Programme Monitoring Evaluation Learning and Impact Assessment (MELIA) Specialist

Organizational Setting

FAO's Subregional Office for Southern Africa (SFS) is responsible for developing, promoting, overseeing and implementing agreed strategies for addressing subregional food, agriculture and rural development priorities. It develops and maintains relations with subregion-wide institutions including Regional Economic Integration Organizations (REIOs).

The Subregional Office is a subsidiary of FAO's Regional Office for Africa (RAF). The Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme is an initiative of the Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States (ACP), funded by the 11th European Development Fund (EDF) of the European Commission. It is implemented through a partnership involving the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Cooperation Center for Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD), the International Center for Agricultural Research (CIFOR) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

The objective of the SWM Programme is to reconcile wildlife conservation issues with those of improved livelihoods and food security in a set of key (forested and savannah) socio-ecosystems by promoting the sustainable and legal exploitation of resilient wildlife populations by native rural peoples and by adjusting the supply of domestic proteins for the benefit of both rural and urban populations in ACP countries. This includes undertaking research and associated activities in relation to food and agriculture and the management of natural resources. Efforts to achieve the Programme's objective contribute to biodiversity conservation, sustainable use of wildlife as well as the creation of new economic opportunities for local populations through empowerment and diversification. The project contributes to FAO’s Strategic Objectives on Food Security, Sustainable Natural Resources and Poverty Reduction in the context of the common vision for sustainable food and agriculture, and supports the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 1 (SDG-1) on Poverty Reduction; Goal 2 (SDG-2) on Zero Hunger; Goal 12 (SDG-12) on Responsible Consumption and Production, and Goal 15 (SDG-15) regarding Life on Land.

The Consultant will be part of the Programme Management Unit (PMU) that is led and coordinated by the FAO Forestry Department (NFO), with regional representatives based in Subregional office (SFS for Southern Africa in Zimbabwe, SFC for Central Africa in Gabon).

Reporting Lines

The Consultant reports to the FAO Subregional Coordinator, SFS, under the technical supervision of the Forestry Officer, SWM Regional Coordinator for Central Africa, SFC, who coordinates Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Impact Assessment (MELIA) at programme level, and in close collaboration with the SWM Regional Coordinator for Southern Africa, SFS, the SWM Programme Coordinator, NFO, and implementation partners teams.

Technical Focus

To develop and roll out optimal Monitoring, Evaluation, Learning and Impact Assessment (MELIA) procedures for a cost-effective and quality delivery of the SWM Programme objectives

Tasks and responsibilities

• Study the relevant project documents (including but not limited to the Programme and site project documents, annual workplans, budget, M&E guidelines and templates, mid-term evaluation report, knowledge product strategy, etc.) and initial MELIA procedures assessment elements,
• Review, harmonize and guide/support the revision where necessary of the programme and sites theories of change,
• Review the Programme and site indicators and guide/support the final selection of a set of relevant, simple and straightforward indicators to monitor outputs and evaluate outcomes and impacts,
• Based on the relevant indicators, review, revise and potentially propose complementary adapted and cost-effective monitoring and evaluation protocols (qualitative and quantitative), including as part of social safeguards implementation,
• Review, revise and potentially propose new MELIA operational tools in line with MELIA needs/objectives at programme and site levels (including social safeguards implementation), avoiding collecting redundant information and effectively supporting informed decision making (strategy and project management, including participatory decision making),
• Produce an operation manual that gathers all agreed operational tools and guides programme and site coordination in processing, evaluating and using the information for effective decision making at both site and programme levels,
• Strengthen capacities of programme and sites teams where possible and identify capacity needs to roll out and run the updated procedures (including possible adaptations to include in the design of a potential second phase of the programme).
• Contribute to roll out the updated procedures across the KaZa sites (Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Namibia) through direct support to the regional programme coordinator and the partners’ implementation teams, while supporting the roll out of the updated procedures across other sites mostly through distance training and coaching.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Advanced degree in any of the following areas: natural resource management, rural development or equivalent
• A minimum of 7 years of experience in designing and implementing monitoring and evaluation systems in the context of natural resource management and /or rural development projects/programmes
• Minimum working knowledge (level C) of English and limited knowledge (level B) of French.

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Work experience in more than one location in Southern Africa and/or Central Africa
• Work experience in more than one area of work (community-based natural resource management, wildlife management, natural resource-based value chains development)
• Extent and relevance of experience in designing MELIA procedures for a large multi-country and multi-partner programme
• Extent and relevance of experience in project cycle management, as well as theory of change and logical framework development and use
• Extent and relevance of experience in a variety of MELIA methods (including participatory methods, qualitative and quantitative methods)
• Familiarity with open standards for practice in conservation and Miradi