Monitoring & Evaluation Expert

Enterprise for Business & Development Management (EBDM: www.ebdm.biz) is a management consulting and research firm extending advisory and implementation services to a broad range of clients in the non-profit, private and public sectors. EBDM specialises in monitoring & evaluation, research, project management, organisational development, strategy, data management and technology solutions. EBDM also manages its own business initiatives.

The Firm is a small but rapidly growing organisation and requires a young and dynamic individual to become a member of the Firm’s Monitoring, Evaluation & Research unit. The candidate will be required to contribute significantly to organisational development and therefore must have effective leadership qualities, which will prepare him/her for future senior management positions. The candidate should therefore be prepared and willing to invest at least the next three years of his/her career in the Firm.

GENERAL SCOPE OF WORK

At EBDM, the M&E function includes responsibilities ranging from assessing social return on investment to developing and implementing innovative tools, methods, processes and procedures to monitor the work of client programmes and projects. The most effective M&E Expert will have in-depth knowledge and experience in project management, results-based management, project evaluations, process monitoring, risk analysis, baseline/impact assessments, development indicators, input and output monitoring, data management, analysis and report writing. The job of a M&E Expert at EBDM is therefore very demanding since the person will need to quickly adapt to different working environments and technical fields such as environmental conservation, economic development, various industrial sectors, health, governance, education etc. The function requires regular interaction with clients and their staff and therefore travelling is a regular feature of the job.

One of the first assignments of the M&E Expert will be to provide technical support to the Afghan Refugee Population Profiling, Verification & Response project. The objective of the project is to assess the needs of Afghan population in Pakistan on the one hand and provide critical policy and strategy information that enables informed decision-making by important stakeholders on the other hand. After the success of the pilot phase, the programme has been scaled-up to cover at least 120,000 Afghan refugee households in Pakistan by the end of 2011. Data will be collected through portable computers, validated and uploaded to a central database from which daily, weekly and monthly updated (and automated) reports will be generated at run-time. A comprehensive data processing, monitoring, technical back-stopping and analysis exercise will continue throughout the data collection process. At the end of the survey a detailed analytical report will be prepared. The candidate should be ready to commence work on this large-scale survey immediately under the supervision of senior technical experts in development planning, MER, economics, statistics, data management and technology.

FUNCTIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Be responsible for quality delivery of all assigned intermediate and final outputs of the Business Unit;
2. Coordinate and synchronize M&E activities of the Firm and advise the Firm’s clients on effective implementation of their projects and programmes;
3. Develop M&E frameworks for projects, programmes and organisations; Ensure effective implementation of the frameworks;
4. Develop and constantly improve processes, procedures and implementation methodologies.
5. Undertake regular monitoring of assigned projects including input, output, process and quality monitoring;
6. Undertake periodic evaluations including but not limited to process evaluations, output evaluations, mid-term project evaluations and end-of-project evaluations;
7. Conduct various assessments relating to the M&E function including impact assessments, baseline assessments, beneficiary assessments etc.
8. Effectively undertake cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis for projects; Undertake return-on-investment analysis and develop frameworks and standards for such analysis;
9. Develop logical frameworks for projects, programmes and organisations;
10. Undertake risk analysis; Develop risk mitigation and assumption mapping frameworks.
11. Develop and implement effective feedback mechanisms enabling course correction and informed decision-making;
12. Develop and implement an efficient reporting system;
13. Conduct internal and external trainings and workshops during the implementation of M&E activities; Manage M&E training programmes of the Firm;
14. Prepare detailed M&E reports maintaining or exceeding international standards;
15. Develop and ensure implementation of ethics, policies and procedures relating to M&E;
16. Manage all activities of a survey including indicator selection, questionnaire development, field pre-testing, field planning, full-scale data collection, data entry, validation, analysis and reporting;
17. Ensure proficiency in use of necessary statistical and analytical software applications such as SPSS, Microsoft Excel and any others relevant to the Firm’s work. Keep abreast of any developments in such software;
18. Undertake qualitative and quantitative data analysis as and when required;
19. Help develop and manage the Firm’s knowledgebase;
20. Culminate all work with a report as per the standard reporting guidelines of the Firm and/or its clients, as required;
21. Regularly coordinate with other units for disseminating publications in the form of case studies, best practices, lessons learnt and occasional papers etc;
22. Provide M&E support to all internal Business Units, as and when required;
23. Ensure that required website content relating to the work and services of the M&E team are regularly updated;
24. Ensure that the M&E function of the Firm develops and maintains its operations at a level that is compliant to recognised international management or research standards;
25. Actively participate in project formulation and planning activities including but not limited to preparation of concept notes, proposals and business plans;
26. Identify business opportunities relating to research, develop proposals and secure projects within the scope of the Business Unit;
27. Remain vigilant of emerging trends, country policies and financing modalities of international development/corporate agencies applicable to the Firm’s geographic presence and service offerings;
28. Any other task relating to the function assigned by the supervisor(s)
    

ADDITIONAL RESPONIBILITIES

1. Facilitate other Business Units in quality assurance of various reports and publications, as and when required;
2. Facilitate senior management in strategic planning and organisational development of the Firm, whenever required;
3. Facilitate other Business Units in achieving and maintaining the level of quality in operations required by recognised international management standards;
   

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

1. Master’s degree in social sciences, management or information technology from a recognised university;
2. At least seven years of relevant post qualification professional experience and four years of extensive experience in M&E;
3. Excellent writing and general communication skills in the English language. The candidate should be able to prepare and finalise extensive project proposals, business plans, evaluation and research reports etc. and effectively communicate with senior management officials of large corporations, donor agencies and international NGOs; Candidates who have scored well on the IELTS/TOEFL will be given preference;
4. Candidates who have prior experience of working with international bi-lateral or multi-lateral development agencies and/or international NGOs in a similar position will be given preference;
5. High level of proficiency in MS Office required. The candidate must be proficient in using data processing and statistical tools such as MS Excel, Access and SPSS etc.;
6. The candidate must be an independent worker who can carry out required tasks and responsibilities diligently, with minimum guidelines and instructions from senior management;
7. Ability to cope with challenging work routines; delivering under tight deadlines and willing to travel extensively; Travelling will usually include visits to remote and rural areas of Pakistan and frequent visits between major cities of the Country;
8. Demonstrated leadership and vision in managing staff groups and major projects or initiatives;
9. Excellent interpersonal skills and a collaborative management style;
10. A demonstrated commitment to high professional, ethical and quality standards.

REPORTING

Supervisor: General Manager – Monitoring, Evaluation & Research

Alternate Supervisors: Director Development / Managing Director