MEAL Manager

Terms of Reference

Title: MEAL Manager

Ref N: ADMIN/KEN/-006/2020**

Sector: MEAL

No. of positions: 1

Location of work: Nairobi with frequent field visits in Kenya

Reports to: Kenya Programme Coordinator

Supervises: MEAL Officers (at least 4)

Start of work: ASAP (contingent on COVID pandemic)

Duration: 31^st December 2020, with potential for renewal

Background Information: **

CISP is an equal employment opportunity employer with its headquarters in Rome. Currently CISP has various field offices, including a Regional office in Nairobi. CISP Kenya carries out projects in areas of development by supporting national and county authorities to provide quality, equitable, transparent and accountable services in the sectors of higher education, child protection, culture, food security and nutrition. Currently, CISP is the Consortium lead for numerous development projects across multiple Counties and sectors in Kenya.

Role purpose:

CISP is currently seeking an experienced MEAL specialist to join the Kenya office as a MEAL Manager to be based in Nairobi with frequent travel to field offices and project sites in Kenya. The MEAL Manager will serve as CISP’s focal point for MEAL systems and tools building, data management, monitoring and evaluation of projects, MEAL budgeting, recruitment, support for proposal writing and log frame development, capacity building for CISP staff and consortium partners, and accountability and learning in Child Protection, Food Security, Education, Culture and other sectors for the Kenya program portfolio.

Key Responsibilities

MEAL System Design and Implementation

• Develop and oversee the roll-out of a country-wide MEAL system that ensures both quality programming and accountability to beneficiaries and donors.
• Develop MEAL plans, data collection tools, monitoring tools and reporting templates for new projects.
• Design and conduct baseline, midline and end line surveys (including KAP and FGDs), impact evaluations and other assessments as needed.
• Plan and effectively manage MEAL staff, activities and budget and ensure timely implementation of all MEAL activities through development of MEAL workplans and effective resource management.
• Identify potential bottlenecks and implementation problems, communicate to the relevant team and ensure institutional knowledge is improved.
• Support the implementation and monitoring of the country-wide procedure for accountability to beneficiaries, including developing and rolling out the Complaints and Feedback Mechanism and ensuring that protection and gender sensitivities are incorporated into MEAL tools.
• Design, organize and conduct frequent monitoring and supervision visits to all project sites and field offices to monitor project activities and verify the quality and accuracy of data, assess the means of verification and provide capacity building to field level project staff.
• Regularly research innovative approaches for MEAL which are in line with internal and donor requirements.

• Ensure that MEAL is an integral part of programme design through supporting in proposal development, including through developing MEAL plans, Log Frames, capturing lessons learned from previous projects and ensuring that MEAL resources are adequately captured.

Capacity Building and Learning

• Manage the MEAL team (including MEAL Officers) by setting objectives, supervising, coaching, and mentoring the staff to ensure that MEAL system operates effectively.
• Oversee and provide technical support and training to the MEAL teams from the consortium partners.
• Provide technical MEAL support to the country management team and feed into country review meetings.
• Provide training sessions and capacity building workshops for project staff from both CISP and consortium implementing partners on data integrity, data quality, data collection, analysis, and utilization, reporting and specific methodologies (such as social norms assessment).
• Oversee the development and management of learning systems and ensure that learning is incorporated in every project, department and process across the country and field offices.
• Share relevant MEAL findings with project teams and management and provide recommendations to the organization to enhance program learning.
• Support Project Managers and project teams in ensuring high quality and adequate monitoring and supervision visits to project sites as per the workplan, budgets and monitoring plan of each project.
• Institutionalize an organizational culture of “integrity first” with respect to data and reporting.

Data Management

• Maintain a central database of accurate data capturing all projects for easy retrieval, extraction, and analysis to support program team

• Prepare and share monthly and quarterly MEAL statistics with Project Managers.

• Establish an inventory of reliable, secondary data sources of key statistics to contribute to programme design and MEAL.

• Oversee quality assurance of all field data collection exercises, data management and analysis and develop new methods and approaches to data collection.

• Routinely perform quality control checks of MEAL work from project staff and consortium partners, overseeing the recording and reporting of progress and performance of operations compared to targets.

• Prioritize integrity of data and reports support the project staff in upholding their accuracy and validity to the utmost standard, including through identifying potential ruptures in data integrity and applying corrective measures.

Reporting

• Produce reports on the findings of assessments and surveys (such as baseline/ending, KAP surveys, client satisfaction surveys, social norms assessments, household surveys, internal evaluations, human interest stories, etc.).

• Produce regular monitoring reports on results of implementation progress including data analysis.

• Ensure quality and timely reporting on MEAL-related issues in the external/donor reports.

• Support project teams in the development and adoption of guidelines for reporting.

• Support in the entry, cleaning and consolidation of data collected at the field level.

Coordination & Representation

• Ensure that CISP is adequately represented at relevant inter-agency and government meetings to enhance best practices and knowledge sharing.
• Ensure proper MEAL coordination and streamlining structures between CISP and consortium partners are in place.
• Ensure that CISP’s MEAL system is linked to wider trends and developments in the sector and liaise with technical teams to ensure coordination and participation in specific working groups.
• Ensure that CISP is represented at relevant inter-agency and government meetings related to MEAL to enhance best practices and knowledge sharing.

• Introduce MEAL forums among CISP and its stakeholders, both partners and beneficiaries, to discuss and support quality programming and accountability standards.

  **

Eligibility Requirements:

Minimum Qualification and Experience

· Bachelor’s degree, preferably in Economics, Statistics, or related field**

· At least 5 years’ progressive experience in the design and implementation of MEAL in development projects, preferably in international NGOs in Kenya. **

· At least 5 years of experience in humanitarian/development programming with technical knowledge of Child Protection, Food Security, Agriculture, Nutrition, WASH, Education and Culture sectors**

· Demonstrable experience in MEAL systems building, designing tools and strategies for data collection, analysis and production of reports.**

· Experience in designing and undertaking assessments and surveys and processing and analyzing data**

· Expertise in analyzing data using statistical software (SPSS, STATA, etc.)

· Confident user of MS Windows and MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), knowledge and use of other database, data analysis and/or data visualization tools preferred (such as Adobe Suite, Illustrator and InDesign).

· Experience in child safeguarding and assured commitment to CISP values and Child Protection Policy.

Required Skills:

• Ability to work effectively with others to achieve results, with strong advisory/facilitation skills
• Outstanding organizational and time management skills
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills
• Well-developed conceptual, critical, analytical thinking and planning skills
• Good understanding of cross-cutting issues
• Ability to multitask and prioritize daily workload

· Able to meet deadlines and work both independently and as part of a team

· Excellent and persuasive writing skills

· High degree of integrity and ethics, able to demonstrate past record of upholding the accuracy and validity of data/reports to the utmost standard.

· Flexible, able to work in remote locations and willing to travel extensively to multiple field locations

Fluency in English required; Fluency in Kiswahili is mandatory **

How to apply:

Please send your application by e-mail to njau@cisp-nairobi.org with the e-mail subject as “**Application for MEAL Manager**” no later than 18^th June, 2020 by 5pm (EAT). Late applications will not be reviewed.

Applications must include ALL of the following in order to be assessed:

1. CV including 3 references (maximum 3 pages)

2. Cover letter clearly demonstrating how you meet the qualifications for this position and your expected remuneration (maximum 1 page)

3. Duly filled Annex 3.3. Job Application Form

Please note only shortlisted candidates will be contacted.

For more information about CISP, please visit www.cisp-ngo.org.

CISP is strongly committed to ending Child Abuse, all forms of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, and to building a work environment that is safe and welcoming for all, where Sexual Harassment does not take place. The desired candidate for any position should share and support this commitment in all aspects of their personal and professional behavior. Any history implicating that the applicant has a history of Child Abuse, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, or Sexual Harassment, is a reason for excluding him or her from employment with CISP.