Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Officer - Creative Associates International

Creative Associates International is a dynamic, fast-growing global development firm that specializes in education, economic growth, democratic institutions and stabilization. Based in Washington, D.C., Creative has a field presence in more than 25 countries with a strong client portfolio that includes the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department, among others. Since its founding in 1977, Creative has earned a solid reputation among its clients and is well-regarded by competitors and partners alike.  

Job Description

• Employment Status: Full Time
• Languages: English & French
• Position Location: Accra, Ghana 

Creative Associates International (Creative Associates) is implementing USAID/West Africa’s program Partnerships for Peace (P4P). The five-year program is partnering with stakeholders at the regional, national, and sub-national levels across several West African countries, to develop a shared foundational understanding of counter violent extremism (CVE) approaches; to increase governmental and civil society leadership of CVE efforts; and to improve regional coordination. 

Position Summary

Creative Associates seeks  a Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Officer for the USAID Partnerships for Peace (P4P) Program to be based in Accra.  The Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Officer will be responsible for the implementation of a monitoring and evaluation system within assigned area. S/he will gather, analyze, and process complex information related to all aspects of program activity implementation. The M&E Officer will design, develop, and employ a range of approaches and tools and supervise external parties to carry out monitoring and evaluation of the P4P program and its activities.  S/he will be charged with cultivating a culture of learning and continual improvement across the program.  

Reporting & Supervision

The Monitoring & Evaluation Officer will report to the Deputy Chief of Party.

Primary Responsibilities

The Monitoring & Evaluation Officer will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Participate in regular program team meetings to discuss current country context issues, present and discuss activity ideas, and report on the progress of activity implementation.

• Support the COP and USAID/WA to implement the program’s monitoring, evaluation, and learning strategy and use approved methodologies and criteria for activity evaluations that are consistent with the strategy. 
• Develop agile, user friendly systems for both monitoring, evaluation, and learning that can feed into the USAID database’s capability to track monitoring, evaluation, and learning data for individual activities and clusters of activities.
• Identify appropriate evaluation methodologies to support the P4P program which is designed to implement a large volume of small and short-term activities. 
• Carrying out direct evaluations of activities and clusters of activities and direct and supervise third parties and external groups to support monitoring, evaluation, and learning activities. 
• Attending periodic P4P team meetings to discuss current country context issues and understand activities being considered for development and approval, under implementation, and being closed and which may be appropriate for case-study evaluations and/or cluster analysis.
• Identify a pool of individual evaluators and external groups which can be called upon and engaged to support monitoring and evaluation of on-going and concluded activities. 
• Coordinate weekly with management team to determine priority tasks. Ensure the management team is aware of and up to date on all M&E tasks and reports. 
• Serve as primary point of contact for team members when developing impact assessments, success stories and weekly reports.
• Organize and supervise monitoring, evaluation, and learning activities and train/support all P4P staff to monitor, evaluate, and learn from activities. 
• Synthesize and write reports and make presentations on the results of monitoring of, evaluation of, and learning on P4P activities.
• Lead and direct monitoring, evaluation, and learning activities including reporting on program outputs, relevance of activities to the P4P program strategy and objectives, and targets and timeframe of specific activities and/or clusters of activities.
• Work closely with other P4P team members to generate ideas and draft success stories and case studies about program activities and projects.
• Synthesize information from the team to draft weekly, bi-weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, and/or annual reports. Work with P4P team members and short-term technical assistance (STTA) consultants to facilitate the timely production of monitoring, evaluation, learning, and other analytical reports.
• Develop ‘3-month-after’ and/or cluster evaluations and beneficiary satisfaction studies; document the lessons learned from the activity development and implementation process.
• Synthesize, analyze, and effectively disseminate findings to various stakeholders.
• Serve as primary point of contact for when additional monitoring and evaluation information is needed to close grants.
• Undertake comprehensive analysis of projects based on country team site visits and present findings to Chief of Party and USAID/WA staff in a concise and professional manner.
• Participate in professional training and development activities, as necessary.
• Represent the program positively and professionally in both internal and external environments.
• Responsible for supporting updates to activity notes in the Small Grants Database and capturing observations and information from the field on the outputs, outcomes, and impact of activities.  
• Play an active role in activity monitoring and evaluation and contribute to the feedback loop, which uses information gathered about ongoing activity implementation to inform development of new activities.
• Any other duties and tasks as needed and assigned. 
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Required Skills or Experience

• Bachelors’ degree in international development, journalism, social science, economics, or related field is required.
• Minimum of Four (4) years’ professional work experience.
• Two (2) years’ experience in field monitoring, evaluation design, empirical and statistical analysis, management information systems and/or information management design is required.
• Understanding of how SMS, social media, and mobile technology can be used to generate data and how data from these platforms can be collected, aggregated, and analyzed.
• Excellent analytical skills are required.
• Ability to foster and maintain a spirit of unity, teamwork, cooperation, and learning.
• Sensitivity in working with multiple cultures and beliefs, and to gender equity.
• Capacity to understand and analyze national, regional, and local politics, and the creativity and analytical capacity to design monitoring activities that relate to the security transition underway in West Africa.  
• Proficient at using Microsoft office software: MS Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, etc.  Prior experience using MS Access and web-based database applications preferred.  
• Prior experience with USAID or US Government funded projects is highly desirable.
• Attention to detail and ability to carry out assigned tasks through completion is required.
• Experience of working in a conflict environment is a plus.
• Fluency in speaking, writing, and reading English.
• High proficiency in French is required.
• Fluency in one or more of the local languages used in West Africa is also preferred.
• Ability to work under pressure and efficiently handle multiple tasks.
• Ability to work both independently and as a part of a team.