Kosovo Social Contract Activity (SCA)

Job Advertisement: MEL Officer

Overview

Development Professionals, Inc. (DPI) is seeking to hire a Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning (MEL) Officer for Years 3-5 of the five-year Social Contract Activity in Kosovo funded by USAID. This activity aims to introduce sustainable practices for public participation in order to improve Kosovo citizens’ quality of life and strengthen their partnership with the municipal government. This will be a full-time position based in Pristina, Kosovo.

The Activity will be implemented by Democracy International (DI) as the Implementing Partner, DPI as the Learning Partner, and Democracy Plus (D+) as a key Local Partner.  The Learning Partner, in close cooperation with the other partners and local stakeholders, leads on MEL activities for the SCA. This includes development and implementation of public participation assessments in select municipalities, a mid-term evaluation, and ongoing project monitoring systems and tools.

Through this role, the Learning Partner will support the achievement of two objectives of the SCA:

• Objective 1 (years 1-3): Develop, test, and evaluate public participation action plans in five pilot municipalities.
• Objective 2 (years 3 – 5): Scale up successful public participation practices to at least 10 additional municipalities. Provide limited support and monitor participation practices in the pilot municipalities.

Position Summary: The MEL Officer will be responsible for all aspects of MEL activities. The position reports to the Learning Lead and will serve as the point person for all monitoring indicator data collection and reporting. The LL is directly responsible for all applied research activities, including data collection for learning, adapting, and project monitoring. The Learning team also includes a collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) specialist; and a project assistant.

Over the course of the project, tasks and responsibilities include (but are not limited to):

• Monitor SCA implementation activities, with an emphasis on those that are connected to the indicators, to evaluate overall progress and effectiveness.
  • Develop and maintain performance tracking systems in line with the SCA MEL Plan.
  • Collaborate with SCA and Local Partner staff on qualitative and quantitative monitoring to provide relevant information for anticipated evaluations.
• Lead the collection of data on indicators and coordinate with SCA staff, Local Partner staff, and any potential grantees to document outputs, outcomes, and results in accordance with the MEL Plan.
  • Develop performance indicators specific to community issues selected jointly by municipal officials and community representatives, for the scale-up municipalities.
  • Developed Performance Indicators Reference Sheet (PIRS) for each added and/or modified performance indicator. 
  • Establish baseline values for the scale-up municipalities and how the values were determined.
  • Conduct regular data analysis to track progress against the targets.
  • Develop new data collection tools and processes to support the project’s performance indicators and streamline the monitoring and evaluation process, increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of the project team.
• Guide the process of designing and preparing progress and performance reports; generate data for quarterly reports, annual reports, USAID, or SCA management staff, as requested.
• Review and analyze monitoring progress reports to identify potential issues in project implementation and make necessary adaptations.
• Support the CLA Specialist as needed for adaptive management objectives.
• Provide guidance and support to colleagues on data collection, management, and analysis, contributing to the development of a data-driven culture within the organization.

Key Deliverables: Over the course of the project, these include (but are not limited to) the following. Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning Plan (MELP) including Performance Indicator Reference Sheets.

• Monitoring system and tools for each objective of the activity.
• Support to the design and implementation of the mid-term evaluation, including relevant data collection, analysis, reporting, and dissemination of findings.
• During the scale-up stage, methodology for the public participation assessment including rationale for selecting municipalities for the scale-up stage. Plan for conducting the assessment in the new municipalities using participatory approach/es.
• Training plan, materials, and participation lists for trainings of implementing partners and local stakeholders on using the tools to collect the data.
• Analysis and presentation of public participation assessment results.
• Monthly updates on monitoring data. Aggregate and verify the quality of the monitoring data; regularly analyze the monitoring and evaluation data and suggest ways to adapt the activity implementation.

Qualifications:

• At least a Bachelors degree in international development, public policy,
• Minimum of five years of experience in project monitoring and evaluation, research and survey implementation on donor-funded projects. MEL experience on USAID projects strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience taking critical inputs, feedback and assessments from within the project and external partners to inform changes in project approaches.
• Working knowledge of monitoring and evaluation techniques.
• Demonstrated skills in project coordination and report writing.
• Effective oral and written communication skills in English.
• Experience in governance and/or citizen engagement preferred.
• The ability to travel within Kosovo as required.

Application Process:

Please submit your resume and cover letter to [email protected] Qualified applicants will be interviewed on a rolling basis until the position is filled.

DPI is a woman-owned small business providing technical implementation and analytical services for democracy, human rights, and governance. We are a growing firm with both long-term field projects and short-term applied research activities around the world.