Project Officer – Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL – Mubende) Full Time

Title: Project Officer – Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability and Learning (MEAL – Mubende)

Department: Programming (Restore Africa)

Report to: Program Manager II – MEAL

Duration: Full-time

Job Location: Mubende, Uganda

Vacancies: One (1)

About CRS:

Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States. CRS works to save, protect, and transform lives in need in more than 100 countries, without regard to race, religion, or nationality. CRS’ relief and development work is accomplished through programs of emergency response, HIV, health, agriculture, education, microfinance, and peacebuilding.

CRS’ Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Portfolio

Under the Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation strategic priority area, CRS aims to ‘drive uptake and scaling of nature-based solutions and novel financing mechanisms to support national and community level efforts to mitigate and adapt to climate change’. CRS currently has three projects which fall explicitly under this strategic priority area, and is in discussions with other donors to start additional and related programs:

• Restore Africa, which aims to restore 560,000 hectares of land with 352,500 smallholder farmers across 31 districts (Climate Asset Management funded)
• Accelerating and Scaling Climate Smart Jobs within Restore Africa – Market Linkages for Livelihoods and Land Restoration (M4R – FCDO funded) in 17 districts, focusing on 60,000 small-holder farmers and 40,000 hectares also engaged in Restore Africa.
• Mixed-Use Agroforestry in Refugee Hosting Districts (World Bank / MinWE funded), targeting 17,550 hectares and 87,782 smallholder farmers

These projects aim to assist smallholder farmers, with an average landholding of 2 hectares (minimum 0.5 hectares, maximum 20 hectares) to diversify production within their agroforestry systems, including through payments for carbon sequestration through integration of trees into their plots. The projects also aim to incentivize smallholder farmers to be able to invest in activities which restore health to their soil and increase productivity over time, as well as meet their own food security and economic needs.

Job Summary:

As a member of the Restore Africa project team, you will be responsible for implementing MEAL activities, providing technical MEAL support, and monitoring and reporting on all project monitoring, evaluation, accountability, and learning initiatives in support of Catholic Relief Services’ (CRS) mission of serving the poor and vulnerable. Your MEAL expertise and contributions will help determine the effectiveness, adaptability, and innovativeness of CRS Uganda’s programming. Through a thorough, collaborative, and service-oriented approach, you will ensure the consistent application of best practices and contribute to continued improvements in the project’s impact on the communities we serve.

Roles and Key Responsibilities:

• Coordinate and implement assigned Restore Africa project MEAL activities as outlined in the Detailed Implementation Plan, ensuring alignment with CRS program quality principles and standards, MEAL policies and procedures, donor MEAL requirements, and industry best practices.
• Contribute to the design and refinement of project MEAL systems and data collection tools to effectively measure project impact and progress.
• Monitor, identify, and report MEAL-related challenges and gaps to inform necessary adjustments to implementation plans and timelines. Support partners in reflecting on project achievements, challenges, and lessons learned.
• Lead the roll-out and implementation of the project’s Feedback and Response Mechanism (FRM). Actively support the collection and timely response to feedback from targeted communities and all relevant stakeholders, in line with FRM guidelines.
• Support field-level MEAL activities, including digital data collection, and assist partners in ensuring accurate and timely data collection and analysis using established tools and mechanisms. Collaborate with partner organizations to prepare MEAL components of project reports in accordance with reporting schedules.
• Conduct Data Quality Assessments (DQAs) on Restore Africa project activity data to ensure accuracy, completeness, reliability, and timeliness.
• Assess MEAL capacity-building needs of project staff and partner organizations and monitor the implementation and effectiveness of MEAL capacity-building and technical support activities.
• Ensure proper documentation of all assigned MEAL activities. Contribute to the identification and development of case studies, success stories, and documentation of promising practices.
• Promote learning and adaptive management by posing critical questions, engaging deeply with project data, and sharing insights gathered from community members and partners with project leadership to inform decision-making and improve project impact.

Basic Qualifications and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree in international development, international relations, monitoring, evaluation, accountability and learning (MEAL), or a related field. Additional relevant experience may substitute for some formal education.
• Minimum of 2 years’ experience in project support roles. Experience in MEAL and working with NGOs is strongly preferred.

Preferred Qualifications and Experience

• Knowledge of relevant public donor regulations is preferred.
• Proficiency in MS Office applications (Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Visio) and web conferencing tools.
• Familiarity with Project Insight or similar financial reporting/accounting software is an advantage.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Strong observation, active listening, and analytical skills, with the ability to exercise sound judgment.
• Effective relationship management skills and ability to collaborate closely with local partners and community members.
• High attention to detail, ensuring accuracy and timeliness in executing assigned responsibilities.
• Proactive, results-oriented, and service-minded approach to work.

MEAL Competencies (for CRS MEAL Program Staff):

Each staff member in this position is expected to have basic knowledge and ability and, with guidance, be able to apply the following competencies in common situations that present limited difficulties:

• Monitoring
• Evaluation
• Accountability
• Learning
• Analysis and Critical Thinking

In addition, each staff member in this position is expected to have elementary understanding of and todemonstrate a willingness and potential to learn about:

• MEAL in Design
• ICT4MEAL
• Management in MEAL

Required Languages: Excellent command of written and spoken English required knowledge of local languages from districts where RESAf is implemented an advantage.

Travel: Must be willing and able to travel up to 40% in the CRS field location.

Agency-wide Competencies (for all CRS Staff)

Agency competencies clarify expected behaviors and attitudes for all staff. When demonstrated, they create an engaging workplace, help staff achieve their best, and help CRS achieve agency goals. These are rooted in the mission, values, and guiding principles of CRS and used by each staff member to fulfill his or her responsibilities and achieve the desired results.

• Personal Accountability—consistently takes responsibility for one’s own actions.
• Acts with Integrity—consistently models values aligned with CRS Guiding Principles and mission. Is considered honest.
• Builds and Maintains Trust—shows consistency between words and actions.
• Collaborates with Others—works effectively in intercultural and diverse teams.
• Open to Learn—seeks out experiences that may change perspective or provide an opportunity to learn new things.

Agency Leadership Competencies:

• Lead Change—continually looks for ways to improve the agency through a culture of agility, openness, and innovation.
• Develops and Recognizes Others—builds the capacity of staff to reach their full potential and enhance team and agency performance.
• Strategic Mindset—understands role in translating, communicating, and implementing agency strategy and team principles.

Key Working Relationships:

• Supervisory Responsibilities: Will oversee coordination of Community Based Facilitators.
• Internal: ICT4D Officer, Learning Technical Manager, Restore Africa project staff and other CRS MEAL staff.
• External: Partner staff, MEAL staff from other peer agencies.

“Disclaimer: This job description is not an exhaustive list of the skill, effort, duties, and responsibilities associated with the position.”

Tagged as: Catholic Relief Services, Uganda