Job Title: MEAL (MONITORING, EVALUATION, ACCOUNTABILITY AND LEARNING) OFFICER

Country & Base of posting: OCCUPIED PALESTINIAN TERRITORY, NORTH OFFICE 

Reports to: SECTOR COORDINATORS

Creation/Replacement: REPLACEMENT

 

 

General Information on the Mission

 

Context

 

GVC – Gruppo di Volontariato Civile, is a non-governmental, secular, and independent organization, founded in Bologna in 1971. We are active in international development aid projects with complex action strategies: from humanitarian aid to populations suffering from conflicts and natural disasters to reconstruction, hygiene, and food security; from rural development to education, to the protection of women's and children's rights.

In over forty years of activity, GVC has operated in all parts of the world, carrying out thousands of projects. We collaborate with public institutions, cultural associations, cooperatives, and Italian and European NGOs, organizing seminars, conferences, exhibits and festivals, laboratories in school and training courses for teachers. We produce educational materials and carry out communication activities on sensitive issues such as differences, human rights, women's issues, sustainable trade, and biodiversity.

 

BACKGROUND: since 1967, occupation and political stagnation have directly affected the socio-economic situation of the Palestinian population in the West Bank. The movement restrictions policy are severely limiting Palestinians’ access to essential services and markets, and leading to serious and negative impact upon all aspects of their lives, and mainly their livelihoods. 

Palestine is a sui generis case for aid delivery and cooperation, due notably to the occupation and the fragmentation of the territory. Efficiency and performance of development cooperation continue to be challenged by the Israeli occupation of Palestine, in all sectors NGOs are involved in. Palestine is divided into the Gaza Strip (under the control of de facto authorities not recognized by the international community), East Jerusalem (a de facto annexation by Israel also not recognized) and the West Bank (over which the Palestinian Authority (PA) has entire control only on Area A, i.e. 18% of the West Bank). The PA has therefore only a very limited authority, both in terms of territory and legal jurisdiction.

 

The situation of the PA remains challenging, with the persistence of a systemic fiscal crisis and crisis of political legitimacy following the suspension of the Palestinian Legislative Council in 2007 and the absence of national elections subsequently. In July 2013 direct talks were resumed between Israelis and Palestinians in the context of the Middle East Peace Process with the ambitious aim of achieving -agreement on all final status issues within nine months. The failure of the peace talking and the operation “Protective Edge” leaded to a more tense escalation, for which international NGOs are challenged to respond with innovative and sustainable cooperation strategies. 

GVC’s development strategy in the country

The consolidation of the PA institutional infrastructure open to foster democratic participation of civil society, through the improvement of representative processes and the implementation of specific effective tools to promote dialogue. These criteria should lead any kind of intervention, preparing both decentralized institution and civil society to better advocate for a final recognition of Palestinian statehood. 

GVC focuses strategically on 4 main sectors for its development program, namely:

 

-Food Security

-Local Development and Governance

-Integrate Water Resource Management  

-LRRD: Linking Relief, Rehabilitation and Development 

Job Description

Tasks and Responsibilities

 

Programme planning, development and quality: 

-Support country programme processes, particularly on logic of intervention (country program logical frameworks and MEAL plans), and contribute to ensuring adherence to GVC’s programme quality standards.

-Support the development of logical frameworks and MEAL plans in project proposals, in consultation with the Sector Coordinators and project teams.

-Advice and recommend on resources required in proposal for strong MEAL including skills, time and budget.

-Ensure the accuracy of all data presented in reports to stakeholders including to donors, local government units, partners, community beneficiaries, among others

-Support proposal development processes by providing inputs to narrative and financial planning, including the development of appropriate (SMART) indicators, costing for MEAL activities and contributing to Performance Management Plans

-nsure high quality standard of all outputs coming from the North Office and partial outputs coming from Gaza Office

-In coordination with Area Manager, ensure that the format, process and system of reporting are well-agreed and observed

-Ensure that the cross-cutting themes such gender and protection as well as environment are properly integrated in the plans and projects

-Working with senior technical colleagues, support sector specialists in their development of sector log frames, plans, and monitoring and evaluation frameworks and plans. Contribute to development of programme plan/strategy and master budget

 

Project Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning

-Support project evaluation and lead learning events to ensure promising practices, lessons learned, and recommendations are identified, documented, and used to improve program quality.

-Support in developing Terms of Reference for evaluations and reviews which include evaluation and review questions, a balance of qualitative and quantitative methods, and the necessary level of technical rigor based on project duration and learning needs.

-Support project staff to use of evaluation and review results with partners, staff, and other stakeholders to inform decision-making and to identify lessons learned and promising practices.

-Facilitate reflection on key issues and themes to identify gaps in knowledge and to improve project and program performance and impact.

-Foster an internal enabling environment for learning and support key partners to establish enabling environments for learning

-To assist in reviewing data bases and data tracking tools of diverse projects in order to maintain data quality for collating reliable and consistent data which meets minimum reporting requirements of donors and GVC

-To assist in planning and implementation of baseline surveys, monitoring and evaluation exercises and impact assessments when needed

-Work closely with project staff to ensure accountability systems/praxis are in place that engage beneficiaries and stakeholders in evaluations, impact assessments and research 

-Assist the project team in day to day monitoring of the project in the overall implementation and management of monitoring, evaluation, accountability   and information management for a high quality, innovative and effective learning programme 

-Prepare reports as required on the programming activities for internal, donor and beneficiaries 

-Support Area Manager to review monthly budget monitors, determine corrective actions and monitor implementation of the corrective actions

-Document program successes, lessons and best practices based on demonstrated evidence from project monitoring, evaluation and research. Quarterly, produce at least one case study from GVC projects

-Support the Communication Officer in sharing and disseminating successes, lessons learnt and best practices both internally and externally; at district as well as national levels

 

Coordination and Networking

 

-Ensure proper MEAL coordination and streamlining structures between GVC and partners are in place.

-Participate in and contribute to relevant inter-agency efforts to agree and develop coordinated / joint M&E and accountability frameworks and mechanisms.  

-Engage with professional peers to share knowledge and to identify best practice in other countries/agencies relevant to GVC which can contribute to our own understanding and development of MEAL.

 

Report to

-Sector Coordinators/Area Managers

 

Accountable to

-Sector Coordinators

 

Works in coordination with

 

-Emergency Coordinator

-Development Coordinator

-Area Manager

-Project Managers

-Field Coordinator

 

Duty Station

Tubas. Frequent travels in West Bank 

 

Core and Functional Competences 

 

Required knowledge and skills

 

-An advanced university degree or equivalent in the field of Social or Political Science, Development Studies, International relations, Project Management.

-Minimum of 7 years of relevant working experience in related fields with a focus in the area of Local Economic Development and/or Governance. 

-Project Development and proposal writing.

-Project Cycle Management.

-Knowledge of main donors’ policy and procedures (UN Agencies, Europeaid, Italian Cooperation).

-Previous work experience with international NGOs will be preferred.

-Valid and clean driving license

-Excellent command in spoken and written English 

-Computer skills, in particular MS Word, MS Excel, MS Outlook, MS Project

 

Required Personal Characteristics

 

-Ability to think strategically and conceptually and to translate these into concrete results.

-Ability to identify, initiate and maintain good relationships with partner organisations, donors and national authorities including building professional relationships with senior decision-makers and influencers / leaders.

-Proven organisational skills and ability to effectively manage multiple tasks while fostering quality, team spirit and positive working relationships with colleagues.

-Strong interpersonal relationships and demonstrated ability to leverage business networks and partnerships for continued growth.

-Ability to work under pressure. 

-Demonstrates integrity by modeling the NGO values and ethical standards.

-Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability.

-Treats all people fairly without favoritism

 

Application process

 

Starting date:   As soon as possible

Application:   Interested candidates should send their CV and Cover Letter to:

gvcpalestina@gvc-italia.org

 

 please make sure to mention the position name (MEAL Officer).

Application deadline:    5th of May 2016