Introduction

While forcibly displaced persons face specific vulnerabilities, including psychological trauma, lack of opportunity and protection risks, host communities also struggle to pursue their own development efforts in an environment that has been transformed by a large influx of newcomers. As displacement has become increasingly protracted, responses are focusing more on durable solutions backed by more dignified, inclusive, and comprehensive programmes for refugees and the communities that host them.

In response to the challenges facing both host communities and refugees, a new partnership initiative titled: ‘PROSPECTS – Partnership for improving Prospects for host communities and forcibly displaced persons’, has been launched by the Government of the Netherlands that brings together the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank. The Partnership has is concluding a first Phase of the Programme (2019-2024) and at the same time, starting a second phase of another four-year period (2024-2027) where partners will join their efforts to develop a new paradigm in responding to forced displacement crises in 8 countries (Egypt, Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Sudan, and Uganda).

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The overall ILO’s vision within the programme is to strengthen decent work in countries impacted by forced displacement to mitigate stress factors at all levels and support inclusive socio-economic enablers for access to labour markets and empowerment of host communities and of forcibly displaced populations.

The ILO will bring to the programme significant expertise and experience in supporting enabling environments to underpin inclusive socio-economic growth and decent work, strengthen labour markets and promote access to improved working conditions and fundamental rights at work, including through the involvement of its tripartite national constituents. The ILO will stimulate labour market demand and immediate job creation through employment-intensive investment, local economic and business development and promotion of specific value chains and market systems, and support to strengthen inclusive social protection systems.

It is against this background the PROSPECTS Ethiopia is seeking to hire a National Officer, to be based in Addis Ababa and as a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer, to support M&E functions of the Programme in the two countries.

PROSPECTS Programme

The PROSPECTS Programme aims to achieve the overall impact of Inclusive Policy environments and improved sustainable living conditions for women, men, girls and boys in refugee and vulnerable host communities in Ethiopia by 2027, and in Sudan by 2025, through focusing on strengthening the socio-economic enabling environments for the communities that host different forcibly displaced populations (IDPs and refugees) to ensure sustainable decent work, training and education opportunities, as the policy, legislative and regulatory frameworks facilitate this integration process. In Ethiopia, ILO will support the integration of FDPs into relevant national systems in collaboration with national and regional stakeholders and relevant policies and strategies, including the implementation of the Refugee Proclamation, and subsequent directives including on the Refugees Right to Work. In Sudan, the PROSPECTS will focus on interventions responding to the provision of adequate access livelihood opportunities and durable solutions for the return and local integration of IDPs, Sudanese refugees and host communities.

Considering the position is based in Ethiopia where most of the work will be undertaken, it is important to note that Ethiopia’s pathways of change resonate with the global PROSPECTS theory of change and the objective to improve the living conditions for those in forcibly displaced and host communities. By creating economic opportunities and by including displaced people within existing national services and social protection systems, it is expected that the self-reliance and resilience of FDPs and their hosts will be strengthened.

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To ensure that this is realized and that the PROSPECTS 2.0 systemic changes and outcomes are successful, two overarching policies are critical. These are:

Policy 1 – Transformation of refugee camps into sustainable (urban) settlements, which will provide a pathway into inclusive national educational and employment support services, including social protection.

Policy 2 – Social and child protection policies and systems strengthened to improve access to services and for inclusion of FDP and vulnerable HCs.

The collaboration of the five nexus partners, EKN and advocacy with government at all levels on these two policies will be critical. These policies will directly impact the short and intermediate outcomes of Pillar 1, 2, 3 and 4 pathways. Ethiopia’s GCR pledges form the basis of implementation and the government and other actors’ delivery of verifiable and reliable refugee and host community data that measures results. The identified pillars for intervention are aimed at the realization of the policy priorities with enhanced access to learning, skills development and social protection and protection of FDPs.

This theory of change for PROSPECTS Ethiopia will be realized through the programme results in:

• An increased number of women, men, girls and boys in refugee and host communities with quality education, relevant skills and knowledge for school, life, and transition to decent work.
• An increased number of women and men in refugee and host communities with enhanced livelihoods and/or employment in safe/decent work
• Increased social protection and inclusion for women, men, girls and boys in refugee and host communities.

Main purpose

The incumbent will be responsible for monitoring and collecting data on key performance indicators (KPIs) and coordinating surveys while ensuring data quality, which will facilitate knowledge sharing through workshops. He/she will also support assist in project planning preparation of and consolidating progress reports that highlight progress made, challenges and lessons learned, monitor the performance of implementing partners, and prepare for evaluations. Additionally, the role involves participating in regular M&E meetings with ILO stakeholders to ensure alignment with broader ILO and UN goals.

Within the ILO, the primary internal contacts will be the National Programme Coordinators of the PROSPECTS Programme in Ethiopia and Sudan, who are coordinating the implementation of various thematic interventions, including skill development, enterprise promotion, youth engagement, labour-based works, communication, digitalisation, and social protection. Further internal contacts will include the ILO Country Office Addis Programme Unit, which coordinates ILO’s Programme and Budget interventions in the Country Office, as well as the ILO Global M&E Officer for the PROSPECTS Programme and other M&E colleagues within the Country Office who work on different Technical Cooperation Projects.

Externally, the position requires engagement with partner agencies such as IFC, UNICEF, UNHCR, and the World Bank, all of which are part of the PROSPECTS Programme, with the expectation that the official will coordinate ILO data input into the joint annual report and participate in the planning of joint monitoring and learning missions. Additionally, there will be contact with UN Working Groups, including the UNSDCF M&E Working Group, where the official serves as the focal point for ILO, ensuring the quality of ILO representation, as well as engagement with ILO Implementation Partners under the PROSPECTS Project, including constituents and national and international consultants.

Reporting lines

The position works under the supervision of the PROSPECTS Chief Technical Advisor for Ethiopia and Sudan who is leading country-level implementation of the PROSPECTS programmes and will receive further technical guidance from DWT relevant specialists, Global M&E Officer of the PROSPECTS Programme, Global Learning and Knowledge Management Officer of the PROSPECTS Programme and from the Country Director, ILO CO Addis Ababa.

Main duties and responsibilities

The Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning Officer will have the following duties and responsibilities:

• Develop the programme Comprehensive M&E Strategy (CMES) including in Ethiopia (with support to Sudan) including its tools / templates in collaboration with the overall Global PROSPECTS M&E Officer.
• Collect data on a regular basis to support the monitoring & evaluation of the programme’s KPI, using primary or secondary data sources, including undertaking regular field visits to support implementation of monitoring and evaluation activities.
• Support knowledge identification and exchange within the country, and between PROSPECTS country teams on shared areas of interest through learning events, reflection workshops/ webinars and exchange visits.
• Coordinate and ensure the quality of annual surveys, midline and end-line studies for relevant project key performance indicators (KPI). Develop a strategy to collect missing data to ensure all KPIs and learning questions detailed in the global strategy for data collection for ILO PROSPECTS 2024-2027 are duly informed and documented.
• Develop data quality assurance processes to ensure data reliability, validity, timeliness of data entry and analysis and the harmonization of all data collection systems and update and maintain the M&E database, analyse data, and identify findings for reporting purposes.

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• Develop and keep track of a beneficiary database, based on key programme outputs, using tools to avoid double counts, and ensuring timely data entry.
• Supply the Global PROSPECTS M&E Officer with all relevant M&E data on a bi-monthly, semi-annual, or annual basis as required.
• Ensure the programme’s planning tools (e.g., work plans, financial forecasting, etc.) and its processes are adequate, and support the programme team to develop their work plans and monitor its progress efficiently.
• Support reflection meetings with implementing partners at regular intervals and ensure action points from reflections are captured and communicated with the project team and support adaptive management responses.
• Initiate preparation of drafting / producing consolidated semi-annual and annual progress reports, including identification of problems, causes of potential bottlenecks in implementation and lessons learned. Provide specific recommendations based on lessons and ensure timely submission of reports in accordance with approved deadlines and reporting formats.

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• Conduct regular monitoring & evaluations of implementing partners/service providers’ performance and delivery and identify best practices and develop case studies to capture and promote qualitative results of the programme.
• Prepare the programme for the mid-term and final evaluations, and provide all required support to ensure a smooth process and Lead in coordination and implementation of the leaning agenda and support the project team to maintain a sound knowledge management and sharing of the programme, with other ILO participating countries and other Implementing Agencies of PROSPECTS
• Monitor implementation of midterm evaluation’ recommendations with Projects’ Team.
• Participate in regular MEL meetings with other ILO focal points and the global M&E and Knowledge Management Officers to share on progress, challenges and solutions and support the Ethiopia M&E needs including in the Decent Work Country Programme and in the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework
• Perform other relevant duties as assigned by supervisor and or Country Office Director.

Qualifications required

Education

First-level university degree in Monitoring and Evaluation, Development, Statistics, ICT, Social Science, Economics, Education, Labour, or related field, and strong knowledge on Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning on Forced Development preferably in the Horn of Africa region with focus on enterprise, skills and livelihoods interventions.

Experience

• At least three years of professional experience in Monitoring, Evaluation and learning within the international development context.
• Experience with project management tools, such as Microsoft Projects (desirable).
• Experience in developing and managing Monitoring and Evaluation systems.
• Expertise in analysing data using statistical software and managing databases.
• Capacity to produce high-quality briefs and reports in English.
• Experience in planning, managing, and providing technical backstopping to surveys.
• Experience developing and refining data collection tools.

Technical requirements

good knowledge of development, economics, as well as economic poverty reduction, and social policies. Knowledge of developing Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning tools, methodologies of conducing surveys including tracer studies and developing knowledge products from evaluation reports are an added advantage to the position.

Languages

Excellent command of English. Working knowledge of French.

Competencies

• Excellent team building and collaboration.
• Excellent knowledge of results-based management.
• Excellent knowledge of monitoring and evaluation concepts and practice, including Theory of change approach in planning, monitoring and evaluation.
• Excellent knowledge of PC software (including Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and good knowledge of Stata, R, Power BI and other data analysis and presentation software.
• Good research and analytical skills.

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In addition to the ILO core competencies [Integrity and transparency, Sensitivity to diversity, Orientation to learning and knowledge sharing, Client orientation, Communication, Orientation to change, takes responsibility for performance, Quality orientation, Collaboration], this position requires:

• Ability to interpret and work within applicable rules, regulations, policies, and procedures.
• Ability to identify and analyse information needs and classify them according to ILO standards.
• Good drafting and editing skills.
• Ability to maintain effective working relationships with key stakeholders.
• Attention to detail and skills in design, layout, formatting and editing documents.
• Ability to foster effective two-way communication, understanding, manage and disseminate information to a varied audience.
• Ability to adapt quickly to new software and systems.
• Ability to manage competing priorities.
• Ability to work in a multicultural environment and to demonstrate gender-sensitive and non-discriminatory behaviour and attitudes.