M&E Coordinator at Plan International

Plan International Kenya’s strategic goal in the next five years is to end teenage pregnancies and end gender based violence against adolescent girls and young women. We aim to help create an enabling environment where girls and young women are safe, valued, equally cared for, and have equal opportunities. PIK will contribute to the global strategy by aiming to reach approximately 3 million (tbc) girls and Young Women directly over the period of the strategy 2022-2026 and to reach additional beneficiaries through its interventions. 

The Monitoring and Evaluation and Learning Coordinator will oversee Plan Kenya monitoring and evaluation activities and specific data requirements for projects as well as tracking and reporting on outcomes and impact of our activities.  The MERL coordinator will share their learning across the organisation and help facilitate learning in other departments and regions. The MERL coordinator will share their learning across the organisation and help facilitate learning in other departments and regions.

ACCOUNTABILITIES AND MAIN WORK ACTIVITIES

• Monitoring Implementation and M&E coordination (30%):
  • Supervise and coordinate application of monitoring tools to track program performance in line with the Theory of Change and the M&E Plan
  • Offer leadership and technical support to PIK field staff in the implementation of their monitoring responsibilities to ensure correct and timely collection of monitoring data
  • Manage and conduct qualitative monitoring among program beneficiaries and other stakeholders, such as surveys, focus group discussions, interviews and case studies
  • Establish an inquisitive learning culture within PIK through leading the capacity building efforts in M&E
  • Collect data on a regular basis to measure achievement against the performance indicators.
  • Check data quality with partners.
  • Maintain and administer the M&E database; analyse and aggregate findings.
  • Support project progress reporting, project mid-term review and final evaluation.
  • Identify areas where technical support to project partners is required. Organize refresher training on M&E for partners as required.
  • Identify lessons learned and develop case studies to capture qualitative outputs of the project. Provide advice to the supervisor on improving project performance using M&E findings.
• Quality improvement and standards (20%) 
  • Implement appropriate indicators and sets of measures of sustainability and success to generate reliable evidence on the results and lasting impact of our work
  • Uses on-going project monitoring and assessment, working closely with project teams to improve the quality of implementation and adapt project design.
  • Identifies knowledge gaps, work with project teams and M&E Manager to identify and roll out research initiatives and evaluates activities, using appropriate ethical principles and methods. 
  • Interprets and contextualises data, assesses results and draws conclusions to inform programme and influence initiatives
  • Ensures adherence to M&E standards, Research and evaluation standards and all M&E cooperate standards at the Program Unit. 
  • Clearly communicates the results of evaluation and lessons learned as appropriate.
• Data management and knowledge management (20%)  
  • Lead and conduct analysis of quantitative data as well as qualitative data on all program inputs, outputs and outcomes to inform project designs
  • Monitoring Reports for internal and external audiences
  • Support the MERL Manager to respond to Senior Management or donor data queries in an -accurate and timely manner
  • Creates, establishes and maintains programme level monitoring tools and databases that are mainstreamed to existing systems and aligned with programme design and allow for evidence based adaptation and capture relevant data for measuring the delivery of the programme and contributing to learning
  • Develops and maintains an updated database of all completed interventions and periodically carry out meta-analysis of the information.
  • Ensures all the data is disaggregated by sex and age and all the studies are gender responsive 
  • Responsible for supporting from a gender perspective, data collection, analysis and utilization across all programs at the country level, based on the agreed tools developed and approved by the Country MERL Manager 
  • Ensures that project and program teams utilise the country based data collection tools and observe data quality controls 
  • Establishes systems for the capture of qualitative and quantitative data that shows progress over time and where a cooperate database be in place, have responsibility over such data bases
  • Ensures there is a proper database in the hubs that allows for quick access and retrieval of information for management decision making processes
• Coordination of documentation, learning and Knowledge management (15%) 
  • Prepares M&E data and reports that meet requisite standards of quality and usability for donors and internal purposes.
  • Supports Project teams, partners and community based structures on documentation of lessons learnt
  • Supports dissemination of key studies and lessons to stakeholders, communities and donors 
  • In consultation with the PU program management team and program staff, establishes an overall program monitoring and reporting plan, ensuring that all project and donor deliverables are covered. Work with staff in the development of annual work-plans, monitoring and reporting schedules.
  • Develops an internal mechanism while liaising with the knowledge management specialist of sharing of documents across the hub and the country programs 
  • Prepare high quality consolidated project reports according to the donor’s guidelines and criteria. This integrated report will be a compilation of data generated from all Plan Kenya programs 
  • Facilitate and support the documentation of best practices and lessons learned in the Plan programs for audiences within and outside Plan International
  • Participates in relevant technical exchange of advocacy networks and M&E forums and networks  
  • Leads the program teams in developing case studies annually for publication in a professional journal.
  • Identifies and documents interventions and initiatives, and knowledge management products that can be replicated or scaled up.
• Capability building through knowledge sharing, networking and coaching (10%)
  • Reviews M&E findings and best practices and disseminates information to stakeholders to facilitate evidence-based planning, learning and informed decision-making
  • Establishes and manages a performance monitoring and evaluation framework with specific goals, outcomes, inputs, outputs, processes, indicators, data needs and sources as well as reporting templates and frequency, for effective monitoring, reporting and updating of the progress of programmes and projects 
  • Promotes individual and organisational learning through systematic reflection processes, documentation, dissemination and knowledge management. 
  • Communicates complex technical MERL concepts and terminology in simple language to non-experts.
  • Explains data and evidence in a way that is appropriate and actionable for users and decision-makers.  
  • Supports, coaching and training of staff and partners for improved MERL practices in response to needs. 
  • Builds, maintains and engages in internal and external MERL partnerships and networks.
  • Assesses the capacity of project implementation teams and project partners on Monitoring and Evaluation systems and processes and build their capacity on identified gaps to ensure they are able to co-participate in the monitoring and evaluation of projects 
  • Strengthens the capacity of Plan Kenya’s project teams on qualitative and quantitative data collection methodologies to allow them report on outcomes of interventions they engage in 
  • Trains and manages staff in M&E data collection, analyses and verification, which requires frequent travel to the field/project sites
  • Capacity builds local partners and staff where appropriate on the result framework, data management, and results-oriented programming that incorporates gender considerations
  • Coaches, trains, and mentors project teams on M&E
  • Promotes and strengthens the understanding of the importance of MERL within the hub team and the use and /or analysis of M&E systems during program design and implementation
• Safeguarding Children and Young People (Safeguarding) and Gender Equality and Inclusion (GEI) 6%
  • Understands and puts into practice the responsibilities under Safeguarding and GEI policies and Plan International’s Code of Conduct (CoC), ensuring that concerns are reported and managed in accordance with the appropriate procedures.
  • Leads the orientation of programme staff to ensure that they are properly inducted on and understands their role in upholding Plan International’s safeguarding and GEI policies;
  • Ensures that Plan International’s global policies for Safeguarding Children and Young People and Gender Equality and Inclusion are fully embedded in project design, during implementation and as principles applied in day-to-day work of Programme team; 
  • Ensures that Plan Kenya contributes to Plan International’s global efforts to ensure safeguarding and GEI, including making sure that relevant reporting and data are submitted.  

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE, SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

Qualifications/ experience essential:

• Minimum of a University Degree in Social Science, Economics, statistics, development studies or any other related field from a recognized university. 
• At least 3 years of demonstrated successful coordination of M&E functions and experience 
• Grounded understanding of qualitative and quantitative methodologies in research and evaluation 
• Experience with evaluations/research logistics, administration and/or project or research management 
•  Experience with database design and management including advanced use of Excel and data analysis and entry packages including at minimum SPSS, Stata, R, Epiinfo, Atlas-Ti, CSpro and the use of ODK platforms for data collection 
• Excellent written and spoken English, including the ability to write clear and engaging reports
•  Strong demonstrable levels of knowledge of and experience with gender sensitive research design, performance monitoring, impact evaluation, and / or social and environmental research methodologies 

Qualifications/ experience desirable: 

1. Evidence of experience in development of longitudinal real time data bases including online application for management of data 
2. Experience in advising / coaching individuals, teams and / or organisations in M&E system design, research methodologies, research design
3. Previous experience with mobile data collection (Kobo, ODK, CsPro) and GIS mapping an asset 
4. Experience in the application of MER systems and frameworks including theory of change and logical frameworks