Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Specialist

Organizational Setting

The main aim of the FAO country offices, which are headed by an FAO representative, is to assist governments in developing policies, programmes, and projects to achieve food security and reduce hunger and malnutrition, while also helping develop the agricultural, fisheries, and forestry sectors and using their environmental and natural resources in a sustainable manner to ensure zero hunger in the country. FAO provides support in three priority areas: sustainable increases in production and productivity, agriculture-based economic growth, and increased resilience of livelihoods to threats and crises.
. 

Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of the FAO Representative in Sudan, with the direct supervision of the International Monitoring and Evaluation Consultant, the Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL) Specialist will work in close collaboration with the FAO Sector Coordinators, Program/Project Managers, Field Coordinators, and other staff.

Technical Focus 

The MEAL Specialist will support the country progamme by ensuring the planning and implementation of timely monitoring activities, data analysis and reporting on process, outcomes and impact indicators, and ensure timely sharing of information with programming and operational counterparts for adaptive management.   

Tasks and responsibilities

•    Contribute to project and programme design to ensure planning and budgeting of MEAL activities
•    Support the development of coherent logical frameworks and MEAL plans with a view to alignment across the country programme
•    Support beneficiary registration, verification and validation and ensure data handling in alignment with FAO’ data protection policy.
•    Support primary data collection, including survey design, coding (ODK/KOBO), data quality oversight, cleaning, analysis and reporting for baseline, post-distribution, pre-/post-harvest, and endline reporting – where relevant in collaboration with third party entities.  
•    Collaborate with project managers to ensure/undertake regular updates in the Project Activity Information Database (PAID), 5W matrix, and other relevant databases.
•    Establish regular information flows related to MEAL activities from implementing partners and FAO field offices to the FAO country office MEAL team through standardized reporting templates.
•    Support strengthening Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) mechanisms for the project activities, and a programme-wide complaints and feedback mechanism that is accessible to target communities, including referral pathways and documentation of actions taken. 
•    Conduct regular field visits to assess the timeliness and quality of implementation of project activities.
•    Provide implementing partners with technical support related to MEAL, and, in coordination with the programme team, organize and facilitate MEAL-related training courses to enhance their capacity.
•    Contribute to donor and organizational reporting.
•    Support overseeing M&E-related contracts, including third-party monitoring entities, to ensure timely and quality delivery on tasks.
•    Other duties as required.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

•    Master’s degree in development studies, statistics, agriculture, economics, or related fields
•    Five years of relevant experience in monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning.
•    Working knowledge of English.
•    Working knowledge of the official language of the country, Arabic. 
•    National of Sudan

FAO Core Competencies

•    Results Focus
•    Teamwork
•    Communication
•    Building Effective Relationships
•    Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

•    Work experience in more than one location or area of work, experience in humanitarian and complex contexts is an asset;
•    Excellent command of R,STATA or SPSS, basic knowledge of other statistical software packages;
•    Knowledge of key food security and agricultural livelihood indicators;
•    Extent of experience in developing and implementing integrated MEAL frameworks and strategies;
•    Experience in capacity development for MEAL;
•    Ability to plan and work with limited supervision to meet objectives.

Selection Criteria 

•    Prior experience in the UN or International Organization would be an advantage.
•    Ability to work within a team of professional staff from diverse technical and cultural backgrounds.
•    Teamwork spirit, ability to work under minimum supervision, flexibility.
•    Strong command of English and Arabic, with demonstrated ability to communicate effectively in both.
•    Proficiency in Microsoft Office tools, particularly Excel, Word, Power Point, and Outlook. 
•    Ability to work effectively in emergency situations and meet tight deadlines.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION