THE ORGANIZATION

The Alliance of Bioversity International & CIAT delivers research-based solutions that harness agricultural biodiversity and sustainably transform food systems to improve people’s lives. Alliance solutions address the global crises of malnutrition, climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental degradation.

The Alliance works with local, national, and multinational partners across Sub Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean and Asia, and with public and private sectors. The Alliance is part of CGIAR, a global research partnership for a food-secure future, dedicated to reducing poverty, enhancing food and nutrition security, and improving natural resources and ecosystem services.

IFPRI-HarvestPlus is a program of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). IFPRI is one of the CGIAR centers, a global agriculture research partnership for a food secure future. IFPRI-HarvestPlus work to improve nutrition and public health in LMICs, by developing and promoting biofortified food crops that are rich in vitamins and minerals while providing global leadership on evidence and technology. In [DRC] IFPRI-HarvestPlus is implementing a [4] year project funded by [World Bank] in [Kasai, South Kivu and Kwilu provinces] working with smallholder farmers and other value chain actors to improve their access to seed and knowledge of producing and using, biofortified crop varieties and foods.

About the position

The Alliance seeks to recruit a highly motivated Associate – Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation to lead its national level Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) function in  DRC. The successful candidate will be responsible for monitoring field level activities by visiting, interacting with, and collecting monitoring data from project implementing partners, farmers, and other actors (seed producers/sellers, aggregators, processors, and retailers) along the value chains of the biofortified crops that are being promoted under the [PMNS] project.

Key Responsibility:

• Assist in the revision of the project log frame matrix, particularly in the areas of performance indicators and their measurement.
• Assist in the development and/or finalization of the detailed project work plan and keep it updated in accordance with project activities and timeframes as relevant.
• Assist in developing the overall framework for project M&E as the overall guiding approach and strategy for the country MEL function.
• Visit project sites periodically to interact with beneficiaries/participants to understand the benefits.
• Collect and collate quantitative and qualitative data from implementing partners, farmers, and other value chain actors on a regular basis to measure achievement against the performance indicators.
• Capture quarterly data into the IFPRI-HarvestPlus database or any other template agreed to by the Project Manager/Global MEL team.
• Perform basic analysis of the collected data to present to the IFPRI-HarvestPlus management, results in a more meaningful format by way of graph/charts or tables that can help to tell the implementation progress.
• Identify beneficiaries for which outstanding lessons learned and stories of significant change can be developed and work with the communications team to develop them.
• Train partners on the use of predesigned data collection tools to enable them to collect the required data in the required format.
• Update and deploy data collection forms to be used by implementing partners or VCAs to record implementation progress on a day-to-day basis.
• Lead country level MEL studies that are commissioned by the Global MEL team, including recruiting, training and managing enumerators.

• Produce reports on M&E findings and prepare presentations based on M&E data as required.
• Write periodic reports and submit to the [name of position to whom they report], at the end of each quarter to help management to learn from their work and apply the lessons for evidence-based course correction.
• Liaise with the Global MEL team to ensure consistent application of IFPRI-HarvestPlus MEL standards.
• Perform any other M&E related duties as may be assigned 

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• First level university degree in statistics, economics, agricultural economics, international development or related field.
• Minimum of three (3) years of professional experience in an M&E position responsible for implementing M&E activities of international development projects.
• Experience in developing and refining data collection tools.
• Experience with data quality assessments and oversight.
• Languages: Excellent written and spoken command of English and main national vernacular language.

• M&E working experience in EU funded project and INGO.
• Advanced certificate in M&E, statistics or economics.

• Good knowledge of program implementation, monitoring and evaluation techniques and practices.
• Familiarity with some of the substantive issues handled by the project such as agricultural policies, agricultural extension systems and services.
• Excellent analytical skills.
• Ability to work in a team and good interpersonal skills.
• Good computer applications skills.
• Ability to work independently with a minimum of supervision.
• Ability to work under time pressure and meet deadlines.
• Languages: Excellent written and spoken command of English and French
• Excellent ability to use STATA/SPSS/Excel analysis software

Terms of employment

This is a nationally recruited position based in Bukavu, DRC. The initial contract will be for one year subject to a probation period of three months and is renewable depending on performance and availability of resources.

This position is graded at BG6 level, with a minimum basic salary of USD 1,091.00 in a scale of BG01 to BG14 (BG14 being the highest level according to the Alliance job classification framework policy). We offer a competitive salary and excellent benefits including but not limited to insurance, retirement plan, staff training and development, paid time off and flexible working arrangements.

The Alliance Bioversity-CIAT is committed to fair, safe, and inclusive workplaces. We believe that diversity powers our innovation, contributes to our excellence, and is critical for our mission. Recruiting and mentoring staff to create an inclusive organization that reflects our global character is a priority. We encourage applicants from all cultures, races, colors, religions, sexes, national or regional origins, ages, disability statuses, sexual orientations, marital status, and gender identities. Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

Applications

Applicants are invited to visit https://alliancebioversityciat.org/careers to get full details of the position and to submit their applications. Applications MUST include reference number RFP 104011 – Associate – Monitoring, Learning and Evaluation  as the position applied for. Cover letter and CV should be saved as one document using the candidate’s last name, first name for ease of sorting. The Alliance collects and process personal data in accordance with applicable data protection laws.

Applications closing date: Monday,7^th October 2024

Please note that email applications will not be considered.

Only short-listed candidates will be contacted.

We invite you to learn more about us at:  

                                      http://alliancebioversityciat.org

Requirements

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• First level university degree in statistics, economics, agricultural economics, international development or related field.
• Minimum of three (3) years of professional experience in an M&E position responsible for implementing M&E activities of international development projects.
• Experience in developing and refining data collection tools.
• Experience with data quality assessments and oversight.
• Languages: Excellent written and spoken command of English and main national vernacular language.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• M&E working experience in EU funded project and INGO.
• Advanced certificate in M&E, statistics or economics.

COMPETENCIES:

• Good knowledge of program implementation, monitoring and evaluation techniques and practices.
• Familiarity with some of the substantive issues handled by the project such as agricultural policies, agricultural extension systems and services.
• Excellent analytical skills.
• Ability to work in a team and good interpersonal skills.
• Good computer applications skills.
• Ability to work independently with a minimum of supervision.
• Ability to work under time pressure and meet deadlines.
• Languages: Excellent written and spoken command of English and French
• Excellent ability to use STATA/SPSS/Excel analysis software