Education, Youth and Child Development Office Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist is needed at QED Group, LLC

Job Title:      Education, Youth and Child Development Office Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist

Organization: QED Group, LLC

Project: USAID/Uganda Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Project

Duty Station: Kampala, Uganda

Reports to: USAID EYCD Office Director & QED M&E Director

About QED:

The QED Group, LLC is a full-service international development firm that provides practical solutions to social problems through sound analysis, proven management techniques, and creative implementation. We focus our efforts on two core practice areas: Monitoring & Evaluation and Knowledge Management. We work with U.S. agencies and overseas governments, international donors, private-sector clients, and PVOs/NGOs in more than 80 countries around the world. Key clients include USAID, the U.S. Department of State, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency.

About USAID Project:

The USAID/Uganda Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning project (Learning Contract) is the five-year organizational program support vehicle through which USAID/Uganda will pursue realizing its development objectives within the complicated and shifting Ugandan development context.  The purpose of the Learning Contract is to provide monitoring, evaluation and learning support services and build capacity of USAID/Uganda to implement USAID’s Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting methodology to strengthen the implementation of USAID/Uganda’s Country Development Cooperation Strategy and enhance USAID’s organizational effectiveness.

Job Summary: The Education, Youth and Child Development Office (EYCD) is responsible for development, implementation, and oversight of USAID administered PEPFAR-funded programs benefiting orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) throughout Uganda. The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Specialist will support the monitoring, evaluation, and impact analysis of the PEPFAR-funded OVC activities. More specifically, the M&E Specialist will strengthen USAID’s ability to ensure the quality of its M&E systems and their outputs and to use M&E systems to: (i) track and report on progress toward OVC objectives; (ii) inform Mission decision-making; (iii) ensure compliance with PEPFAR and Agency requirements; and (iv) ensure that USAID’s interventions are achieving intended outcomes.   The M&E Specialist position is the equivalent of a USAID Foreign Service National (FSN) position at the FSN 10 to 11 grade level. It is expected that the Specialist will be a Ugandan national.

Key Duties and Responsibilities:  The M&E Specialist will promote the quality, timeliness and relevance of EYCD’s OVC M&E efforts.  S/he will:

Implement and update the OVC sections of the Performance Management Plan (PMP):

• Ensure that ongoing M&E efforts are relevant to the existing PMP.
• Coordinate efforts to develop the OVC sections of any new PMPs.

Ensure the integrity of OVC monitoring systems. Work with EYCD project managers and implementing partners to ensure that implementing partners are:

• Creating and implementing any necessary tools for data collection related to planned studies and research as well as regular data collection activities like SIMS, VAC, DHS, AIS, LQAS, and DQAs.
• Tasked with developing and maintaining meaningful indicators and realistic targets.
• Establishing timely and accurate baselines.
• Developing and implementing high quality systems for data collection and analysis.
• Conducting credible and timely data quality assessments.

Facilitate the use of monitoring and evaluation information in USAID decision-making.  Work with EYCD’s project managers and senior leadership to use data collected and analyzed to guide adaptive management decision-making and contribute to the achievement of high quality results:

• Participate in processes to collect, collate and analyze performance data and assist with Uganda Mission, Washington, GOU and other reporting requirements.
• Work closely with EYCD to analyze various datasets e.g. PRS, OVCMIS, GBVMIS, HIBRID, DATIM, EMIS DHIS2, LQAS, to inform the team on progress towards achieving Development Objectives.
• Participate in the monitoring and review of reports from data collection efforts such as DHS, AIS, Child helpline, and other similar efforts.
• Lead EYCD staff in complex analysis of data which will guide programmatic and management decisions.
• Conduct complex data analysis outside routine reporting e.g. secondary analysis of national data sets (surveys, DHS, Census, AIS, assessments, impact studies, etc.).
• Periodically identify problems and trigger questions that could guide a potential research/ investigation together with the technical teams.
• Facilitate the transfer of data from the PRS to the Mission’s Performance Plan and Reporting document and ultimately to FACTS Info.
• Prepare documentation and presentations that ensure that monitoring information is considered during USAID/Uganda’s quarterly portfolio reviews and other decision-making meetings.

Lead and/or provide technical inputs into the development of operational research, evaluations, assessments and surveys:

Support procurement processes:

• Draft, comment on, or otherwise contribute to finalizing Statements of Work (SOW).
• Prepare ancillary documents that must accompany the SOW for procurements to move forward.
• Track progress of procurement documents and address bottlenecks that might be slowing progress.
• Participate in managing research, evaluation, assessment and survey teams:
• Provide or arrange for logistical support, e.g., setting up meetings, arranging transport, etc.
• Prepare guidance.
• Facilitate meetings between teams and Mission decision-makers.

Participate in reviewing and following-up on research, evaluations, assessments and surveys:

• Comment on draft documents.
• Collect and consolidate Mission-wide comments.
• Ensure that service providers incorporate Mission comments into final documents.
• Distribute final documents.
• Coordinate and track progress on follow-up actions.

Qualifications, Skills and Experience:

• The ideal candidate for the USAID Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Specialist job placement should possess a master’s degree in education, child development, statistics, economics or another relevant field; or, alternatively, a Bachelor’s degree in any field with at least five years’ experience managing M&E systems.
• At least seven years’ experience working with local or international NGOs, or the Government of Uganda, on OVC programs, preferably with first-hand experience with M&E systems, either as a user of M&E outputs or as an M&E manager.
• Excellent knowledge of analyzing OVC data and HIV patterns including education and child protection related data.
• Skills for analyzing complex and interrelated OVC, education, youth, child protection, GBV and demographic data – familiarity with STATA, SPSS and/or similar statistical analysis software packages desirable.
• Familiarity with methods for assessment of OVC status and calculation of statistics around vulnerability and resilience.
• Ability to design data collection forms and design databases (Excel, Access, epi-info or similar).
• Extensive knowledge of research topics in the field of OVC, education, GBV, youth and child protection.
• Experience with USG processes and PEPFAR programming and funding requirements, either as an employee of the USG or as an implementer of PEPFAR programming. Preferably, the candidate will have strong knowledge of USAID procedures and experience working with USAID.
• Strong analytical, bureaucratic, and leadership/engagement skills. More specifically, the position requires: (i) experience in meeting complex and sometimes cumbersome bureaucratic requirements; (ii) strong writing and oral communication skills; (iii) the ability to engage productively in a cross-cultural environment; and (iv) the ability to work collegially in a fast-paced, team setting.

How to Apply:

All suitably qualified and interested Candidates who meet the above criteria should send their CV, Cover letter and Bio Data Form, download here, expressing interest to thelearningcontract.recruit@gmail.com with the subject line as “ATTN: Education, Youth and Child Development Office Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist.”

Deadline: 30th July 2017 by 5:00pm