Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) Specialist

Organizational Setting

The main aim of the FAO Country Offices, which are headed by an FAO Representative, is to assist governments in developing policies, programmes and projects to achieve food security and nutrition and reduce hunger and malnutrition, promote sustainable agricultural development, reduce rural poverty, develop inclusive agri-food systems and strengthen livelihood resilience – in line with the Organization’s Strategic Objectives and United Nations’ global and Government of Egypt’s national Sustainable Development Goals.

In its effort to support the Government of Egypt with respect to enhanced climate resilience and efficiency of natural resource for all/rural people in a sustainable environment, FAO has been working towards improving management of land, water, fertilizer, pesticide and other agriculture inputs for efficient, more sustainable, healthy, income-generating agriculture production. Within this context, FAO is implementing projects in Egypt to support smallholder farmers in better managing their natural resources through various interventions, including the utilization of modern irrigation techniques, land use consolidation, agriculture waste transformation into valuable secondary products and improving value chains.

The position is located in the FAO Office in Cairo.

Reporting Lines

Under the overall supervision of FAOR-EGY, the direct supervision of the project Manager, the project Chief Technical Advisor (CTA) and the technical senior land and water officer (FAO-RNE). This role will also work in close collaboration with all partners (government, local authorities, NGOs, private sector, and others), the technical team of the project, and the team of FAO Office in Egypt.

Technical Focus

The main purpose of the assignment is to generate quality evidence on results achieved by FAO projects and programmes implemented in the project locations in various areas of FAO’s mandate. This will entail the: i) development and operationalization of frameworks, tools and processes needed to systematically collect and analyse performance-related data; ii) capacity development on M&E of internal and external actors; iii) monitoring of the quality of programme implementation.

Tasks and responsibilities

The M&E Specialist - will be responsible for the following tasks:

• Develop, establish and update the most relevant standard output and outcome level indicators for measuring progress in each programmatic area linking them to specific projects, making sure appropriate data collection tools and mechanisms are set up to ensure regular updates in line with reporting requirements of each project; • Coordinate and liaise with the country team on the reporting requirements for all the projects, ensuring timely reporting in accordance with the reporting requirements of the various donors; • Maintain a database of up-to-date disaggregated indicators and data sources to serve as a reference for analysis and reporting on the progress, outcomes and impacts; • Ensure data accuracy and contribute to drafting/ reviewing relevant components of regional and country-level progress and achievement notes, briefings and reports, including situation analyses, donor reports, annual and mid-term reviews, UN reporting etc. as appropriate; • Ensure that data captured are well reflected in the various reporting outputs under the CPF and UN Results Group reporting; • Liaise with regional and headquarters M&E knowledge networks, to keep abreast of the latest developments in the area of planning and M&E, document and share national experiences to capture successful and unsuccessful practices, innovations and lessons learnt; • Contribute to the design of studies (quantitative and qualitative) to assess the achievement of the projects’ outcomes and impacts and ensure their implementation; • Develop, implement and review project monitoring and evaluation system, which include developing M&E work plans, designing monitoring and reporting tools, templates and guidelines. • Manage the M&E functions of the project and provide updates and milestones of progress on a quarterly, bi-annually and annually basis, compared to the project log frame and baseline assessment. • Facilitate the development and review project work plans and Logical framework to ensure implementation and reporting. • Collect, compile, analyze and report on routine data collected and studies implemented in accordance with the projects’ logical frameworks and as a contribution to the overall logical framework of M&E plans; • Provide technical assistance to program on evaluation designs as well as aligning implemented program data with country logical framework indicator achievements; • Analyse monitoring data and produce reports that show progress in achievement of outputs and outcomes, bottlenecks for not achieving results and recommendations for improvement, using FAO reporting templates. • Liaise with the Project manager and Communications officer to document good practices, success stories and lessons learned for organizational learning and improvement. • Take lead in the maintenance of project M&E system, including tools, databases as well as the continuous provision of information from monitoring data. • Contribute to the design and implementation of Mid Term and Terminal evaluation studies. • Design monitoring tools to be used by facilitators and trainees to support easy identification of impacts of training undertaken through project activities. • Contribute to facilitation of knowledge building and knowledge sharing through organizing learning sessions for project stakeholders. • Work closely with the project team, to undertake monitoring of project activities and assist in the preparation of monthly, quarterly and annual implementation reports as per donor and FAO requirements. • Undertake other duties as assigned by the supervisor

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Advanced university degree in Monitoring and Evaluation, Social sciences; Development studies; agriculture or related Social Sciences field or equivalent with good understanding of monitoring and evaluation and conducting research studies • At least five years of experience in designing and conducting independent development M&E frameworks, desk studies and/or research of development programmes and advocacy in the monitoring arena. • Working knowledge of English and Arabic. • Nationality of Egypt or a legal resident in the country.

FAO Core Competencies

• Results focus • Teamwork • Communication • Building effective relationships • Knowledge sharing and continuous improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Relevance and extent of experience in working with inter-governemental bodies and multi-disciplinary teams; • Excellent organizational skills; • Good analytical skills with strong orientation to details; • Experience in report writing and data analysis; • Demonstrated communication skills, including the ability to convey and present sensitive issues/positions; • Excellent analysis and report writing skills including the ability to develop presentations and deliver them to national level stakeholders.