Vacancy: MEL Data Management Officer

Job Description

WEST AFRICA BIODIVERSITY AND LOW EMRISSION DEVELOPMENT (WABiLED)

PROJECT SUMMARY

West  Africa Biodiversity and Low Emissions Development (WABiLED) is a USAID funded programme that aims to strengthen the capacity of national and regional networks and institutions to enforce and prosecute wildlife trafficking laws; improve regional and transboundary cooperation and conservation strategies that include private sector partnerships and incorporate best practices for sustainable natural resource management (NRM); and improve capacity for economic planning and development of LED strategies including REDD+. The programme seeks to achieve the following three objectives:

• Objective 1: Support combating wildlife trafficking (CWT) and great ape conservation through improved regional coordination and the operationalization of national and regional policies, laws, and regulations;


• Objective 2: Reduce deforestation, forest degradation, and biodiversity loss in key forests through technical and knowledge management support; and


• Objective 3: Reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and increase carbon sequestration from land use.

JOB SUMMARY

The  MEL Data Management Officer will assist the MEL unit to organize and manage the archiving system and ensure MEL data collected from all project activities are appropriately entered, labelled, stored in a structured manner and maintained up-to-date on physical and electronic data storage systems. Other responsibilities include providing guidance and oversight to stakeholders responsible for data collection in order to ensure compliance with the Monitoring and Evaluation Plan, including WABiLED staff, grantees, sub-contractors or other stakeholders. This includes preparation of data collection forms, entering data into the appropriate database software, conducting analysis, developing and maintaining procedures for data collection, data management and data quality control and developing reports

MAIN RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS

The responsibilities of the MEL Data Management Officer shall include but not be limited to the following:

• Assist the MEL team in the development and update of tools and forms for collecting, analysing and reporting MEL data for performance indicators and results


• Ensure the correct use of data collection tools and forms developed by the project and provide training where needed;


• Proactively ensure regular gathering of data and supporting documents from the project staff, grantees, sub-contractors and partners and ensure that all data collected from activities are entered in the MEL Database system in a timely manner


• Collaborate with the MEL Officer to ensure that grantees and sub-contractors’ supporting documents are downloaded, verified and archived into the WABiLED data storage system and interact with them if needed to solve data quality issues;


• Undertake data aggregation, cleaning and analysis of data from project activities


• Undertake physical and electronic archiving of all supporting documents in compliant with USAID and Tetra Tech ARD filing requirements


• Conduct regular data review and cross-check physical archiving and electronic system to ensure consistency and maintain overall data integrity;


• Contribute to data quality and integrity by conducting remote spot-checks, investigate any data deficiencies and provide timely feedback to the staff on data quality issues such as accuracy and completeness so it will be corrected on time;


• Support the MEL team to undertake periodic internal Data Quality Assessments (DQA) for the project including, grantees, sub-contractors and other partners and support USAID and Home Office teams during external data quality assessments by USAID and Home Office respectively


• Support in data analysis, preparation of reports and produce data visualizations based on requests from the MEL team and other WABiLED Staff;


• Ensure the security of MEL data by undertaking regular back-ups of MEL database and put in place measures to secure the project data.


• Support in project evaluations such as baseline survey, end-line surveys, process evaluations, other studies and collaborate with external evaluator teams during external evaluations.


• Contribute to all WABiLED progress and annual reports and participate in the annual work planning process.

OTHER TASKS:

• Execute any other tasks being linked with the objectives of the project based on discussions with the MEL Manager and agreement by the Chief of Party (COP).

SUPERVISION:

• The MEL Data Management Officer will be supervised by and report directly to the MEL Manager.


• S/he will develop functional relations with the project’s technical staff and collaborate with institutional partners, implementing partners, grantees and sub-contractors.

WORKPLACE AND FUNCTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES:

• The MEL Data Management Officer is based in Accra.


• S/He will cover the entire WABILED intervention area.  


• S/He will provide core regional and National Partners, other technical partners (NGO, Public services,) grantees and sub-contractors with monitoring, evaluation and learning support services and support their capacity building in these areas as needed, based on the evolution of work plan implementation. 


• The MEL Data Management Officer will collaborate with the MEL Officer based in Monrovia and other members of the MEL team.

Required Skills or Experience

EDUCATION: At least 4 years of advanced education in Monitoring and Evaluation; Computer Sciences, Information management; Project Management, Geography and Environmental Science, or relevant qualifications  

 WORK EXPERIENCE:

• Minimum of 5 years' experience in Monitoring and Evaluation preferably in Data Management


• At least 3 years' experience in international projects and preferably in project funded by the US Government Agencies (USAID, USDA,…)


• Experience in the design or management of Monitoring Database


• Good knowledge of filing and archiving of MEL supporting documents 


• Strong knowledge in the use of spreadsheet and database software (Excel, Access etc), in statistical software (SPSS) and cloud systems (Google Drive, Dropbox, Egnyte etc)


• Experience in the use of digital data collection technology (KoboCollect, Survey CTO, google forms, Survey Moneky, ete)


• Proven experience in qualitative and qualitative research and in data analysis and visualization


• Experience in West African countries (both francophones and anglophones) will be an advantage.


• Excellent report writing skills desirable

SKILLS: Excellent interpersonal skills, including patience, diplomacy, willingness to listen and respect for colleagues. Must be willing to travel to project sites throughout West Africa.  Must be capable of working both individually and as part of a team and able to create a supportive working relationship among all project teams

LANGUAGES:  Fluent in English and professional proficiency in French preferred