Call for Applications: Monitoring and Evaluation Officer (Consultant), ADEA

Deadline for submissions is Friday, July 5^th, 2019 at midnight (12:00 am) GMT to the following address: adea-applications@afdb.org. The subject of the e-mail should be “Monitoring and Evaluation Officer”.

The Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) is a voice for education reform in Africa and the African Development Bank hosts it.  Its vision is to create “high-quality African education and training geared towards the promotion of critical skills for accelerated and sustainable development in Africa”. ADEA’s mission therefore is to “serve as an open and flexible pan-African organization that informs and facilitates the transformation of education and training to drive Africa’s accelerated and sustainable development”. It has played a significant role in the education space for the past 29 years as a convener, catalyst, knowledge creator, and forum for policy dialogue. ADEA’s overall goal is to contribute to the development of equitable and high-quality education through concerted efforts by African Governments and their partners. It seeks to empower African countries to develop education and training systems that respond to their emergent needs and that drive Africa’s social and economic transformation sustainably.

ADEA’s main organs are its Steering Committee, Executive Committee, the Secretariat and the Inter-Country Quality Nodes (ICQNs).  The Secretariat is the administrative arm that implements ADEA’s continental and regional level work programs and budget on a day-to-day basis by organizing and/or participating in conferences, statutory meetings, and Triennales; managing communications and knowledge; and coordinating the work of the Inter-Country Quality Nodes (ICQNs) and the Task Force. It also implements the decisions and resolutions of ADEA’s governance entities and supports global initiatives through partnership and collaboration.

The implementation of ADEA’s third 5-year Strategic Plan (2018-2022) began in the first quarter of 2018. The successful implementation of this new Strategic Plan will depend largely on the availability of substantial financial resources. Currently, there is significant decrease in donor resources to ADEA because emerging global priorities in economic and social sectors, such as migration, climate change, States in conflict and/or fragility, and peace and security issues are becoming dominant on donor agendas. The competition for financial resources is strong, which demands equally strong and strategic interventions.

ADEA implements a variety of programs in policy dialogue, analytical work, capacity development and networking with a view to contributing to the transformation of education in Africa. Donors and partners consistently demand that these programs should produce concrete and measurable outcomes.

The Monitoring and Evaluation Officer will provide leadership in developing and implementing a results-based management framework that will enhance the organization’s capacity to produce and effectively report on the outcomes of its programs and activities. Specifically, the Monitoring and Evaluation Officer will perform the following duties and responsibilities:

• Planning for Monitoring and Evaluation

  • Encourage and promote a results-based approach to monitoring and evaluation, and underscore the need to focus more on reporting of outcomes and impact of ADEA’s programs and projects rather than outputs of activities;
  • Develop a robust monitoring and evaluation framework for ADEA with guidelines, manuals, baselines and targets as well as tools to support effective monitoring, evaluation and reporting on project implementation;
  • Make certain that the design of every project or program has a clear pre-commencement documentation that clearly articulates the relevant agreements, for example with countries, ICQN membership or regional economic communities, and the intended results in terms of output, outcomes and impact in order to facilitate monitoring and continuous improvement in performance during the year, and evaluation of performance at the end of the program or project;
  • Review the quality of existing sources of data, the data collection methods and tools and ascertain the extent to which they will provide reliable baseline data for end of project evaluations.

• Capacity Development for Monitoring and Evaluation

  • Help ADEA staff develop the skills to set objectives and targets, formulate outcomes and impact and develop the accompanying key performance indicators, monitor performance, collect and analyze data, identify risks or constraints in implementing programs, articulate mitigation processes, and write results-based completion reports;
  • Provide ministries of education and other implementing partners involved in ADEA’s programs, training and technical support on how to use the Performance Measurement and Monitoring System (PMMS) to enable them to effectively perform their monitoring and evaluation responsibilities;
  • Identify and formulate lessons learned from successful projects and document and share best practices for scaling up, replication or integration into future projects.

• Drive for Results

  • Regularly review quarterly and mid-year reports with a view to identifying any challenges, constraints, delays or facilitating factors in the implementation of the work program and lessons learned, and jointly determine actions to eliminate or mitigate risks to the achievement of the planned work program;
  • Guide and make certain that there is compliance with the PMMS in every project or program with a view to facilitating the production of quality data, tracking of progress, evaluation of the final results of such projects and programs and lessons learned; 
  • Create and maintain a dynamic database on the various programs and projects of the Association, with a view to developing and presenting a comprehensive picture at the completion of each project or program - inputs  (human and financial resources), sources of funding, activities, outputs, outcomes, contribution to impact on education and lessons learned;
  • Provide support in prioritization of activities and making a shift from reporting on activities to communicating effectively on concrete and meaningful results at the outcome level, achieved in individual projects or programs, taking cognizance of the strategic objectives and strategic initiatives of ADEA’s Strategic Plan;
  • Provide leadership and work closely with the ADEA team in preparing high-quality integrated annual reports on the Association’s performance for submission to the Executive Committee and Steering Committee.

• Proven ability and experience in designing and implementing results-based monitoring and evaluation approach, plan and framework;  
• Deep and substantial knowledge of Monitoring and Evaluation, and experience in designing tools and strategies for data collection, analysis and production of results;
• Strong analytical skills and ability to analyze data and synthesize diverse information to produce concise and comprehensive reports.
• Solid organizational skills, strong work ethics, integrity and capacity to multi-task and work in a team environment;
• Strong interpersonal and communications skills as well as the ability to design and provide technical assistance and build capacity of the experts in Ministries of Education and other implementing partners; 
• A minimum of a Master’s degree in education, economics, development studies, project management or related discipline and extensive training, and solid experience in Monitoring and Evaluation functions;
• At least 5 years of relevant professional experience in a development agency, multi-lateral development institution or relevant development organization; 
• Proficiency in spoken and written English or French, and a working knowledge of the other, are essential;
• Excellent computer skills, including ease in using statistical applications, database, word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software applications. 

Reporting

• The Monitoring and Evaluation Officer reports directly to the Executive Secretary, works autonomously and is fully in charge of the monitoring and evaluation function at the ADEA Secretariat.  The Executive Secretary will provide broad guidance and minimal direction in the planning and execution of the monitoring and evaluation function.
• All formal communications and final documents intended for external circulation are subject to approval by the Executive Secretary.

Submission of applications

Applications must be sent to adea-applications@afdb.org no later than Friday, July 5^th, 2019 at midnight (12:00 am) GMT. The subject of the e-mail should be “Monitoring and Evaluation Officer”.

Due to the high volume of applications, only selected candidates will be contacted through a formal correspondence via e-mail. Please do not contact ADEA or staff members to enquire about the status of your application.
 

The consultant will be employed for a period of 12 months. Renewal of contract will depend on satisfactory performance and results.

Duty Station: Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire