: Senior MEL Coordinator

Program: FTF Local Food Systems

Reports to: MEL Manager

Location and Travels: Kisumu, Makueni, Garrisa

Grade: 6

About TechnoServe

TechnoServe is a leader in harnessing the power of the private sector to help people lift themselves out of poverty. A non-profit organization operating in 29 countries, we work with enterprising men and women in the developing world to build competitive farms, businesses, and industries. We have helped millions create lasting prosperity for their families and communities by linking people to information, capital, and markets.

Founded over 50 years ago, TechnoServe has been named the #1 non-profit for fighting poverty by the Impact Matters charity ratings agency.

TechnoServe believes achieving prosperity requires full and free participation from women and girls. Our Gender Policy and our commitment to programmatic excellence requires that we involve, empower, and benefit both women and men, both at the level of our beneficiaries and at the level of our staff.

By joining our team, you will benefit from a respectful working environment of women and men who believe in each other's professional development.

Program Overview

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) anticipates funding Kenya's five-year Feed the Future Local Food Systems (LFS) activity. The activity will promote inclusive agriculture-led growth focusing on climate-smart approaches, strengthen the resilience of people and systems by expanding economic opportunities, improve women's and children's nutrition, and integrate cross-cutting themes. This activity is anticipated to cover a combination of staple and high-value crops.

The activity will implement solutions including:

• Improving the resilience of vulnerable populations
• Building the capacity of food system enterprises
• Catalyzing investment into local agricultural market systems
• Establishing strong and transparent relationships between food system actors
• Improving the availability and affordability of nutritious food products, especially for women and children
• Expanding employment and entrepreneurship opportunities, especially for youth and women

The Program will have the following teams: Financial and Administrative Team (Nairobi and regions); CLA Team (Nairobi and regions); Technical Integration Team (Nairobi); and Regional Implementation Team (regions).

Job Summary :

The Senior Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Coordinator is a key role in ensuring program quality, accountability, documentation, and learning. The position holder will support the LFS team in planning and executing monitoring, evaluation, and learning activities at the regional and county levels, ensuring adherence to quality standards. This role is critical for providing feedback that informs learning, accountability, and decision-making.

The Senior MEL Coordinator will be responsible for building the internal capacity of program staff at the regional and county levels in monitoring and evaluation activities. This includes supporting the review and refinement of data collection tools to meet the program needs.

Under the leadership and direction of the LFS MEL Manager, and in close collaboration with the  MEL and Data specialist, the Senior MEL Coordinator will work to develop the capacity of partner technical teams in MEL, ensuring effective field-level collaboration and fostering a culture of learning and adaptation.

Key Responsibilities:

• Under the guidance of the MEL Manager, collaborate with local partners in MEL activities, ensuring they effectively adopt and integrate the MEL tools into core program management functions.
• Work closely with the MEL and Data specialist to ensure consistent utilization of the LFS MIS database for all MEL data submissions.
• Oversee data collection, cleaning, and analysis, coordinating with the Regional/County team (and consultants as needed) to ensure high-quality data is gathered and effectively utilized for adaptive management.
• Coordinate and supervise the enumeration activities in the Regional/County level during the internal and external surveys commissioned by the project.
• Train Regional/County program team members on their M&E responsibilities and the proper use of MEL tools
• Support MEL manager in ensuring alignment of the Regional/County level MEL activities with program objectives and contribute to the development of annual work plans.
• Support the Regional Program Manager and technical leads in preparing monthly, quarterly, and annual activity reports, ensuring the accuracy and verification of reported data.
• Coordinate and support the implementation of key MEL phases of the Project Management Cycle, including the baseline survey, mid-term evaluation, and final evaluation.
• Support MEL manager in conducting Routine Data Quality Assurance (RDQA) at the Regional/County level to ensure compliance with USAID/TechnoServe data quality standards.
• In collaboration with the Regional Program manager, ensure that lessons learned at the Regional/County level are captured and reported to inform decision-making.
• Foster a MEL culture that encourages learning and self-reflection among program staff to achieve project excellence.

Desired Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s Degree or Master’s Degree in Statistics, Economics, Monitoring & Evaluation, or related field.
• At least 3 years of professional experience in monitoring food security and nutrition focused projects.
• Experience with GIS software use in development programming.
• At least 3 years of experience in program monitoring and evaluation, data collection, large and complex data management, and analysis. 
• Advanced computer skills, including analytical software (e.g. Advanced Excel, SPSS, STATA, R, or Python) and data visualization programs (e.g. Advanced Excel, Tableau, Power Bi)
• Strong analytical and organizational skills.        
• Knowledge of web-based surveys (e.g. ONA, google forms, CommCare) is desirable.
• Experience in supporting and strengthening the government /county M&E system and clear understanding of government devolution structures.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work well within a multi-cultural team environment.
• Must be result-oriented and be able to work under pressure and tight deadlines.
• Working experience with donor-funded / development projects will be an advantage.
• Ability to travel across the country to support data collection.

Job Specific/Technical Competencies include:

• Communication Skills: Ability to present concise ideas/ findings, translate the data into an understandable document, and easily communicate complex ideas. 
• Critical Thinking: Ability to look at the numbers, trends, and data and get to concise conclusions based on the findings.
• Attention to Detail: Data is precise hence the ability to be vigilant in data analysis to arrive at correct conclusions.
• Analytical Skills: Ability to work with large amounts of data and analyze large datasets: facts, figures, and number crunching. 

Additional notes:

We encourage all qualified individuals who share TechnoServe's vision of improving the lives of others through proven business solutions to apply.

With our commitment to diversity, we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer and affirmative action employer and do not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, color, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, HIV/AIDS status, protected veteran status, disability, and all other protected classes.

We are also proud of our commitment to protecting staff, partners, and beneficiaries from abuse and exploitation and thoroughly vet all final candidates through rigorous background and reference checks.

If you have a disability that affects your ability to use our online system to apply for a position at TechnoServe, please get in touch with Human Resources at recruitment@tns.org or call +1 202 785 4515.

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