Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist

Functional role: Senior Assessment Specialist

Project / Assignment: Baseline assessment of civil society organizations using CBO-CRA and OD 10-standard assessment frameworks
Location: Baghdad, Erbil, Basra, and/or Mosul/Ninawa, Iraq
Reports to: Team Leader / Lead Consultant
Contract type: Short-term consultancy or fixed-term project assignment

Position Purpose

The Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist will serve as a senior field assessor responsible for conducting structured institutional capacity and organizational development assessments with civil society organizations. The role combines participatory assessment facilitation, evidence-based document review, digital data collection, quality reporting, and practical action-planning support.

The Specialist will assess assigned organizations using CBO-CRA and OD 10-standard frameworks, document maturity-band results, identify capacity and document gaps, and support the co-creation of realistic Institutional Improvement Plans and OD Action Plans.

Key Responsibilities

Assessment preparation

Review assessment tools, scoring rubrics, CSO profiles, and governorate-level field plans.

Participate in calibration and pilot assessment activities to ensure consistent scoring.

Coordinate with the Team Leader and MEAL/Data Manager on schedules, document submission, and field logistics.

Field assessment

Conduct full primary assessment visits with assigned CSOs.

Facilitate participatory CBO-CRA self-assessment sessions with CSO leadership, board members, staff, and volunteers.

Apply category-sensitive scoring for established NGOs, growing CBOs, and emerging CBOs.

Maintain a conflict-sensitive, gender-responsive, disability-inclusive, and Do No Harm approach.

OD 10-standard review

Assess governance, finance, risk and compliance, M&E, community centricity, HR, project management, assets and procurement, grants management, and communication/reporting.

Review Tier 1 and Tier 2 organizational documents.

Record whether documents are missing, existing but not operationalized, or existing and operationalized.

Prepare document gap summaries with practical priority recommendations.

Data and reporting

Enter assessment data into Kobo Toolbox, ODK, or another approved digital platform.

Maintain field notes, attendance records, consent forms, document inventories, scoring rationales, and evidence references.

Prepare individual assessment reports, scorecards, OD gap summaries, and narrative findings.

Ensure reports are organization-specific and avoid generic or copy-paste language.

Validation and action planning

Conduct remote validation calls with CSO leadership.

Present findings clearly and receive CSO feedback.

Support participatory priority-setting.

Co-create Institutional Improvement Plans and OD Action Plans that reflect the CSO’s own priorities and capacity level.

Required Qualifications

Bachelor’s degree social sciences, development studies, public administration, statistics, research methods, organizational development, or a related field. Master’s degree preferred.
Minimum six years of relevant experience in participatory institutional assessments, organizational capacity assessments, M&E, or CSO capacity development.
Experience working with Iraqi CSOs, CBOs, NGOs, youth or civic actors, or local governance stakeholders.
Strong knowledge of organizational development standards, including governance, finance, HR, risk management, M&E systems, project management, grants management, and accountability.
Experience using Kobo Toolbox, ODK, Excel, or similar digital data collection tools.
Arabic required. Kurdish Sorani required for Erbil assignments. Professional English preferred.
For Mosul/Ninawa assignments, prior field experience in Mosul/Ninawa and conflict-sensitive access experience is required.

Key Competencies

Strong facilitation and interviewing skills.
Excellent analytical judgement and evidence-based scoring discipline.
Strong report writing and documentation skills.
High attention to data quality and confidentiality.
Ability to work safely and respectfully in sensitive field environments.
Ability to explain findings in practical language and support realistic improvement planning.

Monitoring and Evaluation Specialist