Zambia Country Office Monitoring Evaluation Accountability and Learning Officer We Effect

About We Effect:
We Effect is a Swedish international development organization working in Zambia to support cooperatives and member-based organizations. Our focus is on achieving gender equality, climate justice, and sustainable livelihoods. We empower smallholder farmers and civil society organizations to strengthen food security and resilience to climate change. Guided by a rights-based approach, We Effect champions democratic, transparent, and inclusive development. In Zambia, we partner with communities to drive lasting change, dismantling barriers to socio-economic progress. Gender equality is central to our work, ensuring equitable participation and empowerment for women and marginalized groups in all our projects.

Objectives:

1. To provide technical training and support to partner organizations on monitoring, evaluation, and reporting frameworks.
2. To strengthen the M&E systems of the Zambia Country Office, ensuring that they align with project goals and contribute to gender equality and sustainable livelihoods.
3. To ensure timely and accurate data collection, analysis, and reporting for informed decision-making to improve program outcomes and learning.
4. To develop and implement monitoring and evaluation plans.
5. To Assess the effectiveness and impact of programs, projects or interventions.To support resource mobilization efforts and ensure effective project implementation and management.

Key Responsibilities:

Monitoring and Evaluation:

• Develop and implement comprehensive M&E frameworks, ensuring alignment with Organizational Development, Food Systems, Climate Justice, Enterprise development, and gender equality objectives.
• Regularly review and update M&E tools and guidelines, integrating gender-sensitive indicators and sustainable livelihoods metrics.
• Lead both qualitative and quantitative data collection processes, ensuring comprehensive monitoring of projects in gender equality, civil society strengthening, and business development.
• Track project progress, ensuring that indicators and results frameworks are consistently applied, particularly in enterprise development and market systems.
• Conduct field visits to assess project implementation, identify risks, and validate reported data, with a focus on sustainability and inclusiveness.
• Provide leadership in preparing and submitting monthly, quarterly, and annual reports that capture project achievements, challenges, and lessons learned.

Thematic Competencies:

• Gender Equality: Ensure that M&E systems fully capture the gender impact of interventions and promote transformative change for women and marginalized groups empowerment.
• Sustainable Livelihoods: Monitor and evaluate interventions aimed at improving livelihoods, with a focus on resilience, food security, and economic sustainability.
• Business Development and Market Systems: Ensure familiarity with DCED indicators and results frameworks, tracking the success of market-based interventions, value chains, and entrepreneurship support programs.
• Civil Society Strengthening: Track the progress of initiatives aimed at empowering civil society organizations, improving governance, and promoting organizational sustainability.
• Food Systems and Climate Justice: Integrate M&E processes that track progress toward sustainable food systems and climate-resilient agricultural practices.
• Organizational Development: Support partner organizations through M&E systems that assess improvements in governance, accountability, and long-term sustainability.
  Planning and Management:
• Collaborate with the Country Manager and partners to review project plans and provide technical inputs for effective implementation.
• Facilitate the development of work plans, budgets, and operational strategies that reflect We Effect’s thematic focus on gender equality, sustainable livelihoods, and civil society strengthening.
• Ensure that recommendations from evaluations, risk assessments, and market studies are incorporated into project planning and execution.

Capacity Building:

• Conduct training for partner organizations on M&E systems, data collection methods, and reporting frameworks, with special attention to gender-sensitive and sustainable livelihoods indicators.
• Strengthen partner capacity to monitor and evaluate their interventions, particularly in the areas of gender equality and market systems development.
• Facilitate workshops and meetings to share M&E findings, best practices, and lessons from the field.

Risk Management:

• Track and review progress on risk management plans, particularly those related to gender-based violence, market risks, and environmental sustainability.
• Ensure timely identification and mitigation of risks that may hinder project success or sustainability.

Communication and Visibility:

• Collaborate with communication and advocacy teams to document and share significant project outcomes, ensuring a focus on gender equality and sustainable livelihoods.
• Ensure adherence to We Effect’s communication guidelines, and promote visibility for the organization’s work through appropriate channels.

Resource Mobilization:

• Support resource mobilization efforts by contributing to the development of technical proposals and project designs aligned with We Effect’s thematic areas.
• Assist in mapping potential funding opportunities and responding to calls for proposals from donors, ensuring gender and sustainability are embedded in all submissions.

Qualifications and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in social sciences, Development Studies, Project Management, or a related field. A Master’s degree is an added advantage.
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in monitoring and evaluation, with expertise in at least one of the following thematic areas; gender equality and Women Economic Empowerment, sustainable livelihoods, and Enterprise Development frameworks, food Systems and Climate Justice and resilience.
• Proven experience in data collection, analysis, and reporting, particularly in complex programming areas like business development, market systems, and organizational development.
• Familiarity with Economic development indicators, and results frameworks, particularly in enterprise development and market systems programming.
• Proficiency in statistical and digital M&E software and data analysis tools (e.g., SPSS, Excel, Kobo Collect).
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to work collaboratively with partners and stakeholders.

Key Competencies:

• Gender and Social Inclusion: Strong understanding of gender equality and social inclusion as core elements of development programming.
• Sustainable Livelihoods: Ability to assess the impact of interventions on the sustainability of livelihoods, food security, and resilience.
• Project Management: Experience managing complex programs, ensuring adherence to timelines and achieving results in gender, livelihoods, and market systems.
• Data Analysis and Reporting: Proficient in using M&E tools to track project outcomes and generate high-quality reports for internal and external stakeholders.