MEL Officer - Democracy International

Democracy International (DI) is seeking to hire a Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) Officer for the five-year Performance Accountability Activity in Ghana funded by USAID. This activity will focus on strengthening civil society oversight of and feedback into government performance in public service delivery and to support the government, especially at the local level, and public service providers to be more responsive to citizen demand in delivering quality essential services.

This is based on the premise that citizen action and engagement are critical for ensuring that the government delivers quality services with increased accountability. This is a full-time position based in Accra, Ghana. This position is only open to Ghanaian citizens.    

The MEL Officer is responsible for supporting DI’s scope of work under the USAID-funded Performance Accountability Activity in Ghana. The MEL Officer is responsible the internal MEL aspects of the program including implementing the MEL plan, keeping track of performance indicators, ensuring data collected is reliable, reporting indicator performance, and supporting Pause and Reflect sessions. 

Essential Job Duties:

• Lead the collection, analysis, and reporting of qualitative and quantitative data;
• Lead and manage the maintenance of project databases, tracking mechanisms and data management mechanisms, including conducting data entry and regular updating;
• Collaborate with the technical team to implement project MEL plan, including ensuring data consistency, timeliness of MEL activities, and adherence to standard operating procedure and protocols;
• Support the implementation of pause and reflect sessions, and the Collaborating, Learning and Adapting (CLA) framework in program activities;
• Develop tools to evaluate and monitor project activities in collaboration with the technical team and grantees;
• Provide strategic information, respond to data requests and ensure effective data visualization;
• Support the program’s sub-grant component, including the implementation of MEL plans, activities, and tools and the submission of MEL-related deliverables;
• Work effectively with the Finance and Operations Manager on financial aspects of grant activities, including fund allocation, financial reporting, auditing and grant closure.
• Ensure data quality assurance and lead data verification activities;
• Document best practices, lessons learned, and project processes to support project learning agenda and knowledge management;
• Contribute to reporting drafting, grant supervision, and activity implementation, as needed. 

Reporting:

This position reports to the Deputy Chief of Party (DCOP).

Required Skills or Experience

• Relevant bachelor's or master's degree in social science or with at least 5 years of relevant professional experience;
• Strong background in qualitative and quantitative research strategies, data collection, data entry, and data analysis;
• Experience with performance monitoring and evaluation of development programs;
• Minimum of 3 years of experience in social protection, democracy, and governance, or related technical areas;
• Experience working with data management and analysis software such as SPSS, SAS etc.
• Strong attention to detail, self-starter attitude, and flexibility;
• Proficient with Microsoft Excel;
• Familiarity with international donor regulations and procedures, ideally with USAID programs;
• Strong writing and verbal skills;
• Strong interpersonal skills to effectively collaborate and work with a wide range of stakeholders;
• Demonstrated commitment to ethics, transparency, and accountability in program implementation;
• Professional fluency in English is required;
• Previous experience of working on donor-funded projects is desirable.