JSI Research and Training Institute (JSI) seeks an experienced candidate for the role of Monitoring and Evaluation Officer (M&E Officer) for an anticipated DOL-funded project to reduce child labor and forced labor in critical mineral-producing communities in Zambia. JSI and its Bantwana Initiative division is a leader in the development of high-quality, comprehensive service delivery for children and young people in Eastern and Southern Africa, bringing a significant track record of excellence and innovation in improving access to and quality of integrated children and youth care and support, with a particular focus on strengthening coordination and layering of care, protection and support services across the continuum of response, for vulnerable children and their caregivers at community, district, provincial and national levels.

Reporting to the Project Director, the M&E Officer is responsible for coordinating, monitoring, evaluating, and reporting activities under the award. Salary will be commensurate with experience.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development of the project’s Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) plan and system for tracking and timely, accurate, and complete reporting of project performance against key indicators.
• Oversee and ensure adherence to project M&E reporting activities as required by the donor.
• Provide leadership and technical oversight in the design and implementation of data collection exercises (e.g., baseline and endline surveys; regular performance monitoring, etc.).
• Train and mentor staff and partners in various aspects of M&E and research, and assist them with using M&E systems, including data use and quality assurance.
• Provide support to performance evaluation processes in collaboration with USDOL and the independent evaluation team.
• Analyze project and other relevant data to provide strategic guidance to the Project Management Team and inform project management decision-making, and to routinely share findings with project staff and other key stakeholders.
• Experience designing and managing multiple disaggregation variables for participant monitoring and database systems, including gender and age.
  Support partners to develop, capture, consolidate and report on mutually identified indicators and ensure high-quality and timely reporting of data and monitoring.
• Conduct supportive supervisory visits to partners and beneficiaries to observe, monitor and provide guidance and quality feedback on the use of data and indicators.
• Oversee operational research, qualitative studies and policy briefs to assess the impact of program activities and ensure robust and innovative dissemination of research and evaluation activity results.

Qualifications and Experience 

• Master’s degree in statistics, demographics, public policy, international development, economics, or related field preferred, or Bachelor’s plus an advanced certificate and 10 years of related work experience.
• Minimum of five years of professional experience in a senior monitoring and evaluation position responsible for implementing M&E activities of large-scale international development projects, experience USG-related programming preferred.
• Proven success in designing, implementing, and operating project M&E systems from project initiation to closeout stages.
• Excellent knowledge of data collection protocols for quality data collection and verification.
• Strong ability to analyze multiple sources of data to identify data trends and to provide recommendations on project implementation.
• Demonstrated experience with research methodologies, qualitative and quantitative research methods, data analysis, sampling techniques and establishing M&E systems.
• Demonstrated experience leading and building the capacity of M&E staff to meet project needs and deliverables strongly desired.
• Excellent data visualization skills, statistical analysis, English writing, oral presentation and communication skills.
• Zambia nationals are strongly encouraged to apply.

 This position is contingent upon award.