West and Central Africa Regional Monitoring, evaluation and learning advisor (MEL) bi-lingual English/French

Working with Oxfam IBIS

Oxfam IBIS is an independent and member-based development organisation. Through support for civil society and in cooperation with our partners, we are combating inequality and poverty in the global south. Together with 19 other organizations, we form the Oxfam International Confederation, one of the world’s largest and most influential development organizations. In Denmark, we are a clear and significant player in the public debate on tax havens, rising inequality and the right to education. Read more about Oxfam IBIS at https://oxfamibis.dk/en/explore-oxfam-ibis/.

Oxfam IBIS is the Grant Agent for Education Out Loud (EOL) https://educationoutloud.org, which is the Global Partnership for Education’s (GPE) fund for advocacy and social accountability. EOL supports civil society to be active and influential actors in shaping education policy and implementation to meet the needs of communities, especially of marginalized people – and to ensure the right to quality education for all. EOL aims to enhance civil society capacities to engage in education sector planning, advocacy and policy dialogue, monitoring policy implementation to promote transparency and accountability of national education sector policy. It also seeks to create a stronger and enabling environment at global and regional levels for civil society engagement, advocacy, and transparency efforts in education.

EOL is managed from a Global Management Unit based at Oxfam IBIS in Denmark and four Regional Management Units (RMUs) hosted by Oxfam in Ghana, Uganda, Nepal and Mexico managing a number of grantees in the respective regions.

EOL fund comprise of three funding streams (Operational Components) to support work at local, national and transnational levels to (1) strengthen national civil society engagement in gender responsive education planning, policy development and monitoring; (2) strengthen civil society roles in promoting the transparency and accountability of national education sector policy and implementation; and to (3) create a stronger global and transnational enabling environment for national civil society advocacy and transparency efforts. Together, these objectives will help to amplify the voices of marginalized groups in education policy debates to promote that the right to education is fulfilled for all and to demand for an equitable and quality public education. The EOL fund supports around 80 civil society partners in 60+ lower income countries throughout the world, including Africa, Asia, Pacific, Latin America, MENA, and Eastern Europe.

EOL is managed by a Global Management Unit (GMU) based in Copenhagen, and Regional Management Units (RMUs) in Africa (Ghana and Uganda), Asia (Nepal) and Latin America (Mexico). Each RMU is led by an expert Regional Programme Manager who provides oversight of day-to-day operations across countries in the region, including management of staff, provision of technical advice, and quality assurance of reporting across the entire region.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for an experienced and highly motivated bi-lingual (English and French) Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Advisor to form part of the Regional Management Unit for West- and Central Africa based in Ghana. The candidate will be a senior professional with a proven track record in coordination of monitoring, evaluation and learning processes and projects and programme management. The candidate will need to demonstrate strategic direction in one or a combination of the following areas: MEL – monitoring and evaluation, learning; international project management; education policy, civil society, social accountability, campaigning and advocacy.

Under the technical direction of the Senior MEL Advisor, the candidate will coordinate all MEL activities in the region in order to successfully deliver the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning aspects of the EOL mechanism, providing technical assistance for establishing high-quality results-and monitoring frameworks for all grantees and for collecting accurate monitoring information related to EOL´s overall results framework and established objectives.

The candidate will ideally be based in Accra, Ghana. It is however also possible to work from another location in the West and Central Africa region and travel to Accra regularly. A substantial number of travel days are required in the job for monitoring visits, experience exchange and meetings.

The contract is till the end of 2023 with the possibility of extension. The position is a full-time role equivalent to 37 hrs./week. The role reports to the Regional Program Manager.

Key responsibilities

• Planning of monitoring and evaluation activities of the regional component of the EOL project, in accordance with the provided guidelines.
• Collection of base-line information from all Grantees in the region in accordance with guidelines.
• Provision of technical assistance to Grantees and others for their elaboration of results- and monitoring frameworks, formulation of indicators, collection and storage of verification materials and reporting in accordance with guidelines
• Review and translation from English to French or vice versa of agreed monitoring templates and materials
• Collection of completed templates, formats and reports from relevant grantees.
• Storing or up-loading in an archive with a folder for each Grantee: Grantees´ results-frameworks; Grantee´s progress reports; Grantee´s and other verification materials; questionnaires completed by Grantees; etc.
• Reading progress reports submitted by Grantees and clarifying any doubts with the Grantee.
• Distil and document lessons learnt in accordance with provided guidelines
• Analyse data and draft regional “input to the donor report” in English, in accordance with GMU extended guidelines, for the Oxfam IBIS´ EOL half-years project progress reports that Oxfam IBIS GMU submits to GPE
• Support eventual evaluations of the grantee projects in the region.
• Participate in EOL Virtual MEL Teams and other relevant monitoring activities.
• Act as MEL-focal point for all regional selected EOL-countries for the provision of technical assistance to the grantees.
• Carry out mission travels in the region when required
• Coordinate selected training- and knowledge-sharing workshops on monitoring, evaluation and learnings.

Skills, experience, and knowledge

The successful candidate will need to demonstrate the following essential skills, and it would be advantageous to demonstrate some or all of the desirable skills.

Essential

• Excellent language skills in French and English; ability to understand, speak, read and write in English and French, including writing technical reports in these two languages, and ability to facilitate workshops/meetings in these two languages.
• Master’s degree and at least 5 years experience in a relevant field (International Development, civil society strengthening, programme management in the social area; monitoring, evaluation and learning, etc.)
• Experience and technical skills in data-collection, monitoring, evaluation and learning of programmes in the development sector in the social area
• Ability to coordinate complex monitoring and evaluation functions with regionally-dispersed partners in complex programmes
• Proven ability to analyse and synthesise complex issues and to use excel,
• Strong interpersonal skills, excellent coordination and guiding skills.
• Ability to think critically and strategically
• Demonstrated ability, tact, and sensitivity in working across institutional boundaries, business units, and teams in an effective and productive way
• Technical experience in operationalizing the human rights approach and gender perspective in project management

Desirable

• Knowledge of or ability in the Portuguese language is an advantage
• Demonstrable experience working with an adaptive management approach, and an understanding of the challenges and opportunities.
• Have knowledge and work experience from more than one country in the region
• Have knowledge and experience from the education sector

Key attributes

• Ability to demonstrate sensitivity to cultural differences and gender issues, as well as the commitment to equal opportunities.
• Commitment to Oxfam’s feminist principles and safeguarding policies to ensure all people who come into contact with Oxfam are as safe as possible.

Our values and commitment to safeguarding

Oxfam is committed to preventing any type of unwanted behaviour at work including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and financial misconduct; and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults. Oxfam expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment through our code of conduct. We place a high priority on ensuring that only those who share and demonstrate our values are recruited to work for us.

We are committed to ensuring diversity and gender equality within our organization and encourage applicants from diverse backgrounds to apply.

Note: All offers of employment will be subject to satisfactory references and appropriate screening checks, which can include criminal records and terrorism financing checks.

About us

Oxfam IBIS is a member of the Oxfam confederation which is a global movement of people working together to end the injustice of poverty. That means we tackle the inequality that keeps people poor. Together we save, protect and rebuild lives. When disaster strikes, we help people build better lives for themselves, and for others. We take on issues like land rights, climate change and discrimination against women. And we won’t stop until every person on the planet can enjoy life free from poverty.

We are an international confederation of 20 organizations (affiliates) working together with partners and local communities in the areas of humanitarian, development and campaigning, in more than 90 countries. All our work is led by three core values: Empowerment, Accountability, Inclusiveness.

Oxfam is committed to preventing any type of unwanted behavior at work including sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse, lack of integrity and financial misconduct; and promoting the welfare of children, young people and adults. Oxfam expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment through our code of conduct.