Monitoring and Evaluation Manager

Background: 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.

Project Summary: The USAID West Africa mission intends to fund a five-year Strengthen Resilience and Learning to Countering Violent Extremism in Cote d’Ivoire Northern Border Areas program in August 2020. Specifically, the activity will:

• Reinforce resilience structures and factors as well as build in learning to better identify any pockets of radicalization and vulnerability with an emphasis on improving governance in ungoverned spaces in the border regions, enhancing trust between states and their citizens and reinforcing not only the authority but also the utility of the state in the peripheral zones.
• Address the negative spill-over relating to instability and violence in Burkina Faso and Mali by working to reduce marginalization and inequality particularly around natural resource management and lack of equitable and fair government services.
• Increase economic opportunities, particularly for youth (adolescents) and women as well as increase positive narratives to increase social cohesion in northern border areas.

Position Summary: Creative is seeking a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Manager for an anticipated USAID-funded project in Côte d’Ivoire. The M&E Manager will be responsible for overseeing the project’s M&E system to monitor progress, measure outcomes and impacts and report on project performance and successes. The M&E Manager will also monitor all grant activities and sub-grantees and ensure that the project complies with USAID performance reporting requirements. S/he will oversee the project’s baseline, midline, and endline assessments and will synthesize results and regularly report on project performance to USAID and key project stakeholders.

Reporting and Supervision: This position reports to the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Director.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Manage all M&E program components and make operational decisions accordingly;
• Manage all aspects of M&E data collection, analysis and reporting on performance indicators and contextual indicators;
• Develop, track and update the Performance Monitoring Plan (PMP) to monitor the achievement of indicator targets and examine project progress towards desired outcomes and impact;
• Contribute to writing quarterly technical reports to USAID and respond to USAID M&E requests;
• Oversee adherence to data quality standards and prepare project for USAID data quality assessments (DQAs);
• Coordinate closely with the MEL Director and the Learning Manager to support and facilitate the implementation of Collaborating Learning and Adapting activities and use critical inputs, feedback, and assessments from evaluation partners to inform changes in program approaches and scale-up;
• Coordinate the implementation of baseline, midline and endline assessments and of governance system assessments and contribute to mid- and final project evaluations;
• Synthesize and analyze the results of assessments and M&E performance data;
• Contribute to ongoing analysis of program impact with special attention to identifying possible adaptions necessary to take advantage of windows of opportunity;
• Review and validate data captured in the field and upload into Creative’s corporate database;
• Organize M&E-related training sessions for staff and/or partners, as needed;
• Maintain a comprehensive and well-organized filing system (both hard and e-versions) for all M&E data and activities;
• Travel frequently to different locations in Côte d’Ivoire to oversee M&E activities and ensure rigorous approaches and good data quality.

Skills and Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or higher in international development, social science, monitoring and evaluation, economics, public policy, or related field is required;
• At least seven (7) years of work experience with a bachelor’s degree or five (5) years of experience with a Master’s degree in the management of field monitoring, evaluation design, empirical and statistical analysis, or research in international development projects is required;
• Experience in designing and operationalizing data collection tools for quantitative and qualitative M&E data collection for large/complex donor-funded projects is required;
• Strong quantitative and qualitative data analysis skills and competency in statistical software such as SPSS, Stata, or R, are required;
• Skills in analyzing, interpreting and communicating complex data and information to a wide range of stakeholders, including analytical reports, data visualizations, is highly desirable;
• Experience in designing and implementing MEL trainings is highly desirable;
• Solid understanding of USAID M&E systems and frameworks as well as prior experience with USAID or U.S. Government funded projects is highly desirable;
• Demonstrated understanding of Complexity-Aware Monitoring approaches is preferred;
• Proficiency in MS Office packages (Excel, Word, PowerPoint), Web Conferencing Applications, knowledge-sharing networks is required;
• Excellent communication skills and a demonstrated track record of working effectively in a teamwork environment, highly desirable;
• Experience in M&E for democracy and governance programs and/or for local, state, and national institutional building, preferred;
• Written and spoken fluency in French is required; and in English highly desirable; and Fluency in one or more of the national languages in Côte d’Ivoire is preferred.

Local candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. Position contingent upon donor funding.