Monitoring and Evaluation Associate

Signing of the Chittagong Hill Tracts Peace Accord in 1997 was a major political achievement marking the end of a protracted low intensity conflict in the region. One of the key government strategies outlined in the 8th Five-Year Plans is to fully implement the provisions of the Peace Accord.  The government also aims at implementing accelerated development activities in the region. Despite these good intentions, CHT still suffers from its remote location, diverse ethnic composition, and limited infrastructure, impacting essential services such as education, healthcare, and water access. Despite commitments, the CHT institutions haven’t achieved their full potential due mainly to undefined roles and pending elections, hindering effective service delivery and regional governance. The unique biodiversity of the CHT, including forests, wildlife habitats, and waterbodies, is at risk due to the diversion of forest land for population and settlement growth, inappropriate agricultural practices, and climate change.

To continue the momentum of successful implementation of the Promotion of Development and Confidence Building in CHT project (2003–2016) and Strengthening Inclusive Development in CHT (SID-CHT 2017-2023), MoCHTA and UNDP, with assistance from a number of Development Partners, have undertaken a new project titled “Ecosystem Restoration and Resilient Development in the Chittagong Hill Tracts (ERRD-CHT)”. The project focuses on enhancing resilient ecosystems, development and governance in the CHT by building community and ecosystem resilience through various development and conservation outputs and activities. Support for resilient livelihoods and micro-enterprises will be combined while conserving ecosystems and biodiversity and improving local governance by empowering local communities, including women and youth and marginalized sections, and institutions in partnerships with the Government of Bangladesh (GoB), counterparts, traditional leaders, and development partners.

The ERRD-CHT Project will produce results on four interlinked levels, thereby strengthening the ability of the population to enhance resilience, development and governance that impact the people’s lives and livelihoods. The main objective of ERRD-CHT project is “to strengthen gender-responsive resilience and development through improved governance and ecosystems, and adaptive livelihoods with market access.” which will be achieved through the following four Outputs:

• Output 1: Improved and resilient forest ecosystems and livelihoods.
• Output 2: Enhanced capacity and institutional building of the CHT institutions and strengthened democratic governance with increased people’s participation, responsive communities and more effective service delivery.
• Output 3: Inclusive and gender-responsive learning and empowerment among women and girls.
• Output 4: Enabled environment for self-reliant youth development and leadership.

The project will be implemented in all 121 Unions of 26 Upazilas in the three Hill Districts of Rangamati, Khagrachari and Bandarban. In the CHT, nearly 100,000 rural- and urban households will directly benefit from the project. It will include the extreme urban and rural poor and vulnerable groups, including women and youth.

Duties and Responsibilities

• The Monitoring and Evaluation Associate will be a key member of the Gender, Community Cohesion and Women Empowerment Team of ERRD-CHT and under the direct supervision of the Gender and Community Cohesion  Analyst with technical guidance from the PMR Analyst, the incumbent will be responsible for planning, designing, developing and implementing monitoring, evaluation, and reporting of all activities related to Global Affairs Canada funded components- i. Women and Girls Empowerment through Inclusive Education in CHT, ii. Community resilience through locally led inclusive adaptation project (CoRLIA), capacity building of communities, and different sub-project activities supported under the ERRD-CHT project, including funding from GoB, etc. S/he will analyze the data regularly and share it with senior management to make strategic decisions. S/he will develop a web-based monitoring system for monitoring project activities, results, lessons learned, and risks on a regular basis. S/he will work closely with the PMR (Planning, Monitoring & Reporting) Analyst, program focal persons, district teams, and different partners, including Hill District Councils (HDCs) and partner NGOs.

Functions:

• Assist in project planning, Coordination, Monitoring and Reporting.
• Project-level data processing, analyzing, learning, and evaluation.
• Assist in the design and development of field-level data collection through a systematic way.
• Produce high-quality project reports, case studies, and monitoring/evaluation/survey reports.
• Any other function as assigned by project management.

Specific Duties and Responsibilities:

Planning, Coordination, Monitoring and Reporting

• With the help of the project team and M&E team, design and develop necessary data collection tools, formats, and methodologies for different project activities, implement them, and provide orientation to field staff for their proper application and use.
• Work closely with all project team members and the PMR unit to prepare the annual Work Plans and Reports (annual, quarterly, and monthly) with results and targets for different components.
• Monitor activities, inputs, outputs, effects, and impact of different project activities.
• Conduct field visits and data validation regularly and prepare field reports; and
• Produce high-quality case studies and monitoring/evaluation/survey reports.

Processing, Analyzing, Learning and Evaluation

• Collect, compile, analyze, and manage relevant databases on a regular basis to create a knowledge base for MEL purposes.
• Design and manage routine surveys to assess the capacity/performance of the concerned institutions and beneficiaries targeted.
• Work with partners to ensure the collection and use of relevant and appropriate data.
• Ensure data storage and protection and manage the knowledge base in coordination with the PMR unit and UNDP compliance.
• Prepare and coordinate regular mid-term and end-term evaluation reports.
• Capture lessons learned/good practices and disseminate as appropriate; and
• Design necessary tools and techniques for capturing successful cases and managing case study capturing exercises.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Secondary Education is required.
• University degree (Bachelor’s degree) in Statistics, Economics, Development Studies, Social Studies/Social Science, or any other related discipline will be given due consideration, but is not a requirement.

Experience:

• Minimum 6 years (with Secondary Education) or 3 years (with Bachelor´s degree) of practical experience in monitoring in development projects.

Required Skills:

• Robust experience in developing M&E tools and strategies for data collection, analysis, and report generation is required.
• Proven experience in developing and implementing web-based M&E monitoring systems is required.
• Demonstrated ability in designing methods and strategies to produce, analyze, use, and share data with diverse stakeholders in various settings.
• Capable of analyzing trends to assess the risks and benefits of different data collection and validation options.
• Proven ability to write high-quality reports, incorporating advanced graphs, charts, and other visual aids.

Desired Skills:

• Experience in working on different donor-funded projects (GAC/EU/USAID) or INGO projects would be an added advantage.
• Experience in working with CHT will be an added advantage.
• Experience in working with the GoB project will be an added advantage.

Language:

• Fluency in English and Bangla is required.
• Working knowledge in any of the CHT languages or Chittagonian dialect is desired.

Source: https://estm.fa.em2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_1/requisitions/job/19726