M&E Manager, Ghana APY Program - TechnoServe

TechnoServe seeks a Regional M&E Manager who will provide management of the M&E components of the APY Program in Ghana, which will focus mainly on poultry, soybean, tomato, and rice value chains.

S/he will work closely with the Deputy Program Director, other regional and country management, as well as TechnoServe’s East Africa Regional M&E Adviser. S/he will be responsible for enabling evidence-based decision-making processes by project leadership, timely development of project M&E systems, effective training and implementation of M&E activities and reporting on M&E results.

The M&E Manager will report to the Deputy Program Director.

Program Overview: 

Agriculture Productivity and Youth Program (APY) is a donor-funded program to improve the well-being and resilience of young women and men as a result of strengthened producers, processors, and agribusinesses in Agriculture & Adjacent Sectors. The program will implement a market systems facilitation approach that will leverage private sector actors to achieve more sustainable impacts.

Program outcomes include a) Increased productivity of value chain actors in agriculture and adjacent sectors; b) Improved policy implementation to support growth in the relevant sectors; and c) Shift in mindset and fulfilment of youth towards employment and entrepreneurship in the sectors and rural futures.

Primary Functions & Responsibilities:

• Lead design, analysis, and execution of MEL activities for the program, tracking implementation and results and continually sharing learnings to strengthen the program’s approach.
• Design the initial baseline and subsequent evaluations; oversee baseline data collection and ongoing data collection and performance monitoring.
• Lead the development of the MEL Plan, encompassing a robust Learning Agenda, in close collaboration with the Program Director and donor.
• Drive the program Learning Agenda, including iterative updates based on relevant insights; lead and/or support research priorities over the life of the program, including conducting primary research and interviews with market actors, particularly members of the target group.
• Liaise regularly with the program team to ensure quality data collection and analysis, including ensuring that the program is consistently collecting and analyzing sex-disaggregated data, and tracking rights-based power dynamics to generate insights for gender and youth interventions.
• Facilitate in-depth monthly Learning Review meetings to track progress against the program’s Learning Agenda.
• Foster a culture of learning amongst the program team and partners whereby sharing failure and/or success in achievement of results and communicating learning from implementation challenges is not only encouraged but expected.
• Document and routinely share learning for internal and external audiences, including the donor and stakeholders.
• Develop and support team members in crafting program knowledge management and communications materials such as synthesized learning, technical reports, blogs, social media posts and success stories, etc.
• Liaise with and secure on-demand, strategic STTA from TechnoServe Global Impact Team and Regional MEL Lead, as needed, to leverage expertise and programmatic learning to strengthen ReGenerate program MEL and team capacity.
• Supervise and mentor two MEL Coordinators and generally develop staff and partner MEL capacity, as required.

Basic Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree with7 years experience, Master’s Degree with 5 years experience in business, economics, statistics or international development-related studies required.
• At least 5 years of experience with M&E methods and approaches, including designing, planning, and implementing M&E systems, analyzing and reporting using a logical framework, results chain and other strategic planning approaches;
• Prior experience developing a baseline, mid-term and/or final program assessments/ evaluations and research protocols.
• Demonstrated understanding of – and commitment to challenging – barriers that disadvantage the vulnerable, women and youth and exclude them from economic opportunities.
• Proven track record designing qualitative and quantitative measurement tools for comprehensive MEL, including indicators that advance gender inclusion; experience developing an MEL system that tracks systemic and social norm changes that result from women’s economic empowerment considered highly desirable.
• Demonstrated experience monitoring the progress of interventions and using field observations and results management data to update program assumptions.
• Demonstrated experience leading and coordinating consultative planning processes that involve input from a range of sectoral experts and stakeholders toward strengthened evidence-based programming and decision making.
• Proven experience managing, influencing, and motivating internal and external teams and stakeholders.
• Prior work experience in West Africa; Ghana experience strongly preferred. Local candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

Preferred Qualifications:

Additional qualifications that would make a candidate more desirable. We seek candidates who bring experience with:

• Experience using statistical analysis software (Stata or similar).
• Experience of developing Monitoring and Results Management (MRM) system for market systems development (MSD) programs.
• Familiarity with the Donor Committee for Enterprise Development (DCED) standards for results measurement.
• Prior experience with collaborating, learning, and adapting (CLA) approaches and/or problem-driven iterative analysis (PDIA) and/or political economy analysis (PEA) considered highly desirable.
• Proficiency in Kinyarwanda or French preferred.

Required Languages: Fluency in English with excellent oral and written communication skills required.

Travel: Up to 30% travel to field offices and project sites.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Excellent oral and written communication skills and project reporting skills are a must;
• Strong critical thinking skills, foresight, and vision to actively analyze program activities, challenge assumptions, update theories of change, and make decisions.
• Robust analytical skills; ability to synthesize information and distil insights and conclusions.
• Strong interpersonal and management skills required; Personnel management experience required.
• Ability to develop well-written, clearly structured, cohesive analyses and reports in English, quickly and efficiently; very strong attention to detail and commitment to high quality, error-free end products.
• Learning mindset and a passion for learning.
• Strong planning skills and experience working to strict time guidelines;
• Excellent oral and written communication and presentation skills and good computer skills in business software (Excel, MS Project, and PowerPoint); prior experience presenting content in a participatory way at conferences, forums, and workshops and a history of publishing articles/papers or developing blogs highly desirable.
• Detail orientation, including strong organizational, analytical and quantitative skills.
• Results-oriented, with demonstrated experience achieving program targets.
• Proven team player with strong interpersonal and cross-cultural skills.
• Excellent computer skills in Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and other administrative applications.

Supervisory Responsibilities – Typically, 4 to 6 senior and mid-level staff including M&E specialists, data collection coordinators, and data analysts. Experience leading multi-disciplinary teams is desired.